June News

There has been lots happening around here lately.... Here's the recap!

Blueberry transplants! We dug up these HUGE blueberry plants from my Grandparent's yard. 

Here are Steve and Dad getting ready to unload one of these 2 bushes for my parents. 

We are hoping that the one bush will be happy making it's new home here. 

Maybe I should call it a blueberry tree instead.

There she is! She is doing well so far. I've trimmed her up a bit and kept her watered well. 

This is THE WORST time to transplant, I know. 

Circumstances as they were, we had to harvest now or never. 

Don't know if any of the berries will be worth anything this year, but I hope that the plant will thrive in the future and want to produce the yummy berries for us that it has in the past :)

It's 4th of July around here already. 

In the past it is always a one day or maximum 1 week event. I just never decorate until the day of, and then it's done. 

This year I have determined to change that. 

So the flags are out people!

Stay tune for more Independence Day later in the post. 

A spot of color on the back patio. 

The herb garden. 

We've got lavendar, basil, chives, rosemary, thyme, parsley, cilantro, green onions and carrots

all growing in this cute little garden. 

Another spot of color in the back yard. 

Aren't these cute containers?

I love them. 

They (the other one is in the herb garden picture and is growing nasturtiums) are Happy Birthday to me presents from my parents. 

I adore them. 

My parents and the containers :)

The garden this year. Peas, romaine, brussel sprouts, beans.

The other garden bed with zucchini, broccoli, tomatoes and corn. 

And there is Bailey, grazing. 

She loves to graze. 

The roses. 

I'd love a 3rd plant in this grouping. 

Two just isn't right, it needs three. 

I think pink.

Here's the mantle all gussied up. 

The little birdie with her star spangled arch.

And the twigs got some sparkle too. 

I used a bunch of my scrap fabric to make some bunting (I think that is what the crafty people on Pinterest call it). 

I love making something festive from scraps. 

And FREE is my FAVORITE price.

Steve was pleased to be reminded of where he lived when he discovered this sign after work. 

Just in case he forgets his house number or what country he lives in. 

I like to help him out with little reminders. 

Well that is what is happening on the home front. 

And on the work front...

 

Christine is saying goodbye to heart surgery

 

and hello to pediatric surgery

It was time for a change! 

I'll be starting July 29th :)

Happy beginning of summer to you all!

Metolius Magic

Our first day was Sunday. It was busy when we arrived at Camp Sherman. We shared a sandwich down by the river. Since we were too early to check in, we drove down the road to see the fish.

 Here we are watching the fish swim. 

Lots of fish. We stayed quite a while being mesmerized by all different sizes of fish. 

Brought back memories of visiting when I was a child.

 Blissful peace and quiet. Down by the river on the grounds of the resort we stayed at.

 This pup was wore out. A fun car ride, new places, evening walks. 

Sweet pea needed a rest.

 Tried to salvage this out of focus picture. Didn't work so well. 

 This portrait turned out better.

Bailey girl was ready for bed.

She was over this family walk and picture session.

 The next morning we took off in search of the head of the Metolius River.

 There she is. The beginnings of the purty river. 

 Of course another photo op.

That tripod turned out to be a great purchase. 

Being here on Sunday- Tuesday turned out to be a great decision. 

Pretty much every where we went we were the only people there. 

 The battery died (both of them) on the camera the day before at the fish hatchery. 

So we went back to get these pics of my favorite part of the river. 

SOOOOOO beautiful. 

 We watched for quite a while as this little one struggled to swim up stream where mom and dad were. 

Little goose finally made it to the calm spot. 

Hey goose, hey goose!

Does anyone recognize that movie line?

Still one of my favorites.

These two nights away were SO refreshing and rejuvenating. 

Hello 30. 

This was a great way to start this next decade.

Welcome Spring

 March was full of life. Just day to day life. Working. Taking a photo editing class. Chores. Projects. 

And watching the Springtime flowers pop up out of the ground.

 Finally got my mantle finished for Spring. I'm fairly certain at this point I'll just change the sign to say Summer later. Not quite sure how else to decorate for Summer. 

No mantle decoration change for a change :)

 We roto-tilled the garden in an effort to get our veges planted earlier this year.

It was actually dry enough this year. 

We've never planted this early before, but all the packets say now is the time, so here's to our best effort to extend the growing season and eat backyard organic Spring, Summer AND Winter!

Most everything is out in the garden already:
Carrots, green onions, cilantro, lettuce, peas, beans, brussel sprouts, broccoli

Here are our inside starts for corn and tomatoes.

Happily bathing in the sun.

I was sad when the Cherry Blossoms disappeared. 

I'm sad every year when that happens. 

So I drew myself some that would last a little longer.

Hannah turned 1!

It took her a while, but she eventually dug into that cupcake. 

Playing with frosting is fun too :)

And the Harley is back in working order. 

Steve put in 8 hours of labor and the hog's ready for the road!

Come on sunny weather:)

Love Day

 This month has been going by incredibly fast! I think all the new hobbies are partly to blame. There is no excuse to be bored around this house anymore.

The mantle in the family room has become my creative outlet. This is what I created for this month. I whipped out the sewing machine to make us a LOVE insert for the frame and if you look really closely, I also sewed some cute little love birds to put in the birdcage. 

I just simply cruise around Pinterest being inspired by others' superior creativity and then figure out how to make it work in our home.

 Our photography class is still in session. We are both really enjoying it and I find it enjoyable to have a live in mentor that picks up all the technical stuff MUCH faster than I do. 

Anyhow, here are more of our homework submissions.

Christine's HW 4

Play with white balance on your camera

Christine's HW 5

Take a photo at 18mm and 36mm and see how much you have to move in order to frame the same picture in both shots.

Steve's HW 4

Steve's HW 5

 Next up, Happy Love Day!

The idea of fighting of hundreds of others at a restaurant on Valentines Day has never appealed to me. 

Instead, we whipped out the china (why have it if you never eat off it?) and indulged in some salmon for dinner. YUM.

 

 Then, I baked. What?

Pineapple upside down cake. I did a very good job, it turned out fabulous.

 I was just expecting a card, so I was surprised to come home to find flowers with a perfectly sappy and wonderful card. There were instructions in the card to find the rest of my gift in the freezer. Intrigued, I followed the directions to find this gem. 

Be still this lactose intolerant girl's heart!

I miss ice cream. 

I've been going through the stages of grief for a while about realizing I am lactose intolerant. 

I think I was in denial for 3 years. 

Anger for about 4 months.

Bargaining for about 1 year.

Depression probably during the same year as bargaining.

Now I am reaching acceptance and exploring all the non dairy substitutes that are out there.

I've been very good at avoiding dairy lately, but man. Who wants to live a life without ice cream?

Now I don't have to!

Seriously, don't knock this until you try it. 

The man knows the way to my heart.

Steve got a card and a little bit of chocolate treat. I just failed to take a picture of it.

Hope you felt the love today from all those in your life!

Learning New Things

Well, Steve sure has expensive hobbies he gets me into.

Photography first.

 We are turning in our third homework assignment in class tonight. We were told to play with aperture. 

Christine's HW 3

I took a bazillion pictures this week because nothing was striking my fancy as creative enough. 

So I took inspiration from a guy I saw on youtube explaing aperature. He used a mug and a string of lights. 

I used candles sitting on glasses of varied heights which were all on a chair and close up was a tea cup sitting on a pile of books on top of another chair. 

Steve's HW 3

I wanted Steve to take a picture of a pile of snotty tissues with a blurred box of kleenex in the background so it could represent how he spent his whole weekend. It would also explain a less than interesting/impressive picture. 

He ignored my suggestion. 

Instead he took this picture, rearranging my froggy and turtle from the back patio in the yard.

On another note, we picked up another hobby. I'm kind of thinking we should sell the TV. It really only gets watched for the news (depressing), Gold Mining in Alaska (drives me crazy) and DOWNTON ABBEY (I LOVE THIS SHOW!)

ok side note on Downton Abbey. I was behind by two seasons before I got into it. Then I couldn't stop watching the episodes on Netflix and FLEW through both seasons. Sunday night's episode left me in a puddle of my own tears. I think of these people as my friends. And for that reason alone we will keep the TV because I will not abandon my friends on Sunday nights. 

If you aren't a Downton fan, become one. 

Then they can be your friends too. 

Ok, back to your regularly scheduled blog post. 

We bought a piano. 

I have wanted to learn for a long time. 

Steve tells me he's always wanted to learn some musical instrument.
I am not quite sure HOW it happened, but one minute we weren't even thinking of having a piano, 

and the next, it's getting delivered. 

I think Steve probably got A's on persuasive speaking/writing assignments in school.

 

Anyhow, there she sits. 

Grandma Faye and Mom came over to rearrange furniture so it would work in our tiny home. 

 If fills the space more than I thought it would, but it isn't too bad. 

I think I will enjoy it. I sat and "played" for 3 hours right after it was delivered. I purchased what I refer to as my "goal piece" this past weekend to play. I was able to pick out the first 2 lines of it so far. I have a LOOOOOONG way to go, but it's at least the beginning of something pretty to play. 

This is what it should sound like 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p_ebSseEq8 

In my considering if we should really take the plunge on the piano, Steve told me

"If you aren't learning something new, you might as well be dead."

So between learning photography and piano, I guess we are very much alive!

 Lots of new skills being acquired around here.

Just don't expect us to be good at either of them yet. 

:)