Welcome to the family

 

 

 

This weekend, our Carlton family adopted this adorable Chihuahua mix puppy. She came from a rescue home in Bellevue, and they brought her over last night before we went out to dinner. 

About 3 months old and downright adorable. Also healthy and spunky, and like all puppies, a great big project. But the girls are jumping right in with the training and spoiling. Lucky little dog. I'll wager she soon finds her niche with the other house pets in front of the Russian stove. 

Happy Birthday to our darling Nova today. This is the poem I wrote 17 years ago. It feels like yesterday.

"A Poem for Nova" 

That morning you arrived,
You were our bright summer star.
And I drove East to greet you,
Body, Mind, Spirit--
With a prayer for every mile.

Time passed. Road and silence.
Mountains, rocks, fields,
The occasional gift of horses grazing.
And finally, clear desert light
Above the ancient river.

Then your Mother's call, at last!
Wonder and tears
Turning a roadside nowhere into Somewhere.
Oh, you thrilled us
With your big entrance: Here I Am.

So, an old story but still a fresh miracle.
And I arrived at a new place, too.
A little hand to hold,
Precious life to cherish,
The circle complete. 

 

 

A fine line

 

I bought this book for inspiration, but it had the opposite demotivating effect when I realized she "paints" with single strand floss. 

If you know anything about embroidery, then you know that is indeed tedious and finicky. I'll stick with two-strand work and simple Aunt Martha iron on patterns.

That good old Aunt Martha brand, sold by family owned Colonial Patterns, has been around since the 1930's. I remember when these cost a quarter at the five and dime store. Now Amazon will throw one on the porch for about $6. 

Most are quick and easy, fun and relaxing, nostalgic or silly. I'm not aspiring to become an embroidery artist at this stage of the game. 

 

The plum tree is groaning with fruit (isn't that a great expression?) and a few hot days away from ripe. Hopefully can do some canning soon. Since they are visible from the sidewalk, I actually worry about people coming in the yard and stealing when we're not around.  Yes, that kind of neighborhood now.  

Blue sky and fresh air back this morning, although the smoke pollution on the east side of the state stays relentless. Our Carlton family is coming over for the weekend for a quick escape. They won't be staying here this time, but we hope to see them Sunday afternoon.

Have a good weekend.  

The pleasure of open windows

 

But not today. We've had the windows closed and both air purifiers running. Not so pleasant with temps in the 80's and no AC in the house. 

John does have a method (when I'm gone) for keeping the house cool, which involves keeping most of the upstairs blinds shut. It's depressing enough being stuck inside without stumbling around in the dark. 

We have seen much worse smoke, but my ukulele group still cancelled the Thursday outdoor meeting. I could have used some fun diversion, but cancelling was probably a good idea, since most of us are in that "sensitive" group (aka old.) You really shouldn't be singing at the top of your lungs in this air. 

Still Seattle has nothing to complain about, compared to eastern Washington where the air is absolutely horrible from the many uncontrolled fires. 

When people visit from other parts of the country, they are surprised how we can leave unscreened windows hanging wide open the summer. Insects have never been much of a problem. But who knows what climate change has up its sleeve next.  

They say tomorrow will be a better day.  

 

The cows come home

 

A blog post without photos? Who wants to read through my rambling text without even a pretty picture? What was once so easy (above) on my laptop now takes a complicated work around process. That only works sometimes. 

Anyway, delving deeper into this photo uploading problem on Google Blogger revealed a giant hodgepodge of a password mess (according to my tech support person.) This is what happens when you allow things to just evolve "organically" letting technology make decisions without any master plan. Things work fine-- until they don't. 

But as Albert Einstein said, "In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." 

Good morning, Sunshine

 

We call this the “end of the world” sunrise. The air not as bad as it looks, but we will be under the murk for a few days. 

Having a spat with Blogger this morning so short post. 

Gentle times

 

A little photo diversion from all the bad news. 

This is a family gathering on the farm in Bucks County where our dad was born. Everyone is dressed up with cakes on the table, so maybe a special occasion like a wedding. Unfortunately, these long gone relatives are unidentified.

In the 1950's, we had family parties in that same spot in Grammy's front yard. 

They didn't have fancy outdoor furniture, so trestle tables were set up (with tablecloths) and kitchen dishes and chairs brought outside. There was good simple Pennsylvania Dutch food like ham, potato salad, pie and watermelon. 

Food in those days was always passed around in bowls and platters, never buffet style. Seconds were OK, once everyone was served, but it would have been considered rude to pile your plate high. Meals lasted a long time (kids were expected to sit and listen until excused) because people ate slowly and talked. 

My, how old I am. Another aging observation: stuff gets bigger but not necessarily better. 

"A typical 1950s dinner plate (8-9 inches) comfortably held roughly 800 calories worth of food, compared to modern 12-inch plates that can hold over 1,900 calories."

We have escaped the air pollution from the fires so far, but our luck changes mid week when they say it will turn both hot and smoky in Western Washington. Bad combination.