One of the great things about having a good friend who grew up in another state is that over the years, you meet and get to know their old friends when they come to visit. And sometimes, their friends become your friends too. 

Once again I had the joy of hopping on a ferry with friends to get away to an island in Puget Sound. Don't you just love that in less than an hour you can be out on the water, smelling the sea air, with the wind whipping through your hair? All your troubles seem to float away, at least for the time being, and you are in awe of the beauty surrounding you. 

As May Day approaches, I always begin to think about what flowers I will plant in my flower pots. I tend to take a fairly traditional approach, partly because I like the simple look, but admittedly partly because I really don't know that much about plants. 

Venturing out to the tulip fields in Skagit County, two friends and I took a chance that we could catch this annual show of beauty before the predicted rains came. Being a Monday, the morning crowd was fairly slight...a good day to go. 

As I was baking bread last week, I could not quite put my finger on a feeling I had. Something felt so right...the faint scent of the yeasty raw dough, the flour that somehow escaped the mixing bowl, landing on the counter, and later the smell of bread baking...one of my favorite smells in the whole world.

One of the joys of hitting a milestone birthday is that the party often continues beyond your special day as your circles of friends celebrate with you. My friends have enriched my life. Beyond the good times of sharing fun experiences

The other night my sisters took me out for dinner to a charming little French bistro in Edmonds for a belated birthday celebration. Yes, that is a little glimpse of the sun that has been hiding for days here in western Washington! Can you see the Olympic mountains peaking over the clouds? Perhaps spring is just around the corner!

Sitting at New Life Church waiting for the celebration of life to begin, I glanced at the program and saw that his son was giving the opening remarks. Tragically, the father, a dear family friend, had recently passed away from a battle with glioblastoma, a deadly form of brain cancer, at the age of 58. 

Sometimes hitting a "big" birthday...the decades old kind...is a little painful. You look at the number coming up and there's a part of you that just can't wrap your mind around it. Whaaaaat? I couldn't possibly be that old! Feels like just yesterday I was 25! 

Sometimes when I hear the words "vegetable soup," I think it sounds a little boring. After all, meat gives soup flavor as well as texture, which are pretty important for a good soup. Yet when I saw the title for this one, Asian Vegetable Soup in Life: Beautiful magazine, I was intrigued. 

So, you love to go the mountains and enjoy the crisp clean air, walk the quiet roads and trails, swim in a cold lake or float the rivers, enjoy the colors of the fall leaves, and the beautiful winter snow. 

Instead of dreading winter as many do here, the Scandinavians actually seem to come alive and embrace the dark and cold of winter. Have you heard of the trend called hygge? The word is kind of hard to define, but some equate it to a sense of coziness, creating warmth in your home, and embracing the season.

 I'm really not a big fan of New Year's Resolutions. When I've made them in the past, I was always gung ho in the first few days of January to work on them. But, as the month wore on, and work piled up as I did all the year end bookkeeping that needs to happen when you are self employed, my resolve to work on those resolutions began to fade and I ended up feeling like a loser. Not a great way to start a New Year!