sidewalk art

(outside the Bellevue Art Museum)

can you believe the love going into this?

soon to be trampled on, rained on, blown and washed away

... and the crowd he gathered as he worked was

... children ....

fellow experts in the medium of

sidewalk chalk

***

my other blog has a haiku for this

tea and taking flight

I'm going on a trip next week which includes some air travel time

... and not much in the mood for a knitting project ...

so I'm bringing along some hand sewing

in the form of quilt squares

it will be a quilt for my oldest daughter

I'm feeling much the same way I did just before she was born

you see, she's grown up so much in the last few months

she's virtually changing before my eyes

I just want to wrap her up in love and comfort

stitches of thoughts and prayers and hopes and love

quilting a metaphor of shelter and protection

I made quilts for all my girls before they were born

... I can see myself making them all quilts before they go into Junior High ...

and about my trip next week

I'm an Island girl at heart

I'll come back with loads of pictures

this trip is a gift from the Sweet Husband for my 50th birthday

where am I going?

Kaua'i

.... aaaaaaah ....

I'm hoping to swim with the turtles

and - I will be unplugged - so enjoy next week's tea with me!

*

for more of THIS week's tea, please visit the Tea Blogs listed in my sidebar

take me out to the ball game

it was a beautiful, warm, sunny evening

(Seattle Mariners v. Boston Red sox)

Ichiro was there

some interesting body art

a beautiful sunset

a beauty adjustment

2 of Ichiro's biggest fans

and our home team won!

(it was 5-1)

honu

"honu" means "sea turtle" in Hawaiian

This sea turtle is about one inch square.

I formed it with my needle nose pliers and 20 gauge copper wire,

then I hammered it on the hard surface of my garage.

I chose the garage floor because I don't own an anvil and the garage floor cement is relatively smooth.

Plus, I knew I wouldn't get in trouble if something went awry with the hammering.

*

Tonight we're going to a ball game

Seattle Mariners v. Boston Red Sox

I'll bring my camera - I'm hoping to get some good people watching in

- oh, and game watching too ;)

kemp's ridley hatchling

here's the little guy

I've decided to focus on the turtles for the rest of my series

they tug at my heart the most.

to read more about this particular sweetie pie

here are a couple of good links:

NOAA Marine Fisheries Office of Protected Species

and

Wikipedia: Kemp's Ridley.

For how the oil spill is affecting them:

National Wildlife Federation

"T" and ... the 20th already?

I can't believe how fast July is flying by!

My tea today is definitely "on the go."

I've discovered this delicious red bush tea from TJ's.

All I do is keep a tea bag in my water bottle for the day -

it flavors and scents otherwise nondescript H2O into something spicy and exotic.

Yum is all I can say!

*

Saturday was our town's summer celebration parade.

This picture of the bride is my favorite out of the bunch.

I would so love to have a little retro car just like this one :)

*

Here's the H.S. band .... not looking too enthusiastic I must say

*

Pirates .... really scary to the little kids ... I saw lots of alligator tears :)

*

The politicians were out in full force .... it's an election year .... but when is it not?

*

This is the sauerkraut band ... pretty hilarious .... and they sound great too!

*

... and my daughter walked with her best friend and the park's department.

They were all dressed as trees!

***

I hope your Tuesday the 20th is a good one!

Enjoy these summer days while they last 

For more good tea and good friends, please visit the other tea blogs listed in my side bar!

treasure

on a recent trip down to the lake shore 

(Lake Washington) 

with the kids

I came home with the usual pocketful of discovered treasures

... funny thing about this collection though ...

out of 8 things in my pocket

7 of them are man made.

3 bottlecaps

4 beach glass pieces

and

one rock with an interesting orange stripe

I made one of the pieces of glass into a necklace

it had a perfect hole running through it

***

this is an interesting bottle cap

session beer is a brand - but also any beer that is 5% alcohol or less

meaning that you can drink more than one and have a "session."

or you can play

rock

paper

scissors

with your six pack I guess

***

you may have noticed that I've taken a break from the oil spill animal series

I must confess that I am completely over the top depressed and discouraged about this whole mess

I've been escaping and goofing off

watching parades

drinking tea

pocketing bottle caps

I may be at a standstill 

because

the next animal on my list is 

The Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle

I am devastated by his plight

he is the smallest and most endangered of the seven types of sea turtles

and the gulf of mexico is his home

It has been reported that the turtles are being incinerated with the oil in the vicinity of the Deepwater Horizon. They get caught in the booms that collect the surface oil - and even though it is evident and obvious that they are there - rather than rescuing them, BP is burning them and everything else caught within the booms. However, there is a $50,000 fine that comes with killing one of these turtles. Do you think that is a deterrent to BP?

Today's "T"

I don't know if you've ever tried this ...

I love teabags because they're so easy ...

and I get little tea bag thingies so I can make my own.

The tea bag thingies are called "t-sac's" and you can find them HERE

(loose tea: exotic fruit sencha tea)

***

My lovely oldest child made these cupcakes yesterday.

They're so easy to make, even a 12 year old can do it :)

Here's the recipe:

1 yellow cake mix (you can use gluten free if you want)

1 small box instant vanilla pudding

1 tsp. nutmeg

2 T. poppy seeds

3/4 c. oil

3/4 c. tawny port or sherry

4 eggs

Mix all ingredients together and pour into a well greased bundt pan 

(or cupcake tin).

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes 

(25 minutes for cupcakes).

Dust with powdered sugar when cool.

It's a recipe from Sweet Husband's bachelor days.

I guess you could say it's also so easy, even a Sweet Husband could make it.

***

These are some of Sweet Husband's roses ...

I know you'll get a kick out of the names :)

Eden Climber

Graham Thomas

Abraham Darby

Just Joey

Love and Peace

Jude the Obscure

I hope your Tuesday is a good one ...

Please visit the other tea posts listed in my sidebar for more Tea on Tuesday

goofing off

it's summer time

and the livin is easy

Saturday we were at Nana and Grandpa's

to see this crazy little small town parade

we have another parade this coming weekend

in my own small town

the sun comes out for more than a couple of days

the temperature goes up by about

30 degrees

... life basically

slows down

and the fun revs up

"Never put off until tomorrow

what you can do the day after tomorrow"

-Mark Twain

... and, with that, I'll leave you until tomorrow's tea.

the words

this story needs words

I've taken the words from each blog post

they were pretty good

and

 "in the moment"

I drew a zentangle all around them

it looks a little bit like a coral reef

or a tide pool

I was freaking out at the beginning

I thought I was ruining the simplicity of it

... but, the key is to just keep going ...

it (the art) has to grow

the cover of my sketchbook has this reminder:

"do not fear mistakes,

there are none."

-miles davis

personally, the only thing I think this applies to

... is art ...

and coming from Miles Davis

I think that's what he was talking about.

this whole disaster could be qualified as a series of mistakes

very very bad mistakes.

intentional?

maybe.

something to fear?

maybe.

"I have learned over the years

that when one's mind is made up,

this diminishes fear;

knowing what must be done

does away with fear."

-rosa parks

what must be done?

(so a disaster like this one doesn't happen again)

I think we know the answer(s) to that.

hello summer

if you live up here (Washington State)

you know what I mean

:)

July 4th was winter

yesterday was spring

today is summer

if you can believe it 

I wore a parka

to the 4th of July BBQ

today's sun tea 

is really 

sun tea

red zinger to be exact

hello tea

hello tuesday

hello summer

***

for more "tea on tuesday" posts, please visit the blogs listed in my side bar

vacation pics

we took the kids for a quick little 2-day break to Lake Chelan

the sun is shining over in Eastern Washington

the air is warmer too

it's only a 3 hour drive

... one we should make more often ...

the water is so clean

... no oil here ...