I LOVE IT WHEN SOMETHING GOES RIGHT

Sometimes things just work out right and by this I mean Mother Nature's beauty.  All four of these beautiful blooming flowers are within five feet of my front door.

 

This basket is full of these blossoms in yellow, red and purple.  I am not sure what they are called but they sure know how to put on a show. 

               This is an astilbe plant and  one of my favorite perennials.  I just love the plumes of pink.

 

 

Hosta plants are grown more for their beautiful leaves with variegated leaf colors but they do also send up flowers too.  The blooms don't last long but these are just in their prime.



 

 

 

 

 

This hydrangea is just starting to bloom.  It was a Mother's Day gift a few years ago from my son and daughter-in-law and had pink blossoms on it but when I planted it into the flower garden it switched over to purple.  These plants will do that depending on the fertilizer you use. 

Along with crafting I love gardening, (well not the work as much as the results) and find lots of pleasure in watching plants thrive.

Early Summer Family Stuff

It seems the summer season is upon us here in the PNW; mild temperatures, sunshine and a little rain here and there, flowers blooming, baseball, strawberry season and a ballet recital.

 

Little Miss Dawson had her first ballet recital on May 31st.  Here she is with her bouquet of flowers from her mom and dad.



My son Dustin and my hubby Jim waiting for the recital to begin.  I believe they were talking about motorcycles and all the fun days ahead for them to go riding.  They have both waited patiently (or maybe not so patiently) for some dry weather so they can get in some trail riding.

 

 

Grandson's Matthew and Spencer kept us busy all spring with baseball games.  They will soon be moving across the state to the Spokane area.  That is going to be tough on this grandma, they have never lived more than 10 miles from us.

 

(Matthew)

(Spencer)

 

I just love it when the flowers start blooming, early June seems to just burst with colors.

These iris's really took off this year.  Last year there were maybe 6 blooms on the whole plant, this year they decided to put on a big show.



Of course my hostas always do well in this bed which is on the north side of the house.

 

This is my hardy geranium in full bloom.  The honey bees absolutely love this plant.

Here are some planters I have planted for the deck.  I am not sure how much longer the pansies are going to tolerate the weather though, they detest heat and we are coming into the warmer weather for July and August..

 

 I am loving New Guinea impatiens, these are starting to put on a show.

I don't usually keep signs when I make them but I really liked this one so it has found a new home on my front porch.

Here is a watering can I have had for awhile and had the brainy idea of giving it a makeover.  It is just vinyl that I cut with my Silhouette cutting machine.

What would early summer be without a few batches of strawberry freezer jam?

This is such a treat in the middle of winter.

 

Well that's all the happenings from around our house for the month of June, I am looking up forward to the next couple of months of beautiful summer weather.

OUR TRIP TO PARADISE

I honestly never thought we would ever get to Hawaii.  It has always been on my wish list but we have never been the traveling type, mainly because we never had the extra money while raising our family and maybe because we enjoy our little portion of the world and spend quite a bit of time camping.

Luckily for us we have some very wonderful friends that coaxed us into venturing out of our little world.  They also couldn't believe that we had never flown before and they wanted to see it with their own eyes.  All in all, six couples went (I somehow managed to not get a group picture, darn it)  and what a fun bunch they were.  We were guests at Bellows Air Force Station for our stay,

 two of the guys are retired military and part of their benefits include access to some of the most beautiful private beaches in Hawaii (Oahu)

 

WARNING:  Many photo's to follow and I must add that I forgot the battery to my good camera at home so I had to use my camera phone to take pictures.

 

Our arrival.



 

 

Our first order of business was to tour Pearl Harbor.  The next two photo's are images I got off the Internet, this particular photo is of the memorial over the U.S.S Arizona.  What a sobering and humbling experience to know that many bodies are still in the hull of the ship of the men who lost their lives in the attack.  There is such a feeling of reverence when you stand there.

 

 

 

 

This is the sunrise on the first morning we were there.  Although it was cloudy that morning it was warm out and the water was just the perfect temperature to swim in.

 

Here is hubby Jim on the beach that was literally 100 feet from the front of the cabin we were staying in.

This was "our" beach.

The tide was in here and the water was up to the rocks but we were still able to swim, which we did every morning at 6:30 a.m.

 

 

John, Dan and Jim.  You just couldn't keep these guys out of the water.

 The photo's don't do justice to how beautiful the water was.

 

 

The moon was full and certainly added to the romance and ambiance.

 

Here is the La'ie Temple (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), it was gorgeous and we were able to attend a session while we were there which was very special.

I believe these are hibiscus flowers which were all around the temple.

Next we were on to the Polynesian Cultural Center.  All I can say is if you EVER get the chance to go there it is so very well worth your time.  Fantastic entertainment from all the Polynesian islands including Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, Tahiti, New Zealand and others.

The ladies in yellow are from Tahiti and boy can they shake what their mama's gave them.  Notice the one in the middle and how high the right side of her hips are.

Dan and Kathy were our room buddies, we certainly enjoyed them and their easy going, laid back personalities.

Here is Jim and I at the Luau at the PCC.  Notice my funky bangs?  No amount of straightening and hairspray could keep them from curling.

 

 

The moon put on quite a show for our final night in paradise...

 

We certainly enjoyed our time on Oahu but seriously six days just wasn't enough time.  Oh shucks, I guess we will have to go for two weeks next time.