Watercolors, Part 1

I wasn't sure I'd have much in the way of photos to share with you from last weekend, given the sodden forecast at the coast. But lucky you 😉; most of the rain fell (or blew sideways) at night, so I had LOTS of opportunities to get outside!

But before I dump the photos on you, here is my retreat report in a nutshell. It was wonderful! Not too crowded, a wonderful speaker, and that cooperative weather that gave me plenty of chances for my favorite activity – walking on the beach. I could watch the waves roll in all day – and they were really rolling! The run-off from the heavy rains created a lot of seafoam, too. I was on the beach at low tide and high tide, in high wind and no wind, by myself and with friends, and even found a handful of treasures. 😊

I'll lead off with a few short videos as much for me as for you; they give me little beach "fixes" as I need them.

That's a taste of the People's Coast, brought to you by . . .

Galloping into summer

There is so much for show-and-tell today! Since my last post, we went on an abbreviated horse-camping trip to our favorite location, Rick got the garden prepped for planting, and I sheared another sheep. Triple-woot!

Mt. Adams coming into Trout Lake, WA – a town I'd happily move to!

Our Christian trail-riding club gathered at Mt. Adams Horse Camp over Memorial Day weekend. We planned to leave on Friday after Brian got out of school at noon, but Rick had a couple emergencies thrown in on top of his morning calls so there went the afternoon.... Rather than  get in at o'dark thirty, we left Saturday morning and arrived in time to set up our camp, join our group for Sabbath potluck, and then go for a family trail ride.

Rick borrowed a client's horse for the weekend so we could all ride together, which was really nice.

That evening while the lovely light waned, we enjoyed socializing around the campfire.

The next morning we went for another family ride, then relaxed with our ponies.

Two shining peaks! ;-)

While we were letting the horses graze I thought of all I had to do and casually said to Rick, "We've had two nice days; I guess we could go home and get more done there." He said, sounding hopeful, "You want to?" Then we found out that everyone else in our group was pulling out that day (one party had already left), which settled it.

So Monday was a bonus day! Rick tilled the garden (he had already mowed, raked, and burned all the weeds and cleared out a cherry tree that was growing in the middle of it). Brian did homework (he hadn't owned up to how much he had to do; he would have been even farther behind if we'd camped through Monday!). I sheared Vienna and then got busy in the kitchen, because we invited the friends who did chores for us to join us for dinner and a movie – Fiddler on the Roof. (Which brought to mind the old adage, "The more things change, the more they stay the same. Oy.)

Ewe's not fat, ewe's fluffy – wait; I think ewe IS fat!

Yesterday after work, I stopped by my MIL's for three little pepper plants she had for us, then went to my favorite store for garden starts and picked up tomatoes, cucumbers, and eggplant, as well as seeds for bush beans, sugar pea pods, and beets (I had zucchini seeds at home). I still need basil and parsley starts; those staples slipped my mind.

This lovely was just outside the store; swoon.

So now the pressure is really on – to get seeds and plants in the ground and three last fleeces off woolly yearlings!

Getting off my duff at . . .