Camping

With my new work schedule Kim and I managed to go camping this past week. It was great.

Short version:

Hiking.





Flowers.




































Hot Springs.




And, if you're interested, the longer version:

Day Off

Kim and I decided to get out of the house on our one day off together this week.
Here is a short (six minute) video of where we went:

This past week I was fortunate to visit my friend Cindy in Twin Falls, Idaho. Cindy is currently caring for her mother who has terminal cancer.

We had a great visit.....good food, good wine, with a good friend.






Cindy showed me the "sights" such as they are in "Twin".

Shoshone Falls is certainly worth viewing, even when the water flow is down as it was during our visit. Shoshone Falls is actually 36 feet higher than Niagara Falls.



The view downriver...




Perrine Bridge leading into downtown Twin.



Short, short video of the falls.

Boise Flower Show

Sunday I attended our local flower and garden show at the Boise Centre on the Grove.
There was something for everyone at this show.

First impressions are so important and the planners did a great job beginning the event with a walk through a beautiful landscape. The scent of the flowers was nearly overwhelming. What a great way to set us up for the vendors to come. I felt like spring had moved indoors.




































And when you reached the vendors there was plenty to choose from; summer hats, whimsical garden accents, huge landscaping rocks, outdoor decks, handmade flower vases, metal decor. It was all there.

This fountain was in the display by All Wet, Sprinklers and Landscaping, a local company. I thought it was very attractive.






















































Any of the artwork by dharma works would have been a great addition to our Asian shade garden. They would look equally attractive indoors. You can check out more of his pieces at his website.






Friday and Saturday nights they held Wine and Jazz events. What a great idea. Too bad I was working.

This sign would be appropriate anywhere in our garden.




It's available from Winfield Designs in Greenbank, Washington. You can check out more of their products at their website.

I was glad I wandered into the orchid display room. Such gorgeous flowers!




And the bonsai......what can I say. Pictures certainly don't do them justice. Too bad I don't need a new hobby.







































































I certainly enjoyed the event. If I had any dispensable cash there would have been spending involved. As it was, with a $2 coupon from our bank, the entrance price was just $5. And since I stayed less than an hour, my parking was also free. Nice event.

Early Christmas...

My friend Carol phoned me today and invited me to accompany her to the 10th Annual Empty Bowls event. People choose a bowl they like from more than 2,000 handmade bowls, then pay a fee to get that bowl filled with soup made by Boise chefs (actually they give the soup to you in a plastic bowl). Anyway, you get to keep the handmade bowl and all the proceeds go to The Idaho Foodbank. Very cool!






Carol asked if I would like to choose two bowls which would then be my early Christmas gift from her. So fun. Choosing your bowl seems like the fun part but then you also get to choose your soup - I think they were offering four different types. So we got to hang out downtown for a while this afternoon, eat some great soup, enjoy some art, and she donated to a great cause. Nice afternoon!

The bowls I chose:





The detail looks like a mini-galaxy to me.

I love my bowls.

October Wine Tasting

Yesterday Vanessa and I went to a wine tasting at 8th Street Wine Company. (Poor Kim, he had to work.) The wines were all from the Tuscany area of Italy, so of course we were excited. A show of hands revealed that about 3/4 of the group had been to Italy at some point. This was the first tasting for us at this restaurant/wine shop. Vanessa and I were very pleased with the food, the service, the wine choices, and the knowledge of the staff. At the end of the tasting we each purchased one bottle of wine. Vanessa is on a strict budget, I should have been but wasn't. It was a lot of fun.





My "tasting notes". Can you guess which one I bought?

Knitting and Lunch

Yesterday my friend Carol invited me to visit some yarn shops with her. Carol re-taught me to knit about a year ago and I've been working on some scarves as presents. Seeing all the gorgeous colors and patterns really helped inspire me to get back to my knitting and even try some new things. Since she generously gave me a gift certificate for caring for her cats while she was on vacation, I picked up a couple skeins and a pattern for a cute hat.





It just boggles my mind seeing all the different yarn choices. So many beautiful colors and patterns to choose from.

Carol also took us to lunch here.



What a great place. We had salads and hot tea. Good stuff.





If you're having the rather expensive High Tea ($22 per person), you get to choose a hat to wear...so cute.



Fun day. Glad she invited me; glad I went.

Congratulations to Tiffany and Brent!

Kim and I spent yesterday at the Carmela Winery for their grape harvest festival. Tiffany had invited us to join she and her husband Brent. Brent's parents and uncle were here visiting from California, so we all went together. During the festival Tiffany and Brent had it announced over the PA system that they were expecting their first child and of course Brent's family was overwhelmed and excited by this news. We had a great time tasting wine, watching grapes being stomped, listening to music, visiting with each other, eating good food, etc. We also celebrated Suzy's, (Brent's mother), birthday. It was a lot of fun. Thanks for inviting us Tiffany!

Saturday Market

Kim and I, continuing with his vacation, ate breakfast out this morning at the Capri restaurant. Where, my son assured us, we could eat for $5 apiece. Pretty close; the bill was $14. Then Kim and I went to the Saturday market, which Kim never sees because he works every Saturday. We enjoyed walking around and looking; stopping only for $1 cups of decent coffee (that's one thing the Capri DIDN'T have), and doing some people watching. We agreed that the main differences between this market and the ones we visited in France were - size (the ones in France were HUGE), and price - the market in Boise, sad to say, is more of a "yuppie" market - everything is "specialty" and thus overpriced. The markets in France were so common and the items were all priced so "normal" people could shop without feeling overwhelmed. Still, we enjoyed perusing the market, and pretending we were in France again.

It's been a good day. We came home and watered the garden, I made bruschetta for dinner and we're watching the BSU/Wyoming game. (Go BSU!!!)

Ladies Night Out

The Melting Pot Ladies Night Out. What fun. Great food. We met up with the two women from Mountain Home we met there last time (hi Steph and Tiffany); they brought two of their friends (hi Katy and Dawn). Vanessa brought two of her friends (hi Erica and Heather) and me.
It's always nice to eat there and since Vanessa and her friend Erica are also servers they always offer to help our server, pour water for us, fetch drinks and more food, advise us on cheese and chocolate choices, etc. I gave the owner a business card and offered to be one of the vendors for next month, doing Tarot and palm readings. We'll see if they accept. If not, I'll do readings for everyone at our table and it will still be fun. Great place to dine.

Art in the Park, Wine, and Dinner

Kim and I went to the annual Art in the Park in Boise today. There were, as usual, so many wonderful things to check out. One of my favorites happened to be the dogs. So many cute dogs......and everyone likes to have their dog photographed, so I had a good time with my new camera.

Afterwards we went to the Boise Co-op who had just opened their new wine shop. We tasted 12, yes, twelve, wines! It was great! (It's also a place I'm trying to be hired onto).



We bought a bottle of this to go with tonight's dinner...



...only because it was made where we were one year ago....Les Baux de Provence, France.



(Nice, nice wine too and only $15.00)

For dinner I made Kiva Chicken with Red Chile Glaze. (It's not spicy like it sounds, but it was excellent.)



We served it with the Rosemary/Garlic Flatbread (I recommend using Parmesan cheese on top), a veggie, pasta, and for dessert....



...Mocha Tart, a recipe which won first place in our local fair. (We all loved it.)



Really good dinner. Really good day.