Sunny Days

Sunny days.....wow when they come its nice. While some of get the sun every day we here in the Pacific Northwest feel like we never see it

From our Deck we see all the surrounding mountains. We haven't seen them in a while and look they all have lots of snow on them.
Isn't Mt. Baker beautiful. They have 231' base of snow at the lower lodge of the ski resort....They had to close it one day last week because of too much snow so they could move snow away from under the lift chairs.
And there goes the sun. What can we say another day in Paradise. And Paradise is where ever we want it to be.....Where we are

Dinner

Hmmm Hmmm good food. Today as we were out the subject of dinner came up....What to have, is always the question. I thought why not Wanton soup and Lisette said Sushi. So guess what thats what we hadOnly a small twist to it was that it had to be home made.
Wanton soup with lots of noodles and pork filled wantons.
The Sushi.....deep fried prawns/shrimp, cucumber and avocado rolled in rice and seaweed
Once rolled and cut we dipped them in a little soya sauce with wasabe mixed in it

Kayla's Quilt

Well its getting close to being finished, Kayla's quilt.Lisette has been working off and on, on this quilt for a long time. If we would just stay home long enough it would be done.So the top picture is the back of the quilt and the bottom picture is the front of the quilt
This weekend we head to Rexburg Idaho where Lisette will be able to put the finishing touches on it and place it on Kayla's bed.

We will take a picture and post it once its done

BICYCLES

Bicycles are a wonderful thing. They allow you to transport yourself from here to there and then someplace else. The Dutch have taken bicycles to a new level. Because most of Holland is flat bicycling is easier. WHEN THE WIND IS NOT BLOWING.
I love bicycles. It is absolutely.....amazing the number of bicycles that there are. The population of Amsterdam is 750,000. The number of bicycles there are numbered over 600,000. Where do they put them all?Here is a parking garage that is devoted to bicycles. It is next to Grand Central Station in Amsterdam

Everywhere we look there are bikes. Young kids just starting out with older siblings or parents helping out by placing their hand on the back of tne one learning. Parents riding to work. Sons riding with mom sitting on the back rack, sitting side saddle with a cup of tea in one hand and reading a book with the other hand.

This here bike is used a multitude of ways. Filled with groceries, or people. Notice the recumbant front seat that is either for young kids or handcapped people or even adults. The one in front does not stear the bike the person on the back seat does. Notice the extra set of peddles on front near the recumbant seat....they are for kids and can be removed with a quick release lever. Who woulda thought

There are bikes everywhere...there are so many that hey have seperate roads for the bicycles with their own set of traffic lights. And it works so smoothly.

Looks like a covered wagon to me...It actually has 2 little bench seats (one faces forward and the other to the back) and they are equiped with seat belts. We saw one similar to this one only larger and it was designed for the handicapped. it was wide enough for a wheel chair and had ramps so you could push a person in the wheel chair up and take them to where ever they needed to go

Here is a bicycle that is made custom..you can not go into the store, buy it and take it home. The wheels are wood, the fenders are wood and the seat is wood and becuse it is custom made it is very comfortable to ride...This one is in the store front window, but we did see a guy riding one in a neighboring town...So Cool

Check out the double kickstand its there so you can get the person on front without having to hold beke up

And then we have a standard bike but with not just one but 2 toddler seats on the back and on front is a rack for carrying your goods from shopping.

Bicycles what more can I say...There are tons more different styles to choose from I've only shown a couple

More things to do In Holland

Food.....more importantly Bread, buns and pastries

It doesn't matter where we go ...in stores, in open markets there is always a place where thay sell breads
And not just your standard breads. Breads that have all kinds of grains in them. Begals the size of a plate.

Pasteries to die for. Cream filled, jelly filled, light and flakey. Chocolate covered, fruit filled

And they have the stuff that goes with them....butter, cream cheese (many different flavors) Jams....etc

Weather you are in Amsterdam, Haarlem, Alkmaar, or Utrech there are bakeries with all the items that we shouldn't eat but do.