Happy Solstice!

Attended the Fremont Solstice parade with a bunch of my best buddies.  This was one of those packed Seattle weekends which included a spa day (including facial and pedicure) for me and a plant-run for Roger.  The evening finished up with a Greek meal in Wallingford and a concert by our friend Jay Hamilton at the Good Shepherd Center: Honor.  We also visited Dad for Father's Day.  And managed to squeeze in a trip to Costco, of course.

Progress on the Carport!  See these three beautifully tapered columns?  Notice the very attractive cement bases?  Can you picture the size and shape of the carport to come?  Setting these poles up was a big milestone.  The next step, placing the rafters, will involve not just milling the lumber, we will actually have to go out and cut down two or more trees to harvest logs long enough to span the roof. 

Before we do that, we are going to take out the lower branches from the nearby doug firs to get some more light coming through on the west side of our house.  It is amazing how much vegetation is closing in on us and its time to hack it all back!

Here's a picture of Suzie teaching a five month old pup, Millie, how to drink out of the fountain.  One of my many projects planned for this summer includes a mosaic bowl addition to the fountain.  I've also got some waterlilies coming up.  I've had to place a net around them to protect them from predator poodles.

Sorry for the flash at the bottom of the photo.  This is my new art piece.  I bought it from Mary McCulluch Art Walk Studio Tour.  The colors match my kitchen cabinets perfectly.  



approx 2 lbs of strawberries

And finally, strawberries!  Here's a picture of one day's harvest.  With about 50 plants in the main garden and another 25 or more in the kitchen garden we should have plenty of shortcake this summer.

May Daize

So many events this month, I'll have to get my calendar out to remember them all.  I guess the first would be another basket class--this time we used willow bark and wove with an obvious vertical twill so the baskets could be twisted into an interesting shape.  My friend Monique joined me again and it was a very fun class. 

Immediately following the class we went to Seattle to celebrate my friend Jay's 60th birthday at a restaurant in Madison Valley called Harvest Vine http://www.harvestvine.com/menus/default.php  I believe the meal consisted of everything on the menu.  It was a great celebration.

My birthday was the following week.  Rosalie "snapped" this shot of us before we went downtown to celebrate.  Although the month has been unseasonably cold and wet, Friday the 13th was warm and pleasant.

Roger's Dad, Al, was able to move from Auburn Regional Hospital to our local nursing home and on May 23rd, he moved into Village at the Harbour, an assisted living facility just six minutes away from our house.  We are so pleased to have him so close by (where we can keep an eye on him).  Here's a picture of his new room.  Roger and I brought a truck load of his things back from Auburn to make him feel at home.

I must also mention that throughout the month we have met good friends for lunches and dinners.  And we are celebrating the arrival of two new family members, our nieces Clare and Bina have new babies born in the last week (in California).  Welcome to the world, Rafael and Nala!

Then my cousins, Chris from Oregon and his sister Jan from Hawaii, took a road trip to see the Washington cousins.  Rosalie and I took them sightseeing and prepared a nice dinner with our local fare including venison meatballs  and our own homegrown veggies.

The month culminated in a visit by my twin granddaughters.  We had promised them pony rides in honor of their fifth birthday last month.  Fortunately, the day was fair and mild.  Lenora started out on Cowboy, and Iliana got Allie.  They learned to lead, turn, and rein in their mounts. 







Oh yes, we also went home with twelve new chicks:





12 out of 100 went home with us

And last but not least, we finally put the rebuilt scow into the pond.  The girls took a ride on its maiden voyage.