I love orchids and daffodils!

Well, at the old house, my daffodils are gorgeous, the daphne are in bloom, the camellia is laden with pink flowers, the tulips are getting ready to bloom and the lawn is a deep, brilliant green. I do miss all my flowers. The 31 roses are all bedecked with new leaves and look so shiny and ready for spring and summer.

At home now, I have no flower garden, those darn deer eat it! But, inside the house I have two beloved orchid plants. After patiently waiting for a year, they have been blooming for over 3 weeks now and the last blossom is opening. they should last for about another 2-3 weeks and then bye bye for another year.

Boots are made for walkin'

Off we went to cold Canada to see my sister. My kind hubby bought me these wonderful new NIKE boots last Saturday! We stopped in Chehallis for a stretch on the way up to Canada at the factory stores and Larry found them and required that I buy them! They are soft sided, well padded and warm. And so fashionable am I! Now, you say... these are not just Nike boots. Yes.. my sis is responsible for the others ! She drove into town on Friday for her Canadian citizenship test and I tagged along. She told me to go for stroll for about an hour down Main St and to meet her at Cowboy Coffee. Being a good older sister, I did just that and...right next to the coffee house was ... the Boot Barn.

Now if you know me you know I like shoes especially fine made ones, which I can rarely afford. I am usually a Payless shopper by requirement. But I love to see, feel and drool over nice, real leather shoes. A nice old-world Italian family has run this business for 75 years and have a full service leather shop in half the store. I looked at the shoes but with tags of $100, $200, and then up for boots, I just looked, until... I saw the Clearance table. It called to me and I succumbed. Bad Linda.

Each year when I come to Canada, I need boots. I had bought some pretend boots at my Walmart last year, very functional and... in my budget! But here were real leather used Tony Lama boots from Ft Worth TX! and they fit! and they were already broken in! and they were sooooo comfortable....and they were only $75! and Larry and I each had $100 to spend on fun on vacation. You can imagine my joy!, well, perhaps not, but joy it was.

So now I have lots of boots to do my walking up here. Some nice, real cowboy boots for riding horses and such, warm Nike boots for walking the still snow laden streets of Sun Peaks Resort right up the hill, and mucking boots for mucking through the cow field to throw hay, check on cows, pet calves, feed donkeys, check on chickens and such. I am in walking heaven!

Twins!

2 days ago I saw one of the coolest things I have always wanted to see... a big animal born. And to make it even better, later that day twins were born. It is incredible how in just 5 minutes or so it goes from little hooves protruding to seeing nostrils and then a squished head and.. a big push and all of a sudden there is a new little life. As soon as he hits the ground momma cow starts licking and within a few minutes you see the calf struggle to life as he lifts his head up. Wait another few minutes and he is struggling to move his legs and within an hour this partially dry little thing is trying to stand up. And they are pre-programmed to stand up and search for mom and nurse within a few hours. Amazing!