Skagit Valley Barns

All these views from the Skagit Valley in Washington State were taken from Wiley Rd. and Mann Rd. and at the Reserve at Fir Island.

I’d like to know the story behind this decoration on this out building.

At the end of Mann Rd. from the reserve heading back to Interstate 5 you could see Fir-Conway Lutheran Church on Fir Island Dr.

I’ll be away from the computer for most of Friday. Hope you all have a good weekend. Time will tell if I can link up to The Barn Collective with Tom on Sunday. Happy First weekend of summer!

A Snail’s Pace Hodgepodge

It’s time for Wednesday Hodgepodge and it’s the first Summer edition of 2017!

1. The first day of summer rolls in later this week. What are ten things you’d put on your list of  quintessential summer activities?  The collage above has some of my ten.

  1. Decorating and having folks over for fourth of July is one of my favorites.
  2. Eating summertime fruit and baking with it.
  3. Entertaining out of town guests with all our area has to offer like canoeing on Lake Washington.
  4. Casual barbecues with family or friends.
  5. Day trips to see a new town or area.
  6. Completing projects outside.
  7. Going to Canada for a summer get-together with the MGCC and their husbands.
  8. Taking some walks.
  9. Enjoying summertime flowers and decorating tablescapes with them.
  10. Going to the Lavender Festival in Sequim.
  11. Attending soccer games in warmer weather, oops that’s 11.

Will you try to manage all ten this summer?  No. Our fourth of July party probably won’t be on the 4th this year and with summer company coming I’ll probably miss the lavender festival since it’s not something little ones would enjoy.

2. Do you collect seashells when you’re at the beach? 

If we can find them we do like to collect them.

What do you do with them once you get them home?

 

The Abalone shell is from Dear’s early years in Southern California.

The Ginger Jar is full of shells Dear and I gathered our 4 years while we lived in Camarillo from 2006-2010. Most Saturdays while we were living there we’d drive to Emma Wood Beach in Ventura and walk along the seashore just as the sun came up. The little glass bowl has shells and little pine cones from somewhere before we got married. The spiny shell is one we keep out of reach.

These larger more dramatic shells are from Dear’s parents who got them from his Uncle and Aunt who were stationed in Hawaii for a few years with the Air Force. Right now they are living on the bottom shelf of the tea cart in a metal tray, the shells, not Dear’s folks or aunt and uncle.

What’s your favorite place to comb for seashells?

Emma Wood Beach is the most recent and favorite. And for the record winter beach combing is my favorite. I like to avoid southern beaches in the summer.

How many of these ‘best beaches for hunting seashells’ have you visited?

None.

Which one would you most like to visit?

Calvert Cliffs State Park (Maryland), Jeffrey’s Bay (South Africa), Sanibel Island (Florida), Shipwreck Beach (Lanai Hawaii), Ocracoke Island (North Carolina), Galveston Island (Texas) and The Bahamas

I think I’d pick Shipwreck Beach. I like the name.

3. At a snail’s pace, shell out money, come out of your shell, go back into your shell, drop a bombshell, happy as a clam, clam up...which ‘shell’ phrase could most recently be applied to some event or circumstance in your life? Explain.

At a snail’s pace is the one I’m going to pick because we seem to be waiting on things that might develop to make plans that might come to be if nothing else changes and in the meantime nothing has changed.  So we are waiting…

4. What summer activity do you dislike? Why?

Pool parties that involve little ones who might or might not be watched properly by their parents.

5. What’s something you see as quickly becoming obsolete? Does that bother you?

Actual reporting of the news. Too many opinions, not enough facts. Yes it bothers me.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

We got these photos by text on Tuesday the 20th. I love all of her expressions. We get to see Addy May on Friday! Woohoo. She’s changing so much every week. It’s been a month since we have seen her in person.

It’s the first day of summer and we had…wait for it…rain! I added that for Vee’s sake. It’s not just in your corner of the world!

Thank you Joyce for asking the questions. Click over to From This Side of the Pond to see more Hodgepodge.

Skagit Valley Wildlife Area and Fir Island Reserve

On June 17th we drove up to Skagit Valley for our first walk with the Wonder Walkers, a short term summer group from our church. The summer plan is a different walk in the Puget Sound area each Saturday until the end of August.

Dear and I had never been to this part of the Valley.

The weather cooperated with us and it ended up being a walk that we didn’t need jackets for.

I should have taken my longer camera lens and the next time we go I will. That’s a Heron on top of that bare tree.

Swallow

This area borders the Skagit Bay and the Skagit River.

This is a walk we’d like to do again since our time was limited and we didn’t walk down every path.

We are about 24 hours from Summer Solstice. The sun did shine here today. I hesitated to share but I’m on another kick to drop several pounds. This time around I am not weighing myself until I see some improvement in my body profile. I was brave enough to take a photo with my phone and when things look different I’ll weigh in and go from there. That will take a while. The reality right now is just to scary for me to attach a number to by stepping on the scale. My first goal is for my jeans to be roomier. After I reach that goal I’ll set another one. Dear and I are not eating anything after 5 pm unless it’s out of our power like celebrations. We also are limiting certain treats if we don’t hit at least 4000 steps on our fitbits. We are aiming for 10,000 a day. I’m counting calories but Dear is not. You won’t hear anything else from me on this subject until I reach my goal.

Enjoy the beginning of our summer season.

A Full Good Day

On Saturday morning we met up with a new summer group called Wonder Walkers at church and then headed to The Skagit Valley Wildlife area and Fir Island Reserve for out first walk. I will share a full post about our walk later this week and barns next weekend. We left the group and headed home to clean up and get ready for a barbecue our kids on this side of the mountains planned in honor of their dad for Father’s Day.

We gathered at Josh and Laura’s. My fist was not a negative gesture but I was trying to show the camera my diamond ring which I haven’t been able to wear for a few years because it was too tight on my ring finger. On the way home from our walk we stopped by the jeweler to pick it up after it had been resized. Woohoo! I’m a happy camper.

Josh was busy grilling the best steaks we’ve ever had off the grill. The secret ingredient was butter. Oh my goodness it melted in our mouths!

After dinner and dessert some of us went for a walk and then when we returned the fire pit was stoked and ready.

It started raining so they moved the patio table umbrella over to the fire pit. Where’s there’s a will there’s a way.

The food, the fire, the fellowship was all real good. Happy Father’s Day Dear.

Just got a text with a photo of our son Dan on his first Father’s day that I had to add to this post.

Happy Father’s Day Dan. Addy has a good daddy.

Hope you all had or are having a good weekend.

Holy Father, in Thy Mercy

Holy Father, in Thy Mercy

Holy Father, in Thy mercy,
Hear our anxious prayer.
Keep our loved ones, now far distant,
’Neath Thy care.

Jesus, Savior, let Thy presence
Be their light and guide;
Keep, oh, keep them, in their weakness,
At Thy side.

When in sorrow, when in danger,
When in loneliness,
In Thy love look down and comfort
Their distress.

May the joy of Thy salvation
Be their strength and stay;
May they love and may they praise Thee
Day by day.

Holy Spirit, let Thy teaching
Sanctify their life;
Send Thy grace, that they may conquer
In the strife.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
God the One in Three,
Bless them, guide them, save them, keep them
Near to Thee.

Words: Isabella S. Stevenson, 1869.

Pears and Apples…

…or is it Apples and Pears?

So far it looks like we have a bumper crop again this year.

We’ll see how many grow to maturity.

Photos taken on June 16, 2017.

This rabbit thought if it kept still I wouldn’t notice it.

We are heading out on Saturday morning with a summer walking group. Hopefully I’ll get some good photos to share next week. Then in the afternoon we have a Father’s day barbecue with our Western Washington kids. Hope you have a good weekend.

Half Way

It’s the middle of June already. We have the furniture on the deck and it’s raining again. We really haven’t had a let’s go sit on the deck day yet. Soon we can enjoy drinking coffee in the morning out there and have a meal or two.

I wanted to show you something I didn’t walk away from at Goodwill this week. I’ve mentioned before on my blog that I am a fan of Beatrix Potter. I’m not a Barbie doll kind of person but this one caught my attention.

It cost me under twelve dollars. Maybe I’ll have to have a Barbie/Peter Rabbit tea party with Addy in a few years.

Hope you all have a nice Father’s Day Weekend. We will be spending some time with our Western Washington kids on Saturday. Hopefully the weather will improve for the weekend.

She Was A Happy Girl

When our daughter Katie was in fourth grade she was put into a Gifted program which was housed in a different school from our neighborhood school. After a few months in this program we started noticing some troubling patterns and angry outbursts from her. She did not want to go to school and wasn’t interested in doing any homework. She finally opened up to us and told us about her experiences on the playground from the other “gifted” kids. We decided the best thing to do was to pull her out of the program and try to repair the damage by homeschooling her. This was one of our best parenting decisions and moves. When we told her teacher and the administration we were pulling her out they were shocked and told us we were making a mistake. They felt this program was giving Katie some options she wouldn’t get in a regular classroom or at home. We just smiled and walked away. We home schooled for 4th, 5th and 6th grade and then Katie decided she’d like to try public school again entering junior high/7th grade. This is something I wrote in 1996 after hearing how Katie was treated and after watching how she was shunned at the school bus stop.

She Was a Happy Girl

She was gentle and kind
She liked to pretend and giggle and dream
Her dreams became playground games
She pranced and danced and was a tree fairy
Her imagination smiled inside her head
She was a happy girl

Other children on the playground couldn’t figure her out
She wasn’t like them
She was different in their eyes
Because of her uncommon ways they began to taunt her

She became the playground plague
She was called the germ
No one should touch the germ
or play with the germ
because they would become a germ, too.

She was a happy girl
but their thoughts and their actions
turned her into a sad and angry girl
She couldn’t understand and couldn’t change
what the playground had made her

She was a happy girl

I’m happy and thankful to God that Katie thrived being home schooled and when she re-entered the public school system she continued to do well. She enjoyed drama and art and had some great teachers who recognized her talents and abilities. She made some good friendships along the way at school and at church. She had very impressive SAT scores. She also was a National Merit Scholar. She completed college and now is standing by her husband as he completes his college degree in Aeronautical Engineering. He had a late start because of serving as a U.S. Marine. She still doesn’t fit in anyone’s mold. She is uniquely Katie. That’s one of the trees on one of her elementary playgrounds that she pretended she was a fairy in.

The Lord bless you and keep you;
 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Numbers 6:24-26

I found this as we sorted through lots and lots of paperwork and decided to put it on my blog as a reminder of how far we have come and how we were carried through by God’s love and grace in difficult times. There are some other things I might share from time to time. Peace be with you and yours.

Flying Proud Hodgepodge

Welcome to Wednesday Hodgepodge where Joyce asks the questions and we come up with some answers.

1. The Hodgepodge lands on June 14th this week, Flag Day in the US of A.

Do you fly your country’s flag at home?

We fly the U.S. flag and the Marine Corps flag at our house. They will be flying proudly on Flag Day.Sometimes, often, or every single day?

When Andrew, our son-in-law, was in Afghanistan and serving in other parts of the U.S. we flew the flags more often. Now we fly them on special days like Flag Day, Memorial Day, Marine Corps birthday, Fourth of July, Armed Services Day, 9/11, Veteran’s Day and Election day.

This is a blue service star flag/banner. It is issued to families who’s sons or daughters are deployed in harms way. Both times when Andrew was in Afghanistan we kept it in our window until he came home safely.

Have you ever visited the city of Brotherly Love (Philadelphia)? Did you make a point of seeing The Betsy Ross House?

No and No but if I did visit I’d want to see her house.

Have you ever made a trip to Baltimore? If so, was Fort McHenry on your itinerary? (where Francis Scott Key was inspired to write The Star Spangled Banner)

No but I enjoy singing the The Star Spangled Banner at every Sounders home game with 40,000 other people and I always am thankful for the Marines and others from different military branches who hold the flag and wave the flag with respect.

2. Red flag or white flag? Which have you encountered most recently? Explain.

Do you mean Red flag warning or white flag of surrender or parley? I see danger, it’s part of my makeup. This makes me very uncomfortable at pool parties or watching little ones at the beach. I might as well have a red flag flying from my head at these venues. I’m sure we’ll be seeing red flag fire danger warnings in Eastern Washington this year. And as far as the white flag goes I don’t surrender easy except for when it comes to sticking to a diet.

3. Are you a stay in the car listen to the end of a song kind of person? What kind of person is that?

No and I don’t know.

4. What are some of the traits or qualities you think a good dad possesses? In other words, what makes a good dad?

I think a good dad cares for, supports, guides and prays for his children.

What’s an expression you associate with your father?

“I praying for you, pray for me. I’m thanking God for everything.” My pop who is 94 still gets down on his knees every night and prays for all his kids, grandkids and great grandkids. Every time I call him on the phone he reminds me he’s praying for me and asks me to pray for him. His English is still sketchy.

5. What’s one rule you always disagreed with while growing up?

My mom was a somewhat legalistic Russian Baptist. Somewhat to say she wasn’t as legalistic as many of my relatives and other Russian Baptists. No drinking, no dancing, no smoking, no playing cards, no going to movies. My parents let us go to movies.

I disagreed with the no dancing and no playing cards. I wore my parents down on a lot of the rules. I went to school dances. One other rule we had growing up was no whistling in the house. Did you know that whistling invites evil spirits into your home? And no, I don’t believe that but it was something passed down to my mother and father.

Is that rule somehow still part of your adult life? Is that a good or bad thing?

I’m still adhering to the no smoking rule and it’s a good thing.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

In about 2 weeks we’ll be seeing our little granddaughter in person again. Our Son and DIL text us photos that we really enjoy. Here are the latest. Addy was 12 weeks old on Monday. The first year of life has so many leaps of development.

Getting so strong and holding herself up.

Sitting pretty with her mommy’s baby shoes on.

Just can’t get enough of these. Sweet Addy May. Looks like she can give you a good left punch.

Click over to From This Side of the Pond on Wednesday to see more Hodgepodge answers.

Mid June Mosaics

Good Monday morning to you. We spent a little time outside tidying up the yard on Saturday and I snapped a few photos. I was reminded that this flower above is a Delphinium. I love it’s soft color.

These wild ferns are taking over our far side yard. It’s a more wild part of our grounds. I pulled a few out as they were choking out some other wild plants.

These Snapdragons are a surprise since we didn’t plant them. Their seeds must have been carried over to this part of our planter by the wind or a bird. I’m happy to see them.

These are three of our hydrangeas in different parts of our yard. The one behind our Pink Dogwood is a white more delicate variety. The large bush in the upper right blooms purplish blue. When we planted it from a pot it had been deep pink. The newest hydrangea that we planted last year in the lower right might be bluish purple, too. We’ll see what influence the soil we planted it in has on it.

We are fortunate in the Puget Sound area of Washington state to have a great variety of plants and trees that grow well. This time of year the grass and weeds grow so it’s time for me to go out and mow! I’m thanking God that I can still manage to mow while Dear does the weed whacking. My best exercise of the week.

I’m joining  Maggie’s Mosaic Monday.