Wouldn't you know it? The Seattle weather has turned absolutely springlike this week, just in time for our winter getaway. Sunny days, but the downside is dense fog in the mornings, and we have an early flight tomorrow on Hawaiian Airlines.
I always need to worry about something when we travel (preferably something completely out of my control ha!) so a fog delay will do nicely.
We shall see. Hope to be posting some cool Waikiki photos in a couple of days. Stay tuned and aloha for now.
Tea is good and good for you. I look forward to my cup of Sleepy Time tea each evening.
That contraption is a handy electric element to heat a cup of water for instant coffee or tea. Yes, most hotel rooms have some sort of coffee maker, but you're not getting Sleepy Time out of a Keurig.
So that's going to Hawaii, along with some other new travel gadgets to try out. 2026 will make up for our lack of vacations in 2025.
Next up, a Viking River Cruise in June. Now that will be a challenge to pack for, especially John, who obsesses about running out of clean shirts. I said if we can float along the Rhine like royalty, we can afford to send a few shirts out to be washed in the boat laundry. Don't sweat the small stuff.
Anyway, sitting at my computer this morning sorting through all the travel documents.
What a jumble of email for a relatively simple trip: airline tickets and unintelligible travel insurance documents, Costco hotel package with transfer information, tours we've already booked to Pearl Harbor and the North Shore. Everything of course is electronic and what on earth would happen if you lost your telephones?
That Home Depot poinsettia looks exactly like it did a month ago. They seem to last much longer these days, and go easily from holiday decorations to houseplants that hang around for longer than you probably want to look at them. Easter is about my upper limit.
It's been a quiet week but that's OK, we're gearing up for our trip and trying to stay well. I didn't go to ukulele yesterday. Two hours sitting on the cold crowded patio in a not-so-clean bar? Well, that kind of has flu written all over it. We've been healthy so far this winter and hope our luck holds.
We're also sticking close to home this weekend. Among other reasons, I-5 (the main freeway through downtown Seattle) is shut down for construction, so why drive anywhere if you don't have to.
See you Monday.
Richard von Drasche-Wartinberger, In Deep Winter
We haven't been to our home along the river since Thanksgiving, and with the trip to Hawaii coming up, it will be February until we can get over again. That's the longest stretch of being away since we bought it over 5 years ago.
I don't worry much with Methow Homewatch checking in weekly, but I often think about the place with gratitude-- the river flowing endlessly by the empty house, the quiet rooms with everything left perfectly neat and clean for the next visit. A soothing thought.
Of course, there are always surprises with home ownership. This being winter, the beavers are certainly at work again chewing down the remaining trees along our little stretch of waterfront.
I got in touch recently with the Methow Beaver Project, perhaps the premier organization in the country dedicated to watershed restoration and "partnering" with beavers. They sometimes relocate "problem" beavers, and I hoped these town dwellers might be good candidates. After all, they aren't building useful dams along the Methow River. Put them where they can do some honest work!
Anyway, someone sent a nice email back, sympathizing for the loss of our young trees, but explaining they rarely relocate beavers along the Methow River, that body of water being their "highway."
Well, they're not grabbing a quick snack as they pass by, they live right there in the bank next to their own personal McDonald's all winter, as they have for decades, evidenced by many old stumps.
The only suggestion was to put heavy wire around all the trees, which is neither practical or aesthetic. I'm resigned to let nature take it's course.
“I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want.” Andy Warhole
Which simply means, let it be.
John pointed out that we were actually on the Oregon coast in September 2016.
OK, still a long time ago.
We went to Ocean Shores at the exact same time the Carleton Complex Fire was raging in the Methow Valley. Amanda, Tom and the girls had evacuated town. I remember how incongruous that seemed, because it rained on us all weekend at the coast.
Anyway, after the pandemic we bought the Twisp house and that became the go-to vacation for a long while. I love the place, but it is more of a working vacation. Our other trips were mostly to the desert, so it's truly been over 10 years since I've walked along a sandy ocean shore. Sigh.
Long story short, we're looking forward to our long-planned trip to Oahu, Hawaii next week. I kept this one easy (no rental car hassle or searching for the perfect Airbnb) just 6 nights at a Waikīkī hotel, the deal booked through the Costco website.
We will be unashamed tourists. I found and washed our old Hawaiian shirts. And maybe I'll buy myself a new mumu. John wanted to know if I was bringing my ukulele?
