Yesterday, we enjoyed the Iris Festival Parade with the family.
We had never been to this particular parade before, although my sister and brother-in-law have been every year, for years and years. So, they knew things we did not. I read a sign that said the road closed at 9, so figured we needed to be much earlier than that. So, we were extremely early, and wondered why there were a few empty chairs along the sidewalk, but no people. So, we waited, and waited, and waited, and wondered where they all were. We did have a great time talking, something that is rare these days to find enough time for:) A few people trickled in, but around 9:30-10, all of a sudden, they all showed up from the side streets, carrying lawn chairs, snacks, drinks, and so on! All of a sudden, the road was full of eager, chattering people, and soon after that the parade came along.
It was my favorite kind of parade. There were a couple of marching bands, choirs of elementary school kids, fire trucks, classic cars, and trucks with hay bales on the back, bearing princesses of various sorts, and in one case, Santa Clause! There were iris flowers stuck all over the vehicles, which were pretty.
A couple of ladies that Rob works with came to join us, and one brought her son. He struck up an acquaintance with Patsy right away and we all enjoyed watching how much he enjoyed the parade. Someone from one of the floats gave him an iris, and he promptly brought it to Patsy. How sweet! I really enjoyed putting some faces to names of people he works with.
There were many freebies for the kids–a bounce house, free snow cones and bubbles, candy galore…..they had a blast! Even the Chinese food restaurant gave out free teriyaki chicken after the parade! It was a very inexpensive outing for the family–Rob got a coffee early on, and our group bought and shared a few candy bars from the school kids who very ingeniously went along the parade route selling them before the parade started for their fundraiser and I got a cup of egg flower soup because I couldn’t eat the chicken. We skipped the rides at the carnival, and buying anything at the booths that were set up. It was a super fun morning!
Before the parade, Rob made this cheesy, ham and olive-filled biscuit that was probably awful for us, but tasted oh, so good!
I cleaned for several hours on Friday. I am trying to do some deep cleaning, and worked on the kitchen. I even got the window washed, inside and out! The more I clean, the more dirt and clutter I see! At least I got started:). I had to put cleaning on the calendar and was ruthless to decline other things that tried to steal my cleaning time! Sad, but it worked, at least this time!
I worked in the yard and garden for many hours, in little blocks of time. If I had 15 minutes, I used it! If I had an hour, I used that. I am really getting somewhere, but have lots left to go:) We got the sprinkler system set up in the garden, and the grass chopped out around the permanent sprinkler heads in almost all of the yard. I keep finding one here and there that I missed, but we are getting them freed from grass!
I used herbs from my herb bed. I used rosemary on some roasted potatoes. Yum! I used thyme in split pea soup. Double yum! It’s nice to have them out there, freed from weeds and more established than they were last year. I hoed up quite a few of the 1000 or so baby parsley plants, but there are still lots left, surrounding the turtle! I noticed I am low on chives and parsley in the spice cabinet, so I hope to eventually dry some of each.
I was able to get both Friday Freebies from Fred Meyer this week, because I went early on Friday. They’ve been running out of the more desirable items. I got a free car charger and a Lara bar. While there, I got the odds and ends of groceries I needed.
I stopped at a garage sale on my way home and purchased some picture frames to put some of Ja’Ana’s graduation pictures in for the upcoming party and the table display I have to make for the actual graduation. I paid $2.50 for 3, in various sizes. 
I used a string, clothespins, and some push pins to put up the graduation cards we’ve received. There are a couple more kids who may send one, so I can put up another string underneath this one if they do.
Rob and Lovana stopped and picked up some free wood and Rob plans to chop it into firewood-sized chunks. It’s time to start preparing for next winter, and while not a lot, it’s something and was free! He will keep his eyes out for more, and may buy a cord if he finds a good deal.
I love that sort of parade, too. The small town that our lake house is in has those kind of parades and we watch on Facebook!
The theme of this last week was rain. Seriously way too much rain. One night we had 6 inches overnight and the rain on the roof was so loud we did not even sleep. The steep driveway at the lake washed out badly but it was so wet and muddy that we had to just come on home which did not matter anyway since more heavy rain has fallen since. We have never seen our lake out of it’s banks but it was for a day. Then after we were home there were mudslides just 20 miles north of us and a woman was swept away and killed. So sad. One minute she was standing next to her husband in their yard and the next she was gone.
We stayed home for the most part at the lake and rested and read. It was so seriously wet that we just stayed in and it saved a ton of money. I did go to the garden center one day and found marked down plants to bring home. Hubby went out one day to a thrift store but did not find anything. We did not even eat out since we would have gotten soaked. We are home for a few days and then we are off to our oldest son’s because 3 grandchildren have not been squeezed since Thanksgiving. His in-laws live 4 doors down the street and will be out of town so we will be staying in their beautiful home in their 5 star guest room. Unfortunately we live on opposite sides of Atlanta. Now that is the world’s biggest parking lot!
That sounds like way too much rain! You usually love your time at the lake house, and I’ll bet you enjoyed the rest, but it would have been nice to be able to get out and about more.
It’s awful that mudslides took that lady away. How horrifying!
The time with the grandkids should be amazing. How nice that you have a place to stay while you visit. Have fun!
And I forgot to say that my husband’s SS disability was approved last week so big news!
I am so happy for you. Now, it won’t be as stressful. You have been waiting a long time to see if that was going to come through or not:)
Lovely community family parade, the kids (and adults) looked like they had a great time. Your gardening work is showing beautifully. I look forward to your posts.
Joy
Thank you! I do love working in the garden, so it’s a fun (and useful) hobby for me. Once I get started, it’s really hard to stop:)
First off I love your tea cups. Sounds and looks like you had a great time at the parade. They are always fun to go to.
I do the same thing as you. If I have a 30 minutes of time I will work on something. then get back to it later when I have another 20 minutes. I get a lot done that way.
It looks like you are going to be busy with lots of graduation parties this year. Have a wonderful week.
We can’t always make it to all the parties, because some are far away. Still, we love getting the cards and knowing that kids we’ve known and loved for years are graduating! I do need to go down and buy a bunch of cards like I did last year and get those sent off to some of these kids.
The parade sounds really fun. Getting the spring cleaning is no fun, but sure makes us feel better, once it’s done.?
I sure have a lot more to do:). But, I, too, love that feeling of clean!
Love the new header with the flowers. Great colors!
I,too, love small towns. Seriously thinking of moving to one. Trusting God in His timing to make it work.
Gardens are keeping me busy – I’d love to have a watering system like you’ve put in but have to deal with hoses instead. Almost done with my asparagus. Strawberries have set fruit, yipee!
We have never had an automatic sprinkler system of any kind before this house. We are reaping the benefits of the previous owner’s hard work. It is a very old-fashioned system, but works well, and he hooked it up to an old well that was with the house in the 40’s when it was built, so it only costs us electricity. So, we can have a great garden, and green lawns all summer with no large expense.
I love those columbines, too, and enjoyed putting the picture on the header.
Free water, that’s awesome. Often those older systems work better then the new ones!
When I had my house, it was old enough that there wasn’t a water meter. We just paid a flat rate to the city twice a year.
I’m new to the whole water thing as well. We have always had wells. So, we do feel blessed to have one for watering the lawn so it can stay green all summer. Living here in this part of Oregon, and having always had wells, I am not used to conserving water (not that it would hurt me any to learn). Usually, we are trying frantically to get things to dry out enough to garden, go outside, and so forth.
Love that tea cup display! The parade sounds wonderful – I love the picture of Patsy’s new friend bringing her flowers. Absolutely precious.
I’m curious – what is a good price there for a cord of wood? I saw a sign recently for $200 for a cord (Tucson area) and that seemed high to me. I’m not sure if it is, if that’s high elsewhere but low/fair here, or if I’ve just been off the market so long that I don’t remember anything about pricing. (We had a woodstove in our TX house but moving back to military housing after that means no woodstoves or fireplaces.) I’d like to know what you and Rob consider to be a good deal and what is the cutoff for a decent price. I know it will be a very long time before we own a home again but should really be keeping my eye on these things!
Isn’t that the way it goes? When you start to clean ‘just this little area’, and you see another area that needs a little cleaning, then another, and another….oh yeah, going through that right now!
No kidding! I cleaned for hours yesterday, and wish I had hours to clean more today. It’s a true “cleaning fit” as I call it.
I just love that picture of Jake marching with the parade marchers! He looks like he is having such fun!
I loved him watching him enjoy himself. He really loved the marching bands.