turkey feathers

Relief

  

The heat wave finally broke this morning.  One of the worst heat waves ever recorded for the state.   Our outdoor thermometer read 115 in the sun/108 in the shade Tuesday at noon, and it was more or less the same yesterday.  We never left the house;  so very grateful for the A/C, which incidentally broke down last week just as things started warming up.   It's an old unit and the repairman did what he could to keep it going, but no guarantees so I just kept my fingers crossed and prayed!    

Um...no.  That's not my laundry hanging in the vegetable patch.  But almost.

 

I raided the linen closet and strung up whatever I could find to make shade.  We've been enjoying our little salad garden way too much to let it all dry up.  I had to move the canopies around every so often to block the sun.  I'm a little worse for the wear, but the crops were spared.

  

This morning, stepping outside to enjoy the cool air, a wild turkey hen and her brood crossed my path.  I'm hoping that's a good sign.  It made me smile anyway.

Crazy Daze

Monday's are always a bit of a transition, aren't they?  Especially during the summer, when we squeeze in lots of extra activities and weekend jaunts.  It's fun, but then -- there's some catching up, and back to work as usual.  I love what I do, but sometimes, there's more to do than I can easily manage.  Music helps me pace myself...it's mostly folk instrumentals right now as I print and pack the orders from last week.  Those who have been taking advantage of the pattern/book combined savings, are finding a little extra surprise inside their packages.  I won't say outright what it is, but it has something to do with my garden and the above photo.  I'm finding tiny little projects like this quite satisfying, and just about all I can handle at the moment.   

 

It's been pretty warm here.  Even with the door open and the fan oscillating like crazy, my fingertips are sticking to the keyboard.  {TIP:: Perfect weather though for hanging sheets out to dry and naturally "radiating" pillows and down comforters to sanitize them.}  To escape the heat, we headed over to the seashore yesterday.  It was comfortable and cool in that misty gray Oregon way.  Still, we all got a bit more sun than we realized, having ditched the sunscreen.  Today we are sun-kissed with very rosy cheeks. 

 

Sock #2 in progress.  I'll try and remember to show these when Grace finishes. 

And. . . I keep forgetting to mention this, which is probably only of interest to peeps in my own area, but the Blanket Statement gang is currently on display at the Corvallis Library until the end of the month.  They would love to see you! 

Blackberries!

It's blackberry time again!  A bit early, but no one's complaining.  These grow on the other side of our backyard fence.  We went running back to the house for containers as soon as we saw them today.  There's a skunk that lives somewhere underneath all the bramble.  We've never actually seen it, being a creature of the night, but he's hard to miss if you know what I mean.  We step lightly so as not to disturb him -- just in case, humming softly (and nervously) to convey, "we mean no harm--just passing through".  Nope.  Not even a skunk, poison oak, or those wicked thorns discourage us.

 

I found out the basket on my salad spinner is a great container to use for picking.  When it's half full I can rinse and spin the berries very efficiently.  And we are all about efficiency in the kitchen, are we not?

 

The first few bowls get gobbled up pretty fast. I like mine with a few spoonfuls of plain yogurt. I'll pick more later to make jam when it cools down again.  There will also be a blackberry cobbler or two.  And hopefully, more of these.  And some of these.  Yum.

 

Pink House Cafe

   

While out on a country drive Sunday morning, we found ourselves here, at the Pink House Cafe.  It reminded me a little of our own doll house bakery. 

I thought it would be fun to take you on a little tour.   Standing on the front porch.  There are little tables set up in and around the house in various places. 

 The front door greets you--like stepping inside a doll house. 

As I understand it, the house was built in the late 1800's, and moved twice in order to save it.  I wish I knew what was at the top of the stairs.

The current owner spent years restoring the house to it's former glory, then opened it as a cafe about a month ago.  It's all very warm and inviting.

 

The Mister and I chose to sit on this sunny side-porch.  (Love this darling child-size table set.)

 

The food and service was excellent--prices were also quite reasonable.  If you find yourself in the area, just taking a "country drive" or bicycling through, I highly recommend it.

The Great Outdoors

Summer is breezing along here with one little adventure after another.  We are home again after a little respit in the mountains with twenty other family members visiting from far away places.  A reunion of sorts.  It was fantasic fun, but it's good to be home. 

The air seems heavy here in the valley now.  I am still adjusting to the lower altitude, humidity, and 90+ degree heat.  Missing the cool mornings spent drowsily soaking in the hot tub, while watching the sunrise through the ponderosas.  Missing the star gazing from same hot tub at day's end.  On our last night, immersed in warm swirling bubbles, just dozing and gazing from the hot tub---a gigantic raccoon discovered us.  I  opened my eyes just in time to see him stealthily and quite rapidly creeping along the top of the fence.  And then crouching like a coiled spring ready to launch himself at us.   I hate to think of what might've happened if I hadn't of squawked like a crazed banshee and scared him out of his poor wits (and mine too), sending him scurrying back into the woods. 

I love the wildlife, but that was just a little too close for comfort! 

Not All Here

Well, I declare.  It's July already!  Did it creep up on you too?  Time to flip another page on the calendar and slip into summertime bliss.  I'm working on that, because I've been much, much too busy lately.  I did finally get around to planting these matching flower boxes over the weekend though, which are now hanging off the front porch and looking oh-so love-a-lee, and reminding me to dial down.  "Dialing down", is my new catch phrase this summer.  That's the kind of lingo one picks up from watching way too much TV golf.