Life at a "Swell's" pace

Hello.

This week we took a drive through the wildfire areas near Detroit, Oregon. It's devastating. Literally devastating. A few years ago we were thinking of buying a cabin in the Detroit area. We drove up to see if the cabin survived and it didn't make it. It was such a cute cabin, too. Every single cabin in the area is gone. It breaks my heart so much for those people, especially during the time we are in right now. We are finally seeing more and more blue skies here, but it's kind of bittersweet. We lost a few people in the fires here in Oregon and two people died less than 30 minutes from our house. They got trapped by the fire and tried to leave in a vehicle and didn't make it. I always think of the suffering. I hope they didn't suffer. Most of the wildfires are contained now, but it's still a bit smoky here, but not as bad as it was. Hopefully, we get a wet winter here this year so it will help extinguish the rest. A lot of people that were evacuated were able to return to their homes this week. And, people in burned areas were able to get to their homes and survey the damage. It's just awful here. It seems the moral of everyone is depressing. We've seen a lot this year here, but I have hopes that everything will be okay. Here are five things this week.

1. These Skies.

Finally seeing more and more blue skies without the sun or clouds being blocked by wildfire smoke. This moment driving to Corvallis we were able to see the sun lighting up the sky and then the clouds broke through and a few sprinkles of rain came. It was almost like being given a drink of water after weeks of being thirsty. It was a nice and wonderful moment.

2. These Cabins.

I love horror and anything creepy and although this cabin/barn is currently not abandoned, or unoccupied I found them cool and almost horror-movie-like.

3. These Geese.

We've seen more Canadian Geese around the valley lately. We think they've been pushed out of other areas because of the wildfires, and have found refuge in the open fields here. This flock looked worn out, or tired in a way when we saw them. Hopefully, they are finding some peace through everything that has happened this wildfire season.

4. This Animation.

I took the picture of Eleven drinking the water from the glass and played around a bit with some Instagram animation. I love how it turned out. ☺

5. This Snail.

Skylar's snail habitat got a good clean out this week. The snails now are living their best life in a nice clean tank.

Positive affirmations this week:

Have a nice weekend.

Hello.

We realized this week that we didn't have a summer here in the Willamette Valley. With the Coronavirus pandemic and the wildfires, we completely missed out on a summer here. Everything is so weird this year and we are ready for 2020 to end. Hopefully, the next few month that are left in 2020 give us some positive aspects to end the year with. Since trick-or-treating has been canceled for a lot of people, we've decided to stay at home and just wait out the trick-or-treaters that dare the elements. I ordered some organic candy this year and are still waiting on that to arrive. We hung a few decorations, but it just seems weird this year. We plan on wearing our masks the entire time, hopefully others will respect that, as well. Here are five things this week.

1. This Puzzle.

We've been putting together a lot of random puzzles to pass the time through lockdown and through the pandemic. This puzzle is about our twentieth puzzle to put together, but it's been a fun challenge.

2. This Sticker.

Definitely something I'd had on my car, too.

3. This Sticker.

I got out of my car and it startled me a bit. I've seen a few others since this one.

4. This Player.

Been jamming out to our record collection this week. It's nice to hear some classics on vinyl.

5. This Bird.

This one-legged bird hangs out at Jeff's work. Every time we go there we look for it.

Positive affirmations this week: "Be patient. There is nothing you can't do. Don't think about it too much. It will come to you when you are not thinking intently about it." -Yoko Ono

Also, with the holiday season here, keep these things in mind when dealing with uncomfortable family situations.