2/5/12

Sunday Driver

Our weather has been so beautiful for the past few days.  It is supposed to stay nice all week.  Here's our forecast:


Temperatures in the high 50's in February are almost unheard of.  February is ordinarily one of our coldest months.  Well.  I'm not complaining.  All of that to say that it was much too nice to spend the day sewing.  We decided to go out for a drive.  Before we left I put a new recipe for "Homey Chicken Stew" in my crockpot.  I just bought a new slow cooker cookbook.  If my recipe turns out to be a good one, I'll tell you about the recipe and the book in a separate post.

We drove out to Rickreall, Oregon.  Now, there's nothing particularly special about Rickreall (pronounced RICK-ree-all), except that it takes one out on rural roads into rural Oregon.  It's very pretty in these areas.  Things tend to be relatively old, and so it's like taking a step back in time.  There are lots of old barns and grain elevators.  Also, it takes one into wine country, and the wineries are beautiful any time of year.

This image is taken from the parking lot of one of our favorite wineries--Sokol-Blossor.  We stopped off there to pick up a case of our favorite varietal.  Here's how it looks today:



Here's essentially the same shot last October:


Pretty amazing, huh?  They have some wine barrels planted with various shrubs.  If I remember right, these will bloom into clusters of little white flowers very soon.



As we headed out toward Rickreall, we started seeing some interesting barns.  This one almost looks as if someone might be living in the upper part of it.  And I love weather vanes on barns.


It looks here as if someone has planted some new nut trees on this slope.  I liked the pattern the sawdust mounds made.


Since I didn't take very many pictures, I decided it was a good time to show you my Christmas amaryllis, loaded with blossoms.  It's so heavy with blossoms that it has to be staked up to keep it from falling over.

So now I think I'll get to work sewing that binding onto the Sunshine on my Shoulders quilt.  Mike is watching the Superbowl.  He has the fire on, and so I'll just go down there and join him.  I can smell that chicken stew.  Mmmmmmmmm.  I'm ready for dinner already, but it's still too early for that. 

Are you having an easy Sunday?

3 comments:

Denise :) said...

Oh Barbara, you amaryllis is gorgeous!! Your temps are about where out temps are forecast for the coming week. Only it's our averages! Enjoy a happy evening of binding that beautiful quilt!! :)

Dana Gaffney said...

Wonderful pictures Barbara, thank you. I'm glad you're enjoying the weather, if we had a forecast like that I would be crying. Yes, thank you, I had a nice easy Sunday.

quiltzyx said...

Sounds (& looks) like you had lovely Sunday!
I finished my Generation Q swap Valentine, while watching the Super Bowl commercials. ;^)