Sunday Stills :: Graffiti

In the city in which I live, graffiti is hard to come by. We have an anti-graffiti task force employed by the city that keeps our town pretty free and clear of mostly the offending gang tags around the area.

I refuse to photograph anything that is a gang tag that I can't read. Who knows what indecencies you could be spreading photographing certain tags.

So here is some rookie tagger art I found down by the railroad tracks.

We also have a few Flickr groups set up commemorating old school tagging and graffiti murals from Seattle. We have a few free walls that are left for taggers to decorate around the industrial areas of Seattle. Sadly, though, most of the graffiti in Seattle is of the gang banger variety.

Would you like to see some other street art and graffiti across the country and the world? Visit Sunday Stills.

The Luck of the Thrift-echans

Hooray! I've found the rest of the set of the American Heritage Guide to the States at Goodwill this evening.

I've been holding on to volume one since I acquired it as a kid, and the photos from the 60's mesmerized me then. Now Cookie Monster is infatuated with them.

I wondered if I would find them. Now Cm will be able to see how much this country has grown and sadly, how much industry isn't done here anymore. Best yet they were considered kids books so they were a buck apiece.

(more) Evidence That The Chickens Are Smarter Than Me

We'd been worrying about decreasing egg production in the last couple of weeks. I've been seeing the tail feathers here and there around the yard, so i figure it was due to the beginning of molting season around here.

It's also been really weird weather with the 80 degrees one day, 50 degrees next. I wouldn't be all that keen on laying a "baby-to-be" in those kinds of conditions.

Alas, when we returned home and let the girls out, the Blue Team would disappear, and not return till bedtime in the coop. Very odd.

Today i found out why....

10 eggs in this "nest"

four eggs in this one

and a straggler found in some random bushes near the back of the coop.

Why, oh why, did i not think to check the bushes around the yard when egg numbers started to deminish? Duh! The thing i don't get though, is that these brambles the chickens laid these eggs under are about 2 feet away from the entrance to the coop, if that. Couldn't they just walk the few paces into the coop and lay them there? Oy!

Well, nothing like instinctual curiousities of a chicken to make you feel like the dumbest city girl in the world!

How do the free range farmers deal with these issues i wonder?

Moral of the story: check every nook and cranny of your yard when eggs start "disappearing".

Mental Note: Start figuring out how to build an egg detectour so i can use it around the yard and look as *cool* as those men out on the beach on the ads for metal detectours.

Catch A Wave

It was a gorgeous Sunday at Pacific Beach!

Better Late The Never

Hey, Hey, Hey. How does your garden grow?

We've been at the beach for the family reunion, and life's been grand! Save for Moose sun-burning his feet so bad that he couldn't walk for a couple days. Yeah, i think we're talking some sort of a degree of burn here and not just your average sunburn.

So, we got home and found the garden chugging right along. Thought i would take a video of it this time of year. There's so much to see. And, because my new hat is making me feel especially cheeky.

When Moose first bought the house from his mom, there was nothing in the yard but grass. Whoa boy, look at us now! If we can't find our farm by next summer, i think i'll turn at least half of our 17,000 sq ft into garden space! Especially because the lawn mower seems to be on the verge of giving up the ghost.

Sunday Stills :: The Rule of Thirds

Sorry it's a little late. When you see the subject of the photo, you'll understand why. :o)

Hoping you all are having a great summer!

Sunday Stills :: Summertime

Summertime means trips with family, hanging out and having fun!

That'ah girl!

Cookie Monster did great today at her first feis!

She wasn't to pleased to be up at 6 this morning too be dancing by 8am, but she didn't let that stop her from taking 1st place in the reel and lite jig and 2nd place in the single jig!!

Hooray!

I couldn't be any prouder of her than i am today! (That is until she does the next amazing thing that knocks my socks off!)

Last Night's Dinner

This week's quiche featured a goat cheese with the flavour of garlic potatoes au gratin, eggs fresh from the Blue Team, & peas and spinach fresh from the garden. Don't tell Moose, but i also include one of the huge leaves of chard growing in the garden too. :o)

I didn't cook the peas before adding them to the quiche, which left them slightly "crunchy", which was really good!

Tuesday = Garden Tour

Trying to choose a positive outlook on this year's garden, but i have to say this weather is really putting the garden in a funk this year. Bah! First it's the never-ending test of the fire sprinkler system with it's 40 degree nights thru June, then it's the high 80s and low 90s for 3 days after the Fourth of July, now it's back in the 60's and showering. The peas are starting to succomb to root rot, the "cheddar" cauliflower to root maggots, and the slugs are beating up my lettuces. You should have seen me out there last night donning the miner's light to catch the big brown bullies in the act and i gave them the kabatcshzies with my garden hoe. I'm sure my neighbours have a video on Youtube by now. :o)

However, since i am trying only to see the good this week, here are some of the things i am trying to focus on during our increasingly busy week: the hollyhocks are starting to put on their show (time to make fairy dolls with C.monster), and we've had some interest in the "feather - in - law" unit we just installed out front. There should be a head of butter lettuce for salad when my parents arrive for this weekend's feis.

Momma's broke her broody, so the girls are laying 3 - 5 eggs a day again. Hooray! The hydrangeas are numerous after our spring rains, which will make for a beautiful bouquet or two.

More gold finches are visiting us. They must sense we've planted a ton of sunflowers and purple coneflowers for them. I love the architecture of these Shasta daisies...in a couple more days, this bloom will have these little sweet orange specks in the middle.

I am hoping this bloom is a fruiting blossom of our cocozelles.

If not, at least we've had these beautiful cheery cherry zinnas to distract us.

And despite the schizophrenic weather,

the toms and corn keeps on trucking each day!

Corn should mature by end of August and i saw

a little blush on a cherry tomato today!

Um...Quick Question

Is my kid starting to look like a "homeschooler"? She's donning this fabulous ensemble today while rockin' out to a song that seems to be styled after something George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic -- "Pick up the eggs; don't drop them. Pick up the eggs; don't drop them. Pick up the eggs; don't drop them like they're sunnyside up!" You gotta love the Imagination Movers, who also bring you smooth lyrics like "The bumps are bigger in the bus." Or "The Roosters, the roosters, the roosters are tired."

Nothin' brings a smile to my face more than seeing my Cookie Monster in clothes like this doing the running man & robotic moves of my youth!!

Maybe this year's curriculum should include Disco during one of our music appreciation hours? :o)

We Be Jammin', Maahn

I imagine there are a few people out there doing the same thing we were doing this weekend. Garden tending and berry jammin'.

Thankfully, my prayers were answered, and this morning was a cloudy and cool morning. And just long enough for C.monster and i to transplant the rest of her sunflowers and weed most of the garden. Hooray!

Around lunch, the clouds burned off and we were in the mid 70's. Tomorrow's forecast is supposed to be a LOT cooler. Like highs in the 60's cooler. Oy! I supposed i should be careful what i wish for. The tomatoes still have yet to produce their first red fruit. :o)

It's been a really weird year!

Hoping all is going well with your gardens out there. We harvested our first blueberries tonight and the raspberry and strawberry season is approaching it's end here. And in other sad news, i lost a cauliflower plant today to cabbage root maggots, i fear.

Seattlites Growing Groceries

This week there was a wonderful article in the Seattle Times about a family that grows their groceries in the city proper.

Thankfully, the reporter included the blog of the family and i've been busy reading it ever since. It's fascinating and very educational, especially for information on becoming less dependent on your local One - Stop - Shopping centre if you live in the area. I've been scouring the internet for something like this for the past 2 years!!

We *heart* the Monkey!

Yesterday C.monster and I attended a concert at the local library for one of our favourite local performers: Recess Monkey.

Thanks for an awesome show, gents! We left with your Final Funktier album and we've been listening to "Jetpack" ever since...I think we've listened to it approximately 98,220 times non-stop! Yeah! Are there any other songs on the record? grin

Ah....This. Is. The. Life.

Just like C.monster says...





For breakfast today: fresh bread from the local bakery shmeared with some mustard garlic aioli, organic toms & avocado, some farmer's cheese and ....

drumroll, please.....

FRESH BUTTERCRUNCH LETTUCE FROM THE GARDEN.

Oh, how sweet it is!

Tuesday = Garden Tour

Hello.

Happy Summer.

As true of lore around the Seattle area, the day after the Fourth of July weekend Summer has indeed arrived. Hot already if you stand in the sunshine at 8am; a far cry from going outside in a jacket at 8am just yesterday. Kinda like a local business' slogan goes, "Usually in the Pacific NW, the only "weather" around here is "whether" to wear the purple hoodie or the yellow one. ;o)

Last night was gorgeous around mid evening. The birds were singing and it was warm out. I took a few pictures for today's posts in get this: a tank top! I know, right?!


And as with all weekends around here, it seems like there is still so much to do that didn't get done. However, we did get a lot accomplished around here: Moose finished the trellises, installed the bird house and feeder, fixed the chicken coop, and laid the water lines for the yard. He also helped jam the razzies he's been picking. I helped Cookie Monster clean her room, planted some of the remaining seedlings in the garden, and general errands were run. We even had some happy accidents occur: like instead of making strawberry-orange jam, it turned out to be strawberry orange syrup. :o) Which, incidentally, tastes delightful on our other discovery this weekend, a recipe newly dubbed "Let Freedom Ring" Toast (Thanks, Bethany!!) Not only symbolic of the day it was created, but also it contributes to "freedom" from Mom slaving away in the kitchen, flipping traditional french toast, while everyone else is digging in. :o)


Hoping you had a great weekend wherever you may be an that your week is all sun and blue skies!


Cookie Monster transplanting sunflowers

the new birdhouse and beginnings of a new garden


the new hummingbird feeder

Corn's up!

I can't wait till the corn bed looks like this one below

the onions are growing gang-busters

look Maw, i can grow lettuce!

another brave soul decided to try it's hand at reproducing this year too!

Can't wait till it's time to can these babies.

Fruits of this weekend's labour included raspberry vinegar too.

And a new friend we met yesterday...i was sitting practically next to the bird feeder near our deck stairs. C. monster was up and down the stairs and this little chap didn't even flinch.

He let me take a video of him too.

Sunday Stills :: Frame It

Sunday Stills challenge this week is to frame your subject.

Here's my attempts.

One of the local marinas.

Inside a barn.

Below is my little one on our vacation to the cabin.



View from our living room


This is a picture of a picture...one of the coolest i've ever taken. It's from our trip to St. Louis. Moose and i were freshly married and visiting family back there. I was using my old film camera that had a double exposure programmed into it. I was hoping to get Moose framed by the Arch, and luckily i did. I think this is the perfect picture to capture a civil engineer.


Another sunrise from our living room



If you'd like to see more talent from the Sunday Stiller's or to join the group yourself, come visit here.