Each year, the Skagit Valley hosts the Highland Games, a festival put on by the Celtic Arts Foundation. Featuring various traditional games (such as stone throwing, hay tossing, etc.), bagpipe competitions, and clan pride, the kilts seem commonplace! If you are of Scottish or Irish heritage, you are likely to find a tent with your clan's name bannered proudly at the front. Vendors selling their wares are scattered throughout, but these aren't your usual fair vendors. Not only will you find curly fries and root beer floats, you'll find haggis and meat pies. Along with "I love Ireland" t-shirts, you'll see kilts, swords, daggers, celtic jewelry, and an array of traditional apparel. Quite intriguing!
Josh and I spent some time wandering around, observing some dancers and musicians, choking down some Haggis for the first time, and cheering on some of the athletes. And after several days of rain and thunderstorms, we were blessed with a beautiful blue sky. :-) It was definitely a splendid day!
I hoped to have something extraordinary to blog about on my 200th post. Hmm.....I'll just tell you about my Monday. ;-)
Busy as usual, I was able to accomplish quite a few things. I got a good head start on a rather large printing project that's set for this week. With only one minor setback, I'm hoping to finish it in record time! If you're at all familiar with the thickness of "Manuscript Evidence" you may be skeptical.....but I AM determined. :-)
The thought occurred to me yesterday that our lavender may be ready to harvest -- our lavender that we planted several years ago and is finally producing a good size harvest! Last year, since I was in Thailand I missed the harvest so no dried lavender for us. I barely caught it this time! I absolutely LOVE the dark shade of the Hidcote Blue lavender. Definitely my favorite variety.
The evening concluded with a FABULOUS concert featuring violinist Joshua Bell. I have been wanting to see Joshua Bell live in concert for years now, so to finally have the opportunity was incredible! It was actually a late birthday present for Christopher, but he confirmed my thoughts.....it was worth the wait. A few months ago I was listening to the classical music station (at a time I wouldn't normally) and I happened to hear them mention that Joshua Bell would be in Bellingham! *Gasp!* He usually only comes to Seattle and the tickets are outrageous. Well.....you can't beat $30 tickets at the Mt. Baker Theatre in Bellingham! I know....I was shocked myself. And of course, the place was sold out. :-)
This is a piece that Joshua Bell performed last night. It was unbelievable! His music nearly brings me to tears, it's so beautiful.
Well, my blog may continue to remain quiet in the coming month or so. I am preparing to go as a counselor to youth camp next week and I am SO looking forward to that! Then....take a breath......I'll have a weekend to prepare for a lengthy trip to Mexico. More about that later.
This morning around 6:00 as I rolled over to whack the snooze button for the second time I heard my cell phone buzz indicating a text. Sure enough, the college had sent out a notice that classes were canceled. I jumped out of bed and looked out the window! In my excitement I forgot that I need my glasses to see any reasonable distance in front of me so I scurried back to grab them from my nightstand. Sure enough, a beautiful layer of snow was glowing in the darkness. With a contended sigh I went back to sleep knowing it would be a good day. :-) When I officially decided I would get up, I looked out my window again, this time with my glasses. It had snowed even more and was still falling! I would say we got 6-8 inches today overall. It's supposed to snow some through the night and even tomorrow. I wonder if school will be canceled again.....most likely.
I feel like there is SO much I want to blog about, but time does not allow. So I will make this brief but add some fun pictures. :-) Yesterday we had a graduation for our Bible Training Institute here at Bible Baptist Church. Two people graduated: My good friend Carolyn and one of our preachers in training, Chris. It was a wonderful night of celebration as we celebrated their accomplishment. It was also a send-off for yours truly. I gave a testimony about what the Lord's been doing in my life and I sang a special. It was a time of mixed feelings: I was sad to say goodbye to everyone for a time but excited at what the Lord has ahead for me.
The Waldrons came over the mountains for graduation and the whole family (plus dogs!) stayed at our house. It was SUCH a fun time! Deborah also stayed the night and kept us laughing. hahaha good times. We didn't get much sleep last night but we kind of saw that coming.
I am fading now so I will close this out with some pictures. Tomorrow is my last full day before I leave and I am serious when I say it's FULL! Soooo much going on tomorrow. But it will all be wonderful. :-) Enjoy the pictures!
Who is my Mom? What is she like? Well I can tell you that she is not only a GREAT Mom but a great friend! :-) She has a sense of humor that makes us laugh, especially when we particularly don't want to. She always has just the right word to say when life seems overwhelming. She's an example of kindness and patience. She has a servant's heart in all matters and is always willing to give her time if it means helping someone else. She always has a listening ear when I just need to talk my life through. :-)
Started out with my devotions then studying before class...
Then I went to my Public Speaking class....
Then I piano practiced for approximately an hour...
Then I worked in the print shop. Finished printing a book today. Tomorrow I will be collating. I don't know what the dealio is with my stacks. They always seems to lean! haha
Studied again....
Went to church (don't have a picture for that)...
Then celebrated Christopher's birthday with gifts and an icecream cake!
Now I'm off to study again and work on scholarship application stuff.....fun!
Who has us laughing even when we don't want to be just because we can't help it? Who gets wire, batteries and other gadgets in his Christmas stocking because he loves to make little contraptions?? Who built me a cookbook stand with his Knex? Who complains about violin practicing but ends up practicing for an hour just because he loves it? Who specializes in making pound cakes and wanted to even make his own birthday cake?
Yup....Christopher. He's turning 15!!! Very hard to believe especially when I think back to when I was 15. That truly seems like just yesterday. Chris is an awesome brother. He has us in stitches so many times with his witty humor. (Oh he thinks he's so smart. haha) He's my partner in crime when it comes to music. It's been so fun to share songs, him on the violin and me on the piano. I love having a brother that enjoys classical music and the like! Looking forward to what the Lord has for him this next year. Driving?? oh no! Maybe he'll learn while I'm gone for three months. hehe. Love you, Christopher!
Today was our "spring cleaning" outside. Everything looks SO much better. We did tons of weeding and working in the garden. It was really nice to get my hands in the dirt again. Usually by this time of year I've done tons of gardening but since I don't work at the Holly Farm anymore I've barely worked outside! That's what happens when the books are waiting I guess. It really got me in the mood to garden and I can't wait to go pick out annuals for this year! And of course it's always fun to watch the perennials come back fuller and bigger each year. Even though I'll be gone for almost the whole summer I am hoping to get my hands dirty as much as possible between now and then. :-) Welcome Spring!!
The dogs enjoyed the time playing outside! At one point Chester decided to chase an earthworm down a hole and began to dig furiously. Of course, we can't have that in the garden so we stopped him. But it was funny to watch. I also thought it was funny that in the pictures I took of BOTH of them they had their tongues out. Buck's takes the cake though. :-D
Yesterday we spent the day in Seattle with the Teales. It was so fun to do some exploring!! It's pretty typical I think to get into routine in the place that you live where you never go out to see the normal sites. That's how Seattle is for us. We had never been to Pike's Place Market or the Space Needle (Well, I had. But not my family). We "Started" the day by going to Benihana's for lunch. That was a blast! Not only is the food delicious, but the chefs are so entertaining as they flip and twirl their knives and spatulas. And I qoute, "Don't try this at home." hahaha Kind of funny...the two times I have gone to Benihana's (a Japanese Restaurant) our chefs were both Mexican. What's with that?! Either way, they were very entertaining. We then proceeded to the space needle. You would think that to find the space needle you would just look up, right? It wasn't that easy. Because of large buildings blocking our view, we only saw the Space Needle as we got within two blocks. Up we went (It takes 41 seconds to get to the top) to the Observation Deck 570' high. Great view of Seattle! Then we went to Pikes Place Market. That was sooo interesting. So many shops that it would take an entire day to see everything. It was fun to browse and I look forward to going back when I have more time. Unfortunately, we didn't witness any fish throwing. Too bad. We visited what we thought was the original Starbucks. Found out tonight that it wasn't. Again, too bad. TONIGHT Christopher and I met up with the Teales to go to the Chieftains Concert. That was a BLAST! It's been a while since I felt so energized. lol. I am a huge fan of traditional Irish music and I love Irish fiddle music! I was satisfied to say the least. :-)
I've just returned home and I hear rumors that school might be canceled tomorrow due to snow. What a shocker! Snow is a rarity around here. The Mainers must've brought it with them. :-p Hoping for a snow day.....
Pike's Place Market
Space Needle from Below
We passed by an awesome piano store. I just had to get a picture of this awesome Steinway!!! I wanted to play it but, imagine that. There was a sign that said I couldn't. What a shame.
