Kalo Pascha

 My Dear Ms. T,

Happy Easter! Or as the greeks say it, Kalo Pascha!  I hope you had a nice time visiting the family. Did the chicks survive your watch? I must admit the peep wreath is mighty cute, and just about my level of competence this morning. (You know how it goes with family...)

Our day was spent like this:

lots of this:

and ended with these: 

It was a long day to say the least, and I must say, Mr. K earned tons of gold stars for it. Hopefully this week, I'll start on some projects that I can share. Until then, sending you love and sunshine, and perhaps a bit of homemade wine...

Happy Easter!

For you Mrs. K, a PeepWreath.

I hope you are able to see some cool celebrations in Syros. We'll be up in Healdsburg helping with a Sunday Meal at the church.

¡ Disculpame !

Dearest Mrs. K, 
I am bad, very bad. But you already knew that. In an effort to make up for my not posting in a weeks time, especially when you are the one going through areas of no internet, I am including an absolutely adorable picture. I am chicksitting for Greta and the boys. Sparrow and Shadow are celebrating Easter a bit early with their friend. 

I love the pictures of the gardens and was super excited about the farm project in Swaziland (you or Mr. K are more than welcome to exploit my or my friends' Landscape Architecture degrees, especially if it opens potential for a super cool trip). I am eagerly awaiting pictures from Egypt too, just so you know, and would be very happy to try to coordinate another trip to the Great Northwest.
Eagerly awaiting your return,
Miss T

Memory Lane (and Garden)

You have me going down memory lane with your last post and revisiting spots from childhood vacations.  It’s funny how jealousy works.  I am surely green with envy about your trip to Seattle. I second your opinion on Seattle as a favorite city in the world. It’s got a really good balance of city activities and outdoor adventure. Something about that city has always made it feel like home. Have you made a trip to Pike’s Place, yet? If not, go and wander down to Pioneer’s Square and check out Diva Dollz. They have limited hours of operation, but it’s worth a trip. They have a small selection of dresses and shoes and accessories. The red poka dot dress came from there. But, the best part is they custom make hats and corsets!

It’s funny that you posted about revisiting those old haunts. Our last night in Bali, we stayed next to a lagoon that experiences a very low tide. Local children go running out and play in the mud/sand, trying to catch crabs and dirty their siblings with it. It reminded me of those days running thru the mud flats at low tide.  I had packed the camera, otherwise I would have taken a picture and made a post on that. Instead, I’ll just have to dig up some photos of us from that time once I get back to the States. (evil grin)

Now that I’ve wandered down memory lane and you’ve made me miss you and Seattle, I have my own little lane to share with you. At our B&B there are these adorable pathways that lead to various garden settings. I hope you enjoy!

My Wet and Wild Safari

Mrs. K:

So while you are frolicking around Africa, I am up in Seattle (everyone says hi) and went to some familiar places. Anything look familiar?

There were no mud baths and the cookie made me a little ill, but it was fun to go see some of the places from those summers. Seattle is definitely one of my favorite cities in all the world. Wish you were here but I won't hold it against you. We do need to arrange a trip up the coast at some point upon your return.

Africa looks amazing, I have been following the travel blog  (and while I would rather not admit it but after watching The Bachelor this past season, yes, I know) I kind of really would like to be there too. Nights under the stars and really cool elephant candles are very very tempting (perhaps I should show the pictures to Mr. C). I hope you are collecting some cool souvenirs along the way. I would be the happy to provide a home for some cool little something in need of adoption. Hint Hint. I love you.

Light from Africa

My dearest Miss T:

In case you were wondering, I survived my first African Safari. It was everything that a little girl dreams about a safari being. It was adventure hiking thru tall grasses, crouching as you watched the many different animals, inspecting all sorts of insects and plants, sundowners with amazing African sunsets, ending your day around an open bush fire and falling asleep in a tree house. The only disappointment that could be shared was that the giant cats eluded our eyes, although they made their presence known with their evening calls close to camp.   But, everyone says they’re just like house cats anyways. (Wink wink)  But, the point of this post is not wild stories of the African bush. Those I’ll save for a lazy Sunday in which we can imbibe and share all sorts of stories.

I visited a candle making facility here in Swaziland this week. It was a beautiful workshop that shares an even more beautiful history. A Scandinavian family, who had some experience running a candle company, founded Swazi Candles in the 1981.  Since they first opened, they have trained dozens of local men and women in the art of candle making.   In a country where jobs are scarce, and proper training for those jobs even more so, this was a truly beautiful gift. Slowly, they have built an international name and turned their workshop into a top tourist destination for the country. All the candles are hand built using timeless techniques of warm wax and cool water. Today, they are a huge success story, exporting their goods to major companies internationally. (You might remember them from a winter holiday feature Anthropologie did a few years back.)

Below are a few photos taken from my visit from the workshop and store. The day I was there they were working on making blue elephants. It was mesmerizing to see how quickly these men and women worked with the wax, fashioning animals out of nothing. No molds are used here! I hope you enjoy.

Sending you a little love from Africa.