October is Here

A lot has happened since the Race For the Cure!

Cheri has opened her Tavern that has replaced the Cannon Beach Cookie Company. So now it is "Eat More Cookies and Drink More Beer." The wood work in the tavern is outstanding, thanks to Mike & Jeremy Capper and Peter. The tables, the bar and the other wood is just beautiful! This will be THE local hang-out for sure. There is a photo to document this.
I have a new running buddy. His name is Riley. He has reddish hair and is always up for a run. He is part Chow and part Shephard and part ???. But he is a love (insatiable really) and a great running partner. I have included photos of him as well.
Last Sunday Debbie came down to the coast. It seems as if we only walk on the beach when Debbie (and family) arrive, but this time we had Debbie to ourselves and it was very cool. We marched up a long way on the beach, talking all the time. Eventually, we turned around and walked back...with a tail wind... and BBQ'd our dinner on Capper Mountain.

The sunsets were beautiful this weekend. When we returned from our Kahneeta vacation we thought summer was done. But we have been rewarded with two more weeks of Indian Summer and it is great! I am sure that Fall will prevail and the rains will come, but, for now, I still have tomatos and cucumbers ripening in my garden and lettuce ready to eat. My radishes are almost ready an the carrots are looking good.

We (Eric and I) are deciding whether to run the Hood to Coast or the Rainier to the Pacific Relay next year. Eric has volunteered to be the "bad guy" if I will be the "figure-head" captain. That works for me and we will most likely run the HTC again. We'll see. Hopefully, most of my core team will join us again in Four Decades Running.

Race for the Cure 2006

I promised you something from the Race For The Cure and here it is. I, for some reason, signed up with a Team this year. Usually I run this race by myself and for myself and just go home There is a new radio station in Portland, KIJZ-Smooth Jazz 105.9. I very much enjoy smooth jazz and was delighted to discover this station. Janine Wolf, the DJ from 9:00am to 2:00pm, is a breast cancer survivor, as is her sister Kathy. She formed a team, Janine's Team, sponsered by KIJZ. I joined. There were 38 of us, but only partly "survivors" and the rest were supporters. I got up really early (5:15am) and ran the Co-ed 5K and then joined my team to do the 5K Walk at 9:00am. Since there were almost 46,000 walkers, it took until 9:45 for us to even approach the start line. It is very inspirational to see so very many pink hats and pink shirts in one place. Every "pink" person represents a survivor. One of the members of our team, very recently diagnosed and treated, had never met anyone who had cancer and survived. It was a real boost to her to meet those of us who were survivors from 5 to over 25 years and were very much alive and very active. This is why we do this. We want to share that there is life after a cancer diagnosis. It can be lived with, in spite of and after. Sharing our experiences is sharing life and hope. I know that is why all of us continue to do this. For most of the year our history of cancer is just that....history, and we don't really dwell on it. But this is an opportunity to give hope and encouragment to those people, men and women, who are recently facing this challange. It is also a message to not ignore regular checkups or symptoms. It does not need to be fatal. There is hope and life to be lived.

I hope you all enjoy these photos. Some were taken by my new friends on Janine's Team and some are mine. If you want to view a gallery of our photos, go to kijz.com and enter the keyword "team" and you'll be able to see all of them.

Hood to Coast

I know I haven't been here for a while. The Hood to Coast Relay Race ate up all my time and energy for a long time this year. While I love the event and the relay, being Captain wasn't as easy and rewarding as last year. The last three weeks before the race I believe I went through 6 or 7 alternates to try to maintain a complete team. I have a "core" of totally awesome folks from last year who stood by me and I love them dearly. If we are to do this thing again next year, there will be some changes in procedure and recruiting. I think Eric may Co-Captain with me as well. The amount of hours devoted to getting this all together was significant. However, all that said, we eventually put together a really great group of folks. We drew a runner from LaCamas Sport's matching service-Lynn Phillips- and she fit like a glove into Van #1. We'd all like to have her back for another year. Great sport, wonderful person and a real trooper on three very difficult legs.
We had more family on the team this year. Eric & Cathy ran again, but, in addition, we had Cathy's cousin Hettie running. Her "SO", Adam, would have run but for that fact that he broke his leg and had the pins removed the day before the race. Cathy's neice, Kristin, took digital videos of us. I'm really not sure I want to see all those. I think I probably looked like an overdone tomato at the end of my first leg. The heat really got me...in addition to not being as well trained as I was last year. Next year it will be lots more training in the heat, no neoprene knee sleeves, no baseball cap and a singlet rahter than a T-shirt. Live & learn, even at 62!

We met up with Van #2 at the end of the race in Seaside and actually were able to all run through the finish line together this year. Unfortunately Jeremy Meyers and Lynn Phillips missed that as they had immediate committments in the city. We took a photo of them before they left. I have included that here with the "finish" photo.

So, that is the story of this year's race. We all want to do it again...perhaps we're all just nuts. But last year a fellow employee volunteered for our team. Rachel was so enthused that she put together a Portland to Coast Walk team for this year. Much of the team work at BMC. Everyone did very, very well and many of them are so inspired that they continue to participate in more walks and want to do this again next year as well. It is rewarding to see other folks, that do not ordinarily get involved in sporting events, become interested and gain considerable fitness in the process. Rachel alone has lost nearly 40 lbs doing this and others have lost weight and become more fit as well. I hope everyone continues to be inspired and energized by this.

Next weekend is the Susan Komen Race for the Cure. I have signed up to do both the Women's 5K run and the 5K walk with a local team. A patient of ours (whom I now consider a friend) called me today. I was able to guide her into a free Breast Cancer detection program this past year. She has completed her treatment, is healthy and is walking in the Race for the very first time as a survivor. I want very much to walk with her and perhaps get some photos. I will share them with you all next week.

A Free Weekend Looms

This coming weekend may be the only "free" weekend I have all summer. And, wonder of all wonders, the little town where I live is having an Arts & Eats Festival. The "Old Town" area is only a couple of blocks from me-I can actually hear the music from my backyard-and that means whatever is happening down there requires no driving. Mike has invited his brother and I believe we will take in the festivities and music on Saturday. Perhaps, if we are ambitious and fortunate, we could even manage to go kayaking on Sunday......that is if we don't sleep in too long! If I had known of the art festival sooner I would have submitted my photos for the juried art show. Perhaps next year!?

I saw an interesting car this evening at Fred Meyers in Scappoose. I took some photos for Mike, as it was "sort of" a Jag. It was a SS100 - or Sparrow - as Mike says. He says it was a precursor to the Jag. In any event, it was very nice and I was given permission to snap some photos of it. It is apparently a restoration of a 1937 car that was quite limited in production-about 66 vehicles-and this one looks quite nice. The owner was very gratified that I called it "cool" and not cute. I guess people say its cute and he feels that it is "classy" or "cool" rather than cute. I agreed, so I was given some interesting information about it and permission to take photos. I have included some of those here.

The Hood to Coast looms ever closeer. Our start time is 12 Noon on Friday, August 25th. That is a great time. We don't need to be up at the crack of dawn on Friday, but we can still finish by noon or 2:00PM on Saturday. MeMe Sanna has been a great help to me, as she was last year. Unfortunately she wont be able to run again this year due to an injury. But she will be with the team as a driver and the ultimate cheerleader again. I couldn't do this without her. I have several returning members from my last year's team and some really cool new members. Of course, my son and daughter-in-law are coming again and bringing more family with them as well. I love that!! I love that my family is growing and they actually want to be with me!

Enjoy the week. I'll fill you in on the St Helens festival next weeekend. There is Jazz music on the schedule as well as boat rides, so I might have some neat photos to share again.

Well, I thought tonight that it might be a good time to update the photos of my backyard progress. It looks markedly different from the last time I posted photos. I actually have stuff that is more than 12" high now. My plum tree has almost doubled in height. Perhaps next year it might even produce a fruit or two. The little Mountain Ash that Mike plucked from the edge of his pond is doing equally well. My two lovely pink Azaleas however, clearly had transplant shock and are exhibiting the "sleep, creep leap" phenomona that many plants experience the first three years after being transplanted. They are clearly "coming back" and have many new green leaves in place of the alarmingly brown proliferation that I saw 6 weeks ago.

My vegetables are wonderful. I pick tomatos almost every night. Of course, I rarely make it into the house with many of the cherry tomatos. They are like picking candy.....I just eat them! The cucumbers have been "interestingly" huge ( actually, somewhat lewd!). They taste wonderful though, as do the Walla Walla onions and the lettuce. My chili peppers are developing nicely and I'm certain they will make some really tasty salsa very soon.

My flowers are very rewarding. I have planted a variety of species, many that will re-seed thenselves and reappear next year. My goal is to have mostly flowers that come again each year without being re-purchased. Some of these I have brought from the coast-like the bleeding hearts-and some I have purchased here. I know I will usually need to buy the annuals but I really like the perrenials too. Lana has given me Lilacs and Lynette donated ground cover and Iris. Karina gave onions/chives and Mike (however unwittingly) has provided many, many things. One of the plants I most treasure is a climbing rose that was (Kathryn Capper's) his mother's. It became so large it toppeled her neighbor's fence. Mike dug it up and moved it to his property. It needed to be moved again and still grows in both locations. I dug up a portion and now it grows near my back fence as well. Hopefully it will climb my fence and bloom as it does at the coast.

Enjoy the photos of my yard and come visit as well. I know Candace Dennis (my wonderful Real Estate agent who found this home for me) looks at my BLOG. She will appreciate the changes in the premises as she saw this little cottage when I first did. It was an orphan with no landscaping save for a square piece of grass. I invite all of you to come visit and share my joy in this very small, but cute, piece of Oregon.

July 28th CSNY Concert

I'm going to try to put a bunch of photos on the BLOG tonight. Last Friday night the "Capper Family" went to the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young concert at the Clark County Amphitheater. While not everyone is technically a Capper, it was the "tribe" as much as Mike could get them all together. This was Mike's treat for the family and we had a wonderful time. The music, of course, was wonderful and even the younger generation was amazed that they knew so many of the songs. Actually, in the end, the concert turned out to be (as in the 60's) an anti-war concert. We knew that and Johnny (Mike's conservative brother) was the best sport ever, even though it must have cost him dearly. He pretended not to "hear" and was a dear for the entire evening.

I think I gave Bonnie heart failure when I jumped up to cheer at Neil Young's song "Let's Impeach the President." She nearly died, I'm sure, but then the rest of the family stood up too. I believe Bonnie finally stood as well. We all reamined standing for the rest of the concert and sang along with the music.

We had a wonderful time and it was great to just be together. I know many of these photos are certainly not my best work, but they are a record of a fun family event and I hope you all enjoy them as much as we enjoyed the concert.

We had a great time the next day with John and Bonnie. We had breakfast at the Ridgefield Golf Course and then took a wonderful tour of the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge. I, thinking we were only to eat breakfast, didn't bring my camera (stupid!!!!) so we'll need to return to this wonderful area. We did get to pick and eat blackberries and stand on a bridge and watch traine go under us.

Enjoy the photos! I'll try to include some recent ones of my flourishing garden later this week.

July 17, 2006

I ran a 5K this Sunday. It's the same 5K I ran last July on the Beach in Seaside. We run about 1 1/2 blocks on the streets, then down the soft sand to the wet (hard) sand, down to the cove, back from them cove and up the SOFT sand and down to the finish. It's a relatively small race but a lot of fun. It's easy to strike up a conversation with folks who run. Either they are people who live nearby or are toursits who decide to run beacause they are there. For two years I have taken second place to casual tourists who "just happen to be there" and be in my age group. YUK!!! While I treasure my second place medals (gotten mostly becaue I am OLD and most ladies my age can't, or don't, run) I would certainly prefer a first place. NEXT YEAR!!!! This year I managed to persuade Peter Lindsay, Mike's long-time friend and co-worker, to run, along with his friend Jim (who has been a track coach and runs very, very well) to run this race. Of course, we were among the "elders" who ran. Peter and I took a second place medal and Jim ( who is the better runner of us all by far) took a third. I collected all our medals as the guys went to eat breakfast after the race. After I had collected Peter's and Jim's Medals and then my own, I explained to the M-Cee that we would all meet at happy hour at the tavern. He concluded (over the microphone) that he now knew the secret of the Cannon Beach runners........it was beer! We all met later in the day at Happy Hour at The Lumberyard tavern. Peter and Jim pretended to be very "embaressed" to receive their medals, but I believe they were pleased, especially Peter who somehow thought I might beat him. RIGHT, like some one with a 28 inch inseam could beat a 6'2" guy! Right!!! Not a chance.
I have included a photo here of us with our medals. I hope next year we can all collect our medals again. As Jim Babson reminded us, perhaps only 10-15% of folks our age can even do this, so we should wear our medals with pride.............even though we seem to have had little competition in the actual race. In the greater race of life, I believe we are winners for sure.

July 14, 2006

Rain, sun, rain.......it's Oregon! Actually, it was very reassuring to have the rain again the past two days. It doesn't feel quite right here when the sun shines too many days in a row. I love the sun, but I need the comfort of the rain too. Perhaps I'm not really a Californian at all, just a misplaced Oregonian.

I still need to program my automatic sprinkler for the garden. I will do that in the morning before I go to the coast. I have a ripe tomato!!!! And two ripe cucumbers along with many onions and lots of lettuce. My hot peppers are growing and the cilantro...dadgumit...has bloomed! So, I guess I will need to cut it, dry it or (Heaven forbid) buy it, to make salsa. The roses in the "circle" are doing really, really well. Lots of blooms and new growth. I finally got to see one bud on my front yard roses that the local deer missed. It's PINK! I don't know if they're all pink or just that one. I may never know if I can't find something to keep the deer from eating the new growth. And I thought that would only happen at the coast. Stupid me.

My south neighbors are having an 85th borthday party for Jessie tomorrow. I will mow my lawn before I leave so it looks better for them. I trimmed those awful grey plants that Edna & I both hate last evening so she coiuld see the dahlias bloom. I planted those on my little strip of land between us for her pleasure and she waters them for me. They are doing nicely and have good blooms. I weeded along there too, but then, that keeps the weeds from under my fence as well.

I took some additional moon photos at the coast last weekend when there was a full moon. Since they logged near Mike's all we have is the younger forest from the last clear-cut alost 15 years ago. But those trees are growing and they made a good background for the moon.

I'm running that awful 5K on the sand in Seaside again Sunday morning. I can't imagine I'll do very well this year as I haven't trained near as much as I did last year, but it's a fun run to do and the weather should be nice again. Peter and his friend are also running. I wonder if I will even see them. Peter seems to have such a phobia about me being a faster runner than he. What rot that is!!! But, perhaps he'll see how badly he beats me and will get over that. Anyway, it should be fun and I'll definately get my run in for the day....and a T-shirt to boot.

After the 4th

Back to work after one day!! UGH! But the weekend looms. I'd thought to have an HTC team meeting on Saturday, but not enough folks can attend. So, I'll go to the coast instead. I've made a deal with my across-the-street neighbor to water my garden in exchange for some spending money for her. She doesn't work so I think that will be a bonus for Lori and certainly for me as well. Perhaps next Saturday will be better for my team and we'll get to decide some stuff........like who's running which legs.

I though someone might like to see a cute photo of a green tree frog masquerading as a sunflower bud in Mike's neice's yard. I'd thought it was the beginning of a flower and bent the plant to look and the "bud" hopped to the next leaf! There is a wee spider to the right of the frog. I'm sure that arachnid made a tasty mid-afternoon snack for Ms. Treefrog.

The moon was playing hide & seek with the last of the clouds this evening and I tried a couple of night photos with my little Canon A610. Interesting shots, if not good. But I'll include them here as well.

Have a great weekend. I hope to be able to run both days and enjoy my other garden at the coast. Perhaps even mat and frame a few photos as I have a request to "decorate" another Doc's exam rooms at the clinic.

Happy 4th of July

When I bought my home, the former owner told me I had the "best seat in town" for watching the 4th of July fireworks here in St. Helens. Well, he was correct.

I spent the daylight hours gardening and, unintentionally, dog-sitting my neighbor's dog. About 2pm Buster "busted out" of the yard. I stuffed him back in once and re-barricaded the exit-or so I thought. Five minutes later, Buster was out again. The two neighbor girls and I tried to get him back through the fence. We finally dissolved in laughter when Buster went limp and none of us could manage the 110 pound dog. I thought he would stay with them since there were several young folks out. But I misjudged the dog. Going back to my gardening, I soon found a cold, wet, friendly nose nudging me. We spent the remainder of the late afternoon and evening planting roses, edging with bricks and loudly discussing where Buster would roam. When the M8Os would detonate, he would retreat under my deck and whine. If it was only firecrackers or piccolo petes, he would glue himself to my leg or hide under my deck chair where I retreated to have a beer. Buster is a great dog, but I would have no garden with such a beast. About 6:30 Jeff & Carol returned from boating in the river and reclaimed the dog. They had many apologies and gratitude, but I totally enjoyed my afternoon with Buster.

Evening came and the "real" fireworks began. My 16 X 16 deck is certainly the place to be to observe this show. I took several photos that I will include here. The illumination revealed my work for the day. I have planted miniture roses between my larger ones and they look very nice. I also planted Mike's mother's rose against my back fence. I hope it does as well there as it did for Kate and as it has for Mike. It is really a beautiful rose and should climb all over my fence.

The "find" of the day for me was a rose called Bonica. Mike has one at the coast and it is a favorite of ours. It is a shrub rose and has beautifully delicate pink blooms. I found one at, of all places, Wal-Mart. I purchased it and have planted it against my south wall very nearly under Edna's kitchen window. It, hopefully, will do well there and continue to provide those wonderful pink blooms.