Wooly Moss Roots Features Earnest Efforts

Dear Friends -
Just a quick note to entice you into heading over to our very favorite blogger - Wooly Moss Roots.  They are featuring Earnest Efforts this week and we are celebrating with a giveaway.  You can enter to win one of our wood hair barrettes. You can also take a side trip and see the most fabulous wood working by Taryn & Jeff in their two Etsy shops Wooly Moss Roots and Mystic Orb.

Thanks for visiting and remember...
Take care, be good & kind, and don't forget to laugh,
Earnie, Ellie & Myrtle Efforts

Walking on Sunshine

Dear Friends of Earnest Efforts -

Spring is here.  We know this because the sun feels amazing, the delphinium are six inches tall,  and the buzzards are back.  The spring sunshine is recharging our batteries after a relaxed and joyful winter and dare I say it...life is good!!!  This three month break is winding down and we'll soon be immersed in Saturday Market, Earnie will be in the garden and we will be full speed ahead.  We love it.  In the mean time here is a photo journal of some of our inspiration around Olalla and just a little nonsense...

WALKING IN SUNSHINE

Olalla Creek

Myrtle loving sunshine

Peaches...huntress and matriarch

Cinderella and his girlfriend

Oregon White Oaks reach for the sun

NEW STUFF

Grandma Ellie makes a hat for Violet

Ellie's old sanding gloves

Ellie's new sanding gloves

Ellie's new sanding gloves are not so new

The Buddha laughs at Myrtle wearing Mamma Ellie's new cowl

OUR HANDS

together

Take care, be good & kind, and don't forget to laugh,
Ellie & Earnie

We're Now Grandparents!!!

Beautiful Violet Audrey

Dear Friends of Earnest Efforts -

Now I get it.  We don't lose our memories because we age, we lose our memories and become forgetful because there's no room left for anything but this new life who has graced us with her presence. 

Violet & her Papa Justin

Violet's first pic

Violet and her tongue

Violet & her Papa nap

Violet is LOVED

She is all we can think about.  She is our first thought when we wake and our last before we sleep.  I didn't  chose to have children, so I didn't know that this is what happens to your brain and heart with babies.  I just discovered this when I became a grandparent this week.  And the funny thing...we haven't even smelled her or held her yet.  She lives far, far away, across a Big Pond in a place called England.  But when her Mommy & Daddy bring her to us in June you can be sure there will be a long line of her people waiting their turn to love on her.  We're already plotting how to we'll buy a pony and bribe her into coming to live with us one day...

Welcome to your family Precious Violet.  We are honored beyond words that you chose us.

With Love,
Grandpa Earnie & Grandma Ellie & Auntie Myrtle

Being Human

Dear Friends of Earnest Efforts -

Saturday we drove up to Eugene to see my Nannie, Opal Robbins, who will be 94 years old in April. There are a thousand stories, but I'm just going to share a few pics today.  Every day we are filled with gratitude for our Grandparents.

Nannie when she was 51 and I (Ellie) was just 3 days old and mad that I'm wearing pink.

Here she is at 93 and me at 43.  Myrtle is only 4.

Nannie's hummingbird feeders.  My job is to keep the feeders full!

Nannie & Earnie

Earnie on his Grandparents farm in Southern Indiana ca. mid-1950's

Take care, be good & kind, and don't forget to laugh,
Ellie Efforts

National Day of Service

Good Morning Dear Friends -

This past weekend my Mom took me (Ellie) to Yachats for our annual girls only weekend to celebrate my 43rd birthday.  Yippy!!!  What a relief it was to leave the land of the mold people, ascend through the fog, over the coast range and into the land of sunshine.  The Oregon Coast is often amazing this time of year and this weekend was no exception.  Sunshine, no wind, and all that the Pacific has to share.

This weekend we celebrated the inauguration of our 44th President and the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In honor of these two events President Obama asked us to volunteer for our National Day of Service.

“This is really what America is about, this is what we celebrate," Obama said while speaking at Burrville Elementary. "This inauguration, it’s a symbol of how our democracy works and how we peacefully transfer power, but it should also be an affirmation that we’re all in this together, and we’ve got to look out for each other, and we’ve got to work hard on behalf of each other.”

Waves crashing on the rocks at Yachats, Oregon Coast

My Mom and I chose to spend some of our time at the coast collecting garbage off our precious beach as our way of participating in this event.  Next time we'll bring larger bags and one of those "thingy-doodles" that grabs things so you don't have to bend over.

My Mom & our beach trash

We hope that one of the people that smiled and thanked us for picking up trash decides that next year or maybe even next week they are going to take a bag and gloves to the beach to give a little of themselves on behalf of each other and our amazing home - Earth.

Take care, be good & kind, and don't forget to laugh,
Ellie Efforts (aka Heather)

Happy New Year & A Visit To The Oregon Coast

Dear Friends - Earnie told me yesterday that many of you who visited him at the Holiday Market wondered why we haven't been posting here.  I guess I just lost motivation and didn't realize that there were so many of you enjoying our posts, so I'm going to make a point of delivering photos of our adventures if nothing else.  My apologies to all you voyeurs out there.

14 years ago New Year's day, Earnie took me to Bandon by the sea and asked me if I would live the rest of my life with him.  I think you know the answer to his question and yesterday we took our first annual trip of the year to Bandon and the Oregon Coast to celebrate our 3 months of pseudo-hibernation and a new year together.  The weather couldn't have been more beautiful.  Warm with NO wind and sunshine warming our bodies & spirits.  We ate at our usual favorite kiosk - Port O Call - right above the docks, browsed the bookstore - Winter River Books, and picked out our favorite sweets at Cranberry Sweets.

The following are photos from our adventure.  Only brought home a small piece of driftwood with beaver chew.  I was feeling less that motivated as I'm fighting my first cold in 4.5 years and my first cold since I quit smoking 2 years ago on 2 January.  I'll tell you what, fighting a cold as a non-smoker is cake!!!  Okay now, back to the photos...

We hope you enjoyed our photo journal.  Earnie is the master photographer!

Wishing you all an Amazing New Year,
Earnie, Ellie & Myrtle Jo Efforts
(aka Rick, Heather & the amazing Myrtle Jo Efforts as herself)

In Color Gallery & Design

In Color Gallery & Design in Historic Cottage Grove, Oregon

Dear Friends of Earnest Efforts -

On my way home from a most glorious day at our Eugene, Oregon Saturday Market, I had the rare opportunity to deliver the first batch of our natural wood baby rattles and spirit shakers to a shop.  Laura Harmon is the witty and gracious host and fellow artist of the cheerful and inspiring gallery In Color Gallery & Design on Main Street in Historic Cottage Grove, Oregon. 

My Mom & I spent the afternoon in Cottage Grove in early July and we truly fell in love with the quaint downtown atmosphere, friendly shops and all the delights that surround.  That's when we met Laura.  While chatting about a recent experience with my Nannie (Grandma), she shared the most amazing painting she had created of her beautiful Grandmother.  A phenomenal painting and such an incredible tribute to her Grandmother.

If you are traveling through the heart of Oregon down the Interstate 5, take the time to visit Laura, her gallery and the beautiful community of Cottage Grove.  I would also recommend the Fleur De Lis Patisserie & Cafe just down the street from Laura.  My Mom, owner & president of Old Dominion Collision Repair Centers in Eugene & Springfield, knows everyone, including Maureen Rosenberger, proprietor of this delicious patisserie & cafe.

We wish you a glorious day and remember...
Take care, be good & kind and don't forget to laugh,
Ellie Efforts (aka Heather)