September~

This month has blasted by...
First with a visit from my inlaws (miss them!), then a week of illness, then a week of friends from PA, which included a trip to Seattle.
September is also the start of our fall schedule, which is tamer this year than past commitment-wise, but more intense and relevant.
Our garden was a bit of a bust this year, somewhat because we need a few years to get the soil properly fed and things prepped in time to plant, but mostly due to a really cold summer. Our tomatoes never had time to grow large enough, blight hit, then it never warmed enough to ripen.
BUT... the blueberries did well, the potatoes, beans, peas and the pumpkins are rocking it!
Plus we are pleasantly surprised to see that some of the almost 100 yr old apple trees in our orchard are producing some fruit!

Here are some pics...

Yard Sailing~

I have to admit, I am a total sucker for a yard sale. Especially an estate sale. Older people hoard the coolest things....
BUT-- I am constantly fighting my hoarder genes. ha.

This past Saturday, Jackie Sparkles and I hit the Eastmoreland neighborhood yard sale.
Last year, Syd and I hit it early, as it was right across the street from Art FiberFest.
(missed you this year, Syd!)

Here I am eating pretzels and checking the yard sale map

... thanks to Jackie for the pic of me stuffing my face! ha.

THIS time I went with a list of things I need, so I was careful to not buy anything that I do NOT need.

My Finds:

An old ceramic flower pot glazed in my favorite turquoise/teal-esque color.

$7.00! I have seen these at the garden center for like $50.

Plastic ornate picture frame $1.00!

I plan to spray paint it.

Two brass lamps. vintage tacky, but work!Very heavy. $15 each. 

They are currently being spray painted a nummy turquoise. I will post more on them later.
 

Card display tree thingy, made me smile, and only 25 cents!

a Garden Wagon!

Which I was thrilled to find.

We are forever dragging crap to and from the garden in multiple trips.

I am just too cheap to pay $50 for a new one.

This one? $10. And it seems indestructible. (that is not a challenge)!

It has hole to put your hand tools and a cup holder! total yuppy garden cart.

After Sailing we met Jackie's friend Amy for lunch at Papa Hadyn's.

We had a great time... girl talk and decadent desserts!

A great day. I was tired. 

Reprograming my Self Motivational Techniques...

Adventure puppy (Stella) in the car.

whew!
super proud of myself. I dragged my chunky butt UP the mountain to the top of the falls. 1.25 miles UP. up a trail, but UP nonetheless. Then I teetered my pitiful knee tendons back down. It was rough. and humiliating.
But I did it! I took some fantastic pics!

We went to Multnomah Falls, in the Columbia Gorge. Only a 30 minute drive from our house, and breathtaking.

Paul and his girls.

I only berated myself most of the way up, even though I was proud of myself for doing it. I think I need to reprogram my self motivation techniques. Cussing and spanking oneself to motivate is perhaps not the healthiest way to go.
I mean I knew I COULD do it, I just really really did not want to. It sucked. I hate that physically-out-of-shape feeling. Even though I do understand the only way past it is to suck it up and continue, which I did.... but I was cranky.

It looked like this tree was going to crawl away.

Once we got to the top, there was a path that went upstream from the falls.

A magical place, without a doubt!

I started to see hearts everywhere!

Big heart rock. I had the girls stand with it for scale.

This rock looked like a sleeping dinosaur-- see it?

This moss (on a bridge) reminded me of a muppet face, with it's tongue sticking out! 

And here was my reward, other than the self-satisfaction of course.... the money shot over the falls!

Here are the falls (looking UP)

from the platform you see on the right (above).

Garden Fever

 
Today is Father's Day so Paul got to choose the day's activities.

He wanted to visit a few garden centers in Portland that carry native herbs and plants.

So... off we went to Livingscape.

Cute shop, a lot of great plants and supplies!

But they did not have the type of echinacea Eve wanted to get,
so off we went to Garden Fever.

LOVE!

I loved this place, could have spent an entire day bouncing from one shiny object to another.

Here are pics so you can see what I mean...

Paul bought me this cactus/ succulent bowl! The bowl is concrete.

I LOVE it.

I could have spent a kazillion dollars there, plus I got a ton of inspiration for some projects.
Off to sketch them down before they leave the brains!

Slacker?

Oh MY... has it really been almost THREE weeks since I posted?

sigh.
I believe it stems from my pact with myself to try and stay off the computer more. I lurv my computer and the internet and blogs and images and and and.... and am a total geek/nerd with anything computer related. So in a way it is one of my mediums, and in a way it is a huge tune-out for me. Which means I am not being as productive as I should be.

So... enough rambling. What have we been up to?
A lot of just living life...

I had my Hagatha mole removed... before she sprouted hairs... (cackle)

buh-bye Hagatha!

and creating...

This is a shot of the beginning of a line of yarns inspired by the colors of these pretty vases...

They are actually carded and almost done, but on the shelf for now.

Watch for them in a few weeks...

I will finish them when I return from my trip.

Current progress of my painting...

We took a weekend trip to the ocean. Jackie rented a house for her birthday, for a weekend of girl time, so Paul and the girls had some time alone for a few days and a chance to explore the beach and tide pools.

Jackie's gnome...

The requisite heart rock shot.

Itty Bitty pinecones...

Shots of Paul and the girls....

A fort they built on the beach from driftwood...

Exploring the critters...

Gearing up for a trip to PA to visit family.

Things will be on hold for a bit until I return.

Stay tuned for some serious yarn trouble when I get back!