Shawl Pictures

Happy Wednesday!  Although to me it feels like Tuesday becaue of the day off on Memorial Day for hubby.  I have a few more pictures to share with you.

The first is the shawl for my niece's wedding.  Yes, I know it's black and glittery.  It's a second wedding for both of them, outside in October.  There will only be immediate family there and her dress is above the knee, white and black with one glittery strap.  She loves her "bling" so I promised her a shawl with some glitter in it.  Please give your honest opinion.  It's a free pattern on Ravelry, called "Multnomah".  I added an extra 20 row sequence to make it a little bigger than the pattern called for.  The glitter sparkle strands don't show too well in the photo. I hope it holds it's shape after the blocking.  Black yarn is certainly hard on the eyes isn't it?

 This is where I've been sitting and knitting the past few days.  I have my radio on softly and the water fountain there by the chair.  Can you see it to the right of my chair?  Our son-in-law, Brad, gave it to us this weekend and I'm loving the soothing sounds of it.

 And this is my view as I knit.  Mt. Spokane is there on the left, but you can't see it in the picture.

 This is where I sit for my morning tea and devotions every morning.  Hubby bought me the rocker at Cracker Barrell a few years ago!

 And here is our table, all ready for us to enjoy a meal.  I love the summertime here in Spokane.  Do you see my little geraniums that I planted Monday?  I planted 8 flower pots that day.

 This is a picture a dear friend painted for us a few years ago for my birthday.  It's of a photo he took at the Oregon coast.  See the starfish?

 Here it is again!  This was my gift to myself this trip. 

There you have it.  A few more pictures of my life.  Hubby and I are heading out to look at a camper this evening when he gets off work.  I'm looking forward to it and hope to use it a lot this summer if we decide to get it. 

Teresa asked about my cast iron.  I just bought Lodge brand at Target.  It comes already seasoned, but I scrubbed it well with a brush and soap and then re-seasoned it with melted or liquid Crisco, very thinly applied so it doesn't pool.  Then I put it upside down in a cold oven with foil on a rack underneath to catch any drips.  Turn the oven to 425 and after it reaches that temperature, leave it for 1 hour.  Turn the oven off but leave the cast iron inside to cool completely.  You can do it up to five times, but I only did three.  There are as many ways to season cast iron as days in the month when you look online, but this seemed to be easiest and the most used by people.  I used the griddle to make grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch today and it worked very well.

Have a wonderful afternoon and I hope the sun is shining for you just like it is for me!   

Blessings, Betsy

Two posts in One Day! Amazing!

Hello Again!

I found a way to copy a few pictures from my iphone and I also received a package from UPS about 20 minutes ago that I couldn't wait to share with you.  So here goes...more pictures.

The first one is the seagulls coming to our room for breakfast one morning!  Just kidding, although they did love it when I threw bread or cereal out to them.  This particular time, there were hundreds just flying around and up and down the beach!  It felt like the Alfred Hitchcock movie, "The Birds" at times.

This is a cookbook that I bought at Tillamook Dairy.  It is written by a lady in Yacolt, Washington. Although I haven't tried any recipes yet, I loved all of the family stories and details included in the book.  They are all tried and true recipes from her family with, and this is important to me, ingredients you usually have in your kitchen.  I'm tired of having to go buy some obscure ingredient I will only use one time.  After reading it through, I don't think that it will happen with these recipes.  I can't wait to make something from it.

 We were on the way to pick Brad up at the airport in Portland Friday night when a nasty thunderstorm hit.  No rain was predicted for Friday, only sunshine.  It's funny how often the weatherman is wrong.  Anyway, look at this beautiful double rainbow I caught while speeding down the interstate.  The top rainbow was much brighter only seconds before, but I had to hunt for the camera!

 And finally, look what the UPS man just brought me.  A dear lady I met in Japan last fall sent me a care package!  A beautiful cherry blossom scarf in my favorite color-lavendar.  Also two fans, green tea, a cherry blossom candle, sushi shaped candy and crackers to have with the tea.  Thank you dear Sachinko!  The green tea we get here in the states doesn't compare to the tea in Japan.  That was so thoughtful and unexpected.

Since I wrote this morning, I've been to the post office, nursing home and knitting.  Then I washed the sea salt off the car and came home to trim bushes.  I bought a 10 inch cast iron skillet and griddle while at the coast.  I have them seasoning in the oven now.

All in all, it's been a fairly productive day for me.

I'll see you all again soon.

Blessings,

Betsy

Spokane-Finally.

Good morning everyone.  We finally arrived home late Sunday evening and yesterday was filled with the details of returning home after a week away.  Needless to say, our Chloe-baby was estatic to see us again.  She is following me everywhere since we got home.  I think this last trip coming so close to my Omaha trip has made her afraid I'm leaving and not coming back!  And now, some pictures from our trip.  It was just too difficult for me to blog on my iphone.  One post was enough and now I'm happy to be back on a regular computer keyboard!  Guess I'm getting old. These first pictures were all taken with our regular camera.  I have lots more on my iphone but I need to figure out how to get them off without emailing them all separately to myself.  Anyone know?  I actually think the iphone pics are much better.  Clearer and more fun!

 Gray skies for most of the trip.  These first three pictures were taken from the balcony in our room.

 Seagulls visited us every morning for breakfast, all yelling what sounds like, "mine, mine, mine!"

 Sunset one evening.  It was just beautiful.

 This one was taken by Seaside, OR.  We went north one day trying to outrun the rain but obviously it didn't work.

 This was in a restaurant in Depoe Bay called "Tidal Raves."  Fellow blogger Teresa told me about it and we had to try it out.  Very good and beautifull decorated.  I would have taken more pictures of the original artwork, but the tables all filled within five minutes of us being seated and I didn't want to be obnoxious. :-)  The two pictures below were taken from our table.  The first one is a whale watching cruise heading out from the bay.  What you can't tell is that it's pouring rain and about 50 degrees.  Not my kind of day to be on a boat.  Can you see the people all standing outside on the deck?

 Beautiful Oregon coast.  Even in the rain!

 Our last day the sun shone for about 4 hours and we quickly drove to Cape Foulweather.  We go there everytime we visit the coast.  They have original Oregon souvenirs and some of the most beautiful views on the coast in our opinion.  Just look at the next picture and see if you don't agree.

 See what I mean?  Breathtaking.  This is from inside the shop, perched on the cliff high above.

We drove to Portland on Friday and stayed two nights with our daughter and son-in-love. Saturday, Brad and Dennis tore up all the boards on the deck and hauled them away.  They are putting in a concrete patio.  With all the dampness in Portland, concrete should hold up better than the wood.  At least it shouldn't rot.  We're planning a trip back in a few weeks so Dennis can help pour the new patio.  While the menfolk worked, Mandy and I went shopping for maternity clothes.  After a stop at the mall and Starbucks we went to Home Depot.  There we bought seeds and plants for their garden which they tilled and planted yesterday.   Busy times but fun.

And this is Brad with our granddog, Polly.  She is the biggest baby you could meet.  Literally.  Isn't she sweet?  She looks like she's smiling.  She also slept with Dennis and I in a regular double bed the two night we were there.  She loves us a lot...but she does take up more than half the bed!

 And finally, the last section of road heading into Spokane. 

 And then....going down the Sunset hill into downtown Spokane.  Is there a more welcome sight than getting home after driving almost 2000 miles in one week?  Isn't our town beautiful looking.  Our house is way up in the left hand corner, close to the hills!  No you can't really see it, but I know it's there.

Okay, I'm off to the nursing home and knitting this morning.  The entire trip I worked on a shawl for my neice who is getting married in October.  She needed something for her shoulder's as it's an outside ceremony.  Very small, only a few people, but she still wants to look nice.  I'll try to get a picture of it for my next post, however it's all bunched up on a circular needle and a little  hard to see the pattern.

Have a wonderful Tuesday everyone and I'll be back soon.

Blessings,

Betsy