signs of life

I have been holding back. Not wanting to come right out on my blog and say it. The more I think about it, the more I wonder why. Everyone knows it. So here goes. This summer, the good 'ol Pacific Northwest has left a little to be desired in the weather department. I will jump on the "gorgeous place to live" bandwagon, but it has been a difficult one to ride this spring/summer. Last night I exclaimed to my husband in response to him telling me it was our friends' anniversary, "No, that is in July." Ooops. I guess I hadn't looked at my calendar lately.

Once I came to accept the fact that we have probably seen our summer, I decided it was time to focus on what the highlights have been. By far, the brightest highlight of this season has been our two baby hummingbirds we have been blessed to watch grow from little itty bitty babies to full fledging flying birdies. It is amazing. I am not sure what more glorious sign of spring life there could be than watching two baby birds take flight for the first time. I was like a proud mama giggling with glee as the they took off and flew towards our porch. These photos don't really do them justice. The next is about the size of a silver dollar and about 3/4 of an inch high. So tiny. Opportunities like this remind me of why we live where we live. Love it!

Janet Evanovich

I decided to take a break from non-fiction books. Actually I decided to take a break from any novel that I had to put too much thought in to read. I needed something light and airy that would make me laugh. I was able to find that in Janet Evanovich. Her novels are a little quirky, but definitely funny. Are they for everyone? Definitely not.

At this point I have read all of her Stephanie Plum series, all of her Full series as well as select others she has written. One of the difficulties with her novels I find is that if you haven't read previous ones in a series, it would be difficult to fall into later books as they all tie together. Even some of her separate series connect in some way or another. That said, they were the perfect solution for what I was looking for.

I am currently finishing up the last of her novels written with Charlotte Hughes in the Full series and am then moving back to some more advanced pieces of literary work. I may actually read Timothy Egan's The Worst Hard Time. Stay tuned to hear what I thought.

Gayle Blais Designs

My sister has an amazing artistic eye for design. Actually, she just has an artist everything. Most recently, however, we have been blessed to see her artistic abilities extend into designing childrens dresses. She has made dresses for my two girls over the years, taking paterns and adjusting them to the girls as well as to her liking. After doing this for a little while, she started to get a ton of ideas of her own and patterns just weren't cutting it. She began to draw up some of her own designs. Now, all of her designs are 100% hers and they are nothing short of AMAZING. One of her first models, other than her own lovely daughter, was my oldest. The dress she decided to make for Olyvia was perfect for her.

A Fabulous Day. A Fabulous Family.

Not long ago I had the great pleasure of spending some time with a beautiful family. We wandered around downtown Poulsbo admiring the creatures along the shore as well as the magnificent boats docked in the harbor. A true pleasure to see a family so full of life and love.

Elya

Fun! That is what I had spending time with Elya to take her senior photos. I first met Elya in 2006. I was going to be leading a group of high school students on a mission trip to Puerto Rico and she was a team member. My first impressions were of her quiet nature and respect for herself and others. The more I have gotten to know her I have seen her outstanding moral character, courageous attitude, fun loving spirit and impeccable kindness. My girls have grown to love her and I know when she goes off to college this next fall, she will be missed by my entire family. Elya, I know you will do magnificent. Thank you for letting me capture a little bit of you in these photos.

dicey's song by cynthia voigt

After reading this much talked about and honored book, I must say I wasn't as impressed as I expected to be. I admit that I read it without having first read Homecoming not realizing that this novel picks up where that one ended. As I began the book there were a lot of questions I had that weren't answered until I did a little research into the content of Homecoming.

That said, the book was a pleasant read. Not overly complicated which was refreshing. Although character development was light, I have a feeling some of that was done in the previous book. The story picks up with 6th grader Dicey and her 3 younger siblings as they are taken in by their grandmother after having been abandoned by their mother in the previous book. Dicey spends the majority of the summer caring for her siblings and upon connecting with their grandmother now has a new role to learn.

** A heartwarming & uplifting summer afternoon read.

spring is here - new school style

Yay! We may not be able to tell by the weather we are having, but spring is officially here. This last weekend my husband and I ignored the blustery rainy weather and got out in the yard to get some stuff done. And get stuff done we did. All the pots are planted, vegetable seeds are started, the fence for the old garden space is removed and ready for recycling and the concrete pavers are moved and have reestablished themselves as a nice little patio in front of the chicken coop. Other than the small little mishap with the tractor tire, we did rather well this weekend, and I am excited to get the garden built next weekend. I will be sure to share some photos of said garden once there is something to take a picture of.

I probably cannot bring this post to a close without mentioning the little mishap with the tractor and what we learned from it. Hmmm? What did I learn? I learned that old school is for the birds. Our tractor is by far the best purchase we have made and it continues to pay for itself over and over and over. However, one sharp turn with a bucket full of concrete pavers and the result, a flat tire. :( Although a little bummed, I jumped into problem solving mode and said lets just call and see if any place is open to get it fixed. We were of course 10 minutes too late for that option. I didn't let that deflate my mood and was quick to suggest moving the pavers old school style with the wheel barrow. I tell ya, after one trip moving about 10 one foot square pavers approximately 100 yards, I am so new school. The remaining 44 pavers were moved by way of Dodge truck.

Happy spring every one!