Monday, July 20, 2015

Balancing act

During these two weeks Brian is with my folks, I hoped to check off many things on my mental to-do list – some deep cleaning and significant decluttering; skirting the rest of the fleeces; riding my horse more often; meeting up with friends I see too seldom; spinning along with the Tour de France/Fleece; blocking three (four?) knitted projects – on top of all the usual commitments like my three part-time jobs, chores, watering, gardening, cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. Rick had ONE thing on his mental list: spending time with me. Isn't that sweet? Yeah, well, if I spend ALL my waking, non-working time with him, not even the bare minimum gets done – forget all those other things I hoped to do! So we compromise. I haven't gotten much done on my list, but Rick doesn't get me all the time, either (just most of the time). And when being with him involves travel time, I get in spinning time; woot!

Take yesterday, for example. Rick wanted to play all day, but I set my foot down and said I HAD to skirt Bart's fleece first. Just before I left for Texas, someone had reserved Bart's and Marta's fleeces; I got Marta's done last week (below) and needed a block of cooler morning hours in the shade of the house to skirt Bart's.

Once that was done, we headed for the coast with the dogs. After a long, winding drive, we stopped for lunch in Tillamook (can you believe we didn't get any ice cream?!?), then drove over the ridge to Oceanside and into cool, refreshing marine air.
I had never been to Oceanside before, and loved the tunnel access to the little beach on the other side of the headland. One of Rick's clients has some little rental cabins overlooking the beach in Oceanside; I think it would be fun to spend a weekend and explore some more. We couldn't stay long yesterday because Rick had a veterinary call to make before the end of the day and it was 55 miles SE of our house (we had traveled 90 miles NW to get to Oceanside).

Needless to say, there was no time to ride Lance yesterday....

That's it for now from . . .

14 comments:

Debbie said...

Wow, looks like you had a wonderful time and I might add two very lucky dogs too, everyone enjoying time at the beach.
This balancing act between our mental "to do's" and just kicking back, it is a struggle at best.
Really nice to hear that you and DH had some time together.
You're doing so well with your spinning.

Tina T-P said...

Glad to see the Blue Heron Cheese factory is still there! I think I first visited it about 25 or 27 years ago - I think they had just opened, but they had very good cheese then, I'm sure they still do now.

Tina T-P said...

Gosh - forgot to say - that fleece looks almost like a pelt. Good shearing job... T.

Retired Knitter said...

Wonderful pictures. Nice day. Great dogs. Thank you for my bull dog fix! :-)

Florida Farm Girl said...

I think it's wonderful for you two to spend some time together being a couple, not mom and dad. It's important. And right now I'd love to enjoy some of that cool Oceanside weather!

Thistle Cove Farm said...

I would give ANYthing to toss the to-do list aside for one more day doing nothing much except enjoying Dave's company.

Michelle said...

The dogs were so happy! I enjoyed it, too, but I also enjoy getting things done (Rick calls me "duty-driven").

Michelle said...

I don't remember seeing it before, but then I've only been to the Tillamook Cheese Factory once, and it was probably over 20 years ago. Rick has been to Tillamook several times recently because of clients in the area; the one horse vet in that region recently retired.

Michelle said...

I made SURE to take some bullie photos just for you! ;-)

Michelle said...

The weather was a breath of fresh air in every way. This morning dawned cloudy at home for the first time in ages, so I'm enjoying that, too.

Michelle said...

I'm trying to keep that sort of thing in mind, Sandra!

Unknown said...

What a great get-a-way for you two and the dogs. Such a pretty area!

C-ingspots said...

Oceanside is one of my favorite little beach towns! We spent most of our honeymoon there. Did you lunch at Roseanna's?

Michelle said...

It was lovely, if a rather long drive, Nancy Kay.

Lorie, we didn't eat in Oceanside, and it didn't look like much was open. The flower photos were taken next to a little eatery that was closed, might have been Roseanna's.