red moon

I heard something about the moon eclipse in Cheers, but didn't really know the details. Good ol' Dad called me today and let me know the times that it would be at. I remember around 1am or so, but then forgot of course. Fortunately, Kitty mentioned watching it in Cheers and I read that at about 3am which was exactly the right time.

I ran outside quickly and caught it right when the last sliver of white was disappearing from the bottom, and the rest was this deep red, like the moon had turned into mars! I ran back and woke up All41 and dragged him out to the porch. I'm wondering if he'll remember anything tomorrow, because he was saying things that didn't make any sense to me at all. :-p He looked, turned around, and went right back to bed. Lol, poor guy is tuckered from work tonight.

Then I thought of trying to capture it a bit, even though I didn't think it was possible for me to do. I got the camera and tried a couple freehand, which were a bit wobbly. I remembered that All41 had shown me once how I could sort of use one of our tripods for something else for this camera, in a poor way. I brought it out and couldn't figure how it was supposed attach, so I just put the camera on top of it to at least help steady my hands and took a few pictures. I used a dark setting to help keep down the wobbly affect, then lightened it a tiny bit with photoshop afterwards.

I know that these are woeful attempts, especially after looking at all the beautiful shots on flickr already, but they're mine and I'm glad that I did it.

worship

All41 dragged me out to the veggie garden for worship with the family. I've been very out of it today because of going to church yesterday, so I really didn't want to. But it's our last free night of summer before school starts for the kids tomorrow.

Oh my goodness! The Interlaken are just about perfect, and I found this ginormous cluster of grapes that were so wonderful. I could barely get my fingers around each grape to pick it from the cluster because they were so squished together in their bounty. I inhaled the whole thing and promptly got a tummy ache. :-p This is the first year that we've had grapes off the Interlaken vine, and I was surprised to find that they taste very much like Concords. Little green seedless Concords. Interesting. I was happy because the vine that we got from the neighbour's is a little green grape as well and I was worried that they were the same variety. But those taste more like normal green grapes.

We had a nice worship and dedication. I was having a tough time, it was difficult to walk all the way to the garden and I wasn't looking forward to going back. I could barely keep my seat still from the pain of sitting. But then, towards the end of the worship I had this moment. I was cuddling Jack and we were singing worship songs acapella. I was overwhelmed by a clear small moment that seemed to last much longer - like a movie slowed down for clarity and then revved up again - of loud purring, a dusty kitty smell, a cool breeze through the desert garden, and my family sweetly harmonizing "Create in Me a Clean Heart". Wow. These are the moments to live for.

the girls in the morning

All41 took some pictures of the girls asleep in the lawn this morning. You can see Thom (the pictures last night were of Jack) peeking out from their blankets.

beneath the sky

Water Lily's had her friend over for a couple days. Tonight they decided they wanted to sleep on the lawn.



Our newest kitty has been freaking out, throwing himself against the window trying to get in and yelling until he's hoarse. He's so happy that the girls are out there. You can see him in most of these pictures, his eyes glow.








The kitty's in between the girl's faces.



He is sooo squished, and in total heaven.




The temperature's about 65 degrees tonight, a bit breezy and cloudy. But I was surprised at how well I could see without a light. I gave my flashlight to the kids and walked back to the house without it.

clouds

I was outside taking a couple pics of a new geocoin, and saw these wonderful clouds. ;-) Click on it to get a bigger view.

jack

My family brought home a new outdoor kitty tonight. He's probably about 10 weeks old, and he's a black manx. It took a while to settle on a name that everyone didn't veto, but they finally thought of Jack because he's like a jackrabbit, with a little stubby tail.

edibles and lunch guests

Looking for blackberries

We had some friends over for lunch after church. We took them out to the garden to let them see it. It's amazing how quickly things can change! The last time I went to the garden, the grapes were still green, and this time they were wonderfully purple. There isn't anything much more satisfying than grapevines....they're so extravagant and rich. I love the purple against the green.

We have Interlaken, Suffolk Red (or possibly Glenora, I never can remember?), Concord, and an unnamed variety. The Concord was a start from All41's grandma's garden, and the unnamed one is a start from the neighbours above us. It's amazing, but we found the vine a couple years ago (before the new neighbours bought the place, when there was a cherry orchard there) way at the top of the property where it's never watered, basically in the desert near the sagebrush. But oh, what sweet and wonderful grapes. There's an apricot tree there as well. How cool is that? Plants growing on something like 10 inches of rain a year and yielding fruit. One of the first things our new neighbours did was put an arbor with a seat up there, train the grapes over it and water the heck out of them. They're so happy to see water, they're all over that arbor.

When we were planning on planting grapes in our yard, we called up the head of the WSU agriculture department (or something like that, I forget titles). I knew him from my Master Gardener classes, he taught a few of them. He lives in Wenatchee, on a double plot and his backyard is so amazing! He manages to squish so many fruits and vegetables in his backyard. He's constantly testing things for growing in our unique environment. I asked him if All41 and I could come and look over his garden and get advice about what to grow in ours. I wish that I had pictures. Anyway, he said that the 3 best grapes to grow in our area, because of winter and stuff, and for best sweetness and flavor, was Interlaken, Suffolk Red, and Glenora. Because we're at a higher elevation and going up the Squilchuck canyon, he wasn't sure if we'd get a harvest. He didn't know if the winters would create a problem for the fruit. We ordered the 2 vines from a nursery that he recommended, but they had discontinued the 3rd. We've had the grapes there for the 3rd summer now, and they're happy as can be, and so loaded with fruit that I can't believe it. I called him last year and let him know that our grapes were getting along great, so he could know for his research.

The picture above, shows that the grapes make a little arbor that you can sit in, it's wonderfully shady and intimate. This is where I took all of the pictures from here on from.











Here's some pictures of everyone enjoying the zipline and yard (I left out some lovely ones, I thought they showcased the children too much and I don't know if the parents would appreciate that).

This is from our mailbox, by the road. You can see towards East Wenatchee.

This shows the new lines that are going up behind our house, to our new neighbour's property. I've had a clean shot of this view for 7 years, until now.

Also, you can see the little orchard that's going in, this has always been an empty field (with old cow patties). It's heartnening to see new orchards after the whole sale slaughter that's been going on this year.