The icing on the cake

Confetti Cake

We got home late (at least for us) on Monday, so John took Tuesday off work. We've been celebrating all weekend, but yesterday was also our official anniversary.  He bought flowers and fancy cake at Metropolitan Market; I bought wine and steak at Safeway.  Called teamwork.

After that sparkling bright day in Victoria, the weather returned again to cold and wet.  We were happy to stay in after eating out for 3 days, which gets old fast.

"Men aren't usually thinking about anything that would remotely interest women. And vice versa."

I don't remember where I read that.  It's probably true, unless it comes to food, which is a universal thought. Along with a few others.

Still, despite all our differences, the world is full of couples muddling along through all the ups and downs of a long marriage.  You blink, and suddenly 25 years have passed by.  And you realize, why yes-- we are lucky.

Our special weekend

Started with an early morning cruise on the Victoria  Clipper catamaran.  The journey takes about 3 hours from Seattle north through Puget Sound, crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca into Canadian waters.

The Strait is a busy shipping lane connecting the Sound to the Pacific Ocean. Often treacherous and windy, many mariners have come to grief on the Strait.  But no problem for the Clipper, as we bounced along through a "light chop."  (The Clipper is notorious for memorable seasick journeys to Victoria.) 

I was seasick once on a Pacific Ocean cruise, and hope to never repeat the experience. I'm always a nervous when the crew recommends "taking the pills" as you leave the dock.  I found nice seats in the very front of the boat, while John patiently explained the physics as to why that was the worst place to sit in rough waters.  However, all my worries were for nothing, as usual. It was actually fun to sway along with rain and waves splashing the front windows.

It was a bit disconcerting when the woman sitting next to us suddenly flopped down on the floor (deck) and then spend the rest of the journey laying at our feet.  She said she was too dizzy to sit up. We called the crew and they brought her cold compresses, a piece of ginger candy and then went on their busy way.  Ho hum. The cruelest thing about seasickness is the lack of sympathy from those who don't suffer from it (I know this.)  Especially those people who must see it all the time.

Anyway!  How nice it feels, arriving at last at Victoria's calm and picturesque inner harbor.

We checked in early at the Empress Hotel, and had the entire afternoon to start enjoying our lovely room. Complete with complimentary luscious cake and a new friend outside the window.

Here is John relaxing in the lobby bar that evening, enjoying a glass of wine, looking like the lord of the manor.

We had an interesting dinner at a tiny but highly-recommended downtown restaurant called The Fish Hook.  It was jammed, so we basically shared a table with another visiting couple. None of us knew what to order from the fresh board, but I don't think you could go wrong on anything.  John had the safer cod and chips, while I had an Indonesian? inspired noddle dish with asparagus and prawns.

Sunday was rainy and windy, but who cares? We spent the afternoon indoors at the Royal Theater. It opened in 1913, and still has the original Rococo style decor. With only 1416 seats, it was a nice venue for opera. Many performers have appeared here, including Sarah Bernhardt, Carlos Montoya, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Luciano Pavarotti, National Ballet of Canada, Crosby, Stills & Nash and Tony Bennett.

We attended the popular and entertaining opera lecture in the lobby...

And then found our seats in the balcony.  Unlike our uptight concert halls in Seattle, you are encouraged to take your drinks inside while you watch the performance-- they even provide a plastic sippy cup.  So much more civilized than bolting down a glass of wine during intermission.

I loved the decor, especially the "Royal Ladies" statues looking down on the stage. The La Boheme performance was excellent, with a talented young cast.

After that, dinner on the waterfront, then a walk back to the hotel past the British Columbia Parliament Buildings  at night...

 And the day view on a lovely Monday morning. The weather was cold, but clear and bright.

We had time to kill before the ferry at 5 pm, and spent several hours at the Royal British Columbia Museum.

One of the highlights of a trip to Victoria.

 

And finally, back to Seattle on a mostly empty Clipper, with smooth-as-glass seas all the way to Seattle.  We were home before 9 pm.

Goodbye for now, Victoria.

The snow maiden

It was just beautiful yesterday morning with the sun sparkling on the snow and mountains.  Would have been a perfect day to cruise up to Victoria.  Oh well, we shall see what tomorrow brings. Might be windy.  Seasick pills are packed.

It's 24 degrees right now, another record. I'm starting to worry about the garden, what can you do? Snow is notoriously hard to predict in Seattle, but doesn't sound like it will amount to much this afternoon. Less than an inch, they are saying.  Might as well think positive-- there's an intrepid Uber driver somewhere out there to get us down the Pier 69 early tomorrow morning.

The weekend forecast for Victoria, BC looks dry, although cold and windy. The computer is staying home, so I'll tell you all about it next week.

Are you kidding?

You can see John's tracks where he trudged off to work at 5:00 am.  It snowed a couple of inches last night in Seattle, and much more in outlying areas where most of the schools are closed.  Today will be sunny, but won't get above freezing. It should be in the 50's this time of year.

Another round of snow is expected tomorrow evening. That's a bit worrisome, as we plan to "Uber" down to the Victoria Clipper terminal early Saturday morning.  The boat should leave on time, unless Puget Sound and hell freezes over, but if we miss it, we're stuck with non-refundable opera tickets and a fancy hotel bill.  I've looked forward to this trip for months and months-- I guess it's only natural to feel nervous.  Bad weather never entered my mind, we've never seen anything like this in February.  The options for getting to Vancouver Island are pretty limited this time of year...

Downhill Racer

"Yea, you ski fast. But you're reckless."

Remember the 1969 movie starring Robert Redford?  Pretty thrilling stuff at the time.  We've been watching a couple hours of prime time Olympics each night, which has been kind of hit-or-miss on network TV. The extreme snowboarding and skiing events get the most coverage, followed by figure skating, with just snippets of everything else.  And endless commercials. Although last night they covered most of women's downhill race, no doubt because of Lindsay Vonn's star power.

Not to be catty, but when she took off her googles, I noticed she had gobs of eye makeup and those big false eyelashes. Really? But to her credit, she is the oldest competitor to win an Olympic alpine skiing medal.  Young Norwegian Ragnhild Mowinckel (love that name) took silver, representing the up and coming generation.

 It is 26 degrees in Seattle this morning.  Unbelievably cold for late February, with more snow in the forecast.  I hope it improves some by the weekend, as we have a big trip planned to Victoria, BC.

Anna Alma-Tadema

 Anna Alma-Tadema

1867-1943

The only thing harder than being a female Victorian artist? Being a female Victorian artist with a famous father.  Anna lived her life in the shadow of Sir Lawrence Tadema. She was described by a biographer as "a delicate, dainty artist who inherited so much of her father's power for reproducing detail." The implication being that it came all-so-easy to her.  I wonder?

When she was just a teenager, she did these amazing watercolors of the interior of the Alma-Tadema family house in London. Townsend House was extravagantly decorated by her father to resemble a Roman villa. The color and light are just beautiful and the details evocative of a rich and interesting life style.

Anna Tadema's work was exhibited in at the 1893 Colombian Exposition in Chicago and she won a medal at a Paris exhibition, but she did not have a successful career in later life. She and her sister never married and died poor. She supported women's right to vote, but not much is known about her life.

What a weekend

Blasting north wind, record cold, snow flurries with sun and blue sky mixed in.  This is late for such a hard freeze in the garden, but I suppose most things will be fine. I wish the roses didn't have so much tender new growth. At any rate, there's nothing I can do about it.  I brought some tight crocus buds in the house, and within minutes they popped open.

On the way back from the grocery store, I drove the long way home around Alki Point and stopped to take a few pictures.  The beach was deserted, it was too cold to be out of the car more than a few minutes.

Not a typical Sunday afternoon on Elliot Bay, with only tugboats, ferries, container ships out on the water...

The weekend finished last night with a cold, windy, beautiful golden sunset.  We stayed pretty close to home.  John was busy sharpening things in the basement and I got obsessed with finishing this castle drawing, copied from one of those adult coloring books.  Not too bad, and my sketchbook slowly improves, but perspective is still a real bugger.

The donut sisters

As Amanda says, sometimes a mom just gives in...

Happy Chinese New Year

Goodbye Rooster, Hello Dog. According to Chinese astrology, this year will feel very different from last year —and surely that's a good thing.  The Dog is associated with loyalty, honesty, intelligence, with a strong sense of right and wrong. The Rooster?  Sometimes outspoken and even boastful by nature, the Rooster's most annoying characteristic is thinking they are always right.

Speaking of animals, March is coming in like a lion. Today and tomorrow will be plain old super-soakers, followed by the coldest snap in a very long time.  By Sunday night, Seattle temperatures down in the 20's, with possibility of lowland snow. Monday is the day to look forward to, bitter cold but bright and sunny to show off 2-3 feet of new mountain snow.

See you later- 

Home again

Sunday Tea Time

Stephen Darbyshire

The writer of a blog I follow describes it this way: "A diary of the trivial, mixed with a few big events."  So true, and I'm back to the trivial after a nice long visit in Las Vegas.  Trivial meaning a backlog of laundry, treadmill at the gym, grocery shopping, and so on.

I made it home fine yesterday, although my flight was delayed. Apparently they found a "small dent" on the plane that had to get duct-taped, glued or something.  For better or worse, they don't give you the details.

As we sat patiently strapped in our seats at the gate, it was amusing listening to the rumors flying around the cabin.  A nervous lady across the aisle told the flight attendant she heard there was a "luggage size hole" in the plane.  The flight attendant just laughed and assured us she was sure not flying to Seattle if that was the case.  But it reminded me of that Story Carousel party game.

I spoke too soon about February spring weather in Seattle.  Not so fast.  It's going to be cold early next week, with nighttime temperatures in the 20's and a possibility of snow on Sunday. So much for those geraniums.  But it feels good to be home and time for some good, simple food.  I'm making bean soup today with a ham bone (not exactly Lenten) that was stashed in the freezer.

Happy Valentine's Day

Lincoln's birthday

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president, was born in the wilderness of Kentucky on February 12, 1809.  Mary Todd Lincoln once wrote to a friend that "Mr. Lincoln . . . is almost monomaniac on the subject of honesty."  He was known as "Honest Abe" even before he became a lawyer or a politician. The name stuck, and in 1859 when he ran for president the nickname became his campaign slogan. 

Our current president likes to bestow insulting nicknames on his adversaries. It's anyone's guess how history will eventually remember him. Thank goodness I won't be around if his birthday ever becomes a national holiday.

What's new in Las Vegas?  Well, a picture is worth a thousand words.  We splurged on fillet mignon steaks at Trader Joe's yesterday.

The days are filled with relaxing activities and time for recreational shopping.  Anything you can think of is within a few blocks of Marji's house, including a giant Hobby Lobby (dangerous).   

Unfortunately, the weather is too cool and breezy for outside sitting, but we hope to get out for a walk in the park this morning followed by lunch at In-n-Out Burger.  Good thing I packed stretchy pants.

Tule Springs

It wouldn't be a trip to Las Vegas without a walk at Tule Springs.  Despite the wind warning, it was a beautiful calm morning.  The variety and number of birds varies seasonally, but there's always the large resident community of geese, both domestic and Canadian. They get along great.

An amazing, miracle of a wetland habitat, smack in the desert. The old historical marker claims this is one of a few sites in the United States that suggests prehistoric human activity. A snarky Wiki page article says scientists have now debunked this claim. Who knows?  All sorts of animals have lived here for tens of thousands of years...

White bread isn't good for birds either, but they get a taste for it. This time we decided to try something "healthy," so I chopped up some cabbage and lettuce.  The reaction was like giving a 3-year old a big green salad for lunch. That's IT?

After biting me on the foot, these two sulked off with their noses in the air.