The Merry Month of May…

My yard busts out in all it’s pink glory in the Month of May. Get ready for pink overload. I’ll throw in some non-pink, too, just for some contrast.

The Rhododendron is the Washington State Flower. We have 4 mature plants in our yard. We added a new Rhoddy last year from our trip to the Rhododendron garden on Whidbey Island. When it blooms it should be yellow.

Here’s that little break from pink I was talking about. This is one of our dwarf Top Hat Blueberry bushes that can thrive in pots.

Our Rosemary bush is in full bloom. We use the fresh rosemary year round in cooking.

These pansies are still making me smile. I can see them from my kitchen window.

More proof that I have other flowers that aren’t pink in my yard and on my deck.

My Lenten Rose has gone mostly green at the end of it’s cycle.

My azaleas are full. This darker variety is in full bloom and the light pink has all budded and waiting to open up fully.

My Dogwood tree only has two blooms this season and my lilac has none. I’m wondering if I planted the lilac in a spot that is too shady…

Yes, my Dogwood tree when it blooms fully should also be a lovely blast of pink. Here’s hoping it thrives…

Hope you are thriving and enjoying Spring wherever you are and as not to forget our friends in the Southern Hemisphere you should be enjoying your Fall. Have a great weekend everyone.

Time to Pack it Up…

…this will be my last tulip field post for now. It’s time to pack and head south.

I’m always on the lookout for the odd one in the bunch…

I was so happy that I was prompted to stash my yard boots in the car before I headed to the fields because…

…here’s what I got to walk through to get to all the different colored rows of tulips!

Yes, I felt quite smug! I’ll admit it…

If you didn’t have boots on the Roozengaarde Garden was a good choice to see many beautiful varieties of tulips and to be able to buy bunches of tulips, too.

Packed fresh and ready to send to the stands to sell.

I managed to take the garden shots avoiding hundreds of people that were milling about. The later in the morning the worse it gets.

Tuesday will be my day to get everything organized at this old house for my absence. I will be packing the suitcases for a very early departure on Wednesday morning. Dear will be coming later in the week.

Mixing It Up!

Hope you aren’t tired of tulips! Today I’m sharing the variegated and mixed up tulips. We have had rain, rain and more rain this weekend. Finally on Sunday afternoon we got some blue skies and sunshine!

We had some fun news this weekend. Our nephew Caleb asked his sweetheart Marie to marry him. Looks like our family will be having another wedding celebration come August! Reasons to celebrate are the theme of this year!

A friend of Caleb and Marie was hiding out to take this photo and others of this fun moment.

Congratulations on your engagement Caleb and Marie!

Anything new in your neck of the woods?

Amarillo…

Today I’m posting the photos I took of all the yellow tulips at the Roozengaarde fields at the Skagit Tulip Festival.

A quiet weekend is on schedule for us and time will tell what we get inspired to do around this old house. The weather has been quite drippy so I don’t think we’ll be outside much. It’s Saturday in Ellen’s kitchen over at MGCC today so you can click over and check that out. Blessings…

Roses are Red…

…and so are some tulips!

There’s a new meme in blogdom hosted by The Tablescaper called Oh, the Places I’ve Been. I’m sharing more from the Skagit Tulip Festival in Washington State. The fields and garden I visited were Roozengaarde. Today it’s all about red. Yesterday I posted Tickled Pink.

It seems like red tulips might be fast bloomers. I was interested in all these spent blooms that are in the trenches.

The focus on a few of these are on the mountains in the background. It really was the first great weather day since Easter. We have a quiet weekend ahead for which I am grateful.

I’m linking up with The Tablescaper’s new meme starting April 19th. Click on image to see the rules and join the party.

Tickled Pink…

On Tuesday I made a morning trip to the Tulip Festival in Skagit Valley right here in Washington State. The weather was right and my day was free so I hopped in the car and headed an hour north. I’m starting my photo sharing with the pink tulips…

You don’t have to go to Holland to have a wonderful tulip field experience. There were rows and rows of pink, red, purple, yellow and some variegated varieties.

“The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is one of the destination events for the Pacific Northwest, held from April 1-30. Every spring hundreds of thousands of people come to enjoy the celebration of spring as millions of tulips burst into bloom. As with all things governed by Mother Nature, the tulips bloom according to their own schedule sometime during the festival. The tulips allow us to share our corner of the world and showcase Skagit Valley agriculture.”

Wednesday was a semi productive day around this old house. I cleaned out some mystery broth from the freezer and used up our frozen ham leftovers from Easter to make a big pot of Split Pea Soup. I bought rubarb for the first time from a farm stand in Skagit Valley after visiting the tulip fields and made a coffee cake. I’ll share the recipe on MGCC soon. Sounds like our 2 days of sunshine are coming to an end. How is your week going?

Home Again…

…for a short time.

We had a good drive back and forth to the far North East of our state. We made it over Snoqualmie Pass with no restrictions both ways. We had a very nice visit with our son. I’ll be uploading my photos and sharing more about our trip tomorrow or Friday. For now I’m sharing the photos I took of my Lenten Rose this past weekend.

We are unpacking and getting ready for our next adventure at this old house. I hope to come around soon and see what you all have been up to soon!

Primrose Delight!

On the first Tuesday of the month Fred Meyer Stores offer a 10% discount to anyone 55 and older for a variety of products sold in their store. I enjoy taking advantage of these simple perks. Pretty primrose varieties called out to me with thoughts about a Valentine Day tablescape. I also bought some bird seed for the upcoming GBCC ~ Great Backyard Bird Count. I think I found a purse that will hold my camera and travel documents for our upcoming trip to Milan, too.

When I got home I decided to take photos of the flowers in the lovely sunshine. An hour after I took these photos the clouds and rain rolled in.

Our little piece of property used to be part of a larger piece of property with a nursery on it called Primrose Acres. This information is from word of mouth (not documented) from an old gardener down the road from us. I choose to believe it and like the idea that my little part of the world had such a charming name in the past.

What’s going on in your corner of the world? This is a quiet week here except for our tax prep appointment but we never know what each new day may bring our way…

Lavender and Life…

“Ladies fair, I bring to you

lavender with spikes of blue;

sweeter plant was never found

growing on our English ground.”

Caryl Battersby

Appropriate quote as we end the Olympics in London. I wasn’t able to make it to the lavender festival this year but I do have 3 lavender bushes in my yard. I finally went out and cut some to enjoy inside. We never know what a day holds let alone a year. We make plans and then we wait and see what the Lord’s will is.

This photo was taken at the Sequim Lavender Festival in 2010

Our son Josh directed a junior high camp this past week at Lakeside Bible Camp. He came home from camp on Saturday. On Sunday we were able to have dinner with Josh and Laura and it was good to get the first hand report on how the week went. Such a fragile time for youth in this age group. It’s great to hear good reports about these junior highers and the help they got in their struggles.

I’m looking at making plans to fly to Southern California in September to visit my folks and see as many loved ones as I can. I’m learning more and more that we make plans but we can’t hold on to those plans too tightly. I’m getting more flexible in my older years and learning to go with the flow of life. We had a weekend filled with real good news and very sad news. That’s life isn’t it? Rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. We have been rejoicing and mourning.

Hope that you are finding joy in the midst of life!

Tulips!

The Skagit Tulip Festival

“The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is one of the destination events for the Pacific Northwest, held each year from April 1-30. Every spring hundreds of thousands of people come to enjoy the celebration of spring as millions of tulips burst into bloom. As with all things governed by Mother Nature, the tulips bloom according to their own schedule sometime during the festival. The tulips allow us to share our corner of the world and help us to showcase Skagit Valley agriculture.

Mary Brown Stewart started growing tulips in 1906 with bulbs from Holland, but tulips were “only a small part of the crop and the whole operation was of modest size” (Barrett). In 1926 her son Sam Stewart started the Tulip Grange Bulb Farm near LaConner. Marinus Lefeber, a friend of Sam Stewart, moved their Whatcom County operation down to a farm along Memorial Highway near Mount Vernon. The farm was in business until 2002. Other bulb growers joined them after 1945. By 1997, 700 acres were used for bulb farming, with a value of $42 million.”