THE DUST WILL WAIT

Tonight we ate the world's best strawberries. They were melt in your mouth sweet. No need for sugar, whipped cream, or chocolate. The local grower has fields of berries that are famous in our area for their superb flavor. I'm going to buy some this weekend and put them in my freezer. Unless I eat them all first. The Contessa is having hairball problems. It's scary to have one of those green things chase me down the hallway in the morning. She starts running for her life even before the hairball remedy tube comes out of the cupboard . I've tried hiding in the closet, sneaking up on her when she is sleeping, holding the door open just slightly so she gets caught in the screen, and singing "I'm just a little black rain cloud." Nothing works. She's OUTTA there. (Any helpful suggestions - other then to take her to the groomer and get her shaved for the summer?) The ingredients are mineral oil and barley malt syrup. Made in Forth Worth, Texas. ...

Last week I wanted to live in the mountains. This week I want to live at the beach. Even if it rains.

The dollar kite danced in the breeze and its tail was the ribbon that decorated the clouds Until a mocking gust of Pacific Ocean wind snatched the reel from her fingers as it passed and drew designs in the sand with the trailing line. "Daddy--- pl eas e catch it." Buttercup cried. And he did.

The Swampwitch is hosting today's Fun Monday. I nearly missed it because we took a four day break and drove 6 hours to the ocean to be with daughters and their families. Swampy wants to see my book shelves and my garage. Sorry! Instead I'm going to show our storage rooms. The smaller one (lower right picture) contains our garden tools, and the larger one (lower left) catches e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g else. Many years ago we were paying monthly fees for a storage unit to keep stuff in. Why do we do that? Why do we have so much stuff that we have to hire a place to put it? That changed when we attached a boatport (aka carport) and two storage rooms on the south side of our house. Fortunately, the hubby can be very organized when it comes to our stuff. Click on SWAMPY and visit all the other participants shel ves, garages, and what nots.

In my previous post, I said I wanted to live in the mountains. That statement brought back memories of my childhood. I grew up about 30 travel miles southeast of Seattle, Washington in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. Probably 50 miles as the crow flies west of Mount Rainier. In the morning, we watched the sunrise over the Cascades and in the evening, we watched it set on the Olympic Mountain peaks. Our small farm lay on a pie shaped wedge of hills high above the convergence of two valleys and the little town of Auburn. The Green and White Rivers that stream out of the Cascades once met at Auburn, uniting to form a larger river rushing on its way to Puget Sound. That changed at the turn of the 20th century. In the late 1800s, the valley farmers battled the annual flooding and dynamite was one of their weapons. Unfortunately, a planned explosion in 1899 redirected much of the White river into Stuck Creek which carried it into the Puyallup River. A massive flood in 1906 ...

We accepted a dinner invitation and a Frisbee Golf Challenge on Father's Day from our friends, G and L, who live in the mountains. (The teenagers, M and F, were toddlers when our daughters baby sat.) Before dinner we hiked around in the old growth, looking for a log that we might use in one of our flower beds. Big Boy, their beautiful Belgian Draft Horse, and Sam, the fuzzy little donkey, acted like dogs and followed us along the path. Look at him just chasing me down the path!!! I seemed to always be last in line and never quite fast enough for Big Boy. He would nudge my shoulder with his nose to remind me to get a move on it. He also wanted to chew on my straw hat. The hubby finally found the piece of wood he wanted and the men returned to the house for the chain saw and tractor. We ladies sat on the log and chatted with the company of Big Boy and Sam. The big horse walked a short distance away, stretched out in a comfy position, and began to pee; and pee, and pee, and pe...

Todays Fun Monday is being hosted by mjd at Retu rn of the White Robin . Her Challenge: show us something that hangs on your wall that is fun, interesting, endearing, sentimental, or otherwise enticing. Selec t the picture of Uncle Horace, Grandma Galt's needlepoint, or little Susie's first fingerpainting to s how the blogging community. There are so many things hanging on the walls of this home. Where to begin and where to end? Just look at the crowded hallway! I think I will zoom in a little closer on the drawing front and center. Our eldest, Karmyn , did this self-portrait when she was in first grade. We stuck it in a frame - thinking that we would eventually get a mat on it. It has hung without the mat for 30 years, but I'm sure I'm going to get around to it next week. I swear. (Sorry, about smearing out her last name.... just some privacy requirements.) Little did I know those many years ago how she would grow up to love working in her flower garden wea...