Weekend Coffee Share.....Come Sit with Me

It's another week of Weekend Coffee Share. I always love everyone's posts. Are you like me and try to visit everyone? It doesn't always happen but I try. I have loved getting to know different bloggers and I figure if they take the time to write a post, I'll find the time to visit, even if it's a week later. I truly enjoy what you all share and I often learn so much. 

Check out all the other posts on Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. I'm off to go visit some now. #weekendcoffeeshare.

If we were having coffee or tea we'd probably talk about:

The weather: Well..let's just say in the last week we've had spring, summer, and if the forecast is right, possibly winter today or tomorrow. Geez! I don't think we'll get the snow at our elevation. Just kidding, it's Friday morning as I type and it's trying to snow. Wednesday felt like summer, and then around 6:00 the sky got dark and the rain dumped, Thursday it rained, hailed, and was cold. I saw someone post (I can't remember where), that spring was like experiencing 134 types of weather....haha! 

What we're thinking about: Today (Friday) marks 19 years since my mom has been gone. I know I'm not alone in thinking that I'm thankful for the years we had with her, but they just weren't enough years. She was the best and I know who much she'd love being here with everyone. I always imagine things we'd do together if she was here. I imagine baking with her, going to antique and thrift stores, doing crafts, talking about gardening, etc. 

From L to R, top to bottom. Mom with my oldest, Mom with my youngest, My grandma, oldest, mom, my youngest and myself, probably the year or two before she passed away. Mom and dad at my wedding. 

What we're thankful for: I suppose along the lines of what I'm thinking about, I'm thankful to have had her as a mom and the years my girls had knowing her as a Nonni. I'm also thankful I have an amazing mother in law, who, while not my mom, filled a gap in my life beautifully. I'm thankful for other women too, who helped meet that need. 

What we're reading or wanting to read: I started the book for our book club, The Measure. It's really good, very interesting. Each chapter is shared from a different persons perspective. I believe it is 8 peoples viewpoint. I'm about 30% done. I'm still reading the Vienna Prelude, but I'm trying to get the book club book done first. 

Around the house: I'm still on the hunt for a bedding set for our room. I still haven't planted bulbs in my containers. I might ask you if you do spring cleaning? I don't have a spring cleaning routine. If I get the urge to do extra cleaning, I will, or if the weather is nice enough I'll go out and do windows, inside and out, but not real "spring clean/spring purge" plan here.

What we've listened to or watched: I finished the book The Alchemist the other day. I really enjoyed it. It was only about 4 hrs. to listen to, at the speed I chose. I highlighted several spots and before I returned it, I went back and jotted down the notes to those highlights. If we were having coffee, I might ask you if you have any audio books to recommend. 

For the love of food: Let's see. I made Corned beef on Tuesday and I've always wanted to try Colcannon, which is mashed potatoes with cabbage, and I also added bacon. It uses more cream and butter than I normally would but it was so good. I made a noodle free Pad Thai with shrimp that was okay, but needs some tweaking. I mixed leftovers with some chickpea pasta and beef strips...I thought it was good. I didn't do much else and didn't go anywhere to eat either. I didn't do any baking.

A favorite photo:

My son in law, grandson, a friend of theirs and two of their sons went riding on Wednesday. Indy is getting really confident riding his big boy dirt bike. They built a track on his family's farm.

Favorite quote of the week: This weeks #WQ theme was Spring/vivid. Here's my full post. 

I loved this quote because, despite what comes our way, what we hear, or see or feel, the nature of spring is new life, hope, vibrant colors springing from what has been bleak, brown and dead. 

Since I love photos, I loved this quote as well. I'm known for taking A LOT of pictures, but the stories they tell make me continue doing so. Indelible means not to be forgotten or removed. 

Random or not so random things: I mentioned last week that I accidentally deleted all the photos of the squirrel bridges I had taken. Natalie inspired me to take pictures of them, after she shared about some squirrels on one of her posts a few weeks ago. I took more last week though I wasn't entirely happy with them. But it's hard to get really good photos because the road tends to be busy. 

Longview, Washington has many beautiful, old trees as you can see in the photo below. With all those trees comes, of course squirrels. Every year there is a squirrelfest in August. It's one day only but it's all things squirrels. I may try to go this next year to see what it's like. I'll try and get a photo of the statue too for next week. These trees are stunning in summer and fall. 

Below is a map of the bridge locations. The other thing I deleted a photo of was the Squirrel Statue that was carved in 2001. It sits across the road from the very first bridge, called the Nutty Narrows Bridge. I was going to get a picture on Wednesday, but forgot.

I will have to take more pictures of this lake for you. It is a beautiful lake with a gravel trail all the way around, pretty spaces, trees, play structures. Sadly there are more homeless in the area, and sometimes it doesn't seem safe and bathrooms are not open on weekends when there are not city workers available, which is a bummer. 

On with the bridge photos. 

The Nutty Narrows bridge was built in 1963. You can find the story here. 

This is the Bruce Kamp bridge. It was built in 2011. It is made of copper and the first covered squirrel bridge in the world. It used to have a live cam, but I couldn't find a link to it. 

This bridge was designed and built by John R. Dick and installed in 2012 shortly after he passed away. It was based upon the Leonard Zakim Memorial Bridge in Boston. John had a fascination with bridges and loved the show Boston Legal in which the bridge appeared in the background. 

OBEC Bridge. Built in 2013 was constructed and donated by the company that was hired to build a bridge across Lake Sacajawea.

Safety Awareness Bridge. Installed in 2015. It was designed and constructed by the Bits and Bots Robotic clubs from the two local high schools. It was built in memory of a local woman who was struck by a car. Made of aluminum with cutouts and tinted material.

The R.D. Olson bridge resembles the Lewis and Clark bridge that spans the Columbia river from Longview to Ranier, Oregon.

I took a photo of that bridge a little further out so you could see more of the trees. 

The PUD squirrel bridge. It was built to remember all the squirrels who lost their lives in power outages. Sorry, I kind of chuckled at that one. They were probably the cause of many power outages. 

This last one is called the S & R bridge is the exact replica of the Fremont bridge in Portland, with a squirrel theme. I couldn't find dates the last several were built. Here's an article by KGW news. 

In other news, Friday was the 19th anniversary of my mom passing away. I mentioned that above. On Wednesday, Pepper and I visited a local thrift store. This display was in the window and it reminded me of my mom. She used to have an Easter tree. It wasn't for sale, but if it was, I would've bought it.

A friend from work loaned me this puzzle. It is made of wood and only 7x9" with 250 pieces. The pieces are the size of a penny. It took me only a few days to finish it, which surprised me.

Since this has taken me awhile to write, I'll leave it at that for the week. 

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin