6 Months Ago

It was 6 months ago this weekend that we were driving Dave out here-

 

That was quite something. and now here it is summertime.

But I don’t have any great summertime pictures.

Actually, the past two weeks I don’t have many pictures at all. Sad, but true. And I thought I had a couple of old pictures to put up on Facebook and when I went to get them off my USB stick-GONE.

That is so maddening.

But this week my friend Cathy is coming to run the Seattle Rock and Roll-

I know, I should have a better picture but this is a running picture so I thought it appropriate.

Our friend Tiffany is coming too-

And I can’t find one good picture of her. I should have at least one from Ragnar. Jeesh. But I promise to have many by this time next week. Promise.

So that should be way more exciting than this.

We did get up to Edmonds this weekend for Father’s Day.

We went to the Edmond’s Art Fair. Crowded and not one picture. I even made Dave bring the camera. Say what?

Then to Martha’s house for dinner, which was delish, by the way. Grilled salmon, fresh asparagus, corn, tomatoes, salad, and breads. Then brownies for dessert. Holy Cow.

I took a  few pictures there-

Big Cedars

Katie Talking to Grampa

Us cooking-(Dave took these…..I thought maybe there might be a group shot….but no)

But, for Father’s day? Not one picture of Grampa. I know, right?

But it was a good day. And that’s what counts.

 

Still Strolling Down Memory Lane

There is a new project emerging over at the G-pa’s now. It’s called going through a zillion slide to organize, scan and decide what to keep and what to get rid of. For example, the bazillion slides of cutting down trees in the forest? Not so much. But the slides of how cute I was as a baby? Priceless-

And also a wee bit pudgy. But am I not rocking the mohawk?

My poor cousin Jane Ann, lumbering under the weight of supporting my massive baby bulk. That would be from left, my Aunt Jane holding my cousin David, then, cut off, my cousin Lloyde behing me and Jane Ann, then Grandma Kalahan, and my two sisters, Debbie and Martha, and cut off again is Grampa Kalahan. I think, though, in the slide they aren’t really cut off, so not sure why they scanned that way. But as long as I am visible, well, that’s what’s important isn’t it?

However, many of the pictures we looked at yesterday were of my sisters, because they are quite old were born first and had a LOT more years of pictures taken.

 

My favorites are the beach series though-

The top ones are in Oregon (Coos Bay) and below we think is in Washington.

Sigh. And then Mother, with an unidentified friend-

And a few years later, with Hunter (aka Buntie), the dog who loved only her…..

(Oh and by the way, I believe I just used that Cuisinart yesterday)

In current news-

I ran a trail race yesterday. Believe me-it was almost all mental-me telling myself I can keep going, I can keep going. I forgot that hills on a trail are much steeper and more abrupt than the slow slog on the road. But finished strong and in under an hour (by 20 seconds but still…..) So happy about the whole thing.

I put this one in because that girl in front of me? Came out of no where at the finish line to pass me. Really? That’s the thing about grass, you can’t hear them coming.

Before the race, Dave got all distracted by what he referred to as a “tree hole”-

Me-what are you looking at?

Dave-that tree has a hole in it.

Me-what the hell are you looking at now?

Dave-the tree. it. has. a. hole. in. it. That’s a tree hole.

Me-oh god.

Documentation.

I mean, really? The thing is, we were at least 50 feet from this and there were lots of people around and it was almost race time and this is what we are doing. And it’s not really all that impressive of an opening. (I almost titled this post Shut your tree hole, but decided on tact instead of juvenility-a word, by the way, that passes spell check)

The day before, Saturday, the nice and sunny day, not the misty cooler day, we drove out to Gig Harbor to get my race packet. The town was packed due to some sort of events going on (people dressed as pirates and children with musical instruments and cars on narrow streets-there were things going on there). I suggested we come back on a less busy day. Dave was very impressed.

Me-God it’s so busy here. Want to park some where and walk into town?

Dave-Not really, but I would like to come back on a less busy day and get my Gig on.

Me-We are leaving now.

Crossing over to the other side…….

On Friday at the Valencia across the street they decided to spruce up the curb with a little weed whacking and edge trimming-

Because weed whacking and edge trimming should always be done in heels and very tight pants.

And not for the squeamish but because I want to-Yeltsin had her shoulder cleaned up. She had an abscess that wouldn’t go away so we had to take her in. She was NOT happy, but feels better now.

Oh, I guess it’s not that bad. Darn it. Thought I could spice up the blog with gore.

And another week over. Jeesh but they are flying by. The weekends especially. Still playing the Powerball like there is no tomorrow. Please let me win so I can retire, please oh please oh please.

I guess I better just get used to working…

Rainy Weeks

This week has been a little rainy which officially starts the summer season here in the great northwest. The summer that many people think of as summer starts here after the 4th….of July. And usually extends into September. It’s very nice but sometimes people get a little squirrely about this time thinking that summer will never come. And I don’t know why people expect memorial day to be sunny and warm. I think of it as rainy and cool, unless in MN, then it could be very hot and muggy.

So I didn’t take many pictures this week. I haven’t been many different places. I did dig up the front bed of the house, and put mulch down, but didn’t take a picture and refuse to go stand in the rain today, on my day off, to photograph. Grampa came and did some weeding, all the fertilizing,  and part of the mulch spreading. It looks great, take my word. I was going to weed the front and back in my wildflower garden, but then I went to Seattle yesterday and it was raining and I was very, very lazy.

Yawn. In Seattle I went knitting with some of the girls. Martha wasn’t there because she was here-

That looks nice, Hunter Bay on Lopez Island.

But, back to civilization, we were in Seattle, Lake Forest Park actually knitting by the bookstore (I bought a book for Martha but will likely be using it myself….Knit to Flatter-too many sweater fails prompted purchase). And then Julie and I cruised down to the Farmers Market, met up with Nancy, and I bought some beautiful flowers.

Of course, photographing them was more like this-

 

Nothing is ever easy.

And I am having great success with my bird feeder-

I took a picture through the window-

But thought the screen blurred it so I went outside to take a shot (I was hiding behind the wall) and of course, this is what happened-

They flew away-except for a few brave souls. The massive jungle below the feeders is actually the wild flower seeds I planted a month or so ago. And at least I don’t have to keep watering them.

This week I promise to take lots of pictures of my week, I think. I had a great picture of Laura standing next to a giant statue from her trip abroad, and I have lost it (hint hint-please resend I beg you….and maybe some farm shots too, just because? You know you want to)

Anyway, Happy Memorial Day, sit down, relax, take a load off.

Tixie, in chair, with remote and glass of wine. 

Uncharted

Well, here we are, another bright Monday morning. Well, maybe not so bright, a little cloudy, but Monday all the same. Weekends just aren’t long enough, are they?

I am going to do a long rambling blog about how, after the death of Mother, things are a little weird. (That’s the intro spoiler alert). The days march on, and the everydayness of life continues.  Another milestone happened-

Katie Graduated (and I couldn’t be there-sad about that but so happy for her-my brilliant and talented only niece)

 

Cody went to bootcamp and we lost track of him for a week. When he finally called he didn’t have much time because he had to spend his phone time talking to Marel. Jeesh. Yes, they will be taking care of me in my old age, thank you very much.

And as happy as I am for everyone and their accomplishments, I find that there are days when the slightest thing will drag me off into an undertow of sadness and tears, emotional seas I just can’t seem to navigate. Then, skies clear, sails fill, and off I go on tack again.

I’ve come to believe this is called grief. When Mother died, we were all relieved for her in a way, it was very bittersweet. And there were things to do and people to see and places to go. But after all is said an done, and quiet sets in, those little moments of sadness come to call. I think of Mother everyday. Mother’s Day also came and went, and my friend Nancy wrote to say that Mother’s day gets easier, or maybe it just hurts less. Who knows. As Sara Bareilles says, in the song, “this territory goes uncharted”.

But, as I said, life goes on and so I keep running, and last weekend I ran at Point Defiance, where it’s getting greener every week.

And I stopped to smell the roses-ok, I stopped to check out the Rhodies-

And then Grampa and I travelled over to our old neighborhood to look at the biggest Rhododendron bush EVER

Yeah, it’s as big as a house….

G-Pa for scale….

And then we went and smelled more roses-ok-again we went to look at the Rhodie park at Point Defiance-

  

And we got a new cat tower, which has turned out to be a huge hit with the fans..

So there’s much to be happy about, it’s just that when it comes to Mother, well, it’s all Uncharted.

(click on Sara….)

(Though I may be going down
I'll take in flame over burning out…..)

Sara Bareilles

Running and Crawling

This weekend was jam packed with stuff to do.

And it’s becoming more apparent I need more weekend, and/or more hours in the day.

Firstly, I signed up for a free yoga class at Source Yoga. I was hoping to steal find a picture but this is the only one, and it’s the front desk and yoga room.

Either way I loved it and am going to two classes this week.

Then off we went to start the yarn crawl. Yes, there was one this weekend-

The SSYC 2013-

Oh my that was fun. Dave was so thrilled to be able to be part of it too. Really. He was. I’m sure of it.

I had gone to one shop already, downtown, so Saturday we went to the Alpaca Farm (Firwood Farms), The Yellow House, and Yorkshire Yarns. (All Lovingly Linked)

We took a few pics of the Alpacas, who were unfortunately hot due to the warm weather we were having. (Where was that constant rain I’ve heard we get “all the time”?)

  

This one was all about the sprinkler.

There were a few hennies too.

All the yarns were named after which animal they were spun from. I always like that.

And, of course, the obligatory “put your head in the Alpaca picture thingy”.

It had to be done.

We working in the yard all afternoon, and Grampa came over to bonsai a tree for the shade garden. Whee. I didn’t take any pictures but I will next weekend when we plan to finish up.

Sunday AM, and I mean AM, Dave and I trekked down to Downtown Tacoma so I could run the Tacoma City Marathon.

It was a beautiful day, and I am happy that I was done by 9, because if I had been running a marathon it would have been hot. HOT! It was 87 degrees that day. 87 degrees of sea breeze and no humidity. (Actually it rained all day because, well, it rains here all the time. I’m just really really good with the photoshop)

There was a good crowd at the start

 

We took off and ran down the way, all along the water and back. It really was a great course. Although the uphill during the last 3 miles wasn’t so great.  And my leg hurt, dang it. But I still had a great race. 

Run Forrest Run……(This is about 2/10 of a mile out. I can see the turn-my leg hurts-keep running, keep running….)

1:58:19-best finish in the past 4 years. Even dragging my leg!

Here’s before and after, with my parking meter friend…

 

Whoa. I did have a fab new skirt though.

And after 13.1 miles, off we went to finish up the yarn crawl.

We had 6 stores to travel to. Starting in Olympia and working north.

It was a spectacular day to travel-

This was the cute shop in Shelton-

We took a picture of Cody’s new Navy home in Bremerton (where we took a wrong turn-we were looking for Port Orchard-and shouldn’t have even seen the big boats)

Dave took a picture of me in Poulsbo, our last stop.

 
After all that, we drove down Bainbridge and hit the ferry to Seattle. That was an all out picture-fest

(Note to self-next time bring big camera for landscape shots….)

     

It was a fabulous day.

And in the time I’ve taken to post this, a whole week has passed. I have been to Yoga twice-loved it, and had dinner with Martha and Grampa, bought tickets to see Paula Poundstone, and am working on the Cheney Stadium Stitch and Pitch Tickets on June 27th. There will be vendors….just saying.

And I was told there will be Downton Abbey specialty fabric in Minnesota. Really? I’ll have to send an agent to pick me up some of that.

Off to work in the yard. Living in the rain forest when the temps are in the upper 70’s makes for hardy weeds.

Have a fab week.