A Visit to Fall City

We also found the town of Fall City after stopping at Remlinger's, so we stopped and had a look around.  I also found two great little antique shops, and found several items to take home!

Antique Shops

Totem Pole in the center of town

Mural

Visiting Remlinger's Farm in Carnation

During our camping trip at the Tolt-MacDonald County Park, we took a day trip to Remlinger's Farm.  I had never been there before, and it is a wonderful place for adults and kids for fun, shopping, and just touring the beautiful grounds and buildings.

Summer Flower Gift for the Hostess

My neighbor Kelly and my realtor Cheri brought me these beautiful summer bouquets.  Kelly's flowers came from the Pike Place Market the morning of the BBQ, and Cheri's came from her Monroe garden.  They both lasted over a week, and I enjoyed them so!  Thank you, ladies!

Pike Place Market flowers

Cheri's dahlias

A cozy corner in the back yard

More Barbecue Photos

Here are a few more pictures of our friends and students.

High School friends, students, my realtor

Long dining table and French table

Student Heather and her mom and Symba

Heather and Symba

Through the garden gate

Our Annual Maltby Barbecue

We have been planning our 2016 summer event for some time now, and it was a wonderful day with friends, students, and neighbors.  This year the theme was a "Farm to Table Dinner", and each guest had to bring a side dish made with fresh or organic ingredients grown or procured within a 60-mile radius of Maltby.  Needless to say, we had some incredible food!  There were homemade pies, peach cobblers, apple cake, green beans and incredible salads, and appetizers that went well with our wine selections (thank you, Frank, for your generous offerings!).  We provided Painted Hills beef burgers with cheddar cheese and bacon, and organic chicken sausages.  Even the Turkey Burgers disappeared quickly!

Over 40 people attended, and it was great to re-connect with old Starbucks friends, meet my students' families and friends (and dog!), and meet new people.

Neighbors John and Kelly

Wine Bar and Appetizers

Piano Students and Families

A Baby Bunny

We have a new addition to our bunny family recently!  This little guy appeared from under the woodshed, and is having fun making his way around the pasture, under the trailer, and under the greenhouse.  He is finding lots of safe places to play outside.  He is the smallest rabbit I have seen in the 15 years I have lived here.

The Maltby Girls Have Tea Together

The Maltby Girls (Mary, Kelly, Roberta and me) have had more time to get together this summer!  Kelly invited Roberta and me over a couple of weeks ago for tea out on the deck at her lovely home--it was a perfect day for lazing in a comfortable chair in good company (Mary had to work).

She brought out her beautiful china cups, brewed some amazing tea, and served cookies right out of the oven!  We had a great hour of fellowship together.

Lovely china

Roberta brought munchies!

Kelly showing us pictures of her summer trips

The Apples Keep On Coming!

I love our apple orchard--we have three types of apple trees, and they are truly doing their best this year to over-produce and break their previous years' records of the number of apples per tree!  Our Newtown Pippin, Gravenstein, and Liberty trees are heavy with fruit.  Fortunately, they all bear at different times during the season (Gravenstein first, then Liberty, and then the Newtown Pippins).

Here's Farmer Don (now Baker Don) getting a batch of apples ready for one of our pie customers!

Summer Scavenger Hunt for Young Students

At the end of July, I have summer activities and a music scavenger hunt for my younger students (I only have four--Isabel, 13, Kaila, 11, Pranav, 9, and Pippa, five).  We have fun reviewing what we've learned from September through July.  Here are some action shots of Kaila, Pranav and Pippa finding their musical clues outside on a beautiful summer Saturday!

Where to next?

Pippa savoring the moment

Pranav hot on the trail of a clue!

First Dahlias of the Year

Again, the unseasonably warm weather has sped up the flower development in the yard.  Here is my first batch of lovely dahlias!

Family Time

Each Saturday at noon, my granddaughter Kaila and I have a piano lesson together.  Kaila is just finishing up her second year of lessons, and is doing well.  She also studied the violin in school last year, and played with the school orchestra.

Here we all are before Dave and Kai head on out for their Saturday activities!  And Kai just (finally!) got her new braces on.  I passed on the huge and crooked teeth from my father to my son, who passed them down to Kaila.  I love genetics!

Preparing For Our Annual Summer BBQ

Our BBQ is just around the corner, and we have been busy planning the menu!  We decided to try some different things this year, so naturally, that calls for a 'test kitchen' environment.  That means that we have to prepare small portions of what we are serving, cook it, and eat it! (life is tough).

Here are some shots of our initial efforts.  It was fun, and took care of our dinner items for about a week!

Organic Greens for Salad

Grilled Veggies for our Burgers

Bacon Cheddar Burgers

Home-made Sauces for Burgers

The Finished Product!  Yum!

Plum Pie

The plums are early this year, and the yield is 10 times the norm!  We are having a hard time keeping up with them!

Here's our first plum pie of the year, and from the amount of frozen plums in the freezer, it's safe to say that there will be many more of these treats coming out of the oven this summer.

Hot Air Balloons Over Maltby

When Summer arrives, there's a good chance you will see multiple hot air balloons over Maltby!  The other evening, there were three balloons that took off from the church parking lot next door, and ascended right over my pasture!  Here are a few shots of them as they floated away into the beautiful summer evening.

Maltby Piano Studio Mascot Symba

One of my students, Heather, loves to bring her Papillon named Symba to our piano lessons.  He's a very musical dog, and loves to run up my front steps and straight down to the studio, his leash trailing behind him.  He sleeps under the piano bench while Heather is working on her piano technique and recital pieces.

It's nice to have an official mascot, and he's such a charming little animal.