Berry Delicious

It's strawberry season in Lynden, a magical two weeks in June.  The very best berries are the Hood variety and they are at their peak this week.  Hubby wants fresh berries everyday during their short season.  I can do that.

 Fresh strawberry margaritas on the patio, yes please!

 Strawberries on Grandma Dykstra's waffles.  Yes please!

Fresh strawberry pie?  Yes, please!  There is no photo, sometimes desserts get shared with friends and go too fast for a photo.  Trust me, it was delicious!  I use my raspberry pie recipe with fresh strawberries and substitute the 2 T. raspberry jello for strawberry jello.

I love the berries sliced with an Activia vanilla yogurt for lunch.  And I still need to make a Strawberry Pizza.

Oh, and the shortbread biscuits from the Lynden Dutch Bakery, got to have those with berries and whipped cream.  June is Dairy Month, and we celebrate with lots of whipped cream on our berries.

How about our Christmas favorite, Snow Salad with fresh strawberries?  Yum!

What is your favorite strawberry recipe?

Rest in Peace, Court

 My father-in-law, Court, was laid to rest and honored on Friday.  The Grant County Fire District paid their respect at the cemetery.  And later at the funeral there was last call for Court.

 

Court served in the Navy so there were military honors.  Sam played taps.

 It meant a lot to Grandma Esther that Sam could do that for his Grandpa.

 There were 400 people at Court's funeral.  He had a large family, a large extended family, church family, community family, fire district family.  So many expressions of sympathy were extended to our family.  We were so blessed this past week.

 The sad part was that Court wasn't there, so we missed him and that Court wasn't there to see the love and respect shown by so many.

We were surrounded by family and friends and had some good times visiting, remembering Court and just feeling the love of family.

Hubby and I were so thankful that our guys were all able to be there.

My Father-in Law, Court

Hubby's Dad, Court, passed away on Saturday.  He had cancer and it was aggressive.  The doctor told him he had 1-2 months to live and he only had a week.  Court was a husband, father, grandfather, brother, and uncle for a large family.  He was really involved in his small town, George, Washington and at his church in Quincy.  Court was one of the pioneer farmers in the Columbia Basin.  

He loved a big family party and BBQed for many family reunions, his own and for other families and groups.

Court was a Navy veteran.

Court was a licensed pyro technician.  He shot off the BiG firework shows for many communities.

 Court helped make things happen in George, Washington for the 4th of July and President's Day celebrations.  He helped build a fire station in George and served as Chief.  He was an active Fire Commissioner to the end.

Court was the patriarch of the Farm Family of the Year last year in Grant County.

Court was married for over 50 years to Esther.  And we all know that behind every good man is a better woman.  I think he knew that too.

At the age of 78 Court went to meet his Lord and Savior.

Now he's cancer free, safe in the arms of Jesus.

Gardening

The wisteria is blooming so it smells really good when I get out of the car.  The poppies bloomed and were crushed in a downpour.  The peonies are pretty this year but battling with heavy rain too.

I'm going for a minimalist look this year.  Most of my patio pots have a perennial in them so I just tucked in one or two annuals and called it good.

I've been doing some planting for Sam and Angela's wedding.  My thumb isn't green so I hope I can keep everything alive until the big day.

I planted geraniums in the front window boxes.  In the past I have added lobelia and other trailing plants.  But in my minimalist approach this year I decided to leave those out.  They are high maintenance and cover my red, white and blue swags that I put out for the 4th of July.  It will be a lot less watering too.

Our locust tree is starting to bloom.  We enjoyed my in-law's tree last week.  Their tree is ahead of ours by about ten days.  It gives off a beautiful fragrance and a buzzing sound from the bees.  It's pretty too.

And then it's messy, very messy.  But I still love this tree.

It's this time of year when people always ask me about our vegetable garden.  Hah!  We don't have one.

Why would we?  Haggens grocery store has a wonderful produce department and we have the Green Barn just a few miles down the road. 

Keeping it simple here at the Stone House.

Random Monday

This will be a random post today.  Stay with me, I need to get caught up.

The Aloha update, the metal is off the front, back and top.  The flooring has arrived, the mattress we ordered has arrived, a decision on the stove has been made, the birch has been researched.  Hubby is starting to have fun and is anxious to move ahead.

 Last week Hubby and I went to visit his parents.  Hubby's Dad has cancer and his chemo treatments were stopped.  It seems as though the cancer is speeding faster through his system than we could have ever imagined.  Hospice is coming in to help, and Court's condition changes daily.  It's a difficult time for our family.  Hubby is going back this week to see his Dad and help his Mom.

 It's a pretty drive  to George, Washington and it did give Hubby and I time to visit.

 My favorite day of the week is Thursday because it's Therapy Thursday with Leslie and Marjean at the museum.  They are the best therapists a girl could ask for, and I always walk away from Thursdays feeling better, feeling enlightened and inspired.  Last week we went for lunch at Keenan's at the Pier.  The wisteria was in bloom, we sat outside under the blossoms.  So fragrant!  The view was beautiful, the heaters were on to take  off the chill, the lunch was delicious and the company was great.

 Hubby and Max had birthdays last week.  I love these guys!  Usually they each get a birthday post but I am having trouble keeping up right now so this is it.  Hubby celebrated in George, WA.  Sam, Angela and Reagan took us to Kulshan for dinner on Thursday night to celebrate.

Speaking of celebrating, Max turned 21 so yeah, I'm sure there was some celebrating going on... Don't want to know.

 Hubby likes to have Reagan come over on his days off.  She is a lot of fun for everyone but Hawley.  She's annoying for Hawley.  Really annoying.  And sassy.

I am working on a project for Sam and Angela's wedding.  Danny has his airline tickets for the wedding so that is nice. I have a dress to wear so that is nice and it zips so that is nice.  It will be here before we know it.  I need 1 and 2 gallon size containers and tarnished silver cream and sugar sets and mercury glass.  Hunting and gathering!

 Sam's unit has been posting pictures on face book lately and I've been saving them.  They are in the field and in some of the photos it's hard to recognize Sam because of all of the gear.

 Some of the photos are of his promotion and some are of him giving a promotion.

Happy Memorial Day!  I'm giving thanks for my soldier and thinking of all of those Moms that have lost their soldiers today.  Thank you for your service today and always.

I did say this post would be random...

On My Nightstand

Last fall and winter I stopped reading.  I just couldn't read an entire book.  This coming from a life long reader was strange.  When I was in junior high my folks would take my library card away when my grades were poor.  And they were POOR.  I have always preferred reading to homework, watching television, going out on the town or cleaning the house. 

Hubby was worried about me and I would have been too but I didn't care.  It was a case of "not caring about anything".  I even had my doctor run a test for diabetes because not reading is a symptom of diabetes.   

Turns out, I'm fine.  Just didn't care.

Then I made an effort to love reading again.   In between the busyness of life I have been reading.  I'm finding myself wanting to go home to read.  This is normal for me and it feels good.  I read a lot in Hawaii.  The beach and a good book are my two of my great loves.

So, what have I been reading...  Honestly, some drivel, some short chick lit was needed to just be able to say I finished a book.  But I am moving along towards something like War and Peace. Hah!

The Funeral Dress by Susan Gregg Gilmore is a good read.  It's a story of poverty, a girl on her own and a small community that eventually steps up and helps.  That last sentence is my summary.  The next paragraph is the Good Reads summary.

Emmalee Bullard and her new baby are on their own. Or so she thinks, until Leona Lane, the older seamstress who sat by her side at the local shirt factory where both women worked as collar makers, insists Emmalee come and live with her.  Just as Emmalee prepares to escape her hardscrabble life in Red Chert holler, Leona dies tragically.  Grief-stricken, Emmalee decides she’ll make Leona’s burying dress, but there are plenty of people who don't think the unmarried Emmalee should design a dress for a Christian woman - or care for a child on her own. But with every stitch, Emmalee struggles to do what is right for her daughter and to honor Leona the best way she can, finding unlikely support among an indomitable group of seamstresses and the town’s funeral director. In a moving tale exploring Southern spirit and camaraderie among working women, a young mother will compel a town to become a community.

 The Divorce Papers by Susan Rieger was my next read.  A choice based on a review I'd read and the style of writing.  There was no dialogue, paragraph or chapters, it was all legal documents, emails, letters, notes and such instead.

Good Reads provides the following summary:  Twenty-nine-year-old Sophie Diehl is happy toiling away as a criminal law associate at an old line New England firm where she very much appreciates that most of her clients are behind bars. Everyone at Traynor, Hand knows she abhors face-to-face contact, but one weekend, with all the big partners away, Sophie must handle the intake interview for the daughter of the firm’s most important client. After eighteen years of marriage, Mayflower descendant Mia Meiklejohn Durkheim has just been served divorce papers in a humiliating scene at the popular local restaurant, Golightly’s. She is locked and loaded to fight her eminent and ambitious husband, Dr. Daniel Durkheim, Chief of the Department of Pediatric Oncology, for custody of their ten-year-old daughter Jane—and she also burns to take him down a peg. Sophie warns Mia that she’s never handled a divorce case before, but Mia can’t be put off. As she so disarmingly puts it: It’s her first divorce, too.

Debut novelist Susan Rieger doesn’t leave a word out of place in this hilarious and expertly crafted debut that shines with the power and pleasure of storytelling. Told through personal correspondence, office memos, emails, articles, and legal papers, this playful reinvention of the epistolary form races along with humor and heartache, exploring the complicated family dynamic that results when marriage fails. For Sophie, the whole affair sparks a hard look at her own relationships—not only with her parents, but with colleagues, friends, lovers, and most importantly, herself. 

 I have a few theories about divorce.  Most divorces are because of one or more of the three A's.  Addiction, adultery or abuse.  Not everyone will agree with my theory but follow the bunny trail and that's what you'll usually find, A, A or A.

Parents that say, "my child is fine." during a divorce are lying to you and to themselves.  The children are not fine.  They may be better off without the abusive father or the addict mother but most have battle scars.  It lasts into adulthood.  Sophie is caught up in this divorce as an attorney but it takes her right back to her parent's divorce and it's affect on her life.  And Jane, the little daughter is caught in the middle.

My theories were held up in the novel.

Again, this is my opinion.  You are entitled to your opinion too.  But it's my blog and I write what I want and I have no sponsors therefore I may write as I wish.

whew... That got heavy!  Much like the book, which was 480 pages.

I loved reading all of the legalese and the paperwork, I really should have been an attorney.  I took Business Law in college and enjoyed it but... that's another story for another time.  I became a Science teacher instead.

The blog Mabel's House written by Liz, is going through a recent divorce.  Since we started our blogs about the same time I felt like I knew her.  It turns out, not as well as I thought.  And where is Mabel in all of this?  Poor pup. 

I have a few books on my night stand that I want to finish.  But sometime this summer I'd like to read My Name is Resolute by Nancy E. Turner.  It's a bit early in history for my usual taste in books but the summary has peaked my interest.  I'm thinking in August when things slow down it'll be a good read on the patio.