A Walkabout…

…the yard.

Merriam Webster defines “walkabout” as a 1908 coinage that refers primarily to “a short period of wandering bush life engaged in by an Australian aborigine as an occasional interruption of regular work”

Well after being sequestered in my garage all day working on boxes, boxes, boxes, I decided a walkabout the yard to see what’s blooming was in order. For the record I emptied lots of boxes and haven’t even gotten to the dishes yet. Oye Vay!

Two of my rhododendron bushes are blooming. I have to get some expert advice on pruning them this year because they are growing higher then the roof…

The Rosemary bush is at the end of it’s bloom. When the blooms are fresh it’s fun to use sprigs of it to garnish platters. We garnished our lamb at Easter with the sprigs but I forgot to take a photo.

I don’t know what this is but I like the color of the blooms.

Two of my Azaleas are blooming profusely. The two pale pink ones are just budding.

My garden gnomes are being overgrown…

We had some interesting changing skies yesterday and some fun visitors to the apple tree.

Mr. and Mrs. Duck spent a good portion of the day resting under our tree.

I’m linking up with Sandy at The Reluctant Entertainer this week. Here’s her theme for this week…

What flowers are in your yard right now, or in your kitchen window, or on your counter tops? Do you have any dinner plans to use them as a centerpiece?

Click on the image to get to Sandy’s to join in the fun. Today is Cinco de Mayo and I’m still working on those boxes so Dear is taking me out for some good Mexican food tonight. I won’t be setting a table till this weekend or bringing fresh flowers in till then. I’ll just have to take another walkabout to enjoy the blooms outside!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Sequestered…

amongst all these boxes. My brain won’t be released till I’ve gone through and sorted all this stuff. I hope to make a dent today.

As soon as the thermometer outside registers over 40 degrees I’ll pull out the cars, set up my table and get to work. This is just a shameless post to try to drum up some sympathy and also to let you know why I might be absent in Bloggyland. If I don’t surface in a couple days send out the troops to come rescue me…

Have a wonderful Tuesday everyone…

Ruby Tuesday ~ Start to Finish!

Time to visit Mary at Work of the Poet to join in on some Ruby Tuesday Fun!

On Saturday morning I arrived at the Crista Campus in Seattle to join with over a thousand people for a 5K fun run/walk to raise money and awareness about Human Trafficking. The “Free Them 5K” started on the campus and took us on a route through the neighborhoods surrounding the campus. Crista’s motto is “Loving God and Serving People”. There are 7 different ministries at Crista (maybe more) Our DIL is a part of World Concern Organization that works to relieve suffering around the world. They’ve had an ongoing ministry in Haiti and other impoverished areas. This walk was sponsored by World Concern.

Josh and his BIL ran the 5K. I joined my DIL’s mother and SIL to walk the 5K. Laura (my DIL) worked the event. We had a great time for a great cause.

The building in the first photo was designed by Daniel R. Huntington and built in 1913-14 as part of the Firland Tuberculosis Hospital. It is now used as an administration building.

Mosaic Blue Monday ~ Jury Duty & 5K

For Mosaic Monday please visit Mary at The Little Red House. Her photography is always stunning. I took these photos of the beautiful Dogwood and Wisteria during a 5K walk I participated in on Saturday morning. I always have time to stop and smell the roses!! I just had to jog to catch up with my walking buddies. I am determined to plant a Dogwood, Wisteria and lilac in my yard!!

For Blue Monday you need to visit Sally at Smiling Sally. She’s a very gracious hostess! These sculptures were on the courthouse where I was on Jury Duty last week. I never had to sit on a jury but at least I got some photo time in! These are a great assortment of Northwest wildlife!

Have a great Monday and start to your new week!

See The Shining Dewdrops ~ Hymn

See The Shining Dewdrops

See the shining dewdrops,
On the flowers strewed,
Proving as they sparkle,
“God is ever good.”

Hear the mountain streamlet,
In its solitude,
With its ripple saying,
“God is ever good.”

In the leafy treetops,
Where no fears intrude,
Merry birds are singing,
“God is ever good.”

Bring, my heart, thy tribute,
Songs of gratitude,
All things join to tell us,
“God is ever good,
God is ever good.”

author unknown

Free Them 5K!

World Concern in Seattle sponsored a 5K Walk/Run to help raise money to stop human trafficking. Our DIL Laura works for this organization. We got together for this worthwhile event. This is a photo of us at the finish line. Our son Josh and Scott (Laura’s brother) ran the 5K. Laura’s mother Pat, her SIL Lisa (with child), the doggie Mylie sp.? and I walked the 3.3 mile route. Laura worked the event and then cheered us across the finish line.

Moonlight ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Moonlight ~

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

As a pale phantom with a lamp
Ascends some ruined haunted stair,
So glides the moon along the damp
Mysterious chambers of the air.

Now hidden in cloud, and now revealed,
As if this phantom, full of pain,
Were by the crumbling walls concealed,
And at the windows seen again.

Until at last, serene and proud
In all the splendour of her light,
She walks the terraces of cloud,
Supreme as Empress of the Night.

I look, but recognize no more
Objects familiar to my view;
The very pathway to my door
Is an enchanted avenue.

All things are changed. One mass of shade,
The elm-trees drop their curtains down;
By palace, park, and colonnade
I walk as in a foreign town.

The very ground beneath my feet
Is clothed with a diviner air;
White marble paves the silent street
And glimmers in the empty square.

Illusion! Underneath there lies
The common life of everyday;
Only the spirit glorifies
With its own tints the sober grey.

In vain we look, in vain uplift
Our eyes to heaven, if we are blind;
We see but what we have the gift
Of seeing; what we bring we find.

FFF ~ Family, Flowers, FDA, Funnies…

Time once again to consider the past week and choose 5 favorites. Visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to join in or see more Faves…

Here are my favorites and it was hard to narrow it down because of everything that happened last weekend…

1. Spending time with my family in Southern California. We packed so much into 2 days. Brunch at my mom and pops, Descanso Gardens with my sister and her family, Dinner at Tam O Shanter with the same crowd, rendezvous with my nieces and daughter at the hotel. That was Saturday! Sunday we met at Golden Skewer in Montebello for a wonderful Armenian lunch together.

2. Having my daughter Katie with me in Southern California for 2 days so she could spend time with her grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. She also got to meet little Avery for the first time.

3. Enjoying the Rhododendrons blooming in my yard and other blooms that are a mystery to me.

4. Hearing the announcement and the cheers and happiness over Dendreon’s drug Provenge being approved by the FDA. It’s a cellular immunotherapy for men with advanced Prostate Cancer. It uses their own immune system to fight the disease. This is the company Dear is working for here in Seattle. This approval means he will still have a job on Monday. :0)

5. This next photo is something that made me laugh. We saw these signs on every tree on a street in Whittier, California this past weekend

Makes me wonder if the city got sued for sap dripping on cars or what???

My morning will be very busy because the moving van with all our stuff from the condo is arriving Friday morning bright and early. Here’s what I’ll probably be saying…no put that over there, those go in the basement, that goes upstairs, put that in the kitchen please, that needs to go in the garage…the joys of having more crap stuff then you need!!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone…

Good News For Seattle’s Dendreon and Us!

Whoohoo! The FDA has approved Provenge which was developed by the company my husband now works for. I know some of you are thinking huh? Your husband is working? We thought he was retired. Well his retirement was very short lived and yes he now has a different full-time job right here in Seattle. Good thing the FDA approved this treatment today or else Dear would have been out on the street with no job!! So the company is all a buzz. Lots of laughter and celebration going on in Downtown Seattle over this major announcement. Congratulations to Dendreon and 10 years of hanging in there over the development of Provenge and the approval process!! Congratulations to all the men with Advanced Prostate Cancer that can finally be treated with Provenge…

FDA Approves a Cellular Immunotherapy for Men with Advanced Prostate Cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Provenge (sipuleucel-T), a new therapy for certain men with advanced prostate cancer that uses their own immune system to fight the disease.

Provenge is indicated for the treatment of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic prostate cancer that has spread to other parts of the body and is resistant to standard hormone treatment.

Prostate cancer is the second most common type of cancer among men in the United States, behind skin cancer, and usually occurs in older men. In 2009, an estimated 192,000 new cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed and about 27,000 men died from the disease, according to the National Cancer Institute.

“The availability of Provenge provides a new treatment option for men with advanced prostate cancer, who currently have limited effective therapies available,” said Karen Midthun, M.D., acting director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

I’ve Got Yard Art!

I’ve been threatening my family for years about adding some yard art to our landscape…and I use landscape loosely here because our yard is in no way landscaped. It’s kind of like the inside of my house which is in no way professionally decorated! Hodge Podge is a better way to describe it…eclectic. Working with what you have and adding something here and there.

I saw these little guys at Fred Meyer and they were on sale so I bought them and stuck them in the planter along our front walkway. So my family has Yard Art Thursday and Mary to thank for finally pushing me over the edge with a purchase of my own Gnomes!!

Hmmm…upon close inspection of these Gnomes I’m struck with how they resemble my paternal grandfather except for his beard was redish…

Thanks for hosting Yard Art on Thursday Mary!

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage