Sunshine and Vegetables.....

Well I thought I would start off with this photo...

 Which has neither sunshine or vegetables.

But is Stikingly beautiful nontheless.

This was actually taken on the Oregon coast a few weeks ago- and Since I haven't blogged in what seems like forever, we have a LOT of photo's to get through! So you ready??? You Sure??

Ok. Lets go

PORTLAND, OREGON on the near side,

& 

WASHINGTON on  the far side-

and no, we never made it into washington..

I know it looks like its only clouds out there, but somewhere down there, is the ocean, I swear!

See, I told you, I wasn't lying.

Yes, It does look like something the incredible hulk would eat,

but actually is was this amazing moss/lichen stuff- that was awesome.

Canon Beach, Oregon

A long since fallen tree.

It made a great seat to sit and watch Jim surf.

Yes, Jim was out there surfing. In 56 degrees water.

I touched my toe in the water briefly, and immedietly took it out.

brrrr...

He's out there somewhere....

No one could remember the name of this huge rock-

But it had some significance....

Yeah Vineyards!!!!! I love Wine Tasting!!!

and I'm pretty sure we convinced Jim's Mom that there pretty awesome too :-)

Oregon Wine Country, Willmetta Valley

Vineyard #2

If all the vineyard's didn't closed by 5pm, we would have gotten to a few more..

 i'm sure of it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

And Finally,

The reason we were actually in Oregon to begin with..

Jim's Aunt Marilyn's and Uncle Tom's 50th Wedding Anniversary!

Congrats again guys!

A basket Arrangement I helped make for the Party.

Another view.

Sidewalk/Road Chalk

50th Anniversary Sign!

What a wonderful party!

Thanks again for having us!

Happy Anniversary you two!

now moving on.....

~~~~~~~~~~~~

PART II

Garden Pics!!!!!

Our vegetable garden was getting a little crammed,

So we decided to Harvest some stuff....

Like Swiss Chard

Red Beets

and

Bags Full of Lettuce

After our first Harvest, I made this...

Barley with Yellow bell peppers, Coconut Swiss chard, Saute'd Polenta

&

a Tomato and Potato bake

(which I could have sworn I wrote down the recipe too, but can now no longer

find.)

But I do Have the Coconut swiss chard recipe...

Coconut Swiss chard with Beet Greens

1 huge handful of Swiss chard- chopped in ribbons

6 beet green heads
1 half medium onion - diced
1 orange bell pepper- thickly sliced
2 zucchini - thickly sliced
1 garlic scape
1 can coconut milk
1 tsp Ginger
Salt & pepper
1 tsp fresh lemon thyme
1 tsp fresh oregano
1 tsp fresh sage

Sauté onion, garlic scape until soft. Add bell pepper and zucchini, add spices. Add greens and coconut milk- cook down, around 15 minutes

Serve with rice
 
 

Our Raspberry bush this year.....

pretty tasty!

Eryngium

Tiger Lily

Holly hock, and a bee midflight.

Beans

Tomatoes! maybe they'll even have time to ripen this year :-)

our second harvest-

Garlic, Swiss chard and Beets

POTATOES!!!!

not bad for our first year!

Jim's New rock wall he just built.

Brilliant.

this pictures doesn't do it justice.

Life is just a bowl full of Raspberries!!!

supper sweet and awesome Raspberries!

~~~~~~~~~

Alright guys, you hanging in there with me...

I told you,

There are a LOT of pictures this time!

................

I know this doesn't look like a ton of flowers,

But it is...

Jim was genious and made up a system to keep them cool

by using buckets, ice, trashcans & blankets!

We'll get a cooler for the flowers soon enough :-)

Some arrangements I did for one of our house accounts.

Some wanted all one color arrangements,

others wanted multi-colored

Jewle Toned Arrangement

Jim Did this one, and a bunch of others!

Beautiful isn't it?

I think I may have to keep him around......

Tough to see all the color in this photo-

but It was BIG, BRIGHT & YELLOW!

and Finally.....

LAKE POWELL.

Beautiful place to dock our house boat don't you think?

it was wickedly hot, but absolutely Breathtaking.

Our houseboat, towing our friends wakeboard boat.

And if you look to the left of the boat, you'll see....

a slide!

which was awesome when we were docked!

One of the many canyons we wakeboarded into.

The rock walls were massive!

It was a wonderful trip, with wonderful people...

can't wait to go back again next year!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well guys, that's all i've got for today- sorry the writing wasn't too long, but I think I made up for it in pictures!!! Hope everyone is evnjoying whats left of summer...

Have a wonderful week, and Remember to laugh!

(especially at yourself :-)

Happy Birthday & Happy Anniversary!!!!

Just wanted to wish a very Happy Birthday to my wonderful father & and a very special wish to both my parents on their anniversary!!! Love you both more than you'll ever know!! Thanks for being such amazing role models- I aspire to be more like you everyday :-)

On another note, I promise to post lots of pictures and recipes soon! I really will, I promise!!! Hope everyones having a stupendous day!! Cheers-

Hello World i'm still here!

I know, I know, it's be like forever since I last posted.... But trust me, know one knows that more than me :-) So here's an update for you, because I know you all desperatly care.....

This Veggie garden picture was actually taken a few weeks ago-

 you can now longer see the soil today- potatoes and a plethera of other veggies have taken over.

The most beautiful Delphinium -- if I do say so myself :-)

The hike to Crested Butte over the West Maroon Pass

i'd say this was about  8:30 in the morning, this was one of the river crossings.

Heading up towards West Maroon Pass-

Still heading up,

Which by the way was the most leasurly and relaxed uphill, I have ever had to a

12,500 ft. Pass.

snow fields, the pass summit is just up to the right (out of the picture)

Top of West Maroon Pass, Looking towards Crested Butte

Apperently I took NO pictures on the descent down from the pass. whoops.

This picture is at the Parking lot where you end up- 14 miles from the Town of Crested Butte in the middle of nowhere, with a ton of mosquittos.

Thanks to a mother/daughter duo, I sprayed myself with deet,

which was great when you were outside....

(Jim was smart, he just put on all his extra layers- and covered up any exposed skin)

But while on the windy narrow dirt road, while being squished in a van and picking up random hitchhikers...

The Deet turned on me, and made me incredibly nautious and woozy- Ugh 

Next time remind me to skip the deet.  

~~~~~~~~~

On a brighter note- Here was another Adventure hike,

Tackling my first 14'er! with my Dad and Jim!!!

La Plata

As seen from the top of Independence pass. Yes, We will try and make it to the top of that! This was taken at about 5:45 in the am

it's onle 4.75 miles in- but trust me, it feels like more.

The pictures start pretty high, because we were on a break neck pace, and I didn't want to stop to take out my camera.

I know what your thinking, that mountains doesn't look like La Plata...

well that one isn't, La Plata is the massive hill that shoots up to the right.

I lost count of how many switch backs we actually did just to get up this little gully.

the were short and STEEP.

Another Shot of the switchbacks looking down.

A shot looking up from the switchbacks. And yes we are going up there.

But the flowers were beautiful!

from the top of the switchbacks and another traverse.

See those clouds in the distance (above independence pass)...

Keep watching them in the next photos..

All I remember from the guidebook is something about a square rock. Well here it is. Your welcome.

Still watching those clouds???

After another long gully- we reach a saddle- and you can start to see the summit!

yup, those clouds kept coming in.

And they were not going to stop..

We just had to figure out where we wanted to be when it hit us.

Jim's up there somewhere...

this was the trail heading up to the summit..

not a nice place to be in the rain- especially with the slippery rocks.

so....

we turned around.

We can always try again next week :-)

So now for pictures of the lower part of the trail, because I could finally stop and take some pictures :-)

Jim and the "steps"

Yes, these "steps" were more like deep lunges

and they went on for awhile!

No those logs are not there to support that hill, they are there to climb up. Mind you this was probably about a mile into the trail.

This was right near the trail head/end

Pretty, but don't drink the water!

Finally some food pics!!

The ultimate veggie grill feast @ my parents house.

and Yes those are grilled avocados.

we even grilled peaches :-) mmmmm.

Here they are, our ONLY two strawberries.

they were delicious :-)

Well that's it folks- I promise to bake or cook comehting this week, and try and post soon. If you have any recipes you would love to share, PLEASE e-mail me and let me post them for you! hope all your summers are going great! I can't believe it's almost August!!!!

have a wonderful day! Skal!!