EKjourney Backup

I enjoyed taking some pictures in the park area near the Art Museum.  This is all within a one block radius.  So much diversity, color, angles and lines, and styles.                 

Phil got us a cheap deal on tickets through Groupon to visit the Portland Art Museum.  The children did wonderfully!  It was such a pleasure to visit the museum with such well mannered children. I wish these were my new plates!  I love the pattern on this ancient Chinese plate.   Appreciating art.  There were quite a few pieces that we moved on quickly from and I had to ask the children to advert their eyes.  This was the best picture of the bunch (sigh..LOL)  2 hours in a museum is a long time for little ones!  Big fruit  Lots of interesting things to look at (although I didn't really 'get' the display of old breakfast cereal boxes as a form of art).  Grammy and Grampy joined us. Thankful for my urban farm and our plans to overwinter more items in the garden.  The little Farmer's Market that we visited had beautiful fresh items but a might bit too rich for our budget!     Packing our own lunches, saves us a fortune! We we...

We are pressing on as if Spring were here! Morning light..the days are getting longer!  Battles to be won. New Chicks!  Buff Orpington , California White   Sussex, Silver and Golden Wyandotte, and a Barred Rock Last time we ordered chickens one died, two were roosters, so we had a wopping flock of 2 (plus our old silkies)!  Hoping for better luck this year.    New yarn, a Christmas money splurge.  I may return a few of the colors.  It is so hard to shop for the right color combinations on the computer. I am loving the bright colors of a new beautiful blanket I am working up.  I am wanting to make it big enough to fit our bed but the task is quite daunting.  Each little 2 1/2 inch square takes about 15 minutes to make, join, and weave in the ends.  I am pressing away at my blackberry salad blanket and ready to be done with it!  It is not squaring itself out and I am hoping that blocking (which is basically wetting it and stretch...

       

Imagine my surprise when I went out to do my weekly animal chores and I happened to notice  this  up in the banana tree.  I was so excited!  It was an actual banana blossom with little bananas.  I don't know how we could have missed such a treasure when it was at its peak of beauty but how exciting that we actually had our banana tree fruit!  The extended Fall and the protection against the house must have made this possible.  You can bet that next year, I will be scouring under every banana leaf hoping to find a bloom in its prime. This blossom measures a little over a foot long.  Litte bananas.  I can't get over how beautiful this must have been.   Getting ready for Spring.  Oh, I just can't wait!  I can't wait for Spring colors, and growing things, and blossoms, and seedlings popping up, and fresh veggies growing.  I pruned up the ferns and hydrangeous this morning on a bit of a whim. ...

Phil was on his way out the door Saturday morning for a work day at my parents.  He lifted up Vienna in the crook of his arm for a moment and I challenged him to do the same thing with Claudia. Claudia was so excited she went nuts, biting (in play of course), kicking, flailing, and throwing her head around.  Phil could barely keep hold of her.  

I actually think that Valentine's Day can be kind of a cruel day.  As a child, I remember Valentines Day as being the unpopular child who only had a few token Valentines while the popular kids had their envelopes/boxes overflowing with Valentines and candy.  As a teenager, it was a reminder in my eyes that nobody thought I was attractive or likable enough to date.  (Hindsight, I am so thankful to the Lord who protected my heart from this type of relationships as a teenager).  As a young adult, already worried that I would never find love, Valentine's Day was an unpleasant reminder. So, a couple of things played on my mind this Valentine's Day.  First, a thankfulness for the love of Jesus, which I really didn't come to understand until my 30's.  Second, a thankfulness for the love in my marriage.  Third, a thankfulness and appreciation for my children.  Fourth, a thankfulness for the freedom to teach and train our children in ou...