Rhody in bloom

Spring has finally arrived, and the rhododendrons are blooming. Rhodys grow wild here on the Peninsula, so are a good plant for the garden - no care necessary. They grow in a variety of colors as well. I'll be posting other examples of these showy plants.

Memorial Day 2008

At Forks Cemetery, there were a group of people putting flags out on the graves. We've found that this community is supportive and responsive to the military members and their families, a true community.

Today is Memorial Day in the United States, a holiday dedicated to the men and women who have given their lives serving our country. From us to the families of those who are gone: Thank you for the sacrifice your loved one made for all of us. Thank you for the sacrifice you made.

For more information on Memorial Day and its genesis, go to http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html .

ring necked pigeons

We didn't even know there were ring-necked pigeons. We had to look these up in the birding book.
In order to stay on the feeder, they had to keep flapping their wings. We almost expected the feeder to take off when there were several trying it. The one on the right found a different way, by stretching for it, and the pigeon posing was simply waiting its turn.

Attitude on a limb

A visitor to our feeder, sitting on a limb of the nearby tree, with enough attitude for a jay. This sparrow kept an eye on us at the window. We've taken to not using the front door usually so that we can watch them more. The birds at the feeder and in the tree can be so very entertaining.

Sky Watch Friday

We had blue skies this afternoon, and much-too-high temperatures. We hit 89 today, a record I believe. It should be in the high 60s tomorrow, and Sunday. Back to normal.

Part of the reason we moved here was for the temperate weather - which we haven't really seen this anomalous year.

It doesn't usually get hot here - we don't even have air conditioning in the house because we don't usually need it. Today we just closed down the curtains and drapes, and stayed cool inside.

For more Sky Watch Friday, go to:

http://womtig.blogspot.com/2008/05/sky-watch_15.html

ABC Wednesday - Q is for Quillayute

Quillayute High School (seen on the header over the door), now known as Forks High School, the REAL setting for the Twilight Series of books by Stephenie Meyer, being made into a movie, but not being filmed here in Forks. Major disappointment for Forks, although the logos and tags used in the movie were copied from the real thing here. The school district is the Quillayute Valley School District, all named for the valley of the Quillayute River, and the local tribe in La Push. We get tourists who do the Twilight tour, seeing the places named in the books, and we have Stephenie Meyer Day in September.

I haven't done an ABC Wednesday before, though have watched while others did. This one was too perfect to pass up. My Q wasn't so hard, maybe the other letters will be the same.
To see more of ABC WEdnesday, go here for a list:
http://mrsnesbittsplace.blogspot.com/2008/05/abc-wednesdayand-little-bit-more.html

Enjoy!

Visitor from the north

We had a visitor from Canada today - this Canada Air Rescue helicopter. It flew into the airport right over the house - it almost sounded as if he was landing on the roof. You can see from the man standing under the tail section how big it is. This looks like a flying bus - safety yellow and all. I wonder just how many people they can carry. They were met by the Coast Guard helicopter below. We think there was a transfer of a patient, but didn't see that part.

Update: The US Coast Guard 'copter wasn't meeting the Canada Air Rescue. Both ships were bringing in men taken from a boat that sank off the coast. 2 are fine, one did not survive. All were transferred to Forks Hospital from the 'copters.

Glowing hummingbird

The way the sun was shining on this hummingbird, he seemed to glow. Beautiful. The picture is not sharp, but you can still see the glow.

Checking US out...

While using the zoom to reach the birds in the bush, this guy flew up and landed on the handrail, and then just stayed there and watched me for a while. We've been birdwatchers for a bit, and now I think I know how the birds feel...

A bird in the bush..

...is worth two on the wing that you can't possibly get a picture of. Very pretty bird who seemed to suck on the flowers the way the hummingbirds do, only from a secure perch on a limb. I haven't looked him up in our bird book yet.

Rainfest and Buggy Barn

I have so much catching up to do here...

Pam and Janet of Buggy Barn Quilts came to Rainfest this year to give classes on their "crazy" techniques and patterns. I took both classes, one on Friday, April 25, and one on Saturday, April 26, and they were a lot of fun. Pam and Janet were very helpful, and very FUN teachers. If you want to find out more about Buggy Barn Quilts (store and patterns) go to: http://www.buggybarnquilts.com/ .

The patterns are a 'stack and slash' type, but have a picture in mind - an object (like the crazy angels I did the first day), or a traditional quilt pattern as a basis (like the crazy churndash I did the second day). It was really interesting seeing the different takes on their patterns, and the different looks that came about with different fabrics. The smaller pictures are of the Crazy About Friends quilt from one of their books (the angel pattern is the one I did, although mine are garden angels with sunflower fabric, greens, golds and browns - much different from theirs), a quilt that has a really adorable witch (I've forgotten the name), and the quilt blocks from the classes. As we got the first block of our 'set' done, they were shown off to the group and hung on the wall. Mine is in the left group of the first picture (the green and gold angel) and the lefthand one in the second row of the second picture.. Very scrappy. Yes, they are supposed to look not quite square, even wonky - that's the crazy part of the patterns. If you're a quilter, I suggest you go check their website out. These patterns really took me out of my comfort zone, and made me more creative, and yet they were so relaxing and UN-stressful.

This is a really bad picture of some of the quilts on display at the Quilt Show. I managed to mess up almost all of the pictures I took, some because I forgot and left the camera in the car overnight and then took it into a warm room. My glasses fogged up, the camera lens fogged up... It was funny, though a little frustrating.

Our annual Rainfest Celebration happens every April (next year it's the first weekend in April - hope it's not snowing like it was the first part of April this year). Many more things happened during Rainfest than the quilt show - the Far West Art League show, the Rainforest Players put on "Honk!", the Umbrella Parade, the Pie Social, demonstrations at the library (different styles of basket weaving was one list, I don't remember all of the demos), different things to do around town... I was in class both days because my husband was on call for the Ambulance Group. It's small town FUN!

Quilt class blocks.

Buggy Barn quilts.

Come and join us next year!