Moritz Life

We were very fortunate to get to stay in Ocean Shores, WA on Saturday night. Our cozy suite with a fireplace overlooked the beautiful Pacific Ocean. Even though it rained, the sound of the surf and the seagulls was awesome. It was a very enjoyable visit. We ate dinner at the Pirates Cove and went for a swim in the hot tub before watching the 3rd period of the Oilers game. Too bad they lost against Calgary...

Over the past five months Kathy and I have been hitting the road on weekends visiting churches across Washington. This has meant considerable travel, and frequent hotel stays and restaurant meals. For the most part it has been fun visiting different cities, seeing churches in action, and meeting new people. It can also be exhausting.

This past weekend was one of the most pleasurable. The weather was gorgeous as we went to the western side of the state to Montesano. We stayed in a grand old bed and breakfast house and had a wonderful time with the people.

On the way home Sunday we stumbled across a private garden near Mossyrock, which is on a offbeat highway not far from the Cascade mountains. We took some time to "smell the roses" on a beautiful fall day.

For those interested in gardens and such, check out our photos of our garden stroll: LINK

I bought a new bike. I won't be riding in any bicycle races anytime soon, but I will probably be singing the Queen song in my head as I ride down the street. I bought a bicycle yesterday at my Target. This is the bike:


(click here for the Target.com page for the bike)

It of course isn't the best or most expensive bike in the world, but I only paid $18 for it. It is regularly $150 but I got it on Clearance for 85% off the original price, plus my team member discount. So I figured even if I don't end up using it that much, it's still worth it. I also told Andrew about it when I got home, and was able to call my coworker and get her to purchase the last one we had, so Andrew and I have matching bikes now.

This is my first road bike, as all my previous bikes have been of the mountain variety. I haven't taken a ride anywhere yet because I don't have a bicycle helmet. I figure though that my bicycle helmet might end up being more expensive than the bike itself.

One of the great things about where we live in Fresno is that we close to a lot of fairly good bike trails. The North of Fresno is close to some big parks, and some great scenery in the San Joaquin River system. So it should be fairly easy to ride my bike often now that I actually have a bike.

A couple of weeks ago Andrew reminded me that Canadian Thanksgiving was approaching. He reminded me of this when we were shopping, so we decided then and there that we would have a Thanksgiving feast. Of course this meant that we would be making the feast, because Mom is a couple of states away, but we started picking up items for the dinner.

The menu looked like this:
Turkey
Mashed Potatoes
Corn
Gravy
Pumpkin Pie
Sparkling Cranberry/Apple Juice

We had our feast on Sunday night.

Here are pictures from the dinner. (Click on photos for full size)





The dinner turned out very well, especially since Andrew and I cooked it. We made everything including the pie, however, for most items we took a shortcut. (ie. instant mashed potatoes, etc.)

My dear sweet husband used his very own Aeroplan air miles to get me a return ticket to Regina, SK and back. Why on earth would I want to go to Regina you ask? Well my baby sister (who lives in Ester Hazy, SK) is having a baby the end of this month, so I am going to spend some time with her after the baby comes. What's really nice too is that my mom & dad will also be visiting so I'll have a chance to see them too. I'm flying out of Seattle on November 22nd and returning on November 27th. Going there is going to be a long day - about 12 hours spent in 4 different airports but the way home will be much shorter.