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:

I opted to not join in last weekend because we went out of town for a 4 day getaway. One of my hubby's co-workers has a house on Anderson Island. It is the southernmost island in the Puget Sound. We went from last Thursday through that Sunday. 

The weather: In the week since our trip, the weather has been mostly decent. When we arrived early afternoon on Thursday the 8th, it is was beautiful and warm. Friday and Saturday were much cooler and light rain off and on. Sunday, again, was beautiful. The rest of the week has been in the low 70's which is nice. They are saying rain on Sunday, possibly tomorrow but we'll see. It's now Sunday morning and raining lightly, though there are patches of blue sky.

What we're thinking about: Well, I had something I was going to put here, but then it completely slipped my mind. Ha!! We have been thinking about creating some passive income somehow or creative ways too bring in some more income. We met with our financial planner last week so I suppose those things have been on my mind. We were in ministry for many many years, and for whatever reason, and not many speaking into our lives on this matter, we didn't do a great job setting up our future well. We did great keeping debt to a minimum or none, however, our future planning was not well done so now we are really working on that. 

What we're thankful for:  I was sitting here thinking about what I would write. Then I started thinking about how I felt like I think of only the same few things and how limiting that is, how narrow it is. Not because I'm not thankful, but I think we tend to focus on perhaps "major" things...anyways, I went to good ole' Google and did a search of things to be thankful for. This site and this site had some great ones. It just gave me a new perspective to think more simply, to break it down to smaller things. So, at this moment, I'm thankful for google at my fingertips to search to my hearts content. I'm also thankful that I have 24 hours in a day with at least 16 of those to enjoy the life I've been given and the other 8 to get the rest my body needs.

Around the house: Nothing really new going on as far as getting any projects accomplished. There is always stuff going on around the house right? Life is going on, things need to be cleaned, every day stuff...this week a lot was "put off til later" and I feel like I'm trying to play catch up! I have a lot of blueberries on my bushes and can't wait for them to ripen.

What we're reading or wanting to read: We chose our book club book. We're reading The Echo of Old Books by Barbara Davis. I just started it. I need to buckle down and get reading because it is longer. I'm also reading one of my 12 Books from 12 Friends, called Where the Heart is by Billie Letts. I'm about 1/4 of the way through that one and enjoying it. I did purchase this Gratitude Guide that I'm hoping to start soon. 

While we were on vacation we spotted a young gal selling some items under a tent. I went up to the table and said, "Oh, you made my coffee yesterday". She said yes, she works 6 days a week at the cafe and in her extra time she writes childrens books and does other creative things. Well, of course I bought a book and a bookmark. You can find more about her, here. 

I'm also a sucker for used books and in the back of the general store were shelves of used books for sale, so I grabbed these three up. They sounded really good. All 3 for $5. I think I scored! They are all in like new condition. 

What we've watched or listened to: When we were on vacation we watched the movie That's Amor. It was a cute movie. I'm just over 1/2 way through the audio book The Power of One More by Ed Mylett. I have also listened to a few Podcast Episodes. I need to get back on to listen/watch some Ted Talks.  

For the love of food:  On our trip we did Salad with chicken one night, burgers another night and sausage and potatoes for breakfast one morning. Before we got on the ferry back, we stopped at the cafe and ordered a few sandwiches. Monday we ate out with my in-laws and a couple friends. We ordered pizza (which wasn't the best). Wednesday I had a dinner out with the gals from work so I made my hubby a pizza using a sourdough crust that we purchased from a man on the island who made and delivered sourdough bread to residents. I am one of those people who always orders the same thing. I can't help it. However, this time I ordered a chicken burrito ala crema, and I'll tell you what...it was so good. I ate half and saved the other half for leftovers. Thursday night I made creamy tomato and tortellini soup, which is a huge favorite at our house. I plan to make some sourdough banana bread this weekend.

Favorite quote of the week: The theme for #WQ this week was pink/flowers. Here is my post, which I combined with last weeks #sundaystills post. 

Favorite photo(s): 

I bought this mug at one of our local little boutique stores. Love it. 

Our youngest is in Hawaii for a month. She left June 5th and comes back July 6th. She is not always good about sharing photos, so she sent me these and made my mama heart happy. She's on Oahu. 

Though this one made my mama heart a bit nervous.

Random or not so random things: Now instead of chatting about this week, which was mostly uneventful, though my SIL was in Mexico, so our daughter and grandkids spent two nights with us which was fun, I thought I'd share about our trip to Anderson Island, Wa. 

I mentioned further up that Anderson Island is the southern most island in the Puget Sound. There are a couple thousand year round residents. The island is 7.75 square miles. There are several interesting You Tube videos about the island. 

One of my hubby's co-workers has a house on the island and we decided to take her up on her offer to stay in it sometime. The interesting thing about this island is that there isn't much on it and most of the beach access to the sound is private which makes it interesting. There are 3 lakes. One is public, the other two are private. They are all freshwater lakes, though we haven't discovered yet how they are fed. There are also several nature parks on the island which offer many hiking/walking opportunities. We found that our 4 day stay was plenty. We enjoyed a lot of downtime with me completing two puzzles, reading and going on a lot of walks. I set a goal that week to finish my weekly walking with 80,000 steps. I got 84,000. The way the neighborhoods and lots were set up reminded me a lot of where I grew up which was kind of neat. There was a variety of style houses. I think I'll need to do a separate post on our trip, so I'll keep it short here. Oh, I also worked on blog posts from our NE Trip...I know, it's been almost 8 months since we went. Find the most recent here...

Hunting for sea glass, pretty rocks and shells. 

From the ferry, we spotted this large compound. After some research, we discovered it is McNeil Island. That facility was a state penitentiary and correctional facility for a total of 136 years and since 1998 to present it is a special commitment center for chronic and violent sex offenders. According to a local sheriff, they arrive there after serving their prison sentences and basically stay there until they die. The island is closed to the public and the inmates aren't allowed to leave the compound.

This abandoned ferry is called the 1928 Ocean City. You can read more about it here. Apparently it was brought over from the East Coast in hopes of adding it to the ferry fleet that serviced the island. It took 54 days and over 7,000 miles. However, the ferry service was purchased by Pierce County and the boat wasn't used. The owner had other ideas but they never panned out. I'm not sure why it was never moved. While I think it's neat looking, I can see how it probably is an eye sore for neighbors and it's sad that it's just sat there.  

Another cool site was this old fireplace, see sign below. I really enjoyed that throughout a few of the parks there were signs like these giving and sharing history of the area, or what could be found as far as wildlife.

One of the many overlooks to the sound. A few places did have beach access which was enjoyable. 

I did come home with just a few items. I try to limit it...haha. though if I had found more beach glass it would have come home. 

Oh my I almost forgot to share this...I have always wanted to see an owl in the wild, but they're fairly elusive. As we were driving a bird flew in front of our window and we thought it was a hawk, but then I saw it start to fly alongside us and realized it was an owl. We drove ahead and turned around and I was lucky enough to observe him sitting in a tree before a car came and he flew off. I was so excited. 

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin