Visit from Jennie and Sophie

Just a few pictures I wanted to put on before I go to Sequim. It is fun having Jennie and Sophie here. Debbie, Kent, Sophie and I all went shopping and Sophie was so good. She even slept in the basket on Kent's coat while we were at Fryes. I did it--I finally bought a laptop. I am having a great time with it!

Mini Vacation

Donna and Laif will be taking me to Sequim Friday evening after dinner. I will be
staying until the 15th.
Saturday is the Sequim Irrigation Festival. It is the oldest continuing festival in Washington State. It runs from May 1st through May 9th. There are supposed to be events for the whole family. Donna will be broadcasting on the radio for it on Saturday.
I hope Sequim lives up to its reputation and that we have sunshine while I am there.

Blue Moon

I just ran into a little trivia about the moon. The pictures above are pictures of the moon that I took December 5, 2009. It was a clear, cold night. The pictures are not a blue moon.

What is a blue moon?

A blue moon, the second full moon in the same month, is nothing rare--it happens about once every two and a half years. But a second blue moon in one year only happens about 3 or 4 times per century. The last time this occurred was on March 31, 1999.

Trip to Vancouver

Temple in Vancouver, B.C. Kitchen in Condo that we spent the night in

Front room with a fireplace

Picture of the condos.

Thursday Diane and I went to Vancouver to go to the open house of the new Temple. We took my car. We had just beautiful weather. It was sunny all day Thursday. The Temple is absolutely beautiful. Diane has a time-share and we spent the night in this beautiful condo. It is a two bedroom and also has a Murphy bed in the front room. Diane let me have the master bedroom.

This trip was a good excuse for me to buy a new toy. Diane came over to get me about 10am on Thursday and she says "where's your GPS?" I said it was in Portland because Debbie needed it to find where she was having her meeting. Diane wanted a GPS to find the condo because she had never been to that one. So, guess what? We stopped at Best Buy on our way and I bought a new Garmin. I am so happy I did. The Garmin has been upgraded. It has the Bluetooth built into it so I now have a hands free phone right on the Garmin. I can hear really well on it. Debbie said she could barely hear us when we talked to her. I don't know why. I have talked to Donna twice and she said she can hear me really clear. I was just coming back from Weight Watchers this morning when Donna called again. You just push the answer button. I notice it takes several rings before we are connected. Also there is a button next to the answer button that says "Ignore" in case you don't want to answer. I gave Debbie my other GPS and my Bluetooth that goes over the ear. I bought that Bluetooth while we were at Merrill Gardens and I used it a lot there between pushing Clayton in the wheelchair and driving. I forgot to mention another feature the Garmin has. It has call waiting. All you have to do is answer the second call and the first call is automatically put on hold and you can switch back and forth talking to both parties.

Debbie, Kent and Erik went to Vancouver Friday afternoon. Today is the last day of the Open house.

I am glad I was able to see the Temple. The chandeliers and light fixtures are just breathtaking. As with all Temples, you could feel the spirit and the peace so strong.

I believe this is the first trip that just Diane and I had together.

My New Quilt

At last my quilt is finished! We didn't have time to finish it at the Quilting Retreat so Donna took it home to finish up. Donna spent a lot of time finishing it up at her house. Donna brought it over Sunday night. I did the final stitching around the edge. It seemed like miles around the quilt. My finger and thumb on my right hand were sore and my right arm ached but I soon forgot all that when I got the quilt on the bed and saw how nice it looked.

Thank you Donna, Diane and Debbie for all the work you did on my quilt.

Richard was over today so thanks to you, Richard, for helping me get it positioned right on my bed.

Donna and Laif spent Sunday night here. Donna didn't have to hurry home on Monday so we spent the day together. We had a good time running around.

One more flower story

This morning while I was looking at my flower pots I realized that I had one more large empty pot and it looked so lonesome. I went to the store and picked out some Yellow Daisies.
I didn't know until Debbie told me yesterday that the deer ate some of her pretty White flowers that she and Kent planted by the garage. Debbie has netting over them now.
Now I have to wonder about the plants on the patio and deer. I think the plants are high enough off the ground but what I wonder is how much trouble the deer would go through to reach my plants.
If the deer spot my flowers will they climb the stairs on the deck to reach them? Or in fact, can deer climb steps? I guess only time will tell.
It is a beautiful day again so I am about to sit out in my deck chair and enjoy the sun and the flowers.
Have a great weekend everyone.

More flowers for the back deck

I went shopping for some more plants this morning. It is so nice to have them to look at. I bought a huge planter with Geraniums. Also in the front container I put two Minature Rose Bushes. One is yellow and one is red. We will see how they do. I have never had the greatest luck with Geraniums. The ones you buy here are for this growing zone and should be easy to grow. We will see. While I was at it, I bought a plant to put on top of my refrigerator.

Now that I have all these plants to take care of I will have to leave them for two weeks. Donna wants me to spend two weeks with her. She and Laif will pick me up somewhere near April 30th or the first of May. All this means I have to leave my comfort zone. I do enjoy being with Donna but I enjoy where I am too. I guess it is good for me to have these mini vacations.

Getting Nearer Summer

I was looking through my pictures from our trip to the Midwest last Summer. I still think that this part of the United States is so beautiful. I was so impressed by how you can see for miles in any direction. We had such great weather on that trip. In Seattle everyone was suffering with a heat wave. I do kind of regret not having seen that unusual hot weather in Seattle. I had never seen it over 100 degrees in our area.

I think it was Monday that it rained all morning and it was so dreary out. I was using my "Happy Light" so I could have my own Sunshine.

Every morning I check KOMO on line for the weather trivia question. I definitely knew the answer to the one this morning. The question was "What is the cause of Winter Blues?" The answer was lack of Sunshine. After the answer it tells you a little more. An estimated 35 million Americans suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder or "SAD", which results from decreased exposure to Sunlight during the Winter months. Treatment for these cases of the "Winter Blues" include Light Therapy and trips to the Sun.

Of course I knew about this disorder but did not realize so many people suffered from that. Was I counted in with the estimated 35 million or should I add one more?

It was so gorgeous today that I went for a nice walk. I always seem to get enough exercise for my age one way or another. I also did two loads of laundry today which entails trips up and down the stairs. It is more dangerous to do my laundry than to walk outside because while carrying my clothes, I have to keep a constant eye on Charlie who is determined to keep twisting around my legs. I think it is a little game he likes to play.

A nice Spring Day

Debbie bought some plants for the deck outside my room. She planted Nasturtium seeds in one pot. In the other two pots there is a Tomato plant and a Green Pepper plant. It will be fun taking care of them. I will probably find some other plants I like and I will get a small watering can too. It is always cheerful to have plants to look at. Debbie and Kent planting flowers by the garage.
Team effort!

This is Charlie. He is watching all the outdoor fun but since he is not allowed outside, he has to get his fresh air through the screen door.

Today is sunny with a cool breeze but you can certainly tell that it is Spring. All around us plants are starting to bloom and trees and bushes all have on their Spring colors. Hurrah for Spring and all life that is springing forth.

Waiting for warm weather

This picture I took shortly after we moved to Merrill Gardens. This is one of the most brilliant Sunrises I ever saw.

A warm day in June while we were still living in the house. What a cool April we have had so far. I know Summer is coming and I can hardly wait.

The reason I started this post was not because of the weather but because I got to thinking about all the wonderful things we have at our fingertips everyday.

The Internet is such a great tool. We did not finish my quilt that we were making at the Quilting Retreat so Donna has it at her house to finish up. I decided I wanted a bed skirt to go on my bed so it will have a more finished look. (When I was young, we called them "Dust Ruffles"). I had been thinking about getting one for the quilt I have now but I am glad I didn't because it probably would be the wrong color for my new quilt.

I had been looking at bedding on JC Penney on line and I had pretty much narrowed it down to two. I wanted Donna to help me decide. Through the miracle of Internet, Donna was able to look at the bed skirts on her computer in Sequim and I could look at them here in Renton. With the wonderful technology that we have, even though we were miles apart, it was just like sitting side by side on a couch looking at the "Penney's Catalog".

I have been shopping on line for years now once I figured out how easy it was. I have spent more money on orders to Penney's than anywhere else. Almost all the clothes I have are from Penney's. Everything comes so fast and Penney's has good quality. I continually receive all the sales catalogs to tempt me to buy more.

The other great miracle in this time, is the cell phone. You can call people no matter where they are. I can still remember the days when it was impossible to call anyone when you had car trouble and you would just have to sit and wait for someone to come by to help you or when someone was late coming home you just had to sit and worry.

This is a great time to live in. Yes, I know there are many evil influences around us but we can choose the good and enjoy our stay here.

Our Quiet Easter

We had a very quiet Easter since there were no little ones. It doesn't quite seem like Easter without little ones running around and looking for eggs. Maybe next year will be different, who knows. Anyway Scott and Kyle came and it looked like everyone was having a good time and that is what counts. Family is everything. It is so amazing when I think about it how many children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren I have lived to see. The Lord has really blessed me in family and in health.

Debbie cooked a wonderful Easter dinner for us. We all enjoyed the fruits of her labor as you can see from the last two pictures.

We were able to watch General Conference at home too.