In the Garden and Not~~~

Look who got up very early in Chicago last week on his birthday to open presents!  The monster arrived safely and was named, Square monster.

Then on another day, he and his sister caught a garden visitor that was later returned to the wild..

We've had our share of garden visitors here, too.  First this guy enjoyed some garden snacks.  Fortunately he couldn't reach the tree roses, but he did his share of snacking on the Heuchera.

At least he left this alone! Update:  Just discovered this morning he's eaten all the rose buds and unopened lilies out front, however. Grrr.....

Sometimes this one likes a private snack and other times is boldly munching out the the open.

Then there's this little fellow who is systematically drilling holes up and down our birch trees with the help of an identical friend: double trouble!

And these two are totally oblivious.  They'd just as soon stay inside, thank you very much. 

 Hope you all had a nice Memorial Day weekend!  See you next time.

The Best Laid Plans~~~

It's been crazier than usual here!  The weather for the past couple of weeks has been wonderful with the yard screaming for attention; we've had company a couple of times, and then just on Sunday our littlest GD broke her collar bone.  So, yesterday we were in Seattle helping out.  And oh yeah, on Sunday we had a big choir concert as the major part of the church service. Whew!

Monday, a week ago, my sorority sister, Connie, visited, and we enjoyed the day together. In the afternoon we went to the Panama Hotel for tea.  If you've read The Hotel on Bitter and Sweet, you'll recognize that name.

Then on Thursday, instead of our normal stuff, we spent the day with our friends from Virginia, who left for Alaska on Sunday. It was another beautiful day, so we took the ferry to Bainbridge Island.  Of course, we stopped at Mora's for ice cream and Churchmouse Yarn and Tea! As we left Seattle behind, we had a great view of the city and the Space Needle.

I was especially excited to see all the Allium in full bloom.

And Mount Rainier was out in all its glory, too.

Meanwhile, back home, our flowers are also putting on a show.  Out front the Rhododendron is blooming and trying to out shine the Mollis azalea.

And in the back the Golden Chain tree is raining petals, and the Korean Dogwood is filled with blooms.  (There's lots of raking in my future, I think!)

Inside, Ginger has claimed the leftovers from the Monster project and was using it as a pillow until Dick took the photo.

That is the strangest yarn; sometimes it looks gray, sometimes green, and in the photo below, blue. It's really blue-grey.

The other project that was finished was fun to do.  It is a kit that includes the cat's body parts which are sewn on at the end. There were other animal choices as well as a cat.  So this is what's been going on here; I still have a sweater to sew together, but that will keep till another day.

And one last picture of Miss Stella wearing her new hat and much happier than she was yesterday. Poor little tyke!

Heal quickly Missy!  And the rest of you have an awesome week.