Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy: The Online Diary of a Central Oregon Grandmother

Welcome to the online diary of a Central Oregon Grandmother (me) who is busy celebrating the positive portions of her everyday life ... along with her best friend husband (Cary). It is quite an eclectic diary and I try to do my best to incorporate a little bit of history into many of my posts. Your visit to our piece of American Pie is greatly appreciated. This chatty Kathy posts frequently, so coming back to visit often is highly encouraged.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Kansas Rain and Rainbows:

I took these with the car window closed since it was raining so hard. There was a double rainbow. There are reflections all over, from Cary in the seat in front of me to flashes from the camera. I just thought these looked cool and kind of surrealistic.

Kansas Landscapes ... taken from the car window:

Happy Birthday, Kylie!

From this cute little baby:

To this beautiful 18-year-old young lady:

Happy Birthday, Miss Kylie, from Grandpa and me.

We love you soooo much, and are very proud of you!

McPherson, Kansas: A Walk Down Main Street

After I left South Maple Street, I walked one block over to Main. I was eager to see the McPherson Opera House . It was originally built in 1888 for the large sum of $42,000. Over the years it became a movie theater, an apartment building and then was restored to its original purpose. Quite impressive!

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

There are churches all over McPherson. Here is a pretty one:

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

If you are ever in McPherson, please make sure that you stop in to eat at Neighbors and visit with Shelly and her crew. Great old fashioned comfort food in an old fashioned diner, it is a relaxing and yummy way to spend your meal time. We went twice!

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

As I was on my walk, Cary was getting his hair cut and beard trimmed. I walked in to see how much longer I had to explore and was shooed out of this man's club...they were telling dirty jokes. Later I met Luke, a younger man with a lot of personality, he told us about his new baby, Ace.

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

This isn't Luke, though.

I enjoyed looking at the top of the storefronts. This one was built in 1909:

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Close by the opera house is a darling courtyard restaurant:

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

I think I will continue to experiment in black

and white. Isn't this cute?

Well that is all for right now. I need to do Kylie's birthday post and then get back to real life. Stay tuned for more of Kansas though ... lots more!


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McPherson, Kansas: Pretty Houses

As I walked down beautiful South Maple in downtown McPherson, I fell in love with this little town. Located one block off of Main Street was a tree lined peaceful neighborhood with huge older homes. Some of them were for sale, and my jaw dropped at how low the prices are, compared to the Northwest.

This lovely historic home is called The Bixby House, and was built in 1879. Totally updated on a huge lot, this four bedroom home is only $149,900. I also found a 1910 two bedroom house on the same street for only $79,900. You can easily spend that much on a manufactured home with no land for that amount where we live.

Here is some more eye-candy, if you enjoy this sort of thing:

And, do you want to know the best part? There are many good manufacturing jobs actually available in this town that pay $15 - $20 an hour to start, with full benefits. I am not joking. The schools are good, the people are so nice, and, um, they have a winning football team with one of the best high school quarterbacks in the nation. I'm just sayin'.