March 2016

Spring was in full swing in March.  After the daffodils, the blooming trees started and then the flowering bushes steal the show.  There are so many colors of flowers, and there is one bush that has white flower clusters as well as the new leaves are reddish and almost look like flowers.  Over the weeks, the colored leaves grow larger and the color on those leaves washes out and turns to a light green.  I suppose later in the summer they are green like the other leaves on the plant.

                                 

This bush had red berries and white flowers

Snake like plants on a sunny hillside near the forest

Mother Nature, landscape artist

Senior Missionary Couples at a FHE in Zions Camp Lodge

R.S. Birthday Party

Where we ate Fish for Jill's Birthday

E.J. often decides he won't look at
me when he thinks I want to take
a photo of him,

but I take it anyway.

This time he agreed--E.J. and Aberdeen and Grays Harbor

Selfy at Grays Harbor

Mount Rainier on a clear late afternoon from Grays Harbor hillside, March 30th

That's all for March.  See April for more colorful flowing bushes here in Washington.

Views of Grays Harbor

January and February 2016:
We had clear, blue-sky weather on Dec. 31 and January 1.  I had wondered whether or not we could see Mt. Rainier from here if there were no clouds.  I wasn't looking for it, but I did happen to notice it on the horizon as were were crossing the Chehalis River Bridge on Dec. 31.  We went to the parking lot of the hospital on Jan 1, but it was a bit hazy and harder to see.  The hospital is on a hill above the city, and the parking lot is at the edge of the hill.  Anyway, one can see the mountain from here if you are up high enough and it is a clear day.

from Chehalis Bridge

from hospital hill parking lot

We took photos of the cities and harbor below us while we were up on the hill.  The first of the following photos is looking toward the east, the rest follow as I turn to the right with the last toward the west and the ocean.

Aberdeen, Washington

Aberdeen and Grays Harbor

Hoquiam, Washington and Grays Harbor

                                    Missionaries in our zone, taken in Elma in February.

South zone missionaries at a conference in Olympia the end of December

January and February in Aberdeen

January and February were rainy most of the time.  We took our daily walks outside in our neighborhood when it wasn't raining, but it was a very wet winter here.  Here are a few photos taken during our walks.

He won't look at the camera.

Sherwood Forest

 We see these shrubs all over and wondered why the owners trimmed them in such an unusual way.  Then we realized that the deer like to eat these, and they feed on them up as far as they can stretch.

Spring flowers appeared in February

Moss on rock and crocus next to sidewalk.

The moss on rocks, walls, sidewalks, curbs, trees, and sides of streets is very green.

                                                            Zone meeting in Elma in January

Late November and December Activities

It has been three months since I posted anything.  Oh, well, never too late, I guess.  I'll go back to late November and December, 2015 and post some photos and information.

Missionaries at the Nov. 22nd  “Why I Believe” Fireside in Elma, Washington. This is presented a few times per year at the stake center.  The missionaries from several zones were seated in the chapel choir seats and we sang 4 songs:  Called to Serve, The Battlehymn of the Republic, As Sisters in Zion/Army of Helaman combination, and Amazing Grace, My Chains are Gone.  These were interspersed with testimonies of recent converts from the area.  They told their conversion stories and bore amazing strong testimonies.  Some were quick conversions like Micah (3 weeks), some took many years.  Micah spoke and did a great job.  All were great.  In the audience were many investigators as well as members.  Pres. and Sister Blatter were there and spoke as well.  It was really a terrific and spiritual missionary tool. 

On a rare, clear day we drove to the coast (about 15 miles) to see the ocean since we had already driven part way there to seek out some members.  It was the end of November, so there were not many people around and it wasn't very cold.  One photo shows what looks like snow at the side of the road, but it is just a lot of frost that stays on the tree-shaded roadside.  

     Pacific Beach

       Frost at the side of the road

     What the scenery on most of the drive looked like--road through trees.

      Copalis Beach

      mouth of Grays Harbor

      Drive back home.  Grays Harbor is to the right beyond the trees.

December 2015

 On Dec. 14 we had a senior missionary Christmas party in the evening at Pres. Blatter's house.  It wasn't raining that day so we decided to go during the day to see something in Tacoma.  The museum we thought we might visit was closed on Monday so we decided to go to Point Defiance Park and take the 5-mile drive around that park.  The park is mostly forest.  It is on a finger of land sticking out into the sound.  There is a zoo and an aquarium and a small museum of living history.  There is also an area where they have lots of flower gardens in the summer, but of course not in December.  The house with the visitor’s center was also closed for the season.  So, we drove the loop thinking we might go into the museum, but the sign outside that said it is open Wed. through Saturday.  So, we saw lots of ferns, mossy trees, a few raccoons, and several viewpoints where we stopped and looked across Puget Sound to Vashon Island and the port of Tacoma.  It was cool, but we didn’t wear coats.  There was not much traffic on the one-way road that goes around the point.  So, it was a nice relaxing drive.  After that we went to see the Union Station building next to the Washington Museum of History (which was closed) across from the Tacoma campus of the University of Washington.  This big train station was built in the early 1900s when travel to the Northwest by train was in its heyday.  There were 48 trains a day leaving from that station.  Later in the century when planes and cars were the popular method of travel and the number of trains per day reduced to 6, it was closed.  It stood in disrepair for a few decades and then was restored and now is a federal court building.  But the main domed central hall and floor beneath are open for the public to visit and observe the architecture of the building and glass sculpture and art displayed there.  The artist, Dale Chihuly, is a Tacoma native and very famous in the area, especially for his glass sculptures.  Not far from Union Station is a glass museum, but we didn’t go there. Some of his art and sculptures were kind of wild, but I like the huge orangey glass morning glory- type blossoms in the big arched window on the east side of the building.  The following photos are from the 5-mile drive, Puget Sound, and the Tacoma Union Station:

Look closely to see the top of snow-covered Mt. Rainier above the clouds directly above that tall building.

                        Colored leaves still clinging to vines on wall behind Union Station

Front of Tacoma Union Station (above)  From inside front doors (below)

Elder Jeppson, back side of Union Station, moss on the rocks behind him

In the evening we attended the Senior Missionary Christmas gathering:

       Sister and President Blatter

    So ended a lovely day, after our 1 1/2 hour drive home.  Great time with great people!

    On Dec. 22nd the whole mission gathered in Tacoma for a day-long Christmas party.

       Pres. and Sis. Blatter and their daughter, and of course, Santa