Birthday and Mother's Day

My birthday was in March - and Mother's Day was last month - and I'm just now getting the photos edited and a post done about all the fun and gifts of  those special days.  My family really knows how to celebrate!!

 A big pot of flowers from our oldest daughter and her family - they are perfect for the table on the deck.

 The resident gnomes, Tammson and Pirphal are seated on a handmade twig bench, with a moss cushion and a healing stone for their pillow - from our youngest daughter.  Their pet ladybug, named "Dottie" sits quietly nearby.  

The sweet goose, in spring had and vest with a yellow neckerchief is from our oldest daughter's family also - beside Goosie is a bunny filled with chocolates (this was an easter gift that sneaked in with all the other gifts on today's post). Isn't she the cutest thing?

 Mother's Day brunch was a salad and sandwich bar - and oh my, did we have delicious choices.

 The dishes are my Mother's Day gift from Don - they are vintage Staffordshire "Coaching Inns" design - a complete set of service for 8 place settings plus several serving pieces.  He let me open the gift early so we could set the table for Mother's Day.

And more flowers - a bouquet of roses for my birthday from Don - and a big planter of of violas from our oldest daughter's family for my birthday - and they also brought two Martha Washington Geraniums for Mother's Day.

 And then there was our son's visit.  He works for Amazon in West Virginia and they flew him out to Seattle to accept an award at a recognition banquet.  They even arranged his plane tickets so he could stay a few days longer and come up to visit us (90 miles north of Seattle).    He brought a big bag of gifts and four lovely cards.  The fish on the right are a shopping tote that Donnie painted the fish for - and a matching key chain.  It was such a surprise to receive the big bag of gifts.  We had a family party to celebrate our son's birthday (which was a few weeks away) and when he was finished opening his gifts from the family, he brought out my surprise bag of gifts.

 In the bag were several sets of summer clothes for the dolls.  It is still to chilly for them to dress for summer - but soon.

 Also a soccer suit - with shoes, long stockings and a ball, many pairs of shoes and a puffy winter coat.  The dolls are so excited to have new clothes.

And also some of my favorite things for next christmas - pine cone christmas cards, pine cone stickers, a pine cone hot mitt for baking christmas goodies and a pretty jeweled cardinal ornament for the tree.  We enjoyed having our son here for a week's visit, and it would have been a lot of fun to have the whole family, this time it was just a plane ticket for him.

Mosaic Monday

Old Barns

There seem to be more old and run-down barns in our area than there are new ones.  

 This one is still in use, at least as shelter for the horse.

Still in fairly good condition - but not in use on a farm

Falling down into the surrounding blackberry bushes

Standing tall, but vacant

Patched up

Barn Collective

Honk Honk!!

On March's Point - near Anacortes,  we saw our first goslings of the year.  

 They were waddling along on the mud flats - the tide was a long ways out  - and it is a very shallow bay.

 Wait for us!

Their footprints stayed in the mud for a long time.

Saturday's Critters 

Two New-To-Me Birds

Today was exciting at our feeder.   

 Besides the wonderful regulars of Red Breasted Nuthatches, two kinds of Chickadees and Juncos, a new visitor was a Black Headed Grosbeak, a new bird for my list.

 He came back often and posed for me.  These shots are taken from my living room chair, which is across the room from the feeder, and the feeder is out on the lawn, with the deck in between the feeder and the house.  I have the planters arranged on the railings so I can see the feeder tree from my chair - that way I don't frighten the birds by getting up to stand by the window when they land on the feeder.

 They can sure get in the strangest poses while trying to find the best tidbits in the feeder.

 He was back many times during the day

 The female came too - but not as often

 And some other birds we saw on a recent drive through the country.  The middle one is a Savannah Sparrow, a new one for me.  I've seen roosters and turkeys before.

Saturday's Critters

Favorite Mosaics

Today I thought I'd show you some of my favorite mosaics - here we go.

 Stellar's Jays, on our deck.

 Anna's Hummingbird

 Washington State Ferry, by day and by night -  during our vacation two years ago on Lopez Island.

 Abundant apple trees last year at Hovander Park near Ferndale, Washington

Great Blue Herons 

Mt. Baker and two barns 

 Herons, Pelicans, Goldfinches and Greater Yellowlegs shorebirds.

 Vacation cottage on Samish Island and abundant wisteria blossoms!

 A Bald Eagle in Birch Bay

 Summer time fun!  Birds, boats, trees and new crocheted dresses for my dolls.

 Spider webs on a foggy morning on Lopez Island

Vetch growing along fences beside country roads

A Stormy Day

Birch Bay is a shallow bay, sheltered by islands, and rarely has even much of a ripple on the water.  This trip up there a storm was moving in from the west and the waves were breaking on the beach.  A couple of seagulls were enjoying the weather.

 The wind was so strong that they had to lean into it to stay up on the rocks.

Saturday's Critters