I've Been Busy

I know, you missed me. 

What can I say?  I've got lots to share and pictures to prove that I have been too busy to blog for a week or more.

First order of business: The Rose Festival.  One of my girlfriends from ballet asked me if I'd be interested in helping decorate floats for the Rose Parade.  I said sure, not knowing that I'd be covered in pitch for over a week. 

I had no idea that something that was so casual for me (decorating some floats with flowers and other natural materials) was such a BIG DEAL.  Many of the women who I talked to there had been DREAMING of decorating one of the Rose Parade floats for years.  One lady had been wanting to work  on the floats for over 50, yes that is a five and a zero, years. 

So what did I do?

I worked on this arrangement that was on the Alaska Airlines Float.  I put in the big palm fronds and the long purple flowers.  After the roses and carnations were in, I got to go back with the smaller palm fronds and fill in the floral foam so that the ugly stuff was hidden for judging.

This is my friend Alyssa.  Do you see how she is covering the green floral foam with short pine branches?  Well I did that too.  During the two hours I worked on this float, I covered about 20 square feet with these pine branches.

After the Rose Parade, there was jam to be made.  Miah loves my jam and I promised he would get more before I left for Turkey.  I make four flats into jam with 30 pounds of sugar and nine boxes of Sure-Jell.  This canning adventure took 15 hours start to finish and only one run to the store for more sugar and Sure-Jell.  Last year I needed three trips to the store for sugar, Sure-Jell, jars, and more lids.  At least I had the jar and lid situation covered this year!

This is a picture of fall of the berries before they are jammed.

This is a picture of my jar filling funnel.  Jamming is messy.  You can also see some of the jam in the background.  I forgot to take a picture of all of the jam lined up because I was so tired.  There were over 100 jars, and about 5 of those were quart sized!

I don't mind the sticky mess because the jam is like preserved sunshine for the winter.

After the jamming there was an apartment of junk to be moved into storage.  The unit we have is in Spokane.  The buildings are old nuclear warhead bunkers and I got a kick out of the warning signs still posted in the unit. 

I don't know if you can read it, but the sign by the door states "Storage and Care of Explosives" and the one on the back wall says, "Maximum Explosives and Personnel Limits".  We filled this space to the ceiling and all the way to the door.  17' x 9' x 9'.  That's a lot of stuff.

After moving all of the stuff, well, most of the stuff, Adam and I went back to the apartment to clean it up.  It took two days and I drove back to Spokane with a car filled with stuff. 

I took Old Highway 30 to Hood River from Troutdale.  The highway goes past many water falls and has the fanciest rest stop bathroom of all time.  The rest stop is made of marble, is three stories tall, has a viewing tower, and has a gift shop.

It also looks down the Columbia River and is over 100 years old.  I had never stopped here over the many years that I have been driving to PDX from GEG, so I figured it was time.

I also stopped and hiked not to far from the fancy rest stop. The stop I pulled off at lead to Wahkeena Falls. 

I want you to note the foot wear I had on and then look at the hike I did!  This hike starts at 80' sea level and ascends to 1360' up past Fairy Falls.  I had to stop and turn around because I was starting to worry about getting cold and darkness was getting near.  This was a 2.5 hr. adventure and many people looked at me like I was crazy for only having Roman sandals on... Several were so surprised to see me, they commented in a concerned way (these were people caring massive day packs, hiking sticks, and serious hiking boots).

I've also been showering Kari for her wedding, finishing quilts, making skirts, and creating invitations for Jess's Blessingway (no pics-- it's still top secret).

Thank goodness the sun is out!