30th Anniversary In Victoria

This is a quick picture diary of our 30th anniversary. Kris found this lovely B&B in Victoria, on the hill, with a wonderful view of the city and the bay. We had the most charming little suite, and we spent 3 lovely days just playing. We went to Fort Rod Hill, one of the naval forts built around 1900, and explored the bunkers. We also visited Fisgard Lighthouse, built in 1860, the oldest on the western coast. We picnicked at the side of a road that had been built over an old spit--one one side of the road was the ocean and the other was a fresh water lake full of Canada geese and swans. We went to the BC Royal Museum, wandered around the city, and ate wonderful food. We went down to the quay in the evenings and listened to our favorite one man band--banjo, guitar, tambourine, drums, and harmonica. It's a little like watching Red Green singing if you can imagine that--very entertaining! And the ferry ride through the San Juan islands was beautiful. A wonderful trip with the cutest guy in the world.

Farewell, Frank

Here are my last shots (haha) of Frank. I am happy to announce that Frank has grown up and moved out. He was last seen one Thursday morning before my wonderful gardener Juan came to mow and blow for me. Frank had been checking out the side of the garden with the GATE over the last weeks and I think he was ready to move out into the world. So, hopefully he has met the really cute bunny that lives in my front yard bushes.

He sort of reminded us of our little Maggie, so it was nice to have a bunny hanging around for awhile. Now I am focusing on the birds that we feed--goldfinches, house finches, house sparrows, white crowned sparrows, wrens, a black phoebe, and a hummingbird that is very territorial and even chases butterflies out of her tree.

It's late, I'm off to shower and eat dessert.

Stained Glass Projects

I have never posted pix of our stained glass but here are the last couple pieces. The top piece is in my livingroom away up high in the wall. I love this little piece. I drew it out and then started breaking glass. Kris always helps me with the finish work. He solders the outer edges for me, which I haven't actually had to do in years. Not my favorite part, so great he'll do it for me.

The second piece is the only one I bought a pattern for. I like making my own patterns, and I had to add to this one, but I did start out with a Tiffany pattern that I purchased. I blew it up to size at Kinko's, but it was too narrow. So I cut the pattern down the middle, added plain paper, and started drawing until I had what I wanted. (Hope Louis isn't ready to slap me for messing with his pattern). This is between our bedroom and master bath on Whidbey.

Lastly is our really cool window at the front of the house, Jamie's bedroom, on Whidbey. I wanted to do an iris window--I love iris. I made the pattern, cut all the glass, wrapped each piece in copper foil at home. Then we wrapped each piece in bubble wrap and cardboard, and shipped it "up home". Kris had to build a work table for the construction of this. We laid it all out on top of it's pattern on his massive table, and soldered it all together. This guy is 7 feet long so just imagine getting it up the ladders. It was heavy and ungainly, and scary to install! It is pretty though, and looks great from the street as well.

Tiling Part Deux

Okay, here's what I don't know how to do-
1. Post a picture and then type a paragraph, then add another picture.
2. Get my orchids to bloom more than once.
3. Make gravy without lumps.
4. Go to bed without dessert (well, not really, but I'm not willing to try something so horrid).

Enough of that. Here is a shot of our very own bathroom with marble tile now completed. It is sort of the color of hot chocolate with a little white, brown, and a tiny bit of beigy-rose in it. It was nasty to lay. First poor super-Kris laid the backerboard which had to be cut to the right size, glued then screwed down (at which point Kris's arms were done for). Meanwhile I was in the garage laying the marble tiles out in the pattern we wanted so there would be a sort of flow going on. The tiles weighed 4-5 lbs each. After they were all laid out, we had to carry them up stairs and they were so heavy we could only carry 2 at a time.
And then it was 11p.m. So guess what we did? We decided to go for it and lay the tile. And we did it but we were so dang tired at 3a.m. when we finally got to bed. We are too old for this stuff. We keep forgetting we're not in our 20's anymore. The next day we grouted. And the next weekend we did Tyler's bathroom (you will notice there is no picture and no explanation as to why). It did turn out well, and we were so glad we had done our very hard bath first. So the tile is finished for now anyway.

So here's what I can do-
1. Help my very nice husband lay tile
2. Make chocolate chip cookies
3. Plant a garden in zones 5 and 9 (preferring zone 5)
4. Sing, but only in the car
5. Love my kids with my whole heart.
All way more important stuff than what I can't do

Tile, Tile Everywhere

So, finally I am posting pictures of the Great Tile Projects. I must admit it has taken me this long, not because I am too busy, but because I somehow hate downloading pix of the camera. And a story is so much more fun with a picture. So, I had decided last spring (when poor Kris was laying around watching HGTV during the chemo months) that we should tile the bathrooms when he felt better. He is always so great about my crazy or exhausting ideas, and so in September we decided we would tackle one bathroom a weekend and get all the bathrooms finished before my foot surgery. We started with the downstairs bathroom because it has a cement floor so no backerboard to deal with, and it's the smallest bathroom. We are really happy with how it turned out. You can see it almost finished here.

Things I've Been Thinking About

I spent 3 hours this morning gardening, which is about my favorite thing to do. Well, snuggling with Kris is better, and reading a good book or eating chocolate probably tie.
So I usually start thinking, which is not always a good thing, but today I just had lots of questions running through my head. Like:
*Why did my camellia die? Was it overwatered, or just too hot this summer?
*Why is the sun so much harsher than it used to be? It is, really.
*Do rabbits eat snails? I have always had snails in my yard, but I haven't seen any in ages. Is Frank eating them?
*Do rabbits eat snapdragons? (I'll be able to answer this soon.)
*Why does it sting when you get sweat in your eyes, but not tears? Higher salt content?
*Why am I only comfortable talking on the phone to about 6 people?
*And with that said, why can I talk on the phone to almost anyone at work?
*Why do I like watching really scary movies only when I am home alone all night?

Next post, I'll show pix of our newly completed tile projects. Kris is awesome! If you're doing a project, and he's involved, it turns out. Maybe I should have him cook more--

Thigh Stocks

Here is Miss Gracie modeling our new baby seat. It's called a bumbo or something like that, and is available in Shrek green, Barbie pink, grape, and blue, which for some reason I preferred. Kind of a cool seat because even an infant can sit in it and won't slide around. And as we discovered, Gracie likes sitting in it, but cannot get out! Steve has dubbed this wonderful invention the "thigh stocks".
And do you love the thighs? Gracie has the cutest legs. There is only one time it is cute to have chubby thighs in life, and you're seeing it right now.

St Francis of Assisi

I have finally gotten a shot of the bunny I mentioned in my last post. He and 2 doves are enjoying their evening repast (or silflay if you've read "Watership Down").
I have been calling him Frank, in honor of St. Francis of Assisi. I had two thoughts in mind here- first, St. Francis is the patron saint of animals, and he was celibate. I am hoping Frank wants to remain single like his namesake.

Brownies and Bunnies!

I made the most awesome brownies this weekend. Well, actually I made them twice because my guys inhaled the first pan in two days. I got the recipe from Jamie's brother & sister-in-law, Rick & Emily. You mix up your brownie batter and put half in the pan. Next, break up a giant size (is their any other size?) Symphony bar with toffee and almonds and put it all over the brownie batter. Spread part deux of the batter on top and bake. I gave this an extra 5 minutes since it's so thick. (Maybe don't give it the extra 5 minutes-then they'll just stay chewy).

I've made these a bunch of times, but something that tasted even better than usual, due to the extra baking time I think. The brownie and toffee chips seemed to carmelize at the edges of the pan which tasted awesome, but of course anything that has carmelized is hard. Tyler heard his retainer go "ping" when he bit in to his third brownie. He had knocked his retainer loose from the resin holding it to his tooth. We have dubbed these "retainer-breaker brownies". Good thing we know a cute guy who can fix this kind of thing, as well as almost anything else we can throw at him.

On to other news--our back yard is gorgeous right now. The flowers are blooming, my little cherry tomato is growing lots of fruit for us, the pond sounds lovely with it's little waterfall, The trees are lush and green, and the windchimes sing whenever a breeze dances through our garden. I have put up a bird feeder and after trying all different sorts of food, we have decided the the birds like Finch Supreme the best. We have beautiful little gold finches with bright yellow chests and black wings, house finches with sparrow brown wings and red faces and chests, robins, and doves, all visiting our feeder. It is so fun to watch them. Sometimes the doves will sit on the feeder and eat until I think they will be too heavy to fly away. And beneath the feeder, pecking around with the sparrows and doves looking for seed on the patio, is the cutest little bunny. He comes right up on the the patio and eats birdseed, hops on to the grass for a little greenery, then wanders around the planters nibbling on this and that. He seems to be stuck in our yard, and he seems to be making friends with all the birds. He'll even come and eat about six feet away from me. The cutest thing though, is to see he and the doves eating side by side.

Yard Art

Okay, here's the car in our front yard. We have to rebuild the wall and replace some plants but no one got hurt. There's a lovely little Japanese maple under the back wheels though. I guess it's an excuse to buy plants, right?

Here's Gracie in action. We are in love with her! And it's so fun buy be able to buy her clothes! We got to babysit last Saturday nite so her mom and dad could go on a date.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRIS!!! (Aka-Robbi or Dad-dad-daddio)

Okay, here goes. I am so much more comfortable in front of a sewing machine, or a pile of dirt with a shovel in one hand and a plant in the other. Let's see if I can post something.

I'm a week late but I wanted to start with the cutest guy in the world's birthday. It was a typical day for us over the last couple years--good stuff, great stuff, not so good stuff, but it's all okay if no one has cancer.

And that began his birthday--we went to the oncologist and Kris's latest tests show he wins! Cancer free! Can a day start better than that? On the way home we got a call from our neighbor On Whidbey Island--a 4 year old accidentally put his mom's car into drive (where was the mom?) and drove through our stone wall and the car was now stuck in our front garden. 4 year old was not hurt, missed our house by 3', so everything is okay. Was the 4 year old a boy? Yep.

I can't believe--I added a picture! Okay, so the rest of the day was lovely and included eating Scottie's BBQ pulled pork sandwiches (actually I think Kris had brisket). If you haven't eaten there, it's the best pulled pork. Jamie and I used to plan road trips to Cambria when we wanted pulled pork, and now we can just drive up to Collins and Glassell and eat killer food.

Jamie, Steve, and Gracie came to visit for the weekend which made for a really great birthday weekend.