Gig Harbor is a wonderfully sheltered and tranquil harbor on the opposite side of the Puget Sound from Tacoma. We’ve spent many nights anchored there on Dirona, enjoying the lights reflecting into the still waters from the homes and businesses that ring the shore. And we always made a point to take the tender ashore…
April Updates
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” —C.S. Lewis
Wow it’s the last day of April already and it’s the first time in 14 years we’re not on a boat. Stan didn’t call Beacon Bay to line up our launch date until last week…we’ve been preoccupied here at the house. So we won’t be at the marina on May 1, but no worries we head back to The Pearl on Thursday and should start our summer season on Friday.
Meanwhile our lives have been filled with projects around the house, family time and enjoying our yard coming alive. It’s been amazing watching the changes that have seemed to appear overnight.
Our yard on March 24
The way it looked on April 7…two weeks later.
One month later our yard is so green and the trees are blooming and putting on leaves.
The dogwood tree in our backyard is beautiful.
We have these Clematises all over the yard.
This Lilac tree is also in the back of the property. It seems wonderful.
We have strawberry plants everywhere…they’re like the ground cover in all the flower beds and they are full of blooms. I hope we have a chance to try some. With all the birds, bunnies and groundhogs we might have a fight on our hands.
We have wild violets growing all over the place also. They are literally coming up in the yard and I love them.
The paint in most of the house was fine and something we could live with, but the smaller bedroom upstairs had to be changed. We painted the walls a light gray and the ceiling white. We also painted the window seat and the room is now very inviting. What a big difference paint can make.
Last fall when we got the house we bought a nightstand and dresser for the small upstairs bedroom. They have tons of antique or resale stores in the area. We found wonderful buys and have had fun redoing them.
The before and after pictures of the nightstand. We will redo the dresser later in the summer or next fall.
We also needed a little bench in the utility room so we could change our shoes. We found an old piano bench that was just the right size. It was in pretty bad shape, but Stan did a great job fixing it up.
Before and after.
This little step stool was made by my grandfather almost 100 years ago and it is coming in very handy in this house. The stool was covered in overspray paint from all the times it was used in household projects. A new coat of paint and it looks amazing too.
I didn’t like the first color so I ended up repainting with the paint I used on the nightstand.
The grands had their first sleepover at the house in April. What a great time. We had ice cream at the Old Mill Creamery and played in the creek…although it was a bit chilly.
Everyone enjoyed being creative on the patio. Spring means chalk, bubbles, soccer, s’more and so much more.
The kids also had fun skating and using the hoverboard.
Graham really looks tall on his hoverboard.
Campfires and S’mores….what could be better.
April Updates
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” —C.S. Lewis
Wow it’s the last day of April already and it’s the first time in 14 years we’re not on a boat. Stan didn’t call Beacon Bay to line up our launch date until last week…we’ve been preoccupied here at the house. So we won’t be at the marina on May 1, but no worries we head back to The Pearl on Thursday and should start our summer season on Friday.
Point Ruston Revisited
We enjoyed our first weekend at Point Ruston so much that we returned for another earlier this year. We love the rooms at the Point Ruston Waterfront hotel, with sweeping views to Commencement Bay, where we can get a little work done by the window and see what’s happening outside, both on land and the…
Return to Cape Town
As part of our trip to the South Pole, we returned to Cape Town for the first time since 2015. Back then, we’d arrived in South Africa from Reunion after crossing the Indian Ocean in Dirona, and spent two months in country before sailing on to Barbados via St. Helena. As our plane banked over…
South Pole and Emperors
For the first half of the 20th century, the only people who had stood at the South Pole were the 1911/1912 expedition teams of Norwegian Roald Amundsen and Briton Robert F. Scott. It wasn’t until 1956 that humans again set foot at the pole, this time to establish the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station research center…
March Updates
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending” -C.S. Lewis
March was a very busy month. We spent a lot of time with our Texas grands and catching up with friends we won’t see for eight months. March also was the beginning of our northern migration. We left about a month earlier since we have our new home in Lewisburg and had things we still wanted to do before we head to the lake for the summer.
March Updates
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending” -C.S. Lewis
March was a very busy month. We spent a lot of time with our Texas grands and catching up with friends we won’t see for eight months. March also was the beginning of our northern migration. We left about a month earlier since we have our new home in Lewisburg and had things we still wanted to do before we head to the lake for the summer.
Keith’s Perspective on Joshua Tree/Le point de vue de Keith sur Joshua Tree
Joshua Tree national park was amazing! The first day we drove there. We stopped to get food at a place called Farmer Boys. We went to my friend Heath’s campsite. Le parc national de Joshua Tree était incroyable! Le premier … Continue reading →
Joshua Tree National Park
The family that we went camping with in Yosemite last year invited us to go to Joshua Tree National Park with them and several others for spring break. Joshua Trees are the largest species of the yucca genus (evergreens with … Continue reading →
