Lovely Northwest Evening

Summer arrived late and with fall looming for most of the country our weather has just gotten perfect.  Warm days in the mid to low 70s filled with sunshine.  The Olympic Peninsula is the place to be right now.

This evening the sunset was simply lovely so much color lighting the sky.

I was also able to capture so of the lights as the sun has set as the water is so calm and there are no clouds or marine layer on the water this evening.

This is one of the Holland America ships bound for Alaska.  At night they seem to sparkle as they go by and tonight with the calm water just made the reflections even better.

The large tankers in the harbor keep things bright as well.

On the clear nights like tonight the lights of Victoria are a highlight of the view too.



A baby of any kind is just adorable!

Baby birds?  Cute.  Baby horses?  Cute.  Seriously, babies of just about any critter on the planet? Cute.  Last night is was a fawn.  The fawn is getting old enough that the spots are begining to fade yet the cute factor is still there.  This was the first time the four year old Mama deer has brought her fawn into the yard in the evening for apples.  The fawn was much more interested in the tender leaves of the maple trees though.

Tree Topping and NOAA

Caught this use for a crane yesterday...Tree topping.

And one of the ships in the NOAA fleet was in the harbor yesterday.

Seattle (in less than three minutes!)

Ran across this video set to Owl City's song "Hello Seattle".  In less than three minutes you will see the highlights of the area.  If you are local it is fun to pick out what you know as it flies by and if you aren't it is just neat to see.  (I remember back to when this place wasn't home.)

Deep Blue Something

This past weekend I was thrilled to see an old CD in a friends collection.  It is one of my favorites, Home, and it is by a band called Deep Blue Something.  Its another Texas band that I adore like Jackopierce.  Interesting enough they broke up just like Jackopierce and have been back together since 2007. 

Home had a hit on it called Breakfast at Tiffany's.  I love the movie and adore the song.  Here is a link in case you don't recall it or would like to revisit this precious gem.  http://youtu.be/1ClCpfeIELw

One of my very favorite tracks from the CD is the title track, Home.  It reminds me of being young in Texas with close friends.  It also reminds me that home is a place in our hearts not a place on the map. 

Arts In Action

This past weekend the little town I live in held one of my favorite festivals, Arts In Action,  (My other favorite is The Crab Festival in October.) and everything was perfect for it.  The sun was warm as well as abundant not something that we have been able this summer following a la nina winter.

The highlight of the Arts In Action festival are the sand sculptures.  The festival is a qualifier for the world event so competitors are drawn from all over the world.  The theme this year..."world wide sports".  In other words, sports that that had a fan base beyond the USA as well as in the USA.  The sculptures amazed us all again with their talents. 

With fond memories of last year and years before that milling in my head I am already looking forward to what they will create for us all next year.

Walk In The Park Card

This was the second challenge card I made in June and it used pattern paper from Echo Park's Walk In The Park line as well as the challenge item which was a dark aqua rosette ribbon.  I cut the ribbon apart and used it to embellish the tree.  The inside was stamped "sending you sunshine".

Good Stuff

Happy Friday! 

Found this idea for making flowers for scrapbook pages and cards early this morning and wanted to share it.  Using the paperbags as she does would be great for cards or any application where acid-free wasn't a concern.  I think kraft paper could be substitute if acid-free was desired. The flowers remind me of the expensive ones I have seen over the last year from Prima.



And in honor of the Fourth of July...

Mix of things

Things have been busy around my corner of late.  There have been some interesting sights as well.  The Wings of Freedom have been visiting my town and in the air there has been a B-17 and a P-51 from WWII.  I have not been able to get a photo when they have flown past the house I will admit I have been a bit in awe of the sight.  Click on this link to see a video post on our area newspaper's website.  It is short and gives a feel for the planes. http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/section/videonews?startID=25387325

The Wings of Freedom is a flying exhibition of planes that maybe coming to your town as well.  You may find out here... http://www.collingsfoundation.org/cf_schedule-wof.htm

Now to some of the things I have been working on over the past week or so at my scrap desk.

Father's Day

This week I was reminded of a very old memory shared between my Dad and I so journey back to the 1980s for a few minutes with me...

The year is 1983 and it is a Saturday afternoon in Minnesota.

The sunshine was warm and the air had a nice cool breeze. My parents and I were out in the yard busy bringing a dream of mine to life...an orchard! Earlier in the week my Dad had taken a day off work to spend it with me and we had found several fruit trees at a discount. The original plan for the day had been to go see Superman III at the theater after having lunch at my favorite burger place, Fudruckers. That plan went out the window when we found the trees. Dad gave me a choice...the movie or my orchard. I picked the trees.  I was going to have an orchard just like Anne from the Green Gables books!  The trees were bought and we returned home to get our big red truck so we could bring the trees back to the house.  Excitement filled me until the weekend arrived and we could begin to dig the great big holes those five trees would require. I was eight years old and underfoot at every turn trying to be very helpful on that Saturday afternoon. So much so that when my Dad began to fill in a hole the shovel handle came back and caught me in the nose. Oh the pain! And the tears! And the bloody nose. Now I knew the moment it happened this was all my fault. I was eight but not dumb. I shouldn't have been standing behind Dad. He didn't know I was there. Dad being Dad helped Mom fix me up and such as well as saw my earlier excitement was dashed. Restoring that excitement became his goal and he told me he would give me anything. Do you know what I asked for in that instant? Not a toy. Not candy. I asked if he would let me go up on the roof of the house. He had let me the previous summer and I remembered from there I could see all the way to downtown Minneapolis to my favorite skyscraper, the IDS Tower, and I wanted to do it again. He got the ladder and followed me up telling me to be careful but not too careful because accidents happen that way too. There I stayed for the rest of that afternoon as I watched them finish my orchard. It was that day that I knew my Mom had to be the smartest woman ever because she married a real Superman.

I believe all these years later he still is Superman and that my Mom is the smartest woman ever for marrying him.

Happy Father's Day to Superman...my Superman.

This is the song we are dancing to in that photo above and it is one of his favorites.