Walkin' on Sunshine



Still in the afterglow of Frank and Rachel's wedding, we headed out yesterday for a weekend at Edgar's Acres, where we were greeted with sunshine.  Folks, its been a while since we have had more than one day of sunshine (fortunately it was last Saturday), and that is since last September.  April has been a horribly cold, wet and gray month.  Everyone has been good sports about it, however, in light of the monsterous weather that has hit other parts of our country.  We are hoping the sunshine and warmer weather here in the Pacific Northwest will bode favorably on the weather east of the Rockies.

Our tomato plants are anxiously awaiting their spot in the garden, but in the meantime are happy to be inside where it's warm.  Poor babies would have perished if they had been planted outside earlier.  My cherry tomato is doing it's best to be happy.



See, two little tomatoes in the making.  Yum.

Yesterday we made a detour to Port Gamble since the Hood Canal Bridge was opened.  When you visit Port Gamble, you take a step back in time. 

I kept expecting to see either Pollyanna or the Music Man.  What I did see were these tulips, a treat to weather weary eyes.

The dogs are happy.  They are at Edgar's Acres, where the sun is shining and the grass is green.

Edgar (as in Edgar's Acres)

Louie squinting from the sun

 and Johnny.  He's tired from running in the freshly mowed grass.

We harvested our first crop for 2011 yesterday.  Yep, asparagus. 

This is the first year to harvest.  We will only be able to harvest a few so we can let the roots continue getting settled in.  At $4.99 a pound right now, these were a real treat. 

Just enough for David and I to have a nice portion.  Should be able to get another harvest next weekend when Susan and I come over.

Today I am joining up with some delightful neighbors to make bird baths out of rhurbarb leaves.  Should be fun.  More fun than weeding, which is what I really should be doing. 


Take care and stay safe.

TTFN

Sue









The Wedding

This past weekend our oldest son, David Frank Rambin, married beautiful and dear Rachel Lea Pedersen.  What a lovely wedding it was too.  It was an awesome weekend, full of love, laughs and good times.  Rachel's family is delightful and we love them all.  I've got a few photographs to post and will add more in a few days.  Don't want to overwhelm everyone with the love, love, and more love.

Rehearsal.  Aren't they beautiful.  Look at all of that love.

The sisters of the bride, Rebekah and Sarah. 

Brother and best friend, John and Matt.

The Bride being escorted down the aisle by her niece Juniper

The Piper playing Mary's Wedding.

Dinner at Kell's Irish Pub in Portland.  From the left we have Matt, John, the good Reverend Jim, Lindsey, Pat, and Susan.

Richard (bride's brother), Bride's Dad Chris, Bride's Grandparents, and Bride's Sister Rebekah

Bride's aunt and uncle Jon Mark and Cynde, Bride's Mom Leslie, Brother-in-Law Dave, and Juniper

From the left, Ryan and Anna, Father of the Groom David, Groom's Aunt Sally and Uncle Calvin, and of course, the Bride and Groom.

The Rehearsal evening ended up with the Groom and his male bonding buddies in the Cigar Cellar at Kell's.

The sun came out and it warmed up for this special day.

The Moms. 

Our Family.  I am a very blessed woman.

Juniper making sure Daddy's flowers are okay.  Too sweet.

The wedding party.  So beautiful and handsome.

Our new Daughter-in-love Rachel.  Such a beautiful bride.

My sons have grown up.  Love them.

Can't say much more, except we are blessed and love our new entire family.  Frank and Rachel, we love you and are thrilled for you. 

TTFN

Sue

Busy, Busy, Busy

We have a wedding coming up this weekend.  Our oldest son, Frank, is marrying a wonderful young lady named Rachel.  We are thrilled to have Rachel joining our family.  I was speaking to a lady the other day whose son had recently gotten married.  We were talking about the women they have chosen and she said "sounds like you are gaining a daughter-in-love just like I did."  I thought "daughter-in-love" instead of daughter-in-law is perfect and so appropriate for Rachel. 

We have been busy, busy, busy, getting ready for our trip to Portland this week for the wedding, and trying to get in some gardening at Edgar's Acres.  It's been so cold and wet, however, that it's been a struggle to get a move on the garden.  We did plant the potatoes however. 

This is an aged compost pile that we spread out and planted the potatoes in.  I keep reading how much potatoes love growing in compost so there they are.  We will see.  I love the experimentation of gardening, the idea of trying new ideas, and seeing what works and what doesn't. 

The asparagus are starting to show their little heads.  We haven't picked any yet.  They are hesitating on coming out of their nice warm beds and are waiting for sun and warmer weather (can't blame them). 

In the meantime I am knitting doggie blankets and such.  So far I have done 14 doggie blankets and will continue with them until it is warm enough to get outside and garden.  It is seriously just too, too cold and wet to get outside and do anything.  I also have had a @*(^*&^ time with my allergies this year.  The weather has been perfect for the proliferation of moss and man, it's driving me and my nose crazy. 

(Picture from the Seattle Times)

These pretty little spores open up and send the pollen everywhere.  This is usually a February problem, but the February weather has continued into late April.  I will admit that the green everywhere is beautiful, it looks like green velvet.  However, enough is enough. 

Meanwhile, our Operation Holiday Stockings serial knitter, Susan M. is still at it.  Here's March.

Well, I'm off to take care of the last minute details I need to get done before we head off for the nuptials.  I am hoping we have sun on Saturday for the wedding.  I am hoping everyone has sun on Saturday.  This has been a nasty winter/spring.

Hopefully it will warm enough for all of us to start wearing something besides scarves and hand knit socks.  Something like these crochet flip flops.  Again, another amazingly clever crocheter.

The pattern for these flip flops is located here.  I love those who know how to think out of the box. 

TTFN

Sue

Showers, Gardens and Blankies

The past three weeks have been busy and full of good times.  We've planted onions, attended Rachel's bridal shower, and I've been knitting doggie blankets.  Throughout all of this fun activity I had to get sick and put up with seasonal allergies.  Fun times.

During the weekend of the last full moon, we planted six types of onions, Walla Walla, Cobra, Red Torpedo, Leeks, Chippolini, and Red Zeppelen.  Yum. 

Last weekend, Susan, Pat and I got on a train to Portland to attend Rachel's bridal shower.  What a great time.  Of course, the minute I stepped off of the train I started sneezing.  It wasn't too bad, lots of facial tissue and Benedryl and I managed.  Friday, after we had dinner, we caught up with Frank at the Rouge Brewery to "test" beers.  We ended up trying 12 different types.  The most interesting was the fig beer.  The worse was the "dark & scary."  My personal favorite was the chocolate beer.  Not sure what Pat's personal favorite was.

The next day Susan and I spent the morning at the Lancome Counter in Nordstrom getting all dolled up and had a blast.  Thanks to Sandie, et al. for helping me deal with old skin and an updated look. We caught up with Pat, and then on to the Bridal Shower. 

We had such a good time and it was such a pleasure to meet Rachel's mom Leslea, and the rest of her family and friends. 

Doesn't Leslea look just like Rachel?  Beautiful Ladies.

What a lovely group of women.



On date night this past week we celebrated the marriage of two wonderful friends, Cindy & Steve.  What a great couple they are and what dear friends.  Congratulations you two.

In the meantime, I am still collecting stockings for Operation Holiday Stockings.  This beautiful group is from Betty from the knitting guild.  Love the colors.

I also collected some leftover and cast off yarn for the doggie blankets.  This should keep be in yarn for a while anyway.

I've done ten so far and continue to do fancy knitting here.  As you can see, the blankets continue to receive doggie approval.

These blankets continue to be fun to do.  I'm not sure why, but mindless knitting seems to be my thing right now and I'm not fighting it.  Maybe my brain is just tired and looking forward to the sabbatical planned for this summer. 

Well, on to plant potatoes in the sunshine.

TTFN

Sue

Spring is in the Air

Here is a link to a pattern for those of you who don't have slugs and want slugs.  This little slug is too cute, and isn't hungry.  This little slug is the type of slugs we want.  They don't EAT off the baby leaves of new plants.  This little slug also isn't slimy, which is a big plus.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could turn all of our spring slugs into something like these above?  Oh well. 

The weather is beginning to feel like Spring, and my seed potatoes are on their way for planting. 

Enjoy the full moon this weekend.  Get your spring peas planted.

TTFN

Sue

Ducks and Such

Meet Richard the duck.  Yesterday we went up to Safeway to grab a few items.  When I was getting out of the car I thought I heard a duck making tiny quacking sounds.  I looked in the car nex to us, and there was a duck sitting on the front passenger seat.

This charming lady rolled a shopping cart next to the car so I was able to ask her about the duck.  He is a pet duck (she has three) and his name is Richard.  When I asked if I could see Richard closer she was thrilled.  She put him on the trunk of the car so I could pet and visit with Richard.

I am sorry to say I didn't get this lady's name, she was delightful and had fun telling me about Richard and her other two ducks.  I was so surprised how soft Richard's feathers were, and darn if he wasn't talking back to me when I was talking to him.  I swear he was smiling at me too.  I was totally charmed by him.

This weekend has been a lovely respite for me after a crappy week at work.  Edgar's Acres is therapeutic and I need to make a point to get over here more often than once a month.

We had a window of opportunity yesterday so I mowed the lawn for the first time this year (which tells me winter is on it's way out), and did some clean up.  We decided to barbeque since it was so nice out.  David set up the grill and was getting ready to add the briquettes when he remembered the chimney for starting the grill was in Bellevue, and no we didn't have any lighter fluid.  Well, thank goodness we drink Yuban ...

It was very slow, and in the end we ended up with kindling and a couple of small logs to really get the show on the road.

In the meantime, Susan M. and Diana continue to knit stockings for Operation Holiday Stockings.  These two women are amazing. 

Diana sent another 42 stockings.  She has had a LOT of snow, and knitting helps to pass the time when your stuck in the house.

Susan has completed February and sent me this picture. 

Thank you ladies!!!!!

My charity knitting for 2011 (in addition to the OHS stockings I'll knit this summer) are doggie blankets.  So far I've knit five, and am on number six.  If anyone has yarn you want to pass on I'll take it.  Any amount will work.  I just need it to be washable and dryable.  I've pretty much used up all of my "unwanted" yarn. 

As a refresher, here's Louie showing off the blanket for a pound puppy.

These blankies are a nice knitting project because I really don't need to think when knitting them.  We have been so busy at work and I end up with a burned out brain at the end of the day.  This type of project is perfect for reawaking the brain and bringing things back into proper perspective.  Makes good TV knitting two.  Gotta love the garter stitch. 

Well, it's time to get lunch going so will sign off for now.  Remember when you are saying your prayers to include everyone in Japan.  Their lives will never be the same, and the daily struggle for them right now is so overwhelming.

TTFN

Sue