Category: Celebrations

Next stop: Lavender

We’re heading into the Sequim lavender season. Early blooming lavender is showing its color and our commercial lavender operations are getting ready for company: the annual Lavender Faire and Festival begins July 19. Jardin du Soleil, above, is open for business.

Sequim and the Dungeness Valley is a premier lavender growing region and as our growers open their gates to visitors and harvest this year’s crop there are plenty of attractions for visitors and locals. It’s time for total lavender immersion.

Memorial Day

Ahhhh! Today’s Memorial Day in the U.S. Long holiday weekend. Got the watermelon? Check.

Barbecue fired up and ready? There are plenty waiting at the hardware store if the old one didn’t make it through winter. Check.

Flag flying? Check.

Now, if you haven’t already done it, it’s time to thank those who’ve fought and served, and send a prayer of thanks to those who’ve lost their lives in the service of their country.

Back down to earth: no balloon festival in 2013

At the end of last September’s first Balloon Festival organizers announced that they would return in 2013. Now it seems there are conflicts with another aviation event during Labor Day weekend at the Sequim Airport, the site of last year’s balloon launches. There may be ballooning as part of the event, but it won’t be the focus. One of the balloon companies featured last year set up camp here in Sequim and you can see their balloon from time to time floating across the valley. I’m fairly certain that the balloon above is now resident.

Happy Valentine’s Day

People who spend much time around me invariably discover that I tend to collect hearts. I don’t go overboard, but there are a few mugs with hearts, two heart-shaped bowls, some jewelry, the heart here and there in the home decor. Many years ago, walking in the desert, I began a collection of heart-shaped rocks found on rambles. The hearts that happen, the random occurrence in nature, are the most special to me. Those are my favorite valentines and I welcome them on any day of the year. So, naturally, when I discovered the random valentine in a bite of dinner it became a photograph. I know I pour love into my cooking. It’s nice to see the proof.

I hope you feel surrounded with love today and every day. It’s there if you open your eyes. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Gratitude

A friend of mine posted a good idea on Facebook last summer: keep a “gratitude jar.” Every time you think of something that you’re grateful for, write it down and put it into the jar. At the end of the year go through the jar and review all the things you were thankful for. Here’s my 2012 gratitude jar, just before I added one last thing: my gratitude for this blog – and you, Blog Follower!

Happy New Year! What are you grateful for?

Happy New Year!

We’ll soon be looking at 2012 in the rearview mirror. It’s been a year of challenge and gratitude for me, and welcome opportunities to do things that I enjoy. Taking and posting photos, of course, is gratifying – especially when I feel like I’ve caught something special and when I hear from people like you who check in and share their reactions. Thank you for being part of my virtual tribe!

But I also like to play with paper and ink and glue. . .and buttons, twine, ribbon, glitter, rubber stamps, dies, and all the other paraphernalia of papercrafting. Here’s an ornament I made this holiday season. Folding, gluing and stamping is one of my favorite indoor diversions when the weather drives me indoors. I guess I never got enough of it in the days when we used library paste and blunt-ended scissors.