Off To Auntie's House We Go...

And we're bringing dessert!  {smile}

So Sorry...

My apologies to those of you who are still struggling with wintry woes, but our weather here is just too beautiful not to share...

Bloom!

Even though we do not celebrate Easter, I could not resist making a small reference to it... (see left)

In The States they don't observe Good Friday (i.e. you do not get a day off of work), nor is there a long weekend or something like that. Some people do have their Spring Break around this time, ours is not until a week for now.

We have been invited to a lovely Easter Brunch however this Sunday at my Dutch aunt and uncle's home, not too far from here. Apparently we will be meeting a second or third removed cousin from my grandmother's side! Too complicated to explain, I'm not sure I even get it myself... Should be fun and interesting to hear her story!

--  **  --  **  --

So yesterday pretty much our whole day was very overcast, but then right at the end of the day the sun came out and the light was just perfect. There were some thunderstorms in the far distance, that's why the sky in the background was such a dark grey: beautiful! (all these pictures are straight out of the camera, so no editing involved)

I snapped lots of pics and here are the prettiest ones. Enjoy and I hope you will have a wonderful weekend with hopefully some Signs of Spring here and there...

Just Visiting...

This little guy is just so so sweet! It is still a baby...

And so fast too!  <wink> He flies up and down the bird feeder pole, up and down the rain gutters and up and down the tree. All that in the blink of an eye!

Two different effects, just for fun...
(click! on photo to enlarge)

Behind Closed Eyes, Part Deux...

Another beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest...

Behind Closed Eyes...

This is sort of what it looked like behind my closed eyes today...

Sixty Five Degrees Fahrenheit = Eighteen Degrees Celsius: mmmmmmm!

For all of you still suffering in the cold, I hope this will give you some hope and some warmth...

Miracles Do Happen...

Remember my snowy pictures from two days ago? Yes? Now look at this:

Click! to enlarge...

The past two days have been just incredible with lots of sun and even some warmth. (sunscreen was used!) We spent hours outside, weeding, raking leaves, power washing the patio and just some plain old enjoyment of the sun in one of our deck chairs with a book: Glorious!  {smile}

Clean cut grass edges make me very happy!

Beautiful Raspberry color!

Tonight Miss M. is cooking dinner for us and our neighbors for a school project. I think she is supposed to do all the cleaning up also... no complaints from this side! She has made pasta from scratch (!) plus a cream sauce with peas and crispy bacon. A filled salad on the side and fresh fruit and ice-cream for afters: Yummie!

And look, the Flickers are also enjoying the sunshine!

Always so cute these little guys...

Mail Call!

Look what came in the mail just now:

An absolutely lovely present from my dearest sister at Pike Street: dank je wel lieve zus!!!  {smile}

Snow Part Trois...

Oh boy, oh boy, I can't take it all in! 

Don't forget: we haven't received any snow this winter season so to me it feels like X-Mas right now!  {big smile}

I went out out with bare feet in my rubber boots: brrrr!   (anything to get some pretty pics!)

Very happy though I don't have drive (to Little Bit) though until around noon time...

Snow Part Deux...

Some Dottie Angel goodness...

So so beautiful outside right now...

First Snow Of The Season!

Yes, on the twenty second day of March we're having our first snow of the season!

I made these photos around 7am, but at the moment there is quite a bit more snow coming down so I might have to show you some more pictures later this morning...

In the meantime some sewing is going on...

... whilst I'm enjoying these beautiful Daffodils that I picked out of the garden before the storm (and now the snow) moved upon us...

Playing with some more photo editing effects...
(Click! to enlarge)

Boy, it is really coming down now. I think I will have to venture outside once again!  (in my robe and slippers)

Gusty!

Very tall trees swaying in the wind...

Wow, crazy spring weather over here with an enormous amount of wind, rain and hail, but also some very bright sun breaks. (and quite a few power outages, but not here thank goodness, knock on wood...)

The forecasters say there might even be a tiny amount of snow tomorrow morning! I will believe when I see it of course, especially since we haven't had any snow yet this season... Just in case, I've cut all my Daffodils from the yard and have brought them inside. They looked cute with some marshmallow Peeps...

Playing with the focus point...

Otherwise things are a bit quiet over here so I will leave you with some more feathered friends that came by yesterday...

Well camouflaged!

A Lovely Blouse...

Such cute pearly buttons!

Yes, another blouse finished!  {smile}

I only had a little over two yards of this fabric and I wanted to use as much as possible of it, so when I put the pattern pieces for the peter-pan tunic on it, I also cut out the pieces for this blouse to make sure I had enough. (wow, was that a long sentence or what?)

To be very honest, this fabric was quite difficult to work with. Every time I zig-zagged the edges I think I lost a whole size! So I decided to zig-zag only where really necessary. This goes completed against the way I've been taught (by my mother) but this was the way to go. Also the fabric must have been some kind of blend of cotton and a synthetic material because it almost melted on me (with the iron) several times!

Anyway, I'm glad I persevered because this pattern fits like a glove! 

PS On a side note: I managed to beat the bladder infection with the original round of antibiotics: Hallelujah! I ran two miles yesterday, just to get back into the swing of things. Obviously the time sitting at home (near the restroom) was spent very productively with all the sewing going on...

Thank you for all your concerns!

Frieten! (French Fries)

Oh my, I just received this picture from The Netherlands. In fact it was taken by a friend of mine at the place where we always eat at least once when we visit my dad. In Dutch we call this a 'Tantalus Kwelling'. (a very tough to resist temptation)

Nomnomnom...  <wink>

PS: And yes, we eat it with lots of mayonnaise, and sometimes even satay sauce!

Observations...

When I first started editing these photo's  I came to the conclusion that they look best 'as is', so here you go: small signs of spring in our garden on this Sunday afternoon...

Yay, Master C. will be flying back from California tonight!