September 30, 2010

The last day of September.

A beautiful Fall day.

Farmer's Market: peppers, apples, pears and plums...

And, don't laugh!!!

Phil taking a mouse nest out of the trunk of his Trans Am.

I think we had 70 degrees today. An overcast morning, but as you can see the sunshine finally came out. Vicki and I met for lunch at the Farmer's Market - I had minestrone and breadsticks. Nice box of veggies: onions, garlic, potatoes, kale, another weird cauliflower, lettuce and more.

I had a nice visit with Alan and Walker by phone tonight.

Wordless Wednesday 9/29/10

September 28, 2010 Squash and Apples and mustaches?

Tonight I grilled a patty-pan squash! We also had steak. Phil was so skeptical...I said just put it on when you turn the steaks the first time. I cut in in half, put a little olive oil on it, and some seasonings... It was quite delicious! Even Phil liked it...I might have to buy a few more. I think the trick is not to overcook it...but to get nice grill marks on it. yummy. We also had a Caesar salad . We were expecting sunshine and an outdoor dinner, but we ate indoors. Still good.

I made my first rustic apple pie of the season, with our home-grown apples. Fabulous! We had applesauce the day before, but the pie was outstanding. We are so greedy. We eat half of it warm, and the other half with our coffee next mornin.

And here is Phil's mustache and beard...I had to hurry up and take a photo because I am afraid it will get shaved off tomorrow. Its actually starting to get kind of cute. If you look in the window, you can see me taking his picture. This facial hair started on the train ride home from Glacier. Reminds me I need a haircut...

September 27, 2010 No more spiders!

Ok, I guess I was just showing off my macro lens with that hideous spider on my last posting!

Here is the project I promised you yesterday...

The insides of a paperback book,

transformed into a rolodex/scrapkeeper that I keep by our phone.

I made it by taking the covers off of a paperback book, then folding each page in half, all in the same direction. It doesn't have to be perfect, imperfections add to the rough look of it. The bigger the book, the plumper and nicer the finished produce. This one was over 250 pages. It doesn't take long, about one tv program. Put any little pieces of paper you don't want to lose, or add tabs and be really organized. You could still read the book if you wanted to!

Do you recognize this cutie?

My mom just gave me this portrait that she made many years ago.

Yes, its little Alan.

Its pretty big, 10 x 12 or bigger.

My artistic mom!

September 26, Sunday Decorating for Fall

Time to break out the Fall decorations

We woke up this morning to a dark rainy gloomy day. and when we opened our dining room door, this is what was right at my eye level! The first time I tried to get a photo, she scurried up into the eaves. I didn't have to wait long for her to come back though. Look at the interesting web design. Maybe she was in a big hurry. From now on we need to be careful when we leave the house! This is a little project I've been meaning to share. I started it after we got back from our trip. These are paperback book covers, made into post cards.

...and the backs:

I sent one off to Walker. I don't know how many other people would appreciate murder mystery novel covers, but it was a fun way to use some old discard books. Tomorrow I'll show you what I did with the insides...

And our other Fall decorations! All the apples from our tree - picked today. It almost fills up my CSA vegetables box. lots of applesauce, rustic apple pies, and raw apple cake coming up.

I hope you had an enjoyable Sunday today.

Saturday September 25, 2010

We have had a beautiful Saturday! sunny and nice - 73 degrees when I looked! Claudia and I went to a fund raiser for our friend Shawn, who is a cancer patient. We met her and her sister Eva at the informational meeting at the Chemo clinic. We kind of connected, sisters together supporting each other... Turns out Shawn's insurance doesn't pay for prescriptions - well, what is chemo? Thousands of dollars (each time) of prescriptions. So, Shawn's family and friends are holding fund-raisers to help her raise the $100,000 she is going to come up short.

. . .


We attended a baked potato bar and silent auction. It was really fun. Shawn's mom and sisters and friends made pot holders and hats and scarves and jewelry, for sale for a donation. Shawn introduced us to every member of her family.

...and, I am late in posting this adorable wind chimes. A gift from Alan and Sara from their trip to Ocean Shores. . .

and I was watching Phil make his own dinner (baked potato) and I was inspired to photograph this stack of goodies - Trader Joe's jo jos, chocolate/chocolate. Yum! Unfortunately not in focus, but I took care of that!

Friday September 24

THREE REASONS WHY I LOVE WASHINGTON

I had to get up early today, but look what I would have missed if I'd slept in!

After work, (at noon), Phil and I went for a downtown walk. We spotted this heron on Capital Lake. He was hunting something small in the water - fascinating to watch!

And the Marina...They are tearing down some of the boardwalk! I had heard that was going to happen. It looks like they are doing a section at a time. We both liked the looks of this red boat.

. . .

We ate lunch at Me Kong (Thai food AGAIN!). It was delicious and the leftovers will be part of tonight's dinner.

Finally about 3:00 the sun started shining.

Thursday, September 23, 2010 alien vegetables!

Back into the swing of my normal routine again! I am back to working at the law office, and my DSHS job, and I have a day coming up at the storage unit. Today I attended a continuing education class on "depression". It was pretty interesting. I get paid for it, eventually. Then to work for a couple of hours, then to the Farmer's Market...
After the Farmer's Market, I visited the Seattle Children's Hospital Thrift Store and they had tons of new stuff! They had a big box of postcards - ten cents each! If you have looked at postcards in an antique store, you know they are at least a dollar, usually more like $3. I found 39 postcards I had to have for my collection. I suppose my children will donate my collection to a thrift store someday, and they will fall into loving hands elsewhere!

What do you think of this beauty? It is a "Romanesco cauliflower". It is in the steamer pot now. Isn't it amazing? Vicki and I decided to forego the rain and loud farmer's market music, and we went to ANTHONY's for dessert in place of lunch! She ordered Cheesecake with sliced peaches, and I had Peach Slump with ice cream. Oh we are bad influences on each other! and three cups of coffee each! How decadent! It was fun to catch up.

P.S. What did you think of my Wordless Wednesday Post? I started up choir again, and showed some of the music we will be singing. I was a little unsure if I should go again, but once I was with the group, I'm so glad I am part of it!!!

Wordless Wednesday - 9-22-10

September 21, catching up!

Miss T's Birthday!

Eight Years Old!

We had a late party for Tori's birthday. We were in Glacier, Montana on her birthday.

She did have a slumber party, and a big family dinner at Fujiama already,

but we had to celebrate too! (French toast, fritatta, sausages and o.j.)

We had a Sunday Brunch.

Her gift!

I think she likes it. An American Girl Doll!

She named her Britney.

(I'm not sure about the spelling.)

Which is the doll?

Britney has a little brother who is such a monkey!

Enough cake - Grandma made brownies. We were afraid the powdered sugar would all blow off when she blew out the candles and I was ready with the camera, but no powdered sugar storm.

This is the third and final American Girl Doll I acquired for my three granddaughters this year!
I think its time to start sewing doll clothes now!

September 17 - Home at last

DAY NINE

THE END OF THE LINE

The final stretch home was quite beautiful. Washington is way different from Montana. Even the sunshine looks different. These next photos are coming down out of the mountains.

A view out the back of the train.

The window was pretty smudged, but it was fun to get a look.

We didn't even take any photos at the King Street station. We mainly stood in line, waiting for seat assignments. We were pretty beat by then and eager to get home. We got on the Seattle to Lacey train - it was packed! No empty seats in the place. We didn't even get to sit together. I finished my fifth book of the vacation. We phoned my folks from Tacoma ("We're almost there"!). My dad picked us up. My mom gave us a bouquet of flowers to take home. Our kitty was waiting for us. Our mail was in our mailbox (USPS held it until Friday, then delivered it all at once. I was surprised it worked so well!).

. . .

It was a wonderful vacation and perfectly relaxing for us. But, there's no place like home.

I hope you enjoyed coming along on our vacation!

September 16, 2010 - Day Eight

DAY EIGHT

OUR LAST DAY AT GLACIER

Here is one of our favorite places to relax. You can't really see the fire, but there is one in there. Notice the book in Phil's hand, and the coffee on the arm of his chair, the tree trunk on the right.

After this, we went for a walk to the one place we hadn't explored yet. Down the highway to a big gulch with a train bridge over it. It was even more interesting than I thought it would be.

Can you see the rainbow over the lodge?

This is an entirely different view of the East Glacier Lodge.

And the construction under the bridge was interesting too.

... back to wildflowers! Rose Hips!

I don't know what this is, but isn't it pretty? Its tiny.

Back to the train bridge.

After we walked away, along came a train!

This is the rear engine of the train going away from us.

This was probably the least lovely day, weather wise. The wind was blowing, the sky was cloudy. They were taking down the big tents in front of the Lodge. That was interesting to watch.

Landscaping flowers.

This is a structure built from slivers of stone.

It was fascinating and a little different every day.

It was not glued down or anything, it is what it is.

It must have taken some time to build.

Have you ever seen anything like it?

I'm still wandering around frantically taking pictures, not wanting to miss anything! This was near the parking lot, I don't know the purpose of this little house, if its private or the gardener's house, or what...

And Phil had this idea of taking pictures through the holes in the fence/railing around the veranda.

We decided to spend our last little bit of time in the lounge, looking at the lovely mountains outside the windows and eating a little tiny snack...Phil looks like he's getting sad, doesn't he?

...and I'm trying to cheer him up...

But this two pound plate of nachos cheered us up plenty! We couldn't finish it - but the waiter said we did a "noble" job. I had to give Phil most of the credit! It turns out we don't really eat anything else until we get back home!

Our luggage mixed in with everyone else's who is getting on the 6:45 train. . . The Lodge loads it all into a van, to take to the station, then a school bus pulled up to give us a ride to the station. Its an easy 5 minute walk, but it was raining!

A last view of downtown from the train station...

A last view of the Lodge, with the red buses returning from their day of travel.

See the big tent out front is gone?

..and here comes our train...

I admit we were less excited about the train ride home. But, we enjoyed looking out the windows and reading our books. I wanted to get pictures of the Izaak Walton Inn on the way back, but it got too dark to get a good photo. We stopped in Whitefish for about 12 minutes and we got off the train and walked around a bit. Phil wanted to see this engine and I was surprised to get such a good photo in the dark.

The Whitefish train station was super cool, but I was getting anxious about getting back on the train before it left us behind. That wouldn't be so bad if all our stuff wasn't on the train.

And the outside of the Whitefish Depot. It was pretty mild outside and not raining here. The rest of the night was pretty uneventful. The train was full. We read, we tried to sleep. We stopped in Spokane (Phil got off the train but I was neurotically afraid of the train leaving without me so I stayed inside). We knew a lot of the people walking down the train to the dining car.

We are beginning to look forward to being home and seeing our kitty and using our cell phones to see what W has been up to for a week.