Missing Willow Farm

I got tired of having to drive 45 minutes to eat in a Thai restaurant that is maybe a 2 on a scale to 10 so I ordered Andy Ricker’s Pok Pok cookbook, drove an hour to an international grocery, loaded up and started on a 3 day Thai cooking fest.  This is destined to be bouncy pork balls that will go in a pork neck bone soup with jasmine rice, pickled ginger and fried garlic and I’m just getting started…..

This doe has apparently settled into our pasture for good.  I’m not sure she realizes she can jump the fence, or maybe she’s figured out there is food and water available there at all times and decided to just make it her home.  We’ve not seen her inside the barn – yet, she found a low spot she likes to sleep in. It appears that our sheep trust her with the safekeeping of their lambs.  Isn’t this adorable?

Happy Saturday everyone! I’ve been playing with the super versatile GSL House Jewelry Pieces. I considered using them as a focal point in a larger assemblage but kept coming back to the idea of turning them into actual jewelry and decided on a trio of quirky circus themed pins using tiny train figurines.  If you’d like to see how they are made, hop on over to Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Blog.

We have two little ewes on the farm.  I’m thankful they weren’t born when our weather was down into the single digits!

I was reviewing our vacation photos one last time before getting busy with the holidays and I came across these.  Nothing is more gorgeous than the skies in the Pacific islands.  Since I’m an early riser, my sky photos are mostly from sunrise.  At sunset we’re more likely than not in a bar on the top deck having a fabulous cocktail.  🙂

The laundry’s done and there’s food in the house again so I can finally sit down and share a few photos.  We had the best vacation of our lives, hands down.  We cruised on the Seabourn Sojourn to French Polynesia and Hawaii, all places we’ve never been before.  We discovered we much preferred the Polynesian islands over Hawaii and would love to go back some day.  I’ve only been snorkeling once before in the Caribbean.  I’m officially hooked on it now!

We found lots of gorgeous isolated places.

We visited Nuku Hiva, which is where Survivor Marquesas was set.

Fanning Island has no electricity or running water. It was a fascinating stop.

The children of Fanning Island greeted us.

We went scuba diving for our very first time in Moorea which is a much nicer first dive spot than a public pool! Underwater selfie time.

This sea anemone was bright pink and super soft to the touch.

We spent as much time as we could in the water. That’s our ship in the background.

Snorkeling in Bora Bora.

We swam with black tipped sharks.

And got to feed and pet stingrays. I could have spent all day here.

A deeper water snorkeling spot.

We purchased an underwater camera before we went and are so glad we did!

The fish were unbelievably colorful.

These guys were everywhere.

A cluster of sea urchins.

Someone painted this one.

This big guy looked out of place.

We spent a long time with a pod of dolphins. So cool!

We saw the most gorgeous sea turtles.

When you buy banana vanilla juice and ask the ship’s bartender to turn it into a boozy milkshake then drink it on your balcony…

We booked a snorkeling excursion that included lunch on a private island.

Th food was served at picnic tables set into the shoreline.

The food onboard wasn’t too shabby, either. Lobster and pork belly with baby leeks.

Room service. On the Sojourn, it’s all included.

The trip was to celebrate our 30th anniversary.

We’d go back in a heartbeat!

The November full moon is called the beaver moon and boy was it beautiful!  I got these photos on November 4th and am pretty pleased how they came out since I was on a ship in pretty rough seas when they were taken.  We just returned from the South Pacific, I’ll share a few photos when I get everything sorted and groceries in the house again.

The beauty berry bush we brought with us when we moved here is in it’s full Fall splendor.  I can’t grow a pumpkin to save my life but this spray of color outside my kitchen window puts me in the pumpkin season mood every year.

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We plowed our potato patch a few months ago.  Brian discovered a vine growing in it a few weeks later and soon two watermelons showed up, nicer than any melon we’ve ever grown ‘on purpose’.  We decided to pick one and it’s fully ripe and totally delicious.  The thing is, we didn’t plant watermelons anywhere this year.  What a lovely surprise!