Bike Ride...

Last week I took you on a tour of our little town (on my way to the post office), today I'm taking you on a bike ride just north of our town.

The temperatures were just right (it was still fairly early) and there was a nice breeze. Quite the nice bike ride I must say...

 

 

 

Tomorrow I will show you pics of our neighbors' new Toy Fox Terrier puppy called 'Bode'. He is too cute!!!  Here is a teaser... {smile}

Macro & Thrifty Finds...

The other day I zoomed around the yard with a couple of Macro lenses attached to my regular lens. I found this beautiful bee on an Echinacea flower (= Cone Flower)...

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For our wedding anniversary last Sunday  we went shopping at Value Village (romantic isn't it?) <wink> and Mr. G. found this fab mixer that actually works! He was very excited...

And I found, among other things, thee very cute 60's looking boots! (they come about half way up your calf)

I found this metal shelf stand a few weeks ago and the enamel pot on it last weekend.

And I'll leave you with  a photo of our dining area early this morning.  I found these old paper lanterns a while ago and finally hung them up. 

Half an hour later two of them have already crashed to the ground, scaring the birdies like crazy! I guess I will have to find another way to secure the lanterns. Let me ponder on that one...

Yesterday...

What a fun birthday day! (and thank you so much for your lovely wishes! )

First we went on a picnic by the river, organised by the children...

A Value Village find from earlier that morning:
I love these kinds of pots!

The Skykomish River and a farm in the distance...

Picnic basket with freshly baked scones and Clotted Cream!

Iced tea...

Another lovely old barn...

Beautiful flower farms...

And after a little nap in the shadier parts of our backyard, we had dinner at my Dutch aunt and uncle's house in Edmonds. The views from their deck are always spectacular but yesterday's were of an Olympic level. (double pun intended since the mountains we were looking at are also called The Olympics...)

Holland- America line cruise ship...

A lonely sailor...

Glittering waters....

As we were eating Nasi Goreng (an Indonesian rice dish: Yum!) we saw this happening:

Wow, wow, wow!

When we finally came home we all laid down in the grass and looked at the Perseid's Meteor shower over our heads....

And now today we celebrate our 19th wedding anniversary!  {big smile}

Another Year...

G & T Time...

I haven't had the chance yet to show you what my lovely Mr. G. has made (yes, by hand and from scratch) during his time at home: these most excellent (and very comfortable) chairs and benches! 

He found the plans for the chairs online, but the benches we found at a friend's house. We simply took one home, made a template and Mr. G. built them, how marvelous is that? {smile}

He used cedar wood and just clear coated it. I find them a bit too yellow, but Mr. G. loves them this way and since he made them he got to choose the finish.  <wink>

As you can see they are perfect for a late afternoon sit-down with my Kindle (reading all of James Herriot's books again!) and a Gin & Tonic in my favorite Ball jar. In fact the G&T tasted so good that I had another one and then decided on doing some cooking: mistake!!! While slicing an onion I cut into two fingers!!!

I did manage to take some pretty pics though, and this was of course before I cut into my fingers. Enjoy!

Let's Go For A Stroll!

For the last couple of months I've been feeling a bit 'flabby' so to speak. My 46th birthday will take place in two days and I've been upping my health regimen just a tad so that I will feel like my old self again: not so many snacks, smaller portions and a couple of walks here and there. I loathe any form of official exercise (it makes me feel really crabby) and you know what: I feel better already! {smile}

Anyway, in light of all this new-age thinking I decided to walk to the local post office this morning to post a card to my lovely sister who has her own birthday next week. I brought along my little camera to show you some of the local 'sights'. 

Let's go!

First some beautiful and old houses that I admire every time I pass them...

Some interesting finds along the way...

And finally we have reached our destination:
(it was only a fifteen minute walk one way...)

Well Sis, your card is on its way!  {smile}

Lilies From The Garden....

Quiet times over here. The skies are a persistent grey, but the temperatures are very pleasant and there is no rain, so all in all things aren't too bad...

Yesterday I cleaned up both my sewing area and the more 'crafty, patterns stashing and other stuff' area so I'm slowly gearing myself up to do some sewing again. I made a tiny little credit/ business card zippered pouch last week that I still have to take photographs of. I also made a tunic top that didn't work out too well and I'm still thinking weather or not I shall alter it or just chuck it...

At least my mind is starting to think of sewing and creating again. After the creative burst in the Spring I sort of lost all energy in that direction and that's ok, it's vacation time after all...

Here are some more pretty Lilies. The house smells soooo good!  {smile}

PS All the pictures are of the same Lily, just different processing...

Seafair 2012...

Wow, what a day we had yesterday! 

The whole family was invited by another family (one of Miss M.'s classmates) to join them on two speedboats to watch the Seafair Blue Angels' Airshow on Lake Washington! Of course we didn't say no and with the hottest temperatures of the year (93F/ 33C!) we all came home several 'shades of tan' darker... {smile}

Unfortunately I must have put one of my sunscreen soaked fingers on the lens because most of the pictures came out blurry. My apologies and that of course will not happen again. {no smile there}

After an amazingly choppy ride (I held on for dear life!) we arrived at the I-90 floating bridge at Mercer Island. There we threw out the anchor and spent lots of time in the water to cool off. 'Fat Albert' (a huge military transport plane) flew over and then the actual Blue Angels soared overhead. It was spectacular! (I had never seen them live before) And it was So Loud!!!

Enjoy these little collages I made for you:

The last photo  above shows the police boat that was on his way to visit us!

Once the main airshow was finished we all (thousands of boats!) headed for the I-90 bridge and we flocked to the other side of the highway to watch the Hydroplanes' show over there. Apparently our hostess had forgotten to stick the new insurance stickers on the boat (they are in the middle of a move and are building a new house at the same time, so totally understandable of course) but we got a visit from the water police twice! Fortunately we got off with a warning but it was quite exciting let me tell you!

The vintage hydroplanes were crazy loud but the newer once were considerably less loud. Pretty boring though so we didn't hang out there too long. We made the long trek home again to the north end of the lake and there we had a wonderful barbecue and another swim. All in all we spent 9 hours on or near the water and that was just plain marvelous!  {big smile}

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So today we're having a reality check: Mr. G. has gone back to work and the kids only have three more weeks left before school starts. This will mean the reading of all the English and French book lists and doing the Math packets. Yes, our school gives the kids a considerable amount of homework to do over the 3 month break. Not at all a bad idea of course but a bit of a pain nevertheless...

At least the weather is still fabulous and we will enjoy every single minute of it!

Thrifty Finds Of The Most Excellent Kind...

Oh yes, this week I went thrifting not only once, but twice!  {big, big smile}

But first a beautiful Lily from our garden to start off this post with...

The first time I visited our local Value Village and found this cute little lammie (or poodle?) ceramic planter, the cross-stitch cookie jar and some fun fabric (no pics of that, I 'm sorry). Quite the little successful trip...

But then yesterday Tif  and myself finally got together after not having seen each other for a couple of months. She is an extremely busy lady as most of you know, especially now that she is in the midst of writing another book (called Granny Chic) together with the lovely Rachelle from Ted & Agnes. 

We first dropped off an old sofa at the Goodwill and at that same place I found the find of the century; a most excellent recliner chair for a whopping amount of... wait for it... $12.99!  That is twelve dollars and ninety nine cents people!  <wink>

I am a very happy person right now. To top it all off we are now experiencing temperatures in the 80's which will be rising to the 90's (= 32C) this weekend. Summer is still here!  {smile}

McMenamins Grand Lodge...

Here are the last pictures of our long week-end get-away in Portland. The last night, after our visit to Cannon Beach, we spent in the coolest hotel we've ever been in: McMenamins Grand Lodge! It is situated in an old Masonic Lodge  which was built in the early 20's, about half an hour west of Portland. Every surface was painted with texts and paintings etc about the local history. Very, very fun indeed!

Do check out their website because they have a lot more hotels like this one.

Click on photos to enlarge!

They brew their own beer so we spent their Happy Hour in the garden (a park) with a sampler tray of their beers and some fabulous tater tots and fries. Afterwards we played several rounds of Frisbee Golf (where you throw a small Frisbee disc over long distances into a metal cage) and we had a lovely time in their salt water spa/ pool. 

Here are some pics that I downloaded from their website to give you a better idea of the rooms with bunk beds that we had and of the pool.

And did I mention that these hotels are extremely affordable?

And then there were all the authentic vintage lamps everywhere! I only took a few pictures but believe you me: they were awesome!  {smile}

Excellent food was served there as well and after a wonderful breakfast (I had a mushroom and goat cheese omelet!) we drove back to Portland to visit the Lewis & Clark College. We had arranged a tour at this private college of 2000 students (extremely small for American standards) and Mr. G. and myself were ready to start studying there right away!  <wink> We'll see what Master C. decides in the spring but it was a very cool school. Of course it is private so the cost will be around $50.000 per year (!) which we obviously cannot afford, but they are generous in their financial aid department, so we'll just wait and see... 

It is difficult to see on the pictures but the school had a view of Mount Hood in the distance: wow!

We drove home after that and from the car I took a few more pictures of Portland and of Mount Hood. What a great place!  {smile}