It's a Purple Day

Finally, I can post this photo of a wedding quilt my friend, Kim, and I made for our other friend, Vicki. It was done and ready to present to her but I couldn't show it off because Vicki watches my blog from time to time and I didn't want her to see the quilt ahead of time.

Kim and I took all of our purple scraps and tossed them around and put this together. Then yet another friend, Vi, quilted it for us. A group effort and it turned out quite nicely.

Vicki and her groom, Gary, were dressed in purple with purple trimmings everywhere in her home and backyard. I don't think she realizes there is any other color other than purple so I'm not going to be the one to tell her there is always RED as an option!

Well, Vicki .... Kim and I hope you spend many pleasant hours cuddled under that quilt together, dearly friend!

(This is a large lap quilt size approx. 74" x 60")

Kim, Vicki and me

The newlyweds..

Todd and Kim

Nope....no photos of me and Jack. I grabbed my camera too late in the day...sorry.

And Then There Were More...

About five years ago, I got the bright idea to take all of my photos out of the albums they were in. (Sorry, Amy, but it's true...I tore apart scrapbooks and photo albums like crazy!) Then I put the photos into shoe boxes; fully intending to scan them into my computer! HA!!! Over the years, those boxes got shifted and moved and separated. Photos got pulled out for one reason or another then stashed back in the wrong place.

OMg! What a mess. These are just some of the photos. (That plastic tub in the middle is 3' x 1.5' long..just to give you an idea. )

I've been scanning bits and pieces over the years but didn't really have a good system as to marking those I'd scanned. (Dumb.)

So this summer was to be the summer of my photos! I want them all in my computer. I started scanning and gathering and gathering and scanning....(you get the idea...)

My problem is just when I thought I had them all in one place, I'd find more. I'd find more albums...like these. It may take another year to get this project done at the rate I'm going. But I am determined to do it.

One big reason driving me to do this is the fact that my girls do NOT want my photo albums when I die. I don't blame them -- there were too many to even count! I would rarely pull one down and look at it so why not make a HUGE slide show out of them and enjoy them that way?!

Then I'll have to decide what to do with all those photos in big plastic totes! I don't think it's good for the air to burn them so I'll have to check into that one. Any ideas?

Put Your Nose in the Air

While visiting at Mom's, Jack and I took a short walk. We no sooner stepped outdoors when we looked overhead to see a beautiful airplane flying low. We commented on how huge it was, how unusual looking; then we saw the "Boeing 787" on the plane. It was returning from London and heading towards Boeing Field. It was also very, very quiet. Amazing. Our timing was perfect.

This is a photo I snagged from Google Images since I didn't have my camera in hand:

'makes me want to fly to France!

(Oh yeah, anything makes me want to fly to France!)

Our Stonehenge (just for Midge)

At a tiny place called Maryhill, WA, overlooking the Columbia River, stands a replica of England's Stonehenge. I am drawn to this place and fortunately for me, Jack allows me time to walk in the shadows of this replica as I ponder how amazing people truly are.

I tell you, this is out in the middle of no where!

Overlooking the mighty Columbia.

The altar.

My favorite shot with the modern wind machines on the ridge towering over the "ancient" stones.

What Would Life be Without Cheerios?

I can't even imagine it....life without Cheerios. This little box of cereal has saved me more than once:

• Cupboards are bare except for the Cheerios.
• I've had a rough day, and it gets rougher as it wears on so I'm too tired to cook = Cheerios to the rescue!

Luckily for me, Jack likes them too.

• The night we got home from our trip, he suggested Cheerios for dinner and I gladly agreed. (I know, we could go out to eat, but we just don't. When we are tired, we want to just stay close to home.)

Besides, that old commercial where the guy yodels "CheeriooooOOoooos" makes me smile just thinking about it.

There is a bonus on every box - a little coupon that says "Box Tops for Education" and that little label is worth 10 cents to our school. I have the kids bring them in and I trim them up and mail them off. Last year we made about $400 just from those labels on various products! One more reason to love Cheerios!

Bend, Oregon

You have seen what the highways looked like along our trip so I thought I'd give you a little glimpse into the city of Bend. Of course, I'm not going to do the city any justice at all because we were only there one evening so my photos are limited to Old Town.


We met Paul and walked through the old section of Bend along the Deschutes River. The weather was perfect, warm and sunny. It does get hotter and it does get quite cold in the winter in Bend and the wind blows too much for Jack's likes. (not mine! I love the wind.)

My first priority was to get a beer. We had appetizers and good beer at the Deschutes Brewery.

I was checking out the artwork in a gallery when I spotted this cat curled up in the window.

Cool sidewalks and shadows.

Something our little town lacks greatly....art.

The painting on this building sucked me in; then I noticed the door to nowhere.

Gulp!

We found an outdoor market along the river. I thought I'd been transported to France with these delicious breads.

Flower baskets hung at all the street corners.

Although Paul was in town for a convention of  BMW motorcycles, (6,000 of them!), I found these Harleys lined up worthy of a photo.

For all the real scoop on Bend, click HERE.

346 Years of Friendship

The reason Jack and I went to Wenatchee was to visit some OLD girlfriends of mine and their hubbies. Now I've known Carmen (center) for 59 years and Janice (right) for 57 years; Carmen has known me for 59 years and Janice for 57 years; Janice has known me for 57 years and Carmen for 57 years so the way I figure it, that's 346 years of friendship!

We just get better with age...at least that's what we will tell you!

From me around the table: Blake (Jan's hubby), Jay (Carm's hubby), Jack (mine all mine), Jan and Carmen.

Jan and I got to walk along the Columbia through some wonderful parks. What a "user friendly" community to live in! I loved it.

Jan is our comic relief. She titled this piece of art "Foot in Mouth"

(Thanks for the visit, gals! We had a wonderful time.)

Through our Windshield

We decided to take a test drive to see if Jack's back would withstand a road trip. We made plans to meet our friend, Paul, who was traveling from WY to Bend, OR. We got a motel and figured it would be a nice 4 hour drive to Bend. If Jack was in a lot of pain, we would spend the night and turn around and head for home.

Y'all know me and my camera, I decided to "journal" through photos our view from the road.

This is Highway 62 not far from Crater Lake:

This is the Upper Rogue River, meandering through the woods:

Here the roads widens as we near Diamond Lake:

There are so many forest fires and this is just one reminder of such:

We turned East after Diamond Lake, OR and this was our view:

After our visit with Paul in Bend, we headed North and these are the 3 Sisters mountains (Amy.....MOUNTAINS)...

I have no clue what mountain this is....Mt. Hood for all I know? There are no signs along the way. I know I should know my mountains but I don't. We don't live where we can see snow covered mountains all year long. Close, but not quite. And these are foreign to me even though they are in Oregon. I'll just call it Pretty Mountain:

Now I do believe this is really Mt. Hood. It is along the Columbia River between WA and OR at Maryhill. Forests have been replaced by dry brush.

Ah, the smell of sagebrush makes my heart sing....

This is the Ellensburg valley from the Yakima side of life. I do miss this country.

Heading over Blewitt Pass from Ellensburg towards Wenatchee, WA. Back in the trees. How quickly the terrain changes around here.

This was heading along towards some lovely valley with orchards.

The Wenatchee River at Cashmere...and I allowed my girls to raft this river with my mom (and a guide).

And over the mountains after Wenatchee back towards Seattle to visit Mom and family.

There will be more to share....much much more. I just wanted you to see the change of scenery. Yes, I was supposed to have the I-5 corridor from Seattle to Medford but we are rather stuck at Mom's right now. Jack's back did not survive the trip. He is down and out. Poor guy is in so much pain he has not been able to get out of bed all day today. We are hoping for a mircale by tomorrow but I don't think it's going to shower down on us just yet. At least we are "stuck" in a good place!

Bambi Buckets and Borate Bombers

I missed my chance to get a good picture of the borate bomber flying right overhead. I love the sound of that plane. It has a deep rumble and you just know it is on the way to help. We had a thunder and lightening storm about a week ago and now the wildfires are in full force. From sun rise to sunset, the fire fighters are hard at work.

Sometimes, they will dip out of the river to fill the buckets which is interesting to watch from our deck. You can see the air is filled with smoke now.

Photos of Spam Fest

Imagine it quite hot outside and our face painting booth is on asphalt, making it all that much hotter. We did have a shade canopy and that plus my spray bottles to mist down saved the day.

I have been painting faces for 30 years or more and I have never EVER painted a belly button until today! (I've never charged for my face paintings either...always volunteer for non-profit events).

Yes, I know the girl whose belly button I painted...otherwise, I would not have even put my brush to the paint!

Sponge Bog and Patrick along with the "talking" belly button!

The Spam box bean bag toss was a hit with the kids. They all got prizes for playing along!

SPAM Festival

Yes, you read that right and it is NOT the spam you might get in your computer, but the canned meat kind of Spam. This is our little town's 10th Spam Festival and I'm going to be painting faces for the kids.

I was asked to paint a bean bag toss so the kids could have fun. Jack cut some holes in this for me and it turned out pretty cute. I'll post photos after the event today.

It is going to be close to 100° so I have spray bottles, water bottles and those cool wraps to put around my neck. Just bring on the kids!!

Painting. No, not my watercolors, my house.

From all walls white in our entire house, to all rooms painted some color - that is my goal.

I have one bathroom and one bedroom to go and the entire house will be changed. Whew!

Our shower is behind the curved wall on the left. There are no doors, just our incredible view.

Now, it is a tan color because I do plan on finishing my wild and crazy quilt that I started 8 years ago. Once that is finished, the fall colors will spill from our bedroom into our bathroom. I figured it was much faster to spill into the bathroom first since the quilt is still in a zillion pieces in my sewing room.

This pic is a bit dark but I couldn't get my flash to work because the camera was picking up the bright outdoors light.

The Hungry Hungry Caterpillar and the Thirsty Thirsty Cat

Jack and I were enjoying our rock garden yesterday evening. When we are outside, where ever we go, Hook goes. (Reminder: he is an outdoor cat only...no pets allowed inside!)
I was taking a photo of my half-eaten flower plants and along comes Hook for a closer look at what I was doing and to get a drink from our watering can.

I'm trying to grow flowers here but have not had much luck.

He has a bowl of water but prefers to drink from the strangest of places!

He's not much of a gardener....but neither am I!

Jack tolerates Hook but the long hair is shedding in clumps and that drives Jack crazy. He even went so far as to say he thinks we should give Hook away! What? Give him away??

I am so in love with this cat...he is going to live here for as long as he wants with food, fresh drinking water and lovin'. (Well, from me anyway.)

I mean, who wouldn't love this guy?