Friday, July 17, 2009

The Great Pacific NorthWest

Now that we've all had a fabric fix, I'd like to share some of my trip with you.
This won't be very "quilty" but there are some pretty pictures!
And somewhere in here will be that PIE I mentioned yesterday!

After leaving the Searttle aiport, renting the car and having some lunch, we needed coffee!
Seen one Starbuck's, seen 'em all...though I have to say, at 3:00 on a Tuesday afternoon outside any urban area, this place was packed with coffee lovers and had a real coffee house feel.
Someday I will do a whole photo-shoot of all the little coffee places, like drive-through huts, that pop up everywhere across the Washington landscape...even out in the country. I asked if there was a generic term for them, and was told they all are just known by their names: AutoMocha, Jeanne's Beans, etc.

The Pacific NorthWest is known for rain, so here was our first-day view.
Then the remaining days were more like this:

And this:

Now where do you get a view like that?
Why, from here, of course:

This may be the greatest deck in the entire world, especially when it's filled with about 40 friends, and the grill is going!

There is nothing like the fabulous fruit this time of year, and even in the local grocery (Haggens) I couldn't resist a photo of my favorite (and totally unavailable fresh in Florida!):

Yes! It is rhubarb!
And, though many people mix it with strawberries, it makes the World's Best PIE:

This PIE is so good, it has magical healing powers.
It could just about make you cry with pure, unbelievable joy.
Thank you, Maureen.

Fot those who do not appreciate rhubarb ( I love you all the same), here is the other fruit of earthly delight....
CHERRIES!

Could life be just a bowl of cherries?
And why would anyone say "just"?
There are beautiful dark red Bing cherries.....

And there are the incredibley lovely Rainer cherries with their rosy yellow & red colors....

We picked bowls and bowls of cherries for four days and still you could walk out under the trees and see this site...

The sunlight filtering through the green leaves, the juicy cherries all within easy reach!

Sigh.....

I know you can't see them, but there are snow capped mountains in the far distance, the Cascades.
I hope you enjoyed this bit of my PNW time....
now I'm back home in flat, hot & humid Florida. Yet every place does have its charms....
and this IS where my stash resides!

4 comments:

Pat said...

Your friends place is just a gorgeous thing! And rhubarb pie! My oh, my. I'm also from Florida and rhubarb is a foreign fruit down here. But, when we lived in Denver CO, I had a patch of rhubarb. Loved to eat it with a sprinkle of salt.
My MIL used to bake THE best rhubarb pie. It wasn't til I visited other places that I saw people putting strawberries in their rhubarb pie. That's good, too. But, I'll take my MILs rhubarb pie any day!

Meggie said...

I love cherries, but have to say, the charm of rhubarb has eluded me all my life!! My grandmother loved it, & used to make pies, jam & preserves. Never did appeal to me!

Anonymous said...

Please, I *must* interpret your cherry photos in an art quilt. May I? Seriously.
CC

Sunnie said...

CC....
My cherries are your cherries!
I'll even send you the pic files!