News from the coast!

Sorry I disappeared for the month of January. Things have been very hectic. In between all the rainy days, the trips to Portland to babysit and the general 'where the heck did this day go' - we've been exploring the Brookings area. Brookings is four and a half hours south of the Newport area. Right on the Oregon-California border.

A long term rental came up in our favorite building in our favorite complex and we took it. Are you bi-coastal when you have two rentals on the same coast? It feels like it.

DH has always loved Brookings Oregon from the first time we came here on vacations. So while we still have the Newport condo - we want to try out the Brookings area. The weather, the condo itself, the quilt group!!! We want to be very, very sure that Brookings is everything we think it is before we move from Newport. So for the next three months we will be 'camping out' in the Brookings condo and splitting our time between Newport and Brookings.

So far we have brought 5 carloads down. We have two twin beds, [Thanks L&J] 2 kitchen chairs, 2 wicker-ish arm chairs, a new big screen tv (honestly, he was just going to the grocery store unattended!!), a console for the tv, kitchen and bathroom stuff. Yes, it is true - everything you want is ALWAYS at the other place. I don't care how many lists you make!!

Thank goodness for our son A - he came down last weekend and helped carry the stuff up to the 2nd floor condo and then got all the electronics set up. He was here to answer [intelligently] any questions the cable guy had! And between the two of them, we had HDTV, DVR and WIFI by the end of the day! I don't even want to think how long it would have taken and how cranky we would have gotten, left to our own devises! Thanks again, A!

Last weekend - the first weekend we were here - there was a winter storm. And at 2:15 in the afternoon on Sunday the lights went out. For eight hours!! A 90 mile swath down the coast was powerless - and it didn't phase DH one bit!! Boy, is it dark when even the town lights are off!

We had three candles and a wind-up camping flashlight but when the sun went down at 5 pm, well, not much to do! I was finishing a really good book. [Have you read "The Help" by Stockett? If not - run out and get it!] 20 pages left - so-o I used the wind-up flashlight. They say the light lasts an hour after winding .... hmmm, not when you're reading! So I'd read two pages and wind it up, read two more pages ... DH said the coast guard probably thought I was sending SOS signals when I was winding it! But the end of the book was worth it.

I should be back on schedule for blogging from now on. And we'll take pictures from the Brookings condo so you can see our dilemma. It is six hours from Portland instead of 2 1/2 - and Lord knows I don't want to leave friends and activities in Newport ... but the view is breath-taking!! You'll be the judge of that! Next post! Promise, no - really!!!