Oregon Trip

   I drove down to the Portland area with Linda on Thursday and spent a few lovely days with grandchildren before I had to come home again on Saturday.  I am so grateful for Quentin who helps makes family time like this possible. My primary reason for making the trip was Linda's sore back which made it difficult if not impossible for her to drive.  However, It was a lot of fun to see the Oregon grandkids.

Hannah Kang with her new sweater and tam hat

     I was able to deliver our latest sweater collaboration to Hannah Kang.  I say "our" because I spin the yarn and my mother knits the sweaters.  If the grandkids had to wait for me to knit the sweaters there wouldn't be very many sweaters yet.  As it is I think we are up to 7.  Only 14 more to go.  My mother finished this sweater several weeks ago, but I wanted to knit a matching tam hat to go with it.  I spun the yarn from a blend of sheep wool and wool I sheared from Black Jack, one of our two pygora goats.  The addition of some sheep wool results in a yarn that has memory and can be blocked to a particular shape.

     The trip to Oregon included attendance at a dance event in which some Kang family friends participated (Woodwards and Knaup). It was held at a Masonic Hall in Portland and was a fun time.  Rachel Kang is on the waiting list and hopefully will be a member of the group next year. Friday evening we had dinner at The Arnett's home and got to tour Rachel's garden.  She has a serious green thumb plus their spring is several weeks ahead of ours.  On Saturday morning we had breakfast at Maggie's Buns in Forest Grove and experienced their maple-bacon cinnamon rolls. They were pretty darn good.

Chloe Kang with her first batch of biscuits

     I took advantage of the trip to share some of my cake flour with the Kangs so they could experience biscuit nirvana without the salt.  I gave a biscuit lesson to Chloe Kang on Friday morning. We had to make fake buttermilk by adding lemon juice to regular milk and we had to use vegetable  shortening.  The biscuits turned out pretty well and didn't end up tasting lemony.  I don't know if the one lesson will be enough for Chloe to start cranking out biscuits several days a week. (More a reflection on my teaching skills than Chloe's aptitude) However, I can always do a few refresher lessons during the summer.  Four year old Lilly gave the ultimate compliment on Saturday morning when she asked me if we could have biscuits for breakfast again.

     It was sad to have to leave.  Its such a wonderful thing to have grandchildren who are so glad to see us and we are so glad to see them.  I will just have to a settle for some vicarious grand children time through Linda, who is spending an additional week with the Kangs.  She is going to take a genealogy trip with them to Dayton, Washington.  It sounds like fun.  I will see them again at my nephew Josh's wedding this coming weekend.