It almost felt like summer...

Today, I enjoyed a lazy late afternoon holding down the chaise lounge in the backyard. Ignoring all the chores I should be doing, I enjoyed the warmth of the sun on my back as I laid on my tummy. I found it increasingly difficult to read thru my eyelids! Drowsy and warm, I gave up the overwhelming effort to keep my eyes open and settled on focusing on what I was hearing. Bees buzzing, sparrows singing, red wing blackbirds calling, house finches twittering and mostly, hummingbirds swooping past buzzing my red hair. One came so close I could feel the air it’s wings displaced tickle my ear as I laid there with the sun on my face.

After dozing for awhile I sat up to read. I was about six feet from the small apple tree that has a cedar birdfeeder hanging next to it. Holding very still, I was amazed at the activity at the feeder. The smaller the bird, the more carefree and daring. They didn’t care if I moved or not. The larger birds, the sparrows up to the blackbirds and grosbeaks were very wary of my being so close. The kept a watchful eye on me. I noticed that it was okay to move as long as my head was down angled towards my book, then it was okay to move my arm to turn the page. But if my head was up and looking at them, any movement at all would cause them to fly off, scolding me again.

All too soon, the sun got low enough to be blocked by the house on the road behind us and I found that the small fleece blanket I’d been using as a pillow wasn’t enough to keep me warm enough to continue to read outside. I was quite surprised to see that it was 8pm! It is now 9:50 and the sky is still tinged with the last colors of the sunset! And although the not-quite full moon is bright and shining looking out the window at the front of the house, the sky is still light looking out the back of the house into the west and the sunset over the water. It’s an enjoyable contrast, sort of like when it’s raining on one side of the street and dry on the other side of the street. Nighttime in the front yard, still only evening in the backyard!

How can I have a daughter old enough to be a college graduate?

Sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday when I was graduating from high school, ready to conquer the world. Then I was a bride, creating a home, feeling so grown up. Then suddenly I was a mother with three children under the age of 5, with so much to learn! Now I find myself with DaughterS proudly displaying her degree, DaughterA working towards hers and my baby... As of yesterday, my baby is now a senior in high school.

Thought to ponder...

Anything unattempted remains impossible.

A Snapshot of my flowers...

I think the clematis likes it's home. The pots of lilies on either side should be pretty showy this year, they came back twice as tall as last year! I think the purple wallflowers (in the foreground and opposite side of the front walkway) are going to have to be transplanted to somewhere else in the yard, they are too tall and hide the pond from view.

A prayer for our men and women in service of these United States of America

Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands.

Protect them as they protect us.

Bless them and their families for the selfless acts

they perform for us in our time of need.

Amen.

Can it be considered a Saturday chore when I've been looking forward to it for so long?

Finally! I was able to get to the wholesale nursery and shop for my hanging baskets! The day dawned early, cool and wet, rainy, rainy, rainy, but the radio station was promising sun breaks for later in the day.

After preparing the old van to play flower delivery vehicle, which included 1. emptying it's 'bound for the Goodwill' cargo of boxes and boxes of old household goods and bags and bags of clothes the kids have out-grown, and 2. jumpstarting the old battery; SonMySon (sleepily and grudgingly) in tow, we headed out to Pacific Growers.

I let him continue to sleep after arrival while I wandered through greenhouse after greenhouse to see all the different sizes and kinds of hanging baskets. My favorite are the ones with the large old fashioned purple petunias in them but I also enjoy a couple of mixed variety of baskets.


Here's a couple of shots from inside the nursery. The first shows all the hanging baskets above, with the flats of bedding plants below. The second shows the staging area where they pull the commercial orders awaiting the semi trucks to take them to market.

Any wonder I can lose hours and hours wandering thru the fragrances in the warm bright light?

I was tickled to find so many of the bedding plants that I've been waiting to arrive at the garden center of the local variety store (you know the one that boasts One Stop Shopping) originate here! I helped myself to a full flat each of purple double Petunias, mixed variety of Calendulas, sapphire blue trailing Lobelia, mixed old fashioned heavenly-fragranced Stock. Buying at the nursery brought the price down to $.25 a plant! I also got a variety of geraniums for the centers of my flower pots for only $2 ea, as opposed to $3.50!

As promised, by late afternoon the sun was shining and I scrubbed out my seven window box planters in preparation of this year's plants. I am out the door here pretty quickly to start planting....

The day ended on a perfect note. Family gathered around our small backyard fireplace. Soon the kids dispersed and DearHusband and I sat quietly watching the crackling fire, and listening to the soft sounds of Big Band Love Songs. Later, as the neighborhood settled in for the night, I could hear the surf of the bay just a block away, and the tree frogs calling to each other while I gazed at the stars up above. Heaven in a small backyard.

"Can You Remember....?"

I was prompted to think about the first meal I cooked as a new bride by a website that I visit almost everyday, {edited to remove link and website and personal info per other blogwriter} comments on her daily life are qu herite often very funny and I enjoy the peek into everyday life of a busy family of 5 in the Midwest. My youngest child is the same age as her oldest and I enjoy her comments on their life as a prompt to remembering the happenings in my own life at that time. I also enjoy the regional contrasts to our way of life in the Pacific Northwest.
Engagement Portrait
24 years ago this month

I have been wracking my brain for a couple of days now, and I cannot remember the first meal I cooked as a new bride. I do remember, however, what we ate most! Turkey legs! I could get them (frozen) for $.29 Lb and cooked them in my pressure cooker with seasoning salt, onion, celery and sometimes carrots for the flavor. After deboning the meat, I served it in a variety of ways. The favorite way of my young bridegroom was in gravy over mashed potatoes. Sometimes we add a couple slices of bread and call it a Hot Turkey Sandwich.



Any one remember the old commercial where the husband sitting at the table would look at the bowl of mashed potatoes his wife was about to serve him from when he would remark, “Oh! Potatoes! How are you serving them tonight, Dear?” The next sound you heard was a resounding PLOP and cut to the product they were advertising. Not that I remember what it was, other than an change of pace from potatoes.

“How’d you fix them tonight, Dear?” became the running joke in our house.

Ah, the memories. Funny how I can still see my first pantry in our first apartment so clearly in my mind, all those years ago! Twenty fours years ago next month…how can it be that long ago? Isn’t it an oddity, to have it seem so very long ago in life and yet be so amazed at how quickly the time has gone?

Our first home on Rucker Avenue in Everett.


The livingroom as viewed from the front door.





The only bedroom,
as viewed from the hallway
coming off of kitchen.







The bedroom from beside the bed,
doorway to the right of dresser.





The tiny bathroom, at end of short hallway off of kitchen.

I apparently didn't take a picture of the diningroom. It was quite roomy as all we had in it was a circa 1950's dinette table, chrome edges and legs, formica top and 4 mis-matched chairs.