Seeing James Taylor from the cheap seats in Amalie Arena, Tampa, Florida, was not that bad and the music was great. Also during a May visit to see Abbie and Andrew Walters, we enjoyed the movie “RBG” at the historic Tampa Theatre. Inside the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall the McCracken clan took seven seats of the mezzanine first row. This December 2018 event was The Moth—live storytelling recorded for The Moth Radio Hour.
The six McCracken siblings in order of age are Mel, Trina, Heidi, Juliana, Abbie, and Ethan. The parents (Dan and Cindy) are pictured in the middle. Starting at top left and moving clockwise: (1) Mel and Marta stand in front of a trellis in the Newberg McCracken’s back yard. (2) Trina would turn 49 this year if she were living. I can only imagine what a wonderful woman she would be. (3) Abbie and Andrew shade their eyes from a brightly lit November day in the Columbia River Gorge. (4) Heidi and her son, Nym, in front of the lobby fountain in the downtown Portland Essex House. (5) Juli and Doug relax at Heidi’s apartment. (6) A plethora of hats decorated the lodge where the family gathered in November. Ethan temporarily adopted one.
Comfortable with tools of any size, Ethan also has a kind and gentle spirit seen as he holds Maya Comfort Bay and chats with a child at our summer garage sale. The scene at top left is unusual. Hugo has an unexplained fear of Ethan despite the fact that Hugo gets along well with other people and Ethan gets along well with other dogs. The hat must have provided enough disguise to allow this moment of peaceful coexistence.
Our May 2018 trip to Tampa, Florida, included a road trip with Abbie and Andrew Walters to St. Augustine. The bottom left and top right photos are from the Castillo de San Marcos—the oldest masonry fort in the continental U.S. Photos in the middle are at Flagler College which was originally the ornate Ponce de Leon Hotel. Lighthouse stairs (top left) at one of the two lighthouses we visited on the Atlanta coast of Florida. The Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse and Museum includes a lens exhibit with several large lighthouse lenses on display as shown in the middle left photo. Near where Abbie and Andrew live on the north side of Tampa is the New Tampa Nature Park (lower right).
It was June of 2018 when a Facebook post from Colleen Sump captured Cindy’s attention. Hugo’s home was in Montana, but now it is Newberg, Oregon. Hugo is a male cairnoodle (half cairn terrier and half poodle).
Our landscaping looks best when only focused on select flower blooms.
We enjoy the Oregon coast. And in this case “we” includes Hugo.
Cindy’s mom, Bonnie Arbogast, celebrated her 94th birthday on September 30, 2018. At top left Bonnie blows out an unlit birthday candle—staying compliant with the Friendsview Retirement Community fire code. One of her favorite visitors joins the celebration with a party hat (bottom left). Top right: Cindy and Ronda, with their mom, dressed in their Christmas red. Bottom right: Mother and daughters are joined by granddaughter Abbie McCracken Walters. Bottom middle: Bonnie is careful about saying “favorite,” but Sao is undisputedly a very special care giver.
Obviously not much traffic when we crossed paths with neighbors when walking our dogs. Great neighbors should not be taken for granted. The three landscaping photos include two views of the same area. Bottom left is early summer looking toward the back triangular corner of our lot. Bottom right is the same area from the opposite direction and in the fall. The stone retainer and new planting were a fall 2018 project that had recently been completed.
The McCracken family spent an extended weekend together near Hood River in November 2018. Top photos were taken when hiking the Oak Ridge Trail. Bottom picture taken while walking the Mark O. Hatfield Memorial Trail (left to right: Marta, Doug, Mel, Ethan, Mesa, Cindy, Juli, Heidi, Hugo, Andrew, Abbie).
Clockwise from top left: (1) Stars in the window of Heidi’s Portland apartment. A glimpse of the December 2018 phase of construction of the new courthouse can be seen in the bottom right of this photo. (2) Ethan, Juli, Heidi. (3) Dinner Christmas day with Bonnie (Cindy’s mom) at Friendsview Retirement Community Health Center. (4) Newberg Emerging Friends Church Christmas eve candle light service—Abbie and Andrew Walters, Dan. (5) The family Christmas meal on December 22 is supplemented with a snack table in the kitchen nook.
A Christmas present in 2018 was a jigsaw puzzle (1,000 plus pieces) of a family photo that was taken the previous month. Photo top right is reminiscent of Oregon coast winds. Bottom right is outside our living room windows where two “Yuletide” camellias offer some welcomed color in December and January.