Vacation

I know. I've been gone. But I had a good reason for it! I went to Vancouver for my Dad's 60th/my sister's wedding party/a family reunion. It was awesome. We had fun. We drank too much, ate too much, slept too little, all had bad colds, and family members that had never met got to meet. It had been a long time since I had been back on the west coast, and needless to say re-entry is proving kind of tough. I miss my family, the west coast, my family, being able to take vacations, and my family.

And now I'm back to the grind - trying to figure out how to make my family and farm here work around a work schedule and juggle every ball I seem to have in the air at the moment.

I have always had a soft spot for the Aquabus

Vancouver...so gray and shiny.

While it was in the mid-80's at home, it was in the 40's there. We had snow flurries... but the plum tree decided to bloom for us anyway.

I made my sister a Red Velvet wedding...hat. It was tasty.

Chicago. I got bored on the plane.

Guest Post: Feather Frost

My mother wrote this and sent me the pictures. As an email. (I know. I'm sneaky like that) She has, if I may say so myself, quite a way with words and can sum things up quickly. She lives in Vancouver, BC, right on the edge of the UBC Endowment Lands Ecological Reserve and Pacific Spirit Regional Park. She runs the trails there, and I used to walk Zora there everyday (sometimes twice) when I visited. It's quite the gorgeous spot and all rainforesty in a way that only the pacific Northwest can be.

This is cool!  I don't know if you have seen this before--I felt like I hadn't, and I really love when it happens.  It's called "feather frost" and it happens when the weather has been warm-ish and wet, and then turns clear and cold overnight.  The moisture in the dead and fallen logs along the trails in the park at the end of our street squeezes out in these wonderful feathery shapes.  I saw it this morning and gave up on my run to come home, get my camera and finally take some pictures (I always mean to do that and never get around to it!).  So here they are.  The first picture gives you a sense of how it looks on a log on the ground.  The second two are some close-ups.  Gorgeous, eh?

Puppy Love

Not so patiently waiting

There aren't many dogs around that look anything like my dog. Yet we managed to find 4 in Vancouver during our stay. We have become swimming buddies with one of them. I love seeing double!

Best Buds.