Its time for a change...

Its fall...our most favorite time..the time when we most miss the Missouri Ozarks and Silver Dollar City..but our part of Washington State is alive with color right now and you just couldn't ask for any prettier scenery. We took a drive out through the hills yesterday, just wandering, without benefit of "Jill" (our GPS voice who has been our lifesaver out here) or even a state map..and all we could do was "oooh" and "aaah" around each corner, as the vibrant reds, purples, yellows and many shades of green brought the hillsides alive.

Last weekend we were in Sammamish at my cousin Carl's home...this beautiful buck is just one of many deer who come to graze and feast near their home - he happens to be the biggest one Carl had seen. And on their front porch was this delightful display of fall flowers--the pansys residing in a very old pair of camouflage slip-on tennis shoes that Jerry bought when we first retired and hit the road in the RV...not because of their color but because they were easy to take on and off as he went in and out of the RV...but it was time to say good-by to them, so on our last visit at Carl & Sue's, when we completed our last hike with Carla during her visit, he dumped them. Imagine our surprise to find them recycled by Sue and looking great on their front porch!

There are some changes in our lifestyle as well...our lease is up on our apartment next week, so we are in the process of moving into our motor home for our remaining time here in Sammamish. We are trying to remember what goes back into the coach, what was donated to us by our church family to furnish this apartment, and what goes back to Midland--the good news is that it will all be done in just a few more days..and I look forward to a few weeks of just relaxing time living in our motor home, and enjoying some of this spectacular scenery.

Our emails have also changed - please use these now:

marymhilton70@gmail.com OR jerrymaxhilton@gmail.com

(Its been an interesting sidelight, as Carla has been in touch with the person who carries the same email name as I do, without the 70. My PEO chapter mistakenly entered my email address and it went to her, and she was kind enough to reply and tell them they had the wrong person. Carla and "other" marymhilton are about to find out how they are related!)

Over the last few years, I have made it a habit to send out an email to many of you letting you know that there was a new entry on our blog. It probably goes to some of you who would really rather not be notified. So right now - if you want to be on that email notification list in the future, please send me an email at the new address listed above and let me know.

Thanks for reading our blog..for caring for us...for being a part of our life. If you came to visit us during our year in Sammamish, we are grateful for that visit. If you didn't come, then watch out--because we may find ourselves in your "neck of the woods" when we get back on the road!

Locks, Alsups and Long Live the Queen

This past weekend, along with the non-stop rain, friends from Midland joined us for a quick view of Seattle (through windshield wipers!). We did have the best time, and just pretended it wasn't even damp outside. One of the sites we wanted to do before we finished here was go through the Ballard Locks..so we 4 boarded an Argosy boat and did that very thing...this pic shows the locks opening between the salt water of Puget Sound and the fresh water on the other side--quite a treat for all of us. In addition, the next day we returned and walked across the lock, hoping to see the salmon in the fish ladders--but it was the very end of the season, so we headed for Issa- quah (still in the rain), and were able to see hundreds of salmon from the bridge over Issaquah creek. (That means that it was one year ago that we came for a visit, had our first glimpse of this area where we would be living for the coming year, and saw the salmon spawning in Issaquah for the first time! My, how the year has flown by!) Thanks, Jim & Sandy, for being such good sports, and sharing our countryside with us in the rain!

Once again, the rain didn't deter us from sharing lunch...such things as fish 'n chips, ploughman's lunch, trifle and sticky pudding--oh yummy! (eat your heart out, Jo and Carla!) at the British Pantry in Redmond, with our Associate Pastor, Becki Barrett, and her delightful mum, Pat. (Pat's long-time home was Las Vegas NV and her church was FPCLV, now pastored by Jim Houston-Hencken, whose two children we love to grandparent.)

God's world really is so small - and we are SO glad to be a part of the family of God!