Treasure Trove

This is a drawing of Leland Kays.  It was drawn by my father in law as a gift to his father in law.  It is hanging in the living room of Lelands son and his wife, Jack and Kay Kays. (Known as Grandma and Grandpa Kays, to us.)

This is my husband Adam with his Grandpa Jack Kays.  That is the neighbors dog, Lucy.  Lucy "lives" in both households.   During our last stay in Kennewick WA at the Kays home, we stumbled upon an amazing treasure that belonged to Grandpa Kays' father.

It was all in a giant chest.  Kind of a jumbled mess, but upon further inspection- something amazing.  The woman in the photo is Kay Kays, Jacks wife.  (Grandma Kays.)

The first thing that stood out was this helmet, worn in WWI by Leland Kays.  His initials are carved into it.  If you have never worn one of these, it was pretty heavy duty.  I can only imagine what this helmet saw.

We found several old letters that had been written to family. This envelope is dated 1920.

A guide to caring for your wagon.

Inside the wagon booklet.  I learned that you can only change a wagon wheel when it's hot?

An army song book and a day planner.

There were several volumes of this newspaper.  This one is dated April 22nd, 1934.  I was surprised at some of the wisecracks inside in the descriptions below photos of dead soldiers. 

So much to explore.  These are quite fragile, and soon Adam and I will be preserving them.

Under all of those papers- another treasure!  Lelands gas mask.

It was very heavy!  I complain about carrying my purse, and these men carried so much stuff on their backs.

Inside the gas mask case was this little guide that also included repair tape.

What an amazing history lesson.  We also found piles of receipts for purchases that suggested making homemade beer.   (Prohibition?)  I will have to blog again about this when we are working on preservation.  I'm anxious to put together a timeline of Leland Kays' life to go with these artifacts.

Adams Grandpa Kays pulled out this photo for us to look at.  That's Jack Kays, second from the right.  I think he and my husband have a striking resemblance.  Jack told me these men were co-workers at the time, and that the man on the far left was a real cowboy.  He really stressed that that guy was "the real deal".  
Happy Friday! ♥♥♥

Plugging Along

The garden is plugging along even without the warm sunny summer.   Not all of the corn survived, but i'm pleased with the growth.

We found baby tomatoes on the Topsy Turvey plants, how exciting!

I see some baby zucchini trying to grow.  That is gold as far as I'm concerned.  I recently used my last cup of frozen zucchini to make bread.   I am looking forward to this years harvest.

This picture just didn't turn out, but can you see the baby pumpkin?

This song is dedicated to all of my fellow Washingtonians.  Close your eyes and just imagine the sunny weather for a minute. ♥♥♥

Nature Hunt

We each had a paper lunch sack with our name written on it.  The goal was to gather things that God created.  It was nature hunt time!  We explored parts of the park that we hadn't seen before.

Hands were reaching. 

We were really noticing the plants and seeds that we found.

Bags were filling up. 

The woods offered even more variety for the picking.  It was a great day of exploration and trying to imagine how God created these things.

Look!  I had my ducks in a row. (ha ha ha..)

We dumped our bag contents out on the table to get a better look.  It turned out that we had escorted one slug, 10 spiders, a long leggy bug, and 3 aphids home with us. 

Time to get out the magnifying glasses! 

A nature hunt is a great way to keep the kids busy for a bit.  We pretended to be scientists.  Happy Wednesday! ♥♥♥

Bring The Indoor Stuff Out

It is summer time and the majority of the kids I have here at Henle House take a nap.  There are 4 or 5 who don't, and I am finding that the best solution for them is to have them head outside with some indoor stuff.  "Oooh, we get to bring the books outside?"  It was like they were seeing them for the first time.  I can't find the photo, but we also took our portable DVD player and hooked it up so they could hang out in the fresh air with a movie.  There is something that gets their attention about bringing the indoor stuff OUT.  Next time we will bring out some pots and pans for mud pies or something.  Give it a try!♥♥  Meanwhile, we are praying for some real heat, our little wading pools are not getting any use with this 60 degree high weather we have.

Country Bouquet

The garden was begging me to pick some flowers this morning.  Our garden provides a variety of "messy" blooms that I love to put into bouquets. 

My vase of choice is just a canning jar.  It always looks more country in a jar.

This one in particular is even more beautiful because it has pumpkins on it. 

Always add ribbon or twine.  I'm a fan of twine on everything. 

I love a messy bouquet full of unruly flowers, like this one above that doesn't want to stand up.  They all look very relaxed, and that is the mood I'm going for in our home.

Remember that when you put your stems in water, make sure you have removed all of the extra foliage.  This will allow your flowers to last a bit longer.  I also add one aspirin to the water.

Add to your kitchen window!  ♥♥♥

The Bite

The Bite of Seattle is hoppin' right now at the Seattle Center.  Lucky for me, my friend Jennifer is visiting all the way from Grantsville, Utah.   We just happened to be at the center yesterday- and this plate of food is what we found!  For $10.00, we walked down 'the alley' as local restaurant chefs loaded our plates up with samples of their fine dining.  See that piece of bread?  It's loaded with spicy calamari, and the chef who made it for us will be battling on Iron Chef America next Sunday the 31st at 10:00 on the Food Network.  

We found a spot to sit and eat. 

We started out in crazy rain, and then the sky started to pop through.  Good thing because we were about to go up to the top of the Space Needle.

We did a little people watching, first.  See that bandana/Barney/samurai sword wielding hero?  His sword was actually a plastic light saber.

This is beautiful Seattle.  Love love love you Seattle. ♥

Wandered the Experience Music Project.  They are running a Nirvana exhibit right now.  Here's Kurt Cobain's shirt from one of my favorite music videos. (Smells Like Teen Spirit)  You can watch the video at the end of this post.

We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, new to Seattle in the past year and a half.  Then wandered down to do this fun ghost tour.  It was neat to wander in and out of several businesses. 
I think I have officially walked my feet into stumps.  OUCH! 

I'm A Tourist At Home

Pike Place is one of my favorite places to be.   Downtown Seattle has so much that I love.  The smell of fresh baked goods wafts through the air, thousands of people wandering toward the market.  I think half of them are tourists, and the other half are the people who are showing the tourists around, but I still feel like a tourist.  My daughter and I always place a bet on how many street musicians we will see.  She wasn't with us yesterday, but I thought of her every time I saw one.

I love everything about Seattle.  I love the dirty alley walls, the crud packed brick roadways that are so old I wish I could ask them what they have seen.  I like the "questionable strangers" that make me hold on a little tighter to my purse.  I love the quirky clothing, the dreadlocks, the relaxed way of being, the noise, the smell of the Puget Sound, the echos of the enclosed stairways down the Pike Hillclimb that lead us to the waterfront. I love the business of it all, and I LOVE to just watch.

Heading to one of my favorite spots- Post Alley.  This entrance is directly underneath the fish throwers at the market.

Look how beautiful that old brick alley is.

It is home to the famous gum wall.  Always contribute.  Yesterday, I forgot.  (Gasp!)

Here's a little taste of what usually happens outside of the first Starbucks to open.  Sorry I didn't catch the name of these musicians AND didn't film the entire song, but they always seem to be parked right here.  I had to move because a giant group of Asian tourists were about to plow me over.  I love playing tourist. ♥♥♥