February Adventures

Felis catus stalks the wild leaf

Blue hinge on a grey day:

Searching for our next adventure (prey?):

Galoshes galumphing:

Aha! A graveyard of hazelnut shells.

How many can our little hands hold?

Hendricks Park

On Sunday the weather was nice so we decided to go explore an area of Eugene we'd never been to before. We'd heard that Hendricks Park with its rhododendron garden was beautiful, so we decided to go visit. And it was gorgeous! (Sorry for the weird focusing issues on some of the pictures, still figuring this new camera out!).

We took Lucy for a swing on the swings:

Which she enjoyed, but not as much as being out of the front-pack:

One of my favorite things about this garden was that it wasn't all neatly manicured lawns and shrubs; it felt wild and remote.

Check out the wild turkey:

Loved this lamp-post:

Just a few spring shots

Today it was 65 and sunny here in Eugene. Lucy and I took a long, long walk to Starbucks in the afternoon when it was a little overcast and not as bright out. On the way I took a few shots of things that are blooming with my new Nikon. I'm so excited to have this camera, although I have a lot to learn about shutter speed and aperture.

Here's the view from our back porch. Still waiting for those trees to blossom, but the hillside is such a beautiful green!

And some flowers I picked up from Fred Meyer for 99 cents.

Springtime!

I love that my birthday often falls on the first day of Spring. It's such a rejuvenating time of year: flowers waking up from the dead ground (stirring dull roots with spring rain, if you're Eliot), birds finding their songs again, new life, etc.


In Moscow and in Spokane I was often disappointed by the first day of Spring. Quite frequently there was still snow on the ground, or even snowfall. But here in Eugene I really can believe that springtime has come. The trees that line the road up to our house are beginning to produce little pink flowers. Last night Joel and I sat outside on our back porch and ate dinner. I watched two hummingbirds duke it out over a flower trough, and I watched our cat dream of leaping off our balcony and eating them. I suppose she has her own reasons for loving spring.


Here's another stellar recipe from over on Baked Bree. I made these Italian Drip Beef Sandwiches for our outside dinner last night, along with some sauteed asparagus. It was delicious!

Picture and full recipe found here.

The Arboretum

I love every season in Moscow, even that in between Spring and Summer stage that is the epitome of June. You never know what type of weather you're going to have in June. One of the best ways to get a feel for the ways the palouse showcases the different seasons is to take a walk in the arboretum. These pictures are from about a week ago when Joel and I visited.


Here are some ducks who swam up to us as we stood near the pond. When we didn't throw them food, they promptly jumped out of the water and proceeded to follow us for a while, much to the amusement of the other people in the arboretum. I'm not sure where they thought we were leading them....



View to the South.







We found this strange tree and Joel counted 11 different offshoot trees. Nifty place for a picnic.

A brief hiatus

That is how I am choosing to describe our blog-silence. What have we been doing you ask? Well, here's a quick overview. On May 14th I graduated from New Saint Andrews with a B.A. in liberal arts. Yay! Here I am with several classmates, giddy with glee before the ceremony.



And then on May 16th, Joel graduated from the University of Idaho with a Masters in Accountancy. Woohoo!



Since he didn't walk, we don't have a picture of him in cap and gown. But at least you can see the happiness on his face now that we're all done.

And then of course, springtime finally came to the Palouse and our apple tree blossomed. And if you're busy gawking at the ugly dirt/tarp that the tree is planted in, never fear! Joel dumped 3 1/3 cubic yards of bark down in the raised part of our front yard. It looks much better.



In May Kate had a baby shower:



And, following the natural course of things, shortly thereafter had a baby:



World, meet David Gregory Henreckson. Please keep in mind that these are only two of a myriad of cute pictures of this little guy. I would put up more, but I don't know where I'd stop. I should point out that David is very fond of his auntie.

On a more sad note, in May we also flew to Phoenix to be with Joel's grandmother before she passed away. While we were grateful to get to see all of our family again, it was a difficult time and we will miss Grandma Flo a lot. She was a firm believer in the circle of life, and the idea that when one person leaves the world another takes their place. On the day of Flo's funeral, I got the call from kate saying she was going into labor. After the funeral i was able to catch an early flight back to Moscow and make it to the hospital before Kate had David. I was so glad to get to be there, and I think Grandma Flo would have been very pleased with the little person who entered this world when she left it.

That's it for now. I plan on being a more regular blogger once again now that the chaos of school is over. Thanks for your patience!

June in April

On Sunday we had an exceptionally warm day, with the temperatures reaching into the 70s. Since this is an anomaly in Moscow, Idaho in the chilly month of April, some of us took advantage of the sunshine and had a grilling party. Although the weather today is forty degrees cooler, at least we have pictures to remind us of the warmth which so quickly vanished. It gives us hope that summer really will come this year.