Hot Rods and BBQ

Last weekend, we had our club's annual car show in Palouse, WA.  We watched the weather forecast closely as the date approached, and every day the prediction changed.  Would rain scare the crowd away, or would we get a break?  As luck would have it, the clouds went away for 24 hours and we had an absolutely perfect day in downtown Palouse!  89 cars and countless spectators filled the main street of this quaint town.

The fun little Dodge was our choice of ride to take to this show.

The day was eventful from start to finish.  One of the first cars to show up arrived with busted suspension.  Not a bad place to roll into when you're in need of repair!  In no time at all it was welded and they could enjoy the show.

Pinstriper Lance Jasper stayed busy all day, adding a touch of traditional art to restored classics.

His first job of the day was our friends' fully restored 1914 Buick.  Pretty neat.

Other favorites of the show:

After a very successful show with amazing cars, a delicious lunch of barbeque sandwiches from a local business, and impressive live music, the bulk of the crowd left town and the club and friends stayed to clean up and relax with a potluck dinner.  Once we recuperated from the organized chaos of putting on the event, we strapped on our rollerskates and hit the streets for a good time.  When exhaustion set in, Andy and I bid our farewells and headed home.  About halfway home, the rain started again.  And then....the Dodge sputtered and died.  Andy knew right away that we were out of gas, so...we called back to the crowd we'd just left and ordered a gallon or two of fuel. 

In no time at all, we were back to the business of going home - very glad to have this network of friends who know and appreciate cars and are always willing to help you get down the road. 

May at Our House

Can you believe it's June?!  Judging by the weather, it could still be April Showers...except that we had a wonderful show of May Flowers in our yard all of last month!

 

 

 They inspired me to finally fill the pots on our deck with colorful blooming things.  They were left by the previous owners and have sat empty for 3 years!  We had fun picking out some perennials to fill them up.  The pot shown here has a Sugar Bush amongst the flowers.  You can eat the leaves and they taste like sugar!  It can be used as a natural substitute.  How cool is that?

 I'm happy to report that the Hostas that we transplanted in the new rock bed survived and are brightening up that part of the yard.

 And the veggies are putting on a show of their own in the garden.  You gotta love the neat rows of green, growing things!

All of our little pond fish died over the winter, and we were a little surprised to see movement in the pond.  It looks like a family of frogs have moved in!  We often play a little How Many Frogs Can You See game, as they are often just peaking a nose out from under a lily pad or something.  How many can you see?

There's 5 in that picture!  

I took close-ups of 4 of them, and they didn't seem to mind one bit:

 We have had a few cloudless days, and got to break out my new Badminton set to play.  That's a sure sign of summer!

South for a Week

Last week, I caught a ride to southern Idaho with Marie to see friends and family and attend her wedding at the end of the week.  I started in Pocatello, spending some quality time with my dear friend Tara.  We worked, shopped, painted, enjoyed good food, and chitchatted for hours as friends do!  It was a wonderful two days, and I unfortunately took zero photos...
I arrived back in Burley on Thursday, in time to do the massive grocery-shopping trip for the wedding reception and get busy making the food, under the direction of Chef Suzie.  And, boy did we ever make enough to feed an army!

Andy and Beth arrived Thursday evening, and we spent much of Friday at my parents' house, helping irrigate and seeing all the changes on the farm since we were there last. 

Also finally got to meet my newest niece!  Such an adorable and very mellow kiddo...

Friday night, Marie's female friends and family gathered 'round to celebrate her last night of single life.

There were gifts and root beer floats...

...and a fun "How Well Do You Know Marie" game, with some challenging questions.

Then, it was time to focus on the big event!

We decorated,

 Occupied the kiddos,

Put finishing touches on the cake,

Formed an assembly line to build sandwiches for the soon-to-arrive guests,

and celebrated with the newly-wed couple.

Then, when the kids were wired...

And the chef was tired...

We sent the bride and groom on their merry way,

Cleaned up the show,

And called it a day.

Well...not quite.  Once kiddos were put to bed, we played the hilarious board game, Quelf.  A few hours of laughing at each other was an even better way to end the day!

Dogwood10

Backtracking a little here, the car show season started at the end of April with a trip down to the Dogwood Festival at the beautiful LCSC campus.  We arrived with some of the car club plus a couple of new friends from the Valley, and our little group of hot rods parked side-by-side was a happy sight!

 We had a terrific time, and how could you not when you're in the company of fellows like these?

 After the show, a few of us went to the McKeehan's shop to see their race cars and their newest toy - a motorized bar stool.

Aaron took it for a spin first, with the invincible Bubble Helmet in place.

 Then, I was talked into taking a couple of laps myself!  The first was very cautious, and once I survived that the second lap was much more fun.

 Here's to many more miles in these fun little hot rods!

"The blessing it is to have a friend to whom one can speak fearless on any subject; with whom one's deepest as well as one's most foolish thoughts come out simply and safely. Oh, the comfort - the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person - having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away."
-Dinah Maria Mulock Craik