Author Archives: Ellen

Port Williams Lavender

Many photos few words. I’m in Southern California spending time at the beach with family, eating meals with family, attending a bridal shower for Katie with family. Flag ceremony with my sister-in-law and Katie. Breakfast at Julienne with sisters, sister in laws, nieces, and daughters. Birthday party at the beach for my youngest brother and sister (twins). Don’t tell them I told you they are turning 48. How does that happen? My baby brother and sister are 48! That means I’m getting old. Disneyland with family. Sheesh…I’m going to need a vacation when I get back home.

Now I’ll just breathe in all this beautiful lavender and relax a bit…

On our way to our next lavender farm we stopped at a U-Pick Berry Farm. I couldn’t resist taking a photo of this little girl in the berry patches…

Port Williams Lavender

Our next stop will be Purple Haze Lavender Farm. Hope you are all having a nice weekend.

Jardin du Soleil Lavender and Olympic Lavender Farm

Since I still had 4 Lavender Farms to share with you I decided to combine these two farms. Would you believe we missed several farms, too? Sequim really is the Lavender Capitol of North America.

Olympic Lavender Farm

Most of the farms we visited had live music being performed. There was a great variety from Country to a Harp Soloist.

By this time we were so intoxicated with the lovely lavender that Katie would agree to all my photo shoot ideas! “Go sit amongst the bees” “Don’t worry they won’t sting you.”

Jardin du Soleil Lavender

This is a wonderful piece of property with a great Victorian home and garden and it’s for sale.

There was a maze on the property and Katie set out to conquer it…

Mission accomplished successfully. Another maze under her belt!

Time to sit a spell and enjoy my surroundings.

I had to get a shot of Jill with her camera documenting what stood out to her photographic eye.

We ventured onto the garden paths that surrounded the front end of the Victorian residence.

Onward and Eastward we headed to Port Williams Lavender via a U-Pick Berry farm. More adventures to come.

Tomorrow Katie and I leave very early on a flight to California to visit with family who are converging on Orange County. I don’t know if and when you’ll hear from me this next week but I’ll have another lavender farm posted tomorrow. Hope you all have a nice weekend.

N is for Nests and Nature~

It’s time for the letter N with Jenny at Alphabe-Thursday! Thank you Jenny for hosting!

This past weekend I had a bloggy guest spend a few days and we were out and about in the Great Northwest. On the way and during a trip to the Sequim Lavender Farm Faire we were given the opportunity to photograph something neither of us had ever seen before, a baby Seagull. My daughter Katie spotted it off the car deck of the ferry. Later in the morning above the Dungeness Spit on Marine Drive Jill spotted an eagle. Eagle photographs have eluded me until now and then a local stopped while we were photographing the Eagle to tell us about a spot where we could see 2 young eagles still in their nest. Let’s just say that it was a glorious start to a glorious day of enjoying God’s creation and making note of that creation with our cameras.

Here’s the baby seagull that Katie spotted from the ferry dock. Mama seagull was standing over it keeping an eye on us while we clicked away.

The Eagle

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

© Alfred Tennyson

Nests – The shape of the eagle nest or aerie is determined mainly by the branch point where it’s built. Sticks placed in tree forks result in cylindrical or conical shaped nests. Disk Shaped nests are built on the ground or a tree branch which is nearly level. Bowl Shaped Nests occur where the tree trunk branches off into smaller upright branches.
   Bald eagles build their nests in large trees near rivers or coasts. A typical nest is around 5 feet in diameter. Eagles often use the same nest year after year.

We assumed this is one of the parents of the eaglets since it was perched just above the nest.

Beyond the Dungeness Spit is the Strait of Juan De Fuca which separates this part of the Olympic Peninsula from Vancouver Island, B.C.

The Dungeness Lighthouse. Built in 1857. Manned and maintained by US Lighthouse Society, New Dungeness Chapter. Six mile walk to the lighthouse. Open year round.

This is also the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge.

We saw other animals, too. Besides needing some serious orthodontia work, aren’t they cute? We stayed far enough away so they couldn’t spit on us.

Another first for me on this day was being able to photograph this peacock with it’s feathers fanned. Too bad he was behind the wired fence.

Hope you enjoyed my nature shots. I’ll be around soon to see what other N’s will be represented this week.

Creekside Lavender Farm ~ Our Military Favorite!

Katie spotted this farm and the sign for a free bundle of lavender for those with a Military I.D.  so she made her mental navigating note for us to return after the farms opened to visitors.

Katie wanted a bouquet with a few of all the different varieties of lavender. The hardest part of gathering the lavender was dodging the bees who were enjoying the lavender. Katie has always had a fear of buzzing insects that can bite!

We really enjoyed the owners of this farm. They were so friendly and ready to go out of their way to explain lavender to their guests. Jill got a good explanation of culinary lavender compared to lavender with a strong camphor odor and slightly bitter. If you want culinary lavender buy the augustfolia which has a light sweet smell.

This farm had some rows of pink lavender, too.

When we went into the lavender store at Creekside to show Katie’s military I.D. the lady of the farm made us cry by tearing up and thanking Katie when my daughter told her that Andrew was serving in Afghanistan. Thankfully she had a box of tissue handy…

Katie’s bouquet that she got for free with her military I.D.

Wednesday is a big soccer day in Seattle. The English Premier League’s Manchester United is visiting and having a friendly match against our own Seattle Sounders. Season Ticket holders for the Sounders got a ticket for this game. I’m meeting up with my son and daughter in law to attend the game. I hope to get some photos of Wayne Rooney, Chicharito and others!

Hope your week is going well!

Sequim Lavender Farm Tour…

Because Moisi is my father we made it to the Lavender Festival over an hour early. Most farms weren’t open to visitors until 10:00 A.M. so we got our bearings with my favorite navigator in the back seat. Last year I journeyed to the festival all by my lonesome. It’s a lot more fun with my navigator and a bloggy friend who understands that we take photos of everything! Jill and her camera are great companions for me. You’ll need to check out her beautiful perspective of our days, too.

Here’s my navigator, Katie. We had time to stop and look out at the Dungeness Spit and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We gave a shout out to our Canadian friends across the Strait. Hello Pondside and to the east of Vancouver Island, hello Girls from MGCC!

We picked the roads on the perimeter to travel and were happy to spot this away from downtown spot for breakfast. A great start to our farm tour. We all chose the 1-1-1 for breakfast. One egg, one piece of sausage or bacon, and one pancake or piece of french toast.

Jill was served her coffee in a lavender mug. While we were waiting for our breakfast the owner of the restaurant brought us a bouquet of flowers for the table. He showed us the bush the mock orange blooms came from that were in the bouquet.

When breakfast was done we were ready to head to our first farm of the day…

I’m going to have to break down my posts by farm so that my posts will be manageable. Oliver’s was a nice start with just a few other people around. Each of the farms had nice gift shops to shop in and some of the farms had several vendors on sight with their tents ready to lure you in to buy their wares…

Packed Into Three Days…

Mosaics today with more details to follow during the week.

Jill arrived at SeaTac Airport on Thursday morning and we headed straight to Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle.

Kerry Park on Queen Anne Hill has a wonderful view of Seattle and if you continue down Highland you’ll find this sweet little park.

On Friday morning, bright and early, we headed out to catch the Edmonds/Kitsap Ferry which took us across the Puget Sound to the Kitsap Peninsula. We traveled a few miles to the Hood Canal Bridge which took us to the Olympic Peninsula and then to our destination of Sequim.

We were blessed with more than beautiful views of lavender in Sequim.

Full grown eagles and a couple young eagles still in their nest were a wonderful surprise for us to view. The Dungeness Spit and Lighthouse are the background for this mosaic with the eagles who were nesting above this area. At 5.5 miles in length, the Dungeness Spit is the world’s longest naturally occurring sandspit and home to the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge. Dungeness Crab comes from this area.

I have many photos to share from our lavender tour and eagles which I’ll share later during the week.

I’m linking my Mosaics over at Mary’s Little Red House.

Hope to visit you soon…

Thy Word is Like a Garden, Lord ~ Hymn

Thy Word is Like a Garden, Lord

Thy Word is like a garden, Lord, with flowers bright and fair;
And every one who seeks may pluck a lovely cluster there.
Thy Word is like a deep, deep mine; and jewels rich and rare
Are hidden in its mighty depths for every searcher there.

Thy Word is like a starry host: a thousand rays of light
Are seen to guide the traveler and make his pathway bright.
Thy Word is like an armory, where soldiers may repair;
And find, for life’s long battle day, all needful weapons there.

O may I love Thy precious Word, may I explore the mine,
May I its fragrant flowers glean, may light upon me shine!
O may I find my armor there! Thy Word my trusty sword,
I’ll learn to fight with every foe the battle of the Lord.

Words: Edwin Hodder, 1863.

Psalm 119:18 (ESV)

Open my eyes, that I may behold
wondrous things out of your law.

Sneaks and Peeks…

Jill from Jill’s World of Research, Reaction and Millinery is visiting with us in Washington. We’ve been enjoying some of the sights of Seattle. On Friday we spent a full long day at the Lavender Festival in Sequim, Washington. I’ll share a little peek into our 2 days so far and you’ll get the full meal deal next week. I took 295 photos on our trip across the Sound to Sequim yesterday!

Here’s Jill introducing herself to the famous Fremont Troll who lives under one of our bridges in the Seattle area. That’s a VW bug he’s got one of his hands on. You can read more about our Troll here.

Jill and Katie on our way to the Lavender Festival…

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend. We have more fun planned and are still waiting on that sunshine we’ve been promised!