June Love

So happy.

Rainy Day Exploring

 

We have been exploring on this rainy weekend.  My husband participated in a bike "ride" (it was not a race!) in Leavenworth, WA, so we joined in for one big family road and camping trip.  The rain mainly came overnight, so it didn't bother us in our nearly-new family camping tent.  My husband had a whopping six flat tires on the 85-mile ride, and his riding partner was besought with a gear shifter malfunction and chain issues.  So we were pretty amused when hubby won the grand prize in the raffle drawing:  a toilet paper roll dispenser made of bike parts (quick release changer, no less).  

While they were riding bikes, the rest of us were exploring Wenatchee State Park.  Four little boys, one very cold lake.  A long, flat beach perfect for swimming--if you could take the freezing temperatures.  The boys couldn't resist, even as their lips turned blue.  Luckily, when they got cold, there was lots of shoreline exploring and fort building to be done.

This is definitely a spot we will have to adventure back to!

Well, It's Good for the Estate...

Cool and rainy the last few days.  I love it.  As one of my friends says, "it's good for the estate."  She meant her garden, but she's a sociologist so I think it was also a commentary on American suburbia.  You never can tell with those sociologists.  

It is good for the estate, though.  My gardens are soaking it all in, and it postpones the dusty, dry season and prolongs the green, flowery season.  June rains.  We weeded the tiny flower bed around the choke-cherry tree in front, and the peonies rewarded us by blooming this year.  The rain popped them open.  

Last night I fell asleep listening to the rain through my open window.  If my husband would let me, I'd sleep with the windows wide open every night.  Sleeping with the windows open makes me feel closer to nature, just as I do when tent camping.  But then again, sun and birds at 4 am do not wake me up, even though I'm a very light sleeper.  Hubby is also a light sleeper, but sun and birds do wake him up (although, ironically & annoyingly, the sound of a baby crying does not always wake him up).

Window open or not, I'm glad for the rain.  I hope the rest of summer passes much slower than these first few sunny, fun-filled weeks!

Backroads Road Trip

We just returned from an epic road trip.  1,500 miles in five days through some really remote (and some not so remote) country.  Redfish Lake and the Sawtooth Recreation Area, where have you been my whole life?  The area made me fall in love with Idaho all over again, Idaho's other shortcomings notwithstanding.

The trip to Park City (via Stanley and Redfish Lake) was just my son and I, my little buddy, as my husband had a work-related meeting.  He was such a great road trip buddy, I can't even begin to describe it.  Never, well, hardly ever, complained and so helpful.  The kind of road trip buddy that will roll down his window so you can take a picture of the sandhill crane.   And on the way home, a complete family with hubby included, and this time I didn't have to do the driving!  I could finish my bike yarn bomb for Moscow's Artwalk and knit a saddle blanket for "Neigh Neigh."  

Park City was nice, but I loved Stanley, ID, population 63.  The winters are pretty rough though.  Luckily we caught it in a mellow June, and not a typical June with snow squalls.  I didn't love Sun Valley and Ketchum.  All those fancy stores, but the yarn shop is hard to find.  I'd take Whitefish, MT any day.     

Here are some of the trip highlights:

We were stopped when a bad accident occurred on HW 55.  For two hours.  The man cub tried to recruit other kids to play soccer with him to pass the time!

Oh, Sawtooth Mountains!

Redfish Lake!

A Sandhill Crane!

"Mom, are the antelope those bouncy things?"

Headwaters of the Salmon River

Rockin' bike trail in Park City, UT

Top of the Wasatch Range overlooking Park City, UT

Bike trail in Sun Valley, ID

Returns at the Sawtooth Hatchery

These Long Days of Spring

The longest days of the year are really in spring, you know.   By the time the first day of summer is over, the days are already getting shorter.  These are the busy days, the flower-filled days, the can't we stay up just a bit longer days. We had a thundershower today, so rare on the Palouse, and this one even came with hail.  After watching it for twenty minutes, my husband and I both looked at each other and said, "I hope the plants are OK!"  They were, although the lettuce is looking a little rough.  Fortunately, my hubby doesn't like big chunks of lettuce leaf in his salad, so now it comes pre-chopped!  But rain makes the garden wet and grow-y, and I love walking in the garden after a storm.

Putting my son to bed, it seemed like nothing could be a better finale to the weekend than watching the last, soft light of the day fall across his cheek.  Love.