summer things

Random...

I'm having troubles loading pictures and then putting text with it, so here area just some random pictures from the summer.

We spent some time in Montana, Idaho and Washington this summer and really enjoyed it. This is the Riverfront Park in Spokane. It was fun to be there, but most fun was being with Jenn's family at Sandpoint, so fun there was no real time for pictures- just swimming, eating, relaxing, FroggerRama.



My square=foot garden did pretty well. I learned alot in my first try- like how important it is to thin out the seedlings so the remaining sprouts can actually get bigger. But I was able to bottle 2 jars of pickled beets, made a couple of batches of "Zucchini Milk" for making Zucchini BRead. There are still carrots and parsnips out there. We had a pretty poor growing season this year, with a really wet, cold summer. We are having Indian Summer now- 26C today!


We bottled some BC peaches in August, and then got some delicious Utah peaches in September, so I made 3 or 4 batches of peach jam. The full sugar variety turned out the best, but I did make a freeze batch of no sugar, and one that was half sugar half splenda. It doesn't keep it's beautiful color with the Splenda. But I borrowed from Hilary's recipe and put a little cinnamon and nutmeg in each batch. It just adds another layer of flavor and is soooo good!



We also got some little tiny, but tasty Concorde grapes on our grapevine for the first time ever! Fun to see them grown. They have seeds in them but are not too bad for our climate.

In other news...

Brett and Hilary ran the 5K and made a great showing.  Looked cute, had great form and enjoyed it too.  Their time of 32:16 is the current Drewry Record.

Looking pretty chipper on the way out.  As they headed for the finish, it was all about smoking the competition, and they did.

Congratulations on a good run!

My Treasures

We have  had a busy and fun-filled couple of weeks.  Hilary and her boys came up for a visit and we were so happy to have them here.  She has the sweetest and funnest boys.  And it was SO fun to have Jenn and her girls here too.  But when they were all together... the BEST!  We sure do love these little kids.  They are my most prized treasures.

Snack time... Lundi "smiling for the camera.  This one-eyed pirate face could be seen if she was getting her picture taken or if she was sad... It was pretty fun(ny).

Burkie learned how to clap while he was here and was pretty proud of himself.  He's crawling around everywhere and pulling himself up to chairs and furniture but then can't get himself back on the ground.  It won't be too much longer til he's walking.  He has the brightest blue eyes ever! and the most contagious laugh.  He can really get some good belly laughs going- especially when Carson plays with him.

We all loved the Parade- it was great this year- lots of bands, horses, floats, cars and candy.  We think Carson enjoyed it the most though.  We tried to get him to run out and pick up the candy that was thrown.  But he had it figured out-- if he just sat and watched, the candy would come to him and he wouldn't have to chase after it like the other kids.  It worked like a charm!

This is Spring?!

Earlier this week we had a touch of spring- cool but it felt like spring.  the lilacs are in full bloom and we have more and bigger blossoms than we've had in many years.  

The pictures don't really do them justice because they are mostly deep purple and the bushes are loaded.

But last night it started to rain, with what was forecasted to be 2 inches, and because the lilacs were already weakened and beaten down from all the late, heavy snow, this is what we have out there today.  More branches broken off, half of them touching the ground, and they are loaded with water.

The good news is I have a few peas sprouted in the garden boxes.  We'll see what the possible SNOW this weekend looks like.

It's Spring!!

It's the middle of May and we are having spring!  And it's beautiful!  We've had winter mostly since September but now it feels almost like summer.  Warm Days, pleasant evenings, no wind, and everything is starting to look green and lush after all our moisture.  But my favorite is to walk up to the house past these lovelies every day.

These tulips are so bright and cheery and the other plants are filling in too so the flower bed looks great.

In other news, we just got back from a great visit to Hilary and Mark and Sons in Heber and had a great time.  So fun to spend time with them, especially those darling little boys.  They are so sweet and fun and funny- we just really enjoy being around them.  Let me give you a small taste ...
 

It was Grampa Brett's Birthday while we were there and no one was more excited than Carson about that.  So of course, he had to help blow out the candles.  (Krispy Kremes make great Birthday cakes- did you know?) We also went Swimming, did some shopping, worked in the yard, went to Cafe Rio, and just generally hung out with the kids and did what they liked to do.  It was a fun time!  We're already planning and scheming for the next time we can get together-  hopefully at home for a bit at the end of June and for the 1st of July.  We sure love our grandkids.  And we're looking forward to seeing Jenn and her girls very shortly- they are off camping at Premier Lake this weekend and going to Kalispell next weekend.  They are busy, busy, but we hope to catch up to them soon.   Of course we couldn't get enough of these to squeeze-  now that he can sit up and roll over and jump and even sort of get around, he's a pretty happy camper.  Love giving him (them) loves... who wouldn't.

Just a mix of pictures for this blog.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Rexburg/IF to spend a couple of days with Hil. We were right across the river from the Idaho Falls Temple and had a great shot of it one night.

Maybe not the best pictures but the Temple looked beautiful that night with the threatening clouds behind it, and the sun was low in the sky so the trim , the windows, and angel Moroni just gleamed.


And, we cooked. Last Sunday we made such a good meal! Wanted Dad to have some good and easy leftovers while I was away, so we cooked a roast with mashed potatoes and really good gravy ( This time it was really great - the trick- I dunno- bisto first for flavor and then only a little flour to finish thickening it). Dad did some broiled tomatoes with spices and parmesian cheese that were really good too. It actually looked as good as it tasted so I was glad I took some pictures. Does it make your mouth water?

Yes... gravy IS a beverage!

Now I'm back from a great 3-day class in Phoenix on Diabetes Management. I really enjoyed it actually and enjoyed the city also. It's huge but seems to be easy to get around in and is clean and quite pretty. The morning we left was beautiful as we were up in time to see the sun rise and everything was clear and sunny and bright blue skies, not too hot down there yet. But no pictures. I am sure glad to be home, and now for a busy week of catch-up, then one "normal" week, and then we go to Hil's. Yaaayy!

Just beachy?

I recently completed a room re-do and am so excited about the results. Even though all I've done so far is paint, I'm loving it.

The color is my new favorite- Fostoria Glass by C-I-L paints. It's a light gray-blue, and the bottom is just white. I know the look is maybe a little dated for some, but I love it! The sunlight floods this room and makes it look so airy and bright. Still need to do the decorating, curtains, pictures, etc. But that will come as I think about it more.

I started with this little vignette, but the more I think about it, the more I'm inclined to give it a little bit of a beachy, cottagey feel. Any hints/ideas/ etc. Jenn suggested I use my big brown frames over the bed as sort of a headboard, and just put pictures in that reflect some of the colors and feelings I want. Good idea- just might be tricky to find such pictures- maybe I can use some of my photos and edit them to get what I want. Easy peasy, right? Oh well, wish me luck. I don't want to spend much money to finish it up so we'll see what I can come up with on the cheap. Thanks to some thrifty, shanty, clever, and addicting blogs, I'll happily keep searching for just the right stuff.

I'm Melting... cake

Today I made Warm Chocolate Melting Cake, inspired by the Favorite dessert on our Cruise (Carnival's most popular dessert). I googled that and found recipes which claimed to be the exact ones from the cruise line. So I made it and ... Delish. It was pretty easy and turned out great. Just take butter, chocolate, eggs, a little flour and sugar, and voila! you have it!

The recipe said it would make 4 ramekins but it seemed to be much more as these are 2.5 to 3 inch ramekins and it did 6 large and 2 small. My theory is that I cooked them a bit too long as there wasn't very much of the molten chocolate left in the middle. Sad, but I'll just have to try them again to get it right. They still tasted great.

fabric

So here is the fabric that I like --hopefully.. the white fabric with the black pattern is the one I need more of. If you do find a stripe one I'd only need about 1.5 yards of it

It is definitely white background, not really cream.
Thanks a ton Jenn.

more island hopping

Our next stop was Tortolla. Dad is pointing to the place in the bay where he did his dive. He dove on the Wreck of the Rhone- a ship that went down in the late 1800's in a hurricane. He said it was a great dive, they saw lots of fish- some huge- and the tour was interesting. This island was a favorite for me. It was more developed than Antigua, less population than St Thomas and really pretty- lots of hill with houses built up the sides. The house all look huge but that's because people build one level at a time. As they pay off or can afford to to build up, they then rent out the floor below and move up into the next floor. So many houses are 3 or 4 stories, plus built up on stilts. While Dad was diving, we took a taxi and went on a little tour and to a beach for the day. It was a really nice beach, but the water was not as clear and even though I took my gear, there was NOTHING to see in the water- it was murky and there was nothing growing there. But we sure enjoyed the sun and sand.

Our last stop was Nassau, Bahamas. This is the famous Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island. We took a "little" tour around the island with "sexy Mary" that was kinda weird. she took us to the sights- such as the high end neighborhood- which was pretty ordinary by our standards, and to the ghetto neighborhood, which was too long. But we did get over to the Atlantis for a little while. the world's largest indoor aquarium is inside. We only saw the lobby- it was HUGE and very impressive. The bridge between the two towers is actually a suite that costs $25,000 per night. Other rooms start at about $600. (Just ask Mary!)
This shows the 14K gold ceiling in the lobby of Atlantis. All around in were these murals depicting the history of the Bahamas. It's hard to get perspective of how massive everything is there.

This is called the Queen's Staircase. It took 16 years to build, by 600 slaves and has 66 steps. It wasn't just a staircase. they carved out this staircase and a walkway that goes from the high point on the island down to the main port. It was built in commemoration of Queen Victoria who abolished slavery there. It was a neat area. The walls were tall and lined with plants and trees, and quite shaded. It was really pretty. At the top was an old Fort, used to defend the harbor. Quite interesting.
What would any cruise be without the towel animals? ( I actually went to a towel folding class that was interesting for about 10 minutes- then not so much) this little monkey was on our last night- Buddy was our steward and did a great job for us. But he wasn't very happy with us when we were still on board by 9:30 on the last morning and he wanted to do up our room for the next cruise. We had a great time- especially being with our cruising buddies, Barry and LuAnne, and Tom and Jane. And we're already talking about our next one... Mediterranean anybody?...

just trippin'

Thought I'd try to add a new post with pictures of our trip. I wish I had better pictures, but , oh well....
This first one is a picture of the old Fort in Old San Juan-Puerto Rico. We were there only in the evening and had a walking tour which was really interesting. Lots of buildings dated to the 16 and 1700's. Interesting too was that almost every island we visited on this trip claimed that Christopher Columbus first stopped there so almost every one of them has a statue of him somewhere.

We were sad not to have more time in San Juan because it looked like a cool city, lots of interesting architecture.
This was the site of the last gate through the wall surrounding the old city. The wall was literally over 30 feet thick at the bottom, had lookout perches every so often around the perimeter and the door through here was huge and thick, and is inscribed 1742. Cool nails/bolts.


The streets were all cobblestones and quite rambling and hilly- we got a ride to the top of the one of the hills and then our tour walked down the streets to Columbus Square and from there we could walk to our ship.








This is the harbor in St Thomas. It was very beautiful , lots of sailboats and yachts in the harbor as well as 3 cruise ships that day. this was taken at sunset as we were about to leave.
On this island we took a cab to Coki Beach and Coral Gardens. Coral Gardens is a SeaWorld Wannabe. It has a shark,stingray, coral exhibit as well as a mini sea-lion show. Everything is pretty small and not in very good shape. There was an underwater observatory, but it only went down about 10 feet and there really wasn't much to see. I was glad we didn't pay for that excursion. ( it was one where they put the underwater helmets on you and then let you walk on the bottom.- rip-off)
If you can zoom in on this, this is the beach where we spent the afternoon. The picture is taken from the Coral Gardens side. With our admission to the Coral Gardens we could go in and out all day, and that's where the showers and restrooms were. The water was so warm and clear, the beach awesome, but lots of people, and it was a hot day. Some of us got sunburned-I did on the backs of my legs from snorkeling. The snorkeling wasn't fabulous- as in not lots to see, but there were fish and the water was clear and so warm. There were more fish near that rocky point. St Thomas was a nice island- not too poor, some good shopping it seemed- we didn't do any- and a nice port.
These were our waiters- Henry from the Philipines, if you need anything, call 1-800-Henry. and Armando from San Salvador. They were awesome and really took good care of us. Each night the waiters either sang or danced on top of the waiting tables. Henry was a pretty good dancer.




The next stop was the island of Antigua- pronounced "antiga" We took a tour here that took us to Lord Nelson's Marina- shown in the harbor of this picture ( bluish gray buildings) and Shirley Heights which was the high point of the island and had barracks, etc as these were defense and look out points to defend the harbor. The marina was where Lord Nelson repaired and housed his fleet. there was a little museum there and the original mooring "posts" or whatever they're called. From the lookout they could see in almost every direction so it was easy to defend the port. Just down below on the other side is Eric Clapton's house ( read sprawling estate on it's own point out over the water, no visible road in,) This island is much poorer and the tourism industry, even though their major income, is still pretty undeveloped. It didn't seem like there were very many resort hotels altho' they boast 362 beaches.