Rainy Day Red, White and Blues

Hello, Dear Friends, so here we are, already in July! 

Celebrating our nation's Independence Day. 

As you can see, we are having cool and misty weather,

here in the Great Northwest. 

I have been wearing sweaters and warm flannels

as I try to get some garden chores done. 

I am always behind.....

but I try not to stress - too much. 

I actually witnessed a bind-weed (wild morning glory)

 plant grow 6 inches in one day.

Truth!

It has invaded my whole side-yard and I need to 

catch up to it, but the rain has slowed me down. 

When I need to take cover from the elements, I hide out here.
No dogs allowed.
Invitation only. 

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Sorry guys. 

Although, I do make exceptions. 

This is Lovey. 

She's my # 2 daughter and son-in-law's little one. 

When they are out of town, 

she comes to stay and play. 

She is here for the holiday weekend. 

Kai and Lovey are happy friends and love to play. 

Whitey loves her, too.

They follow me wherever I go......

Except in 'the hide-out.' 

I get to relax a few moments.....

to have a cup of coffee
and a little treat. 

With three faces peering at me
through the gate. 

It's always nice to know that I am never alone.

*grin*

It's so Zen.....

Until someone in the hills lights off another round of fireworks.

That's when I have to let them in with me
while they all try to climb into my lap.   

I am always so happy when the 4th of July celebrations

are over. I am also very grateful that it rained

so that the fire danger is reduced. 

The garden angel keeps watch over all. 

I planted impatiens in her pots. 

Her birdcage was painted a few years ago,

 (it was shiny gold) and it now has a nice patina - 

a little rusty and mossy. 

I painted the clay pots with gray porch paint.

More impatiens, along with 'creeping charlie',
 in an oval, metal tub for the bottom shelf.
The Mr. drilled holes in the tub for me. 

The tubs are galvanized steel, made in America. 

My Dad would approve. He was President of the local 

Steelworker's Union at one time.
He was a tool and die maker all of his life.

I like that I can see the angel from my kitchen door.

Lovey contemplates the day-bed.

The 'Joseph's coat' rose rises over the arbor
to show off its colors.

One stem could fill a whole vase.
If I could reach it.....

Lovey checks out the petunias and alyssum.
They are so fragrant, especially in the evening.

I also planted two hanging baskets with cherry tomatoes.

And a larger tub with a 'patio tomato' that is
growing like a weed.

Raindrops on young succulents that I
propagated last fall in clay pot saucers,
ready to be planted into larger pots.

The copper watering can was my Mom's.
She always kept it on the kitchen windowsill,
since I was a small child.
She brought that little watering can all the way
across the country from New England where she
(and I) was born.

It is rusty and dented, but it brings back bittersweet memories
of a time and place from long ago.

It must have been a special reminder of those early
days, and the kitchen window views she left behind.

It took me two afternoons to trim the walkway.
It had become quite overgrown.

The ivy took years to get so lush,
but now I am always trying to keep it in bounds.

Our Ford Ranger awaits its next adventure alongside.

The dog kennel on the other side is
 used only when we have large gatherings
to keep the dogs safe with all of
 the comings and goings of vehicles.......

My youngest son built the rock wall and helped
his Dad build the walkway when he was in high-school.

I planted the ivy :)

I keep saucers of water in the side yard for little creatures,
along with a toad house. I've never seen a toad in it,
but I have seen a salamander and a green tree frog.

What is the saying? A rolling stone gathers no moss.

My 2-1/2 year old grandson comes home with me
sometimes, after I help out with him
 and his 17 mos. old twin brothers
2 mornings a week.

We go for walks with Papa and the dogs.

We play with cars and blocks and watch the Mickey Mouse Club
over and over. I know all the songs.....

When I was a little girl, the Mickey Mouse Club
was my favorite show, too.
I loved it so much that my Mom would let me
eat my lunch in the living room so I could watch it.

 I remember being heart-broken when my
Mom went back to work and my baby-sitter refused to
let me watch it at her home during lunch.

She was an older woman who lived in the neighborhood,
and I still remember her name. Mrs. Farenholt.
She was very strict and I didn't like her.
I actually ran away and tried to get back home
so I could watch it.
Several times.
I was only 3.

Now, all these years later, my little grandson
loves the same show, delightfully updated.

We have snacks....

and sometimes I find toys in strange places.....
such as, inside the refrigerator.

We bake cookies and wash up.

Peanut butter cookies are the favorite.
He likes squashing the dough with a fork.

He loves making cupcakes, too (he calls them pupcakes).
He fills the pans with paper liners,
mixes the batter,
helps with the frosting.....

And loves to decorate them with sprinkles.

Um, oh-oh! The bowl of sprinkles
proves too irresistible.....

Sampling his hard work while watching Mickey Mouse.

We have a lot of fun.
xoxo

I do sleep well after these busy days.

His Mom and Dad hosted a belated Father's Day celebration
last weekend for the whole family,
 with steak, shrimp and chicken kabobs on the grill.

Everyone brought a side dish.

With homemade strawberry shortcake for dessert.
Yum!
You can see my daughter tucking a little one into a high chair
outside the window.

The pretty drink bar.
Don't you just love the 'muddler' handle?

All the Dads, doing their thing.....

Fun in the sun.
xoxo

The family keeps growing.
Hard to believe this all started with two
childhood sweethearts.

I think of what kind of world they will inherit
and I have so much hope, despite all of the overwhelming difficulties.
Hope that the younger generations will see what can be
achieved if done with the highest intentions.

Nothing lasting is ever achieved any other way.

To build on all that is good and just,
and disregard all that is not.

I hope that they will honor and respect all who 

came before them that fought for the freedoms 

and liberty we so easily take for granted. 

I hope that they always choose to do the right thing,

no matter how difficult or unpopular,

and that they cultivate the insight and humility 

to recognize what that is.....

 and most importantly, to always take the 

high road through life. 

The view is always so much better. 

xoxo

"The best rules to form a young man are:

to talk little,

to hear much, 

to reflect alone upon what has passed in company,

to distrust one's own opinions,

and value others that deserve it. 

- Sir William Temple -

"Beyond all other freedoms our greatest liberty

is our ability to choose our attitude. 

-Patricia Ryan Madson-

 Improv Wisdom

"It is something to be able to paint a particular

picture, or to carve a statue, or so to make a few

objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve

and paint the very atmosphere through which we 

look - to affect the quality of the day, that is the

highest of the arts.

- Henry David Thoreau -

The Scent of Roses

Hello, Dear Friends, I hope that you haven't forgotten me......

I have been so very busy. 

Life is catching up with me, and I am struggling 

with how to keep it from overtaking me completely. 

Do you ever feel that way? 

Sometimes in life, time just seems to speed up suddenly, 

and you find that you have to force yourself 

to stop and smell the roses. 

Now that summer is here, I have a strong 

urge to make the most of every free moment. 

But the 'to do' list is long and summer is so very short.

Do you remember, as a child, that feeling of joy on the first 

day of summer vacation? Time just seemed to stretch 

out in an endless expanse of freedom
from the regiments of school.

Of course, the chores were still there, and the little sisters
and pets still needed tending to, but whenever I could,
I would steal away for some precious free time, just to myself.

I loved spending time with my sweet and faithful dog,
in the family's little row-boat. With Mittens taking up the bow, 

(who knew to stay very still, so as not to rock the boat) and packed with 

a picnic lunch, blanket, and my dog-eared sketch pad,
we were ready to explore. 

We lived on a murky little New England pond,
good for wildlife viewing, boating or ice-skating only.

Across the pond, around the bend,
was an old-fashioned New England grist mill, 

complete with a little waterfall and a wooden water-wheel. 

This was a magical place full of mist and moss,
rushing water, and large, smooth rocks under a canopy of 

Sassafras trees. 

 I had discovered a secret deer trail,
where I could dock my boat under the wild roses
that grew along the water's edge.
The trail led to the waterfall on the opposite
side of the creek from the mill.

There were lady slipper orchids that grew at the
base of the beech trees, and carpets of moss and
wild wintergreen with bright red berries that I,
and the chickadees loved to eat.

I have no idea what ever happened to my childhood sketchbook, 

but I'll always remember those stolen summer afternoons

 with my beloved dog, sharing my sandwich, and 

watching her investigate all of

the intriguing scents only a dog can understand. 

I was brave to go off alone that way, when I think about it now,
but I was young and fearless and had a strong desire
to explore this beautiful world.

This desire led me thousands of miles away only a few years
later when I married my Ramblin' Man and off we went......

Now, here I am, all these years later, reminding myself
to take time to smell the roses, to try and capture
that exhilarating feeling of summer vacation freedom, once again.

I've been enjoying the roadside roses
 on my way to the Grand-little's
house in the mornings, also.

I try to think of who might have planted them,
so long ago. Someone who dreamed of seeing
them as I see them now, filling the hedges
with wild abandon?
Everything starts with a dream.......

This gorgeous old 'smoke tree' blooms along the way, too.

The grass is high and the roadways are lined with daisies
and foxglove, which are especially pretty against fields full of buttercup. 

More and more of these fields are going away -
sold to developers to build new homes.

It makes me sad, but I try and think about the many young families
that will soon have new homes.
They will plant trees and flowers, and a once lonely place
will be full of life with the beautiful laughter of children.

It's so important to look on the bright side, isn't it?
A positive vision of hopefulness always
keeps life moving forward.
It definitely takes discipline to keep a positive attitude,
but well worth cultivating for the sake of peace of mind.

In this world of relentless negativity, I try hard to have
gratitude and a positive outlook as much as I can.
Of course, I don't always succeed.
That's when taking time to just enjoy the scent of roses,
lifts my spirits and renews my outlook.

I was blessed to have one beautiful foxglove spring
up at the base of my trellis in my unruly wildflower garden.

I have studied the habits of these Pacific Northwest wildflowers,
that were originally cultivated escapees from
the early pioneers who brought the seeds along their journey
 for their medicinal herb gardens. Foxglove
 contains digitalis, which can affect heart rhythm
 if ingested. Beware!
Digitalis is an active ingredient in some heart medicines.

They will readily self-seed if given newly disturbed ground,
and are biennial - growing a lovely rosette of
large leaves the first year, then sending up a flower spike
in the second. The hundreds of tiny black seeds
are easy to collect from the dried pods in late summer
and remain viable for many years.

My beloved pansies have mostly died off for the season,
except for these little beauties,
growing in pots in the shade of the deck rail.
Pansies hate hot weather and we had a long spell of heat
recently, with one day getting close to 95 degrees.

I took advantage of the heat to give the dogs a spa day on the deck.

And now they are shedding - leaving big tufts of white fur
blowing around everywhere. The vacuum cleaner
 and I have renewed our friendship, considerably :)

It has cooled off this past week, now barely getting to 70 degrees
and dipping into the low 40's at night.

A garden plaque that was once my Mom's says it all.

 "A gardeners life is full of sweets and sours
he gets the sunshine when he needs the showers"

I planted lemon thyme, oregano and sage
in this tub.

My version of a 'kitchen garden' right outside
the kitchen door.

All of the pansies have been replaced with purple alyssum
and petunias, both very fragrant. They look sparse right now,
but will fill out nicely as summer goes on.

These are some tubs I planted a few weeks ago.

The young hummingbirds have left their nests.

I was sitting at the table on the deck, taking a coffee break
with the Mr., when this little sweetheart decided to thoroughly
investigate me, buzzing inches from my face and
around my hair several times, before flying off
to enjoy the hanging baskets.

It must have been the Jo Malone cologne that I had on.

My favorite, 'Red Roses'.

I hope that you all had a wonderful Father's Day!
We celebrated by going to the zoo and aquarium
with 3 of the grands.

Their first visit - so special - and they were all
wearing the crocheted sweaters I made for them.
xoxo

We have our 'official' celebration this weekend
with all of the Dads in the family at my daughter's house.
Everyone is so busy and it is hard to round everyone
up these days.

My youngest son devoted this past weekend to
helping his Dad install a new automatic gate
at the top of our driveway.

They put in 10-12 hour days, installing the gate, a solar panel,
battery and hydraulic opener. Then, my son had to program
the software to link the remotes and keypad to the code.

My son-in-law also helped by accepting and unloading
this large delivery at his home, then loading it into
his pickup truck and hauling it up here.

We are so grateful for their help.

This was a significant investment in time and money,
but well worth it as we get older, when manually opening
the gate might get more difficult.
Not only that, but it is very creepy up there at night or
early in the morning!
We live in bear and cougar country and I've encountered both.

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I hope that you are finding time to enjoy this special time 

of year, dear friends, doing a little bit of what you love to do, 

and making sweet memories along the way. 

" It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine
was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside."

Maud Hart Lovelace
Betsy-Tacy and Tib
xoxo