Friday, October 5, 2007

clouds

did you know there is a cloud appreciation society?

i should definitely be a member



they quote John Ruskin with this:


It is a strange thing how little in general people know about the sky.

It is the part of all creation in which nature has done more for the sake of pleasing man, more, for the sole and evident purpose of talking to him and teaching him, than in any other of her works, and it is just the part in which we least attend to her. There are not many of her other works in which some more material or essential purpose than the mere pleasing of man is not answered by every part of their organization; but every essential purpose of the sky might, as far as we know, be answered, if once in three days, or thereabouts, a great, ugly black rain cloud were brought up over the blue, and everything well watered, and so all left blue again till next time, with perhaps a film of morning and evening mist for dew. And instead of this, there is not a moment of any day of our lives, when nature is not producing scene after scene, picture after picture, glory after glory, and working still upon such exquisite and constant principles of the most perfect beauty, that it is quite certain it is all done for us, and intended for our perpetual pleasure. And every man, wherever placed, however far from other sources of interest or of beauty, has this doing for him constantly… the sky is for all; bright as it is, it is not “too bright, nor good, for human nature’s daily food,” it is fitted in all its functions for the perpetual comfort and exalting of the heart, for the soothing it and purifying it from its dross and dust. Sometimes gentle, sometimes capricious, sometimes awful, never the same for two moments together; almost human in its passions, almost spiritual in its tenderness, almost divine in its infinity, it is surely meant for the chief teacher of what is immortal in us, as it is the chief minister of chastisement or of blessing to what is mortal. And yet we never attend to it, we never make it a subject of thought.....


i do

i "talk" or pray looking to the clouds...i don't know why,

but it has always made me feel more like i'm being heard.





i "look" at clouds a lot.....and sometimes i think i see an "answer"


in the New English Bible , i looked up CLOUDS


it read


"a symbol of God's presence"



i love blue sky...


but i have always loved a cloudy day


it's comforting to me.....

morning rituals

finally......i can open the door and step outside and feel the
end of summer's harshness and the beginning of fall's promise.

I start my day here......


and yesterday......was rewarded with a gentle rain.

refreshing.


Friday, September 14, 2007

mini walker

meet the next generation walker for the 3-day!
already in training!

Monday, September 3, 2007

a little piece of heaven on earth

our sighting of Mt. Ranier from the air should have been
an indication of the beauty we were about to behold!





shnauzer crossing inn.....absolutely everything
a b&b should be !






his face tells it all!
leaving for his two days and a night sailing



this is where they anchored for the evening.

echo bay off sucia island

our transportation over to friday harbor

from anacortes.

our first sighting of friday harbor




our hotel......friday harbor historic inn

and our view........

we rented mopeds the next day to tour the entire island!!!

it was a blast! we started at 9:45 a.m. and turned them in at 5:00 p.m.

I think it is the only way to see the island!





the pelindaba lavender farm. smelled soooo good and tasted

good too! we had chocolate lavender ice cream.....yummm


this was our privilege to see all along our ride!

these orcas at lime kiln point were only about 50 yards away...

just amazing!





we ate lunch at roche harbor which is on the other end of the island.

beautiful place....so many flowers and so green!


we rented bicycles and took the ferry over to lopez island for the day.

we were told that lopez was FLAT.....yeah, right...but we

found a beautiful beach and i found my very first piece of sea glass.

i'm sure that means something.....just not sure what...yet!


my dear husband went back to the beach on our way back to the ferry

and got me a bottle of beach sand......he was saving my rear....bicycle seats are not meant to sit on!

what an amazing vacation. i loved every second of it.

and i know we will go back!


Wednesday, August 22, 2007

san juan islands.........here we come!

We are finally leaving for

Bellingham, Washington and

the San Juan Islands Friday morning!



This will be our home away from home

friday-monday a.m.

Schnauzer Crossing Inn

Bellingham, Washington



Our room!

The "Queen Room"


Actually, this will be Bryan's home away from home

Saturday to Sunday evening.

The Misty Blue Yonder









You can see now, why he is soooo excited!

Then we will take the ferry over to


Friday Harbor on San Juan Island




We will be staying at the

Friday Harbor Historic Inn





Our view!



everyone take care

and we will
see you back after the 31st!

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Tag.........I'm it

I've been tagged by Jessamyn
So here goes.........
7 random bits of me
1. I love the smell of new books. If I am at the bookstore, you may see me sniffing the inside pages.
2. I used to love eating raw peeled potatoes and mayonnaise and onion sandwiches growing up.
3. I played Gretel in our third grade play of "Hansel and Gretel".
4. I used to save my allowance for two weeks, and then go to the horse stables near home and rent "Pinky" and ride all day in the desert across from our house.
5. My daughters convinced me to get a tattoo when I was in my late 40's.
6. I ran (jogged) two 10k's when we lived in Holbrook Arizona.
7. I have a phobia about frogs/toads! Any size, shape, color, type. If it's a frog or a toad, I don't want anything to do with it. Unless, of course, it's the play ones my grand babies play with! :)

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

A familiar place....


Feels like home! Even the rain every day!



Bryan loves being out in his canoe early

in the morning, when the steam is rising off the lake!




There was plenty of mud for playing in....

or for finding worms!

Brody eating a healthy lunch!



Journey enjoying sharing time with Papa



All nice and cozy watching our chef prepare dinner!

The ladies enjoying the view from the porch!


Our own "a river runs through it"


Bryan, Jessamyn and Asher enjoying the quiet beauty

Thanks Hawley Lake! We'll be back!