Hi Ho--Hi Ho, It's Off To Work I Go

For the next 10 months, my "view" will be this

and this, instead of...
....this! Hmmmmmm......may tempis fugit!

What I Did On My Summer Vacation....

Filled this........

To take care of this....

Read these.....

Finished this..... And this..... Started this...scarf with beads...
And this, one of an eventual 20 squares, an afghan made with wool from England sent to me by my dear sister-in-law!

Whew! And there's so much more yet to do, how can I find the time to work????

Mountain Wildflowers

I don't know the names of all of these flowers, but it was the first time we've ever "timed" being up in the highlands when they were in bloom. What a treat!

Hinds Feet on High Places

Wally had a rare Saturday off, we we headed up to Mt. Baker to catch the sun. The parking lot at Artist's Point was surrounded by snow. But once you climbed over it, the paths were clear. It was a hot day, bright and glorious and we just happened to time it so that the wildflowers were all in bloom. I'll add pics of those to a separate post.

Evidence of impending fall was everywhere. The spider's are already spinning their webs and the huckleberries are out, but they are just barely turning pink. It will be another month, at least, before they are their signature dark blue and full of sweet, tart flavor.

This little snowguy is only 1' tall!

This one's for you, Sherry!

Tiny pink huckleberries--can you see them?

What Is That???

Taken on a recent walk on the beach!

Gems Among Us

This is my friend, Rena. Rena is 86 years young and is one of my very favorite people. She is full of spark and life. She became a widow at the young age of 59. At 65 she and her girlfriend took a road trip to Alaska and spent the nights in the back of their station wagon! A few years later she married an old childhood friend who had lost his wife.

Just a few weeks ago her 55 year old daughter died suddenly from a brain aneurysm. And yet here she is giving new meaning to the term "life long learner." I'm teaching Rena how to knit socks and she's already a pro.

If I can be half the woman she is at 86 I'll consider it a blessing!

More Of His Grand Design

For the life of me, I cannot figure out how to work the layout on this blog. It doesn't matter if I add the pics first, or add text first, it "sticks" the photos wherever it wants to--regardless of where I "tell" it to put them....arrgh. Oh well, pretty soon I will return to work and this lovely digital camera that I have had the pleasure of playing with all summer will go back to its true home! You are probably breathing a sigh of relief!

An incredible bouquet from Pike Market,
truly a work of art!



Some more of His grand design! Sweet peas...my favorite!

Telephoto Madness

Islands in the Sky


Madronas in the Sun






Shadow and light





Browns and golds, circles and squares

On a recent trip to Anacortes, I was "caught", once again, by the magic of the telephoto lens and the way it changes my perspective!

To Know Them Is To Love Them

We hear so much these days about the demise of community. Our culture is in love with the concept of convenience and this tends to drive us to do everything faster and better. Neighborhoods suffer from this as we all jump into our cars, head off to our jobs, dash to the grocery store, dash home, and then hole up inside to use all our modern covenience appliances!

I think front porches ought to be a code requirement for all homes! Gone are the days when we'd stroll up the street in the evening and stop and chat with our neighbors who were sitting on their porches enjoying the waning day. Now we're either inside the house or out in the back on our decks, secluded by the fences we've all built for privacy.

Last night was the 7th annual Vallette Street ice cream social held in the front yard of our neighbors up the street. Each year this gracious hosting family hands out fliers announcing the date of the social. At the appointed time you can see families walking up the street to gather in the host family's front yard for homemade ice cream, toppings and conversation. It's such a treat to have this opportunity to really get to know the folks we live in proximity to and it reminds me again of one of the things I most miss about the "olden days."

Wally and the.....beanstalk?

Our rental home comes complete with a funky old "playhouse", a term loosely applied to the dark, spider-filled, two-story contraption that was built by the former owners. No child in its right mind would entertain the thought of entering it. We did have a family of raccoons--two huge adults and 4 babies--who thought it was a grand condo. Cute as they were, we needed to discourage their residency and had to board it up.

Years ago I decided the playhouse would look great with some nice flowering vines growing up its sides, so I planted a couple of clematis plants at its base. Little did I know that this particular clematis was kin to kudzu...not really, but it ought to be. They grow at an alarming rate and soon took over not only the playhouse, but also most of the trees growing behind the playhouse. Who knows what other unsuspecting passersby may have succumbed!

It became apparent that drastic measures needed to be taken, so Wally bravely attacked these massive plants and soon had them tamed into manageable size. The result was a huge tangle of intertwined vines. Where is Andy Goldsworthy when you need him? http://www.morning-earth.org/ARTISTNATURALISTS/AN_Goldsworthy.html

Fit...to be tied

People who leave their grocery carts in the middle of parking places in the parking lot are one of my major pet peeves. Today I just happened to be following a woman as she was leaving the parking lot after doing just this. We happened to be going in the same direction and lo and behold we ended up at the same place...an exercise venue. Now wouldn't you think she could have burned some calories and managed some quick "stretching" if she'd taken the 30 seconds to put that cart in the special cart holder so graciously provided for her?! No, I didn't tell her off, but I certainly had a "conversation" in my heart! :)

Color Theory

Bear with me, I'm having issues with layout, particularly with the way to edit/move/delete images that I upload. I don't have high speed internet and what I "see" when I compose is not necessarily what I end up with when I "publish"...strange but true. It seems that I can't move pics about at will, so I'll just upload them at the end. Uploading them in the middle of text doesn't seem to work well, so I'll try this.

I have an ongoing love affair with color/light/design. It's an obsession, one could say. I see it everywhere, am drawn to it and can't resist it. I'm sure this is the reason I was drawn to photography in my early 20's and why I am also drawn to quilting and fiber arts---art of any kind, really! I'm an artist at heart!

I also love to cook and one of my favorite things to do in the summer is to stroll through the markets and marvel at our Father's use of color and design in food. He could so easily have just left us with the manna of the Old Testament: same old thing day after day. Instead He's given us such an amazing variety of delightful colors, tastes and shapes in food. I was struck by the following images of color in sunlight as I was preparing a meal and just couldn't resist the urge to catch them on "film" and now that I have access to a way to share them, I thought, "why not"! I'll try to add text to each image, but if they don't "line up" in the published post, I apoligize!

SWISS CHARD IN BRIGHT SUN!

BEANS OF MANY COLORS!

POTPOURRI!

How Sweet It Is

Jess left a few days ago after spending a week with us. We had such a wonderful time taking long walks, shopping, learning how to blog (me..not her!), and seeing such sights as the Red Barn Lavender Farm in Ferndale. Here's some shots of their wonderful garden I think she's the most beautiful posie in their collection of blooms!

They had 47 different types of lavender and LOTS of bees!

Later in the week we all spent an afternoon at Boulevard Park enjoying the New Old Chautauqua with the Flying Karamazov Brothers. Haven't had so much fun in years, laughed till our sides hurt and were "wowed" by the acrobatics.

Now she's back in OR and I miss her...tons.