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It took me quite a while to think of this year's Holiday theme. I had no inspirtation whatsoever. My thoughts were with the Santa dog photos I was planning on using, photos I didn't have now because our Lotte died all of a sudden.
Than slowly the idea came to me to make a 'Lotte's life celebration card'. You see, Lotte loved all good things in life and living it to the fullest as comfortable as possible was her motto. This is our wish for you these Holidays. Live life to the fullest, enjoy all things good and most importanly love each other unconditionally and make lots of good memories!
Than slowly the idea came to me to make a 'Lotte's life celebration card'. You see, Lotte loved all good things in life and living it to the fullest as comfortable as possible was her motto. This is our wish for you these Holidays. Live life to the fullest, enjoy all things good and most importanly love each other unconditionally and make lots of good memories!
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I hung one more year on the line
I should be depressed
My life's a mess
But I'm having a good time
I've been loving and loving
And loving
I'm exhausted from loving so well
I should go to bed
But a voice in my head
Says "Ah, what the hell"
Paul Simon
Yes, another year has gone by. When I blinked with my eyes it was gone, no idea what happened with it, it just wooshed by.
Thanks to all who have send warm, sweet, funny, annoying, lovable b-day wishes ;-) I so appreciate it and feel very blessed to have so many friends who take the time to send me a card or a wish.
Of course there were presents and W. baked, as is tradition, a pie for my day. This time I wanted the Dutch Apple pie, and I directed him to her who has a wonderful apple pie blog. Thanks to Petra in NC for mentioning the site when she was baking her Dudoc Apple Pie. Sorry, Apple pie blog is only in Dutch available.
The pie was a wonderful as usual, he is a exceptional baker. Funny he inherited that from his dad who was a pastry baker before his death. W. has never known his dad, he died a few months before he was born, so he couldn't have discussed any baking with him. But apparently you can inherent talents like that ;-)
Below a few pix of the lovely pie, I just took a last bite of my slice for the evening ;-)
Can you smell the sweet apples and cinnamon?
and wait for it..... yes, a hint of nutmeg and kardamon!
and the sweet and crisp crust, that falls apart when it enters your mouth!
Got wonderful presents, a book I wanted to read after Randy raved about it in her blog. The book is a cookbook and it's called Ratio. It claims that if you know the ratio's of an item you can bake/cook anything. Wonderful book!
Another book that was high on my wish list was about pet photography. I have this beautiful digital Sony camera and it's still so difficult to photograph pets properly so that it turns out nice. They’re always on the move, and especially black dogs are difficult. it's something I want to specialize in and I hope that in the future I will be able to go out and offer my photographing services to shelters so that a pet can have a better chance to be adopted. A wonderful picture says more that thousands words, shelters often don't have to funds to pay a photographer and volunteering to do that is something I could do.
I can finally make my own mayonnaise and wonderful vinaigrettes!
Had a wonderful easy day, W. took the day off and we went out for breakfast and after that shopping for bathroom tiles for the renovation. Found some wonderful tiles the minute we walked into the store. Will post some pix tomorrow.
Had an easy take-out dinner in the evening, I was pooped because of all unusual activities.
Now I have another year in front of my, my biggest wish is of course improving my health and being able to fly to my daughter in the Netherlands. I miss her more than anything.
Will work again very hard this year to make it happen, please send good vibes, karma and healing thoughts that this time I will succeed and beat the odds!
# # #
Today, 72F or 23C sunny, a nice fall day.
'See you all in a week' was my last entry. That was my intention and than life got in the way. We had a lovely vacation at the beach, I wrote it all down in my blog The PacificBeach 2009. Hop on over there if you haven't read it yet, photos are up too so there's proof we actually went. ;-)
Back at home I needed time to recover from the vacation, sounds weird I know but that's who we 'chronics' are. Other people come home rested and full of energy, we come home exhausted and drained because we did too much while on vacation.
And than we had a heat wave, not fun. I didn't move to Oregon to have yearly heat waves. If I wanted that I would have stayed in California. I wanted cool, nice mild summers with every now and than some nice showers. Did no happen. I'm going to ask my money back.
On that sunny Monday morning when mercury in our normal supposedly very mild temperature wise NorthWest Pacific town was rising to a ridiculous 102F and our heat pump decided to brake down.
I woke up that morning wondering if I had a bad dream because I was all sweaty, wet and nauseated, until I noticed the room was also very warm and humid. I jumped(*cough*, no really ;-)) out of bed and held my hand above one of the central air vents. Warm air was blowing out . This could have 2 causes,
1 - my husband had set the thermostat accidentally to 'heat' instead of cold or
2 - the pump just broke down and was blowing the warm hot air in.
After a check I decided it was number 2.
I panicked and mailed W. an upset email. 2 weeks before the maintenance company sent us a brochure claiming it would be a good idea before summer to have a air-conditioner tune up. I thought so too, after all I am home all day, the central air is on all day if it brakes down I'm not a happy puppy. It's like a car, you don't wait until you car brakes down but have regular check ups. But W. was sure it was a scam and just a brutal way to make some money over the backs of stupid consumers.
Well.... look who was stupid now hmm? It was me, who had to sit in the f*cking heat all day!
Funny how quickly a house heats up if you have no central air no matter how crappy it is. Within a couple of hours it was just as hot inside and it was out. Luckily after W.'s refusal to tune up the air I purchased a wind blower on Amazon thinking it somehow could be useful to have a powerful fan like unit on hand, just in case.
I turned on the fan, did a 'miss wet t-shirt contest' on my own and sat in front of the fan in my wet t-shirt. It really helped to cool down. Of course all companies I called to come out and have a look at the heat pump where busy for days. The first appointment I could get was Wednesday afternoon. That would mean 3 days in this scorching heat! And not just me but also my pets, Lotte our oldest dog is 14 really had problems breathing and staying cool. I hosed her of every hour to keep her cool. W. took mr. puppy-dog to doggy day care where is was cool and where they have a pool, lucky bastards! W. himself went to his employer in his air cooled building and I was left at home on my own. *boohoo*
I did pretty well the first 2 days but at the end of day 2 I was getting really ill feelings, my heart started beating irregular, I didn't sweat anymore, my skin felt cool but it was like I was burning up from the inside. I couldn't pee anymore no matter how much water with electrolytes I drank, my body decided to hold on to it. I couldn't sleep that night, the whole house was like an oven and we had clocked that day at 108F. My body was swollen like a pregnant whale and that's how I felt like too. I'm sure all you ladies know what I mean!
To make a long story short, after the guys came out and had one look at the heat pump he decided it was beyond repair and we needed a new one. That would take weeks. first we had to decide what we wanted, the heat pump needed to be replaced and also the furnace. Than it needed to be ordered and put into place.
Luckily we know not to make decisions when under stress or in emergency situations and we decided to move to a hotel where it would be cool and we could think things over. There were few hotels to be found as many other people had the same ide who were out of AC. I did find a nice hotel where the pups were welcome as well and we spend a few nice cool days there.
The estimate for a new heating/cooling system was about the price of a new car $16,000 - $20,000 That was a shocker. And that didn't even include the features I wanted like HEPA filtration and zone heating/cooling. To me it has always been ridiculous why I would need to cool/heat the whole house if I only use one room. So zone heating was high on my list. We thought about it over the weekend in the hotel, decided to hunt for a portable air conditioner so I could at least cool my office/room where I also have my hospital bed and I could sleep there.
And we decided to ask a second opinion from another company on fixing the heat pump. I didn't see the point in spending a 20,000 for a system that didn't include my features.
The company that came out took a peek and what happened? They repaired the heat pump for $400 within. All this stress, pain and waiting for nothing just because a company wanted to sell a new system over the back of people in stress. I should sue them! ;-)
All this stress and my body overheating had it's toll on my health and I now need a wheelchair indoors as well. We discovered that the doors are too small to let my chair through, the sink and counter tops too high, the bathroom too small and so we wil start a renovation. The doors will get wider, cooker will be lowered, and we will make from 2 small bathrooms 1 big one. It means going from a 3 bed/2 bathroom house to a 3 bed/1 bath house which will devalue the house probably but we see no other options.
It will be great shopping for tiles and fixtures and I'm looking forward being able to sit in the shower and shower on my own!
So that's my update for now. I'll try to keep up now that I'm a bit settled again and fall is around the corner. My favorite time of the year! Love the colors of the trees, the smell, the crisp air, burning fires and hot cocoa!
# # #
'See you all in a week' was my last entry. That was my intention and than life got in the way. We had a lovely vacation at the beach, I wrote it all down in my blog The PacificBeach 2009. Hop on over there if you haven't read it yet, photos are up too so there's proof we actually went. ;-)
Back at home I needed time to recover from the vacation, sounds weird I know but that's who we 'chronics' are. Other people come home rested and full of energy, we come home exhausted and drained because we did too much while on vacation.
And than we had a heat wave, not fun. I didn't move to Oregon to have yearly heat waves. If I wanted that I would have stayed in California. I wanted cool, nice mild summers with every now and than some nice showers. Did no happen. I'm going to ask my money back.
On that sunny Monday morning when mercury in our normal supposedly very mild temperature wise NorthWest Pacific town was rising to a ridiculous 102F and our heat pump decided to brake down.
I woke up that morning wondering if I had a bad dream because I was all sweaty, wet and nauseated, until I noticed the room was also very warm and humid. I jumped(*cough*, no really ;-)) out of bed and held my hand above one of the central air vents. Warm air was blowing out . This could have 2 causes,
1 - my husband had set the thermostat accidentally to 'heat' instead of cold or
2 - the pump just broke down and was blowing the warm hot air in.
After a check I decided it was number 2.
I panicked and mailed W. an upset email. 2 weeks before the maintenance company sent us a brochure claiming it would be a good idea before summer to have a air-conditioner tune up. I thought so too, after all I am home all day, the central air is on all day if it brakes down I'm not a happy puppy. It's like a car, you don't wait until you car brakes down but have regular check ups. But W. was sure it was a scam and just a brutal way to make some money over the backs of stupid consumers.
Well.... look who was stupid now hmm? It was me, who had to sit in the f*cking heat all day!
Funny how quickly a house heats up if you have no central air no matter how crappy it is. Within a couple of hours it was just as hot inside and it was out. Luckily after W.'s refusal to tune up the air I purchased a wind blower on Amazon thinking it somehow could be useful to have a powerful fan like unit on hand, just in case.
I turned on the fan, did a 'miss wet t-shirt contest' on my own and sat in front of the fan in my wet t-shirt. It really helped to cool down. Of course all companies I called to come out and have a look at the heat pump where busy for days. The first appointment I could get was Wednesday afternoon. That would mean 3 days in this scorching heat! And not just me but also my pets, Lotte our oldest dog is 14 really had problems breathing and staying cool. I hosed her of every hour to keep her cool. W. took mr. puppy-dog to doggy day care where is was cool and where they have a pool, lucky bastards! W. himself went to his employer in his air cooled building and I was left at home on my own. *boohoo*
I did pretty well the first 2 days but at the end of day 2 I was getting really ill feelings, my heart started beating irregular, I didn't sweat anymore, my skin felt cool but it was like I was burning up from the inside. I couldn't pee anymore no matter how much water with electrolytes I drank, my body decided to hold on to it. I couldn't sleep that night, the whole house was like an oven and we had clocked that day at 108F. My body was swollen like a pregnant whale and that's how I felt like too. I'm sure all you ladies know what I mean!
To make a long story short, after the guys came out and had one look at the heat pump he decided it was beyond repair and we needed a new one. That would take weeks. first we had to decide what we wanted, the heat pump needed to be replaced and also the furnace. Than it needed to be ordered and put into place.
Luckily we know not to make decisions when under stress or in emergency situations and we decided to move to a hotel where it would be cool and we could think things over. There were few hotels to be found as many other people had the same ide who were out of AC. I did find a nice hotel where the pups were welcome as well and we spend a few nice cool days there.
The estimate for a new heating/cooling system was about the price of a new car $16,000 - $20,000 That was a shocker. And that didn't even include the features I wanted like HEPA filtration and zone heating/cooling. To me it has always been ridiculous why I would need to cool/heat the whole house if I only use one room. So zone heating was high on my list. We thought about it over the weekend in the hotel, decided to hunt for a portable air conditioner so I could at least cool my office/room where I also have my hospital bed and I could sleep there.
And we decided to ask a second opinion from another company on fixing the heat pump. I didn't see the point in spending a 20,000 for a system that didn't include my features.
The company that came out took a peek and what happened? They repaired the heat pump for $400 within. All this stress, pain and waiting for nothing just because a company wanted to sell a new system over the back of people in stress. I should sue them! ;-)
All this stress and my body overheating had it's toll on my health and I now need a wheelchair indoors as well. We discovered that the doors are too small to let my chair through, the sink and counter tops too high, the bathroom too small and so we wil start a renovation. The doors will get wider, cooker will be lowered, and we will make from 2 small bathrooms 1 big one. It means going from a 3 bed/2 bathroom house to a 3 bed/1 bath house which will devalue the house probably but we see no other options.
It will be great shopping for tiles and fixtures and I'm looking forward being able to sit in the shower and shower on my own!
So that's my update for now. I'll try to keep up now that I'm a bit settled again and fall is around the corner. My favorite time of the year! Love the colors of the trees, the smell, the crisp air, burning fires and hot cocoa!
# # #
We're off to spend a week on the Pacific Coast, the Washington State side. Hop over to my vacation blog at The Pacific Coast 2009 where I will keep a blog of the interesting stuff we come across at the Washington State coast but also the fun days we will spend at the Oregonian coast.
See you all in a week!
Be well, be healthy and most of all be good ;-)
# # #
See you all in a week!
Be well, be healthy and most of all be good ;-)
# # #
The Making of The Porch.
Ever since our first move to the US in 1999 to beautiful absolutely gorgeous and warm and friendly Point Reyes Station in CA, I wanted a house with a porch.
You know, we all have our dreams, and that was mine. Not only a porch but some acres with some sheep and a couple of Border Collies to go with them. ;-)
That was 9 years ago, life got in the way as so often happens but I kept the dream alive and kept hoping on one of those 'one day miracles'. But recently I came to the conclusion that dreams don't automagically come true, you have to make them happen. With the recent housing burst I didn't see us move to the boonies real soon to occupy some beautiful farm house with a porch and those acres and sheep and the Border Collies. Lord knows it's hard enough to _sell_ your home now-a-days let alone buy a new one with a new mortgage.
Our neighbor's home sold after being on the market for 2 1/2 years and 70.000 less than it was valued at.
So I kept thinking about that porch and thought well, if we can't get to that house with that porch why don't we build one ourselves? And that was what we did.
It took 5 days to dry(concrete) and build and now it's DONE! And we're ecstatic about it. It worked out so well! When I look at it I can't even remember what it used to look like. It has definitely increased the curb appeal of our home. Now all we need is some nice furniture, a rocking chair and some decorations and we will be the envy of the neighborhood. All the neighbors already have come by to look at it and all approved of it, wanting to have their morning coffee with us on the porch ;-)
We found a wonderful contractor, Scott, he's a real gem, knows his stuff and knows how to customize something to what you want. I'm so happy we choose him instead aof one of those porch and deck builder companies. Scott was really happy to work on it and was proud of what he made and how he was able to think outside the box with us to find solutions for some problems. I especially like the trellis he made, it's light and airy and at the same time provides shadow that is much needed in the afternoon.
In fact we are so happy with Scott that he's going to do another project for us, the installing of some light tubes. We have some very dark area's in the house and a light tube can instantly let light in.
Here is how it looked like before we installed the porch:
Please click the images to see a larger version!
And here is the after photo:
Doesn't it look stunning? can you see me sitting there with a nice espresso, the dogs and my daily newspaper? Watching the world go by?
I'm so happy with it!
Below is a slide show of the making of the porch as it happened.
Tomorrow we'll be off for a few days to the Washington coast, we rented a nice top floor condo right at the beach. The beach is leash free for dogs so they're going to have a blast and so will we. Some much needed relaxation, books, music and good food!
Will take my laptop with me so I can blog and upload photos, we will not have Internet in the condo but the general clubhouse has free wifi. We will have someone staying at the house watching the evil pixie catz and taking care of business.
We'll be at Westport Beach Escapes.(click)
Isn't it beautiful? ;-) Sleep with windows open to hear and smell the surf, aahhhhhh, wonderful!
# # #
Ever since our first move to the US in 1999 to beautiful absolutely gorgeous and warm and friendly Point Reyes Station in CA, I wanted a house with a porch.
You know, we all have our dreams, and that was mine. Not only a porch but some acres with some sheep and a couple of Border Collies to go with them. ;-)
That was 9 years ago, life got in the way as so often happens but I kept the dream alive and kept hoping on one of those 'one day miracles'. But recently I came to the conclusion that dreams don't automagically come true, you have to make them happen. With the recent housing burst I didn't see us move to the boonies real soon to occupy some beautiful farm house with a porch and those acres and sheep and the Border Collies. Lord knows it's hard enough to _sell_ your home now-a-days let alone buy a new one with a new mortgage.
Our neighbor's home sold after being on the market for 2 1/2 years and 70.000 less than it was valued at.
So I kept thinking about that porch and thought well, if we can't get to that house with that porch why don't we build one ourselves? And that was what we did.
It took 5 days to dry(concrete) and build and now it's DONE! And we're ecstatic about it. It worked out so well! When I look at it I can't even remember what it used to look like. It has definitely increased the curb appeal of our home. Now all we need is some nice furniture, a rocking chair and some decorations and we will be the envy of the neighborhood. All the neighbors already have come by to look at it and all approved of it, wanting to have their morning coffee with us on the porch ;-)
We found a wonderful contractor, Scott, he's a real gem, knows his stuff and knows how to customize something to what you want. I'm so happy we choose him instead aof one of those porch and deck builder companies. Scott was really happy to work on it and was proud of what he made and how he was able to think outside the box with us to find solutions for some problems. I especially like the trellis he made, it's light and airy and at the same time provides shadow that is much needed in the afternoon.
In fact we are so happy with Scott that he's going to do another project for us, the installing of some light tubes. We have some very dark area's in the house and a light tube can instantly let light in.
Here is how it looked like before we installed the porch:
Please click the images to see a larger version!
And here is the after photo:
Doesn't it look stunning? can you see me sitting there with a nice espresso, the dogs and my daily newspaper? Watching the world go by?
I'm so happy with it!
Below is a slide show of the making of the porch as it happened.
Tomorrow we'll be off for a few days to the Washington coast, we rented a nice top floor condo right at the beach. The beach is leash free for dogs so they're going to have a blast and so will we. Some much needed relaxation, books, music and good food!
Will take my laptop with me so I can blog and upload photos, we will not have Internet in the condo but the general clubhouse has free wifi. We will have someone staying at the house watching the evil pixie catz and taking care of business.
We'll be at Westport Beach Escapes.(click)
Isn't it beautiful? ;-) Sleep with windows open to hear and smell the surf, aahhhhhh, wonderful!
# # #
Today it is 90 F or 32 C. It's blazing hot for the Pacific NorthWest. Lets hope it cools down quickly to it's normal temperatures again.
I'm back! Yes I know it's been a while but I needed some time to regroup. My beautiful baby girl got married and I couldn't be there, that threw me off for a while. It's every mothers dream to see her daughter walking down in a beautiful wedding gown with the happiest smile ever on her face and I had to miss that. They had a videographer make video so we could watch it afterwards which is nice of course but still it hurts. Rotten illness, I was upset with myself for quite sometime like it was my fault for not healing quicker but alas, there was not much I could do. We now hope I will be well enough to witness the birth of my grandchild whenever that may be ;-)
At the day of the wedding we turned on our iChat(Apple's video chat, it was night for me of course and she had her laptop perched on the pillows on her bed so I could be part of the dressing ritual. She had friends helping her dress and we chatted along while they fastened the 80 small buttons on the back of her corset ;-) It was a strange and yet wonderful experience, strange because it felt like I was watching a reality show, like Big Brother or so. It felt like really really strange....... but I'm thankful that it was possible at all. I didn't want to miss it for anything.
She did her make up and hair herself of course, she's a licensed beautician, she knew exactly what and how she wanted it. She asked me to send her some kind of fluid that kept her make-up stay on the whole day and looking fresh. It wasn't available in the Netherlands so I send it to her, it worked really well, she looked stunning all through the day.
She looked absolutely gorgeous in her wedding gown, by far the prettiest bride I have ever seen, of course I might be a bit biased ;-)
She didn't know what her husband to be would look like, he kept his suit a secret and he went to his family home to get dressed and picked her up later. So that was a surprise, but he did very well buying a suit without her and look very handsome and modern. ;-)
They sent me 3 photo's yesterday that she got in advance from the photographer and here they are, don't they look wonderful together?
Walking through the beautiful town of Klundert in the province of North-Brabant in the Netherlands, where they got married in the beautiful old City Hall.
The wonderful old City Hall of the small Dutch town Klundert.
After the official part they had a small reception in the restaurant Bellevue in another small Dutch town, Willemstad.
Look at René doesn't he look handsome in his wonderful stylish suit? And what about the bride? Isn't she the most stunning bride you have ever seen? We think so!
We will have to wait for the other photo's and the video. When it arrives I will post more photo's because we both are mighty proud of course!
After a day of rest they went on their honeymoon to Aruba which was a wedding present from us and they had a wonderful exhilarating time, enjoyed the island, their beach and each other.
Hop over to their web site if you want to check out their honeymoon photo's and their blog, they have the most stunning photo's, makes you wish you could go there too!
Well now you're all up to date, next will be the report of the making of the porch in our mansion ;-)
# # #
I'm back! Yes I know it's been a while but I needed some time to regroup. My beautiful baby girl got married and I couldn't be there, that threw me off for a while. It's every mothers dream to see her daughter walking down in a beautiful wedding gown with the happiest smile ever on her face and I had to miss that. They had a videographer make video so we could watch it afterwards which is nice of course but still it hurts. Rotten illness, I was upset with myself for quite sometime like it was my fault for not healing quicker but alas, there was not much I could do. We now hope I will be well enough to witness the birth of my grandchild whenever that may be ;-)
At the day of the wedding we turned on our iChat(Apple's video chat, it was night for me of course and she had her laptop perched on the pillows on her bed so I could be part of the dressing ritual. She had friends helping her dress and we chatted along while they fastened the 80 small buttons on the back of her corset ;-) It was a strange and yet wonderful experience, strange because it felt like I was watching a reality show, like Big Brother or so. It felt like really really strange....... but I'm thankful that it was possible at all. I didn't want to miss it for anything.
She did her make up and hair herself of course, she's a licensed beautician, she knew exactly what and how she wanted it. She asked me to send her some kind of fluid that kept her make-up stay on the whole day and looking fresh. It wasn't available in the Netherlands so I send it to her, it worked really well, she looked stunning all through the day.
She looked absolutely gorgeous in her wedding gown, by far the prettiest bride I have ever seen, of course I might be a bit biased ;-)
She didn't know what her husband to be would look like, he kept his suit a secret and he went to his family home to get dressed and picked her up later. So that was a surprise, but he did very well buying a suit without her and look very handsome and modern. ;-)
They sent me 3 photo's yesterday that she got in advance from the photographer and here they are, don't they look wonderful together?
Please click the images to see a larger version!
Lydia and René in front of their American car
After the official part they had a small reception in the restaurant Bellevue in another small Dutch town, Willemstad.
Look at René doesn't he look handsome in his wonderful stylish suit? And what about the bride? Isn't she the most stunning bride you have ever seen? We think so!
We will have to wait for the other photo's and the video. When it arrives I will post more photo's because we both are mighty proud of course!
After a day of rest they went on their honeymoon to Aruba which was a wedding present from us and they had a wonderful exhilarating time, enjoyed the island, their beach and each other.
Hop over to their web site if you want to check out their honeymoon photo's and their blog, they have the most stunning photo's, makes you wish you could go there too!
Well now you're all up to date, next will be the report of the making of the porch in our mansion ;-)
# # #
Art work by the wonderful Vlad.
Had a lovely breakfast on the deck in the back yard, pups playing cats outside, birds singing and we're having a nice shadowy place to sit and read the Sunday newspaper.
Had a lovely breakfast on the deck in the back yard, pups playing cats outside, birds singing and we're having a nice shadowy place to sit and read the Sunday newspaper.
That's the thing I missed most when living in France, the Sunday newspaper. The nice thick, fat newspaper, with all kinds of interesting sections and loads and loads of inserts with ads from stores and coupons!
So had great coffee and the newspaper. because I have been so depressed about this whole isolation thing( read my other medical blog myalgicme, if you want to know the scoop.) W. suggested to go to the Powells bookstore so I could browse and browse and browse while he had coffee in the café and worked on a powerpoint presentation. Normally I shouldn't go out(the flu thing) but with the wonderful weather we guessed all people would be outdoors, and we were right. It was very quiet and the store was nice and cool. The new Powells in Beaverton has nice big aisles where I can easily drive through with my wheelchair. The old Powells has more ambiance but also small steps and stairs.
It was sooooooooooo good to be out of the house for a while! It lifted my spirits even more ;-) I bought some nice books, 3 cooking literature, a large herbal and natural healing book, an very expensive Digital Photography book by publisher DK and photographer Tom Ang and I love everything DK, it always has gorgeous lay-outs and beautiful pictures.
Anyway I stimulated the local economy and had a blast. I love to be surrounded by books! In the end it wore me out though, I wanted to go to the check-out and instead of using the backward handle I used the forward and collided with a book case that contained aluminum water bottles.
All went down in one horrible cacophony and I flushed like I was in menopause! Oh my gosh was that embarrassing! Luckily the store was nearly empty and the people were very nice reassuring me all was fine but still...... it was embarrassing!
I quickly went home and could laugh about myself, I had so much fun and it was the best afternoon I had in a long time! Wish all days could be like this! ;-)
# # #
Today was 92 F or 33.3 C! Can you say Hot Hot Hot? Thank God for central air!
It has been a while since my last entry, Memorial Day was here and that always throws me off, it takes me days to recover from a long weekend like that. Before that, isolation got to me and instead of reaching out and writing about it I draw back into my own private world.
Anyway, I finally took the bull by the horns and accepted the fact that we will not be moving homes anytime soon(not with these house prices!) and that if I want a house with a porch I will have to build one myself! Not with my own hands of course ha ha! Although many many moons ago I wouldn't have to think twice about that, I just did it.
Our neighbor's house has been on the market for 2 years and it finally sold last week. I don't know the details but my guess it is was for way less than they would have liked.
So we considered our options and as things go in our household we considered and considered but no action was taken. Last Monday I decided that it was time and jumped to Angieslist to check out the best contractors for the job.
Luckily we have a large area in front of the house that is suitable to build a porch.
This pic, taken last December when we had a pack of snow, shows the small front porch we already have and the 2 front windows, the right one is W. 's office the left is my office. The new porcht is going to run the whole length of the house which is 21 feet and will be about 6 feet wide with a white railing and ..... a trellis! (for my Dutch readers a trellis is a 'pergola'). The roof sticks out from the house and attached to that will be the trellis.
It will look something like this:
But not with those columns ;-) and no stairs either. ;-) Just wanted to show the railing and the trellis.
We choose nice composed material, that needs no maintenance and is surprisingly in the color of the siding. A greenish/gray for the deck, for the railing and trellis we choose white that goes nicely with the front doors and the windows.
It's going to be great, I can already imagine sitting there with my morning espresso or afternoon cuppa, evening coffee, in my rocking chair and the nice porch furniture I will need to find. I'd love to have some nice Adirondack chairs I think they will look great.
We'll just sit there and watch the world go by and have more contact with neighbors. At the back it's nice but isolated, very private, which can be a good thing but every now and than you just want to sit and watch and have some human contact.
The price was very reasonable and with this economy they are all looking for work and had competitive pricing, they can start next week and it will be finished in 3 days!
Will keep you posted how things are going and post photo's.
Next project will be the installation of tube skylights, the hallway is very dark because there are no windows, a few of those tube skylights will open it up and let the light in.
The very thought of realizing a small part of my American dream(having a home with a porch) has perked me up and I'm so looking forward to it!
# # #
It has been a while since my last entry, Memorial Day was here and that always throws me off, it takes me days to recover from a long weekend like that. Before that, isolation got to me and instead of reaching out and writing about it I draw back into my own private world.
Anyway, I finally took the bull by the horns and accepted the fact that we will not be moving homes anytime soon(not with these house prices!) and that if I want a house with a porch I will have to build one myself! Not with my own hands of course ha ha! Although many many moons ago I wouldn't have to think twice about that, I just did it.
Our neighbor's house has been on the market for 2 years and it finally sold last week. I don't know the details but my guess it is was for way less than they would have liked.
So we considered our options and as things go in our household we considered and considered but no action was taken. Last Monday I decided that it was time and jumped to Angieslist to check out the best contractors for the job.
Luckily we have a large area in front of the house that is suitable to build a porch.
This pic, taken last December when we had a pack of snow, shows the small front porch we already have and the 2 front windows, the right one is W. 's office the left is my office. The new porcht is going to run the whole length of the house which is 21 feet and will be about 6 feet wide with a white railing and ..... a trellis! (for my Dutch readers a trellis is a 'pergola'). The roof sticks out from the house and attached to that will be the trellis.
It will look something like this:
But not with those columns ;-) and no stairs either. ;-) Just wanted to show the railing and the trellis.
We choose nice composed material, that needs no maintenance and is surprisingly in the color of the siding. A greenish/gray for the deck, for the railing and trellis we choose white that goes nicely with the front doors and the windows.
It's going to be great, I can already imagine sitting there with my morning espresso or afternoon cuppa, evening coffee, in my rocking chair and the nice porch furniture I will need to find. I'd love to have some nice Adirondack chairs I think they will look great.
We'll just sit there and watch the world go by and have more contact with neighbors. At the back it's nice but isolated, very private, which can be a good thing but every now and than you just want to sit and watch and have some human contact.
The price was very reasonable and with this economy they are all looking for work and had competitive pricing, they can start next week and it will be finished in 3 days!
Will keep you posted how things are going and post photo's.
Next project will be the installation of tube skylights, the hallway is very dark because there are no windows, a few of those tube skylights will open it up and let the light in.
The very thought of realizing a small part of my American dream(having a home with a porch) has perked me up and I'm so looking forward to it!
# # #
75F or 24C, sunshine but raining at the moment, pouring to be exact at 23:38 or 11:38 PM
The weekend promises to be in the 80's again!
Last week I was on a roll and started my experiment of baking with Weetabix. Weetabix is my favorite breakfast cereal. it's better known in the UK but foodies at Trader Joes will know it also. it's a very healthy yummy crispy cruspy bar. It's got 95% of Organic Wholegrain Wheat, so it is very easy to bake with.
I searched for some recipes and decided to use 2 and adjusted them to our taste. They turned out pretty well and very tasty!
The first one is a recipe for Weetabix Muffins that I used to make Weetabix scones. I don't have a suitable muffin pan but do have a nice silicone scone pan for making small scones.
The taste was very nice I used espresso to flavor them with a hint of vanilla. I always wanted to bake some scones with espresso and these ones will definitely be on my regular list. Half of them had cinnamon bits in them and the other half brown sugar on top which made them sticky. I used milk and yogurt which also gave them an nice texture.
The second batch I made in the Weetabix experiment where crunchy bars. They had an interesting consistency, soft with crunchy bits in the inside and a nice choc taste.(made them with cocoa powder).
Next I will bake the scones with ginger and try my hand again at the fruit loaf, the fruit loaf requires soaking the Weetabix and fruit overnight and has been one of my favorites.
Project for next week will be this recipe I found about making Blondies(instead of Brownies) with white beans and lemon bars with silky tofu!
# # #
The weekend promises to be in the 80's again!
Last week I was on a roll and started my experiment of baking with Weetabix. Weetabix is my favorite breakfast cereal. it's better known in the UK but foodies at Trader Joes will know it also. it's a very healthy yummy crispy cruspy bar. It's got 95% of Organic Wholegrain Wheat, so it is very easy to bake with.
I searched for some recipes and decided to use 2 and adjusted them to our taste. They turned out pretty well and very tasty!
The first one is a recipe for Weetabix Muffins that I used to make Weetabix scones. I don't have a suitable muffin pan but do have a nice silicone scone pan for making small scones.
The taste was very nice I used espresso to flavor them with a hint of vanilla. I always wanted to bake some scones with espresso and these ones will definitely be on my regular list. Half of them had cinnamon bits in them and the other half brown sugar on top which made them sticky. I used milk and yogurt which also gave them an nice texture.
The second batch I made in the Weetabix experiment where crunchy bars. They had an interesting consistency, soft with crunchy bits in the inside and a nice choc taste.(made them with cocoa powder).
They were a bit crumbly after a day so I might need to adjust the moisture a bit. They were a hit with W. also and the dogs went after the crumbs like crazy, of course we shared one with them, what's the use of baking if you can't share hmm? Anyway, they were gone before I knew it and I definitely make a new batch soon.
Next I will bake the scones with ginger and try my hand again at the fruit loaf, the fruit loaf requires soaking the Weetabix and fruit overnight and has been one of my favorites.
Project for next week will be this recipe I found about making Blondies(instead of Brownies) with white beans and lemon bars with silky tofu!
# # #
64 F or 18 C t the moment at 11:58 PM or 22:58.
What a hectic day today! Had a lovely visit from the mobile groomer guy, he's such a nice guy and always in for a chat. Real nice person, sometimes you just come across people like that, who are just real nice. Not nice because they have to but from the inside out. ;-) Of course our cat walk was the conversation starter that it is. He was amazed by it and quite frankly everyone is. We're already so used to it but I guess for people coming into the house for the first time it is a shock to see a cat walk high up in the air with cat condo's attached to the ceiling. We're already thinking of expanding to the kitchen and into the sun room.
In any case Lotte loved him and he did a great job with her. She looks a lot younger again. The cute little face is back instead of the old dog that she looked like.
Below is Lotte before her make-over.
Below Lotte after her make-over! ;-)
How cute is she? ;-)
What we discussed today was of course the horrible attack on the Queen of the Netherlands and the Royal family, where 5 people died and 8 are wounded.
It's sad to see this happening in the country we still call home, or home country.
However we do notice that we have become a bit resilient against this kind of violence, not a week goes by here in the US or some kind of lunatic feels he or she has to shoot a class full of students, shoot people outside a disco, kill his whole family, kills people attending a church. It's not that we consider this as normal behavior but still, it happens so often you build up a kind of tolerance against horrible news like that. If you don't you will become depressed and anxious.
It's horrible what happened in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, but not less horrible was the shooting of innocent teens in Portland here on an exchange program and celebrating their stay by going to a disco. A disturbed person went out and shot 2 girls to death and wounded 7 others.
Not far from us, horrible things happen on a daily base. What worries me is that it seems to happen so often, people seems to want to make themselves immortal by acting out like that. I can't imagine what must have gone through their mind before deciding that would be a good idea. Could they be stopped somewhere in the process if we were able to recognize disturbing signs earlier? Probably not, most are typed as being loners, quiet and not very social. I do recognize that though, I too am an introvert and more than often wonder about the fact that people are not able to read me better. Apparently are introverts masters at disguising that. Worrisome though.
I do hope people in the Netherlands realize that celebrating Queensday has nothing to do with the act of one disturbed person. As Dutch citizens you have a right to celebrate one day in the year that you're Dutch and proud of it, don't let one lunatic take that away from you! It's an unique festival of being a child again and play funny games, drink lots of beer and visit the flea markets! Not that Dutch children drink beer but you get the point. ;-)
Well, that's it for today, W. cooked us dinner of grilled salmon, grilled asparagus and gnocchi with spinach. YUM! Weekend forecast is rain rain and rain or as we say in Oregon, liquid sunshine. ;-)
Have a good one!
# # #
What a hectic day today! Had a lovely visit from the mobile groomer guy, he's such a nice guy and always in for a chat. Real nice person, sometimes you just come across people like that, who are just real nice. Not nice because they have to but from the inside out. ;-) Of course our cat walk was the conversation starter that it is. He was amazed by it and quite frankly everyone is. We're already so used to it but I guess for people coming into the house for the first time it is a shock to see a cat walk high up in the air with cat condo's attached to the ceiling. We're already thinking of expanding to the kitchen and into the sun room.
In any case Lotte loved him and he did a great job with her. She looks a lot younger again. The cute little face is back instead of the old dog that she looked like.
Below is Lotte before her make-over.
Below Lotte after her make-over! ;-)
How cute is she? ;-)
What we discussed today was of course the horrible attack on the Queen of the Netherlands and the Royal family, where 5 people died and 8 are wounded.
It's sad to see this happening in the country we still call home, or home country.
However we do notice that we have become a bit resilient against this kind of violence, not a week goes by here in the US or some kind of lunatic feels he or she has to shoot a class full of students, shoot people outside a disco, kill his whole family, kills people attending a church. It's not that we consider this as normal behavior but still, it happens so often you build up a kind of tolerance against horrible news like that. If you don't you will become depressed and anxious.
It's horrible what happened in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, but not less horrible was the shooting of innocent teens in Portland here on an exchange program and celebrating their stay by going to a disco. A disturbed person went out and shot 2 girls to death and wounded 7 others.
Not far from us, horrible things happen on a daily base. What worries me is that it seems to happen so often, people seems to want to make themselves immortal by acting out like that. I can't imagine what must have gone through their mind before deciding that would be a good idea. Could they be stopped somewhere in the process if we were able to recognize disturbing signs earlier? Probably not, most are typed as being loners, quiet and not very social. I do recognize that though, I too am an introvert and more than often wonder about the fact that people are not able to read me better. Apparently are introverts masters at disguising that. Worrisome though.
I do hope people in the Netherlands realize that celebrating Queensday has nothing to do with the act of one disturbed person. As Dutch citizens you have a right to celebrate one day in the year that you're Dutch and proud of it, don't let one lunatic take that away from you! It's an unique festival of being a child again and play funny games, drink lots of beer and visit the flea markets! Not that Dutch children drink beer but you get the point. ;-)
Well, that's it for today, W. cooked us dinner of grilled salmon, grilled asparagus and gnocchi with spinach. YUM! Weekend forecast is rain rain and rain or as we say in Oregon, liquid sunshine. ;-)
Have a good one!
# # #
52 F or 11 C at the moment which is 11:28 PM or 23:28 depending what system you use. My iMac screen says 23:28 because that's what I'm used to.
I call this blog my daily blog except is hasn't been too daily lately. If you follow my M.E blog you will know I have been down in the dumps again after a dr. visit. Where did the time go that dr.'s would make you better, cure you instead of making you even more ill after a visit ;-) Ah.. the good ol' days, when you also still believed in Santa Claus.;-)
Besides all this I have been up to not much so not much to share either. Days pass without anything noticeable happening. I'm still looking for that contractor to build my porch and haven't found the energy to go after it but maybe this weekend will be a good time. Today was busy with ordering stuff online, if you're chronically ill and have a non-functioning immune system you need to be very careful with any new virus that comes along and that might swipe you out. This H1N1 influenza is a nasty one for people with already bad immune systems and my physician has given me the advice to stay away from public places, which means house arrest for the time being but one can't be too careful. Tonight the Oregon University announced it will close it's Western campus due to the influenza being discovered there. If it's discovered at such a large institution with so many children attending it will spread rapidly.
I took a good look at my homeopathic box and saw I had to update it with the most necessary solutions, if push comes to shove I don't want to have to scramble for homeopathic meds I want to be able to grab something if needed. It makes me feel prepared for anything. I was so lucky to located a box of N99 and N95 masks also, I saw them sold out online at many places already.
Ordered cat and doggy food in bulk from Amazon and K9cuisine.com a wonderful company with healthy dog and cat food and free shipping with FedEx and pretty fast, they ship the same day! Excellent service. Tomorrow will order groceries etc. Unfortunately Alberstons stopped home delivery so we now have only Safeway and NewSeasonsMarket left, that's okay we're lucky to still have home delivery at all I think!
I have all my supplements and meds updated and in stock so I'm good to go ;-)
On other home related news Fynn puppy has been promoted to twice a week doggy day care because he was such a good social and well behaved boy! At the daycare they take photo's every day it's fun to see them play.
Here are some pics of Fynn in Doggy Day Care.
Our Lotte will have her spa day tomorrow, the mobile groomers will be here at 10:00 AM to give her her summer cut. Will post before and after pics!
# # #
I call this blog my daily blog except is hasn't been too daily lately. If you follow my M.E blog you will know I have been down in the dumps again after a dr. visit. Where did the time go that dr.'s would make you better, cure you instead of making you even more ill after a visit ;-) Ah.. the good ol' days, when you also still believed in Santa Claus.;-)
Besides all this I have been up to not much so not much to share either. Days pass without anything noticeable happening. I'm still looking for that contractor to build my porch and haven't found the energy to go after it but maybe this weekend will be a good time. Today was busy with ordering stuff online, if you're chronically ill and have a non-functioning immune system you need to be very careful with any new virus that comes along and that might swipe you out. This H1N1 influenza is a nasty one for people with already bad immune systems and my physician has given me the advice to stay away from public places, which means house arrest for the time being but one can't be too careful. Tonight the Oregon University announced it will close it's Western campus due to the influenza being discovered there. If it's discovered at such a large institution with so many children attending it will spread rapidly.
I took a good look at my homeopathic box and saw I had to update it with the most necessary solutions, if push comes to shove I don't want to have to scramble for homeopathic meds I want to be able to grab something if needed. It makes me feel prepared for anything. I was so lucky to located a box of N99 and N95 masks also, I saw them sold out online at many places already.
Ordered cat and doggy food in bulk from Amazon and K9cuisine.com a wonderful company with healthy dog and cat food and free shipping with FedEx and pretty fast, they ship the same day! Excellent service. Tomorrow will order groceries etc. Unfortunately Alberstons stopped home delivery so we now have only Safeway and NewSeasonsMarket left, that's okay we're lucky to still have home delivery at all I think!
I have all my supplements and meds updated and in stock so I'm good to go ;-)
On other home related news Fynn puppy has been promoted to twice a week doggy day care because he was such a good social and well behaved boy! At the daycare they take photo's every day it's fun to see them play.
Here are some pics of Fynn in Doggy Day Care.
Our Lotte will have her spa day tomorrow, the mobile groomers will be here at 10:00 AM to give her her summer cut. Will post before and after pics!
# # #
Today 57 F or 13 C. Cold wind feels like 37 F or 3 C ! But the sun is out so we can't complain too much!
It's been a while since I updated my blog, if you read my other blogs you'll know I have been busy with a litter of Border Collie pups we had in rescue and on my Myalgic blog I record and whine and sigh about my illness. i have been very ill the last few months and really couldn't do much, couldn't use my hand and arms as they were numb, so no hobbies and artwork or even crocheting which I so much looked forward to! I started a afghan a couple of months ago and than the side effects of my medication set in and the nerves in my arms and hands got pinched and they became numb.
It's really devastating and depressing if you have a chronic illness and art or hobbies are the only thing that give your life still meaning and you can't do that anymore. I became really depressed about the whole thing and even typing was a problem. I have acupuncture since 2 weeks and it feels like I can do a little bit here and there again. I redesigned some blogs, designed a blog for my daughter who is getting married in June, jaaaaaaayyyyy! And now it's time to start writing daily again so I can keep track on what is happening and how am I doing and also keep my friends and family informed.
Spring is slow here in Oregon this year, it's almost May and the trees start to show a bit of their blossom but it's so fragile a winter storm puts an end to the blossom very quickly. I desperately long for some sunnier days that we can sit outside and be entertained by our new pup. yes we kept a pup from the litter we rescued, he's adorable and his name is Fynn.
Here is a slide show of his photos, isn't he the cutest ever?
He has been a wonderful addition to our family and provides us with lots of laughter and joy. We have a reason to get out now again, to the doggy park and do other fun stuff. Him coming into our lives was meant to be. ;-)
We're planning to build a porch in front of the house, under the bedroom windows with a white fence so we can sit comfortably outside and have more contact with the neighborhood. I'm now on a quest to find a decent contractor, one who knows what he's doing! I'm very excited about the whole project and think it's going to lookm wonderful. I always wanted a home with an old fashioned porch and some comfy chairs, geraniums om the fence, and a nice cuppa tea and a good book on the side. What more can one want? ;-)
# # #
It's been a while since I updated my blog, if you read my other blogs you'll know I have been busy with a litter of Border Collie pups we had in rescue and on my Myalgic blog I record and whine and sigh about my illness. i have been very ill the last few months and really couldn't do much, couldn't use my hand and arms as they were numb, so no hobbies and artwork or even crocheting which I so much looked forward to! I started a afghan a couple of months ago and than the side effects of my medication set in and the nerves in my arms and hands got pinched and they became numb.
It's really devastating and depressing if you have a chronic illness and art or hobbies are the only thing that give your life still meaning and you can't do that anymore. I became really depressed about the whole thing and even typing was a problem. I have acupuncture since 2 weeks and it feels like I can do a little bit here and there again. I redesigned some blogs, designed a blog for my daughter who is getting married in June, jaaaaaaayyyyy! And now it's time to start writing daily again so I can keep track on what is happening and how am I doing and also keep my friends and family informed.
Spring is slow here in Oregon this year, it's almost May and the trees start to show a bit of their blossom but it's so fragile a winter storm puts an end to the blossom very quickly. I desperately long for some sunnier days that we can sit outside and be entertained by our new pup. yes we kept a pup from the litter we rescued, he's adorable and his name is Fynn.
Here is a slide show of his photos, isn't he the cutest ever?
He has been a wonderful addition to our family and provides us with lots of laughter and joy. We have a reason to get out now again, to the doggy park and do other fun stuff. Him coming into our lives was meant to be. ;-)
We're planning to build a porch in front of the house, under the bedroom windows with a white fence so we can sit comfortably outside and have more contact with the neighborhood. I'm now on a quest to find a decent contractor, one who knows what he's doing! I'm very excited about the whole project and think it's going to lookm wonderful. I always wanted a home with an old fashioned porch and some comfy chairs, geraniums om the fence, and a nice cuppa tea and a good book on the side. What more can one want? ;-)
# # #
Today 42 F or 5 C. Still cold, rainy and generally somber weather. The trees do start to show their pink blossoms and with that allergies arrive! Yesterday we have hail as big as jelly beans, strange strange weather, I hope our community farm is doing well and that we will have a good harvest this year despite the horrible spring.
I did a spring cleaning and redecorated my blog. Am very happy with, looks great and fun if I may say so.
I did a spring cleaning and redecorated my blog. Am very happy with, looks great and fun if I may say so.
Today 32° F or 1° C.
Brrrrrrr Cold!
Snow and hail on this March day!
As you can see I have done a major overhaul of this blog, new design, new start. The past year I have been too ill to even consider writing other than my personal journal.
It was a for me very traumatic year, my dearly beloved, my heart and soul dog Gwen was diagnosed with Lymphoma cancer and died on May 8th in my arms.
Brrrrrrr Cold!
Snow and hail on this March day!
As you can see I have done a major overhaul of this blog, new design, new start. The past year I have been too ill to even consider writing other than my personal journal.
It was a for me very traumatic year, my dearly beloved, my heart and soul dog Gwen was diagnosed with Lymphoma cancer and died on May 8th in my arms.
Today 86° F or 30° C
Took me a few days to get used to these new and hot temperatures. The last few days were horrible. We reached a 102° F or 39° C. Not fun, thank god for airco. So no morning espresso under the tree for the first time in a year. The dogs were very confused with this new schedule and kept running to the door to the sun room aka 'thesauna' to go outside. But overnight we went from 102 to 86 again, my joints are killing me because of these temperature switches but the cooler temps are fine with me although 86 is not exactly cool of course ;-)
We had a fun weekend, we went to the Oregon Lavender Festival, a festival were participating farmers open up their farms and share their harvest, you can either u-pick or buy already cut. Of course u-pick is much more fun ;-)
We visited a couple of farms and than went to the town of Yamhill, the center of the festival, there were artisans, music, BBQ, food and drink, and of course a market where you could buy all things lavender. At the food stall we bought a lunch box for a picnic, it contained a sandwich of your choice, veggies, lavender cookies, a bottle of water and a bag of chips.
The drive from our home through the 'boonies' was spectacular, some roads were just dirt roads but the views were gorgeous. We often forget that we do live in a valley and just a few minutes from our home we are in farm and wine country in the hills.
Mt.Hood and Mt. Bachelor were clearly visible from our drive, majestic with their white snowy tops in the clear blue sky.
The first farm we visited was our CSA farm(Community Supported Agriculuture), the farm Gaining Ground Farm of Mike and Jill Paine who provide us each week with wonderful fresh veggies, goat cheese and eggs.
They were on our way so we thought we would stop by to say hello and see where our veggies actually come from. Unfortunately no-one was at home, of course they were all busy in the fields. We did meet the dogs though who were happy to see us ;-)
So off we went to the first Lavender farm a couple of farms up on the road, the Wayward Winds Lavender Farm. We had to park in the field were a lovely young girl provide us with a shuttle up the hill to the farm. There were lovely lavender fields, all different kinds, chairs and tables under the giant trees and we could buy lavender lemonade, lavender ice tea and lavender ice.
Different kinds of lavender
The bees were busy buzzing and doing their job to make lavender honey, the atmosphere was very zen-like and I bought some lavender ice-tea and sat under the tree while W. took it upon him to cut a bunch of lavender. They had tie-wraps and you could cut as much lavender as you could fit in a tie-wrap for $5.
I took a wonderful photo(below) of the result of W.'s hard labor. Click on the image to hop over to my Lavender Festival Album to see them all. Photo's were all taken with my lovely new iPhone. :-)
W. brought 2 lavender ice-cream sandwiches back with him, which tasted very good but not much like lavender. The ice-tea did very much taste like lavender and the combination with the mint was very successful.
After we were rested we took the shuttle downhill to the car and drove to Yamhill to pick up a lunch box and were than off to the next farm on our list the WillaKenzie Farm, which not only had lavender but also Alpacas.
The Willakenzie farm was huge with rows and rows of lavender, the smell combined with the warm weather took me straight back to France, the Provence.
The owners directed us to a shaded area with wooden benches where we ate our lunch. It was so nice to just sit out there and enjoy the beautiful view which did resembled France, we suspected to hear people speaking French and also unpacking their lunches at any moment. ;-)
It was idyllic!
The kind of 'sad' looking trees you see in the front are called Weeping Sequoia's! ;-)
For me this was enough fun, I was getting tired and was ready to go home, but before we went we had to se the Alpacas. They were so gorgeous and funny, they just had a haircut and all looked so happy. Funny things is with Alpacas that you really can see that they all have different personalities and all look different. Their wool is absolutely the softest you have ever felt. One of my big dreams was to have a few acres one day and raise Alpacas, I think they make wonderful farm animals and pets.
Aren't they cute?
We bravely got into the car, which was extremely hot and had a nice drive home. All in all we had been out till 4:00 PM, the dogs were happy to see us and I was happy to be home again and grateful that I was able to go out and enjoy that wonderful day. Unfortunately there are less and less days that I can go out for that long period of time but when I can I'm thankful. Of course I had to pay for it the next days with extreme exhaustion and brain fog and pain but it was worth it.
Took me a few days to get used to these new and hot temperatures. The last few days were horrible. We reached a 102° F or 39° C. Not fun, thank god for airco. So no morning espresso under the tree for the first time in a year. The dogs were very confused with this new schedule and kept running to the door to the sun room aka 'thesauna' to go outside. But overnight we went from 102 to 86 again, my joints are killing me because of these temperature switches but the cooler temps are fine with me although 86 is not exactly cool of course ;-)
We had a fun weekend, we went to the Oregon Lavender Festival, a festival were participating farmers open up their farms and share their harvest, you can either u-pick or buy already cut. Of course u-pick is much more fun ;-)
We visited a couple of farms and than went to the town of Yamhill, the center of the festival, there were artisans, music, BBQ, food and drink, and of course a market where you could buy all things lavender. At the food stall we bought a lunch box for a picnic, it contained a sandwich of your choice, veggies, lavender cookies, a bottle of water and a bag of chips.
The drive from our home through the 'boonies' was spectacular, some roads were just dirt roads but the views were gorgeous. We often forget that we do live in a valley and just a few minutes from our home we are in farm and wine country in the hills.
Mt.Hood and Mt. Bachelor were clearly visible from our drive, majestic with their white snowy tops in the clear blue sky.
The first farm we visited was our CSA farm(Community Supported Agriculuture), the farm Gaining Ground Farm of Mike and Jill Paine who provide us each week with wonderful fresh veggies, goat cheese and eggs.
They were on our way so we thought we would stop by to say hello and see where our veggies actually come from. Unfortunately no-one was at home, of course they were all busy in the fields. We did meet the dogs though who were happy to see us ;-)
So off we went to the first Lavender farm a couple of farms up on the road, the Wayward Winds Lavender Farm. We had to park in the field were a lovely young girl provide us with a shuttle up the hill to the farm. There were lovely lavender fields, all different kinds, chairs and tables under the giant trees and we could buy lavender lemonade, lavender ice tea and lavender ice.
The bees were busy buzzing and doing their job to make lavender honey, the atmosphere was very zen-like and I bought some lavender ice-tea and sat under the tree while W. took it upon him to cut a bunch of lavender. They had tie-wraps and you could cut as much lavender as you could fit in a tie-wrap for $5.
I took a wonderful photo(below) of the result of W.'s hard labor. Click on the image to hop over to my Lavender Festival Album to see them all. Photo's were all taken with my lovely new iPhone. :-)
W. brought 2 lavender ice-cream sandwiches back with him, which tasted very good but not much like lavender. The ice-tea did very much taste like lavender and the combination with the mint was very successful.
After we were rested we took the shuttle downhill to the car and drove to Yamhill to pick up a lunch box and were than off to the next farm on our list the WillaKenzie Farm, which not only had lavender but also Alpacas.
The Willakenzie farm was huge with rows and rows of lavender, the smell combined with the warm weather took me straight back to France, the Provence.
The owners directed us to a shaded area with wooden benches where we ate our lunch. It was so nice to just sit out there and enjoy the beautiful view which did resembled France, we suspected to hear people speaking French and also unpacking their lunches at any moment. ;-)
The kind of 'sad' looking trees you see in the front are called Weeping Sequoia's! ;-)
For me this was enough fun, I was getting tired and was ready to go home, but before we went we had to se the Alpacas. They were so gorgeous and funny, they just had a haircut and all looked so happy. Funny things is with Alpacas that you really can see that they all have different personalities and all look different. Their wool is absolutely the softest you have ever felt. One of my big dreams was to have a few acres one day and raise Alpacas, I think they make wonderful farm animals and pets.
We bravely got into the car, which was extremely hot and had a nice drive home. All in all we had been out till 4:00 PM, the dogs were happy to see us and I was happy to be home again and grateful that I was able to go out and enjoy that wonderful day. Unfortunately there are less and less days that I can go out for that long period of time but when I can I'm thankful. Of course I had to pay for it the next days with extreme exhaustion and brain fog and pain but it was worth it.
72° F or 20° C at the moment.
Very exciting day yesterday, the day started out very depressed, or I was depressed not the day. Just fed up with being ill, feeling horrible and it pain 24/7.
But in the evening W. took me shopping and we went to the wonderful shopping center called Bridgeport, it's got nice small stores with lots of cafe's and terraces. We went to the AT&T store because as you all of course know yesterday was the launch of the long awaited iPhone and of course I have one. I heard horror stories about 13hour line ups and people camping for 2 days in front of the store. But we just could walk in, no line nothing and walked out 10 minutes later with an 8 Gig iPhone. Nothing lifts a girl's mood better than some retail therapy. My taste is a bit different, I don't shop for clothes or make-up, you can't make me any happier that take me shopping for a gadget. I looooove my gadgets.
Everything you've heard about the iPhone is true, it's gorgeous, it's absolutely stunning. Worked like a charm with my home wifi network, I can now browse the web, make calls, watch a video, read my email, wherever I am. I'm such a lucky girl!
Stunning piece of hard/software!
I can now sit on my bench in the yard, drinking my morning espresso, throw the dog's frisbee, read the newspaper and if want to, read some email or do some shopping.
Below is a pic of my bench where I drink my coffee every morning, it's under a giant pine tree that shelters me from the rain and sun. I sat there in the winter, fall, spring, year round. Every morning I will drink my coffee there. Unless it's raining cats and dogs, than Gwen, the dog, doesn't want to to outside ;-)
My Coffee 'Klatsch' bench, with the KittyPenthouse and Nyx in her hammock. ;-)
The dangerous item with the red handles you see lying on the bench is my 'gopher'. I use it to pick up the frisbee so I don't keel over and faint every time I bend over. Very handy item!
Bench from the other side, with a view of the Kittywalk and Kitty Penthouse.
Very exciting day yesterday, the day started out very depressed, or I was depressed not the day. Just fed up with being ill, feeling horrible and it pain 24/7.
But in the evening W. took me shopping and we went to the wonderful shopping center called Bridgeport, it's got nice small stores with lots of cafe's and terraces. We went to the AT&T store because as you all of course know yesterday was the launch of the long awaited iPhone and of course I have one. I heard horror stories about 13hour line ups and people camping for 2 days in front of the store. But we just could walk in, no line nothing and walked out 10 minutes later with an 8 Gig iPhone. Nothing lifts a girl's mood better than some retail therapy. My taste is a bit different, I don't shop for clothes or make-up, you can't make me any happier that take me shopping for a gadget. I looooove my gadgets.
Everything you've heard about the iPhone is true, it's gorgeous, it's absolutely stunning. Worked like a charm with my home wifi network, I can now browse the web, make calls, watch a video, read my email, wherever I am. I'm such a lucky girl!
I can now sit on my bench in the yard, drinking my morning espresso, throw the dog's frisbee, read the newspaper and if want to, read some email or do some shopping.
Below is a pic of my bench where I drink my coffee every morning, it's under a giant pine tree that shelters me from the rain and sun. I sat there in the winter, fall, spring, year round. Every morning I will drink my coffee there. Unless it's raining cats and dogs, than Gwen, the dog, doesn't want to to outside ;-)
My Coffee 'Klatsch' bench, with the KittyPenthouse and Nyx in her hammock. ;-)
The dangerous item with the red handles you see lying on the bench is my 'gopher'. I use it to pick up the frisbee so I don't keel over and faint every time I bend over. Very handy item!
Bench from the other side, with a view of the Kittywalk and Kitty Penthouse.
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