How Does Your Garden Grow?

Our Garden is the other thing that keeps us busy during the summer.  It's been warmer and sunnier here than usual, and even the grass has been slowly edging out the moss!  Flowers are doing well, but everything requires a bit of attention, right?

As you can see, our backyard is pretty shady.  The golden chain tree is done blooming now, but sure was pretty at the end of May.

I love to put flowers in pots to keep them out of reach from most of the critters.  However just today I discovered something had been burrowing in the green pot. I wonder what?

Columbines have done very well in our yard, especially the frilly ones.  They just reseed everywhere!

This one is my favorite though! No wonder it's Colorado's state flower.

These dark irises have done really well this year, too.  And now I'm realizing we don't have any photos from the front yard, but that's OK as right now not too much is going on out there except for one lily.  However, not to be out done, the indoor violets are very happy at the moment.

And that reminds me, time to go water.  Bye for now!

What's Kept Us Busy?

Right after we returned from our sad trip east, my sister and her hubby arrived, and we had a fun time keeping them busy. Here they are, relaxing in our daughter's backyard and enjoying some nice weather.

We've tried to take them to Mount St. Helens on previous visits, and it's always been snowed in.  This time the weather was only cloudy with some intermitent rain but we decided to brave it and go.  This is about as much as we saw of the famous mountain, but there's lots to see/do in the Johnston Visitor Center, and we were surprised to also see kids from Tyee Middle School (where our kids attended) there on a field trip. Did you get to go to a volcano when you were in junior high???

The next day since the weather was still gloomy, we went for tea at the Panama Hotel of The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet fame. If you've not read the book, you've missed a great read!

The weather cleared up toward the end of the week, and we enjoyed a great meal at the Space Needle.  We couldn't see the mountains, but the rest of the views from way up high were stunning. We weren't crazy about the distortion from photographer's wide angle lens, but hey!  It was free!

We didn't take any cameras to the Bellevue Botanical Garden the next day but were amazed at how much it had changed since our last visit: lots more parking, a new education center, and a very fun suspension bridge.  We wanted to stay longer but were short on time, and  now they're back home in Minnesota, or rather spending the summer at their cabin in the North Country. How come fun visits go by so quickly?

Celebration Weekend

Last weekend our youngest turned forty! One sister and friends helped celebrate, and Max helped with the candles. Hard to believe that forty years ago, I got to come home from the hospital with this young man---on my own birthday!  We celebrated that the next day at Giddy Up, a newish hamburger place in Ballad.  It's a perfect spot for families!

That afternoon Little Miss modeled my newest creation, a sleeveless  cardigan. The pattern is free on Ravelry.

Size 1-3 fit this almost two year old perfectly.

She holds her own with the big kids.

We've had beautiful weather for the past few weeks, and as a result the garden has been screaming for attention. In fact Dick is out there right now mowing the backyard, and I need to go water my pots.  

So long for now.

Catching Up!

We've had a couple of very busy weeks as you may have already figured out.  Just this morning we took my sister and her husband to the airport so that they could head home to MN.

The weather was pretty nice most of the time they were here except for the day we decided to go to Mount Saint Helens.  At least we got there!  All the other times we tried to take them there it was snowed in.  They arrived a day after we got home from Boston and the funeral service for our grand nephew, and it was just what we needed to lift our spirits.

The service for Alex was truly a celebration of life and concluded with Benjamin's baptism. Jon and Wendy's neighbors were  wonderful and hosted a gathering for everyone afterwards. There was lots of love present that sad day.

Tomorrow we'll get back to our normal schedule with a visit with these two little scamps. What do you suppose they are planning?  Something like that I am sure.