Need I Say More?

Camp Tibbits Winter Style. And tomorrow we go cross country skiing.

Still Not Complaining

One Day Later

I don't know about our little buds, but I sure want to go out and play. We've had flakes, slush, hail, rain and more flakes. So beautiful. We followed the snow plow to the market and stocked up as this is supposed to last a few days. I haven't lived in a snowy climate since I was six years old. I can remember walking down the slippery sidewalks all bundled up in so many layers I couldn't even bend. I am loving this but I don't have kids to shuttle or dogs to walk or even a commute to work. So, at this point I welcome a snow day. We'll just keep those noses to the window  and stare in even more wonder.

I'm not complaining but....

Waiting for Spring

Like little children wanting to play, our quince cuttings seem to be peering out the window in anticipation. And so are we.

We're off to the Garden Show on Friday for inspiration, and can't wait to get this yard in bloom. But it looks like we'll have to be a bit more patient. The weather forecast is for rain/snow showers and cold, cold temps for the rest of the week.

I'm already in three layers most of the time. I don't think I'll be able to bend if I have to add another one. We're starting our fires a little earlier in the day to keep ourselves toasty. I've gotten pretty good at poking around the embers to stir up some flames. (I think there is a metaphor there somewhere.)

Oh well, in the meantime, the quince and I will push our noses to the window and look out in wonder.

writing retreat

Well, that's my excuse anyway. I retreated from writing this past week. Not to say I didn't have anything to say. (That will be the day.) But, I started to feel a little too compelled to write and that's when it starts to sound contrived to me. So, I'm back from hiatus...for at least today.

What I/we did spend the week doing was continue to explore this amazing community. We're dipping our toes in here and there. The more we dip the deeper the well we're discovering.

We began our volunteer gig at The Commons. We're bookies. No, we're not taking bets, there'd be no faster way to lose money than to hand it over to us. We're not crooks but our few adventures in gambling made the house that much richer in record time. We are called bookies by our lovely volunteer leader, Sue. She is a former middle school teacher and principal and managed to retire with her sanity and energy intact. She is also very organized and came up with a system to deal with the donation, pricing, and selling of used books. I'm happy because I've always had a fantasy of owning a bookstore. This way I can do it without the worry of staying in business. My only worry is that I'll end up spending too much money on books that I just "have to own." But, I promise to use self control as much as possible. Thank goodness the wonderful Langley library is just a few doors away.

We did alot more last week and I promise to catch up before I skip ahead to Current Events.

It does feel good to hit the Publish Post button, so I will be back tomorrow. Promise.

Bird Talk

There is a morning radio feature that we love. It's called Bird Note and each day we hear a little information/trivia about birds. It usually starts with the bird call of the featured subject. It's pretty cool and really makes us focus on the wonderful NW birds.

We have many tall, old (ish) growth trees in our backyard. There is one that the ravens really love to land on, make a few caws and move on.  I missed it but Tim told me that two humungous eagles decided to make a pit stop there for lunch today. He said he heard a giant racket and wasn't even sure what it was. We know the ravens have a variety of calls but these were definitely not ravens. He looked out and spotted the eagles. They were really going at it. Not necessarily in a bad way, but they were definitely fully engaged in some sort of avian negotiations. I'm wondering if there is some nesting situation going on. We'll have to keep our eyes and ears open for updates.

Yesterday I started a piece on trying to duplicate in words the sounds of individual birds. I wish I could replicate the correct vowel and consonant and pronounciation of the sounds that come from our winged friends. I can't even name the various species but I sure wish I could reproduce the sounds into letters. I'll just have to keep listening to the birds talk. It sure beats the news.

a walk on the wild side

Oh how we love our Wednesdays.

Once again the sun shone for us. That's four in a row. We're not taking it for granted, but have come to expect it. Our day off from our days off.

And today was a stunner, for sure.

We haven't crossed over to the other side (aka America aka the mainland) since we've been back.

But I read an article about the Winter Garden at the Seattle Arboretum and couldn't resist.

So I googled a good restaurant, made a list of supplies

and off we went.

We arrived in no time, having visited the Japanese Gardens last fall,we knew our route.

This time, we arrived to frosty grounds with sunlight peaking through the trees.

The witch hazel barely in bloom, the helebores had seen their day.

Thank goodness the crocus were perky.

And then the light on the paper bark tree stopped us in our tracks.

Isn't it amazing what the backdrop of sunlight can do?

We messed around taking a few pictures of ourselves but realized our glow couldn't equal that of our surroundings.

And that's okay with us.

what a difference a day makes

Okay, okay. I know. Patience is a virtue and hopefully I will acquire some...might not be in this lifetime but we'll see.

Received an email from the director of our local community non-profit, all age, happening center this morning. By noon we'd met in person and filled in a calendar with dates. Yahoo. I will be conducting my first mini-workshop on the Island. Three Saturdays in March. I'm happy. It's a start. The foot is in the door. The pen is in the hand. The ink will soon be on the paper.

Okay, Whidbey Island get ready to write. Mrs. Tibbits is in da house.

And the other good news is I won't be writing any whiny blahg posts for at least a week...I promise.