The Happy Birthday Dinner

After the fabulous feast on corn smut and other wonderful home-made Mexican dishes at Karen & Leo Garcia's on Tuesday, it was difficult for Max to decide where he wanted to go for the The actual Birthday Dinner. When I asked him where he wanted to go, he could only say "To Leo Garcias"! Since we didn't think Karen and Leo would appreciate us inviting ourselves to dinner again, Max settled on a different Mexican restaurant, El Porton, in East Wenatchee. It was good and they brought Max a special birthday ice cream dessert and plopped a sombrero on his head for this picture.

Our friends, Kathy & Jim Persing, happened to be in town this evening and we enjoyed having them come to dinner with us. They're the ones who just had a new home built in Redmond, Oregon and I posted a picture of them a while back on this blog.

Corn Smut

Tonight we were invited to Cashmere for an authentic home-made Mexican dinner at the home of our friends Karen & Leo Garcia. The hit dish of the night was "corn smut". Don't ask me to explain it. I just know it looked very bad but was very good! If you want to know any more, you'll need to do the research yourself. That is one informational link, but you can find several others by going to www.Google.com and typing in "corn smut".

There were lots of other things to eat that I had never heard of and, to this moment, can not explain... but it was ALL really good.

Karen is my massage therapist and her husband is the Director of the Hispanic Horticultural Program at Wenatchee Valley College.

Karen started us all off with Margaritas and appetizers of skewered shrimp, avocado and cherry tomatoes... while Leo made all of the real food. It was really really good... with homemade Flan as the dessert. It was kind of a special birthday gathering for Max. Notice the birthday candle on Max's flan?

Leo has known Max for many years through the fruit industry, but they have never really gotten together on a social level before. Tucked against a hillside, Karen and Leo have a beautifully remodeled home in Cashmere. It's such a lovely, peaceful setting.

In the pictures (click to enlarge): Top, Max with his birthday flan that Karen made especially for him. Second picture: Leo with the much discussed "corn smut" and surrounded by other dishes. Bottom picture from left to right: Karen Garcia, Leo Garcia, Max, Don Elfving, Dusti Elfving. Sorry this group picture is a little blurry.

Don Elfving works as a scientist at the Washington State University Tree Fruit Rearch center. Max & Don have known each other for many years and Don served as Master of Ceremonies at Max's retirement banquet. Dusti is the owner of Express Personnel and also Dusti's Gift Baskets.

I'm not sure how we'll ever repay Leo & Karen for this special evening, but we'll think of something.

-Carol

A Letter From The Prophet

Here is a copy of a letter Max received in 1975 for his work with The Church orchards. Click on the image to enlarge.

This is a very special letter, signed by Spencer Kimball, the (then) Prophet and President of The Mormon Church.

-Carol

A Church & A Baby Birdhouse

When Connie & I were at the Apple Annie's Antique Mall on Monday, I found two more birdhouses I needed to add to my collection.

The one on the left is the very first house of the collection, but I found a maching "baby" birdhouse that I couldn't resist. I also found this cute church birdhouse.

I'm working on a plan to find little display shelves to put in our outside entryway to display these and others I may add to the growing collection. Connie had this bright idea. Now, I need to get to a craft store and find the little shelves and get them installed.
-Carol

A Fun Week

Connie & Bill (Max's sister and husband) left this morning after spending 9 days with us. They rolled in with their 40 foot motor home a week ago Monday and rolled out this morning. It was a fairly relaxed week, but we did a lot of things too.

I learned Connie is very good at weeding the flower beds and trimming roses... and (I already knew) Bill is a good fix-it man. Connie was also very helpful around the house and with meal planning. Bill had to plan his time around the Arizona Diamondback games and the Bill O'Reilly show each day. Good thing we have multiple TV's in the house because I was watching the Seattle Mariner games, of course! They're easy company to have and we'll miss them.

Here is a picture of (from left to right): Bill, Max & Connie in front of the motor home this morning (Saturn in tow) just before the departure. They're travelling in style! Click on image to enlarge.

They checked in from Wilsonville, Oregon late this afternoon and will work their way down to Trinidad, California (northern coast) where they'll spend a month. They won't actually get back home in Sun City West, Arizona until late October or early November. They've been on the road since April.
-Carol

My Brave Sister-In-Law

Monday I took Connie to the monster Apple Annie's Antique Mall in Cashmere, which she loved. While wandering around, my friend June Dorner called me on my cell phone to see what I was doing for lunch. June had been on a trip for about a month, so I told her to come on up and have lunch with us at Studebaker's restaurant.

June did come up and brought our friend, Vi. We had a nice time visiting and Connie was admiring June's short haircut. June says she cuts it herself and would give her (Connie) a short cut too if she wanted it. Connie took her up on the offer and here are the results.

Connie is loving the new do... and looking forward to the easy care style for the rest of their trip. Here are the before, during and after photos. Remember to click on the images to enlarge!
-Carol