Art and Orchid

well, he's pretty wonderful. jeff really spoiled me this year for my birthday. He got me some art i'd been eyeing and this beautiful orchid...which he had delivered to my work. i'm a lucky girl. oh, and he also got my bike fixed up!

Garden now

I took these today. All the lettuce is out of the front bed and there are little round carrots perculating now in that bed, plus a few volunteer zinneas and some late okra.

tomatoes are in the front left, peppers behind that, herbs and chard on the back right. In the very front are strawberries, herbs and the squash.

Here's a closeup of the squash. the vines are almost done now...except for a few late bloomers that are still green. I consoladated a little today so that i could mow underneath them. the grass was getting so long around the squash that they were all completely buried! I think when it's all over, i'll have gotten about 15 butternuts out of this mystery vegetable.

here are the tomatos covered in hose and cayanne pepper, so far, it seems to be working.

peppers that are supposed to be a deep red color....i'm waiting for them to turn very impatiently.

The purple peppers start to turn purple pretty quickly...here's one that hasn't turned all the way but has definitely started.

check out this pretty little zebra tomato!

Today's harvest. I even got some flowers out of it!

harvest cooked!

Katie and Eula B. and Krista came over yesterday for a breakfast visit that lasted until 4 pm. The time passed so quickly...we had lots to catch up on.

Here's Donna and Euley.

Spice Cabinet

Jeff and I went yardsaling the other week and picked up this little beauty.

Hertford Visit

After spending 1/2 a day in Boise, we hopped on a plane and flew to the other side of the country...to Herford, NC to visit my grandparents Reed. Mom and Dad were there too. Here's jeff reading Pillars and relaxing in the hammock. doesn't get much better than that.

I think they were having a very dynamic conversation...over a rum and coke (or whatever that drink is that grandpa makes!)

from McCall to Boise

The drive from McCall to Boise was pretty amazing. I actually took more video from the car than pictures...so i'll post the videos after I get throught the pics. The trees were just incredibly tall, rivers magical and the air clean clean clean.

We pulled over 4 or 5 times and spots we thought were particularly intriguing. This was an old ranch.

Cascade Lake. I've got some good videos of this place too...that little black spot is me.

at that ranch:

Seeing McCall

After we camped out on the farm for a couple nights, we decided to drive up to McCall to camp out for a night and see that area and then drive down to Boise. On the drive up to McCall, there was a bad wreck and traffic was stopped for over 4 hours. But, this was our view, so not bad at all.

We camped out at a state park in McCall and the next morning went to a resort for breakfast. Had salmon omlets that were soooo delicious.

The view from our breakfast table:

Us.

The Farm in Idaho

Here we on on the farm. That's Stan on the left, Sharon, me and then Tom.

And then one with Jeff.

here's one of Stan's restored tractors.

down by the part of the farm that is next to the river.

The road and part of the orchard (apples, peaches, plums, and sooo many cherries!)

wheat field and view of the hills in the distance.

Stan's perfectly manicured garden.

On the way to Idaho

On the second day of our trip, we went to the Portland Saturday Market and stocked up on produce and bread. that was the best farmers market i've ever been too....good prices, beautiful food. turns out, carrots make a great nutella scooper.

Us at one of those "this is a good view" places along the drive through Oregon.

Turns out, it was a pretty good view.

And, this is on the border of Oregon and Idaho...we were about 20 minutes away from Weiser at this point.

Sunset.