All work and play

The last two weeks have been busy with work, but the weekends seem to bring plenty of activity. The weather has been pretty sunny and warm. Today CD said that the car registered 85 degrees out!

Last weekend (a week ago that is) we got out and obtained our first dishwasher. It is sooo nice! I haven't lived in a house with a dishwasher since high school- on the plus side, I consider myself an excellent washer of dishes. This baby really cleans them! CD installed a new countertop and we removed the nasty tiles on the old area. CD also made a large drawer to fit in the space next to the dishwasher to put our recyclables (to his right in the pic). In the meantime we had been keeping things in bags in the kitchen before heading to the recycling center. It's great to have things put away and not always in the way or an eyesore!







We also did some yard work. The side yard contained some unruly ferns (and weeds) and a few large oakleaf plants. It just looked so unkept that I ripped it all out and put in some smaller plants: rosemary, lavender, chives, campanula and a few lupine that will hopefully fill out the space once they grow. The vegetable garden is growing and doing well. We look forward to beets, carrots, arugula, sweet peas, zucchini, peppers, tomato and spinach. The latest addition is basil which I hope to harvest abundantly and load up on for next winter's pesto. Let's hope the snails and slugs keep away!





As I mentioned before, the weather has been so enjoyable that it's been hard to stay indoors! Saturday we ventured down to Ferndale (the victorian village) to check out their first farmers' market of the season. I think there were 3 trucks selling mostly plants. We continued walking around and checking the town. Sooner than later we found the community center where Cinco de Mayo celebrations were taking place. We watched the 5th and 6th graders do some typical dances from Michoacan and can only assume that all the regions were represented, but it was so crowded that we didn't stay to find out. Next we headed out to the beach at Centerville. It had some dunes (which of course means 4-wheelers!) and we took a nice walk down until the tide wouldn't let us pass any further.

On Sunday, we got an early start so that we could head to the beach again. I sealed the front porch since it was nice and warm (but not too warm).




Next we went in search of a kite to take to the beach. Success! We got our cute little kite, but when CD tried to make a go at it, it was too gusty and wouldn't stay up. We just lounged in the sun (yes to sunscreen!) and walked around the low tide flats.




Today we went back to work...