Can it really have been over two weeks since I’ve last posted?! Shame on me! Ah well. I guess that is just how it goes sometimes. I’ve been writing blogs in my head for the last couple weeks so I hope to have a lot posted soon!
So for today, I’ll leave you with some photos from our family outing on Sunday. This is my best kind of day – dinking around Seattle, people watching, being with my family and then finishing it off with ice cream at Molly Moon’s! Oh Yeah!
We went to the Conservatory in Volunteer Park. I’ve never done that before. Super interesting. I imagine it’d be great to do that on a really cold and rainy day because it’s like visiting a rain forest and desert -
I made a comment that the only thing that would take that day from good to great is going to a market… I love markets! Flea markets, framers markets …whatever! So we headed into Fremont to the Sunday market but you can’t go to Fremont without visiting the Troll -
G bought some glasses at the market so I snapped a shot of her with her new shades -
Umm..to cool for school! No?
I don’t know why but I love taking photos of the backs of my girls heads. There is a painting by Gerald Richter that I saw for the first time in my big “Art Book”. I’d never heard of him before and I don’t know anything about his other paintings but this one is one of my favorite paintings in that whole giant book. It stops me every time. It’s his daughter and it’s titled “Betty”-
We here in Seattle have officially entered summer….finally!! On the 4th, I think I actually saw my breath. It was that cold. And yesterday was hovering around 90 (depending on who you asked). We had over 30 degree jump in one week! Crazy!
So, in celebration of Summer, here are a few shots I took of my girls and my youngest’s BFF -
“Mom, do you always have to be taking pictures?!”These photos just make me happy. Or maybe it’s that I have the window open and fans blowing wildly. Or maybe it’s because I’m still in my Pjs! What ever it is – what’s not to LOVE about Summer?!
Every time someone is coming from Ireland we ask them to bring us back some brown bread. We instantly throw it in the freezer and slowly savor it. Last time someone came, he brought me flour so I could make my own Irish Brown Bread. Seeing these bags of flour on my counter gives me the same feeling as looking at a baby bunny or sweet little baby finger nails. I don’t know why. I’m strange I guess. But then you already knew that. But what makes it even greater is the patch job that our friend did because the bag ripped -
Does that not kill you?! No? Really?! Ah well. I think it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen….
Here’s my first loaf of THE brown bread.
It was absolutely delicious and we gobbled it up. I’m so happy that I can now make it! There is something so cool about making something that you know has been made and sustaining people for centuries. Love it.
While we are on the topic of Ireland. Our good friend from when we lived in Ireland wrote a song for a competition for the Irish Times for a new national anthem and won! We are so proud him! The song is quite catchy. We’ve listened to it quite a bit in our house this week -
Here’s a photo of Kalle taken when we lived in Ireland during our many “sessions”.
I went for a walk on Alki Beach today with Blue. Despite being freezing cold, I had a rather good time. But what put a smile on my face was when I went to Alki Bakery for a quick coffee to warm me up, I saw the cup of crayons and the paper for the kids and decided to have my coffee to stay. I drew my picture of a tree and then decided, “What the heck! I’m hanging it up with the kids pictures.” I decided Mia had a bit too much real estate with her butterflies!
Move over Mia….here comes Christiana…
Now for the shot you’d expect from your photographer -
Sure it’s all dark and interesting. But it didn’t make me giggle like the drawing of the tree did!
I love Summer. I really really do. So all the rain gets to me after a while. It’s about now that I daydream of going to Hawaii, Mexico, Palm Springs…you get the picture. But alas, it is not in the cards this year. The next best thing, I’ve found, is to go through my photos from the previous summer. It actually works! It reminds me that it’ll be warm again – even HOT! Yes! So here are a few that made me feel warm. Hope they make you feel that way as well –Have faith, my friend. It will be warm again!
I apologize for my lack of posts lately. I’ve been working on a bunch of cool projects! More on them soon!!
Oh! And one more thing – one of my favorite things to do is to talk books! Mamabloo has her top ten list up and then people are adding to the list in the comments. So fun to see what people’s faves are!
So our decorations are up! I’m rather chuffed with how my house looks so I thought I share a little of it. It’s mainly just candle groupings with greens that I gathered from outside with stuff I had around the house. Good thing too because we spent a whole heap on brand new outside lights as EVERY SINGLE BRAND NEW LAST YEAR strand was out! Grrr. So we thought we’d go for the commercial ones this year to hopefully avoid the waste next year. Anyway, here’s my entryway -
I got the candles at the Dollar Store! I love seeing this when I walk in the house.
Here’s a couple more around the house -
I’ve always been fascinated by smoke ribbons so when I blew some of these candles out I thought I’d try to photograph them. I won’t tell you how much time I wasted trying to get an “even better” shot…. I think smoke ribbons may be my biggest photography challenge yet! The camera didn’t know where to focus so I took it off auto focus but then I wasn’t fast enough…blah, blah, blah…it was hard, people! Here’s what I did get -
Cool huh!!
One more thing… One of my dearest and oldest friends (not that she’s old, our friendship is old…wait, that’s doesn’t sound right either! Errr my really good friend, Kari!) started a blog called MamaBloo. She is an amazing writer, mother, teacher and friend. If you’re a mom, you’ll love her wit, observations and writing on mothering and life. Check it out at www.mamabloo.com.
This post is definitely in the “Things That Make Me Happy” category. Last week so full but it was packed full of so many of my favorite things. I have a lot to be thankful for.
This tree makes me happy because it is in a special place for me.
I think I’ve taken a photo of this tree every year for several years. Once a year my girlfriends and I go away to my friend KA’s parents house to pick our book club books for the year. This year we just gave up pretending to be a book group and we are now just a group would loves to be together and stay in our jammies all day and sometimes a few of us read the same book. I’m thankful for my girls (who’d all kill me if I showed a photo of them all in jammies so I’ll stick with the tree).
I’m thankful for cozy moments like this in front of a real fire.
I’m thankful for my home group. We celebrated Ryan H’s birthday on Saturday. There is nothing better than getting together with friends over a yummy meal. Here’s a few shots from the evening.
Lora decorated the table for me. I just love it!
I love it when people pick up my camera and take shots. Thanks Ryan B for this one. Look at JJ waiting for his turn to hold Baby W.
I’m also so thankful for my family, wonderful friends here and abroad, love, laughter, adventure, U2 tickets !, new babies in my life, my home, my camera…and on and on. The Lord has blessed me richly and I am humbled by it.
Happy Thanksgiving!
*I just re-read this and thought I should mention that I’m not trying to be all code-y with KA and JJ that’s really what we call them! But I never use kids names in my posts so will always say W, C, P or whatever for kids.
On the day you were born, we waited to hear that is was time to come in the room and watch you come into the world. We took bets - Boy? Girl? We laughed lots and were told to be quiet. We kept watch for the dr. We watched the clock. We prayed. We looked outside at the beautiful trees glowing in the sun. We texted…a lot. We tried to help your mama but couldn’t help her the way we wanted to. She was strong and beautiful…and tired. We wondered if you would sense how much people already loved you. And then you were born! A boy! I was right. I just wanted you to know that. And I also wanted you to know that you already have a big piece of my heart.
I saw this view on the way to home and it seemed right.
The rain today is hardly bothering me. I’m still enjoying the glow from spending my weekend in the “Palm Springs of Washington”. That’s right, my hometown – Yakima, Washington. I haven’t been to Yak for many years now because my parents moved away my Senior year of High School so I didn’t have the pull back to my hometown like I would have if they’d stayed. But we have some dear friends, the Erickson’s, that still live there and, before kids, we got to visit them quite a bit with Scott and Mary (our friends, their daughter/son-in-law!). Well, it’s been far too long since we’ve made the trek. My youngest hasn’t even been to Yakima before! Shame on me! I was rolling in nostalgia this weekend like never before because I was watching my kids do the same things at our friend’s home that I used to do at their house when I was a kid. I realized that there isn’t a place like that other than the Erickson’s house for me because my parents no longer live in the home I grew up in. What a treat to watch them play on swings, playing in the leaves and help with the cider making process! The cider was a big reason why we went over this weekend, btw. Here are some shots of the cider press and process (the very one I threw apples into as a kid!) –
Kids at play making mud pies, playing in the leaves….just like I did!
I’m sure this is the very tricycle I rode! (Is this getting old for anyone yet? Well, I don’t care! I’m enjoying myself!).
The kids thought it’d be fun to roast apples and it turned out to be a big hit. A new tradition started, I think.
Aunt Pat has a fabulous antique/garden shop out of the Carriage House called Country Garden Antiques. She specializes in things for the garden but has something for everyone in her shop. I always come away with a few treasures. I picked up some of my favorite pottery (Emma Bridgewater) for myself and a couple gifts. Here’s some shots of the shop. If you are ever in the area, I’d recommend a drop-by.
I haven’t yet mentioned that my husband also grew up coming to the Erickson’s for Apple Press so this place also has a special place in his heart AND it is where we had our wedding reception!
The older boys, being boys, thought it’d be fun to bash apples. We decided that men, instead of having a combined IQ when together their IQ actually goes down. I mean this with the greatest respect. I was laughing just as hard as the rest of them! Here is a shot of Ben apple bashing…right before it sprayed all over me!
And a group shot! Thank you Pat and Fred, Scott and Mary and Robbin and Maria for a most fabulous and restful weekend!
Lastly – the house I grew up in…on Memory Lane (just joking!). Isn’t it cute!
We went to the Conservatory in Volunteer Park. I’ve never done that before. Super interesting. I imagine it’d be great to do that on a really cold and rainy day because it’s like visiting a rain forest and desert -
G bought some glasses at the market so I snapped a shot of her with her new shades -
Umm..to cool for school! No?
!, new babies in my life, my home, my camera…and on and on. The Lord has blessed me richly and I am humbled by it.
