Summer is a good time to visit ice caves!

This hot summer is a good time to visit the ice caves.  It is a beautiful drive about an hour and a half from our house.  The hike out into the mountains is lovely.  And the reward is the ice caves!  They are a marvel to look at.  The waterfalls that feed them from far up on the cliffs are beautiful as well.  And the cool air that rushes from out of them is most welcome on a hot summer day.  We visited them on a hot summer day this month and it was amazing.  I can’t wait to go back.  It was like being in the cave of Caerbannog, only without the ravenous rabbit!

Refreshing!

We raised quite a bit of money at Solstice.

We raised quite a bit of money at Solstice this year.  The annual Fremont Solstice Fair is a great event full of crafts, food, music and fun for the whole family.  I volunteer and help organize this event, among others.  Thanks to all the sponsors as well.  The Chamber of Commerce are pleased with how much we raised for its charity that will go back into making the entire Seattle community better.

Summer is a great time for fresh fare

Summer is a great time, with the hot weather, to enjoy fresh, cold dishes, seafood, salads and other fare al fresco.  I made this seafood salad with grilled salmon, balsamic, large prawns, capers, shaved red onion and mushrooms over crispy greens.

It is quick and easy to make and if you don’t like shellfish or can’t eat it, substitute fresh pulled pork or grilled chicken and enjoy the cool tastes of summer!

SAMSUNG

Light Summer Fare

I find that in the warm summer months I enjoy making lighter, cold, healthier dishes.  To go along with the longer, warmer, brighter summer days and the extended time spent outdoors, I like to make more salad type entrees.

The high blue sky, walks by the ocean, the birds singing, morning coffee outside on the back deck, are all things I enjoy in Summer, along with cold dishes.  This week I made a cold seafood salad with salmon, giant prawns, capers, chopped onions, green olives, roasted red pepper and balsamic.  Enjoy!

 

Attending an amazing play in Ashland is so legal!

We had an amazing time watching “The Count of Monte Cristo” live on stage at the Oregon Shakespeare festival in Ashland, Oregon this summer.  It is such a wonderful place, community and is thriving with creative energy so much so that it is palpable. The shops and restaurants there remind me so much of my time I lived in England.  And the Black Sheep pub makes a killer English breakfast.  I recommend this experience to every artist and lover of theater, literature and the arts.

Humming Birds and Thunder Storms…we live for these rare and little things, these magical moments.

We live our lives and participate in such great historical events and even find ourselves, well, at least I do, on television and in the paper as a professional official.  And in so doing, I am constantly in the limelight, working a high pressure position and maintaining a high profile career.  And I love my position and I love the pressure and attention, as I work better under pressure and enjoy performing in front of crowds, even live, international crowds.

But there are also little things in my life that I love and that I live for:  These little things, these rare occurrences, these magical moments, including the thunder and lightning storm that happened the other house where I live in Seattle.  It was an amazing spectacle, a display of awesome power and the beauty of nature.  And later that week, as I sat outside on my deck enjoying the summer sun, a humming bird came by to enjoy the giant daisies in my garden.  These little moments, as well as the big moments, I both love and live for and relish.

Words and photo copyright 2015 by Eddie Edwards.

Summer is here at last!

Here in the Northwest of the United States, our summers can come late, end early or be full of precipitation.  But this summer has not disappointed.  It has come early, continues to burn hot, and shows no signs of ending early.  It is a time for road trips, hiking, exploring, camping, spending time at the beach, on the water and together, eating outside and enjoying time on the deck as much as possible.

As we continue to enjoy time outside and this pristine weather, we remember that family is important and that family must always come first.  It is family that we work for, get up every morning and go to our jobs, save up, pay for benefits and plan for the future.  Without family, fun in the sun this summer and every summer just wouldn’t have any meaning.

Get out there and enjoy the summer fun with your family!

Our lighthouse tour continues this summer.

Our lighthouse tour continues this summer.  This past weekend we visited Port Townsend to hike to this wonderful lighthouse at Bliss VIsta.  The summer is a great time for family trips, hikes and exploration.  The weather has been superb and the views along the coast of Washington are amazing.

Slow down, grill and enjoy nature.

This Labor Day weekend we returned to the fundamentals of slowing down, grilling and enjoying nature.  Sometimes we just need to get back to the basics, as cliché as that sounds, and enjoy the simple things in life.  It’s also a time to enjoy the little things in life.

There is so much we cannot control and so often we cannot even get a handle on the big picture.  But we can control how we spend our free time and what we do with our families.  And on this holiday, at the end of summer, it’s best to enjoy the leisure time of the season as we all get ready for the big push back to school and work.  So slow down, grill, enjoy nature and enjoy your family.

 

 

Hiking to the lake for Father’s Day

We took a two-mile hike to the lake on Father’s Day and had a picnic on the shore.  We packed some sandwiches, other goodies, a bottle of chilled wine, and a blanket. It was a beautiful afternoon and the perfect day for a hike and a picnic.

We started the hike at St. Edward’s Park, where the old monastery, which is now a seminary, overlooks the park, woods and down to the lake shore.  It is an amazing work of architecture and an icon, mysterious, yet full of power.  I love that building and the park, and the lake.  Ah, Summer time!