leavenworth

see those two people next to the white suv? well that is hubby and I on our anniversary via a web cam of leavenworth that a friend screen shot saved and sent to us. that is the blown up version below is the actual view

beautiful little German town isn't it? thankfully I had this screen shot because this trip around I took only a few pictures. THUD don't fall on the floor it was my anniversary and well we just didn't think to take many. we have been here a few times and just love the place. the streets are always crowded especially on a holiday weekend so getting a pretty shot of the town is about impossible.

I did take a couple of the pantings on the buildings

can you see why I took this shadowy picture of the nutcracker museum???

take a look above the word over and near the walnut. see the little mouse?? well that is the painters signature and of course its a mouse so why else wouldn't I take a picture of it.

this is the festival hall wow just love the outside of it I bet the inside is gorgeous.

a close up of the top paintings love the shadow on them too.

sorry not much more except several of our Awesome room for the night. we had a wonderful 22nd anniversary

horsepower

while visiting the rocky reach dam I saw this mural in the visitors center. I just fell in love with it. from above you can see the wall is curved to depict a dam and you can see dark and white horses in the mural depicting the water flowing over and the power or horsepower that is created from that water. took a while to find more information on it but HERE is more information on a blog I found which is how I found out the painter was walter Graham.

a close up of the work.

More on the dam later I just had to reserve this spot to honor this painter.

horsetail

this plant always fascinates me. its called a horsetail and there are several varieties out there but this one in particular I have always liked the color and shape of it.

it is usually found in clumps and looks like this. some have died off already but there is always some new coming up to replace it.

Aplets and Cotlets

what are aplets and cotlets you ask? well a wonderfully delightful Turkish candy made in Cashmere Washington. July 2nd was my anniversary to my husband and we took a little over night trip and on the way stopped in cashmere for our little treat. sadly I didn't get a picture of a single piece of candy because we ate all the ones that were for ourselves before I thought to take a picture. Did buy a couple packages for gifts but chose to retrain ourselves and not open them. you can find out more and purchase some on the liberty orchards website here

Basically they are a jelly like candy made with different things but the original and where the name comes from is apples and apricots with some walnuts and then have powdered sugar on top. personally we like the summer berries and fruit sours which do not have nuts in them. they also have a sugar free version.

mixing and cooking in the vats. hot and steamy as you can see and smell so good.

poured into wooden trays with plastic wrap lined with mineral oil so they don't stick.

cooled for an hour and then another 6 to 8 hours in the freezer.

ready for cutting.

out they come after they are cut and then tumbled with the powder coating.

my husband loved this machine it brought down the little trays then moved along a conveyor belt where several people sorted and put perfect pieces into the trays.

here you can see the hand sorting.

then wrapped and finally the box lids were put on top.

had to include this in my shot my husband in his hair net. good thing I shot this first. I realized I had the white balance on a custom setting. gee honey you have such a golden glow about you. Guess that is what happens after 22 years.