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I finally made it up the International Rose Test Garden at Washington Park. It's a beautiful spot any time of Spring and even on the first day of Summer. Today the temperature was very hot so I got there early and made a few snaps before too many people showed up. I'm thinking about Ashley a lot on this Father's Day.  It's been quite a while since I got serious about making photographs. So I finally pulled out the dSLR, charged its battery, found an SD card and set out to do just that today. There were some nice rose bushes at Stringfield, a local park that I biked past several times. I was not quite ready to go the Portland Rose Garden as I have done in the past to make photos honoring Ashley's presence in my life. Here's what I ended up with.  Hidden, 2021 I was so eager to celebrate Ashley's birthday this year that I started early in August and nearly every Sunday taking her flowers after buying them from the local farmers market in downtown Milwaukie. Right across from the flower vendor was one named Packer Orchards and they sold me some delicious scones and a cookie each week. I would usually eat the cookie right away (hard to resist) and save the scones for breaktime at work for the next couple of days. I continued this practice nearly every week into September and even more so by eating other foods that Ashley liked such as Red Robin French fries, Eggo waffles, and Pop Tarts. I must have gained several extra pounds during this time! But I really enjoyed it and felt like it was a way to honor Ashley's food preferences, especially the scones which I used to make for her and she enjoyed as a treat on Fridays right after coming home from school.  Pink Mum for Ashley. This year, I wanted to make sure Ashley's monument was as clean as it could be so I spent time there on Sunday getting it polished up. I hope to continue this practice each year to keep it looking its best.  One thing that Ashley and I would enjoy doing together is to go to Barnes and Noble to shop for books. She'd usually come out of there with a wheel barrow full of books and I'd give her a bad time about it. I visited Barnes and Noble this year on Sunday and decided I'd try to get through the first book of a Game of Thrones, one of Ashley's favorite series. Since this type of fiction is not usually my thing, I'm going to try to get through the audio book first before I buy and try to read a paper copy.  On the heels of Ashley's birthday, I want to mention that September is Blood Cancer Awareness Month and Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) has an informative site describing how that organization is helping cancer patients, their families and society through research and advocacy. Check it out and consider one or more ways of helping them achieve their goals. Happy Birthday Ashley!  I had a very nice day delivering flowers to Ashley's memorial site and cleaning off her monument. Picked up this gorgeous bouquet of flowers from a vendor at the Milwaukie Farmer's Market.  There are many purple flowers in this bouquet which caught my attention of course. While browsing the many fine vendors there, I found a baker who had a number of delicious sugar-infested goods for sale including scones which I just had to buy a couple of them. As I did I recalled numerous Friday's long ago when I was able to be home when Ashley arrived after school. I tried to have some of her favorite scones warm, right out of the oven. I remember vividly how she would butter the halved scone, patty it back together and then eat it while deeply engrossed in her latest book. Priceless memories of her!
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