A good Thursday

 Thursday morning started out with Brennan helping me to make baked oatmeal.  That’s the recipe I had been searching for last week - in cookbooks, in my files, getting more and more nostalgic, but never finding it - until I searched Google for “Black Rock Retreat’s Baked Oatmeal recipe.”  And there it WAS!!  

For many years when our children were growing up we went to Black Rock Retreat on Labor Day weekend for Family Music Retreat.  Their famous baked oatmeal was always on the breakfast menu.

Brennan’s babysitter, Clara, was at the house.  She and Grandpa kept Brennan busy all day with puzzles and bowling.  They actually won a ladder ball game with arcade points (Clara had accumulated quite a stash of points), so they had fun with that too. 

Meanwhile Lisa and Jeremy went on a 5-mile hike on Angel’s Rest Trail. In the extreme heat we’re having here!  The view was worth it. 

As dinner time arrived, so did some friends. I had made Ginger Sweet Potato Lentil Stew and served it with Garlic Naan bread.  We also pulled out leftover salads from the evening before. 

The cutest friend sat right on the table!  Cooper was just a tiny baby when we were here a year ago. Now she is a charming almost toddler.  Everyone loves her so much. Brennan calls her “my cousin.”  

Megan, a long-time friend of Jeremy’s from his Florida days, is her mama.  Lisa calls her “my little sister” because Megan was so young when she got the job with Jeremy at Ashley Furniture in Florida, and Lisa and George’s place was a welcoming place for her. 

Christy and her dog joined us too.  She lives a few blocks away from Jeremy, and Lisa is sleeping at her house while here. 

In a little while Marisa and Stuart came too and brought a new game along.  It made no sense to me, but I had fun watching them play it. 

Then I washed up all the dishes and was ready for bed. 

Oh, I forgot to say that a friend from DC arrived while I was washing the dishes!  Tim and his wife are very good friends of Jeremy and Mike from their DC days.  He is in Portland this weekend to spend the weekend with a group of college friends, but he came here first for the night.  It was really fun to have him here. 

As you can tell, people love to be here. I’ve said this many times - Jeremy is a gatherer everywhere he goes. I love it!!