Conference in Seattle

This weekend I was at the American Organization of Nurse Executive's annual conference. We were fortunate to have a poster accepted for display that showed some of the work I've been doing over the past year and a half. There were about 1,700 nurse execs in attendance.

Jennifer, one of my coworkers who helped put the poster together, and me.

The view from my 9th floor window.

The cherry blossoms were in full bloom.

The original Sur La Table!

http://www.surlatable.com/category/company+info.do

My favorite place to sit with a cup of coffee in the morning at a Seattle's Best Coffee store.

http://www.startsampling.com/sm/100198/captureAddress.iphtml?item=100198&source=google&p=

Signs of Spring

We were at the cabin this weekend and noticed the first signs of spring.

Grape Hyacinth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grape_hyacinth

We also decided to step back in time and go to the Supper Club. It's just like you would see in the movies - a dance floor with couples dancing (not us of course, being the good Mennos we are!) and live 'old' music. The trumpet player was featured recently on The Today show. His 102nd birthday party is scheduled for the first weekend in May.

http://www.pcisupperclub.com/

...and all that jazz

After the ballgame we stopped by the Jazz and Blues festival for some music and good food. Love that kettle corn!

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

We spent the afternoon at Chase Field where the Diamondbacks royally beat the Colorado Rockies 10 to 3. The temperature hit about 90 in the late afternoon but we were in the shade and it was a perfect day to be out.

Great score board with lots of information

We had terrific seats right behind home plate

Baxter, The Bobcat mascot

Fireworks after a home run. Not as impressive during the day as at night time.

The only MLB stadium with its own pool

The Day God Spilled the Paint

I received this in an email from my mother-in-law and thought it was too pretty not to pass on.
The east side of the Carrizo plain, in the Temblor Range, about 50 miles due west of Bakersfield,California.
Photo taken by Barbara Mathews May 14. 2005

Nothing man can do could ever equal the glory of God's creations.

Spring

This may be the last bloom of the citrus trees this season. This is on an orange tree that produces great tasting oranges. The end of the cycle for this year happened yesterday when I juiced the last batch of orange juice.

Lonely orange blossom.

The Pomegranate tree is in full bloom now.

You can begin to see the forming of the bulb in this bloom.

St. Louis

I was as a conference in St. Louis this past week and spent some extra time with friends who came to visit from IL.

The view from my hotel room.

Brunch Sunday morning. It was yummy and of course great company!

Jenell, Marge, Sue, Connie

It was a dreary drizzly day, but there were flowers beginning to show themselves.

We spent Sunday afternoon in St. Charles, shopping and feeling like we stepped back in time.

Happy Easter!

We spent a very relaxing time at the cabin this weekend. We're sorry we missed Lois as she flew into town yesterday!

There were a lot of balloons filling the skies as we left Thursday afternoon. This is a shot of one as we drove by.
We came back in town early enough today to have Easter dinner with Kendall's Uncle Dell and Aunt Margaret and her extended family. I couldn't resist a shot of this egg that an older sister (15) did in honor of her younger brother. Not that I would ever do such a thing!

The End of the Lemon Season

This is the last batch of lemons to be harvested from the tree. I juiced enough to freeze in various amounts from 1/2 cup to ice cube size for those small amounts.

Last night I made a tasty lemon pudding from the cookbook Jenell gave me.
The lemon on the bottom is a little larger than most lemons you get in the store. Many of ours are the size you see above. Can you imagine how lemony it would be if you used "the juice of one lemon" in a recipe and it produced 3/4 cup like this one did?

Dad's Drop Donuts

This morning I whipped up a 1/2 batch of Dad's Drop Donuts for breakfast. Of course it was a full batch of glaze for double dipping!

Lilies

Beautiful lilies from Kendall's Mom.

March Visitors Arrive

The annual migration of the aunts and in-laws has occurred on schedule. As an added bonus, this year Kendall's' Uncle Ray and Aunt Carol are able to join them. It's a great family reunion!

Sunday we headed north to the cabin and stopped in town on the way.

Window shopping

Posing for a family picture. Dad, Mom, Lola Faye, Carol, Grace, Ray

Kendall showing Uncle Ray the cabin and land.

Documenting memories.

Catching a few rays

A Walk Around the Neighborhood

We took a stroll around the neighborhood this afternoon. It was a little breezy, but a nice 70 degrees. Here are some pretty spring flowers.

Kendall said to be sure to let you know these are WEEDS. This is the only time they look nice.

The Patient is Home

Kendall had his bicep reattached this morning in outpatient surgery. It only took 45 minutes and then a little over an hour in recovery. We're home with some good drugs & his Polar Pack and hoping for a restful night. The pain is less this time without bone involvement.

Lazy Winter Afternoon

Oh to be a kitty-cat in our household! What a life it must be. This afternoon is overcast and cool. We haven't seen the 70's for quite sometime.

Lemons Anyone?

We have a bumper crop of lemons this year!

I guess I need to be thinking about Lemon recipes to use them. Lemon pie anyone?

Our friends Doug & Jenell came for a brief visit. Doug soaked up some rays while Jenell got some citrus to take home.

Gray Skies

Kendall left town yesterday to play in the sand with his quad. I guess the skies turned gray in sympathy for me!

The Winner of the Loosers

At Bunko we have prizes for the person with the most Bunkos, the most wins and the most losses. If there are ties for these categories, then there is a roll off to determine the winner. Well, as you guessed I was one of the loosers with 12 out of 18 rounds on the loss side of the score card. There were 3 of us in the same boat so we did a roll of the dice for the lowest number (since we were loosers we went for the low number!). I lead out with a "1" and come home the victor!

The evening was hosted by my friend Michelle who is also a Stampin' buddy and part of my card making group every month. You can see her handiwork on the party favors.

Sunrise

A beautiful sunrise from the front door this morning.

A Short Weekend at the Cabin

We were able to get away for some time at the cabin from Friday evening through Sunday morning.

Kendall feeding the birds.

It didn't take them long to figure out that the food was back.

A very relaxing Saturday. Perfect marshmallows for a S'More snack.

Jake had actually found his way under the covers to take a nap. He loves the warm flannel sheets!

Grace and Kendall sharing a quiet moment.

A new picture frame found a home.

This morning we awoke to snow! It was so pretty coming down. We heard yesterday that there was a winter storm advisory for today. They are expecting 24 inches today! We would have loved to get snowed in there, but responisbiliites pulled us back to reality and we left by 9:30.

Snow on the little evergreen we planted this fall.