Lake Selmac & childhood buddy

Last week we took a few days off, packed a few things into the trailer and truck and took off for one of our favorite places in the world. A mere 2 1/2 hours from Eureka in South Central Oregon is Lake Selmac. It's located just off Highway 199 north of Cave Junction and about 20 minutes south of Grant's Pass. Our family have been camping there for about 33 years! Here's a picture looking at the lake....just a few yards from our campsite. The area to the right of the grassy area is a shallow swimming area. When the girls were small it had a big log chained to the bottom for log rolling or floating on and the swim area was divided from the rest of the lake by linked floats.

Here's a shot looking towards our camp sites. I like the flatness of the site and the trees. The temperature was about as perfect as you could have....82-85 with no humidity. A few, very few, mosquitoes (and of course they ALL bit me once!). Very slight breeze...ah, the fresh air!

Sydney brought her bike and scooter. We swam in the lake, walked all around the campground, took a road trip to Medford one day and played cards. R E L A X A T I O N was the order of the day.

All the conveniences of home....Sydney made cupcakes one day with chocolate frosting & sprinkles. She delivered a plate of some to our neighbors with two small boys.

Just before we left on our trip it occurred to me that I might be able to meet up with a childhood friend I'd 'found" on FaceBook last year. I emailed Olga and she re-arranged her weekend plans so she and her husband dropped by our camp. Olga and I met in Kindergarten at Cimmarron Ave. Elementary School. We were part of a small group of girls who belonged to a Blue Bird group (The Snowflake Blue Birds) and were best friends. We were all together in school until the end of 7th grade when many of us moved out of the LA/Inglewood, CA area. I hadn't seen Olga for 45 years! She came bearing gifts! She had a bag of the most succulent jerky & sausages you've ever tasted from a local sausage maker. Thank you so much, Olga! We all enjoyed it so much.

Liz said it was fun to watch us chatter just like Jr. High girls. We're hoping to take a trip together to So. CA next summer to meet up with most of the rest of the group.

Another fun thing was that our husbands hit it off right away. Those two were two peas in a pod chattering away about the "junk" they've collected, the toys they each had: Olga's Ron has a motorcycle and Mr. Scottie Dog has his bobcat tractor....here they are enjoying Sydney's cupcakes.

We spent a couple of hours together, not nearly long enough!

On Monday Liz and I got in several more Spite & Malice card games in....I used to play with my Mom. Now Liz seems to beat me every time. I'd better polish up my game. We were able to stay until after lunch. So peaceful, such a special place full of memories (Liz and Steve were married on the lake shore too!). Then it was back to reality. As they say, " A good time was had by all."

Friends

Friends are special people who come into your life. Sometimes you aren't even sure why "people" become friends. It may be that you have common interests, family relations, or it could just be that "something" clicks. They say, "You can't choose your family but your CAN choose your friends." I think that sometime you don't even choose your friends. Some of them become friends through osmosis!

In my lifetime I've had great friends. Some long-term, some for just a short period of time. Church friends, school friends, neighborhood friends, Internet friends. Club friends, quilting friends, work friends, store friends, stab-you-in-the-back-friends, kindred spirit friends and more. Sometime friends move away and you don't see them for long periods of time but when you get together it's as if no time has passed at all. It's great when your friends have kids who become life-long friends and then THEIR kids become friends!
L-R: Gavin & Crizzy, Emma and Sydney. Their parents are our friends, their moms are friends (and were members of my Camp Fire group when they were young) and now THEY are friends. Isn't life grand?
Speaking of Camp Fire and friends......I grew up in Los Angeles and went to Cimmarron Ave. Elementary school. In kindergarten I met the ladies above: Toni Fisher & Vicki Riggs. We were Blue Birds together (Toni's mom was our leader) and then Camp Fire Girls (Vicki's mom was our leader and my mom ass't leader for a couple of years). We have great history. When we were all 13, I moved to the San Bernardino Valley and Toni & twin sister Terri moved to Simi Valley. I kept in touch with Terri & Toni all these years (although not as much in the last few years as I would have liked--my fault) but lost touch with Vicki. She found me a couple of years ago and we emailed a bit.

Exciting news! We're all getting together this summer! Terri, Toni, Vicki & I and maybe a few more of the old group. We're still looking for Olga Evergates, Jill MacDonald and Gail Plakos. Maiden names. Gail, I think lives in the San Fernando Valley. We're all 56 or 57 now. I'd love to find them too. Friends then, friends now. I can hardly wait till July.