The Birds

I was driving with our daughter-in-law and noticed all these Canadian Geese on this grassy field. I grabbed my phone and tried to get the photos before they all took off.

We had a nice little road trip and are home again. Time with loved ones and lots of good food and shopping was on the agenda. We tracked down our favorite waitress at a different Mexican restaurant from where she formerly worked and enjoyed a couple meals at her new location. She wasn’t able to work during most of the restaurant restrictions but has found a place that has given her some hours. It’s a nice Mexican restaurant with good salsa. That’s a plus for us.

Today is our son-in-law’s birthday. Happy Birthday Andrew. We will celebrate Andrew and JJ this coming weekend.

We are in for a very nice week weather wise here in our corner of Washington state. Weather in the 60’s to begin the week and then climbing up to the 70’s by the end of the week. We are looking forward to JJ’s 2nd birthday and party this coming weekend so those temps will be nice for any outdoor activities. His party theme is Fishing.

Signs of my Times…

This past week I traveled to the nearby town of Woodinville for an appointment with our accountant. Woodinville has become a very popular tourist spot for wine tasting in our state. The last two names on this sign direct you to two of many wineries. The most popular winery in Woodinville is probably Ste Michelle Winery. Another larger winery in this town is Columbia Winery. You can probably find wines from Ste Michelle on your grocery shelves.

Last night I attended my first soccer game of the year in Seattle at Century Link Field. Our Seattle Sounders played Club America, a team from Mexico in the Concacaf Champions League. This was a quarterfinal game. We will play this same team again on March 2nd in Mexico to see who moves on in the tournament. Our home opening game for the MLS season is on March 6th. The season will be in full swing starting the 6th. I have season tickets with our son, daughter in law, and daughter. Yes, we are soccer fans.

I’m signing up with Lesley at signs, signs. Thanks Lesley!

I feel like I’ve had quite the workout today. After my walk since the weather was so nice I mowed the lawn for the first time this season. I also did some cleaning up of our drive. My body is telling this old gal to sit a spell and put my feet up! I’ve got a lot of catching up to do on visiting blogs.

Signs, signs…

Just a short drive away from our home we have a wonderful selection of wineries and tucked into winery row is Redhook Brewery and the Forecasters Pub. Besides the wineries and Redhook there is also a Whiskey distiller. The largest and finest winery in this area is Ste. Michelle Winery.

Dear and I were in the mood for a burger and a brew so we chose Forecasters.

This area is very close to a wonderful bike and walking trail, too.

I’m linking up to Signs, signs with Lesley.

A Taste of Ste Michelle

Moving along with my tour guide hat on Monday June 17th we visited Ste Michelle Winery in Woodinville, Wa. This is on the quiet side of Lake Washington about 17 miles from Seattle.

The winery is open for tours every day and during the week you can see the bottling operation in progress. They do not bottle on the weekends.

After the short informative tour filled with the history of this land and winery we were guided into the tasting room.

We were told to hold up our glasses and look at the color of the wine. I’m so obedient…sometimes.

After the tastings my niece and her hubby got a lot more animated.

Is that the wine talking?

From Ste Michelle we went up the road a bit to the Redhook Brewery. The next available tour there was at 2:00 so we had lunch at the Forecaster’s Pub attached to the brewery and then I left Debbee and Lenny with my Brother-in-law for the tour and I headed home to get ready for the U.S.A. vs. Ghana World Cup Game. Thanks for coming to the rescue Steve because I didn’t want them to miss the tour but I was not willing to miss a second of the once in a lifetime game. Josh and Laura arrived before the game started and the rest of the crew arrived in enough time for the 2nd half and the win by the U.S.A. We all had dinner together and a few rounds of Mexican Train. Soon I’ll show our tour of Whidbey Island and the grand finale of Debbee and Lenny’s trip to Western Washington.

It’s Friday today and soon we’ll be in full swing with our Weekend Warrior hats on. While Dear works on ceiling lights, ceiling fan and ceiling drywall I will be available to offer a hand here and there and feed my warrior. What does your weekend look like?

Cottage Lake Gardens

A lovely Woodland Garden in Woodinville, Washington was at the end of my camera lens on Saturday morning. The garden was open for 2 hours for a plant sale.

Susie Egan has a very impressive collection of Trillium. Trilliums are endangered wildflowers that appear in the woods in the Springtime. Their native habitats are shrinking and they are becoming more rare and hard to find. Cottage Lake Gardens currently has all 48 of the world’s species of trilliums! How amazing is that!? They are working toward establishing a National Trillium Collection. Trilliums are known for having 3 flower petals and three leaves and come in many colors including white, yellow, pink, red, brown and green.

Come along with me as I walk the garden paths and snap away at things that catch my eye.

Hope you enjoyed strolling through this lovely garden with me. I’m hoping to be able to attend one of the gardens Trillium tours next Spring!

We are enjoying a stretch of sunshine and dry skies. I’ve even had to get out early in the morning to water. I planted my two Trillium starts yesterday and they are so delicate. I do hope they survive and enjoy the spot I chose for them.

Yippee! Dear will be home at noon today. While he is unpacking I’ll be packing for my trip. Hope your week is going well.

Woodland Garden Mosaics…

I have time on my hands this weekend so I’m linking up with Mary at her Little Red House for Mosaic Monday. I’m sharing a few mosaics from a lovely woodland garden I was able to go to on Saturday morning. I will be sharing a full post with lots of photos from the garden later in the week. Click on the link above to visit Mary and other bloggers.

This garden is only open to the public a few days a year. Cottage Lake Gardens is known for the gardener’s large collection of Trillium. This past Saturday they had a 2 hour plant sale open to the public. I bought two plants and took 62 photos.

I hope to visit many mosaic posts today and see what’s going on around “Blogdom”.

Round Robin Challenge ~ 5 Miles!

Hi, Robins! Time for our new challenge! This one was suggested by Carly back in June 2008. The Round Robin Challenge for Saturday, March 27, is Up to Five Miles Away.

(5.0 miles = 8.04672 km.)

First I drove South. This was at 5.1 miles because I had to find a safe parking spot! This is a park in the city of Kirkland, Washington that is on the shore of Lake Washington. It was a cloudy morning…

Driving North for 5 miles I found “The Chicken” This is at Country Village in Bothell, Washington.

It really is wonderful to think about all these great destinations just 5 miles from my home. This was such a fun challenge because now I have a better handle on how many miles things are away from me.

Going East about 5 miles away brought me to 3 distinct watering holes. Ste Michelle Winery in a French Chateau setting. I would have had to have driven beyond the 5 mile mark to get photos of the chateau. Columbia Winery was visible from the street at the 5 mile mark and is directly across the street from Ste Michelle with a more Victorian architecture and then kiddy corner from both of these great wineries is your good ole roadside tavern!

This is the Columbia Winery in Woodinville.

Now if I would have gone to the 6 mile mark on this road it would have brought me to Redhook Brewery and then to the Herb Farm a renowned restaurant in Woodinville.

It will be fun to visit all you Robin’s and see what there is to see about 5 miles from your homes…

Click here to see more of the Round Robin Challenge…

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.

Outdoor Wednesday ~ Kirkland & Woodinville

My Outdoor Photos this week were taken in Washington while I’m here for a week. We’ve had some great sun breaks between rain showers and I’ve been enjoying the interesting clouds.

This was taken in Kirkland, Washington on Tuesday looking across Lake Washington towards downtown Seattle. The water on the lake was like glass and I was amazed at all the reflection on the water.

Looking back to the shore with the trees reflected in the water.

When I was done in Kirkland I headed to Woodinville to Ste Michelle Winery.

The winery is a beautiful place to stroll any time of the year.

To see more Outdoor Wednesday Posts visit our hostess Susan at A Southern Day Dreamer!

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.

Ruby Tuesday ~ Molbaks Woodinville

Today we enjoyed Dear’s last day in the Seattle area with a trip to Molbaks in Woodinville, Washington to see all their beautiful Christmas poinsettias and displays. The photo in front of the Poinsettia tree is of Dear, our daughter Katie and me, ellen b. We are looking forward with anticipation celebrating Christmas with our family and friends.

For more Ruby Tuesday Posts click over to Mary’s at Work of the Poet.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. So frustrating!

Pink Saturday ~ Pink Poinsettias

Okay! I know I’m jumping the gun because Thanksgiving in the U.S.A. has not happened yet but I was stuck for pink this week and decided to show you these wonderful pink poinsettias. I took these photos at Molbaks Nursery in Woodinville, Washington. It’s a nursery that is a great destination any time of the year. At Christmas they have a huge variety of poinsettias and sections and sections of Christmas ornaments and decorations. A lot of people come to Molbaks to take their family Christmas photo.

For more Pink Saturday visit our Hostess Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Tag Archives: Woodinville