Although I usually am totally on top of decorating for any season or holiday, I somehow completely spaced this year about Easter and it wasn't until I started to prep some food yesterday for today I realized I hadn't put a single flower, ribbon or Easter-egg out!

And although this was quickly remedied by diving under the bed, grabbing the bag marked 'Easter' and hanging some odds and ends from the slides and in the boughs I picked from some flowering shrubs (Amelanchier/Service berry) that are growing outside the RV, it was still kind weird not having them up already for a week or so ..



I stole some branches of the pretty Japanese ornamental Cherry tree that's growing behind the barn as well.
I always think flowers are a big part of this (for me at least) pagan holiday, heralding spring and symbolizing rebirth and new beginnings!

                                          

Of course there were eggs for breakfast (if only I could get those soft-boiled eggs down though! Why is it so hard to get them right?) accompanied by fresh croissants, ambrosia and Martinelli's:

We'd planned to go for a walk to the Basket Slough if the weather cooperated and it did so after breakfast we packed some coffee and pastries and of we went.

It was actually a perfect day, not too hot, not too cold, dry and mostly sunny!
We'd been to the Slough before but this time we were interested in hiking the area that was previously closed (to protect wintering wildlife).

This trail loops you around two lakes and marshy areas:

Halfway the loop it skirts the forestry area of the southern trail for a while:

Throughout the park you'll find some crude benches, perfect for a cup of coffee to enjoy the peace and quiet of this beautiful reserve.

Spring definitely seems late this year, even here there weren't too many flowers around but we found a few Oregon Irises, western Buttercups and a few others I couldn't identify.
(I should have brought my phone on which I installed a handy-dandy 'plant-finder' but of course I didn't ..)

Besides lots of Coots, Grebes and some Mallards we didn't encounter any wildlife other than this Woolly Bear caterpillar, who interestingly enough had a lot of grey hairs growing in the black, something I had not seen before:

But all through the walk we (well, James, I should say since this was beyond what my deaf ears could register) could hear the honking of geese but it wasn't until we were on the last part of the hike that we came across the source of all the ruckus ... Canadian geese .. lots of them!

And in case you wouldn't see them, these are the footprints they leave behind in the muddy fields:

Back home we made short work of a platter with deviled eggs, cheese and crackers and some nuts and fruit. Hiking makes hungry you know .. 

                                                             

And after a relaxing afternoon of R&R and some putzing around the RV this was followed by ham and an overnight salad and another piece of lemon meringue.
Holidays are as much about food as about flowers!

         

I didn't bake this myself, I'm not so good with meringues and such and Marie (Callender) is just very hard to beat!

All in all, a pretty traditional and nice and relaxed Easter as usual.
In my home country of Holland there will be a second Easter-day tomorrow (yeah, I don't know who came up with that one) but no such thing on this side of the pond so we'll be back to business as usual I guess.

Here's a few pictures of the Hummingbird, who decided to come back after disappearing for a year!
Or maybe it's a different one of course ..

                                                            

It looks like these are either two different varieties or maybe a male and female of the same but I haven't quite figured out what breed they are.
The one on the bottom left might be a Black-chinned and the one on the top right a female Anna's but I'm not sure.

I'll keep my eye on them this coming week to see if I can get a better idea of what's what.

 Last but not least, I finished that insanely difficult cat&book lovers puzzle!
Took me 7 weeks,  I kid-ye-not!

Yes, I did it! Yahoo!

Now that the fruit trees are starting to flower, like this pear at the edge of the oak forest, and temperatures are consistently above 55F, it was time to bring out the bee cocoons that had been overwintering in the fridge.
I've re-hung the nifty little bee-house I bought last year and placed the cocoons in that upper (triangular shaped) little area (leaf-cutters on the left, masons on the right):

    

To protect them from predators, direct sunlight and bad weather I hung some shade cloth and placed a wire basket (always thrifty, re-purpose!) upside down over the whole house.
It can take anywhere from a couple of days to up to 2 or 3 weeks for the baby-bees to emerge. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Since I had to get a copy of my Naturalization Certificate certified at USCIS in Portland (to apply for a new Dutch passport) we decided to squeeze in some sight seeing as well.

Well, of course, the copy-appointment turned out to be a bust, apparently they don't certify copies anymore, 'thank-you-very-much for the misinformation on the website and the 2 hour drive!'
To say I was mad is an understatement ... #$@!%^!

 

Thank Gawd for some coffee .. and pastries of course! 

  

And so, in a much improved state of mind, we started with the sightseeing part of our day and drove to Washington Park for a visit to the World Forestry Center and it's Discovery Center.
It had been on my list for a while and this was a perfect opportunity.

The museum is one of three programs operated by the World Forestry Center.
This nonprofit organization’s mission is to connect people to the importance of forests and sustainable forestry.
Founded in 1966, the World Forestry Center was created to replace the Forestry Building, a majestic log structure built for the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition.

                                       

After the original building was destroyed in a fire in 1964, its new facility was rebuilt and

on June 30, 2005, after a $10.5 million, 6-month renovation, the 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m²) museum reopened with new interactive exhibits about the sustainability of forests and trees of the Pacific Northwest and the world.

The first floor features Pacific Northwest informational combined with hands-on activities as well as information about animals living in it's forests and waters.
Second-floor exhibits explore forests around the world through fun simulated rides on the Trans-Siberian railway to see a Russian boreal forest, boarding a Chinese boat to learn about temperate forests, traveling by jeep through a sub-tropical forest in South Africa andvisiting Brazil’s Amazon tropical forest on a treetop crane.

The center is smaller than I thought and caters a little too much to children for my liking but we had fun and learned a lot!

Of course all this learning makes your 'little grey cells' go very hungry so on our way back home we stopped at our favorite Indian restaurant 'Sultan The Flaming Tandoor' in Sherwood where we had some nice spinach-naan and a delicious lamb curry:  

             

('Sultan' btw means 'king' and a 'tandoor' is the clay oven that bakes Indian-Pakistani favorites, such as naan and kebabs). 

Back home the meadows are starting to look more and more 'summery' with lots of daisies, dandelions and deadnettle ..

      

 

Almost all calves are 'on the ground' by now but I was shocked to hear that 6 of them died due to pneumonia, which apparently is a 'thing' this early in the spring when temperatures (especially at night) can still swing wildly ..   

 

This little bugger is fully awake now and looks for seeds around the bird-feeders every day but I haven't seen any of the rest of his large (as we know) family yet.
Presumably still in hibernation?

 

I was exited to see a bald eagle flying over the other day, the first one I've noticed over here!
It took me a little to get him in my camera-viewer (sunny and bright-blue sky in my eyes) but I finally got somewhat of a decent shot!

 

The rest of the week was business as usual, with a little baking  ... both the 'boule' and the sandwich bread came out perfect!

                   

               

And a little gardening:

The mesclun-mix (leaf lettuce) is coming up, as well as the broccoli, compliments of the abundant sunshine and higher temps of this week!

It's April already and although we had a few beautiful days this week, today we're back to rain and much cooler temperatures ..
Looking back at blogs from previous years it seems that nature is a couple of weeks later than 'normal' although we've had very wet springs before.

During one of those nicer days earlier this week we got the first sighting of a deer in our meadow this year:

Fortunately the dogs didn't see her and she stayed for a little while, nibbling on the fresh new leaves of the shrubs.
I think I saw another one on the other side of the fence but it was too dark in there to get a picture.

More and more trees are blossoming:

And still more and more calves are being born at the neighbor's.
I see 'new' ones every day and this one was only just born when I walked by. You can still see it's umbilicus-cord attached to him/her if you look closely:

It's mother was vigorously cleaning him and licked him of balance a couple of times!

Down at the river the Ospreys have returned to their old nest, as they are known to do, and are cleaning it up and adding some bits and pieces to it.

They're not very picky about what they add, they can use anything!
(Like that bit of pinkish rope hanging there from the bottom).

While one of them is busy re-arranging the nest, the other is keeping watch in the dead tree across the river, right opposite from where the nest is.

                                                     

I've started to prepare my raised beds (or rather raised 'tubs' in my case) by removing some of last year' soil, that I wasn't very happy with at all, adding the first of my homemade compost (!) and topping them off with a (hopefully better) soil, especially made for raised beds and containers.

               

I couldn't resist sowing some 'cold weather' vegetables as well!
I know, I know ...
Last year I sowed some early seeds in my little plastic green house which turned out to be a total bust so this time I'm trying to go 'cold turkey', quite literary, and see how it goes.
Keeping my fingers crossed!

            

That's Snowpeas, Kale, Chard, Mesclun mix (salad greens), Arugola and spinach in that tub.

A girl can dream can't she?

Well, that's about all I have for this week.
I'm preparing a little for my trip to Holland at the end of the month.
Checking clothing especially .. what to wear, or better what to bring, is always a little bit of a dilemma and depending on the weather of course.
I'll be there in those difficult 'in-between' weeks when it can still be cold or maybe (un)seasonal warm already .. who knows.