We still have some large patches of snow but the sun has been shining for a few days in a row and we are all trying to get our fair dose of vitamin D3.
Jaymison kept his sunglasses on all the way down the driveway and up again!
Jamie, in these photos I can see JJ’s glasses are orange. 🙂
I might be quite scarce while I travel to and from California the next few days. Looking forward to the month of March!
…because of the glorious sunshine!
Dear and I headed out in the sunshine for a walk on the Burke Gilman Trail. This trail runs along Lake Washington.
The seagulls and ducks were excited because someone had thrown some bread on the end of the dock.
This bird is not a seagull or a duck and a lot larger. Couldn’t identify what it is. It didn’t have a white head like a bald eagle.
We walked off the trail to check out this small preserve.
I believe Lake Washington is the 2nd largest lake in the state of Washington.
It was windy enough to make waves on the lake.
Our walk and this day was just ducky! Everyone we encountered was smiling and expressing jubilation over the wonderful sunshine.
Hope your week has been just ducky, too.
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?
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.
…there are still favorites. Things to be thankful for that shine through no matter what. I’m joining Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for Friday’s Fave Five.
1. January is a big birthday month at our house. Joshua’s birthday was on Sunday. We celebrated earlier in the month and the photo above was part of our celebration. Our Son Dan’s birthday was on the 16th and his girlfriend’s birthday was on the 15th. This year we celebrated Dan from afar while he celebrated in Eastern Washington. My brother Tim celebrated his birthday and our niece Hope will celebrate her birthday on Saturday. We love to celebrate our loved ones and that’s my first favorite this week.
Our son Dan and his girlfriend Jamie
2. My dear old pop has been having a hard time with a lot of shoulder pain and when he’s in so much pain he misses my mom even more. I was happy to see this photo of him with my niece Melissa enjoying a meal out and looking so alive and pain free. He has been feeling better and the pain with medication has been more manageable. I’m so thankful my father’s pain has been relieved.
3. We’ve been in quite a foggy overcast pattern here in the Puget Sound area. The afternoons where the sun finally broke through were another favorite of mine this week.
 4. An early morning walk with Dear on Saturday was a blessing. It’s always good to get out and get some exercise in the Winter when we tend to want to stay inside and be couch potatoes. We were treated to some Eagle sightings.
5. Another favorite is visiting my bloggy friends each week. This week one of my favorite posts was this one from Gumbo Lily. I love seeing how other people live in different environments than my own and thrive “Day by Day”.
What were your favorites this week?
Update: I posted this last night and this morning I woke up to beautiful clear skies and amazing sunshine! Woohoo!
I’m so enjoying some winter sunshine we are having today.
Our 2nd session of Bible Study started this morning and it was good to get back. Yesterday it was dry for a lot of the day so I got outside and did some much needed pruning. There still is a lot more pruning to accomplish but I feel good about what did get done. I had to stop when I lost the grip in my hand from cutting up all those branches.
So my siblings and I are looking into sending our parents on a cruise to Alaska. My mom let it out of the bag that she would really like to try a cruise. My dad let it out of the bag that he’d like to see glaciers. We are going back and forth on this. My parents are 88ish and will be 89ish soon. My mom has been using a walker to get around. Have any of you gone on an Alaskan cruise and what are your thoughts? I hear there are lots of mosquitoes in Alaska in the summer. Was that the case on the ship, too, when you reached Alaska? What happens at the ports? Is there good transportation to sights on land? Thank you in advance for your input.
I decided to add here that we are looking at a Charles Stanley Cruise in mid July. It would be right up my parents alley with Christian speakers and singing groups. Kind of like a Christian family camp atmosphere.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 