A Weekend Out and About October 21, 2009

 

 

This past weekend my mom and I drove down to Olympia for my cousins wedding on Saturday. It was great to see some family that I had not seen in a good number of years. Reconnecting ties that had started to slip loose. It was a lovely wedding, and the Bride was beautiful of course! Unfortunatly I don’t have the flash set up needed to get good pictures indoors, and thus I did not get any pictures that I thought were worth sharing. But on Sunday we got up and drove to Seattle so that we could visit the Pike Place Market. Its such a great place to visit, so much going on, and great things to see! These first two pictures are not the highest quality, but they are good memories for me. The first is the sign that sits atop the open air building that the majority of the market sits under. The second is my mum, giving me a lovely smile (its hard to get her to smile nice for the camera some times, lol). We had a wonderful time wandering the market together! How much fun. Mom found a couple Christmas presents for people (yes, it is getting to be that time of year already).

 

 

There were people of all types there, I liked this picture of a gentleman doing his weekend shopping. The  produce there really is beautiful! Its wonderful quality, and they arrange it in an amazingly artistic way. It makes it very tempting to buy! There are also many flower stands. There are little ladies standing there all day putting together the most beautiful arrangements. We bought two, but I did not end up getting a picture of them. Its great to watch these women piece together an arrangement one stem at a time.

There are also all kinds of crafts people selling their art. I got a T-shirt with a beautiful fish design and ‘Seattle Pike Place Market’ written on it. This lady does beautiful designs for shirts. My parents bought a raven one for Bernie last year, which is also very nice. They are based on Native American Art with this ladies personal touch on the design.

 

 

 

 

There were some amazing chili arangements in all kinds of shapes and colours. We were also blessed with enjoying the amazing Fall colours. The Northwest doesnt always get the nicest fall colours, because if it rains a lot (as it usually does this time of year) the leaves will start to turn colour and then they get all wet and just turn this blah brown then fall to the ground. This year though, they are amazing! I unfortunatly did not get any pictures of it, as we were always enjoying the beauty as we were driving.

It was a lovely weekend!

Next To The River October 16, 2009

 

 

Well I have been a little slow at posting, because I haven’t been doing hardly anything! There has been a lack of fresh energy for me to post about. But today Bernie, Angel and I went to the Nooksack River. It wasn’t a very long outing, but we all got to stretch our legs, and do something other than hang out around the house. The light was low, but I fiddled around with my camera a little. Bernie let me borrow his new lens, it really was nice, giving me a better quality photo. Unfortunatly I chopped the top of Bernie’s head off in the second photo, but I kept it because I loved his expression and Angels determination.

Now I can’t say we haven’t been doing anything. Bernie has been a saint helping my dad do some projects around the property, the place is looking good. I have been running around town here and there, one day even dropping off a couple job applications. I am slowly working toward the idea of getting a job. This is challenging for me, I am a bit of a free spirit, and don’t always enjoy having to live by a schedule….. But I am slowly getting closer to accepting it is a step I need to take at this point. The plan for this weekend? Going down to Olympia for my cousins wedding. He is only 20 years old! So young! Maybe I will get some fun pictures down there!

Drawn To Nature October 11, 2009

 

Nature draws us into its embrace,

helping us to remember how to live in the now,

loving,

nurturing,

and sharing the beauty of life.

A Journey to San Juan Island October 9, 2009

 

 

On Tuesday Bernie and I took our guests, Lyndsay and Jordan out to San Juan Island. I had not been out there in years, and it was wonderful to re-visit and get to experience the beauty of this wonderful place. The day started with a Ferry ride from Anacortes to Friday Harbor (ferry photo courtesy of Bernie). A ferry ride is something that everyone should do at least once in their life, it is just so much fun. This one is an hour long, and gives you a wonderful tour through the San Juan Islands (now to clear up any confusion, all the islands in this area is grouped under the name ‘the san juan islands’, but one of them is named San Juan Island….) There is a magical feeling of peace and adventure riding the ferry. They float you along the water, transporting you along the highway of the islands. The deck of the boat rumbling and vibrating under your feet as the massive engine pushes the mass of the boat loaded down with the weight of cars and passengers through the softly rippling waters. The weather could not have been better, it was a calm warm day. The waters stood almost completely still for us.

 

 

 

 

When we arrived at our destination we spent a bit of time exploring the town of Friday Harbor. We found a quaint little used book store, with shelves pouring out onto the floors and counters surrounding them. Lyndsay bought a little french childrens novel to practice her french, and I bought yet another cookbook to add to my never ending collection. After a tasty lunch at a restaurant with the best view of the harbor we set out in my (wonderfully cute!) car. The first stop was Cattle Point, a beautiful windswept point on the south end of the island. We frolicked and strolled along the beach.

 

 

 

 

Is he sticking his tongue out at me?

 

 

 

 

The Island is filled with great history and beautiful places. This lighthouse is located at Lime Kiln Point state park. Its on the side of the island that looks toward Vancouver Island (yes you can see canada from right there). Its a really deep channel that runs between San Juan Island and Vancouver Island, this creates a rich feeding ground. Often Orcas are spoted along this shore, unfortunatly they did not make a showing while we were visiting. I was really hoping that they would so that Lyndsay and Jordan would get the chance to see them. The park also has an old restored Lime Kiln. There are many great places to visit, two of them are American Camp (close to cattle point) and English Camp. These were occupied at the time when the border between America and Canada were being determined. They are both amazingly beautiful spots, and so vastly different! They are on opposite ends of the island, and have such a different feel from each other.

 

 

 

 

Of course there was much picture taking the whole day.

 

 

 

 

The best part of all is that the ferry ride home was right at sunset, and although it had clouded up part way through the day, the clouds were well worth it at sunset. I have not altered this photo in any way, the sunset was so amazing. It really was a magical end to a great day. The next morning Lyndsay and Jordan boarded Amtrak for a train journey back to their home in Tennessee. I hope they enjoyed their visit to our little corner of the world. I had a wonderful time exploring places of old with a fresh perspective.

Friends and An Ancient Lesson October 6, 2009

 

We have a lovely couple visiting for a couple of days who we met on the Pacific Crest Trail this summer, Lyndsay and Jordan. They ended up finishing a couple weeks after us, and spent some time enjoying Canada. It’s great to get to spend a couple of days with them before they head back home to Tennessee. We actually met them somewhat early on in our pilgrimage this year, and actually last saw them in southern California. I had wondered about them many times along the trail, and did not hear how they were doing. I am glad we got in touch right at the end!

 

We had a lovely day today. It was relaxing, and we visited some beautiful places around Bellingham. I really liked this picture of them enjoying the views out toward the islands. Tomorrow we journey to the San Juan Islands. It should be a great outing, and I hope to get some nice pictures out there! We get to go on a Ferry ride, and thats always a great experience.

 

Tonight we all watched the movie Kung Fu Panda. Cute, as expected, but it also had a great message. I love the disney movies, because even though its usually a basic concept they are very profound if you take a moment to reflect on it. So I leave you with this thought:

 

 

There is no ‘hidden ingredient’ to transform us into something special,

We are special.

How Many Are There? October 1, 2009

 

  Ok, I said I was going to get a picture to show the sheer numbers of chickens. This is just part of them, these are the ones that I could get to come when I threw food out, there are MANY more. Sorry you see more tail feather than heads, but they were chowing down. Does anyone want to attempt counting the chickens in this picture? I can tell you there are over 50. The other day I sat down on the front portch and counted the “little” group that was in front of me, and there were 26 chickens, it was a very small group of the whole flock. Scary.

  We had a rain system roll in yesterday and today. The chickens have smartly been staying inside the barn most of the day. It’s funny to me they don’t enjoy the rain at all. This picture was taken yesterday when the storm clouds parted for a while, and they were catching up on their outdoor time.

  Now I am off to cuddle up in the living room and work on some shopping bag sewing. Rainy dyas are always good to do crafts!

Love September 29, 2009

 

Love is our natural state of being,

We are often out of balance with this state of being,

It takes more work to be out of balance

than to experience Love in each moment.

Watch the world around you,

How many times each day can you see examples of Love?

How can you bring more Love into your life?

How do you experience Love on a daily basis?

 

This thought was inspired by these carrots that I pulled out of our garden.

Meet Mr. and Mrs. September 26, 2009

 

  Well if you remember my posts from this spring, we were collecting chicks in large numbers. Well now all those chicks, plus many batches hatched out by our hens through the summer are all grown up (well we do still have some small chicks still). There are chickens EVERYWHERE! This makes me happy as can be though, I just love to watch them all. Some are pure breeds that mom bought from the hatchery, and some are mutts from here on the farm. Most are beautiful, a few are homely.

  There is a pair, that my parents named Mr. and Mrs. who hang out around the yard. They are the cutest little chickens. They follow us around because my parents were feeding them out of their hands this summer. Lately who ever goes out on the porch first in the morning is greeted by Mr. and Mrs. standing by the front door. You just never know, maybe someone would open the door with chicken food in their hands, its worth the inquiry. This is a picture of Mr. and Mrs. lounging in the mid-day sun. Don’t they look like they are tourists sunbathing on a beach somewhere? Ok, maybe thats just me.

  I will have to make my way out to the chicken yard and capture some of our more ‘interesting’ chicken creations to share with all of you. I need to get geared up and try selling some before the winter. I will do that….. really.

The Two Big R’s September 23, 2009

 

There are two words that I think are very powerful in our human being experience,

 

Respect

&

Responsibility

 

  These seem simple enough, but our society seems to have lost any concept of what they represent. If you spend some time watching whats out of balance in how our society functions on a daily basis, I think you will find the lack of Responsibility and Respect.

 

  When we take responsibility for ourselves, we acknowledge that we are the writers of our own story. We create each situation that we are in, and the concequences that go along with it. Of course this is big, and not easy to do all the time. So we have found it much easier to simply not take any responsibility for ourselves or our lives. Why admit that we might not have made the right choice when we can blame someone else? When we take responsibility for ourselves, the world can no longer push us around, because we realize that we have created every moment in our life, and we can change our direction at any time.

 

  Respect is a pyramid effect. We start by respecting ourselves, and with that simple action we will respect everything around us. If we respect ourselves we have to surround ourselves with things that we respect, whether that is the food that we put into our body, the people that we spend time with, the nature that envelops us. As we start to pay attention to respect we can’t help but make a difference in the world around us.

 

  If you start to feel helpless or frustrated in life, ask yourself if you are practicing the two big R’s. In what way do you take responsibility for yourself, and respect yourself the most?

Inspiration September 22, 2009

 

 

When you are Inspired by some great purpose,

 some extraordinary project,

all your thoughts break their bonds,

your mind transcends limitations,

your conciousness expands in every direction,

and you find yourself in a new,

great and wonderful world.

Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive,

and you discover yourself to be a greater person

by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.

~Patanjali Yoga (c.200 BC)

 

 

 When we are inspired by the now, we do what we love with each moment.

What Inspires you?

What have you discovered about yourself?