Ginger & Irisis

Here are my purple Irisis and yes there are house finches nesting in the bird house.

This is a ginger plant that is over 25 years old. It has never bloomed until this year. It is beautiful and smells so good. I close my eyes while smelling the flowers and I swear I could be in Hawaii. This is where this plant was bought originally.

Robin's Post

Today it's raining and sky is full of gray clouds. This is why the picture is so dark. You can see the robin on top though!

Before Jerry left for Seattle last Saturday I asked him to put my fence back up around my veggie garden. I made it bigger this year so it needed another post added. I came home from work to find this monstrous pole at the end of the garden area. At first I thought it was so out of place and I didn't like it at all. Then the same day I saw a robin with a worm in its mouth sitting on top of the pole. What a cute sight! Since then I have seen many robins sitting on top of that post with worms in their beaks waiting to fly to their nests to feed the babies. I now love the fact that Jerry put that pole up after all.

I love watching the birds. I put my hummingbird feeders out last weekend and already have a flock of different colored hummers. The Yellow Goldfinches are back also and as the days go by their yellow color gets brighter.

Mama's got a brand new toy!

I decided I need more exercise even though I clean houses all week and one of those houses has 50 stairs in it. I go there 3 times a week. But.... I want more exercise that is outside in the fresh air. I have been looking online at many bike trails here in Spokane and have decided I am going to eventually ride the 37 miles of the Centennial Trail. It's a beautiful ride along the Spokane River. That is my goal anyway! LOL

I just got the bike today and even though it's friggin freezin and windy outside, I needed to know what it felt like riding a bike again after all these years. I was a little wobbly going out the driveway but then I was ok. I only went to the end of the street and back. I will go a little further each day around the neighborhood till I feel I am ready for the trails. I need to learn how to use the different gears.

The last time I rode a bike was when I was in my early 30's. I went riding with my daughter when she was little and somehow we crashed into each other in front of the Lakewood Police Dept. (This was in S. Cal) I was so embarrassed and scraped up. I haven't ridden since. Sooooo................... I will be riding by myself until I feel it's safe for others to join me. LOL

Anybody else out there riding in their golden years?

Junk Yard Blues

I have seen junk yards from afar (like from the freeway) but never actually been to one till yesterday. Don't EVER want to see one again. Too sad!

Last Christmas on my way to Florence, Oregon in my Subaru I went to pull my sun visor over to the left driver side window. Well, it snapped off and I have been wedging it up ever since. I hit a bump in the road and it falls in my lap. Startles me in fact which isn't good while driving. I decided I would try and find another visor in a junk yard to save money. There is a huge junk yard in Spokane Valley that I was told about. So off I went and after about a 30 minutes of getting lost I finally found the massive place. I have never seen sooo many mangled cars in my life. I felt sick just looking at so many. You couldn't even tell what make a lot of them were because they were so mangled. I asked the driver who was taking me out and around finding my model of Subaru how he could tell what brand and model these cars were. He showed me a map of the yard and the cars are numbered like on the side of a race car except these were done in what looked like white paint then circled. All I could think of while driving around seeing all these mangled cars were the people that used to drive them. I don't see how many of the people survived the crashes in these cars.

We found 5 Subaru cars and none of them had sun visors left. I still feel sick thinking of these horrible mangled pieces of metal just sitting there all with their own stories. Needless to say I didn't find a sun visor but sure got a eye full of sadness.
I don't think I can ever go to a junk yard again.

I did try to find a visor on both E-Bay and Craigslist but none available. I might end up having to go directly to the dealership and pay an exorbitant amount. Summer is coming and I need a visor.

Oregon Christmas

I drove to Florence Oregon for Christmas (530 miles and 9 hrs one way) by myself to be with my family. My brother drove from Santa Monica CA. The weather was sunny but windy and coldish. Not as cold as Spokane though!

On Christmas Eve afternoon my brother and I went to the local casino and I won enough money within 10 minutes to pay my half of dinner we had planned at a nice posh restaurant that evening. Below is my Dad and brother trying to take my winnings LOL

Here's wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

New blooms

These are the flowers close up.

This is the second Christmas cactus in bloom. If you look back on my blogs the first one that bloomed was around Nov 24th. I still have one more plant but it's not doing anything at the moment. Will see if it even blooms this year or maybe we will have to wait till early next year. This plant here is a different species. These flowers are huge and flourescent pink whereas the other one was red and spider type blooms. I don't put them in closets like the directions say you are suppose to do. They decide on their own when they are ready to be pretty.

Still no snow on the ground yet. Hooray!!! I am hoping to drive to Florence OR for Christmas to be with my family. It's an 8 hr drive and I will be by myself. So wish me luck with the weather.

"Walk in the Woods" by Stephen Lyman

I fell in love with this piece of art about 13 years ago. I saw it in an art gallery in Sandpoint Idaho.

My brother sent me some money for my birthday (Sun Dec 6th) and I went to the Northtown Mall. A friend of mine said I had to go to this certain art store called "Affordable Art" because they had lots of moose pictures. He knows I am crazy about moose. I walked around the store and saw lots of beautiful moose pictures but just didn't like any of them enough to spend a fortune on. I finally asked the sales lady if she had any moose pictures by Stephen Lyman. She took me around a corner and said she only had this one. (below) I almost cried. It was the one I had wanted forever. I bought it and it's now hanging in the living room. I never thought I would ever have that particular painting. I LOVE IT! Thank you brother Dave!!

This picture of it doesn't really do it justice. It came framed this way too which is awsome!