Feb, March and April Foolishness

I went to Hawaii, specifically Kihei on Maui, with my friend Lynn for a week.  It was very nice.  It was 83 degrees every day.  I got to snorkel and see humpback whales.  I ate a half of a papaya everyday for breakfast.  Lynn and her parents were excellent hosts. 



Anita and Lynn on a Dinner Cruise near Lahaina



Then I came home and it was still cold here.  But there were a few more daffodils and all of the grape hyacinths are in bloom.  Roger hung the bamboo gate and he repaired the pond boat (scow?) while I was gone.



Lenora showing off the Plumeria hairclip she got from Hawaii

The twins turned five on April 1st.  Roger, his dad, and I met up with the family at a Red Robin in Everett to celebrate.  We bid on and won pony rides for the twins at the Soroptimists' St Pat's Day Fundraising Dinner.  We anticipate a vist in May when they will be able to redeem their prize.



Audrey has two little plumeria clips in her hair.



Four days after my last blog entry in which I was pointing out all the evidence of Spring, it snowed four inches.  HaHa on me.  It seemed like nature was held in suspended animation after that.  There are signs of Spring, the peepers are peeping.  But it just feels way behind schedule.

On a rare unrainy day, I took a walk and watched the eagles.  Our own nesting pair had one fledgling this year.  I think I witnessed its maiden flight one afternoon when it took several slow circles around our pond, supervised by its very vocal mother

One nice adventure between snowfall and Maui was a trip to Orcas to celebrate Peggy Sue's birthday.  Four of us visited the spa at Rosario Resort, lunched in Olga, and went sightseeing at Moran State Park.  We tried to drive up to Mt. Constitution, but the road was still closed due to snow.

I usually organize chronologically, but this month's entry is a melange of events.  One last event to note is that Roger's father Al came to stay with us this past week.  Although the visit was planned, two days prior he had fallen from his bed and was not able to get himself up for many hours.  Therefore, we were very concerned and have had him under close observation these past few days.  For the time being, we will be subscribing to an emergency response system with a medical alert necklace.  But more hard decisions will be forthcoming.

Thornbush in Winter



It's busy.  No lie.  Whoever said this was the slow time of year had no idea.  It's not just sitting around watching American Idol and Glee on tv in the evening.  First there's the regular, the mundane that still must go on:  finding firewood and building fires, feeding the chickens, grooming the dog.  Add to that the on-going projects:  working on the carport (forever), building a new gate for the nut grove, and getting ready for another year in the garden.

Greenhouse veggie starts

bamboo and willow gate



where gate will go (after deer trashed the last one)



There are the regular meetings at the Ag Resource Committee for Roger, yoga for me, plus the burgeoning community and volunteer involvement:  helping to move the co-op into the larger building, rejoining the Grange (I'm now the "Grace" Pomona), Winter Farmers Market, Soroptimist Fundraisers, and on and on.  Now that I'm the SJ Island rep for the Textile Guild I have board meetings on the ferry, monthly meetings at the library, and quarterly meetings on the different islands-last month on Shaw- to attend.



Then there are the classes. Right now, Roger is attending a two day class called Holistic Management for Farming. holistic management link Last weekend I took a two day willow class from Katherine Lewis of Dunbar Gardens of Skagit County.Dunbar Garden Website  My friend Monique from Seattle joined us and did a great job with her very first basket. 



That's Monique in front row on the far right



And I attended an amazing class on double weave in January from an expert from Santa Fe, Jennifer Moore.  Here is her website: http://www.doubleweaver.com/workshops.html  This class involved going to Shaw to borrow a loom, going to Orcas to warp the loom, then three days of ferry riding to attend the class on Orcas, then returning the loom to Shaw.

And then there is the ever present looking for signs that winter will end soon and Spring will begin.  It is 34 degrees outside and sunny.  A walk around the place finds that the daffodils are about six inches high, the hellebores and heather are blooming, the Indian Plum is leafing out, and I am "forcing" two vases of red flowering currants to bloom in the house.  Four more weeks until the Spring Equinox.