On Sunday Tom and I attended a combination family reunion and birthday party for my sister Laurie, celebrating her 70th birthday.
The festivities were held at my nephew Ben's home in Winlock, Washington.
There was lots of visiting and eating.
We were blessed to my great nieces, Maggie and Della with us, granddaughters of my brother Hank.
Auntie Jordan loves her nieces and they love her.
Their beautiful mother Jessica has her hands full while her husband is away going to military school, but she is doing a great job, with the help of her family.
Siblings and cousins gathered together.
Old friends surprised Laurie in what was a sort-of-surprise party.
More (Mohr) cousins joined the party.
Young cousins wore themselves out playing.
And there was birthday cake!
Laurie with most of her grandchildren.
While we were partying, Jill was delivering her kids to scout camps. She dropped Isaac off for his ride in the morning and then she and the girls visited Snoqualmie Falls before taking them to Girl Scout camp at Camp River Ranch.
Then as we settled in at home to walk, garden and watch political conventions, Jill went mountain climbing.
Monday she drove to Mt Baker and climbed to base camp.
Then on Tuesday she and her companion climbed the 5000 ft glacier climb to the summit.
Then she climbed back down, got in her car and drove home, all on the same day!
Tom and I have been watching a lot of both the Republican and Democratic conventions. We will be glad to have it all come to an end tomorrow. I'll write a post about it them.
Then I can get back to spending more time in my garden.
Over a week ago, on Saturday, July 16th, we hosted an open garden as part of the Northwest Perennial Alliance Open Garden program.
Members of the NPA use their Open Gardens book to find gardens most weekends May through September. One of the pleasures of being members is being able to tour so many private gardens. You have seen photos here of many of those gardens. There will no doubt be more to come.
Last Saturday it was our turn. We also invited personal friends, and the result was about two dozen visitors, trickling in throughout the day, allowing us time to visit with each one.
At 4:00, after the garden was "closed", I went around with my camera to photograph the garden as it was on this day. The bright sun and shadow made photography tricky, but with a little exposure adjusting, they turned out OK.
But before I take you on my tour, I would like you to follow the link to see the photos of our garden taken by Peter, The Outlaw Gardener, who is a fellow blogger, NPA member, and a friend we have met through gardening and blogging. It was so much fun to see his post today, and see our garden through his eyes.
Peter started at the front of the house, and so will I.
Into the secret garden.
Irene was at the Whidbey Island cabin with her family, so we set up a plant sale for her.
