friday...saturday...sunday - SO much more than a weekend!!!

...thing is when you lose something or someone, if you watch carefully, someone or something steps right up to replace that...'member we lost our beloved dog Sonny about a year ago. First we had Lihbi who if you don't know, decided one day to move out (it was on Adam's Day, he walked a boy down the road to town and just decided to hang out there). We then got a little beaver at the store in the Capitol building in Salem, OR. You'd think he was stuffed but apparently he's quite talkative and likes to keep apprised of the situation!..
Next we got Daisy, who as it turns out has two names. You can call her Daisy or Fairy she answers to both. ..
One day I burst into song (yes, this has happened from time to time) and out of the deepest recesses of my mind came "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do, I'm half crazy all for the love of YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUuu, it won't be a stylish marriage, I can't afford a carriage, but you'll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two. As it turns out this was amusing to Biko (Daisy calls him "the Big One" and Mr. Man (Daisy actually believes Mr. Man to possess special powers) who guffawed quite loudly. Daisy later told me that she actually only heard me to sing "daisy daisy daisy daisy daisy....)" ..

ANYWAY, that's only part of the story.Friday came along

, a most anticipated day for TODAY we were loading up and headed to Joseph for an amazing 3 days of OMG!!!! SO EXCITED...I did my usual preparations, and we waited while Biko went to work and came home, then off!
We got to Joseph after a couple minor mishaps (Tony - the latest "go" also known as a car, but simply called a "go" by most dogs and even the stupid mice that live around our home - but I digress. Tony had a tummy ache and just insisted on stopping from time to time.) and Brother (aka Mr. Man) and I put up our tent although we'd brought his tipi with us. A comment here and there and we kind of felt like "uhhh, perhaps we shouldn't have put the tent right here in the center..." but we had so there it is. Well as fortune has it, there were poles available and we DID get to put up our tipi which precipitated yet another adventure. My brother went to register said tipi with the grounds manager who promptly asked my brother to ride a horse in the parade the next day...
See how this goes? It's a cause and effect thing:-) Take down a tent, put up a tipi and you get what? TO RIDE A HORSE!!!! Such excitement!
Got things set up, washed our faces and then what? OH YEAHHHHH time for jollifications!!!!!! That's another story in and of itself, suffice it to say, fun was had, new friends made and Koolaid lost his cookies in the most undignified manner!!!
Saturday morning we woke up and it's time to get ready for the parade for it had been determined that we would all dress in our best and hop on SOMETHING to ride in the parade...my brother had the honor of using some really amazing beadwork, cornhusk woven bags, loop necklace and he looked pretty amazing - and I'm not just saying that cuz I'm his sister!!!!! He got on his "hodie" (horses took this name long long ago when the oldest manchild couldn't pronounce "horses" right). I was sitting on the float and he brought his hodie over to meet me. "What's your hodie's name?" His hodie immediately answered me "Hellloooo, my name's BLAZER and I'm NOT a hodie!!!!" My mistake, I apologized to Blazer and we made up immediately. From then on it was perfectly okay with Blazer if I kissed on his silky soft nose any time I felt like it!
The rest of the afternoon was amazing I ran into a good friend I haven't seen in a long time (Rebecca) and my Auntie Sylvia and just a lot of other people. My son Biko said "it's just like a big family here" to which Brother responded "it IS a big family"...so much people watching you can't even imagine, so many songs and dances heard it was the BEST...evening came along and Brother again dressed in his finest and oldest and off to find Blazer because they were to go out in the arena at the rodeo together!
Bottom line is, these fun things happened because we took our tent down and put up our tipi! NO LIE! The three men riding in the rodeo went through to the majestic strain of "Dances with Wolves" playing in the background...the announcer gave a herioic try at pronouncing their Indian names right but ended up calling Brother "Blue Hawk" which was a chuckly moment:-)
Saturday night and out for pizza then further jollifications...I participated less this time, one night was pretty much going to do it for me:-) More new friends, some of the ones from the previous night and SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much fun!!!!!

Sunday arrives and it's time to go home! First we went to the TOPPERMOST PART OF THE WORLD - and rode the GONDOLA THERE!!!!
it was SUCH an amazing experience...fed the squirrels, and chipmunks and the no tailed squirrels (my favorite) and pretty much bonded with the sky while up there!!!
back to the lake to relax before driving home and even the road home was amazing...
adventures and fun have to end sometimes and here we are at home now...Fairy missed us so I made her some special dinner last night and this morning she had mush and toast with me and Mr. Man...
SIGH...life is GOOD