Down by the Old Mill Stream

I like to wake Kathe up at 5 AM every morning  just to keep her on her toes.  I get her up, make her get dressed, take her outside for 5 minutes and then after I'm sure she's wide awake and can't possibly go back to sleep, that's when I go back inside, curl up in her bed and go back to sleep!  It works every time.  This morning I felt sorry for her and I let her sleep till 6:30.

Today they left me behind ( I wonder why) and went into Salem to the Willamette Heritage Center at the Mill.  They have buildings dating back to the early mission settlement of Salem in 1834.  Methodist ministers were sent here to bring Christianity to the Native American people of Oregon.   A docent  in period costume took them on a historical tour of 4 buildings including a church built  in 1858.  Here she is showing us a picture of her late husband Jason Lee, one of the missionaries.





These buildings were all placed in a park-like setting on the grounds of the Thomas Kay Woolen  Mill.  This mill produced woolen fabric and blankets from l889 until it closed in 1962.  Exhibits inside the mill include all of the original machinery used to card, dye and spin wool into the finished goods.  Jim  was really interested in all the machinery and Kathe enjoyed learning about the process of making wool into fabric.