Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

A field of tulips at the Tulip Town Bulb Farm.

Yesterday was a great day all the way around.  The weather was perfect.  Just the right day to head up to the Skagit Valley to see what this Tulip Festival stuff was all about.  It's in and around Mount Vernon and there's a lot to see.

This annual festival is visited by thousands of people from all over the globe.  You can read more about it at the official Tulip Festival website.

The tulip fields are unbelievable...acres and acres of color.  Some of these fields belong to Roosengaarde  which is one of the largest growers of bulbs in the world.   We visited the Tulip Town exhibit instead  because it's the smaller of the two but their festival display fields are excellent as you can see by the photograph at the top of this post.  I just love how they layered the colors in the field.

The green patch is simply a patch that hasn't bloomed, yet.  Makes perfect sense since the Festival in a month long event.   If all the flowers burst forth at the same time by the end of the month there would be nothing left!

Here are a few of my favorite photos.

We wandered around Tulip Town's exhibits...you can buy all sorts of art including the annual Official Tulip Festival Poster, gifts, books, kites, etc.

Their display gardens include their World Peace Garden which is a nice idea, I think.  

It was wonderful day.  As we were driving back to my sister's house we noticed that the lines of cars were becoming bumper to bumper.  She told me that every year the traffic is just awful on the weekends...with people driving up from the south and down from Canada and all of the international travelers it's not the best time to be a Skagit Valley resident!

A word to the wise would be that if you're going to visit this wonderful festival you'd be lots happier and able to see lots more if  you plan your trip for the middle of the week!

I'm just saying...

House on a Hill

Although this isn't a very good photograph, it could possibly be the only shot of the Cascade Mountains that I'll be able to get so am posting it, just in case.  This is the view we had this morning as the sun rose.  It really loses in the translation.  You can barely see the mountain range but it's better than nothing!  (As I'm typing this the mountains have already disappeared into the haze.)

This is the fireplace wall in the living room area.  You can see a bit of grass out to the right side.  There's a koi pond just below that window...no koi as yet but that's what it'll be.  They need to figure out a way to keep the dogs from fishing,  however.

This is the other side of that room.  This is where the views are of the mountains and the water and the hills of homes.  It's really nice.  You can see a little bit of Imo sleeping on the floor in front of the green chair.

This is the kitchen end of the great room.  Those sliding doors open to reveal a pantry, storage for dishes, etc., a coffee bar and the microwave and a food steamer that looks like the microwave.  Have not used that because I don't know how.  Might have to experiment as long as we're here.

We're taking the dogs for their morning walk and then we're headed up to the Skagit Valley to see all the tulip fields.  It's their annual Tulip Festival and I think I remember my brother-in-law telling me that this year it's an international event of some sort.  I'll find out for sure.  Fingers crossed that I get some decent pictures.

A Room with a View

We're getting our sea legs at the first of two housesitting assignments this month.  This one is in the city of Seattle and we're "in charge" of two Siberian Huskies named Imo and Dakota.

We've been sitting these two beautiful hounds for the past five years or so.  They lived in the beach community of Manhattan Beach, California until this year and we LOVED going there...a couple of blocks from the ocean and perfect weather.  They've moved to Seattle (dang it) and since we were going to be in the area, anyway, they asked if we could stay for a few days.  We were happy to oblige.  (Just have to find someone else in sunny California who needs two wacky but responsible housesitters.)

Their new house is so new that it's still under construction!  But it's completed enough to be occupied.  It's the most contemporary house I've ever seen, I think...concrete walls and floors, exposed iron support beams, huge expanses of glass.  It sounds cold and industrial, I know, but it's really not.

It's perched on the side of a hill with sweeping views of the mountains and the water.   I can't bring myself to walk to the very edge of the roof deck...that's how high up it is!  It's cloudy, today so I can't share any mountain views.  But the second that the clouds lift I'll be up there to try to capture the beauty of the Cascade Mountains.  The top photo is a shot of the water view to the west of this area.  The other two are pictures I took this morning when we were walking the dogs.

It's a fascinating city, architecturally speaking.   Big old mansions and uber contemporary abodes mingled in with cottages and bungalows that were built when Seattle was young.   What I really like, though, is that MOST of the renovations and MOST of the new homes that are being built blend beautifully.  Small but classy.  Organic in nature.  They are keeping the faith, so to speak.  That's a good thing.

Well, I'm off to study a Seattle visitors' guide.  More later.

I am trying to write this blog post as we’re hurtling across the flat, endless North Dakota plains on Amtrak’s Empire Builder.  There is no internet service available (and we don’t have broadband…yet).  I am at the mercy of unsecured internet services en route.  So I’m typing this in Word and will copy and paste it into a post when we reach civilization.
 

I say I am trying to write because, although we are in our tiny little private room, the guy across the way (in his tiny little private room) has chosen to chat with us.   He’s a nice enough guy…just very chatty.  Jack is being polite while I am trying to ignore him (politely).

In any case, we boarded the train last night about 10:30 pm.  Train 7, Car 730, Room 4.  Actually,calling it a room is a stretch…cubicle is a stretch especially at night when the it morphs into a "bedroom".

We got to room 4…the door was open and the bunks were all made up.  We each had a small bag plus my toiletries bag, a purse and the computer bag.  There were perhaps six inches between the doorway and the bottom bunk.   And now that I look at the photo I think that's a stretch.  So there we were in the tiny little hallway between the “rooms” with all of our paraphernalia and people behind us waiting to get past.   We quickly stuffed everything up on the top bunk, crammed ourselves onto the bottom bunk and shut the door.

Long story short…we eventually got ourselves settled in for the night…I will spare you the details of trying to undress and get into pajamas while on the top bunk.  First of all, it is impossible to sit up.  I repeat…impossible.  I will measure it tonight just to be fair but if there are 24 inches between the ceiling and the bed, I’ll eat my hat.

The good news is that sleeping is decent.  You can actually lie down (well, you HAVE to lie down…no other option).  That’s better than trying to get comfortable in a coach car, believe me.

During the day it’s a nice little space with two comfortable seats that face each other.   Not as much leg room as in the coach cars because there the seats only face one direction.  But still, it’s private and when the door closed, it’s quiet.

That's it for now...with luck it will be an uneventful trip and we'll arrive at our destination on schedule.  More to come...

Smiley Faces

This is a silly post but here goes, anyway...

I bought a birthday card some time ago that had a bunch of smiley faces.  You will notice that one of them is a Happy Birthday Smiley - the object of the card, of course.  The others are mildly interesting.  I kind of like the Lips-are-sealed Smiley the best.

What do you think?  Do you know of any others? 


:-)   happy smiley

 ;-)  winking smiley

~:-)  one-hair smiley

:-*   kiss smiley

:-{}  lipstick smiley

:-O surprised smiley

8-o  omigod! smiley

*<:-)  birthday smiley

;^)  smirking smiley

:-))  really happy smiley

{:-)  toupee smiley

o:-)  angel smiley

:-#   lips-are-sealed smiley

@:-)   turban smiley

:-D   laughing smiley


I'm off to pack.  We're leaving for Minneapolis in the morning and will be on board good old Amtrak Tuesday night - about 11:00 p.m.  Luckily we will be in a private room.

All meals are included...not gourmet, of course, because what should be one of the best modes of transportation in this country is sorely lacking in the funds to make it so.   That's as political as I'm going to get but I think you get my drift...

Oh, and here's a photo of the bedroom...picture the walls pink with that comfortor - gah!!  And the carpet looks gray...I don't know why because it's not.  It's beige-ey.

Getting ready for spring...

Sorry, I just couldn't help myself...had to get some color going here.  This is a photo of the daylilies in one of my gardens, last year.   I didn't spend as much time gardening as I should have and I vow to be better about it this year.  That will make Jack happy since he's the REAL gardener in the house.

Two days ago I repainted the master bedroom...I painted it last fall trying to infuse a little feng shui into the room...that corner of the house is supposed to be the "romantic" corner and pink or red is the color to use.  Well, I didn't want a pink bedroom...so I went for a sort of rose-beige hoping that it would look more beige but still have the essence of pink.   It was pink...no getting around it...it was very pink.  Terrible looking.

Then we went away for the winter and since we're home for a few days I decided I could no longer live with it.  So I dragged out several cans of partially used paint from my "paint room" (that's another story entirely) and mixed a couple of them together.   The result is a tan hue.  Camel color, maybe?  I don't know...but it looks really good.  I barely had enough to finish the walls with about a cup left for touchups.

The color of the daylilies is in the comforter and the accessories and that's enough feng shui to suit me.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  Will try to get a post in before I leave on Monday.  Otherwise, will see you back in Washington!

Top 'o the Mornin' To You!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, my friends!

For each petal on the shamrock

This brings a wish your way

Good health, good luck, and happiness

For today and every day.

These are photographs of my Grandma and Grandpa Coburn.  They were my mother's parents - my Irish grandparents.

My grandfather was a brass fitter for a ship building company and was one of the brass fitters during the building of the Titantic!   Quite interesting, don't you think?

Mom was born and raised in Belfast, was in the British navy during WWII, married my American father and had me!  Brought me over to the United States and settled in the boonies of North Dakota which was about as far away from Ireland as you could get...literally and figuratively.

This is the leaded glass panel that hung above the door at my grandparents' house at No. 10 Roosevelt Street in Belfast.  My mother had it removed and framed and brought it to the United States when my grandmother emigrated many years ago.  Since I was born there, I've now got it and it's hanging in the window in my dining room.

And now I wish you all a Happy St. Patrick's Day.

It's a good day to pass along the "Over the Top" award that Kitty Howard passed on to me!

The "Blogs I Love" page lists dozens of pages that I enjoy.  One of them is The Block by Kittie Howard. Kittie tells the most amazing stories. Real stories from her life experiences and stories about her Louisiana history.

I'm going to pass this "Over the Top" award on to a lot of blogs but just a few at a time.  For one reason or another, these blogs are "over the top" in my opinion.  They make my day.  I'm starting by honoring five eleven (couldn't decide on just five) but will be adding others, later.  Otherwise this would be a mighty long post!   Please copy the badge from the sidebar and add it to your blog.

Some of my favorites have already been honored by Kittie or someone else...you know who you are.

Thufferin Thuccotash  - somewhere near Santa Cruz, California.

Bag Lady's Blather - from northern Alberta, Canada

CultureWitch - Y'know, I think she's in England but am not entirely certain...she travels a LOT!

Nite Swimming - from the Sierra Nevada foothills of Northern California

Sidewalk Shoes  - from Tennessee (USA)

Bittersweet  - Again, not sure where Hannah hails from but she sure does have some great recipes, e-books and cookbooks.  Yum.

A Nut in a Nutshell - to be perfectly honest I am not sure where blueviolet is from!!  Doesn't really matter, though...this is a fun blog.

The Smitten Image - from Ontario, Canada

Shantiwallah - from New Zealand

Ms Fiddlesticks - from Georgia (USA)

Solveig - an Icelander living in Italy

More to come....stay tuned.

As the greeting goes (and I understand that real Irishmen don't even say this...) "Top of the morning to you!"  To which you reply, "...and the rest of the day to yourself."

Coming up for air...

It's Monday morning.  We're home.  It's quiet and the house is tidy and I'm making a pot of coffee and I'm just going to chill, today.  I'm coming up for air.

Back tracking a bit...years ago we lived in Nebraska.  It was a perfect place to raise our children and we have many fond memories of those days.  So two of my best friends met me for lunch on Thursday.  What fun.  Good food, good friends.

Then, daughter MJ from Kansas drove up to Nebraska on Thursday night with her nine year old daughter and five year old son (our Kansas grandkids).   They stayed until Saturday about noon.  We had such a good time.

The two five year old cousins decided to go on safari.  They informed me they needed "a LOT of food and water".  So they tucked a bag of Ritz crackers and some water (in baby bottles - easier to carry) in their little green wagon, donned safari-like apparel and proceeded to who-knows-where in their imaginations.  They drank most of the water before they started as you can sort of tell in this picture.

I taught our nine year old granddaughter how to  Zendoodle and she absolutely loved it.  She zendoodled to her heart's content. 

We ordered pizza and settled down for a rousing game of Junior Monopoly.   MJ and the kids left about noon on Saturday, our other daughter came home that evening to some very happy children.  She had a wonderful time...came home refreshed and rested.  Perfect.

Jack and I left about noon on Sunday...it's a seven hour drive so we were home early enough to see that the lake ice hasn't gone out, yet, but it's looking pretty soft.  Won't be long...I can hardly wait.

We'll be home until the 23rd when we board Amtrak's Empire Builder from Minneapolis and head back to Bainbridge Island for almost another month with the sheep, chickens and cats!  This time good old Jack will be the farmer and I'll be the farmer's wife!

The fun just never ends...*wink*

Quick, quick update...

I can't believe I've actually got five minutes to myself!  I don't dare say it out loud or I'll jinx myself.  I've just realized that we have our children when we're young for a very good reason...we need every bit of energy we have to raise the little rascals!

I have hardly been on the internet at all...I've barely had time to check email and have a lot of catching up to do with my favorite blogs and websites.

So far this week we have been busy, busy, busy with the daily activites of these four grandkids.   Up at the crack of dawn to get the fifteen year old and the eleven year old off to their respective schools.  Making breakfast (it's the most important meal of the day, you know), fixing a lunch for the teenager...always a turkey sandwich on Sara Lee 45 calorie multigrain bread with grapes or strawberies and, if we have them, Sun Chips.  Making sure the eleven year old has donned clean clothes, has his belt, has socks, has his gym clothes.

Then there's the five year old...goes to preschool three days a week.  Loves it after she gets there but never wants to go....go figure.

And a hundred times a day (not really but it seems like that) we have wrestled with a fifteen month old toddler to change her diaper...it actually takes two of us.  What a wiggle worm!  If I'm changing her myself I have to distract her in any way possible or she'll flip over in the wink of an eye and the next thing I know she's half way across the room.  Start naked.  She knows more karate chops than a black belt.  She'd give any pro wrestler a run for his money.  She's a tough cookie!  How is it possible that someone that tiny can be so strong?

Jack has been a godsend...don't know what I'd have done without him.  He has dutifully driven the three older kids to wherever it is that they needed to go.  He then turned around a few hours later to pick them up.  He has gone to the grocery store.  He has thrown in loads of laundry.  He has folded the laundry.  He has read stories until the cows came home.

Funny, though...I actually found him hiding in the master bedroom, tonight, watching the television in there.   With the door closed.  Looked a little sheepish.  Not that he didn't deserve a break.  He did.

Not even going into what I'm doing...suffice it to say I haven't been sitting with my feet up and eating bon bons.

DISCLAIMER:  We wouldn't have it any other way.  We love being here and being helpful.   But we'll need a week or so at home to regain our perspective before heading back to Washington.  All of a sudden the sheep and the chickens are looking like a pretty easy gig.

And now I'm calling it a day...stay tuned.

One day down...

This is the only picture I've got to post...this was the sunset as we were arriving in Nebraska.  Of course it was much more impressive "in person".  It was a long day and shooting through the window of the car is not optimal.   But I like posting a picture with each post.  So this is it.

One day down and six to go.  I am typing this with a tiny little helper...fifteen month old Kate.  So far, I've started over three times!

LATER...Okay, my little helper is in her crib and I've got a date with a five year old and an eleven year old and the grandpa to play Apples to Apples...gotta make this short.

I've been trying to keep the house tidy but with four children, two dogs and a gazillion toys, it's not easy.   No darned wonder their sweet mother needed a break...it's non-stop at this house!

Jack said, "Well, we had four kids...and the house was always tidy."  And I said, "How did I do that?"  And Jack said, "Well, we didn't have a gazillion toys."  Hmmmm....probably that's true.

So.....I'm off to play Apples to Apples.

Stay tuned...

Back Home - Briefly

Believe it or not, the snow has melted a lot the past day or two.  These mailboxes were pretty much buried not too many days ago.  This will just give you a peek at the snow that we have, still.

I had a fine trip on Amtrak, I am happy to report.  The Empire Builder is the route between Washington and Illinois.  Met a lovely woman from Juneau, Alaska who was traveling to Fort Campbell, Kentucky to see her daughter who is with the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army.   Her daughter is being deployed to Afganistan within the next few weeks so she wanted to see her before she leaves.

This woman told me that she will not fly so she traveled by ferry (a three day trip) from Juneau, Alaska to Bellingham, Washington then a bus to Everett where she boarded the train.  I was traveling to Minnesota but she was going on to Chicago where she was meeting her brother from New York.  That's a two day trip.  They would then travel together to Kentucky but I'm not sure how...train and/or bus, I think.  Another day or so, probably.  Now, that's a devoted mother!

Why won't she fly?  Well, many years ago she was scheduled to fly from Juneau to I-don't-know-where but she missed the flight by about ten minutes.   That plane crashed and everone on board was killed.   How awful.

A view from the train...traveling out of the mountains in Montana.

So I'm home, safe and sound.  We're leaving on Thursday to spend a week with four grandchildren while their parents enjoy a well-deserved anniversary trip.

We are really looking forward to that.  Then, it's back to Washington...we're looking forward to that, too!

More to come...