Grey and Weathered Barns

These photos were taken on December 11th on our way to La Conner for an overnight. We drove some back roads from Conway to Skagit City. Skagit Valley is known for their Tulip Festival and Daffodils, too. Next time I’ll share the red barns.

Linking up with Tom The Backroads Traveller for The Barn Collective.

We’ve been so happy to have two sunny days in a row here in Western Washington. Today I enjoyed a walk along the Burke Gilman Trail with my friend Beth after church. This week I’ve been getting out between rain showers to continue pruning our apple tree. I can only do a little at a time, just as much as my neck can take. It’s a looking up kind of job. It was nice to do the pruning in the sunshine yesterday and today. In the photo above the branches that are growing straight up still need to be cut.

The work on our master bath continues with forward progress but we are still weeks away from completion. We’ve picked the tile for the shower and all the fixtures. We also have the flooring chosen. The electrical is done. What’s going on at your house?

The Hills Are Alive…

…with mist and clouds and barns! When we left Colville on December 18th for our 6 hour drive home we stopped at the top of the kids’ driveway to take our favorite view from this spot.

Here’s a close up of the barn in the previous view. It’s crumbling slowly.

It was a misty moisty morning with low lying clouds or fog which made for interesting backdrops for the barns and farms we flew by.

We were happy to have chosen this day to return home instead of Tuesday since there was a snowfall of 14 inches after we left!

On this past Saturday my Western Washington girls and my sister had a fun day in downtown Seattle. We met up for brunch/lunch and then walked to the 5th Avenue Theater for the Sing-A-Long Sound of Music. This explains the name for my combination post for the Barn Collective and life as it happened this weekend.

It really was a blast. We were given props and prompts to interact throughout the movie and it really was fun singing our hearts out. We hissed, we booed, we cheered, we bowed and of course we sang along on every song. Among our props we were given a popper that we were instructed to pop when the Captain and Maria kissed in the gazebo. So much fun especially since there was a young girl in front of us who kept us entertained with her spot on interaction throughout the show!

Linking up to The Barn Collective with Tom The Backroads Traveller.

Leftovers

Before I forget about these leftover photos of barns and critters I’m posting them for Eileen’s Saturday Critters and Tom’s Barn Collective. The two farm structures above were taken on some back roads October 6th in Skagit County.

On October 28th I took several fall photos in our yard and this sweet robin stayed still for a couple of photos.

The photos above of the Canadian Geese on the Sammamish River in Bothell were taken back on October 29th while we walked the Wayne Golf course.

These next three photos with barns were taken in Colville, Washington on November 17th.

The view above is from our son’s driveway looking out to Colville. I like to take this shot every time we visit to see how it changes in every season.

On our way home from Colville on November 20th we saw a few rainbows and this one happens to be over the nice red barn in the distance. I took this one with my cell phone.

I’ll soon be linking up to Eileen’s Saturday Critters and to Tom’s Barn Collective.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Red Skagit Barns

A month ago we drove to La Conner in Skagit County for lunch with a friend. On the way home we took a back road and saw these red barns and others I’ll share later. Looks like this one above is a gym.

Linking up with Tom for The Barn Collective.

We had a busy couple of days with special overnight guests, our daughter-in-law, Addy and Granny great. They are on snowy roads heading home today.

We had to hurry out and take the patio covers down on Friday when the first snow came down so they wouldn’t get torn by the heavy snow. We draped them over the privacy fence until they dry and we can fold them up and put them away until late Spring. We were surprised again to see snow this morning. So early and out of the ordinary for our area. Have you had snow yet?

Barns and More

A few farm scenes from Northeastern Washington for Tom’s Barn Collective. These shots were taken from the road on the way to our son’s home for some family time together last week and weekend.

Back here in Seattle we enjoyed the last season game for the Seattle Sounders v. Colorado Rapids.

A Sunday afternoon game and the sun came out to warm us after several days of rain. The tifo for this game was exceptional. Tifo [ˈtiːfo] is the Italian word for the phenomenon of supporting a sport team. In some countries (but not in Italy) it is mostly used as a name for any choreography displayed by fans in the stands of an arena or stadium in connection with a sport event, mostly as part of an association football (soccer) match.

We especially enjoyed our time this afternoon since the Sounders won 3-0 and we now get a bye before we head to a playoff game.

Hope you all are having a good weekend and that it ends well.

The Barn Collective

On our way home from a short road trip up to La Conner for lunch we took some back roads to the interstate. This is one of the barns we saw in Skagit County. And then we saw some fall friends just hanging out.

The fall colors are showing nicely here and there.

Ugh…my lower back has decided to go on strike and keep me from too much activity. Didn’t get to church this morning. Hoping to get some good relief soon. Hope y’all are doing well.

Linking up to the Barn Collective with Tom The Backroads Traveller. Thanks Tom!

Stars and Stripes Barn

This barn was spotted off Douglas Falls Rd. in Colville, Washington on September 3rd.

I’ll be linking up to The Barn Collective hosted by Tom The Backroads Traveller.

While we were in Colville over Labor Day weekend we visited a friend of our daughter in law’s family who lives alone and is getting on in age. I took these next photos at her charming older home. She has a nice grape arbor and we picked several clusters of her seedless grapes to take back to D and J’s.

I’ll also be linking up to Mosaic Monday with Maggie at Normandy Life.

We are over half way through September already. Autumn is upon us and we are seeing the seasonal changes around this old house. Soon we’ll be raking leaves. Do you see changes in your neck of the woods?

Highway Nine Barns

A few weeks ago we traveled on highway 9 to get to the Mt. Baker Scenic Highway and back home again. These are some of the barns we saw along the highway. This one above is tucked among lots of nice greenery.

Weathered red a-frame barn.

A brand new barn.

A clean white barn.

An advertising barn.

A weathered barn with two silos.

Linking up with Tom the Backroads Traveller for The Barn Collective.

At church this morning we prayed for all those suffering from the disasters around the world and the U.S.A., earthquakes, fires, hurricanes, flooding, tsunamis and tornadoes. The good news from the Puget Sound Area is that we are seeing blue skies again and we can see the mountains in the distance again because the smoke has been washed away. I am so grateful to see this improvement and to take a good deep breath. While I type I’m watching Fox News with their full time coverage of Hurricane Irma.

Barns Along Hwy 9

Driving home on highway 9 on our August 15th day out to the Mt. Baker Scenic highway I spotted several barns. The problem with barns along a highway is that when you are driving at over 50 miles an hour and you aren’t the only car on the road you can’t just stop on the highway to take a photo. As the passenger I had to snap away and hope the photos came out okay.

This particular barn had it’s own parking lot because it happened to be the North Trailhead of the Centennial Trail.

Tracy Tallman contributed this People’s History account of the family of Kamezo (1883-1975) and Miye Nakashima and their Snohomish County farm. Kamezo and Miye Nakashima were among the earliest Japanese families to farm within Snohomish County. They purchased their farm, located near Arlington, on July 31, 1937, from Sophie Frye Bass (1866-1947). They operated it as a dairy farm until 1942, when, during World War II, Executive Order 9066 forced the Nakashimas into internment camps along with nearly 120,000 first-generation Japanese immigrants and their American-born citizen children. On April 15, 1942, the Nakashimas were forced to sell the farm, and members of the large family were sent to different internment camps. Upon their release, Kamezo and Miye relocated to Seattle, where they managed the Marion Hotel.

The rest of the essay with some historical photos on the Nakashima Family and their farm can be found here.

I’ll be linking up to The Barn Collective hosted by Tom The Backroads Traveller.

We are having a mostly quiet weekend here. We’ve got a cut of pork on the Traeger that will cook low and slow for dinner. Dear finished upgrading our closets in our master bedroom suite with new doors and new shelves and hanger bars. I forgot to take a before photo, oops. I’ll share a couple after shots soon while things are still nice and tidy.

The Barn Collective

Saw this barn in the distance on a walk at Evans Creek in early July. I zoomed in for a closer look. Evans Creek Preserve is in the city of Sammamish, Washington.

If time permits I’ll link up with Tom the Backroads Traveller for The Barn Collective.

I’m thankful for a breeze this morning and hoping it helps to blow the smoke away. There was an advisory I saw yesterday saying that the air quality in Washington State is the worst in all of the USA. We can’t see our mountains to the east or to the west. People are now hoping for some rain to help clean up the atmosphere. The heat and the air make for a very unproductive ellen b. My daughter in law sent a photo yesterday from the same spot I took the photo in my header. They cannot see any of the layers of the mountains or the hills!