Spring skies

'Tis the season for dramatic skies.  Love having our 360 degree view of clouds, blue skies, grey skies, puffy clouds, storm clouds.....you get the idea.  I was working outside yesterday, constantly distracted by the changing sky.  From sunrise to sunset, some spectacular sky views.

New Window

I am over the moon in love with the new window that Spokane glass artist David Glass designed, built and installed in our laundry room door.  This is the third window that David has done for us, each one unique and perfect for its location. 

We are thrilled with each one.  These are windows that we look at each day, several times a day, and I never get tired or seeing them.  They make me smile.  I have a deep appreciation of folks that can create original art.  I can not.  I am a pattern follower, which is fine.  Art doesn't exist without appreciators and that is my role.  So happy that we have such talented and creative family and friends!

It's a little hard to get a good image of the window, but this gives you an idea of how cool this is!

The green and gold borders evoke thoughts of each cycle of our growing wheat crop.

The darker piece in this close up reminds me of ripened wheat.  The small piece of glass directly above, came from the historic Davenport Hotel in Spokane.  David said he has had bits and pieces in his stash for decades.   What an honor to have two pieces in this window from the Davenport.  

Missoula Children's Theater

One of the neat things about living in a small town is how connected we all are.  As one business or organization goes, so go all the others and our school is no exception.

This past week two actor/directors from Missoula Children's Theater visited Harrington and worked with our K-12 grade students to put on a play.  They begin with auditions on Monday and end with two performances, one on Friday night and another on Saturday afternoon.  I have been the pianist for several of these productions and I enjoy every minute of the rehearsal and performance time.

Here are a few photo images of the students in costume.  Thanks to Lindsay and Serenity of Missoula Children's Theater for sharing your time and talent with our kiddos.

Miss Serenity working with her cast.

Swamp creatures, Princess Prim, her Knights and a Swamp Frog.

Flamingos, Ollie the Willow tree and two princesses. 

The princess and her knights.

The full cast of students and Miss Lindsey on the right.

The Venus Fly traps and The Fly!

Ducks and one Goose.

Swamp creatures.

Knights that protect the princess.

The Prince who was once a frog, three princesses, Ollie the Willow Tree, Bertha the Aligator and the Swamp Frog!

Final curtain call and bow.

To return to the Harrington Area Chamber of Commerce website, click on this link.
http://www.harringtonbiz.com/organizations/chamber/

Snow Melt

It has been warm and sunny all week.  All but the deepest drifts have vanished!  A few days ago, Alicia and I walked on Rolinco Road with the dogs.  The sky was blue, the sun bright, and plants were waking up from their winter nap.  It smells like spring.

The first big wind event we had in February, ran out of snow and then cut in to the soil and blew it in to drifts.

Thankfully, we didn't have to look at this for a month, as new snow fell and covered the chocolate colored snow drifts until just a few days ago.

You can see how much mud is left behind as the snow melts.

This isn't mud, it's snow mold.  It grows under the snow.  This snow mold is on my lawn, and won't cause any measurable damage, but when this happens on our crop, it can deeply damage, or even kill the wheat plants.  We haven't noticed any such damage thus far in the fields.

Another example of wind blown soil particles deposited in the flower beds.  

This dwarf shasta daisy will be fine, but will have a little extra work pushing new leaves through this crust.

A few days ago this hay rake was still covered by a snow drift!

Where the snow has left, tulips, daffodils and crocus are poking through the soil.

I was in Spokane on Wednesday and stopped by Fred Meyer.  They had seedling geraniums on sale for 99 cents each!  I bought a few!!!!

Primroses were also on sale.  This is very late in the season for primroses.  I love them!

Alicia and I ate lunch on the porch, in the sun.  The sun felt more nourishing than the food on this particular day.

Boston

We made a quick weekend trip the Boston a few days ago, to see the kids.  They have done a lot of work to their apartment, and we were anxious to see the renovations.  They painted all the walls and got new composite flooring.  It all looks so nice.

Art work in the Spokane airport by fiber artist Louise Kodis and her daughter Chemyn.  I could spend a lot of time looking at these depictions of clouds.

David's parents joined us on Friday afternoon and remained until after brunch on Sunday.  We love spending time with our east coast family!

Thursday afternoon, after we arrived in Boston, we went to the Equinox Sports Club to watch David play squash.  This is the first time we have ever watched squash.  Roni explained the rules as we watched.  David makes it all look easy, but watching some other players, on adjoining courts, it is obvious that it is not as easy as he makes it look! 

While we were waiting for David to get off work, we took a stroll around the Commons.  Most of the snow is gone, and it's kind of a muddy mess, but if you stay on the path it's fine.  It was a gloriously sunny and warm day.  Everyone was out walking their dogs and kids!

Boston sky line from the Commons.

My favorite travel companion!

I couldn't help but wonder what Baxter would do in a pack of dogs like this, with squirrels running up and down trees.  I don't think it would go very well for him, the dog walker, or the rest of the dogs!

I love these frog statues at the edge of the frog pond.  

This one is my favorite.

The frog pond is in the process of converting from winter ice skating to summer pond.

This woman was taking advantage of one of the first warm and sunny days after a long Boston winter.

David in the service box.

David's forearm stroke.  He has a wicked good backhand!

One lone squash ball waiting on the court for the next game to begin.

Friday afternoon we went to a new place called Boda Borg Boston.  Boda Borg is very popular in Sweden, but is just debuting in the US.  It's a game where you work as a team to figure out ways to unlock clues to advance out of rooms of mystery.  Each challenge has three rooms.  If you solve the puzzle of the first room, you advance to the second.  If you don't solve the puzzle, an angry sounding buzzer goes off and you have to leave the room.  You may attempt the challenges as many times as you want.  It's really fun and a great challenge for problem solvers.

I wish I could have taken some photos inside the rooms but that was frowned upon.  Plus, there wasn't time!!  We had problems to solve and work to do.

We all used lots of energy at Boda Borg.  Roni Jo and David made up this wonderful cheese and cracker plates for our appetizer before dinner.

Saturday the weather was crisp and cool but the sun was out and the sky was blue.  We walked around the Arnold Arboretum, one of favorite Boston sights and then walked up and down Centre Street where the kids live.  I almost came home with a new hat from the hat store! 

You can only just see the tallest building of downtown Boston from the arboretum.

Snowdrops......a sure sign spring is here.  

Just a little snow left which prompted....

snowball throwing at a tree branch to see who could hit it first!

Possibly my favorite store in all of Boston and it's just down the street from where the kids live.  

Sunday afternoon was also sunny but cool, perfect walking weather.  We took a stroll around "the pond" aka Jamaica Pond.  This is another favorite activity for us.  Also, if one finds themselves in Boston, on St. Patrick's Day, it only seems right that one much drink a Guinness! 

Jamaica Pond

I really love Guinness beer

Monday morning we loaded up on the plane and headed back home to warmer weather, melting snow and a sense of panic because spring work is indeed, just around the corner.