Day One

Whew! The kids are in bed, asleep, I think. Jill has spent the afternoon and evening with her brother and friends, and is due in about midnight. We're mostly packed for an early departure for Oregon in the morning. I'm having trouble remembering all we did today. I know we had breakfast together and then selected books and toys and games from our supply to take with us to the beach cabin. It looks like we'll have to plan on quite a bit of indoor time. The weather promises to be cold and wet much of the time. The high today was 53, and it rained all morning. I know Irene and I did spend time this morning and again this afternoon in the play house. She loves that place and could spend all of her time there, but after an hour or so I'm needing a change of venue. We spent more time out there this afternoon, and Isaac joined us. He and I played a game while Irene "cooked". Isaac also helped care for the "baby" It's funny how you create an activity based on an experience, and then it becomes a standard. Last June we visited the Seattle aquarium and the waterfront. Then we recreated the scene on the kitchen floor. Irene especially remembers the attendants wearing rubber gloves and feeding the sea animals. We recreated the scene again this year, including aquarium, ferry boats, Totem Pole Park, and the train. We discovered it was fun to make it, but once set up, we quickly lost interest. Is that a common truism? We had an early dinner and then settled in front of the TV to watch a Sounders match. Seattle played the Denver Rapids in Colorado. Jill and the kids passed the team in the airport yesterday as the team were arriving in Denver and they were departing. They boarded the same Alaska Airlines plane the team had flown in on. Kinda' funny, that coincidence. Anyway, the Sounders lost again. Boo hoo. After that it was time to pick up toys and have baths before bedtime. Now I'm just plain tuckered out.

The Playhouse is Ready

Jill and Isaac and Irene arrive at the airport at 7:00 this evening to begin a three week stay. As promised, the shed has now been returned to a playhouse, and brand new play dough stocks the shelves.

We will be at home here in Seattle tomorrow, but then on Sunday we will head to Oregon for an overnight with my Mother, and then three days at the cabin in Rockaway Beach on the coast. And that's just the beginning.

It will be very busy here. I'll post when I can. I may not get much time to leave comments for all of my blogging friends, but I'll at least try to keep up with what you're doing.

I hope you'll be having fun too.

The Garden in May

We have spent many hours in the garden this month, and finally it's at the stage where we can just enjoy it as we do routine maintenance. It's columbine time! The new species of glassius flowiferous is settling in. I love the surprise of columbine. As they self-hybridize, you never know what you'll get.

Fox glove and delphinium are shooting up.

The vegetable garden is planted, but is shivering in the cold that has returned unseasonably.

In the secret garden.

Down the garden path to the deck.

The wisteria has been glorious, and the fragrance heavenly.

We've had lunch on the patio several times, until it turned cold again.

That's my motto.

Ole! Ole! Ole! Sounders Win the Game!

It's late. We're tired. But we had fun at the Sounders match tonight. It was a "friendly" against a visiting Argentine team, so it amounted to a practice game, but the Sounders won 3-0. It's fun to win. It rained all day, but stopped just in time for us to head to the light rail station to go to the stadium. So not only did we win, but we stayed dry! I made five more flags today, three of the striped ones, two of the other. Everyone will have a flag when we all go to a Sounders match June 10th.

Now I'll put away my sewing and convert my sewing space back into a guest bedroom. There won't be any time for sewing after the kids arrive.

Yard Art: Glass in the Garden

I love the look of glass in the garden. Last summer I succumbed to this piece of hand blown glass. But it was very expensive, and kind of lonely looking out in our big garden.

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While visiting some other gardens last summer, we saw some examples of glass art that was made out of old household glassware. We thought, "We can do that!"

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So during the fall, winter and early spring, we have been collecting pieces from thrift stores and recycling shops. Last week, with all of the planting of real flowers done, it was time to design our glass flowers.

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This morning all that was left on the garage work bench was these two "fountains", awaiting mountings posts.

This afternoon, we finished off the project.

And now, blooming along with nature's flowers, are our creations.

Click on any photo for a closer look.

Last Christmas a friend of ours gave us this cute rock bird house as a hostess gift. We got it out too, using the trunk of a hedge tree we had removed because it was dead. (Yes, we have plant disasters, too.)

We still have a few glass items on the shelf, but they'll wait now for another time of inspiration, and a few more collected pieces. Maybe we'll make some Christmas gifts this year?

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Our daughter and grandchildren are arriving Friday evening. It's a busy time around here. But I think the garden is ready.