Stuff I Love - This Week Anyway

(See Flickr for credits)

1.  Avant- garde book stacking in Japan.  You've got to click thru to see those amazing stacks of books.

2.  Duck Duck Go.  A search engine that doesn't track its users!  No filter bubbles.  No clutter in the side bars.  No extra pages of results.  And great short cuts that make it easier to search a single site - like Wikipedia (!w).  Way cool.

3.  Lawn bowling at Jefferson Park Lawn Bowling Club.  The Wednesday night women's league is a real hoot!  And the sunsets from the hill can't be beat - it's gorgeous.

4.  Bob Fletcher, who died last month at 101 is real gem. A former California agriculture inspector, he quit his job in the middle of World War II to manage the fruit farms of Japanese families who were forced to live in interment camps.  He saved their farms, saved their fruit, put money in their bank accounts and even cleaned their house to get it ready for them when they were finally released to come home.  Great article, super guy.

5.  The shadow dancers who are going to win Britain's Got Talent.  Amazing.

Dandelion Wine

In the summer newsletters, I usually add a little poem that describes a bit of what I love about that particular season.  In the email version, they get to see it too.  But I wasn't able to squish it in to the post yesterday with the body of the letter - or at least not in the pretty way that I wanted to.

So today I wanted to share that part too.  It's a quote from the book "Dandelion Wine" by Ray Bradbury.  Dandelion wine is a sort of fermented wine, made with dandelion petals, citrus fruits and spices or herbs.  The main character's grandmother made this wine - and it served as a metaphor for packing all of the joys of summer into a single bottle.  Nice, huh?

"It was a quiet morning, the town covered over with darkness and at ease in bed. Summer gathered in the weather, the wind had the proper touch, the breathing of the world was long and warm and slow.  You had only to rise, lean from your window, and know that this indeed was the first real time of freedom and living, this was the first morning of summer."

(see credits HERE)

Chicks and Bunnies

(For photo credits and to see my other photo sets, visit me on Flickr)

Holy moly!  The weather has been so beautiful the last couple of days.  I can't stand to be in the studio working - I've been out working in the garden, getting the patio cleaned out and set up for hanging out in.  Planted my lettuce boxes and they are perfectly cute and beautiful - two days in and the cats haven't dug them up or pooped in them yet.  Success!

Today is Easter brunch prep day.  We're having a bunch of people over tomorrow morning, and I'm cooking up a feast.  All the doors and windows open, lazing around the sunny patio and just enjoying the little bubble of springtime weather we have here.  Everything is green, all the plants and trees have burst into new life.  Just breathe it in.  Ahhhh.....

Not Yet Spring

(For photo credits and to see my other photo sets, visit me on Flickr)

It's that barren and brown time of year, when spring hasn't quite sprung.  I'm so anxious for spring to arrive with warmer weather and things that actually grow in the garden.  Staring out my window at the blah dirt, empty branches, and grey skies is so very, very boring.

But as antsy as I am to get out there and do stuff, this incubating time has been wonderful.  I've been planning, creating, dreaming and building for the year.  Some things are in the works, some things are just in the imagination process.  Good things are on their way.  In the garden, in the business, and in life.  

I feel like I've got so many things I want to create and bring into the world this year.  There seems to be more energy and more ideas just flowing and floating around.  My hope is that I don't get overwhelmed by it all and just poop out, falling back into the comfortable tried and true.  

Maybe there really has been a shift.  Are you feeling it too?

Life's A Beach

(For photo credits and to see my other photo sets, visit me on Flickr)

I'm back from vacation and the studio is open again.  It's back to work and business as usual.  It's going to be full steam ahead from now until the end of the year I guess.  Things get busy now, gearing up for the Puyallup Fair.  And then they get busier as we head into fall.  And busier yet as it turns towards the holidays and winter.

Hard to wrap my head around all that at the moment.  But the gears are turning.  All the new fall products need to be introduced in just a few weeks, and the fall newsletter will be going out at beginning of the month.    I'm working on lots of little things, making plans and pushing forward.

It was good to get a little time away.  But you know how you always need a bit of a vacation after you've just gotten home from vacation?  I'm still catching up this morning. And probably the rest of the week will be like that too . . .

Yellow

(For photo credits and to see my other photo sets, visit me on Flickr)

It's Thursday.  Yesterday was the official start of summer.  And today it finally feels like it here.  Warm, sunny, yellow.

I'm not usually a huge fan of the color yellow.  I guess I like it best mixed with grey.  But when it's sunshine - I lurve me some bright, light, sunlit yellow.

It's final packing up day before the Redmond show tomorrow.  I totally didn't get enough sleep last night, having to be up before dawn to race over and meet the delivery truck for my new oils supplier.  I'm on a new route, but they can't squeeze the semi-truck down my super narrow, very steep hilled street.  So I need to meet them at their first delivery of the day (5:30am!) and pick up my order.

It's going to save me money in the long run.  The constant increase in base oils has really put a dent in my bottom line the past year or two.   So I'm hoping this new supplier works out - that the oils are great quality and stay a bit more reasonable.  I can certainly give up a few hours beauty sleep to make that happen.

Tomorrow is going to be another early one - having to be in Redmond for set up by 7am.  With all the morning traffic between here and there, through downtown Bellevue and all that 520 congestion, I'm sure it will be rough.  Hmm, note to self, maybe I can map a different route through surface streets.

Ok, I'm out.  So much to do.  But head on over to the Redmond Town Center this weekend to see what it's all about.

Memorial Day

(For photo credits and to see my other photo sets, visit me on Flickr)

Happy Memorial Day!

It finally feels like it's officially summer now.  Strawberry cake for breakfast.  Grilled burgers for dinner.  Sunshine is so nice.

Simplicity

(For photo credits and to see my other photo sets, visit me on Flickr)

"I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind."

Albert Einstein

Bunny Fluff

(Flickr photo credits)

Have a fabulous, slow, lazy, celebratory Easter weekend! Gorge on chocolate bunnies and jelly beans. Roll around in the grass hunting for eggs. Spend time with a large ham and a buffet of goodies. Sounds pretty good, right?

Spring Green

(link to Flickr credits)

Hard at work this week, getting everything ready for the Best of the Northwest show this weekend. Set up is tomorrow, and I've got a million things left to do. The pressure of a deadline always makes me work more efficiently. So I'm on high buzz today.

I'm looking forward to this show in particular, just to see how the spring soap scents do in person. It's one thing to have people buy them sight unseen, just by the description on the website or from the newsletters. But it's even better to watch them choose the scents in front of you. To see which ones they gravitate to, which ones they pick up, what they have to say about them - either to your face, or to the people they are shopping with. I get so much better feedback that way. And I'm mulling over if any of them will continue on through the summer.

If you've got a special favorite that you've tried and want me to make more of it - please let me know. I'm always happy to hear my customer's requests and ideas about what they want. I almost always try to make it happen eventually.

Rain, rain, go away

1. a flower, 2. Untitled, 3. Puddle landscape, 4. puddle, 5. rain boots, 6. rainy day, 7. Rainy Day, 8. * узоры *, 9. It rained softly at Cefn Onn

Spring means rain. Lots of it. But I'm ready for a little sunshine and flowers. Maybe a bit of those record sunny hot days everyone else in the country is having. It's cold here. And grey. And tiresome.

Yesterday was opening day at the Vasa Park show. And it was very busy in the morning, even though the rain was pelting, a total deluge of water. You had to run from the door to your car in the parking lot, and even then you were soaked through. By lunchtime, the rain was worse, and the crowds thinned a bit. But there are great things there - $3 pots of pretty ranunculus. Easter stuff - and all kinds of chocolate goodies for the baskets. It's on till Saturday. And it's drier today -- for now.