NW weekend

Friday was nice. All day eyeball-seminar at a downtown conference center on the water. Lovely views, but more than that, good lecturers speaking on interesting topics. One spectacular standout; an local ocularist who makes prosthetic eyes. A tall, well-spoken redhead--I'm predictable, yes? Or perhaps I should say consistent. Love me a redhead, especially a smart one.

Also got to have lunch with a friend from Arizona. It was such a delight to spend some time catching up with her. As we finished our tiny petit-four style desserts and sipped coffee, it began to snow. Later the sun came out and I had a breeze of a drive home with NO Friday-style traffic snarls.

M was visiting a new neighborhood friend when I arrived home. She stayed there for dinner and Mr. Smartypants and I walked over to pick her up later in the evening. Spent about an hour chatting with her friend's folks--very nice people.

This morning, M on the computer and S whipping through a crossword puzzle, I sat on the couch under a blankie and sipped coffee. Out in the backyard, I noted another new acquaintance:

Dark-eyed Junco ("Oregon Junco")

Courtesy of e-nature

M and I took Spot to Marymoor Park today--huge leash-free park with fields and paths and mud puddles. Great fun.

Tomorrow I'm going to find yarn for Boogie. I think it's wise to cut my teeth on a vest before I attempt the lovely Katarina. More on that when I have something else to show and tell!

It snowed again about an hour ago, but I don't know if it'll stick. I'll try to get pictures in tomorrow.

Happy Easter

The girlie and I have been enjoying working in the kitchen together of late. We wanted to make something yummy for breakfast yesterday, but we kept falling short of one ingredient for each recipe we'd chosen. That being the case, we held off until today. Here she is putting the finishing touch (powdered sugar)
onto this (recipe here), a Big Apple Pancake. It made the house smell wonderful (Mr. Smartypants was salivating....) and we made it disappear very quickly. It was a breeze to make, as well.
Here is our Spot, who is going through a renaissance with his crate. He'd been entrenched in a seriously horrific bout of separation anxiety, and just as we'd made a date with a behaviorist to come and help us, he pulled out of it! He was snugged up in here, snurfelling away with his nose under his blankie as we had breakfast. It was raining out and very cozy in the kitchen.
I have to do a big tip o' the hat and a small toot of my own horn. Larissa and Martin's book is out, and even in my prejudiced opinion, it's great! It's got a lovely look to it and I'm really enjoying their writing style. My Bakul made it in for the Recycle Along section, and Marion will testify to the fact that I was jumping up and down in the bookstore yesterday and walking several feet in the air all afternoon. YAY!

Happy bunny day to all. I'm off to do some crafting with my sweet potato.

Words only today

I was a little late coming home today. It's the first time I've stayed past 5 at my new job. We had a physician retreat and a staff seminar. I didn't actually participate in either as I was the stay-behind to care for a patient. It was good to be on the front line; helping out in an emergency again. I'm glad I'm in a position that allows me to do administrative work and still be a tech.

I missed seeing my usual going-home bus driver. He's very kind and has one of those smiles that just lights up his face. He'll often make dry, pithy comments about road conditions or the peculiarities of other drivers. He laughs frequently. I'm looking forward to seeing him tomorrow.

I wish I could capture some of the things I see from the bus, but I know that a camera wouldn't shoot well through the bus windows. Plus we often go too fast or it's crowded and I couldn't get turned around to show you what I see.

Things like the beaver dams in the lake.

The beautiful mixture of downtown Seattle architecture.

The little diving ducks who leave a group of circles in their wake.

The incredibly swift-moving clouds overhead.

The other passengers on the bus (most of whom I wrongly assumed were knitters when I first started riding--they all whipped things out of their bags and started unwinding the way I do with yarn when I'm resuming work on a project. Turns out their "yarn" is I-pod headphones.).

Since I can't show you, I'll tell you.


Clad in ghostly white
Glimpsed between mossy branches
Blooming cherry tree

What a great weekend

My dear friend Mary was in town from Friday till today. We toddled around town yesterday, scarfed some Herfy's burgers, watched a movie and chatted and gabbed and caught up with each other's goings-on.

It was delightful.

We went into Seattle and here is some of what we saw.

I was on a bit of a deadline for a baby shower on Monday, the 17th. I did manage to finish this up this evening, and I'm quite pleased. It's the second time I've used this pattern, and my Kitchener stitch for closing up the top is VASTLY improved from my first attempt. The pattern is here. The yard, a gift from the generous KT is Berrocco Foliage. Mmmmmmm.

I hope that everyone had a weekend as nice as mine was. Call someone you love and tell them so.

And Happy St. Pat's tomorrow to all and sundry, especially to my redhead. Happy 12th, sweetie! According to our crazy list, 12th anniversary is Spackle. Food for thought.

dishcloth with moss

dishcloth with moss
Originally uploaded by kamsarmer

It's moving to Oregon to stay with Larissa....

crocuses

crocuses
Originally uploaded by kamsarmer

M's new do March 08

M's new do March 08
Originally uploaded by kamsarmer

Olympics and an egg tree

Olympics and an egg tree
Originally uploaded by kamsarmer

sunshine in flower form

sunshine in flower form
Originally uploaded by kamsarmer

nice trees

nice trees
Originally uploaded by kamsarmer

This post is worth 15,000 words

Ok, long overdue photos of all sorts. I've faffed about with Blogger for some time now and I still hate the positioning of the photos, so just ignore it.


Just for Emily, here we are. She's sultry and I'm oblivious.
It's KT and kt (in that order. Miss M wo-manned the camera.)
I got two dozen for Valentine's Day! Purple carnations, mmmmm.

THE original Nordstrom's downtown, which I pass on the bus daily, must've gotten my friend, Hai-Jung to pose for the art in their window display. That's her on the dress.
And again, ala Iron Chef, Hai-jung Four styles

The view from our driveway. Them Cascades, they sure are purty.

M and Spot

M at Le Panier, a to-die-for French boulangerie.

Super-cool neon. The crane provides assistance for those hard-to-reach areas.



Our house on the day after we arrived. Note the snow. And the T-riffic brother-in-law (in green)helping out the movers.

M's zombie snowman.




Spotted on the floor of the airport.....flying fish

There was this sad pink scarf wadded up under a chair. We made it into art.
Didn't think I'd miss the leaves, did you?
And I like this guy, headed against the flow, with briefcase.
Work is good. The dog is driving S nuts with his horrific separation anxiety, but we're working on it. The weather here is great. Oops, strike that, I'm supposed to sa it rains ALL the time. Yeah, that's it, rain and gloom and sturm und drang. My knitting has slowed, but I'm going to fix that right now.

I think we'll stay.