Charlie's birthday was the big event this week. We had a fun day on Friday, finishing off with lunch at Greg's Grill on the Deschutes River.
We wanted to include the dogs, so we made sure we ate at a place where they are allowed at the outside tables.
We started out the outing with a fun-and-run break at the Riverbend Dog Park, first in the big, open area.
After Dusty got to chase the ball for a bit in the big yard (Sandy won't bother to go after the ball if he knows Dusty will chase it), we crossed the trail and went into the area for dogs that has access to the Deschutes River. NOW Sandy went after the ball. Dusty likes to wade, but not swim. Sandy knows Dusty will just supervise.
Dusty was still interested, though, because the ball is his thing. Sandy is just as happy to go after a stick, but we couldn't find any.
While we were there, a few other people came with their dogs. Sandy had the chance to observe some expert swimmers.
When we were done there, we walked to Greg's Grill for lunch.
First thing, though, at home, Charlie unwrapped his presents. This was a present from the boys (Dusty and Sandy).
This is what it looked like before it was wrapped. After a few days of being folded neatly, all the wrinkles went away. He wore it Saturday AND Sunday.
I had bought him a portable DVD player a few months ago to try to get ahead of the tariffs. He charged it up and got it to work. He seems happy with it. It will be useful when we're camping, and if he wants to watch a movie late at night after I'm in bed, he can, because it has headphones. It has a long battery time, so it won't need charging often, and the 10" screen makes it possible for both of us to watch a DVD together, if we want.
After we came back from our late lunch, all my boys dozed off on the couch. (Dusty caught me sneaking up with my phone to take the photo.)
Earlier in the week, Monday, was our anniversary (60 years!), I started us off with waffles made in our old waffle iron, which was a wedding present in 1965. It doesn't look great anymore, but it does a beautiful job. All the settings are worn off, but I know just where I need to move the little knob to get the waffles the way I want.
We didn't go out for our anniversary because we were planning to go out on Friday. It was a just a nice quiet day, with a walk for our dogs.
We had a few appointments during the week, including our Covid-19 boosters on Saturday. I managed to get some knitting in, including while we were waiting for our appointments for our vaccine. I took this photo on Saturday, but I've now finished the lace section of the Gentle Spirit Tee. There are some underarm decreases to match the back, and then the front and back get connected.
Have you ever heard of a $99 period? Well, I have. I wasn't too careful proofreading my cover for two reasons. 1) It was copied and pasted from my last cover, so how could it have any errors, and 2) I can't really see the tiny print that well, even with my reading glasses on. I approved the cover, and then showed it to Charlie. He found an extra period at the end of the last sentence. Because I didn't find it before the cover was "templated" at the publisher, I had to pay to have it redone. I hope I've learned my lesson. The proof copy is now on its way to me. If that's OK, I'll let them know to go ahead and print the whole run. I should have the new book in stores in plenty of time for holiday shopping. Here's the corrected version.
Remember how I said we got our Covid-19 boosters on Saturday? We've had a lot of confusion over how to get them, causing a delay. Last year I had my booster on September 5th and was exposed to Covid on the 8th, causing me to come down with it on the 14th. I didn't want to have that happen again, so I started trying to get an appointment toward the end of August. No luck. Last week our healthcare provided said I could get the vaccine with a prescription, so I asked for one. And waited. and waited. Everyone was waiting for the CDC to meet on September 18th and come up with recommendations. Some states decided to take initiative to speed things up. Oregon, where we live, joined with Washington, California and Hawaii to form the West Coast Health Authority. They recently issued these guidelines:
You'll notice each section under Covid-19 ends with "All who choose protection," so anyone who wants the vaccine and is at least 6 months old can get it. So we did.
At church on Sunday, we learned that our priest and her whole family had come down with Covid-19. We were in very close contact with her last Sunday (maskless) when we got a blessing for our anniversary and Charlie got one for his birthday, and she didn't come down with it until Wednesday or Thursday. It has been a week since our exposure, so we probably would have come down with it if we were going to, but it isn't impossible, so we will mask up if we go out in public for another week to protect others. We need to wear masks anyway, and another six days after that, to keep from getting infected before our boosters are fully active.
Our church had its annual fundraiser for Condega, Nicaragua, a community we help with things like uniforms for the children at the school for the deaf, repairs on buildings, construction of needed infrastructure, etc. I went along with some of my books, which I'm donating to the cause. (This was the event where I caught Covid-19 last year, so I wore a mask.) I sold a few books, including one to an actual child, who picked Emil to take home. There also were some questions about the dolls. I had a sheet with background information about the stories, which included a description of the dolls and Götz Puppenmanufaktur, the company that makes them.
I kept my mask on the whole time and felt fairly safe from infection while there.
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What's in The Doll's Storybook: Mariah faces a challenge she wasn't expecting connected with her performance in the play at school in Courage.
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