First things first before touring the Gardens… Katie learned that she needs sunblock or else she’ll burn like a marshmallow in a campfire.
I’ll be posting more photos from the Rose Garden, the Japanese Garden and the Italian Garden soon.
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.
On Thursday I visited the Bellevue Botanical Garden and enjoyed the flowers in bloom. Several of these are different varieties of Dahlias. Mary at Little Red House is the hostess for Mosaic Monday. Click on over to see more mosaics…
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.
For the next several weeks I’m in the state of Washington so my Outdoor Wednesday Posts will be from the Western Washington area.
Susan at A Southern DayDreamer is our kind hostess for this weekly event. Click over to her blog to see Outdoor Posts from around the world.
I took a walk around the yard today to see what might be blooming. My hydrangeas are just getting some color.
I was happy to see my Lavender survived the dry weather the Seattle area has been experiencing seeing how my tenants (two of my adult children) don’t consider watering part of their routine upkeep of the house.
The wild rose bush is flourishing and we have a very few pears growing on the Pear tree and a good amount of blueberries plumping up.
I’m still getting my bearings here in the Northwest. I’m not up to my usual bloggy speed. We are replacing my old double oven this week and I’m scrambling to get things in order for our July 4th Barbecue. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods and if you are in the United States enjoy the 4th!
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.
It’s Friday and time to recall our favorites from this past week. Head over to Susanne’s at Living to Tell the Story to participate or see some favorites.
It was wonderful to have morning walks this week with Willow without our typical June Gloom. The skies were bright and we even had a few clouds mixed in with the blue!
The hydrangeas are blooming full right now and they always make me smile.
The birds are so much more active and visible when we walk in the morning. I’m happy when they sit still long enough for me to snap a photo.
I really have become a person who loves photography. If I can be out with my camera I’m a happy camper. I kept getting closer and closer to this critter trying not to scare it off it’s perch.
I’m not a sit on the beach all day kind of person but I do love early morning walks on the beach. Seeing any beach wildlife is such a bonus.
Looking forward to seeing your favorites from the last week later in the day. I’m driving across town this morning to take my Pop and Mom out for a Father’s Day breakfast with my sister Kathy. Have a wonderful Father’s Day and beginning of Summer weekend everyone!
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.
Every other Saturday or so it’s time for a Round Robin Photo Challenge. This Saturday’s theme is growing. Here are the guidelines…
This one was suggested last year by Jan, AKA Whammy, of The Ellis Family Cincinnati. I’ll let her introduce it:
One of our daughters gave me an idea for a Round Robin…what about “Growing“? We thought we would leave it wide open. Since it was spring it could be flowers in your yard, a baby bird in a nest, grass, budding…or kids growing up.
I guess I should have mentioned that this is an Azalea in my front planter in Washington State.
To see more entries for the Photo Challenge visit the Round Robin Photo Blog!
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.
A new weekly blog carnival starts today called Mosaic Monday. Mary at Little Red House is the hostess for this event. Click over to join in the fun!
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.
It’s branches are arrayed in gold
It’s boughs the sight in winter greet.
With hues as bright, with leaves as green
As summer scatters on the scene.
* * * * * *
An angel mid the woods of May
Embroidered it with radiance gay-
That gossamer with gold bedight-
Those fires of God – those gems of light.
~from the Welsh of Dafydd ap Gwillym
When I was at my home in Washington State I thought it would be fun to do a tablescape outdoors. The weather was lovely and I raced against the setting sun to set this table in my front yard. The neighbors are probably wondering about me…
This is a vintage tablecloth that my MIL had in her stash. The hobnob little clear & milky plates are from Dear’s Great, great aunt Emma. The old silver flatware is from Dear’s parents too.
We bought these beautiful daffodils at Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle. I loved the fullness of them and the added orange.
Oh and looky here Jack Sparrow and Sparra Queen Warbeak made it into an actual tablescape!
For more Tablescape Thursday please visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch!
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.
So it’s time for Friday’s Fave Five and all of mine come to your from the State of Washington this week. Dear and I will be heading back to Southern California on Sunday. Boohoo.
1. Spending some one on one and one on four time with our children in Washington! Our oldest son took me to a soccer game last Saturday which was so much fun. Katie and I did some shopping on Monday and she found her strappy gold shoes she needed for an upcoming wedding she’s in. Working around the house with our son Dan. Having Easter Brunch together and Taco Night. Good times.
2. Easter Tradtions! I love Easter and it’s always fun to do the traditional things each year. This year my sister Lana G! and I even made the traditional Russian Easter Bread and Cheese topping. Ok, I keep mentioning that but it was a big accomplishment for us and now we know we can do it and we’re so excited we can have fresh Kulich every year if we want it! Coloring Easter Eggs…it’s so much fun to watch Katie get creative with the colors on the eggs. Going to Easter Service. There’s something special about Easter Sunday at church. We go to church most every Sunday but Easter Sunday always stands out to me. Repeating the traditional Easter greeting to everyone we see on Easter…Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!
3. Spending time in Downtown Seattle with Dear. We had a hair appointment together and then headed downtown to have lunch at the Pink Door. It happened to be one of the sunny days in Western Washington so it was nice to walk around and enjoy Downtown! The Market and all the fresh flowers, the tall buildings, our yummy lunch and buying dessert for the taco dinner we were having later that night with our kids.
4. Fresh mowed grass! I really enjoy mowing the lawn at our home here. There’s nothing quite as satisfying as seeing a freshly mowed neat looking yard! Dear does the weed-wacking and I do the mowing. The first Spring mow is always a bit time consuming and I had to empty the bag more often…
5. Flowers! It was great to see flowers blooming in the yard when we arrived. My Lenten Rose was full of blooms which made me smile. I love the shape and colors of this plant. Seeing all the fresh cut flowers at Pike Place Market was great, too. So many beautiful varieties of tulips and daffodils. I bought a bunch of yellow with orange daffodils to bring home for Taco Night!
Thanks to Susanne at Living to Tell the Story was hosting this weekly event. It’s good to look back and think about the good times and blessings we enjoy each week.
Whoa…where has the week gone? It’s time to look back and pick some favorites. There is so much to choose from. Susanne has room for you to join in if you’d like to post your Five Favorites from the past week. Click over to Living to Tell the Story to join on in or see some Favorites.
One of my favorites are these new bookcases that Dear put together and I filled in our Living Area. We are really enjoying the new look this achieved and I’m enjoying seeing some of my pretties out from their hiding places.
My next favorite is being surrounded by live flowers this week. We bought a few Gerber Daisies at the Farmer’s Market and then on Valentine’s Day our kids sent us the beautiful bouquet of Lilies. (Of course that bouquet is my very favorite because they came unexpectedly from our kids) Then I got 2 dozen free roses from the little Thrift store I frequent. I think that God is so good to us to have created flowers of so many colors and varieties for us to enjoy. Don’t flowers just make you smile??
Call my next favorite a confession of my not so secret obsession. I love Reality TV. Not all Reality mind you just Biggest Loser, American Idol, Top Chef, Amazing Race, Project Runway, and Survivor. Can you still be my friend after I’ve made this confession? Good thing we have DVR so I don’t have to be home every night to watch these shows! For those of you who watch Top Chef, Fabio’s restaurant in Moorpark is not that far from us so Dear and I plan to go soon…
Onward and Upward…my next favorite was weather in Southern California this past week. Look at the contrast over a 24 hour period in Southern California. Tuesday Evening we had those great clouds that had brought rain earlier in the day and then the next afternoon not a cloud in the sky. It’s been cooler, too, which is a nice change for us in Southern Cal.
Last for this week are Willow and my walks and the fact that Dear and I continue to work out on the Bowflex and try to get our walking in too. We are starting to see and feel some results which are motivating us to continue. Us older folk need to keep our muscle tone up… Willow and I took photos of each other this week on a fun little path behind her neighborhood. We promised each other not to take photos of our behinds going up the path and steps. Little favors go a long way with body self esteem :0)
Maybe next week I’ll be brave enough for Dear to take a photo of me grimmacing on the Bowflex!
Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 