A Robin and John Foster

Thank you all so much for looking at my Memorial Day Post. I e-mailed my Daughter-in-law and told her to read all the wonderful comments you  made.  She e-mailed me back and asked that I express her thanks to all of you for the kind things you said. 
Last Fri. my Daughter and I took a Mother-Daughter trip to the city to celebrate our birthdays that are only 1 week apart.  We had a great time.  Her gift to me was one of her wonderful wool sculptures.  She has an amazing collection of  children's books so we found a great  children's  book store and she picked out her gifts from the SBA and me.
Our family did get some bad news the end of last week.  My brother-in-law(the SBA'S brother) passed away.  That means we are making a quick trip to Wisconsin.  I'll make it home for my hand surgery but things are a bit chaotic right now.  Good old John Foster will be going with.  I do like to stitch on the plane so I may get more of him finished before my hand surgery than I expected .  If you don't hear form me for a few days, you now know why!  I hope you all have a good week!! Thanks again for taking a look at my ramblings!

My birthday gift!! You can see more of her work at "Woolpets".  They have both a blog and a web site.

I working my way up on John.  There are two big flower vases at the top, plus a bee hive and some bees.

I stopped that middle  part when I realized we'd be making a trip.  I think it will be easy to do on a plane.  I prefer filling or some other type of repetitive design on a plane.

Thanks again for taking a look!

Memorial Day

 Today as we honor veterans, I would like to introduce my blog friends to the two Iraq War veterans in our family. We are thankful everyday that they came home safely.  Today we send our thoughts and prayers to those who did not and their families.

 Our Daughter -in-law.  Debbie spent time in Iraq when the war started.  She served as a signal officer.

 Our son  Jeff.  He served two tours as a Blackhawk pilot.

This is the family today.  Jeff is now a Major in the Army and Debbie is in graduate school and a wonderful mother to our Grandson , Caleb . They will be having another child next December.

We have so much to be thankful for!!!

The Beach-Part 2 of the Amazing Walk

Now we have arrived at the beach.  I apologize that I don't know the names of most of the things you will see on this post.  For me, the joy is that in less than one hour, I can be at this beach.  Yesterday was beautiful as it was warm and sunny. It was great because we could take our shoes off and get pictures of things under the water.  It was a very low tide.  However, we have walked on this beach when it is very cloudy and even a bit misty.  It is still beautiful.  This beach is located at the very top of the Kitsap Peninsula, where Admiralty Inlet meets Puget Sound.  Please enjoy the sights!

 The children were having a wonderful time!

 So were the dogs!

What a dream to live where water and mountains meet!

And this just made the walk perfect!

Thanks you so much for checking out this blog! I hope you are having a very special Memorial Day Week-end.  I think that tomorrow I'll get a a bit more serious about this holiday!

An Amazing Walk

I hope all of you are having a wonderful week-end.  About 2 this afternoon , the SBA and I decided to go for a walk.  If you have read this blog for any length of time, you will know how I love living in the beautiful Pacific NW.  My sympathy goes out to all of you who are living with 90 degree temps this week-end, that is, unless you like the heat.  I happen to dislike it very much! Anyway , we decided to go for a walk at the beach near the lighthouse.  We walked through a great old forest to get to the beach.  This day was so amazing and I took so many photos, that for today I can only share the walk through the woods.  Tomorrow,  I'll share the wonders of the beach!!

 Wild beach roses

 I just saw one berry.  It was so pretty in the sunshine!

 Pacific Blackberry

 Western Thimbleberry

 This old cedar had a trunk of over 6 feet.  The SBA was willing to serve as a size comparison!

 Maybe a fairy house??

 Our destination

 We had to go down all these steps to reach the beach.

 Wild sweet peas called leafy peavine

 These roses grow right near the beach.

 Thank you so much for taking time for my blog !  I hope your week-end is going well!! Join me tomorrow to see what treasures the beach will provide.

The garden and John Foster

Even though we have had a very cool wet week, the garden is making slow progress.  I'll show just a few things that have started blooming this week.  I'm making good progress on John Foster.  Tonight I'm going to start on the quaker like maze that looks like it is in back of the house.
If any of you are like me with no LNS a web site called JJ"s Collectibles is having a great Memorial Day sale.  Everything is 20% off.  I have already picked out a few things that I just can't live without! I have ordered from them many times and find them very reliable and nice to work with.
Once again I thank you great people who take time to read my blog! Thank you so very much!!! I love and read every comment.  Glad several of you like "Penny America" it was a great stitch!!In fact I ordered all the WDW threads that I used in that project  from JJ'S during their last sale. Have a great Fri.

 Even the bees like my allium!

 Isn't this a strange little mushroom??

A white rosa rugosa.  We have two of them in the front of the house.

 This is called Catmint.  I have gotten 6 plants by dividing one! I believe it is "Walker's Low"  It's not very low!

 This hosta is huge!

I used the SBA's hand so you could see how large these leaves are!

This is called "Ghost" weigela. It is covered with buds and should be beautiful soon!

 Here is John Foster.  I have done the things above his name since I finished "Penny America"

 Here is a close up of this strange little house.  It is fun to wonder why these sampler workers from the past chose certain motifs.

Have a great evening!

Mt. Walker Part 2 and a Finish

I hope the week is going well for all of you!  I'm going to finish the photos we took on Sat. on our trip to Mt. Walker. We have been rainy and very cool ever since so I'm glad we took advantage of that nice day. I finished "Penny America " Sun. evening.  Today I got it pressed.  I do love the way it turned out! I think I'm going for a frame.  The new frame shop in town had some very good possibilities.  With Memorial Day coming up this week- end I need to start thinking of my patriotic decorating. The only other news is that my carpel tunnel surgery is scheduled for two weeks from today.  Yesterday the Dr. said the test showed moderate to severe carpel tunnel so it was unlikely to get better on its own.  I'm not going to take any chances with my hand so I'm quite happy to be getting the surgery! I hope it doesn't slow down my needlework for too long!  I guess I can get caught up on reading!

 "Penny America" by Tree of Life Samplings stitched on Weeks Dye Works linen Lt. Cappuccino 32ct. I used the recommended Weeks Dye Works threads.

 On the Mt. Walker trip we saw some lovely wild flowers.  We used a book called "Wildflowers of the Olympics and Cascades" by Charles Stewart-Revised Edition.  This flower is only about 4 inches off the ground.  It is called a Fairy slipper. It is in the orchid family.

 I believe the is a scarlet paintbrush.

  A pioneer violet

 Finally, a woods strawberry.

 There were very few places to eat and the SBA gets very hungry!! This little dive actually had a decent rating. The food was fairly good.

 The above is a Pacific Goeduck!! It is a very large clam.  In Japan it is considered a delicacy.  Some ocean experts are concerned that it might become rare because of over harvesting and selling them to Japan!!

 A little more of the romantic atmosphere of the cafe!!!!!

 Thanks to all of you who take time to read my blog.  I appreciate it so very much! I do love to read each of your comments!

Congratulations Jennifer!!!!

Today is a special day for our family.  The SBA's Grand-daughter is graduating from high school. Jennifer has accomplished many things in her high school career and in the fall she will be off to college.  She plans to become a teacher.  That pleases me a lot because that will make her the first teacher in the family.  I've been waiting for a teacher in the family for years.  She has a wonderful scholarship. She is an excellent dancer and hopes to make the dance team in college.  Again, Congratulations Jennifer, we are so proud of you. All our love to you!

 The happy baby,1993.

 She's 5. Happy birthday!

 She's 13 ,getting ready for high school.

Now, a lovely young lady ready for college!