Tag Archives: Daffodils

Daffodils and Sunshine

Although we were short on sunshine this past weekend we had some nice sunshine last week. I bought some daffodils that always have a way of adding sunshine to a table. They also make me smile. Today is Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras. The day before the season of Lent begins. Lent is a time of abstinence, of giving things up leading up to Easter Sunday. In the U.K. this is Pancake Day. Shrove comes from the old word “shrive” which means to confess. Will you be eating pancakes today?

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We had a great visit with our middle son and his girlfriend this weekend. I did not take one photo. We ate, played games, ate some more. Now that Dan has his own house we are slowly sending over his leftover belongings from our house. You know how that goes if you have adult children. This time around he was able to load 2 motorcycles in the bed of his truck to take back with him. I really do hope he didn’t take Dear’s head cold back with him. The roads were quite nasty on their trip home and on Monday the pass that they took was closed to traffic most of the day.

Everyone was talking about March challenges this weekend. Maybe I’ll challenge myself to do something in March, too. I’m thinking along the lines of exercise. How about you?

Those daffodils are now 13 inches high. It’s amazing how fast they’ve grown.

Here, There and Everywhere…

I’m headed on a new adventure today with my girls. Here are some photos from the road this past week when we visited our son Dan and some other random shots from here, there, and everywhere!

The bridge over the Columbia on I-90 heading East at Vantage.

Friday turned out to be a glorious day in the Pacific Northwest.

The weather gave us lots of hope for future tulip days in April. But in March we always have daffodils popping up to make us smile.

Katie had 16 inches of her hair cut off to send to Locks of Love and she is now a vibrant red head! I’ll give you a sneak peek.

I’ll share the whole look later. As for me my hair is still the same with some grey covered up for now.

Hope you all have a great weekend. I’m not sure when I’ll be posting again because of our whirlwind trip to the Los Angeles area.

She’s Not a Gardener…

…but she can dig a hole and put a pretty plant in it!

Last year I planted these after they were wilted in their little pots. This year they surprised me popping up and showing me their pretty smiling blooms! God is the best gardener and I really do depend on Him.

Luke 12:27 (CEV)

Look how the wild flowers grow! They don’t work hard to make their clothes. But I tell you that Solomon with all his wealth wasn’t as well clothed as one of these flowers.

On Saturday I added these Primroses that I’ll be able to see from my kitchen window. It makes me smile.

We had a few hours of dry weather on Saturday and Dear worked in the garage organizing more “stuff” and I did a little work in the yard. It felt so good working outside. It didn’t take long for the weather to turn on us and we experienced some lion like March weather. Sunday started cold but bright. Such a nice change. Blessings to you on this first Sunday in March!

God Is Goodness, God Is Love ~ Hymn

God is Goodness, God is Love

Songbirds in the woodlands sing it,
Flowers breathe it in the grove,
Bells in tow’r and steeple ring it,—
God is goodness, God is love.

Refrain

Lift your voices, happy, happy voices,
And the sunny hours of life improve;
Praise Him for His countless blessings,—
God is goodness, God is love.

Smiling plains and vales display it,
Breezes tell it as they rove,
Rivers, rills, and brooklets say it,—
God is goodness, God is love.

Refrain

Lakes and seas with joy reveal it,
Suns proclaim it from above,
In our hearts today we feel it,—
God is goodness, God is love.

Refrain

Words: James Rowe, circa 1910.

Saturday Smiles…

This sign is on the stairwell at my hairdressers salon/home. It made me smile and I hope you smile, too.

Before the tulips bloom fully here in Washington the daffodils make us smile.

Sometimes a different color tulip gets in the mix and the daffodils try to share the glory with the tulips…

Hope your weekend is off to a good start. If the weather cooperates I’ll be mowing the lawn and Dear will be doing some painting. What are your plans?

Happy Saturday Daffodils!

 

I wander’d lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

~Wordsworth

This is just a portion of this Wordsworth poem. How wonderful it is to have some sweet little signs that Spring is coming. Today is Saturday and we are just messing about the house with no grand plans. Dear will do some sanding on some drywall in the new laundry room. I’ll make sure the doors are closed and the drywall dust is contained to that room. Tomorrow is Sunday and we do have some grand plans. We will be trying another church in the morning and then we are headed north to meet up with some special people for dinner. I’ll share later when I have photos to show.

The Wind Blows Cold…

 

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.

~Charles Dickens

That really describes Wednesday. It was extreme in contrasts. We will see what Thursday holds for us.

I need to get a smog check on one of our cars and I hope to get some laundry done now that the washer and dryer is in it’s new location and all hooked up and vented. What does your day hold?

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.

FFF~ The Birthday Weekend…

…that didn’t end!

Visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to join in the fun!

My five favorites for this Friday are all about Family, Food, Fun, Flowers, and Flying Geese!

 

Our weekend and week was filled with so much flavor and wonderful experiences. So here are some stand outs.

1. Our weekend away in La Conner, Washington where we saw so much beauty. I was blown away with the experience of seeing thousands of Snow Geese in flight.

2. All of our indoor experiences from the lovely Inn we stayed in with a tasty 2 course breakfast and the restaurants we ate at for lunch and dinner. We were not disappointed in anything we ordered and ate.

3. The birthday dinner my son and his wife prepared for us on Sunday night and our meal together on St. Patrick’s Day.

4. Cleaning and organizing the basement. I feel so good about that task being complete that I’ve been offering tours of the basement! :0)

5. Going to our favorite Mexican restaurant and being greeted by the owner. He asked us if we were just visiting from California. When we told him we were back in Washington state to stay he brought us a round of drinks on the house to celebrate!

 

And now that my birthday week is drawing to a close it’s time for E.L.E.M. (Eat Less, Exercise More!) That’s my plan and I hope to stick to it. Hope to get around to see all the FFF’s this week. As soon as the frost burns off I’ll be mowing the lawn…

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

FFF ~ Home Sweet Home

Time for Friday’s Fave 5 hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story. So what are your favorites from the past 7 days?

 

1. Being back in my home and going to sleep here and waking up here and walking in my yard have been great. I love the quiet of our house and not having someone living above me. The only things that makes noise above me are the rain or the crows on the roof. The street noise is different here. I love all the windows I have to look out of and seeing trees and greenery instead of cars parked. I’m a happy camper! That yellow bush is in my yard and the name escapes me but it is so bright!

2. Last Saturday Dear and I went to Mt. Vernon to see the daffodils. In a couple weeks I’ll try to go back to see the tulips. It was a fun morning trip with breakfast in town. We also saw trumpeter swans which I had never seen before.

3. Later in the day I went to the Japanese Gardens with my sister Lana G! We had a fun time. It’s great to be so close to each other when we are both in Washington. I’ll share more photos from the Gardens next week.

4. Yakima Fruit Market and Nursery! This market is closed in the winter so we always know Spring is around the corner when it opens. It opened the first week of March and I had to make a quick stop because I thought they’d have fresh brussel sprouts and they didn’t disappoint. Dear and I really enjoy them!

5. Thursday afternoon my son Josh picked me up and then we picked Dear up downtown to have a bite to eat together before the Sounders Soccer game against the Portland Timbers that evening. This was a friendly game and not a league game. Unfortunately we lost the game 1-0. Even though it was raining we managed to stay dry. I really enjoy Soccer and I have a season ticket for the Sounders.

So what were your favorites this week?

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Daffodils ~ William Wordsworth

Daffodils ~ William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.


Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.


The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:


For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.