Wonderful visit

We have had a wonderful time here in Washington.  We went to my grandson’s graduation, visited with family, we went to some yard sales, and ate too much.  Today we took some time off for a visit to Janet’s ninety year old uncle in The Dalles, Oregon.  It is a little less than two hours from Camas, where we have been staying.  I borrowed a car from my son, and off we went.

When we arrived at his home I was impressed with the wonderful roses that grew against the fence.   They were really outstanding.  He point to some other flowers that were growing against the house. and I had to admit that I had never seen flowers like them.  They had long stems and were about three feet tall with enormous round purple flowers six to eight inches in diameter.  He they revealed that they were ONIONs.  They bloom all summer long and turn brown after frost.  I can hardly wait to see if I can get some like them to grow in Georgia.

Ken is a wonderful guy.  The last time we had a chance to visit with him was about a year before his wife of 67 years passed away.  He has been working on   a taped oral history that we plan to type up and print for the family.  About two weeks ago his family, who have been urging him to move our of his house, came over and held a yard sale and sold a lot of, what he a called, clutter.  Among the things they sold were the tape recorder and tapes he has been using for the oral history, but he was quick to let us know that he had copies of most of it, and hopes to finish it very soon. 

We chatted about our respective ages  and Janet asked him how old Vera ( his wife) was when they were married.  He smiled and said 19, going on 17.  We kindly pointed out that this was the reverse of common counting, and he laughed aloud.   He told us that when he was in the Army in WWII, he met her and began to date.  He asked her her age and she answered “19”.

After they had dated for some time he asked her to marry him and she answered in the affirmative, and like most young ladies she rushed him over to her sister’s home where she told her sister that they were engaged.  Her sister replied that she couldn’t get married without her father’s signed permission.  Ken asked why and was told that she was not “of age” she was only 17.  Thus, he said, “she was 19, going on 17.  I asked him if they had any trouble getting the father’s signature, and he told us that he had no idea; the she and the sister handled that, and he never met her father till after the wedding.

I made some comment about saying “i do” without seeing the father and he replied “I did”.

However it happened they were married sixty seven years, had five successful children and bunch of grandchildren and now some great grandchildren

It was a lovely time.   We also had a chance to have dinner with his daughter, her husband, his daughter’s children, her daughter in law, and a few of the grandchildren (or great grandchildren)  It was a really good spaghetti dinner with a salad made of watermellon chunks, strawberries, apple sliced and mandarin oranges in a wonderful sauce, and it concluded with a rhubarb cobbler that was outstanding.  Rhubarb is one of my favorite fruits, and my efforts to grow it in Georgia have been dismal failures.

All in all it was a wonderful day, a little spoiled when Janet got carsick on the way home.

Her sickness and the fact that we both forgot to take our cameras were the only blots on the evening.