These Are the Days

Just some shots from around the house and garden this week.  The weather cooled down to be just about perfect this weekend.  We spent the afternoon hiking at Phillip's Farm Park, followed by ice cream and a ride in a horse drawn carriage at the McConnell Mansion Ice Cream Social downtown.  An old-fashioned Moscow Sunday afternoon.  

I said a while back that May and June are the most beautiful months on the Palouse.  July isn't bad either! 

Hot Summer Nights

We are in the hot days of summer here.  After my stint in D.C. last week though, it doesn't seem too bad!  I forgot what 90/90 was really like (90 degree heat in 90% humidity).  Last summer was so jolly and lazy; this summer has been fun, hectic, and with an undercurrent of change.  Change can be a good thing, but it is also, well, a bit unsettling.  We're taking the time to count our blessings:  our family, our little house and gardens, our friends, our town.  Reaching for santosha--contentment.  Finding sharp points of decision making.  But still reaching.   

My Love/Hate Relationship with Technology

This weekend I received my first smart phone.  I'm struggling to get used to the dual bonging of my tablet and phone registering a work-related email.  One of those bongs has got to go!  To make up for all this technology, we had a "no drive" day.  No need for the car!  The bikes can get us to the pool just fine, thank you, and isn't a day spent harvesting goodies from your garden about all you need for entertainment?  We think so! 

On the other hand, I am sort of falling in love with Instagram.  I know I'm a late comer to the ap; I usually am, but I'm having fun with yet another way to take pictures of my gardens!

Happy and Tired

The irony of summer...we wait and wait for it to get here and we fill our days so full of fun and adventure and trips and busyness that we exhaust ourselves.  What a fun filled Independence Day weekend we had!  Parades and bike races and friends and fireworks!  I was so tired last night, and just wanted drift off to sleep and forget that today would be Monday.  Sadly, it was not to be.  The sound of thunder woke up the little one and we all had a sleepless night. 

Even still, I treasured this weekend.  It is so, so achingly lovely on the Palouse right now.  The spring wheat looks like velvet and the winter wheat is fading to pure sunlight.  Hay is being baled and put up for the long, cold winter ahead.  We were so stressed in June, though we tried to hide it with all our trips, as we waited to see if my husband would have a job in the coming months.  Thankfully, he does, and we shall stay here a bit longer, it seems.

Oh Palouse, when I think it is time to leave you, you find a way to keep me here a bit longer.  How is it that you do this to me, year after year?  Every passing year, I love you more.  You don't have the hardwoods and the wetness of my childhood home, but you have the sweet scent of pine and grass.  You are the place I am raising my baby, his happy home.  My happy home! 

May the Fourth Be with You

We made the traditional July 4th pilgrimage to the Johnson, WA parade.  You never know what you might come across...

Han Solo, giving new meaning to "this thing is a piece of junk!"  Ok, well maybe not actually, but it is made of a trash can!

Han Solo, frozen in carbonite, accompanied by the green skinned dance hall girl.

Whoever came up with this AT-AT idea deserves a medal!

Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?!?

Being a Jedi Master is hard work, and sometimes you need to take a little cat-nap when being toted around by Jedi's in training.

In addition to what I felt was the most creative group in the parade, there was the usual mix of classic cars and restored tractors.  Some were quite impressive!  Altogether, I felt it was one of the better Johnson parades I'd seen in a while!