My Red Tulip

I like tulips, especially red ones.  Red ones remind me of my dad because those were his favorite.  But tulips seem to come and go so quickly each year.  Depending on the weather, some years they last longer because of a cooler spring, or if hot weather arrives too soon, the tulips just don't seem to be able to take the heat, and disappear for another year.  I now have a red tulip that will last all year long thanks to my son.  He is very talented when it comes to working with metal, and he made this flower for me.  I just love it :)

Being Thankful

If ever you are feeling like you have been short changed in the blessing department, I recommend taking a moment, looking around you, and truly being thankful to God for the little things.  You will be surprised at how quickly you will realize that you are really blessed.  A few things I have been thankful for in particular today are having fresh cherries to make into a pie, spending time with my daughters, and picking raspberries at 6:30 in the morning during a light summer rain.

Cherry Season

I have been away for a bit -- away to spend a few days with my mom while my youngest daughter attended volleyball camp in the same city where my mom lives.  My daughter had fun at her camp, and I had fun with my mom.  We went out to lunch, shopped at antique stores, and stopped by my brother's house with an agenda in mind -- that agenda being to pick cherries.  He has a number of cherry trees, all of which are absolutely loaded with cherries this year.  While my mom supervised from a nice shady seat on their outdoor swing, my brother, sister-in-law, daughter, and myself all grabbed a bucket and headed over to his orchard.  Within probably an hour's time, we had picked a plastic tote box filled with bing cherries.  My brother estimated that we had picked between 50-60 pounds of cherries!  So needless to say, I have been spending my morning going through my big canning book choosing a variety of recipes to give a try today, tomorrow, and most likely the next.  Besides the bounty of bing cherries, we also picked a bucket full of Rainier cherries.  What are your favorite ways to fix fresh cherries?

New Bags

Do you think a girl can really ever have enough bags?  One  might think so, but then when you least expect it, new inspiration comes along, and of course you can dream up all kinds of ways to put a new bag to use.  This has been the case at our house after my daughter received a copy of one of Amy Butler's newest books, Amy Butler's Style Stitches: 12 Easy Ways to 26 Wonderful Bags.  It is the type of book that I not only like to look through over and over, but I would also just like to sit down and make one of each bag.   Here is a picture of the cover:

 After enjoying each and every page of the book, decisions were made, and fabric purchased.

One bag is now completed with two more on the burner.  My daughter made this one, and I think it turned out really cute:

I Love Seattle -- Part 3 of 3

One morning we got up early and caught the ferry to Bainbridge Island.  My parents called this island home when my father was stationed there in the Navy after World War II.  It is such a quaint little island.  I would really like to go back, rent some bicycles, and spend some time exploring.  We walked for as long as we had time for before heading to the ferry to take us back to the city.  Before leaving though we bought some sandwiches and drinks at a bakery so that we could have a picnic lunch on the return ferry ride.

And of course a trip to Seattle just wouldn't be complete without a stop at the original Starbucks where the coffee craze all began:

Finally, we made one last swing through the market before heading to the airport.  I'm so glad we did because all of a sudden we noticed one of the floral stalls selling sweet peas!!!  They were gorgeous, and I would have been content to take a picture and bring that home; however, my daughters decided they were each going to buy a bouquet and take a chance on the airport allowing us to carry them on the plane.  Being the prepared girls that they are, they just happened to have small baggies and rubber bands in their luggage.  We filled the baggies with water and rubber banded them to the flowers.  Right before we were to go through the airport security, they emptied the water out of the baggies, sent them through the security check, and immediately upon the other side, they refilled the baggies.  No one seemed to even balk that they wanted to hold them throughout our flight.  And once home, we put them in a vase, and enjoyed their beauty for several days.  It really was a perfect end to a perfect trip.

I Love Seattle -- Part 2 of 3

Additional highlights of my Seattle trip were of course a visit to the Space Needle:

The weather was quite pleasant when we were at the top and we were afforded a nice view of the city:

We made time for tea and crumpets one afternoon .... very delicious!  I now need to find a good recipe for crumpets:

I have some very kind cousins living in Seattle that gave up an entire afternoon/evening to show us the sights that we wouldn't have otherwise been able to see on foot.  They took us to the Ballard Locks where we were able to watch some kayakers making their way through the locks:

Besides taking us to a wonderful little quilt shop and treating us to a delicious dinner, they also took us to a park where we had a different view of the Space Needle, as well as a nice sight of watching the ferries returning from one of many trips across the sound:

My Lupine

In my previous post, I mentioned how beautiful my lupine have been this year.  They are just now beginning to show signs that they will be finishing up their show in the coming weeks.  I have enjoyed them so much; and I have so many this year, that even as you walk by the house on the street, their peppery scent fills the air.  Lupine are truly one of my very favorite flowers of all time, and what a bright spot they have been during this very wet and cool spring.

Happy First Day of Summer

Wow, the first day of summer has finally arrived!  And believe me, around here it is a most welcome sight.  I just found out this morning that our local spring weather was our wettest in history; and believe me, I don't remember ever seeing so many wet, gray days all lined up one after the other.  Today however, it is a different story, and we have been blessed with sunshine and warm weather to boot.  On the upside though of having a wet spring, my lupines have been blooming non-stop for quite some time, and putting on quite a grand show at that.  Typically by now, they are just finishing up.  And my clematis, even though they are behind schedule, have just begun to show their pretty little faces.  Happy 1st day of summer everyone!!

I Love Seattle -- Part 1

For Mother's Day this year, my two oldest daughters gave me a vacation.  I think that is possibly one of the nicest gifts I have ever received.  The vacation took place a couple of weeks ago when I flew to Seattle, Washington, to meet them for three days of fun.  We stayed right downtown where we would be within walking distance of many venues.  After we ate lunch at Ivar's (a very famous fish and chips spot) on the water, we of course hiked over to Pike's Place Market.  A trip to Seattle just isn't complete without a stop here.

There are so many vendors, but what really caught my eye, were all of the flower stalls.  Pretty much as far as you could see there were fresh flowers for sale.  They were being sold in bulk or in pre-made bouquets at amazingly reasonable prices:

Nearly every direction that you looked ladies were carrying around bouquets that they had purchased. 

Many more vendors fill the market such as the famous fish mongers, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh meat, jewelery, t-shirts, etc; but in my mind, the flowers stole the show.

It's the Little Things that Count

I have been traveling a bit over the past week.  In fact when I climbed on the airplane on Wednesday morning I counted that it was the sixth plane for me to step on in a week.  But the traveling has all been very fun.  My first spur-of-the-moment trip was to Colorado Springs, Colorado.  My brother-in-law and sister-in-law invited me to come spend a couple of days.  Between good conversation, fun shopping, good food, and great walks, it was a wonderful visit.  They have the gift of hospitality down perfectly, even down to leaving me cute chocolates and pretty flowers by my bed.