On Saturday, July 16th, we had time in the morning to visit one of our favorite Oregon nurseries, Al's in Woodburn. They have good plants but we like it mostly because it's so pretty.
The Molalla High School Class of '62 Reunion was held in the foothills north of the Willamette Valley in land that is now mostly Christmas tree farms. It was in a private venue with a wonderful log picnic shelter.
It is called Ringo Pond because the original homestead belonged to the Ringo family. There is a lovely little pond. See the young trees planted beyond the pond?
I served on the Zoom meeting planning committee and assigned myself the job of manning the sign-in table. It was so much fun greeting everyone, saying "Who are you?", studying their faces, and then saying "Yep, now I see" as I began to recognize that once young classmate. I live 200 miles away and have not kept in touch with my HS classmates.
Out of a class of about 120, 43 of us were present, 35 are known deceased, 17 could not be located, and some just didn't come.
We visited, ate good food catered by the local Grange, a rural thing for you city folks, and it was my job to organize and take the group photos.
That was an experience. It is often said that organizing kids is like herding cats. It's no different for a bunch of 78 year-olds. When the guy insisted that he hang off the end of the row, and he wasn't going to fit in the photo, I asked him to move. "I don't want to!" So I laughed, moved down the row, found a gap, and individually directed each person to move over a bit, and then he fit. We all just laughed at my directing traffic. Tom helped with the set up and the camera shutter on a timer, and we managed to get one good photo each of the classmates and then the whole group.
After all of that, I figured if you can't see their face, it's their fault. :-)
The reunion was a wonderful experience for me, and I am still feeling the glow of it. I was an extreme introvert in school, practically invisible, and I'm sure the classmates who remember me wonder who this animated, outgoing, even bossy person was. I just laugh at the transformation. Life changes us.
On the way home we passed my maternal grandparents former home. The Hofstetters were neighbors of the Ringos.
Grandma would not be happy that her large, well weeded and productive vegetable garden is now a weed patch. Grandpa would not be happy with all of the brambles around the house, but he would like that the rest of the farm, obviously in other hands now, is a beautifully tended Christmas tree farm.
We also drove past my mother's former house in Molalla, and then the small farm where she and Dad raised us six kids. These places are kind of sad looking now, but it's OK. We are done with them. We all moved on.
Reunion Day was a great success.
Very colorful and nicely arranged.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you took a photo of Tom holding the giant hydrangea so we could see how big it was. How wonderful that you were able to go to the reunion and reconnect with all your friends. It's been a long, long time since I've attended a high school reunion. We had over 300 students in our class.
ReplyDeleteThe reunion sounded like fun and I'll bet they are still taking at how much Linda had changed. Loved the traffic director image.
ReplyDeleteOh my that nursery is phenomenal, and the giant hydrangea was simply amazing.
ReplyDeleteI haven't attended any of my highschool reunions for many years. I was a bit of a geek/loner and didn't feel welcome. The next one will be the 50th, and perhaps I've changed enough to manage being with the group. We'll see.
Glad you had a wonderful time and the group photo is wonderful.
Those Hydrangeas are awesome! Thank you Tom for showing how large those blooms are! So glad you had a good experience with your class reunion, you took a great photos. Large groups are hard to photograph just getting everyone to open their eyes at the same time is an accomplishment.
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job of getting the photos. I'm sure a little bossiness was needed to get the job done.
ReplyDeleteLove all the flowers at the nursery. I do love them all.
You bossy? At least you did a good job on the photos. Those plants certainly are pretty, and the orange chairs are certainly bright!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post! I loved the nursery and especially all the beautiful hydrangeas. Reunions are always interesting, especially when we haven't seen people for a long time, and we all change! I'm reading a book now "Deep River" which is about the Finnish settlements along the Columbia River beginning in 1904.I think of you often as I read about life in the logging and farming communities there so long ago in what must have been your old stomping grounds.
ReplyDelete