Why we own rubber boots...

For walking across the wetlands...

...to look for cool junk.

I love my rubber boots.

ttfn

Not a lot to say....

It's February flu weather and the whole family is getting their share. I've had stomach flu twice in the last 3 weeks. It's Mick's turn today.

We've passed the current birthday onslaught: 5 family b-days in 5 weeks. We have a 3 month reprieve till the next onslaught.

I've been popping around in my photos and remembering people and places with a smile. Here's a few for you to see.

We always enjoy our few visitors from down south. Last summer my cousin Tim and his wife Karen passed through on a cruise ship. They're from Oklahoma. (That alone warms my heart).

They're both easygoing and fun and it was great having them here for even just a few hours.

Here's a small totem pole in a neighbor's yard. Too bad it's deteriorating,

but it's sorta cool even in this shape.

Felix being Rudolph. He's such a kick!

Here again are some shots from my window at work.

(I'm not posting them to make anyone jealous of my view all day)!

These were taken on different days this winter.

It's a pretty great view, even in bad weather.

TTFN...

Proof that I'm still alive...

Well, would ya look at me! I am determined to try, yet again this year, to blog at least once a month. So here it is, the last couple of hours of January and I'm just squeaking by.

My last blog was in August, and lots has happened since then: a driving trip south with Keely and Luna, the arrival of baby Penelope, the passing away of Mick's dad, holidays, birthdays. Well, this isn't necessarily a diary, so I'll be posting whatever hits my fancy for the moment.

And for this moment: I've been looking at some pics we took on a rainy walk last fall. Thus the new picture in the heading. This walk was so much fun.

I love: wearing extra tufs

Moss hanging from trees

Dead salmon in the fall (when Molly doesn't roll in them)

How green and lush everything is

Hope you enjoy these pics.

TTFN...

People

I almost forgot that I wanted to post a few people pix.

Here are some of my favorites from the last few months.

Sweet baby Jude

Beautiful Ruby

Felix aka Dennis the Menace

(sorry for the picture quality)

Asher as the Star Wars cowboy

Luna on a crazy man's lap

and our sweet flower Keely

In just a few weeks we'll be adding grandbaby #7. How blessed are we!?

Kitchen window

I love my kitchen window.

Thirteen years ago when we remodeled this house and Mick first put it in I was disappointed. I did not ask for this window. I thought I was going to get a regular window with a nice little 6 inch sill to put a few plants on. I'm glad Mick made a different decision. I love that I can put my nature treasures in it and see them daily.

I think one of my most favorite things ever is to walk beaches, trails, wherever. I'm not a big hiker, mind you. A lot of my walking would even be considered wandering. I'm always on the lookout for a new treasure.

Confession: while sorting a lot of stuff lately, I unearthed BOXES of seashells and beach glass. They've accumulated over time, and have come from beaches, garage sales, etc. I also have jars of shells and beach glass on display in almost every room of my house. I border on hoarding! But alas, I'm not a real hoarder, as I am very happy to get rid of many. But I cannot part with the sweet feather-lined bird nest I found in our yard. Or the fossilized shell from a garage sale. Or the pieces of Robin's eggs found on a hike. Or the sheep's head shaped rock. Or the.....

ttfn

Does anyone ever really keep new years resolutions?

So much for monthly blogging! I get so caught up in reading other blogs that I've forgotten my own. I finally got some tips on how to resize my photos for uploading on the blog so am ready to jump back in here. It would take forever to upload a picture before, now it's just seconds! Thanks Hannah.

In May we did a lot of lawn work. Mick tilled up the high areas to knock them down a little, then we had some sand and topsoil brought in to fill the lower areas that were lakes during the rainy times. It was a couple of weekends of labor, but the after picture shows that it was worth it. (and hey, a little extra cardio workout is good for ya). We did the front, side and back yards.

Asher is king of the mountain!

As you can see, the before picture was taken before anything had budded out new leaves, and the after picture was a month later when everything was green.

We also re-did our raspberry bed in front.

You can't tell in this picture, but the rock area was beginning to lean, so now there's a good brick foundation.

Before:

After:

I've been meaning to clean up one side of the "wild mound" for years now, so finally got to that too. (We had lots of sunny days for yard work this spring). Here's the mound just after I started on it. It's about 10 feet wide and 4-5 feet back. I've added more plants and look forward to next year when everything bushes out more.

All the flowers around the house are so beautiful.

My hostas just get bigger and bigger. They're 4 feet wide now.

I've been nice to the spiders and haven't been sweeping away their webs.

And lastly...

The worms are HUGE this year. Here's a mama robin with a mouthful at Hannah's house.

And here's one of the babies she was feeding.

I'll post people pix next time. Ta ta for now.

Yowzah! Is it true that April is nearly gone?!

So here are a few pics from my new camera (Panasonic Lumix point & shoot). I'm pretty happy with it; just need to learn better picture taking and how to use settings.

I have one question: who are these kids and why are they always in my camera???

I did warn you that a lot of my pics would include grandkids! These are the first four. The next three are below:

Ruby, second from left in mama Ashleigh's arms; Jude, second from right in mama Hannah's belly; and surprise baby number 7, far right in mama DeAnna's belly.

One perk of being grandma is the time you can spend playing with toys; I mean playing with grandkids. I helped Luna make a Playmobil hotel, complete with a garden restaurant shown here.

Signs of spring in my garden

Hannah and Bryan's chickens Emily and Mavis. Sad to report that Mavis disappeared a few days ago; the end of Mavis as seen below.

Took a little hike the other day with Mick and Ash.

I love this picture of Asher

To sum up April: Spring is here, the weather is great, my family is the best.

Ta ta for now.