Happy Snowy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!!  My dear husband brought these home for me on Monday and I've been enjoying them on the table.  

And look what happened overnight!  Our son Shawn arrived home this morning and drove his pickup truck to the top of the hill behind our house and snapped a few photos.  Fun, eh?

You can see our red garage/barn with the chicken pen next to it, you can't see the house but it's to the right of the red barn.  I really am happy to have acreage around our house.  I'm glad we live in a rural area, there is a growth boundary that has preserved our area from the blight of sprawling subdivisions of houses crammed together.  And we're only 20 miles from downtown Portland.  :-)

I was watching Anthony Bourdain on his show and they were in Puerto Rico and he was talking to a group of people who were trying to preserve their culture, and a man was wearing the coolest crocheted hat with red and white stripes with a royal blue top and I got the idea I wanted to make a hat with patriotic colors.. I had the red alpaca/silk skein so I ordered an ecru and "Blueberry" skein of Blue Sky yarn for my project.

I googled "patriotic pussy hat" and this came up, a design by Rahel Wachs on Ravelry.  :-)

And also found this "Protest is Patriotic" shawlette pattern by "Craftivist" Elizabeth Sovern.  Both patterns are free.  I want to make them both!  She has a Facebook page called "Craftivist" which I'm joined.

I snapped this photo of our Star Magnolia tree all budded out in the sunshine yesterday.. I hope this snow and cold snap don't kill all the buds!

And this is our hillside behind our house and barn.. these are plum trees and the snow drop patch.  Gorgeous blue sky!

Kristi cleaned the chicken coop last week and put down some fresh hay in the chicken run.  She spoils the chickens with fresh pulled grass and kitchen vegetable scraps so when they see a person come near they all gather in the corner by the gate in expectation.  Sorry girls, just the blogger wanting a photo.  :-)

I went to a meeting yesterday at Rooster Rock State Park, I'm serving on a committee to plan the 100th anniversary of Vista House, I will be leading the National Anthem for the ceremony with 5 of my fellow Daughters of the American Revolution members who are in my "Centennial Chorus".  :-)  After the meeting I drove down to the boat ramp and snapped a few photos.  You can hardly see Rooster Rock for the trees.  Lewis & Clark noted this rock in their expedition journal.

The water was calm and reflected the rocks and moss and trees.

I drove to the other end of the park to snap a photo of Vista House way up on the bluff of Crown Point - 733 feet up there.

I then went home and picked up Dayle, Kristi and the boys for a jaunt up the gorge to Cascade Locks, then over the Bridge of the Gods to Stevenson, Washington where we had dinner at Big T's Grill.. then back over the bridge at sunset to get ice cream for everyone.. but me.. wah.  It's the first trip that far up the gorge since the fire and we were horrified at the burned destruction we saw.  Hundreds of burned trees have been cut down and there is a huge pile of them on the side of the freeway up there.  I am so looking forward to the Spring when things begin to grow and bring life back to the blackened landscape.  

l hope you had a great Valentine's Day - even if you don't have a significant other, you should treat yourself to some chocolate and some flowers!!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)