OR - CA 2008 / Chapter 2

In the first chapter of my OR - CA adventure, my parents, my hubby and I traveled by plane from Wichita KS to Redmond OR via delays, re-routes and all that goes with the airport relay race. Five hours later than what we had planned, we found ourselves finally sitting in my Aunt Kathy's kitchen. Aunt Kathy is my father's little sister. Below is Aunt Kathy's husband, my Uncle Gordon and my dad eating soup that Aunt Kathy prepared for us upon our arrival. She had planned on fixing dinner for us, but with the late hour of our arrival we opted for a light meal.
Before I get into the stories I would like to take you on a tour of my Aunt and Uncle's place which is in the high desert in Oregon. Below is the front of the house, the white bridge is over a pond with waterfall that Uncle Gordon recently put in. Over the roof of the garage you can see a mountain top in the background.
Patty their dog greeted us upon our arrival. She is a very friendly dog that just tolerates the cats.
Pedro and Petey greeted us the first morning, pacing outside our closed bedroom door. I'm sure they're not used to this bedroom door being closed.
This is the first morning in Aunt Kathy's wonderful, homey kitchen. Take a good look at the cabinets and most all the woodwork because my cousin Ray did most all of it. I don't find a website for his company but I do find company information. The kitchen, dining area, front entrance and living room are all part of the great room, meaning they are open to a high ceiling with partitions dividing them.
The picture below shows my Aunt Kathy and my mother sitting in the area of the kitchen where I had been standing to take the picture above.

The fountain and plant can be seen behind Aunt Kathy and mom. Pedro likes his water cool and aerated.
Aunt Kathy calls him her little panther.
I love this fireplace, the big round rocks are just gorgeous. If you were sitting where Aunt Kathy and mom were, this is what you'd see if you looked into the living room.
Below you see how the great room is divided. The hallway leads back to the bedrooms and around the corner to the right is the entrance.
Looking from the hallway back towards where I had just been you can see the dining doorway where Aunt Kathy and mom had been at the lower right of the picture, to the left, past the clock you can see the island in the kitchen. The clock had a wonderful tone and chimed on the hour and on the half hour.

The office below is the room you see in the hallway from the living room. It was in this room that I spent a great deal of time photographing pictures and documents. This room is the office, the computer is there, the craft/sewing room and also has a daybed.
An evening relaxing in front of the TV with a cat for each lap. Out the window you can see their deck/porch that wraps around the house.
Here is the bedroom that my hubby and I occupied. I just love the cozy, homey feel of it with all the old photos and keepsakes. There's little in Aunt Kathy's house that doesn't have a story behind it. The bed in this room was made by one of Uncle Gordon's family.
Below is Uncle Gordon's shop, I will do another post on this. See the mountain?

That's chapter two, just an introduction to their home. Next, some family history.