Flowers in Bloom

April showers bring May flowers, and we love May!

Years ago, the Rhododendron farm in Marysville went out of business and we took advantage of their sale.  Since the price was only a dollar per plant, we got kind of carried away and brought home truckloads of them.  They started their life with us at about 8" tall.

The early bloomers are gorgeous right now,

every color from white 

to pink,

to red,

to deep dark red are blooming now.  Some of the purples are barely budded, but will be out later.

Azaleas we salvaged as babies from a rental house are also pretty this year.

A lot of my flowers are starts from friends, or holdovers from plantings from 50 years ago.

The lilac survived an assault with the chainsaw by Ron, who doesn't know a flower from a weed and thought it was "spoiling the view"!!

Lilies coming soon!

Cinco De Mayo at Swartz Lake

These are the days we live for in the Pacific Northwest, but they usually come in July!

So we were very blessed to have an 80 degree day on a Sunday in early May.

It took a brave 6-year old to convince me it really was time to start swimming.  Sadie is definitely the bravest, but six of us finally went for a swim.

All girls, I might add.....

We all went up to the garden to plant some seedlings.

Kyrie and Joseph put the painted strawberry rocks into the strawberry patch to hopefully fool the birds.

The grandkids are working with me on a children's book I'm writing, "Grandma Rosie's Garden"

Everybody helped.  Even if it was only to watch or supervise.

Then they rushed back to the lake

and the hot tub.

A fun day for everyone - even Tillie, once she got out of her PJ's.

A trip to the "Other Side"

We made our last car ferrying trip this weekend.  Our son and his family in Eastern Washington babysit our truck in the winter to keep it running.  It is always fun to see a real farm family - living close to nature in a great place for a ranch.

Tony and Sara were just returning from a horseback ride up into the hills to check on their cattle.  They compete together several times during the summer at rodeos.

Tina has added even more raised beds to her garden.  It is looking really great!

One of Jesse's many work ventures is carving signs.

He also helped Tony build this huge new barn while we were gone this winter.

This is the view from the upper floor of the barn.

We had met my brother, David, in Pateros on our way and he gave us a wonderful box of Washington apples.  We followed his directions to the apple warehouse in Chelan, and stopped for more apples on our way home.

Braeburn

Gala

Red delicious

Golden delicious

Granny Smith

We mixed and matched

And loaded up three boxes to take home.