SUMMER!

With the arrival of summer I want to enjoy the quickly passing months.  This summer is different for me.  For the first time in many years I don't have a grandkid trip to plan for and enjoy.  There have been 18 and 1 to go. She is only 7 so there is a lapse of 3-5 years before we go again.  This is a stay at home summer...staycation as the modern term goes.  I want to remind myself every day that it is SUMMER!  Relax and enjoy...while getting some much needed cleaning done.  

There is a blue jay that hangs around.  She sits on top of the neighbor's pine tree.  I imagine she is queen and reigns over her territory with a bird's eye view (ha, ha).   

A few days ago she landed in my hobbit garden with a prize morsel in her mouth.

Three (tree) reasons I love Vancouver!

The big and the small!!

My Favorite!!

They are redwoods, also known as sequoia.

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I've had a bunny living in my front lawn.  He leaves abundant droppings as he enjoys the grass but also turns it brown from nesting. I read that bunnies do not like red pepper so sprinkling it around the yard might move them out.  

"A rabbit lay here..."

I applied the red pepper therapy a couple weeks ago, hoping it would work...unless they are Hispanic and then there would be 6 for dinner that night.

I have not seen a bunny since!!

What does one do when home alone on a rainy Friday evening??

How about fresh home made banana bread?  I don't care for bananas but I do like banana bread!

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Front yard tree trimming time...

Love it when the Irish moss is in full bloom with tiny white flowers!

I think this is called the strawberry moon!  It was yellowish in the sky.

Debbie invited me to fresh made pasta lunch on the Vancouver waterfront. Yummy outing with Debbie, Angie, Carole, Gram G!

A three generation stroll along the Columbia River!

Creekside Park hosted a community wide garage sale this past weekend.  I had Jake haul out several boxes of stuff for me to go through and get rid of at the sale.  I was having a stressful week.  That's when Deb invited me to pasta lunch and suggested, "Forget the garage sale".  Now I'm glad I did.  

So now the several boxes will sit patiently until I leisurely decide how to be rid of them.  Stuff I brought out here almost 11 years ago!

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IT'S HERE!!  WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR ALL THESE MONTHS!!!

The next chapter in Gram G's life story!!  I'm trying to get back to writing a first draft, chapter by chapter.  Life has gotten all absorbing.  Truthfully, I'm trying to do too many activities and mostly end up not finishing them.  I invite you to check out "Chapter 12...To the Nunnery" in the "pages" bar.  

REFLECTIONS 

It is SUMMER in Vancouver, Washington.  I am resolved to enjoy hanging out here for the summer months for the first time since I moved out 10 years ago.  My restless self wants to hop a plane and travel somewhere.  I hope to experience the satisfaction of tending to home matters, hanging out with family and visiting local attractions.  So with Olaf I sing, "SUMMER!".

This has been a good three GeoGram weeks in the life of Gram G.

"While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease." (Genesis 8:22)

When It's Springtime in the PNW

 

Someone said recently that spring in 

the PNW is bibolar...I agree.  It also makes one bipolar.

After coming off the rainy winter months my backyard outdoor living space is messy with dirty floors.  It requires scrubbing to get off the stains from rotting leaves.  I am at the age where when there is a challenge requiring physical effort I ponder the work for at least an hour or two, maybe a day or two.  I need to consider if the effort is worth the reward of accomplishment.  Then once I decide it is then much strategic planning goes into formulating the easiest way to obtain the goal.  That takes about another hour.  Gathering supplies can take 15-60 minutes depending on availability and one's energy level.  So it went one sunny afternoon in March before rain would set in for another 7 days and temperatures got too cold or too hot. The reward of a clean painted cement floor was worth the effort!  The actual work was about 2 hours with a recovery time of 2 days.  But...SO nice to sit in my little hobbit garden!

Start of the outdoor eating season!

Thai lunch with Kahana...

Time to share my Maui visit, 

her home Island

Thai Tea, cold or hot...delicious! 

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Angie and Gram G Wild Flower Adventure

We have been trying for several months to get together for an outing.  Finally happened April 30!

Heading to the Columbia River Gorge on a mild, though very windy Sunday afternoon

Multnomah Falls view from the Highway...

Into the wilderness

Catherine Creek to check out the wild flowers

Deep slit in the rocky ground;

One determined evergreen tree

Choppy waters on the Columbia River

Old Time Homestead

Evening in the Columbia River Gorge!

Wind so strong it rolled up a large cloud!!

 FUN day!!

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May 11 our Creekside Garden Club visited the "Rhoddis" in south Portland

Only 3 of us were able to go, but a lovely day with new friends and stunning flowers!

A Dawn Redwood...

a fast growing endangered deciduous conifer 

native to south central China.

It's needles are so soft!

Even saw an eagle!

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Mother's Day at the Millers!

Zach, Jake, Micaela, Angie, Deb, Keys

doggies Tyson and Gracie

Fresh generations! 

Jake, Micaela, Angie, Zach, Rosie

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What was That???

I walked barefoot out onto the back deck a couple weeks ago; stepped down and felt wet under my foot.  I stepped on a tree frog!  The poor thing tried hopping away, just it's right side moving.  I apologized to it, hoping it would be alright.  The last I saw it was hopping almost normal.  I wished it a good life and to go make a bunch of baby tree frogs.

Size perspective...

Time to say good night to Springtime and good morning to Summer!!

Here's hoping it will be warm, sunny and enjoyable!

REFLECTIONS 

It is refreshing to be able to get outside and enjoy the beauty God has put on this earth!

This has been a good 2 GeoGram weeks in the life of Gram G. 

"For behold, the winter is passed, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth once again; the time for singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land." (Song of Songs 2:10-16)