Birthday and Twilight

Today is officially our daughter's birthday but we celebrated over the weekend. Her birthday barbecue was just lovely even if we did have to move the whole thing indoors. Our backyard faces a bluff that over looks the Puget Sound. Even though we are quite a bit a way we still get all the cool breezes that come off the water. It's great when we are having a hot summer day as it cools us down quite nicely. But not so great when we are only having lukewarm days. All in all though it was a terrific day. When you have wonderful family and good food what more could you ask for.
Her birthday cake was just delicious! As usual we all ate far to much so Monday was a lighter meal day to try and even things out a bit. To cap off her birthday we are going to a sneak preview of the new Twilight movie tonight. We have sneaky peek tickets for the 9 o'clock showing. Looks like it will be a late night for us. It wasn't all play and no work while she was here. We made up several batches of our whipped soap. I just love taking a bath with this! Not a bad afternoons work even if I do say so!

Well that's it for now as my day is going to be a busy one. I do have one other bit of news though... can you believe I am finally knitting a pair of socks! I have one and a half socks done already. So far things are going smoothly and I am just thrilled. I'll show them off in my next post.

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Middle of the week

Well here we are at Wednesday already and I haven't posted once this week. Shame on me! I have a good excuse though. This upcoming weekend is our daughter's yearly birthday barbecue. So I have been shopping and cleaning in preparation for the big day. I am not sure if it will be a back yard affair as in previous years as mother nature isn't really co-operating. Rainy cooler weather will be here by the weekend so we may have to move the whole thing indoors. Oh well wherever it is we will still have a lot of really good fun.My mother-in-law came for a visit on Sunday afternoon. Even though it was a bit rainy we ventured out for a walk at our favorite nature preserve. These little baby swallows were being fed constantly by there mother. I couldn't help feeling sorry for her as she had four of the little ones to feed. We watched her fly back and forth feeding each one in turn. I bet she will be very glad to see them all on their own.
This year the Great Horned Owls only had one baby and we found him sitting on a tree branch. We think he is pretty much reared and on his own now. Although I do think that his parents are still nearby watching. He still has some of his downy feathers but he is looking more like an adult owl everyday.We were all a bit damp, tired and hungry on returning home so coffee, tea and cake helped to make us feel a bit better. This was a Raspberry Bakewell cake and it was delicious and so very easy to make. I think you could make it with whatever fruit is in season. It's definitely a keeper and the recipe is here if you would like to try it.

Well that's it for me for this week. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week and your weekend.

See you soon!

Ella

Lovely Ella and she is all mine! I have always loved Sweet Nellie's work and now I have one of her crocheted little ones. Sweet Ella arrived at the beginning of the week and I fell in love with her instantly. It is a good job the poor dear has a knitted scarf as it has been chilly ever since she arrived. So she sits on the wing backed chair in my bedroom and I get to see her every morning when I wake up... lucky me!
A couple of weeks ago I kitty sat for my neighbor while they took a short vacation. Just taking care of that wonderful kitty was payment enough. But today she came for tea and gave me this lovely little bag with three dish towels in. So how lucky am I again! Alex her kitty is a large very lovable Maine Coon whom I just adore. He is very gentle and very sweet, so it was such a pleasure to be his "mommy" for a week.
After cleaning the house this morning I decided that I had better mow the lawn before the next lot of rain came our way. I also had a quick lookee around the garden and spotted for the first time this year one of our little green frogs. I was delighted to see him. So upstairs I ran to grab the camera. I am wondering if our unseasonably cool, rainy weather is keeping them still hibernating. I don't blame them one bit for not wanting to venture out.

Well I am venturing out of here for this week.
See you next week!

Wonderful Weekend Again!

Well it has been a while between posts this time. Good weather finally arrived and I went outside to play with it! It was another busy but fun weekend. It started on Friday when I finished up making some body cream and massage bars for the store. All to be delivered to daughter on Sunday when we went for dinner and a visit.

Our really fun stuff started on Saturday morning when we went for a morning walk. The above picture was taken during that walk. We had never seen a baby hummingbird begging it's mother to feed it, so we were thrilled when we came upon these two. What a lovely way to start off a weekend.
Right place, right time comes to mind whenever I look at this picture. If we had been 10 seconds later or earlier we might never have captured this tender moment. A big thank you to my hubby for giving me access to all his terrific photo's. No matter how many times I say "Oooh I want that for my blog" he always obliges... he's a keeper! Of course being his "assistant" might just give me a bit of an edge, don't you think?
The Cedar Waxwings are still around. We spied this one feeding on Elderberries. I vaguely remember someone in our family making Elderberry Wine. Hmmm I wonder who it was? I will have to ask my Auntie Di the next time I phone to see if she remembers who. Funny how a memory floats back into your mind like that.

Saturday over with our Sunday was great fun too. Cirque du Soleil is back in town and we were lucky to have tickets to a show on Sunday afternoon. Sorry no camera's allowed so you will have to take my word for it that it was fantastic! What talented people they all were.

Right after the show we ended up at daughters house for that wonderful visit and that scrumptious meal. What a great way to end up our weekend.

I did have plans to work some more on my ripple blanket which has been a bit neglected these past few days. On returning home though I was barely able to keep my eyes open. So it was a quick bath then off to bed.

So how was your weekend?

Ho Hum!

It's one of those days when I just could not think what to blog about. I know we all have them. I can only drag out my ripple afghan so many times to take a photo of it before I bore you all to tears with it's progress. It is still growing but not enough for you to see such a big difference since the last time.

So I decided to take a walk in the garden. Yes, the sun was shining so I headed outdoors to see what I could find.
The garden is a bit behind this year due to our cool rainy weather. Things are starting to come along though.The hanging basket is exploding into color. I can't wait til it is in full bloom. It always looks so spectacular hanging on the front porch.The roses are starting to bloom. It was quite lovely standing in the rose garden.Once again our lovely Dogwood tree is in full bloom. It never fails to please year after year.The hummingbirds are just loving the Honeysuckle. They have been buzzing all over it for a while now.Busy little bee hard at work. Which is what I should be doing, and I really was intending to until........ my wonderful mailman brought me this lovely little book! I have been wanting it for a while now and I had actually forgotten that I had ordered it. So it came as a nice surprise.I am already seeing some things that would make for good blogging........ time for tea I think!

See you soon!

Friday Again

My goodness is it really Friday again. This week has just flown by so quickly. As usual like most weeks I am behind.... again. I did manage to make something new though. A vase cover. This time instead of crocheting one I made one out of fabric and lace. It is just a simple cuff that slides over the glass vase and covers up all the stems that you would otherwise be able to see. It went together in about 10 minutes or so and I am really liking how it turned out. I guess the possibilities are endless when it come to fabric choices... especially in my house! It's a really good way to to use up small scraps that I know we all have saved away somewhere.

I do like fresh flowers in the house. When I go grocery shopping I look to see what is on sale. I picked up this little bunch for $2.99 and brought them home to brighten up the house. Which as you all know needs some brightening up lately... but I refuse to talk about how dull and rainy it is again today!
Well here is an updated pic on the ripple blanket that I am currently making. It has grown quite a bit and I am so enjoying rippling away in the evening while relaxing watching television. It is now big enough to snuggle under while I am hooking away.... which is pretty nice right now due to all that gloomy rainy weather that I refuse to talk about!

So that's it for another week. I hope your weekend is a fun one. Ours would be except of course for that subject that I refuse to talk about!

See you next week!

90 Minutes

90 minutes was just about the amount of time that we had this holiday weekend that was somewhat dry and just a little sunny. So we grabbed our coats... yes I said coats, as it was still a bit chilly and went out for a walk. We were going just a little loopy from being couped up in the house for so long. It was amazing at how much we saw. First was a Cedar Waxwing........ then...sorry to all you that are a bit squeamish... a Garter Snake soaking in what little sun that we have had. This lovely insect was drying his wings. Isn't he the most wonderful shade of green. A Yellow Warbler... it's nice to see something sunny and yellow up in the sky! Am I sounding like an old grump again?

I know our weather will get better soon and truth be told I would much rather have our rain than 90 degree weather. One of the good things about being stuck indoors is spending lots of time working on my ripple blanket. It really has grown quite a bit in the last few days. I will post an updated pic soon.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!