Artist’s Date: Flower & Garden Show
The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity: A Course in Discovering and Recovering Your Creative Self by Julia Cameron is a fabulous book and a 12-week fantastic experience. I’ve done the course twice. At the end of my first course, the other participants created a protection circle for me. It was a life-altering experience to be in the middle of the circle surrounded by the strength of unconditional love and powerful prayers.
Congratulations, Carole May!!!
To see more of Carole’s prize-winning photos, click here. To find links to her web sites and Examiner column about Pacific Northwest marine wild life and whales, click here.
Photo: North Pole New Moon/Sunset
J2J Day 14: Red Sky in the Morning. . .
J2J Day 13: Spring Snow in the Mountains Where It Belongs
J2J Day 12: St. Patrick’s Day in the Pacific Northwest
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
April Fool’s: Who Let the Dogs Out???
Ma Nature’s April Fool’s Joke: Snow
Bridges [A Short Story by Anne Elizabeth Bellingham]
They had to cross that bridge. It was a tradition. If they were every going to amount to anything in life, they had to cross that bridge before they started the 8th grade.
The bridge in question was an abandoned covered bridge. The county had replaced it with a modern bridge that didn’t look like a bridge at all. To read chapter one, click here.
While he waited for the sun to set and the champagne to chill, he planned their last walk together along the beach. When the sun kissed the horizon, he drank a toast to bid farewell to his Sunshine. To read the rest of the story, click here.
Staycations & Carole May’s New Gig
“Staycation“ is one of the new words in the latest edition of Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. It means spending our vacation time at home. It’s very much like an artist’s date.
Artist’s Date: Julie’s Tour of Seattle
Julie took me on a tour of her favorite Seattle haunts on Saturday. We started at Carkeek Park.
And ended the day at the Magnolia marina.
Artist’s Date: Easter Sunday in Seattle
The Freemont People were decked out for Easter. The Freemont neighborhood’s motto is “De Libertas Quirkas.” It has been described as quirky, bohemian, artistic, and funky. At the Summer Solstice, they have a nude bicycle parade.
It’s most infamous ”resident” is the troll under the Aurora bridge at 36th and Troll.
Artists’ Date: Barbara Bentley at Pike Place Market
Barbara Bentley, author of A Dance with the Devil: A True Story of Marriage to a Psychopath, and her husband Rex Johnston were in Seattle last week. The two met as co-workers in 1969 and reconnected at the Justice for Murder Victims dinner dance in San Francisco. Barbara described the end of the evening in the prologue of her book:
It felt good to be able to trust a man again.
Cedarbrook’s Bike
Artist’s Date: Lavender Festival in Sequim, WA
Sequim (pronounced “skwim”) has become a retirees haven. The Olympic Mountains create a rain shadow microclimate which keeps Sequim perpetually sunny and the perfect place to grow lavender. The climate is similar to that of Provence. To see more photos from my trip, click here.
Edmonds Gazebo
Edmonds, WA brags that it is the “nicest town on the Sound.” It is north of Seattle on Puget Sound and home to Rick Steves’ Europe Through the Back Door and to terminals for the ferry and Amtrak. There is an underwater park popular with scuba divers from around the world. When the tides are extremely low, we all get to see the starfish, anemone, and moon snails that call the waters beneath the ferry dock home.
Artist’s Date: Edmonds, WA’s Waterfront Festival
The Hawaiian Chieftan and the Lady Washington have been guests at the Edmonds, WA Yacht Club during Edmonds’ Waterfront Festival. The tall ships offered cruises and “battles” in Puget Sound to visitors.
As you probably know, tides rise and fall with the phases of the moon. Each summer we are blessed with an extreme low tide ~ the lowest tide of the season. This is when everyone can see the underwater creatures that reside in Edmonds’ underwater park. We get to see what scuba divers from around the world come to see. Read more and see more photos. . .
Seattle: Our Snow Is in the Mountains Where It Belongs
Squirrelizer: Nutty About Squirrels
Susan Wiggs squirrelized this photo of Bitzie and teased me about my lack of techno-savvy: “So easy, even a kitty can do it!”
Stay-cation: Welcome home, Ziggy!
Mozart was lonely without his buddy Angel 2. Me too. I instantly fell in love with this little guy. He’s incredibly shy, and he’s all heart.
Stay-cation: Ducklings Enjoying the Sun
Our resident ducklings are getting bigger. We had some rare sunshine on Tuesday. So, I decided to chronicle their progress.
Rare Sumatran Tiger Cubs at Point Defiance Zoo
Port Defiance Zoo’s Sumatran tiger cubs made their debut on the Today Show this morning. They were born on May 25, 2010.
If you are having a bad day and love cats, the video is guaranteed to make you smile. The zoo is ecstatic about the births because Sumatran tigers are critically endangered. Only 74 Sumatran tigers live in captivity. About 250 live in the wild.
Julie & Julia: Books, Movie, and Inspiration
From Julie and Julia, I learned that joy comes from being so passionate about something that we master it.
What are you so passionate about that you would dedicate a year of your life to master it?
Movie Review: It’s Complicated
The BEST date movie EVER! Dozens of belly laughs throughout the movie. If you’ve loved and lost or never loved at all, It’s Complicated will make your heart sing. Guys, if you want to get lucky, see this movie with the woman in your life. I’m about as cynical and jaded as a woman can be about men, but I left the theater thinking it might be about time to bring my self-imposed 17+ years of celibacy to an end!
I was intrigued by the subtle weaving together of loving relationships of every type ~ the good, the bad, and the ugly. The epicenter of the story is Sienna Bouquet, a flower shop owned by Reed [Ashton Kutcher]. One of the richest relationships in the movie is the male bonding between Reed and his sounding board Alphonso [George Lopez]. Their philosophical conversations about love connect the characters and keep the plot moving.
Although most of the matches were predictable, the end of the movie held some delightful surprises.
Anne Caroline Drake 