Later than Usual…

This year our patio covers and our patio furniture got a later than usual start. Our covers usually go up sometime around Mother’s Day and the furniture is in place in time for Memorial Day. Well this year the covers went up Memorial Day weekend and the furniture finally made it’s debut on June 12th! And as per usual the rains came shortly after we had the furniture in place. I say that with a smile on my face not as a complaint. I enjoy the natural watering system around here just so long as the sun comes out again tomorrow!

We didn’t deck the halls we decked the deck.

Mother’s Day…Father’s Day, what’s a month or so when it comes to readiness?

We are now ready for you summer. Bring it!

What are you looking forward to this weekend?

My niece and her husband of one year arrive in Seattle on Saturday and we will be enjoying along with my sister and her husband and our son Josh and dil Laura showing them some Seattle/Washington hot spots and eating meals and watching some sports together. Maybe we can even have one of those meals on this deck. My niece is a high school math teacher and she is also a track coach and a marathoner. She has participated in the Boston Marathon. Her husband works behind the scenes at the Staples Center in L.A. and he’s a huge L.A. Kings fan so we are hoping for him that the King’s win the Stanley cup tonight! Of course I’ll be fitting in all the World Cup Soccer I can.

Before I head to the family room to watch the Mexico/Cameroon game here’s where we are at in that bathroom demolition…

Today the toilet and the cabinet/sink get removed. Good thing my niece and nephew are staying at my sister’s house!

The Calm Before…

…the Fireworks! Was it just me or did you feel like the fireworks were more plentiful and louder this year ? Here’s what our calm and quiet fourth looked like at this old house…

It’s good to keep the celebrations going all year long.

Got Flags?

After a few days of hot hot weather here in the Seattle area the fourth was overcast and cool. We were hoping that the sun would break through the clouds before our 4:00 P.M. party time and it did.

It makes decorating so much more fun if you enjoy it with friends and family.

Fourth of July 2013 we had the traditional eight to celebrate.

The signature drink for 2013 was shaken up by Dear and enjoyed. Steve and Lana brought a new red for the wine drinkers to enjoy.

Dear smoked pork for pulled pork sandwiches and our guests all brought sides to share.

My contribution was a trifle with strawberries and blueberries. We really do love our red, white, and blue!

How did you celebrate the “Fourth” this year or do you have some summer celebrations you are looking forward to?

And for the record…I was in bed when the fireworks were in full force loudness.

Summer in the City

…or summer in the burbs.

Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty

Been down, isn’t it a pity
Doesn’t seem to be a shadow in the city

All around, people looking half dead
Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head

We finally put our patio covers up on the last day of June. That’s pretty late for us but very timely with the heat wave that has been hitting us here in the Northwest. I took these photos in the morning so things are still cooler and pleasant.

We are going to have a few friends over on the 4th of July so it was time to get the deck ready for our celebration. While it was still in the 80’s instead of 90’s I walked about the yard to take some photos of the progress on our fruit trees and bushes.

Apples are moving along nicely along with our bumper crop of pears!

The blueberries on our large established bush are starting to turn blue.

The berries on our small deck blueberry bushes in pots are looking good, too.

You know you can invite friends over with all your floors torn up and they won’t mind? It will be a memorable 4th of July celebration here. We can call it “4th of July in the rough” or “4th of July before the floors”. Besides the good food we will share together we’ll mix up a pitcher of a very relaxing beverage just in case someone stubs their toes on our rough floors!

This Time Around…

…we decided on more coverage.

After our deck gazebo demise we’ve been considering new options for our deck and how to get protection from the afternoon sun. Here’s what we came up with…

Joshua came over to help his father and I got to lend a hand here and there. This wouldn’t have been as easy without Joshua’s help. Thank you Josh!

We are on the same wave length as the Space Needle make over for the 50th anniversary of the World’s Fair with Galaxy Gold…

We’re calling our color terracotta and that’s the color of our new deck stain.

Here are some interesting facts about the Space Needle…

When the Space Needle was built in 1962 it was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River.

The Space Needle had the second revolving restaurant in the world. The first one was in the Ala Moana shopping mall in Hawaii (now closed). There are now hundreds of turntables throughout the world.

One of the best sellers during the fair was a Needle-shaped gold charm with a light in it, selling for about $75 in 1962. Another was a 9-inch high chrome lighter in the shape of the Needle.

The center of gravity for the Space Needle is 5 feet above the ground.

The original nickname of the Space Needle was “The Space Cage.” The original name of the restaurant was “Eye of the Needle.”

We had so much fun in the sun over the weekend and we are still promised a good stretch. It was timely to get the deck structures up. Have a great week everyone!

Finally…

…we pulled out the patio furniture.

Just in time because you know what these early morning shadows mean…summer has finally arrived in the Pacific Northwest!

This is the latest we’ve ever waited to pull out the furniture.

It was just right today and the next few days are predicted to be hot, hot, hot!

We’ve heard about the scorching temps in the Northeast and hope you get some relief soon.

I’m hoping for a nice stretch of 75 degree weather after this little heat wave rolls through.

My hydrangeas are deciding it’s time to show their color. I’ll be pulling out the hose to water the rest of the week. That’s the first time I’ve had to do that this summer, too.

How’s your weather?

I’m adding this post to Susan’s Outdoor Wednesday!

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.

Mosaic Monday ~ Summertime…

Wow! Can you believe it’s August already? Summer is moving along. This is a summer time mosaic.

Mary from Little Red House is the hostess for Mosaic Monday. Visit her to join in or to see many 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.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Tag Archives: Patio