We went by the Square early on in the walk and got this picture, but when we got back, you couldn't get near the Square.  The Starbucks was filled and it took at least 20 minutes to get your order, and when you got out, you could barely hear the Christmas carols.  The tree is huge, so we got to see that light up, but then we took off for a nice dinner on 21st Street.  
There were 28 people that showed up for the walk, this is a picture of the "slow group".  

Today was exciting, we actually met up with a photographer who was looking for the screech owl.  Unfortunately for her, she looked in the wrong spot.  It was huge, and we all had a chance to see it perched in the tree and then take off.  It's amazing the different things we see out there. Take a look at the pictures.

This was the week of our centerpiece class at Portland Nursery.  We had hoped to get to the guided walk, but we were too late.  We did come up with a 10-minute rule.  If we decided to meet, we are only waiting 10 minutes before taking off.  So if you are coming in the carpool, make sure you call us if you are going to be late, or we will be gone. 
We had to be at the class by 11 a.m., so we took off on an exploration down Hawthorne Street.  We ran into the Forsythe's and Sharon Sharon Shockley wheeling a new "event walk", stopped Powells and then had breakfast.  On the way to the class, Leslie gave us a brief history of what it was like growing up in that area and we even took a drive past her childhood home.  
The class was great and we are looking forward to the wreath-decorating class n a few weeks.  Didn't the centerpieces turn out great?

Mary Ann and I were just slow today.  We ended up with the 5k walkers and then Joe took us a bit longer on the path by Beaches to show us the new statue of Rosie the Riveter.  The statue was fairly new, and we loved it.  Check out a lot of the other pictures we took by the state.  Eventually we ended up just walking with Carla, our new walking friend, and us for the rest of the walk.  We did run into the 10k walkers, but we just couldn't keep up.  Then of course we had to stop for coffee to get us to the end!  Pam, Starr and Cheryl all kept up, but they did miss that Rosie statue.  It was a great walk.  We love walking along the water and Marine Park was beautiful, as well as the museum out there.  It sure did feel like a winter type walk with the blustery and cold winds, but no rain!

It was warm, but it felt like winter with the wind.  Mary Ann reminded me last week that when we started, back in January, we only used to walk 15 minutes one way and 15 minutes back.  Now we are out at the Refuge for a minimum of 1 hour, and that's on bad weather days, but most of the time we are out there for an hour and a half.  We've come along way!

Starr, one of our Merrywalkers, went out Sunday and did the walk at Oaks Bottom and her pictures turned out great.  Check them out under our pictures 11/15.  Thank you!

Mary Ann and I both received awards, and we were both surprised!  I received it for starting the Snails and Mary Ann for the idea of putting numbers on the arrows and coordinating them with the directions.  If you would like to see the rest of the pictures, check out the album under our picture tab.
Meritorious Service Award for Britt Lindstrom and Jan Beals
Certificate of Service Award for Maryann Brown, Mary Ann Hawke and me
25 Years Award Banner to Valley Volkswalkers that Marge Bergeron was presented

On a sad note, Ford Forster had to resign as being Events Coordinator, for health reasons.

Here Cheryl, Mary Ann, Angela and me at Oaks Bottom.  It was another nice day with now rain.  We stopped at Fat Albert's for breakfast and who walked in, but Lou Ann and Bill!  What a blast to run into them on the walk.  We also met some other nice walkers who took a picture of us, so we took one of them, but we didn't get their names.  It was a really nice walk with a nice blend of natural trails and old city homes and neighborhoods, including a Christmas Bazaar.

Joyce got us all out there for the Adopt-A-Road on Edy.  If you ever go down Edy, towards Walgreens, you can see our sign.  Come out and join us sometime.  It only takes about 15 or 20 minutes and then we all go for coffee. Joyce is our coordinator and sets everything all up for us.  All you need to bring is yourself, maybe gardening gloves and a plastic grocery bag.  She supplies us with grabbers and the large bags.

Wow, it was dry the whole time, in fact the blue sky showed through towards the end of the walk.  After, everyone headed over to Our Daily Bread, except for the Merrywalkers.  The five of us headed over to Burgerville for the sweet potato fries.  See the rest of the pictures in our album.