A few shots from the yard

I know, I know--this is supposed to be a French Fridays with Dorie post. I missed last week, and now I'm shrugging this week off as well.

Excuses? A few--it's been a really *BIG* week at work, culminating last night, and I'm just tired of all the demands. This week's challenge just felt like one more demand, one more obligation, one more thing I had to do. I don't want my baking to become a chore. So, I didn't do it.

In fact, I've done almost nothing today! A few loads of laundry, a brief discussion with the chickens telling them to start laying more eggs, and a whole lot of tea (earl grey, hot).

I did take a few pics of the hoar frost that is chillingly clinging to everything in town today. Usually, the frost melts off rather early in the morning. No sun (again!) today, so no melting frost.

Aren't kitties funny creatures?

Hope you all have a fun weekend...start December off with whatever makes you happy!

Back from the Tetons (by Kat)

This past weekend was a bittersweet journey for us. Mr. Boom has the dearest, sweetest, most fun aunt, who just happens to live in the prettiest place I know. She and her husband built their log home from scratch on five acres at the base of the Tetons many years ago, and their they raised two amazing boys.

Amazing? How about spectacular!

The oldest boy just married a girl he met at helicopter school in Hawaii. She's such a sweetheart, and a babe to boot. They stayed in a cabin that the younger son built this summer. From wood he cut in the forest. And hauled back to the house, and stripped, and hewed out at the ends, and stacked, and chinked, and roofed, and holy heck how did he do that?!

The younger son, having given up his cabin to his older bother and brand spankin' new sister in law, stayed in the tipi he built the year before. And by tipi, I mean a 12 foot tall, 12 foot wide, stone-floored, sewn canvas, antler buttons to attach the canvas to the poles, mansion of a tipi.

The younger son followed the older son to Hawaii, though, and now mom and dad are following. So this weekend was a combination wedding reception and farewell to the Teton Valley party.

Did I get any photos of the tipi, the cabin, the beautiful yard? No. My photos are filled with the faces I love that I won't see again for a very long time. Therefore, I don't have a lot to show you, which kinda sucks.

But you know what? I learned a great deal this weekend. I saw awesomeness in action. I'm not the kind of person to put up with a lot of whining if people aren't willing to make changes. Now, I do whine quite a bit myself, but that's different, right?

So, here's Mr. Boom's aunt and uncle, complaining about the long (and I do mean loooooong) winters. So what do they do? They both quite their good-paying and very secure jobs, sold the house and everything in it, and they're following their sons to Hawaii.

Just. Like. That.

They're not sitting around saying "how could we ever move from this home we built by hand" and "this isn't the economy in which to quit a good job" nor "how will we ever find a place to stay in Hawaii." They're saying "watch out, here we come!"

Cowabunga, dude!

Isn't that cool?

Okay, so here are the few and the ugly. My vacation photos from the Tetons, the worst you'll ever see on the web!

A whole lot of gorgeous nothing near Salmon, Idaho

A house with a great view. I'd love to live here.

A moose on the outskirts of Driggs, Idaho.

A near-full moon lit the world and our tent the last night there.

Early morning view of the Tetons from our pillows in the tent.

A view of the Teton Valley from Horseshoe Canyon Road

An old farmstead up the Horseshoe. I'd like to live here, too.

Amazing light show on these aspen trees, but I couldn't capture it.

After the last fire in the pit, a little light shining up from
the top of the tipi, the son's cabin in the background, all lit by moonlight.
(This shot was taken after midnight w/out flash!)

Cherry Blossoms (by Kat)

Hack, cough, hack, hack,
Here's a photo of our cherry tree from this weekend.
Hack, hack, cough.
Back to bed.

The View from Paradise (by Kat)

Last Thursday I was a busy little beaver. First, I signed Mr. Boom out of work for Friday. Second, I made reservations for Mr. Boom and I to stay at the Mt. Rainier lodge for two nights. Third, I arranged for my aunt to come and stay with our daughter for the weekend. Fourth, I filled Mr. Boom in on the plan over dinner Thursday night.

So it was that we found ourselves waking up on Saturday morning on top of Mt. Rainier to celebrate 15 years of wedded bliss.

We made the slow, leisurely drive up on Friday. A few mountain sheep were seen not too far from home, and later on there were elk and a few deer. Most exciting (to me) was the little snowshoe hare we startled up as we followed a little trail down to a creek along the way.

Dwight Schrute (from the Office) was our waiter at two of the meals. Not really. But the waiter was certainly channeling Dwight for all he was worth. He had the look down, the mannerisms were precisely right, and I seriously was torn the entire time--laugh at him or kill him? Geeez Louise!

Saturday morning (post Dwight) we took the gorgeous winding route up to Paradise. The photo above was taken from Paradise. I think the name is appropriate, don't you?

So, anyway, I've been sicker than a sick dog on and off since we returned, certainly not up to to blogging much, but I just had to show you the view from Paradise. I think I needed to remind myself that it was real.

It all seems to be a dream....

A Bit Weird (by Kat)

Mr. Boom thought "an artsy photo" of me
would be a good thing for the blog...