Day 2 East of the Cascades

I'm so glad that many of you are enjoying the pictures.    We spent the first night in Winthrop.  It is a kind of little Western town, wooden sidewalks and all.  We stayed at the Band B below. We got up early and started down the Eastern side of the mountains.  This side is so different from the Western side.  This is largely true because the moisture from the Pacific is kept on the Western side of the mountains thus, we are wet and the other side is very dry.  I love all our huge trees and green so I know I live on the right side for me.  However, they do say they have 300days of sunshine over there! I guess that means that when I get a bit tired of the gloom, I need to have a short trip over there!

A nice and very clean little B and B.

There were deer all over the place.  Gardens had 10 foot fences.

Sunset over the mountains.

We are now in a little town called Twisp.  This was the sign over a restaurant.  We opted for a treat at a cute bakery called Cinnamon Twisp.

I thought this was a very funny way to advertise!

This whole area was full of orchards and vineyards.  Next fall, I think we need to go on a wine tasting trip!!

Apple trees everywhere!

This is the mighty Columbia River.  It empties into the Pacific near one of my favorite towns, Astoria, Oregon. You can see the patches of green.  The rest of the hills(where there is no irrigation) were brown and it is only June.

One of the best surprises of this trip was Lake Chelan.  It is quite a resort town for Seattle so I expected lots of tee-shirt shops. Actually the town was delightful and the lake just a beautiful shade of blue.

All the cross walks had mini gardens.

You could see the bottom very easily.

After leaving Chelan we went to Leavenworth to spend the night.  I'll show you the trip back home tomorrow. Thanks again for joining me!

The Amazing Road Trip

A very special thanks go out to all of you who have sent good wishes regarding the birth of our Grand Daughter, Hannah Louis.  Grandpa and I can hardly wait till we can see her in person.  Now if you follow this blog to see cross stitch , you might want to skip this post.  The SBA and I just got home from a short 3 day road trip.  Since we moved here, we have heard stories about the beauty of the North Cascades National Park.  Mon. morning we set out to see it for ourselves.  I have decided to do a 3 day post so you can experience the great beauty of Washington . I hope you enjoy!!

 The highway closes from Mid Oct. through late March or April depending on the snowfall.

 Our first glimpse of snow.

I can see why these are nick- named the Alps of North America.

 We saw more waterfalls than you can count.

 The green color of the water is due to glacial melt. This beautiful lake is named Lake Diablo.

Wild flowers grew by the roadside at the lower elevations.

 Rainy Pass! We planned for a short hike here.  The parking lot was closed due to snow.  The air was not cold.  We had on tee-shirts and were quite comfortable.

 We are now at Washington Pass. This is the highest road point in the state( 5200 feet).

Just amazing.  The warm air was filled with the scent of pine.

Thanks so much for joining me.  Tomorrow we are going to Winthrop,a town  just the other side of the mountains, then through the Methow Valley.

A New Granddaughter

Yesterday at 7:09 AM, Miss Hannah Louise was born.  We feel so blessed to have her join our family! Mom and Baby are doing great! Grandma and Grandpa are delighted!

Hummingbirds and Cross Stitch

Thanks so much for all the nice things you said about my Seattle photos.  Sometimes I think we all need to look at our home area like a tourist.  I know, I even appreciated it more. I'm not sure that is possible, I absolutely love the Pacific NW. We have had great luck this year with our hummingbird feeder.  That plus an almost finished J.M. Gardner are my pictures for today.  By the way, our summer has returned!  We have had beautiful days with temps in the 70's(my idea of perfect) and sunsets well after 9 pm.

 See the iridescent green? They are so pretty.  This is an Anna's Hummingbird.

 J.M. Gardner almost done.  The colors are very washed out in the photos.  In reality, the colors are very bright and beautiful.  I think they make this sampler!

 I love the arbor.

I started this yesterday.  Little Hannah is due to come into the world tomorrow. Mom is getting a c-section. We are so very excited.   We hope to meet her in July so I need to get going on her sampler!!!!

Thanks so much for joining me!!

Seeing Seattle like a tourist

This last week the DH's Granddaughter was visiting.  Of  course, she wanted to see Seattle.  It was lots of fun seeing this lovely city from the point of view of a tourist.  Enjoy! By the way, at the end I do have a picture of the framed "This is the Day."

This is called Gas Works Park.  You can see the skyline of the city from there.  It is also the place where the July 4th fireworks are held.

 From the Space  Needle

The fish market at Pike Place Market.

Can you believe the price of that salmon??!!

Now these are very tasty sauteed in a little butter.

My favorite part of the market is the flowers!

I had never seen fringed poppies.

 This is not my idea of the perfect frame but the size was perfect so out went the old picture!

 

Thanks so much for joining me today!!

A Cross Stitch Post

I want to thank all of you who commented on my last post.  You said such nice things about my daughter's work.  The good thing is , she is just as sweet as she is talented.  We both appreciated your kind words.  I have been busy this week as we are expecting a guest from out of town.  I tend to let the guest room and bath just sit there.  There was actually dust in the bath tub!! So we have been busy with the house and the yard.  Did I actually complain about the heat a few posts ago???!!! We are having snow at the pass levels today.  Down here the temps are in the 50's and rain.  This will not be the best weather for the SBA's Granddaughter's visit. So I'm  hoping for nicer weather! We are looking forward to spending several days showing her around. 
Even though I have not posted much cross stitch, I have been working on a few projects. 

 All finished.!  The good news is I have an old frame we are going to use.  Hopefully it will be framed by the end of the week.  The picture is a bit washed out looking.  The colors are brighter and prettier than the photo shows. I plan to hang this in a place where its message will speak to me daily. The horrors of the last few days serve to remind us all how wonderful an ordinary day really is.

 I have a good friend who shares all her stamping supplies with me .  She has a cute little black cat named Cloe.  I thought this was the perfect little thank you gift. We put it in a black table top frame.

I  love my current project.  Many of you will recognize J.M. Gardner 1888 by Country Stitches-With Thy Needle & Thread.  The minute I saw this one on other posts, I knew I wanted to stitch it.  I have to keep moving as our little Granddaughter is scheduled to arrive on June 6!  I haven't started on her sampler!We will probably not get to see her until July sometime so I will get busy on that project soon! 

 Can't resist sharing a few bird pictures.  I just love these little hummingbirds!

Have a good week!

Mother's Day Gift and Herons!

Thanks to all of you who said such nice things about my Mother's Day post.  I enjoyed making that sampler to honor Mom and Grandma. 
My DD,Mrs. Woolpets, made this amazing gift for me.  It is a Woolpets Heron.  One day she and I sat in our favorite coffee shop and saw at least 5 of them fishing in the water near by.  She decided to make me a Heron for Mother's Day.  It is beautiful and I love it.  It will be my summer header.  I have lots of cross stitch to share, but that will be in a later post.  Have a wonderful week!!

 Here is another view of my lovely gift!  This one caught a fish!!

 This one is still trying!

We live near this little town.  We went down to Keyport to take the photos for the header and I noticed that they had put this on all the light posts for summer.

Thanks for joining me!

Happy Mother's Day

I hope everyone out there is having a great day!  Of course, that includes all you Moms.  The Pastor included all kinds of women in her comments today.  Basically she included all those who take care of things.  I'm thinking of all the women who might not have children but care for them in many ways like teachers, day-care workers and the like.  I'm especially thinking of my DD and my DIL.  Laurie works with children in school and she had a home day care for many years.  Debbie is the Mom of my Grandson , Caleb , and she will be having our Granddaughter, Hannah, under fairly difficult conditions.  My hats off to them both! This post is also in loving memory of my Mom, Merna Kennedy Pike and my Grandmothers, Edith Rose Pike and Anna Lindquist  Kennedy.

 This is a BBD design I did a few years ago to honor Mom and her Mother.

 I put their birth dates under their names.

Both were born in Joliet, Illinois.  My DD and I were also born in Joliet.

 Edith Rose Pike, my Dad's Mom.

Anna Lindquist Kennedy,  Mom's Mom. I love and think about all of you today!

Thanks so much for joining me and have a wonderful week!

May! In Cross Stitch and in Bloom!

Wow! I so appreciate all the nice things you said about my pillows.  They were work but I am glad I finished them.  I am enjoying them everyday on the couch! You would not believe our weather!!!! This morning's paper said that the only city in the entire country as warm as we were yesterday was Phoenix- we were hotter(87 degrees) than Miami, Las Vegas, or Houston!! It was record breaking for this area. I did not especially like it! First, I moved here because it is a cool place-temp wise.  In addition, it is too early to be that hot.  Thank goodness, a marine layer moved in today and the temps are more to my liking.  I admit I'm strange, most people loved yesterday!  It did bring out many flowers. Whatever the temperatures in your neck of the woods , I hope they are mild and pleasant!

 May's Word Play.  I am skipping June as I have the PS June already finished and framed.

 These are delightful smelling flowers.

The crab apple ,"Golden Raindrops" came into full bloom in just two days!

 As  did the lilac!

I love this little iris.  The colors are wonderful!

The wisteria also made it in about two days!

Thanks so much for joining me.  I hope you all have a terrific week!