A few pretty things

Our rosebud azalea is so bright you can see it from the street - but the bush is less than knee high and about 2 1/2 feet across. 













The pretty blue sky last weekend as seen thorough the leaves of the coral bark maple and hemlock boughs

These are for Michelle - because I know she loves Japanese Maples

Each little maple is different as people are different. 

 I had to drive to Seattle today for a class - right down town - 90 miles - took three hours to get there!  I'm so grateful for my 12 minute commute. 

One of The Shepherd's bonsai azaleas.















Looking at these little trees reminds me of the epiphinal moment I had last week when I opened up a piece of Dove dark chocolate.  The message on the foil wrapper said "Take care of yourself"  - how can you argue with that. 

Mancat Monday Report

Hello Everybody and EveryKitty!

George here with a report of the comings and goings on the farm.

Can you see me?  I think I can almost hide right in plain sight - especially from Mummy -

Eeek - what is that up in the sky - Oh, sorry - it's the sun - We don't see it very often, and I forget what it looks like.












So The Shepherd had the V.E.T. out for the Vishus Sheeps yesterday.  They needed shots and (gasp) two of the little boy sheeps got (ahem) "fixed"! 

They didn't fix this one though.  His name is Mac - although Mummy calls him Makks - I heard her say that he is the apple of The Shepherd's eye - I don't think he looks like an apple, do you?  But his mamma doesn't look like she should be messed with, huh? 




Dr. Amber has been out to see our Vishus Sheepes  many times. The Shepherd was pleased because she said that the health of all of his Vishus Sheeps looked very good. 

I heard Mummy say that she is a very nice lady and really knows a LOT about sheeps and goats (whatever that is).  I hid from Dr. Amber, because she is a V.E.T. and you just can't trust those people, you know...

She left after Mummy and The Shepherd showed her a bunch of sheeps furs and yarns.

Then I could come out and relax into the sun puddles on the front porch.

Check out the little movie that Mummy made while the V.E.T. was looking at the sheep.  She said the sheeps kept stepping on her feet while they were running around.  See!  I told you they were vishus.  Enjoy your holiday and have a great day!  XOX  George

Happy Sunday!

 

Remembering those who served to keep us free.  

A moment of Silence -

 A valiant kitty friend has gone to the Rainbow Bridge.  Perfectly Parker is a blog about a family in O-Hi-O that I have read for several years.  Parker was a sweet loving kitty who always had fun things to say.  She lost her sight due to cancer, but never lost her "vision" -

When one of our kitty friends make the trip to the bridge it brings back the memories of those who have come before, and makes my heart ache and my eyes leak. 

 

May you Rest in Peace, Parker

We call your laser eyes

Hey cat, we call your laser eyes and raise you eight...

Where's George?

 A not infrequent question around our house - Where's George?  Sort of in the "Where's Waldoian" sense - he and his sister have the most camo of any kitties I've ever had - you can be looking right at them, and not see them, or if they are sound asleep, one might not hear The Shepherd calling around the greenhouse before he shuts it up for the night. 

Such was last evening - Actually I hadn't seen him since he "breezed" through late the night before - the nice weather we've been having leads to lots of naps outside - under bushes and trees or in trees -

So that's where I went looking last night after I had been calling for about 1/2 hour and he hadn't appeared.  Outside to look in the tall grass by the creek, under bushes and shrubs in the yard.

They like to play up on the roof - gets them closer to the birdies, I guess?  They nimbly run up the river birch until they get to the limb that looks down on the roof and jump down - then go racing back and forth - I'm always afraid that they will think they can go running after a bird and oops, the bird flew away - and cats don't have wings...

So, I called and I whistled.  It was raining - I pull my hood up so my hair doesn't get all wet.  Gracie and Bella watch from the kitchen window - "What the heck is she doing out there?" you can see the question on their faces.  

The Shepherd was leaving to go to a meeting, so he wasn't in a looky-loo frame of mind. 

Well, even thought The Shepherd said he didn't think  that George was in the greenhouse, I thought I'd better check.

Being homemade, it has a big clunky heavy door - I peered through the cracks between the door and the frame and didn't see anything, but, just in case, I heaved and pushed and pulled and finally got the door open.

Who do you think came trotting out. ...

"Oh, Hai Mummy - thank you for releasing me from that prison cell.   Purr, purr, purr."

Sigh of relief.

So I sat under the eves of the barn in one of my favorite chairs and we had a snuggle fest.  I had the cordless phone in my pocket, "just in case", so I called my sister and we had a nice visit. 

It was raining, but it wasn't really that cold, especially since I had on a long sleeved fleece pull-over, a fleece vest, a rain coat and a cat - I sat and pretended that I was watching the eclipse - "hmm - is it getting darker? No, that's because it's getting late. I guess I'll go in and fix my dinner."   George seemed to concur so off we went. 

Caturday Report

 Hello everybody and everykitty!  Bella here with LAST week's Caturday report (what can I say, the help around here is abominable!)

Here I am, inspecting the things that came home from church last Sunday.  These are the mats that The Shepherd took to put his bonsai on.

But first I have to tell you about the Sheep & Goat day at the local Farm Co-op store.

The week before, early on Saturday morning, The Shepherd and Mummy loaded one of the vishus sheep and her screaming brat into the white trailer and took them away - turns out it was only for a few hours - they were the stars of the Sheep and Goat day at Ferndale Cenex.  Mummy took her spinning wheel and sat inside and entertained the peoples who came there to buy food for their animals. The Shepherd was impressed at how well behaved Donna and little Makks were with all the people around them. 

Last week, like most Sundays, The Shepherd and Mummy went to church.  The Shepherd is choir director and because it was Mother's Day, he was in charge of the service, and the choir sang a bunch of songs for the people. 

This is a picture of the garden that The Shepherd made at the church.  I think it looks very snoop worthy, but Blaine, where they go to church is a too long car ride away for me and Mummy would be afraid that I might get lost!

These are the bonsai trees that The Shepherd took for decoration of the front of the church.  He was mad at Mummy because he says this picture is "of the back" of the plants - she thought it looked nice anyhow. 

The little town of Blaine where they go to church is right on the border between the US and Canada.  The white building in the center of the picture is called The Peace Arch and it sits in the middle of a very beautiful park that is right on the border. 

Mummy was in charge of "snacks" after church last week.  She made these things called "wraps" - meats and veggies wrapped up in flour tortillas -

First she put a layer of a mix of cream cheese and caesar salad dressing on the tortilla.  Then she put down a handful of spinach leaves.  Then she put about a half a cup of what she called Greek Salsa-a yummy mix of chopped artichoke hearts, sliced black olives, sliced green olives (pimento stuffed), diced celery, diced English cucumber, shredded carrot finely chopped green onions, red bell pepper, Feta Cheese,  garlic, Cavender’s  Greek seasoning, some Pampered Chef Greek Seasoning Rub, a couple of shakes of Pamp. Chef Italian seasoning and some pepper, some Best Foods Mayonnaise (you probably could use plain yogurt. But she didn’t have any) AND a couple of tablespoons of white wine vinegar.  Rolled it all up and wrapped it up in some waxed paper (that's why the wraps in the picture look kind of "shiny" - she forgot to take the waxed paper off before she took the picture - Meow out loud, Mummy)  One of the ladies at church told her it was the best thing she'd ever tasted.  Mummy was pleased because she thought they were very tasty too.  She also had Ham Salad wraps and Chicken Caesar salad wraps, egg salad, homemade Roasted Red pepper hummus, bagels, some chips and a bowl of sliced apples and oranges.  Whew, that was a lot of food!  Plus they had a chocolate cake to celebrate the college graduation of their choir accompanist!  She was so tired she wanted to come home and take a nap, but she had to go to town to do the family laundry.  It was a very busy day! 

So that's last week's Caturday report.  Maybe there will be time to do another one tomorrow -  Hope you all have a good Sunday!  XOX  Bella

The Stuff I'm Made Of...

 

 On March 17, 1903, the Steamer North Star stopped at Bonita Landing in Douglas County, on the east side of the Columbia River.  James and Emma Reed, and their 4 daughters, Zella (3), Ida (9), Georgia (11) & Henrietta (14) disembarked.  James had sold his profitable farm in Troy Grove Illinois and moved his family and all their possessions to Washington State, what must have seemed like the ends of the earth, under the promise of good farmland, a wagon and a team of horses.  

When they got there, it was so muddy, they had to camp at the landing for a couple of weeks until the road was dry enough for the team to make it up to the top of the hill where their property was.  It was so windy that their tent only lasted a few days and James proceeded to excavate and build a log bunker, buried half underground to protect them from the elements.  The bunker, its logs chinked with mud and the remains of their canvas tent served as their home for several years, furnished only with a stove, table and bunk beds.  

Times were tough and sometimes, the family ate cornmeal mush 3 meals a day.  James finally was able to get a cow, and get a garden planted and he traveled about the countryside selling vegetables and cream.  

This story, from the book “Pioneer in Pigtails” tells of the hard life of the pioneer families that came to North Central Washington around the turn of the 20th century. The oldest daughter listed above, Henrietta was my paternal grandmother.  Several years later, Henrietta, or as her family called her, Dot, would meet and marry another homesteader, Pete Thomsen.  They built their home just east of Mud Springs, a home which, because my grandpa was afraid of spiders, had something unusual for the times, an indoor toilet.  That is the home where my father and his brother and sister were born and where my three sisters and I had full reign while we were growing up, because our house was only a couple hundred feet away.  

So, that’s the “stuff” I’m made of.  My grandma had passed by the time the Pioneer in Pigtails book was written. She definitely was hardier stock than I am... I never thought to ask her about the trip and her early days, but after reading the story, I realized why they always had a cellar full of jars of home canned food and why her garden, which she tended daily,  – even in to her 60’s and 70’s - was almost a quarter of an acre (although toward the end of her gardening days, it was more flowers than food - it also explained why she would cook one chicken when our family of 6 came to dinner).  

To say I'm grateful for all the advancements of the 20th century would be an understatement. 

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms, grandmoms, furkid moms and "dad" moms out there! 

Who needs a lightsaber?

Who needs a lightsaber when you have laser eyes?

Star Wars 35th anniversary coming up on May 25.

Who'd a thought??   

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Well, that was FUN!

Saturday night we went to The Blue Horse Gallery & Cafe for a CD release concert for one of our favorite Bands - a group based in the Seattle area called Pearl Django,

We have been following these guys for about five years, ever since we first heard them at our friend's 20th anniversary party.  It's been about a year since we've seen them though.

The band  has been together for about 18 years - there have been a few personnel changes, but the music is still the best - 

Neither one of us had been in this Gallery for many years, especially not since they'd added the cafe.  It was a really comfortable place and I'm sure we'll be going back again.  

Here's our friends Curtis & Felicity, that 20 year "Anniversary Couple" - today - they will have been married 25 years in August.

Thanks for introducing us to the band you guys!






Pearl Django doing a few licks to warm up before the concert starts