Rainier Woods

 A few weeks ago it was sunny in Seattle so I was hoping it would be sunny around Rainier. As I have learned it is really too early in the season to do much real hiking around the mountain so I headed to the lowest elevation spot which is really more forest than anything else. The drive was beautiful, though Rainier was hiding in the clouds. I hiked for a bit but then decided to head back to sunny Seattle...enough rainy day hikes for this girl for awhile.

This sketchy bridge I drove across

And here is Rainier one day last week...so incredibly gorgeous!!

O Canada

I can't be this close to Canada and not take a trip there, so last week I decided to make the 2 1/2 hr drive to Vancouver. I lucked out with a sunny (still chilly) spring day and since I forgot that going to another country meant my cell phone/3G would not work I had to fly by my memory and the excellent city sign-age to find the things I wanted to do.
Vancouver is lovely-a city filled with skyscrapers, surrounded by water and snow capped peaks. I really like the small part that I got to see in a day.
And both border crossings consisted of "Are you really from Tennessee? What are you doing here?" 

I was experimenting with settings on my camera :)

To Market, to market

Pike's Public Market: fun stop for any tourist or Seattle-ite. Always lots of colors and sounds and sights...from the flowers to the veggies and fruit to the famous fish throwing it is a fun spot.

Monkfish anyone? :)

Sparrow

Been singing His Eye is on the Sparrow all night after hearing Chelsea Moon's version on the way to work.

"Let not your heart be troubled"
His tender word I hear
And resting on His goodness
I loose my doubts and fears
Though by the path He leadeth
But one step I may see
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know that He watches me.

Latest Obsession

My latest food obsession (minus the awesome dairy fee bakery I found here that I am trying to show a bit of self control with) is cauliflower. I have been making cauliflower mashed potatoes like crazy. They are super easy and actually do taste like mashed potatoes.
Here is the recipe:
1 head of cauliflower
4 cloves of garlic, mashed
1/4 c olive oil
salt
pepper
veggie or chicken broth (if you desire...i haven't been using it)
1 1/2 T nutritional yeast (or i guess you could use real cheese if you can eat it)
Cut cauliflower into small pieces and place in boiling water with salt or broth and garlic
Cook until cauliflower is tender
Drain and get all of the water/broth out
Place in food processor or blender. I go ahead and blend the garlic cloves too-usually I take one out.
While blending, add olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and nutritional yeast. Blend until smooth.
Makes 3-4 servings
Here is a link to an actual blog recipe if you would like:
http://www.deliciousbydre.com/garlic-mashed-cauliflower/

Imperfection

I was catching up on my Rabbit Room blogs the other night. The writer, Thomas McKenzie,
wrote a quick post about Bennan Manning's passing. The words were beautiful and true:
If you read him, please remember that the Holy Spirit is working through him in spite of all his personal failings. Thank God, because that’s how He works in all of us.
Brennan Manning's book, Ruthless Trust, turned my life around in a time where I was confused and lost and above all needed someone to point me to a God who does not require perfection or to have life figured out in order to come and receive. Honestly, his personal imperfections and humility in owning them was what made faith appealing to me again.
One thing this journey has done is to reveal more of my true grossness-something about being all alone and not being able to hide behind other people or other responsibilities. Suddenly my fears and imperfections seem on display. And more and more layers just keep being revealed. It really is quite lovely :) But in the midst of it I realize how much I want people to see me in a certain light and I think most of us walk around that way. Why can't I let people see my imperfections? I hope I am able to allow those to shine through a bit more...and that I can not be ashamed of them, knowing that I bring nothing to the table.

Tulips!!

Who knew that Northern Washington was the ideal tulip growing climate? I, for one, did not. It is close to the same latitude as Holland, one of the other premier tulip spots in the world and receives the same amount (30ish inches) of rain as Holland. Because the spring is cool the tulips stay in bloom for longer as well. People come from all over to the Tulip festival in Skagit County, which is an hour from here.

Lucky for me, Mom was coming during tulip month, and I knew she would think it was neat. We headed up there last week and I have to say it was pretty amazing. There are literally 1000s of acres of tulips in bloom...it looks like a sea of color. They also have some more manicured areas to view...the one we saw had over 300,000 bulbs. Yes...insane!
I took a ton of pictures, so I will try and limit it :)

The pinks were my favorite

These were Mom's favorite