ALS bucket challenge

Odd to me is that though there are only thousands of people in the entire US affected by ALS, two men live here in our small southern Delaware area.  Therefore, the bucket challenge to bring awareness to this disease, is all around us.  Many challenged and challenging others.  Huge amounts of money raised and ice tossed over the heads of many.  Jim performed it well!

He was challenged by a church friend, and dedicated his icy splash to our property manager here in Westwood just diagnosed this spring.

Palouse food

Oh, my!!!  Small town food is DELISH out west.  Every small deli or restaurant or breakfast spot or diner presented us with food that was very pleasing to the palate, served with a smile.  Mostly, it was just comforting to sit awhile out of the HEAT of the day and talk among ourselves, always about where we had been, what we had seen and photographed, and how we were going to work with our photos.  I listened and absorbed as much as I could.  After all, I was the novice and these were the people I could learn a lot from!

Cherries are Washington's signature fruits.  The chef of this diner where we dined on our last meal together made this excellent cherry pie enfolded in the flakiest crust ever!

Lunch here on the main street of Colfax:  good coffee with  cream cheese, turkey, and cranberry 

on a croissant.  That's Jim's peach smoothie in the picture.

Greasy spoon diner also called TOP NOTCH DINER breakfast of eggs with everything and rye toast.  The chef here kept a large tub of butter next to the grill.  We also ate at another bistro on the main stretch that featured fresh scones and big pieces of yummy quiche.

Also on the main street of Colfax was a Mexican restaurant with good margaritas and a great taco salad.

More great meals were enjoyed at BREAKFAST CLUB in Moscow, Idaho and FIRESIDE GRILL in Pullman, WA.

Summertime

Ahhhhh!  Summer!  Roads in and out of Bethany get busy, super market lines long, and our beach crowded, BUT the weather has been perfect with few very hot days and many just right.  And it has even rained this summer, so we have had to water our vegetable and flower gardens infrequently, and still their output has been great.  This year our neighbors actually took our invitation to help themselves seriously and many have shared in our bounty....even a bunny who got stuck in the garden trying to scurry away from our neighbors who were picking.  Our garden and the local farmers' markets have kept us happy with fresh fruit and veggies.  I have frozen tomatoes and zucchini (one of our garden zucchinis weighed 5#) and put up peach jam with the best peaches ever from Bennett Orchards......all the rest has been eaten!
Besides loving the steady flow of grands and kids through our house and Jenni and Larry's and Will's, we had a great time traveling out west to an area called The Palouse in southeastern Washington State on a photo taking workshop with our leader and seven other people.  Words cannot express the beauty of the place, so our pictures will have to suffice......and believe me, it is hard to post just a few!

June is bustin' out all over.......

Lovely June was........

Days on the beach (thanks for holding the sign, Will.)

Concerts on the bandstand  (this one was Electric Velvet, one of our favorites)

Wine tasting at Nassau Valley Winery

Bountiful garden

Spectacular peonies

Strawberries all month

Flag Day

......and a great birthday party for six guys turning 70 this year.

MAY

  

May was all about blooming flowers, THE GARDEN, Keelyn's 14th birthday and getting ready for summer at the beach.

Our photo jaunt one early May morning took us to where the lady slippers bloom, but briefly.  Worth waiting for and carturing before they are gone for another year.  They grow along the edge of wooded areas.

Swans taken at the same shoot.

...and tall grasses

"knees" in a cyprus swamp

Our garden, in its 4th year of being organically composted with NO chemicals produced bodacious broccoli!  Also gathered this month was 3 kinds of lettuce, basil, rosemary which had to be replanted this spring, and peas.

Our tomato plants, planted in a new way.

Celebrating the beginning of summer......

....and Keelyn turns 14!

Our pool is ready!

April

April brought the end of snow and the beginning of spring, birthdays and trips away from the beach.

We began the month with the celebration of Jenni and Will's birthdays.

Will received an amazing airplane which, when launched flew and flew, usually resting in a very tall tree.

Jenni hosted birthdays at a delicious brunch……cheese cake and a sun flower cake made from Peeps.

April's full moon is called the pink moon, but not very pink in this photo.

We traveled to Hilton Head over Easter and spent time and a rainy Easter with Dave, Ann Marie, Layne, Eva and Jack.  There was some chilly beach time, a yummy ham dinner,  and good times together movie-watching.

The weather cleared and this beautiful sunrise greeted us on Easter Monday.

Side trips took us to Beaufort, S.C. to look at churches decorated for Easter as well as a horse-led trolley ride through the historic town.

We also took a boat ride to find local S.C. alligators.

And then a trip to Rochester to celebrate Gramps' 92nd birthday.

The High Line

We have never visited the High Line, so since we were here in NYC on a lovely day in May with our cameras, we spent a delightful morning.  The High Line is a public park built on an historic freight railroad line elevated above the streets of Manhattan's West Side.  It is owned by the city and maintained by volunteers.  It was founded in 1999 by community residents, Friends of the High Line, who fought against its demolition.  It is approximately 1 1/2 miles long.

Embarking on our stroll along the High Line.  We entered  from Gansevoort Street, the first section which was restored.

I love the architectural design from existing buildings and walkways.

Always, the traffic below.

Many benches provide relaxing places to view native plants and flowers planted within the tracks.

A spectacular dogwood tree!

Many shady spots

Always remember to look up!

Named Urban Rattle by its sculptor

A poster for  a museum exhibit

Common Crossings, a design made from the original railroad tracks.

Mural on a building down below

Famous landmark