Lighthouse

 Today we went to visit a lighthouse...the first lighthouse any of us have ever been to. It was super, super cool. The kids loved it. We moved here (to Oregon) a few months ago (December 2024) and have been waiting until April to see some of the lighthouses because most of them are closed in the winter (and start opening up for the year in April). We got the kids "Lighthouse passports" where they can stamp each passport we visit. We hope to visit a few lighthouses this year. 

Rose Seeds

 For the last 6 years now (or maybe 7?) I've had a tradition of collecting rose seeds in the fall. My kids have seen me do this and help me find rose seeds. They are in the rose hips. Where we live, the roses aren't usually cut back regularly- just at the end of the year. As the roses die, the rose hips eventually turn orange (around this time of year in the fall). That's when the seeds inside of them are ready. We pick off or cut off the rose hips, cut them open to get the seeds out. air them out to dry (usually for a day or two) and then put them in a ziplock bag with some dirt (and a bit of water). I label them with the date I picked them and then put it in the fridge to "winter." Around January of February they might start to get roots- that's when I plant them in a pot of soil in the house and then later on transplant them outside (usually in the summer or late spring). Over the years I've been doing this, I've got rose plants to grow and they've even grown small, cute, baby roses (about the size of my thumb), but the plant seems to die in the summer heat. I have to find a way somehow to try and get them to survive. It's a good challenge for my gardening skills!

This is one of the tiny roses that I got in 2016. 

Pu'er Tea Delivery

 I had the opportunity to work with a mom and her two daughters to work on a book together. They did the illustrations (and did a fantastic job!) and I did the writing. It's a book about a family in Yunnan who help take care of some old Pu'er tea trees. They pick leaves a few times a year for tea, dry them, and get them ready to be sold. Then they have travel to a few places in Yunnan to sell their tea. This book talks not only about the process of how tea is made, but also describes Yunnan geography. Yunnan is the province next to Tibet in the Southwest part of China. This book is available as an ebook on www.lulu.com or as a printed book on www.lulu.com or amazon.com.