For Goodness Snakes!

My project for David is finally finished and by the time you read this will have slithered to Chicago. Last March I told David to pick out an animal from Kath Dalment's World of Toys book, and this critter was his choice. I adapted the pattern for double-point needles because I could not imagine sewing up such a long seam. Do you think it'll pass inspection?

After an absolutely gorgeous weekend, we have rain today and the temperatures are back in the low sixties. Last week the paper announced that we have had 78 minutes of summer, meaning temps in the eighties. I suppose that changed a bit yesterday, but all in all our weather has been strangely cool, and many plants are way behind schedule. However, our clematis has given us a grand surprise with two beautiful blossoms and another bud that is yet to open. For a long time this spring we thought it was the victim of our weird winter, or that we hadn't planted it right last summer. Fooled us, it did!

The astilbe is very nice this year, too!

And while we're talking about "pink things," here's the latest Sophia-picture. Do you suppose that's a prince in disguise? I will let you know upon further investigation.

Meanwhile I need to finish packing. We are heading east except for Carl who is staying behind to watch the cats/house and Brent and Catherine who are preparing to move.

Escape to the Islands

Last weekend we went to visit friends who live in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. (No, it wasn't warm there either!) We walked onto the ferry, and our friends met us at the landing. Even though the weather was grey and a bit rainy, it was a nice trip.
We saw this heron stalking something.

Lots of cormorants were nesting on the pilings by the ferry dock. Every time I see them with their outspread wings I feel certain this bird inspired the totem poles.


Rainer and Susan can watch whales cavoting right from their living room window!

With views like this one, I don't think I'd ever get anything done if I lived here!

When we weren't admiring the scenery, we were playing with Max, the newest family member. Their daughter-in-law rescued him from an LA freeway onramp!

He's quite a cat!

Before heading back home, I went with Susan to the Lavender Festival and bought a small plant for our yard. We've been pretty busy since we got home, preparing to head for the Midwest soon, but right now the sun's out, so we're going to walk around Green Lake. Bye!

The Rest of the Story.......and Then Some More

No, I didn't forget. It's just been crazy around here. On our way back from Glacier, we stopped to see one of Dick's high school friends, Mary Smart, who lives in Libby, Montana. Libby is also known as the "City of Eagles" and has many beautiful metal sculptures similar to this one throughout the town.

We had fun visiting with Mary and learning how she met her husband Don. Her car broke down just outside of Libby, and while working at a local nursing home to pay for the repairs, she cared for Don's grandmother! Some things are just meant to be, aren't they?

In addition to the eagle sculptures, we saw some interesting things in and around town. As we turned up the road heading toward Libby, we noticed that the traffic was moving very, very slowly. On second look, we could see that a house was in the middle of the road! Apparently it was being moved somewhere on this particular morning and took up the entire highway. Luckily, it turned off onto a side road and its probable destination relatively quickly or we would never had made it to Libby in time for lunch or maybe even dinner!

As we headed out of town and home, these monster trucks caught our eye. Driving one of these must be an interesting challenge!

They were parked at the fairgrounds, and we had to peer through the fence to see them.

Our last stop on the way back home, not counting the two yarn shops and quilt shop, was the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge near Cheney, Washington. We didn't get to see the promised moose, but did take a little walk in the rain. I was intrigued by this lilac bush and wondered if it had been planted recently or was the remnant of an earlier homestead.

Ever since our company left, we've spent a lot of time outside, trying to reclaim our yard from the weeds. It seems that the chilly weather did not deter them! The flowers have been very slow to bloom this year. This foxglove, however, is next to a rose bush and apparently loved the rose food. It's about 8 feet tall!

I'm also realizing that the colors in our garden reflect my preference for cetain colors in general, but then that's probably not too surprising. Isn't this a pretty columbine?

We've also been getting back to our daily walking routine. Recently the waxing moon has been very pretty, and Dick caught this photo from our bedroom window when we got home.

Speaking or routine, the dryer is buzzing impatiently, and I need to run. After that I've got to get back to work on David's snake. More on that another day.

Fun in the Sun!!!

Not much in the way of knitting or stitching is happening here because, wonder of wonders, the SUN is out....finally! We had more company this week, too, just after my sister and her hubby flew home. My friend Margaret from high school and her hubby were in town for a wedding in Fall City, so we spent a couple of days showing them the sights. Dick had spotted another yarn-bombing project while driving through Sammamish. It is by the same artist/s behind Occidental Park exhibit, only is a seasonal display. Here are the stumps in their spring attire:


From here we went to Snoqualmie Falls, Pike Place Market, and the International District. Thanks to our snowpack, the falls are quite beautiful even though construction is happening around them.

Both Margaret and I have read The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford and wanted to see the Panama Hotel which is featured in the novel. You can actually hire a tour of it or just enjoy a cup of tea in the tea room and look at all the artifacts. (Incidentally, it's a great read!)


The next day was so beautiful that we all decided to walk around Green Lake, one of our favorite activities. Taking advantage of the sun were "our" 17 turtles. We were amazed at how much the vegetation has grown in the past several weeks, making it more difficult to photograph them.

Dick managed to get some good close ups though. I'd love to watch them crawl out of the water onto these logs and wonder how they do it.

Since we were already near Fremont, we decided to eat lunch at Paseo's sandwich shop. Margaret read about it in the paper, which probably accounted for the long line that snaked out the door and down the street, but it was well worth the wait. With full tummies, we returned home, and our friends headed off to the wedding.

We spent most of the rest of the weekend working in the yard with time out for a Fourth of July picnic with our friends the Nelsons and a close-up visit to Brent and Catherine's "new" house. They'll move in later this summer.


I hope you all had a nice Fourth of July weekend. We surely did!