Sooner Than I Thought - Thank You Snow Day!

I'm back much sooner than I would have anticipated...thanks to the snow storm that blew through and froze the Pacific Northwest over yesterday. My drive home from work was pretty dicey - thankfully the husband met me at work so I could follow him home. There are some hills on my route home that when they are covered in ice can be scary. Although I'd anticipated a 2-hour late start today because it was announced yesterday, I was a little suprised when it turned into a full snow day. So even though I've got a bit of anxiety about missing a day and having to re-plan, but on the other hand, I needed the chance to get caught up on housework and get ready to have my mom and brother visit for Thanksgiving. The husband and the pets were also a big part of my day, I loved having the extra bit of unexpected quality time with them....Bambino had a blast playing with us and chasing his frisbee in the snow. This was the first experience with snow for the Buff Orpington hens that are new to the flock this year - they seemed pretty disturbed by the cold white stuff that was on the ground and every surface. I gave them lots of extra scratch corn - I've heard that it raises their body temperatures. It was wonderful to get a bit of time outside...even though it was cold, the sky was perfectly blue and sunny. I took a ton of pictures, I love how the snow makes everything look fresh and new...I tend to go nuts with pictures on snow days! So here's a whole lot of pictures with not a lot of post...Enjoy!

Dinner Beach Picnic

You may recall how I shared that on my birthday last month, the husband and I went for a nice walk on the beach. It was that night that I made a summer's resolution to spend more time there. It's only about a ten minute drive from where we live and it's beautiful. It was especially beautiful this past Friday evening. We went there to enjoy a picnic dinner. We had about half a mile of beach all to ourselves. It wasn't too cold or too windy, in fact wonder of wonders it may have even been a bit on the warm side...not something we can usually say. Bambino was along for the trip and had a blast chasing his ball all over the beach - and eventually into the water - this was the first time he's ever swam at the beach. It was also fun to use my new (to me) picnic basket and picnic quilt...finds from a local vintage shop. We all had a good time, there will be more picnics at the beach to come this summer.

Golden Chain, My Mother's Day Tree

Yesterday was another rainy, soggy day, so I mostly stayed inside and did online work. But, I did spend a bit of time outside. The husband and I went to a local nursery (from where I'd received a gift certificate for Mother's Day), to pick out a Golden Chain tree. (By the way, I love it that Bam snuck into the corner of the picture below!)I've been wanting one of these lovely trees for the past few years, especially during this time of year when I see them blooming all around my area. It took me a bit to figure out the name of this lovely tree, that's one of the reasons why I initially received a gift certificate instead of the tree itself. Sending the husband and s-son to a nursery in search of "that yellow blossomed tree I love", isn't too effective. There's a gal that works at this particular nursery, Mary. Mary is a wealth of information about gardening. I've asked her many questions over the years and she's always offered accurate and wise advice. Many of my plants have her to thank for their survival. Well, she let me know that my Golden Chain had recently been a bare root tree, so the best route to avoid putting my lovely new tree through transplant shock, would be for us to burry the tree in the ground in it's pot and then dig it up again in the fall and put it in the ground without the pot once it had had the chance to develop a stronger root system. That's exactly what I did/am going to do. Though you can't see it from the angle of these pictures, the tree is lined up so I can enjoy it from my kitchen window, the window in our breakfast nook, and even from the deck outside our master bedroom. It adds gorgeous color to our yard, I love it already!

An Afternoon in the Greenhouse and Garden

To put it lightly, last week was stressful. I took on a new responsibility which involved changing my routine and pretty much giving up any extra freetime. It was a tough thing for me to admit that I'd bitten off more than I could chew, and that even though I'd made a commitment, some re-evaluating was necessary. Fortunately things worked out alright and I was able to adjust. I am hoping this week will be smoother. Because Sunday was the first full day that I had in a while to relax, I decided to take full advantage. The husband and I made a full breakfast and ate slowly. There were also many hours spent outside. So many things have been happening out in the garden - even without me being there. I got to munch on my first piece of asparagus for the season. It was of course eaten straight from the ground as I stood in the garden and was absolutely delicious. If only there had been more - but it looks like I'll get a bit more this year. It is supposed to be in the 3rd year that asparagus really begins to take off -so next year will [hopefully] be the year of asparagus harvest! The trees in the orchard are also changing rapidly right now. In the past month or so, they've gone from being completely bare to being covered in leaves and blossoms now. One of my recent "projects" with my full grown chickens has been training them to feed on the grass that grows under the trees in the orchard. When I let them out to free range, I throw a bit of corn scratch in the grass under various trees. They are pretty good about mowing it down to nothing. There are a couple of benefits to having little avian landscapers - when they take the grass down, that means we don't have to go in and cut it down with the motorized week wacker. Also, ants and other pests live in the grass below the trees and the lower that grass is, the more likely those bugs are to stay off our trees and potential fruit. This reduces the need to use any kind of insecticidal spray...and in my opinion, the fewer sprays, the better. Speaking of chickens...I have been slowly integrating my ten new Buff Orpington chicks with my 4 full grown Americauan hens. They are now all living and sleeping together, but for the first few days I had the little ones outside, I kept them in a netted off area of their own - reason being that they were still small enough to squeeze through the openings in our wire fencing. They've grown a bit too big for that since then, but they still look tiny next to my four full grown hens. I wish the hens would be nicer, but I guess nature is what it is and they'll work it out.They are slowly working out the pecking order, so far nothing too horrible has happened. But I do worry about my little girls getting hurt. On Sunday I also spent several hours in my new greenhouse getting seeds started. I went heavy on the tomatoes and basil, and I'm excited to try eggplant for the first time.. It was pretty relaxing, I enjoyed every minute. So did both Figaro and Bambino. Fig was pretty interested in the chickens, the little ones are now big enough that he isn't a threat to them. Bambino ran around until he was pretty tuckered out...he ended up taking a nap in the Pod next to me while I worked on getting seeds planted.

He looked so cozy and peaceful lying there on the pea gravel...I couldn't help myself with the pictures!

Be back soon!

A Year Ago Today...

It was a year ago today that our 44th President took office. I remember turning the television in my then-classroom to CNN to watch the innagural ceremony. I also remember all of the uncertainty I was feeling, on a personal level there was uncertainty about my future employment and the survival of the husband's business in a dead economy. On a broader level, I remember feeling like I was living in a society that had been altered by war and poverty. In the days that have made up the last year, I have been able to get closer to having a balance that I was missing in my life a year ago. I thought I'd reflect just a bit...it's a beautiful and sunny (but cold!) January day outside, the kind of day that gives you hope for spring. I recently saw the first of my tulips beginning to peak out of the ground. In the next few weeks/months, the husband's business related work will be amping up again. Changes seem to be on life's horizon right now, so I suppose I'm in the mood to process all that's gone in in the last year.

My marriage has gained strength in the struggles the husband and I have had in the last year. We have both seen the other hit lows and still be able to reach deep to find strength. We have found ourselves going through things that have made us vulnerable to each other at a new level. It has been a good year for us to learn together to live on less and to find joy in what we already have. The pressures that we have at times been under have transformed into an ingenuity that probably would not have blossomed otherwise. I can clearly see how this whole "marriage thing" is dynamic, the relationship changes as time passes, maybe that's something I didn't fully realize before.

I have been able to take several steps to being content and happy in my professional life. This is an ongoing process, but I am happier in my job situation than I have been since I moved up to WA two and a half year ago. 2010 is a year for me to continue to seek out balance between my professional life and my personal life. It is the year for me to go to the next level.

There are numerous outlets for my creative side. I don't feel as "pent up" as I used to. I have made space in my home and in my schedule to be able to put into physical shape the ideas I have in my head.

Physically, I am in better shape than I was a year ago. Though I will forever be on that journey, I have been much more active since the end of the summer. Since the beginning of December, I have been sticking to my goal of exercising 5-6 times a week. Zumba classes and the ellyptical we have here at home are my current modes, but as the weather improves I want to get back to my outdoor walks and jogs, Bambino will be happy about that, he likes to come along.

As far as food, the husband and I have come close to elliminating from our diets any meats that come from feel lots that could be contaminated. There is a wonderful meat store minutes from where we live that sells only organic, grass-fed beef and pork, and organic free-range chicken. People literally drive from hours away to buy their meat at this store which is so convenient for us. Though we've been through some difficulties with our chickens (a story for another day), our hens are continuing to lay plenty of eggs to meet our needs. We had a successful harvest from our vegetable garden last summer and have plans to expand it further this coming season. We are also eating mostly foods made from whole ingredients, there are still some processed foods in our pantry and refrigerator, but because of the husband's migraines, we haven't bought foods containing preservatives or nitrates since we were married.

I can't imagine having the challenges and responsibilities that President Obama faces each day, and even though he is not without his flaws, I am still proud to call him my leader. I also fully support the efforts of the First Lady to improve the physical and nutritional health of our nation's children, it's a huge undertaking, but I think that her leadership by example is fantastic.

I think it will be interesting to see what the next 365 days hold, for the society around us as well as personally. I have to finish this post with the true but cheesy *Yes, We Can!*

Fig: Bird Watchin'

Because it's been a few weeks since I shared a gratuitous Figaro picture...
***
Happy Thursday to you!

Dreary and Dark with a Little Bloom

Today was one of those classic dark, dreary, soggy Pacific Northwest kinds of days. The weather outside didn't help that I was already feeling kind of tired, or that I had to get up early for a substitute job. There's something wrong with arriving to work when it is still dark outside...at least there was still a bit of daylight when I got home this afternoon. Enough to let Bam out of his kennel so the two of us could go visit the chickens, throw them some corn scratch and check for eggs. One piece of the "bright side" was going into my greenhouse for a moment, it's where I've been storing the corn scratch. Rain was coming down in a sprinkle and I stopped for a little while to listen to the sound of the drops on the greenhouse roof. It is a happy sound for me. I spent every moment I could out in that greenhouse during the first long grey winter and spring I spent in the Pacific Northwest. That year even locals who'd been here for decades were talking about the never ending rain and grey skies, it was a particularly gloomy winter and spring. The greenhouse was my retreat, my happy place during that time. That sound of rain drops was part of what was then a new life for me, a life that I was trying to find my place in. Today that sound made me think of how far I've come in a few short years. I feel grateful for the fact that I've gone from feeling like an outsider that doesn't belong, an "extra" in my husband's life, to feeling like a true local, someone that belongs here, someone that loves living here, someone who has made dear friends in this area.

So where are the sunshine and crisp days of last week? When I came into the house from my garden, I continued looking for the "bright side" and found a bit more of it in my kitchen window. The hyacinths bulbs that found their way from my Christmas stocking to this bulb vase have begun to bloom. I thought I remembered forcing some hyacinth bulbs about a year ago but wasn't sure until I went back through some of my first blog posts and found this one.

It's interesting to me to see how my blogging "style" has evolved over this past *almost* year. I hadn't done much pleasure writing for many years before I started this blog. Journaling had been an on-again-off-again habit a long time ago, but it never really felt completely like me - at least not enough to keep me writing for any extended period of time. So this blog has been a good way for me to grow as a writer (not than I fancy myself to truly be "a writer", just someone who likes to put down a few words on a semi-daily basis...) It has felt a bit awkward at times to try to find my writing voice, sometimes when I try to put thoughts into written words it just doesn't come out right. But, it has become easier with each post.

I mentioned a celebratory give-away back before New Year's to mark my 200th post, and even though I'm now somewhere close to the 220's, I haven't forgotton...the idea is still rolling around in my brain. I'm not promising when, but soon I'll make something happen there.

Hope your week is off to a good start, Happy Monday!

Spring Sneak Peek

In the last day or so everytime I glance at a weather report it seems as though it is all news about the extreme snow blizzards, wind and cold happening in the midwest and on the east coast. For the last day or so we in western WA have been lucky enough to have a break from our usual winter rain and have had some pretty nice weather.

I think this tends to happen in January on the west coast. As far back as college I have memories of it being very pretty for a week or two during the month of January. In college I lived in San Luis Obispo, which is about a 15 minute drive from Pismo Beach and Avila Beach. I remember right after the winter quarter had begun I would sometimes head to the beach in January to do homework and study while sitting in the sun and enjoying the sand and sound of waves. I would even wear shorts and flip flops with a light hooded sweatshirt. Washington hasn't quite had the warmer temperatures, but it has had the sunshine. I have to remind myself on these sunny winter days to enjoy and appreciate being able to go outside. In the last few years we seem to have hit a pattern of spending a few scattered days outside in the winter when it gets pretty like this. Usually the days are spent on some kind of outside project. I always find these work days to be so refreshing. I know that there is still several more months of grey overcast skies and seemingly non-stop rain, but getting outside on the sunny days makes it more manageable. The husband and I took advantage of just such a day yesterday by spending a good chunk of time on a few outside projects. One such project was to start laying a new pathway from our driveway to Bambino's kennel. We already had the flagstones and the gravel is pretty inexpensive if bought by the yard (or half yard in this case). This area can get kind of soggy at times, so a path will be nice for keeping our shoes dry and mud free. Eventually grass will grow up through the gravel between the flagstones.Another item I was able to cross off the never ending to-do list was clearing the dead plant stocks and vines from the flower bed on the side of our house. This area is beautiful once spring hits, lots of blooms. The cosmos I planted a few years ago are actually just starting to peak out of the ground. I love those first little bits of spring!

The last project that I thought I'd tell you about was one that was entirely done by the husband. My only part in removing a large and deeply rooted stump in our vegetable garden was standing by for a bit and snapping some pictures. It was actually pretty amazing to watch him use the excavator on his tractor to dig this thing out of the ground. It was in the area near where our chickens were until just recently. I say this because another project we accomplished yesterday was moving our poultry to a new and improved area of their own in the garden. I plan to share more about this in a day or so...it deserves a post of it's own.

Well, whether it's freezing where you're at or if you're lucky enough to be getting a little bit of nice(ish) weather, I do hope your week is ending well!

Cat on the Roof, Cat in the Window

Ever since I began working in my upstairs office at home, Figaro has been doing this thing. You see, it used to be that it wasn't uncommon for him to be on the roof to greet us when we came home. From time to time he has also climbed over the roof to our back upstairs deck, he then meows quite loudly and waits at the french doors that lead into our bedroom until we let him in...and let him in we do, so I suppose we've kind of trained him in a way for his newest trick.So, I think one day when he was on the roof he heard my voice through the window to my office as I was having an online meeting. He realized that I was in there and decided that I should let him in. His meowing got louder and louder as he paced back and forth on the roof in front of my window, all the while I was trying to give a student an algebra lesson, the student heard the meows and thought it was funny when I explained, let's just say it was distracting. So because the husband happened to be hanging out in my office, probably working on his laptop and sharing the wireless signal with me, he decided to let Fig in through the window. That was after he'd gone outside and tried unsuccessfully to [quietly] call Figaro down from the roof. The only thing is, now Figaro kind of expects that he'll be let in, no matter how cold it is outside or rather, especially when it is cold outside, and no matter if I am in the middle of a meeting or a phone call. I suppose that's just the way cats are, rather than being trained, they are the ones who do the training. All I can think is, oh my, we've created a bit of a monster. At least he's a sweet and cuddly monster.

This weekend has been a fun one so far...we went to a family Christmas party during the day, and then over to a neighbors house for a cocktail party. It was a rainy and foggy day, leading into a cozy night. Right now I'm cuddled up on the couch with a blanket and my Bam and Fig, the husband is down in Seattle hanging out with an out-of-town friend at the opening of another friend's lounge, and the s-son is tucked into bed for the night. Tomorrow is going to be full of more friends and fun holiday celebrating. I hope your weekend is full of warmth, no matter how cold it may be outside!

Naps

Cold weather means napping......lots of napping. And really, having your arm hugged by your sleeping kitty is just sweet.
I love it when they are sleeping so hard that they twitch and make little dreaming noises.

This is the scene in front of the fireplace lately...with the cold wind and rain outside, it's all cozy time inside. I was blog hopping recently, and came across Jessica of Turkey Cookie, there was a post that particularly struck me. I'll let you go there yourself to read it...but I'll say that it has made me think. Since starting to blog I have found myself trying to intentionally find beauty, a good thing...but I have also found myself looking around with a critical eye thinking that what I was looking at may not be "pretty" enough for a blog post. The fact of the matter is that I sometimes live with piles on my floor or stacks of things I need to go through. It is not always tidy and picture pretty around here. The details of our lives sometimes resemble loose threads more than they resemble a tidy hem...I'm trying to be okay with that. When I first took this picture my thought was "How sweet Fig looks with his tail in a little curl lying in front of the fire", my second thought was "The dumbell weights that we keep by the ellyptical machine are on the floor and the AV chord is strung across the floor, those things aren't pretty". But the reality is that I live in a house where there are dumbell weights on the floor right now and an AV chord that needs to be tucked properly is still out in the open. There is beauty in that reality...maybe I've just been reading too many blogs that show what seem to be perfect houses that are lived in by perfectly neat and organized people. I like neat and organized, I really do, but I also like being able to enjoy life. I'm going to try hem things in on both sides, I can make an effort to be more organized and elliminate some of the messiness, and I can also decide to be okay with things not being perfect and still celebrate the beauty around me.

He Does This Very Well...

Figaro's life: Another day, another nap. He's taken to sleeping in the white chair in my office. I guess it's okay, the cover is removeable/washable. Besides, he's so darn cute, how could I say no? I apologize for the gratuitous kitty cat post, I'm obviously a mother in love!