A Very Sharp Beak...

Young Hawk...

This little fella has repeatedly been trying to catch my Zebra Finches. He just doesn't get it that there is a sheet of glass separating them...  (boing!)

Ran 23 minutes today so almost back to where I finished last week (which was 24 minutes), did three loads of laundry, cleaned a bathroom, vacuumed and now I am finally finding time to pursue some sewing. And best of all? It is Friday!!!  {smile}

Stray Finds...

Behold all the glory there is still to be found in the yard!

I had to look a bit harder this time, but there is still a bounty out there...

Have a great weekend everybody!!!

Finally Fall!

After 84 days of no measurable rainfall, the rain has arrived and with it all the Fall colors. 

Inside it is nice and cozy. Miss M. is baking brownies with orange frosting and after that we will decorate a little bit for the Fall season. Not my personal favorite to be honest but somewhat fun nevertheless...

Master C. is doing some homework (I hope) and Mr. G. is spending his second day in a row at Century Link Football Stadium in Seattle. His brother from Portland is in town: yesterday they watched the Huskies play (college team) and today the Seahawks (Seattle's professional team) is on the field. (and they won by 1 point!!!)

I ran two days in a row (this morning the scheduled 15 minutes plus another 6 minutes on top of that!) and now my legs are tired...  (a bit like the skeleton above)  <wink>

The Apple And The Tree Etc.

Ever since my wonderful sister gave me a real camera (Canon Rebel T1i) a year and a half ago, my Miss M. (now 15 1/2) has been developing a keen eye for photography. Once in a while I let her borrow my camera and off she goes exploring. I love what I'm seeing...

Our lovely neighbor with her new dog Bodi...

The Proverbial Apple!
(oh no, it's a tomato!!!)

At the river...

Mr. G.'s favorite pastime!

And not only does the apple not fall far from my tree, it also doesn't fall far from Mr. G.'s tree!

Fly Fishing with dad...

What a gal!  {smile}

Eagles!

Yesterday we had not one but two pairs of Bald Eagles flying right over our back yard! Unfortunately, by the time I had grabbed my camera, they were flying over the ridge a bit further away, but I still managed to snap some pictures. We hadn't seen any Eagles for months now so hopefully they will be here to stay from now until the Spring...

In the mean time, we're still enjoying the most wonderful temperatures. Just look at Olive's big smile!

De Morgenstond Heeft Goud in de Mond...

7:30 am

Officially the English saying would be 'the early bird catches the worm', but if you would translate the Dutch it would say: the early morning rise has gold in the mouth.  I think in Swedish it goes something like this: Morgonstunnen har guld i munnen! That fits much better don't you think?  {smile}

This morning my alarm went off at 5:45 am. I had to drive Master C. to his final SAT test (5 hour college entrance exam) and he had to be there very early. Luckily I had brought my camera because just look at all this glory!!!

Tolt River Road over the Snoqualmie River

And if all this wasn't beautiful enough, I came across this final picture: the road was ablaze with smoke from a wood fire (some houses here still only have a wood stove for heating!) in the early morning sun and fog mixture: amazing!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!  {smile}

Indian Summer Beauties...

Small miracles can feel soooo big...

Enjoy!

And yes, the garden sprinkler system is still working overtime. No rain in over 76 days, all records have been broken! And I am not complaining...  <wink>

PS I've added some more items to the header. Can you spot them?

Spicing It Up Cathrineholm Style!

Inside frame size: 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches
(10 x 15 cm)

Over the summer I've been working on this little cutie!

No, I did not design this myself, but I did make the pattern. I just love Jan Skacelik's work so much and thought it would be fun to turn one of his mid century modern prints into a cross-stitch print. Here is the original one from his website:

It is very tricky to copy something into a cross-stitch pattern, but I still think it looks alright and I had fun making it. I'm even thinking of making another one!  {smile}

--  **  --  **  --

Well, it is Sunday morning over here and the sun is coming out. Once again the promise of a beautiful day. We've been experiencing the most amazing Indian Summer over here and the rest of the week the temperatures will be between 25 and 27 C. (around 80F) Not bad at all, especially for the Pacific Northwest!

Mother Nature does show us that Fall is just around the corner. This is what I noticed out of my kitchen window just now...

Gorgeous colors right!

We will be working on some college applications and such with our eldest this morning and then this afternoon we are invited to a grand house-warming party. Our friends that were building a new house on Lake Washington, moved in a couple of weeks ago and are ready to celebrate. A good thing the weather will be so nice and warm, because they are expecting around 150 people I think and the house is certainly not big enough to hold us all. We'll be hanging out on the dock and sipping our drinks in the sunset. Like I said earlier: not bad at all!  <wink>

"Sitting on the dock of the bay..."

Weekend At Last...

I just love these Cone Flowers. (Echinacea) Just look at them!

Yesterday it was so hot! Too hot even to sit in my lounge chair outside for too long a time, so I decided to take a little stroll through the yard. Even though most plants are on their last legs by now, there is still a lot of color and interest around.

Quite a few interesting critters about also!

This was a big bugger!
I'm suspecting a nest in the wet area underneath this log...

Running update: today I ran 4 minutes in a row (woot woot) and after I had caught my breath I ran another 2. Once I made it home after about 30 minutes or so, I spent another 30 minutes on the wii-fit doing some yoga and some balance exercises. Those are good for the cool down as well. Today I spent three hours at Little Bit right after all that exercising and I have to tell you: I'm pooped! 

My ankle (the one that I broke three years ago) started playing up again on all that uneven footing, so now I'm going to enjoy some more sunshine in the backyard with my leg up, and a bit later on I think I will open a nice cool brewsky. Hoorray for the weekend!  {smile}

Hazy Days...

The brief burst of rain and lightning from last weekend sparked a lot of wildfires on the eastern side of the Cascade Mountains. This morning the wind was coming from that direction and it brought with it lots of haze and smoke from those fires.

The fires are threatening quite a few structures and lots of people have had to evacuate, not to mention all the animals that live in that rural area. Very bad situation indeed... (all this is many, many miles away from us so don't worry!)

Pretty colors early this morning though for us:

I added a bit of an orange glow to the pictures,
but most of it was already there naturally...

I think the wind is turning again so that is better for us, but Miss M. will be driving that way (Grand Coulee Dam) this weekend to cheer for her friend who will be running half an 'Ironman'! That is some crazy running, swimming and bicycling race, worse than a triathlon. Can't be good with all this super bad air in that area...