Happy Sunday!

I am siting here in bed, with my laptop, enjoying my favorite Sunday morning activity,---
Blog hopping! It is my temporary escape from the world to peek into the creative lives of
others and to gleam ideas from my favorite artists. Today, as I was reading the Moxie Fab blog, I was led down a rabbit trail to the PANTONE color website. Very fun!
Wow, what a visual treat it was for me. I was particularly interested in the projected spring fashion colors, because those usually go hand in hand with paper trends.
http://www.pantone.com/

I can't believe how fast time flys.
It has been over a week since Dan and I took Dayla and Daemyan to Cougar Mountain Zoo in Issaqua. It was a gorgeous day but COLD!!!!!
The zoo is pretty small, but I was impressed at how clean and well kept it was. Staff was everywhere and very friendly and helpful. The zoo has a BEAUTIFUL view of Lake Sammamish and the Cascade mountains.We went for the Reindeer Festival , but as Daemyan pointed out, we did not see Rudolf. oops! Dayla got to sit on Santa's lap and BTW, she wants an elephant. I told Santa good luck! Daemyan did not want to sit on his lap as he had decided that this was not the REAL Santa! Cute kid! As cold as it was, Miss Dayla did not want to wear her coat. Even her part polar bear daddy had his coat buttoned up tight! We concluded our little trip with a visit to the gift store where Dayla picked out a puzzle of an Orca whale, Daemyan picked out an adorable little stuffed white tiger, Dan, a Jody Bergsma mug with a cougar on it and I got a stuffed Santa, snowman and reindeer decoration. Cute! We will definitively be back, pehaps when it is warmer!

Thanksgiving 2009

Typical Thanksgiving day in the Pacific NW, rainy and gray.

However, I still have plenty to be thankful for! Some of the first things that come to mind, (although not necessarily in order!) is the wonderful aroma of the turkey in the oven, my 4 grand kids running around, my sons having their turn at taking care of kids (ha ha!), my dogs, not used to all the noise and commotion, but still anticipating a taste at whatever is smelling so good in the house, and the list goes on.

Some things change from year to year and some things never do. Whitey is cooking the Thanksgiving meal as he has done for 33 years, minus one year when we were invited to some friends' house. He was not happy about it, but we actually got away with it for that one year only. I, on the other hand would be more than happy to accept any and all invitations to go elsewhere as I tend to be more adventurous. Still, I guess I should not complain about not having to cook!

My parents are in Yuma for Thanksgiving again this year. My sister and family have their own celebration, as well as my brother and his family.

I am a mixed bag of emotion, as the holidays often bring to the surface feelings that have been neatly tucked aside the rest of the year. I would so love to be at my grandmother's house. She made the best mashed potatoes and gravy. And the best dressing for her tossed salad.....

I guess only a grandma can use instant potatoes and add catsup to her dressing and seem like a top chef to a kid. As I got older, it was so not cool to HAVE to go to grandmas' house even though now as a grandma myself, I'd give anything to visit with her and pick her brain about cooking, kids,.... anything I could glean from this wise and Godly woman.

Anyway, it's time to eat....and pass the torch to myself so that I can make memories for my kids and grandkids, so that they will look back on Thanksgiving and long to be at grandmas house.

Rainy Saturday

Just one of those dreary days, physically and emotionally.
I'll be riding the storm out.......

Austrian Horses

I absolutely love Western art.
That's why the title is kind of weird, since this is titled "Austrian horses".
Well, not really. I love horses and I love Austria!
This picture jumped out at me this morning as I was looking for a blog topic that went along with my "arty fartsy" side. (To an equiphyle, there is nothing quite as artistically perfect in the animal kingdom as a horse!)
The background of this picture brings me back to a fairy tale moment of my life when I visited Austria with my brother, almost 10 years ago.
Even though I did not travel extensively in Austria, the parts that I did visit left me longing for more........

Try again!

Well, this is my 3rd attemp at having a blog!

We will see how long this lasts!