A Surprise Evening of Wondrous Words: Part 1

I have often written about the Northwest Inland Writing Project on this blog. Since last April a group of us have been planning a surprise celebration for our outgoing director Elinor Michel. Keeping a gathering like this a secret was a challenge. We pulled it off and an amazing evening in Moscow included great food, music, sharing, laughing, dancing, and wondrous words.
Tom Fox from the National Writing Project honored Elinor with a proclamation from the national office. She has directed the Northwest Inland Writing Project at the University of Idaho for over 25 years.

Elinor then spoke about the accomplishments of the numerous teachers involved in this project. April and Elinor share a quiet conversation during the evening.
I felt so blessed this evening to have such a circle of amazing friends. As we all honored our outgoing director we reflected and reminiscenced about the years of working at summer institutes, doing workshops, taking road trips to conferences, and participating in our writing retreat in McCall.
As the cake stated so well " Write On Elinor"!

Sunset and Harvest Time

The area south of Spokane, Washington is called The Palouse. Surrounding the central towns of Moscow, Idaho and Pullman, Washington are miles and miles of farmland and small communities that rely on these crops as their livelihood. Any season of the year the drive takes on its own beauty, but last night I caught a harvest sunset and images created by combines in the wheat fields at dusk. The crop dust created an eerie, foggy look as I headed south on the highway. Another true sign we are heading into the new season. Darkness is falling so much earlier again!

Sink Full of Flowers

This is why I love this time of year. I decided to harvest flowers from garden beds around the gardens today to create some bouquets. In September the sunflowers are vivid yellow, the asters begin to bloom, the Autumn Joy sedum brightens up the yard, and today I even found a sweet pea that came up from seed in a planter!

That is also why I dread frost. So many of these blooms will wither up and die quickly. This harvest of flowers cooled in the sink in preparation of arranging them. In my haste to clean up, I forgot to take pictures of the final displays... I better do that tomorrow before they are carted off to school.

Close to Harvest Time

Every season hath its pleasures;
Spring may boast her flowery prime,
Yet the vineyard's ruby treasures
Brighten Autumn's sob'rer time.
--Thomas Moore

Garden Gate Growers Fall Plant Sale: A Perfect Sunday Outing

plants on display at The Garden Gate Growers fall sale.

The Garden Gate Growers wholesale perennial nursery has been in operation for over ten years up the Inchelium Highway from our house. Todd and Lisa Kowitz open their nursery in May and September each year to the public. Their fall sale is when the perennials and ornamental grasses are at clearance prices and this is also a great time of year to plant perennials. We know when we purchase plants from Todd and Lisa they will be hardy for the area, healthy, and long-lasting. JEJ and I both look forward to the sales each year. If you are a beginning gardener there are resource books on display and Todd and Lisa share a wealth of knowledge about growing plants around the inland northwest. You can relax a bit and have coffee and homemade cookies as you ponder which plants you need and can ponder some more about which plants you just want!Now you can see why it is my favorite place around the area to shop! Yesterday I was looking for some new colors of sedum and a few hostas. After finding those I had to have another Russian sage and a lovely deep pink campanula. JEJ loves growing different varieties of ornamental grasses and that is one of Todd's specialties. I think JEJ would add more grasses to our gardens if he didn't have to negotiate with me for space in the flower beds! He is outside now trying to figure out the best locations for his new collection of ornamental grasses. Having those trees removed in August created a few more places to plant.If you want more information on the plants available at the Garden Gate Growers during their sales you can go here. The spring sale is always Mother's Day week-end and the fall sale the second week-end in September. For the rest of the growing season these healthy perennials and ornamental grasses can be found in plant nurseries around the inland empire. You can find out about the wholesale nursery itself and contact information here.
As we left the sale I paused to appreciate the view from their driveway. You can see our Garden Valley Church surrounded by trees to the right and a lovely combination of mountains and sky to top off a perfect Sunday outing.

Camera Critters: Our Newest Church Member

No, we didn't get another dog. I have to say though if I would have seen this cute puppy at the feed store with a sign that said FREE I would definitely have been tempted to take him home. Fields was left out in a field and brought to the feed store by the rescuer. One of our church members brought this 8-week-old puppy home to a better place.
He decided he was ready to listen to the gospel when he jumped out the window of the van during adult Sunday School and trotted up the aisle to meet the pastor. He did chime in on the worship songs with his own singing from the van. Later he was invited to join the other children in Sunday School by the teacher MS above.
I had JEJ hold him for one more picture before coffee hour was over. The vet thought Fields was perhaps part cocker spaniel and part Australian shepherd. He could have also been named Camo because of the way the colors are marked on his fur.

None of us really cared about the breed, but felt blessed today that Fields found a good home with Flossie and all of us could share in welcoming him to the church family. To find other Camera Critters go here.