Perfect swing

Ing is on daddy's boat for a short cruise outside the harbor. What could be a better use for a bumper than a swing. 

Cruise or crown

Just think...the cost of a crown is the same is an alaska cruise. Lucky me,  I got to spend that amount on a crown. I'm glad I've already done the alaska cruise, even if it was in the middle of winter on an old freighter/passenger ship and not a fancy cruiseship like the one  slowly approaching Ketchikan in the early morning.

June concert

Yesterday morning we rehearsed for our band concert, and last night we did the same for our June 9th orchestra concert....this morning, after a long sleep....I am still tired. We are playing Beethoven's 1st Symphony and it's wonderful, but busy for the flutes, and incredibly busy for the strings.  Before we did  the Beethoven piece, we played Die Fledermaus and at the end, the french horn player behind me bounded from his chair, threw the exit door wide open, propping it so there wasn't a chance it could close. And that was just the horn player, I'd hate to think how what a mess the violin players were with all the sawing they do :o)

Baby Nolan

Let me introduce you to Samuel Jerisich's great great great grandson :o) If you don't know who Samuel Jerisich is, and you live in Gig Harbor, it's time you learned.

Viking Fest

You'd think my granddaughters were sitting somewhere in Norway the way they're dressed, but actually, they were in Poulsbo, for the Viking Fest parade. Their mama found their outfits on ebay and the bows in their hair were given to them from one of the norwegian relatives that their mama met recently. This picture, along with another were in the online Kitsap Sun Saturday, along with oodles  of pictures of other folks busily enjoying the festivities.

Net builder

It's net building time and Jacob is eager to help. First he tossed the corks from Korea out of the box,  then helped string and slide the corks down the long long long  line. He is the 4th generation to build a net in that spot, but the material they work with is very different....the corks are now made from oil instead of the bark of a certain tree, and the lines are also from oil instead of the hemp or cotton they used at one time. So much of what we use and take for granted is from oil. My hope is that we can do more with renewable material and save the oil for things that can only be done with oil.

Daddy's cake

Yesterday was Ing's dads birthday and because he was still sick with the flu, she spent another day with granny. Because no one should have a birthday without a birthday cake, we made him his very own applesauce cake with Ing in charge of the decorating. Today mama will finally be home and things will be back to normal. It's been a great test for dad these past 16 days and he did great until a miniscule virus finally took him down for the count :o)

Grass flowers

Ingy spent the afternoon with me yesterday because mama is still in Norway and daddy has been struck down with the flu. Since it was a beautiful day, we spent a good part of it out on the freshly mowed lawn...yes I still do it. While she was swinging, I clipped the tall grass around the swing set legs, then along the edge of the lawn. As I cut, she was fascinated with the long, almost stick like grasses, and using her wonderful imagination and creativity, she picked blossoms off the rhodys and put one on each study stalk of grass. But, where to put them was the problem until we noticed the hole that the clothes line goes in. It was full of water, the grasses were long enough to fit and we built a bouquet as pretty as any.

Picnic Park

We used to call this area the picnic park when we were young. There was a sturdy, wood picnic table and a comfortable canvas hammock. There are still remnants of the picnic table, and the rope holding the hammock has grown into the bark of the tree, but the park is much much nicer that it was when we were young, thanks to the soft grass covering all the dirt. We spent Mother's Day there yesterday and as you can see, the little ones had a wonderful time.

Almost 3

Jacob will be 3 in ten days and is getting to be a very handsome little fellow.  I had him for 4 hours this afternoon and was able to corral him in a corner on the deck long enough to take a few pictures with my new camera.  There's lots to learn, but thanks to digital, what we don't spend on film definately makes up for the cost of the camera. He got hold of my iPod and managed to take about 50 shots before I said ENOUGH ALREADY :o)  Lordy lordy...when I was three years old it was a whole different world :o)

Oodles of apples

Okay...call me cheap, cheap, cheap, but I couldn't bring myself to spend a bunch of money on something to protect the new iPad that I recieved for my 72nd birthday from my oldest son, so I dug through my "stash",  found a suitable piece of fabric, cut two pieces of cardboard from the box of Tully's coffee that held the individual containers that go into the fancy new Keurig coffee maker that my youngest son and wife gave me and sewed them all together. I didn't realize until I tucked the iPad into  its new home, that the fabric was covered with apples...Apple...aw....you already noticed :o)  Oh..and it was a perfect fit :o) Now to hang the beautiful hanging basket of flowers that middle son and wifey gave me.

Oh...and if you have a few minutes...watch this video..the young man is so sweet and his "teacher" is amazing :o)

Geneology

The travelers have finally arrived on the island that the Enge family came from. The grave is that of her great great great grandfather, and we're not sure if he had high cheekbones  :o)  I used to think sprinking  ones ashes  at sea was a great idea, but no longer think that way. We owe it to our future progeny to put ourselves in a place with a handy dandy marker that they can return to and say, I come from them and they had a part in who I am .

Greenhouse

My neighbor is building a greenhouse, using the old windows taken out of the house of his neighbor, who discarded then once the remodel began on his home. I have enjoyed watching the placement of the windows and once that was decided, how  the roof has finally taken shape. He is an avid gardner and I was surprised that he found enough space to erect this structure. My hope is, that once he runs completely out of room, he will expand his talents to my yard across the street :o)

Norway, here we come

Sunny skies and a new car make for what should be a wonderful trip. I think the craziest thing to happen so far was when their plane landed and the Volvo people were at the airport to meet them. What are the chances of another couple coming in at the same time with the same last name...and our last name isn't all that common in this country, but you guessed it...theirs was the same. Of course they took pictures and shared information. And the adventure continues :o)

Tea and flowers

Ingrid and I had tea this morning. It was the  mother-daughter tea at her school, but since mama is off touring Norway, grandma DeeDee got to fill in.  There were songs, sung by the litle ones, then muffins and giant strawberries with our tea. Ingrid was covered in flowers, from head to toe and the best part of the whole affair was the huge hug she gave me when the singing was over and the feasting began. She is such a happy little person and so much fun to hang out with :o)

May Day

Here we are...the first day of May and this is what it looks like at Paradise. No wonder I had to turn on my furnace this morning. I hope the weather is better in Sweden because my daughter in law and her mom must be there by now. They left early yesterday morning for a 16 day trip to Norway, first stopping at the Volvo factory in Goteborg, Sweden to pick up their new car. They will visit relatives in Norway and then return the car to the factory where it will be shipped home. Daddy is home with the kids and I have no doubt they will be well taken care of. Now, if that had been me on a 16 day trip anywhere, I'm sure the kids would have been fine, but I'm thinkin my hubby wouldn't have been :o)
They build much better fathers now :o)