The Gardener

I'm at Richey's! I like to tease her that she works me "like a dog" when I'm here. Actually, I'm so happy to help her get things done. Her hubby, she and I went to Lowe's to get plants, dirt and containers to get their yard ready for spring/summer. We barely got ourselves into the truck after loading all of the stuff. I don't have those pictures, Paul took them. But these are mine of our finished project.
We found great concrete planters and plants. Now the deck and patio look fantastic!

Gotta love fun food!

E came over to play yesterday and we made centipede hotdogs, along the line of the freaky food here. He had a great time making them and even better time eating them-both. We also made fruit kabobs and sugar cookies. I had left over sprinkles from Christmas and Valentines, he chose Christmas trees ones and added some pink and purple icing. I forgot to take a pic of those.
Total meal consumption:
2-Centipede hotdogs
1-instant mac and cheese
2-fruit kabobs
3 cookies
2-glasses of milk.
Could there be a growth spurt on the horizon?

Rolodex Swap

This is my art for the byhandartists yahoogroup's yellow quote rolodex swap. I used cold pressed watercolor paper, applied a coat of gesso, washed over with light yellow acrylic paint. Applied a darker yellow to some big bubble-bubble wrap and stamped it. Stamped the word background stamp (Art Impressions) with Chalk Ink Warm Red, stamped the daisy flower (Penny Black) with Versacolor Bark, stamped the music score (Quietfire Design) with gesso, and stamped the quote (Quietfire Design) with Versafine black. I used a Martha Steward punch for the hearts (3) and some silk ribbon I had on hand to thread through. Applied with glue stick and folded the top layers a bit for dimensional look. I hope the players will find this a cheerful addition to their rolodex art. Yellow is my favorite color!

Beautiful hand crafted necklace giveaway

Jen (Tatertots and Jello) is giving away a beautiful necklace made by Kristen. I think they are wonderful! Head over for a chance to win one for yourself or someone you love.

The Olympic National Forest

I continued with my spontaneity and we went to the Olympic National Forest on Sunday. It was predicted to be the best weather day of my visit. I was not disappointed. We took the Kingston Ferry to the Olympic Peninsula, a diverse part of the country with a little bit of everything. We traveled from water to mountains in no time. I'm working on my video and I'll post a link later. It is worth a look (of course I think so!) if you've never been there. I look forward to another trip.

As we meandered around, I remembered my wonderful trip to Port Townsend almost 2 years ago. We kept seeing signs for lavender farms in the Dungeness Valley (remember the Dungeness crabs from the market?) I love lavender, so we decided we were in no hurry, better to stop on the way. We went to Oliver's Lavender Farm, a well kept place over-seen by a very nice man who opened the shop for us. I bought soap (of course), hand cream and two scoops of Provence Lavender. I stole a little of A and R's culinary variety to cook with. It was warm and sunny, the plants pruned and ready for spring growth. Oh, to have seen them blooming! Next time.

We ended coming back to the Dungeness Wildlife Refuge to see the view and go to the spit. We missed the spit by about 20 minutes, it closed as dusk. We could see the spit (tiny) from the top of the mountain.
On to Hurricane Ridge. We were surprised that the road was blocked with snow a mile from the beginning of the trail so we didn't get to the top. Where are snowshoes when you need them? But the view was spectacular as we went up and at the top and a little cloudy on the way down, which was where I stopped to take pictures.

I was layered so much I look like Ralphie's brother in A Christmas Story! I can't put my arms down! That was the first thing I thought of when I saw this picture! I hadn't seen blue ice since I was in Alaska.

What a great day! And we were surprised by a huge yellow moon rising as we rounded a curve on the way home. Unfortunately, my camera doesn't capture the moon too well.
Ah, the joys of travel. So much to see-so little time!

Seattle -the days all blended together

Well, I did so much that I couldn't keep up with my blogging but here are some highlights and a bunch of pictures! I packed a lot into my days.
For the foodies among you (you know I am one!) This is at Miro, a Seattle favorite of mine. The apple and basil panini and a pot of roobios tea. I spent an hour or so here with a book.
You know I love Cupcake Royale- I only made one visit here, if you can believe it. It saved my that R and A no longer live in the neighborhood!





This was my view and breakfast my last day prior to heading to Bainbridge Island.



I had a wonderful trip to Bainbridge. The weather was great for mountain visibility. I could see the Cascades, Olympics, Mt. Rainier and Mt. Baker. I don't think I have ever had such a great 360 degree view.









I love this yarn shop in Bainbridge. I'm making A and R something that is on this table. Wouldn't you love to dress a baby in this beautiful sweater? And how about these beautiful hand-dyed silk ribbons?












Sometimes you have to look UP to see the art! I love these stone people and pets down by the waterfront. I wanted to take one of these boats out for a sail. Don't you want to sit down and play checkers on this table along with a coffee from Blackbird Cafe? What could I do with this yellow taxi fabric?















Coming soon- a wonderfully diverse trip to Olympic National Forest.

Seattle Day 3 part 2

One of the most fun things, being an art lover and all, was this cool project I just happened across on my way to BC Place. VancouverVancouverVancouver is an art project by Vanessa Kwan. There are three scenic views of Vancouver postcards with a cutout. You are to use them as frames for your pictures. I thought it was the coolest thing. I got two of them because one was the last of one series and she gave me another of the next series. I only have two- would love to find the other one! You can go to VancouverVancouverVancouver pool on Flikr







Yes, Rachel, my DIL went, too! Shh- she was home from work with a headache and I made her go. The rest of the afternoon was spent going to the major venues, Bell Ice Cube where we just missed interviews of athletes, BC Place, etc. I can't say enough how beautiful the city is and how wonderful it looked decorated for the Olympics!