Guest Appearance!

I'm way behind on posts!  It's been a busy week.  Last weekend we had a surprise visit from the newlyweds!

 Josh had business in Seattle, so they came and spent the weekend with us!

 On Sunday, our women's Sunday school class had a potluck.  We have such a great class, a wonderful combination of women, it's  a real blessing.  We have great discussions and truly enjoy each other's company.  We included the spouses!  That's Ernest to the left, he's a chef and he prepared the salmon for us.  Wow!  Jan is in the far back, she's our hostess and Ernest's Mom, and that's Julia to the right.

 L to R:  Wilbur, Annette and Lisa who sings like and angel.  She's Julia's daughter and my stand-in daughter since mine lives far away....

 Standing is Shirley, she has a charming British accent and even though she's lived in Canada and now the US for a long time, she is still charmingly British thru and thru.  That's Mary Ann to the right, she's from Sri Lanka.

This is Eric, he's Mary Ann's husband, they met in the peace corps!  And that's Ken, Julia's husband, seated at the end of the table.

A fun day!

Stolen Moments

Summer for Wally is not so relaxing!  The company he works for (School Specialities, Inc.) publishes products primarily for schools, just like the name says!  So for this company, summer is high gear/no holds barred and they work, a lot.  For Wally this means long days and usually 6 of them in a row.  But..every once in awhile, grace abounds and he is off early enough in the day for us to escape to the water.  For us, because we are blessed, this means a mere 5 minute trip to the south side of town to Marine Park where we can set up our beach chairs and haul out our picnic dinner and enjoy some late afternoon sun.  There's no "planning ahead" for these moments.  So over the years I have learned to be extremely adaptable to be able to make dinner plans on the fly.

Fortunately, I have some handy dandy products that help:  hot/cold bags, a picnic basket that is ALWAYS stocked with cutlery, plates, bowls, cups, vinyl tablecloth, napkins, "trash" bags, matches, towels, etc.  A beach bag that always has our beach towels, swimsuits, sun screen, etc. and another bag that always has waterproof sandals, camera,sunglasses,  clothes for when the sun goes down and the temperature immediately drops 10+ degrees and of course a BOOK!

Yesterday was such a day, and here's what we get to enjoy....just minutes from our home!

 That's the Lady Washington, a 1700's tall ship that is currently hanging out in Bellingham!

 Lummi Island

The view south!

That's Wally!  It's not warm enough for me to brave the waters yet, it's got to hit 80 degrees before I'm willing to enter those frigid waters!

It's not just for keeping things cold!

 Dinner!  Polenta with carrots and spinach and andouille sausage...fruit salad.

 Looking south, that's the Olympic Mountains in the background!

 Sunset!

And back home....dessert awaits:  apricot/cherry upside down cake!  Urp!