A brief change

This was a view of the light house from up above at one of the batteries on Fort Warden. Note the general greyness.

After a cloudy morning, spent writing with our friend Lisa, the sun decided to grace the Pacific Northwest. We immediately headed outdoors! After weed wacking the garden and filling the rain barrel, we went to our favorite trail along the Sammamish River.

Anni practicing her soccer moves.

Anni and me dribbling the ball. Alex standing by laughing out loud.

Today's sunshine lunch: mixed salad greens (from the market and our garden) with edible flowers (market and garden), cukes (market), and locally caught tuna (market). It was delish!

Tomorrow is supposed to be cloudy. The next three days show rain! Back to normal.

Day Tripping

Today, Alex, Ari, and I went day tripping to the Port Townsend area

with our friend, Lisa. We had a delicious lunch in town, and then headed out to Fort Warden to explore.
The old batteries are full of stairways

doorways,

nooks and crannies.

Captivity.

Freedom.

Who can be found in a repurposed circle?

Ari and Alex.

And who is hiding behind the patina door?

Demon boy!

And a special treat way up in the tree.

Bald eagle in big nest!

Soggy Market Day

Our spring weather has sprung back to winter; rain, rain, and more rain! My tomatoes are not happy! The potatoes, peas, mint, and lettuce are very happy!

Today was market day. Yes, even in the cold rain, we trooped out to the market. We found early cherries and beautiful cameo apples. We also picked up tomatoes, kale, and wild lettuce greens complete with edible flowers. Our final purchase was cranberry orange butter from a local organic dairy farmer, terrific on whole wheat bagels. Then we hit a favorite coffee stop to warm up!

Tonight for dinner, we made Pasta Fagioli soup with garlic bread. Just the dinner for a SOGGY day in the Pacific Northwest.

For the birds!

A golden shore bird.

And another.

Regal eagle in a tree.

Heron sitting very still.

Ostrich out for a stroll.

Anticipation

Anni is heels over head.

Alex is eagerly awaiting.

Barkley is sitting pretty in the kitchen.

And the CSA farm box has arrived! This week, it featured broccoli, carrots, spinach, green bell peppers, potatoes, mushrooms, avocados, tomatoes, mango, peaches, oranges, and strawberries, all organic and delish!

Peacocks on Parade

The Peacocks are on the prowl at the zoo.

This fellow was very eager.

He made with the pretty feathers.

And went for a stroll.

No ladies came a calling.

But we appreciated his beautiful feathers.

On Land and tree...

Sloth bears up a tree.

Emerald boa up a tree

Zebra munching grass.

Wolf hiding in woods.

Bear sniffing wind.

Jaguar cat napping.

We went to the Woodland Park Zoo yesterday.

Wild Things!

"Smaller turtle, I claim this rolly log!"

"Ya Ha Ha, but not for long!"

"Why can't we all just get along? Peace fellow hardbacks."

Blackbird sitting on a wooden fence...

Heron hidden in the long grass...

Wild thing Alex engulfed in packing...

Wild teenies flapping their sporty wings.

Fun on the Funny Farm!

The flower bed is planted for our pollinators.

We loved this bright floral.

Here's our bean tee pee. Also in this bed we now have nasturtium flowers and winter squash.

Here's a potful of radish starts, planted with a marigold to control nematodes. Also in pots, we have lettuce, cilantro, basil, mint, and potatoes.

Our peas are starting to grow up their frame. They are coplanted with pansies. This week we did lots of planting. Our potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, collards, broccoli, cauliflower, Chinese Cabbage, onions, carrots, and herbs are all planted. We also compost enhanced our existing plants, lots of herbs and all the berry bushes. We're waiting a bit longer to plant basil and pepper plants.

The CSA farm box was a terrific one. We had to take the photo in thirds. This week we received organic broccoli, green onions, leek, avocado, carrots, lettuce, and artichokes for the veggies.

For fruit, we received organic apples, mango, oranges, bananas, and strawberries.

We also had mushrooms, Italian sausage, ground pork, and ground beef. We're not huge meat eaters, but when we do we like the pasture fed, no antibiotic meat offered through the farm cooperative.

The family has been doing a great job this week eating from the garden, farm box, and farmer's market. In the garden, we are currently harvesting lettuce, chives, basil, sage, thyme, cilantro, and green onions

Today for dinner, we had an Italian country menu featuring steamed artichokes (farm box) with a jalapeno (last time's farm box) aioli sauce (eggs from our chickens), brushetta, and an organic whole wheat spaghetti tossed with Italian herbs and black olives. Dessert featured the last of the rhubarb (farmer's market) crumble with a fan of strawberries (farm box).

Today was farmer's market day. We found leeks, rhubarb, asparagus, hazelnuts, tuna, handmade soaps, another tomato plant, two orange mint plants, and a custom made silver leaf necklace. We try to support our local artisans at the market as well as the growers.

Our weather has finally make it into the 70's. The giant bumble bees are buzzing about.

And the irises finally bloomed!