Sunday, March 28, 2010

Birthday Weekend! (Part One)

Warning: You're in for a long post. ;-)

So I had an extended celebration this year; my birthday started on Thursday when Erik couldn't wait any longer to give me my present: What a fun gift!!! I'd talked about wanting her "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" after enjoying the movie "Julie & Julia" earlier this year--who knew he'd remember?! :-D I'm so looking forward to reading and trying some new things.

On Friday afternoon we finally hung the curtains in the dining room. We'd been out gathering materials for several house projects the day before, and were planning to find stuff to make a curtain rod for the extra-large windows in the dining room; we hadn't been able to find any cheap rods (non-special order) for it and were going to try our hands at being creative. My wise husband decided to take a quick look at the curtain area before we loaded up pvc pipes and paint, etc. and FOUND A ROD LONG ENOUGH! You cannot believe how exciting that was, and it cost us less than $3. So, here they are in all their glory (gorgeous irises compliments of the lovely Leaman family): On Friday night Noelle & Andy came. They got in late and we were all exhausted; Erik was at work having a rough night and came home tired too, so we had a nice late morning and then ate a giant brunch at home.Noelle & Andy brought a fun birthday surprises! The loan of the Nero Wolfe TV series (WOOT!), and a little china teacup! You may or may not know that my grandma had a china cabinet with a set of Royal Doulton Flower of the Month plates and teacups; they were in that cabinet in the kitchen for as long as I can remember. Recently each granddaughter and the two great-granddaughters were given their birthday month (amazingly we were all born in different months!!). I brought mine home with me when I came back from Wisconsin in January. And Noelle found a miniature teacup and saucer for March and brought it for my birthday! How cute is that? :-D
After our leisurely morning (and a short nap for Erik), we headed out to Wind Wolves, the same place I've been raving about for the past two weeks. We had a beautiful afternoon, sunny and breezy, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Check out this wicked looking tree with pods that we saw. Noelle thought it was probably a type of acacia.
The wildflowers are already diminishing--those seas of color are much smaller and muted--but there was still plenty to see. And besides what we were seeing before, the poppies are blooming now! Gorgeous.We also saw little bunches of this white flower with violet edging--so tiny and delicate! These weird seed pods were connected to one of the bunches that we saw. Kind of fascinating. There is still lupine, though of a different color than before. I'm not certain if it's a different variety that blooms a little later, or if it changes hues during it's cycle.I'm a sucker for fiddlenecks, so you'll have to suffer through a couple more pictures of them . . . I love the way these were lit from behind.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Loved the "show" and that you had such a nice birthday! A great gift from Noelle - so cute! I never knew they came in other sizes . . . I'm dying here, thinking of that great food - someday maybe . . . Love, k