Hello friends!

I hope everyone has had as wonderful a weekend as I have.  Goodness gracious the weather is lovely, especially for this time of year.  Normally, we’d be experiencing a bit of rain with occasional sunny days, but it looks like we’re being spoiled and quite royally – sun is expected through next weekend.

As we are no fools, we’ve done all we can to take full advantage.  The first photo is of yesterday’s adventure, biking and walking our fair city.  After seeing Portland City Walks recommended on one of my favorite blogs, Posie Gets Cosy, we thought we’d try it, too.  We’ve ventured out on two of the twenty walks (I’ll post photos of the first one later) and have really enjoyed them.  Normally this would not be our thing, as it seems silly to walk around like a tourist in our own city, but the author, Laura O. Foster, writes a lot about local history and has interesting little tidbits and “secrets” unknown to us, even though we’ve lived here for eleven years.  The book also inspires us to venture outside our usual zone of influence, taking the bikes, parking them, and walking less traveled destinations, all good.

These first two photos are of the Rose City Golf Course.  Now I am not a golfer by any stretch of the imagination, but it looks like a nice place to play.  The hill in the second photo is Mount Tabor.  It is nice to have a different perspective of it.

A neat garden structure we encountered along the way.

The view from the stairs descending Alameda Ridge.  We actually stumbled upon these last summer.  “Buddy, look!  It seems like this is a public path between the houses.  Let’s see where it goes!”  It is a marvelous treat to discover.

We’re back on the home turf now.  These are two of the peonies I planted last summer.  I am over the moon at how pretty they are.  This first photo is Coral Charm opening on Sunday.

How she looks today…

Buckeye Belle – apparently she is a bit more shy, as she hasn’t opened all the way.  No matter, she’s still quite lovely!

Another little project out of the way.  Greg put this bench together yesterday evening.  I bought the backless variety so we can have the option of lying prostrate, looking at the little vegetable plot (tomatoes and cucumbers, and a volunteer rose), or the cutting garden.  I love variety!

I’m sitting on the bench looking toward where I sat for the photos on this post.  I know I’ve said this before, but I just love to see clothes hanging on the line.  This peony is doing quite well, too.  I don’t know what its name is, however, as it was inherited from someone else’s garden.

Looking from the bench to the cutting garden.  I love having a new perspective on the yard.

If you’re wondering what the funny looking structure against the house is – here is a close up.  Still funny looking, isn’t it?  This was our final project of the weekend, a house for our bee friends.  I’ve learned that most bees are quite solitary and make their homes either in the ground or in holes made by borers or woodpeckers.  We’ve done the job for them and included our old license plate from Colorado as the roof.  It’s good I kept it in the garage for the last eleven years.  Hey Bridget, sometimes I do hold on to things!

As soon as I’m finished with this post, I’m joining the cats.  They’ve got the right idea…