it's summer time.. and you know what that means in our house...

 

because friends don't let friend hike alone....

 

 Today.. we left the husbands and children behind and ventured into the wild with backpacks and the dog (you know to scare off all the wild animals). We hiked 11.5 glorious scenic miles, in decent enough weather (super humid but only in the 60's) .. we saw one couple with 2 dogs the whole time and that was when we were almost back to the car.

This is my very good friend Sandi... and this is our first attempted at a timed picture because it was just the two of us.

 

S- "Did it take the picture?"

me- "I don't know i'll go che...."

FLASH

S- " Wait ..It's FLASHING!"

 

 

second and much better attempt with Roxy (my dog) in the picture.

 

 

 

Beautiful.. lots of waterfalls the whole way...

 

 

 

Roxy thinking about a swim.

wild daisies

fragments on a summer night

I know I've been gone for a while.

Life is busy in the summertime for us.

The wild daisies are in full bloom right now.. so much beauty.. if I have a chance maybe i'll snap a shot for you of our field of daisies.

Father's day feels weird this year. I forget that I still have a father who is alive... I still have to send him a card. That makes me feel like a bad daughter, but then again, it's not like he has been a stellar father.

I miss the man that God gave me as a father. I miss Marty. It would have been his 53rd birthday this week. It feels strange. I miss him at the strangest moments. Mostly when I think about how my boys will have very little to no memory of him. They won't know what it's like to go fishing with him, or to stub their toe and have him pull out a knive from the kitchen drawer and threaten amputation (i know that sounds funny... but it actually is a warm memory for me, because of course he was joking and would try to get my mind off the pain) . They won't know what it's like to get the cranky squeezed out of them, or go on long bike rides, or hear stories about flying a B-52 bomber that was about to fall apart across the country. They won't get to hear about his love of airplanes. They won't get to sit in that airplane that was sitting in the garage and pretend to be flying high over the city. They won't be able to sit and ask advice and absorb the wisdom. I'm so thankful that he got to meet my boys.. i just wish he could have seen them grow up, i wish they could have known him.

Lemonade is tasty.. and i am tired. Goodnight friends and strangers who happen upon this site.

Remembering

For a friend who has a beautiful daughter dancing in heaven...

 

 



about the birds

 

Matt's grandma gave us her bird feeders.. I've always wanted some bird feeders, it's just something that has never happened..

So finally we are seeing the local bird population...I've heard them for many year but living in the forest seeing them not as easy.

 

We have a few regulars...

 

My favorite is the steller jay. I'm pretty sure we only have one that comes around, this isn't the one that comes around but this is what a steller jay looks like.

 

 

We also have a lot of blackheaded grosbeaks. The darker orange is the male and the lighter colored one is a female.

I highly recommend getting some bird feeders!

 

freecycle

I cannot believe the things that people give away sometimes. I was lucky enough to be the first to respond to a freecycle ad that a lady posted about an old solid wood trunk.

This thing is a beauty.. I couldn't believe she was getting rid of it but she said it wasn't her style anymore. I thanked her profusely and took the wonderful FREE treasure home...

 

 

Elijah was pretty excited about it too...

 

Now I just have to figure out where to put it....