Gloom

We took off from Las Vegas yesterday on a diamond bright afternoon, and descended into such a wet gloom it felt like the plane overshot SeaTac and landed in Anchorage.

The C concourse was jammed with people so I had to elbow my way to baggage claim.  Everyone obviously trying to get out of Dodge on a Thursday evening, and who can blame them?  But airports are definitely not a place for the germ-a-phob right now.

Anyway, home sweet home, well and safe. Surprise! Another wet and windy weekend on tap. I have drawing class tomorrow, then on Sunday we'll kick back and watch the Superbowl with the rest of the country.

This pretty "atmospheric river" is as warm as it looks. A high of almost 60 today in Seattle, then it cools down drastically, with a chance of lowland snow early next week.  See you Monday. 

The livin' is good

Yes, that's a lobster tail dinner.  We all had the 3-course special Tuesday at wonderful new fish restaurant.

Everything was delicious. Yesterday, out for brunch, and then my favorite Pollo Loco chicken takeout for dinner.  Today, the mandatory stop at In-N-Out burger on the way to the airport. 

Other than some wind yesterday morning, the weather has been beautiful and we've walked the neighborhood every day.  No surprise, Dad is somewhat of a celebrity North Las Vegas.

Ditto this guy. Well, goodbye blue sky-- back to the clouds and rain today. We had a great visit and I was totally spoiled with good food and nice weather. 

Postcards from the desert

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area

Enjoying the wonderful outdoor visitor center

Marji and friend

No, it just looks real.

The scenic loop drive is only 20 miles from The Las Vegas Strip, but feels more like 200.

"Seven Magic Mountains"  a fascinating desert art installation near Jean, Nevada. 

Fine, indeed

Marji and Dad

On The Border Mexican Grill

North Las Vegas

My flight was delayed leaving Seattle, but otherwise no complaints. But I was sure happy to get off that jammed plane. All the smarter Asians were wearing masks, gulp. I haven't had so much as a cold this year.  Hope my luck holds.

It was a bright, sunny afternoon in Las Vegas with just a few wispy clouds high in the sky.  Still, the locals apologized for the "partially cloudy" day.  Hum. Coming from Seattle, that was pretty cute. The temperature is in the mid-60's this week, warmer than usual for January.

We had a great Mexican dinner last night-- fish tacos for me, burrito for Dad and tortilla soup for Marji. They are totally spoiled with the dining out options, and there must be hundreds of restaurants and good fast food places within a couple miles of Marji's home.  I think I'd give up cooking and just buy more stretchy pants.

This morning we're driving to Red Rock Canyon.  I'm looking forward to some sunshine and beautiful desert scenery. 

January weather

We shouldn't complain about our temperate western Washington climate, not when tulips start pushing up through the mulch in late January. Little signs of spring are everywhere in the garden, it's just been too rainy to go outside and look. But the birds know, chattering all day.  I planted another bag of Costco tulips last August.  Red I think?  Can't remember, it seems like a lifetime ago. Surprise me.

The potted jasmine is none the worse for wear.  In fact, it looks beautiful.  Of course we could still get a freeze, remember last February in Seattle?  But for now, the same old forecast stretches far into the future:  Highs in the mid-40's and a chance of rain every day. Above freezing at night.  Boring, but we'll take it.

Yesterday was a nice little break, it rained morning and afternoon, but midday the sun came out and what a cheerful sight. And it's beginning to look like a real sun again.

The jade plants were parched dry, so I carried them outside on a drenching day last week and let Mother Nature do the watering. They were twice as heavy when I lugged them back in.  That drink should hold them over until April when they go back on the porch. Yes, they are sort of ugly, not to mention a lot of trouble, but after all these years I'm attached.

Speaking of sun, I'm off to find some.  I have an 11 am flight to Las Vegas, and looking forward to spending 3 days with my dad and sister.  I'll check in from the desert later. Ciao.

Book groups, etc.

The Barnes and Noble store in downtown Seattle is closing. Last year, the store at Westwood Village closed, not far from here. What a shame.

We blame the Internet for this retail collapse, and more specifically, Amazon, but there are multiple factors, such as rising rents and new distractions, especially for young people.  My generation tends to use the library, but there's still nothing like the experience of browsing around a big bookstore.

I try to support the Pegasus Used Book Store at The Junction. They give credit on the books I bring in, which I use to get 50% off new used books.  I buy kids books there, so Nova and Maya always have something new to read when they visit.

Pegasus has a bargain $4 book cart on the sidewalk-- that's $2 if you have store credit. Good stuff too, like past best-sellers you somehow missed. I've discovered really great authors by accident. You don't mind taking a chance on a $2 book.

Anyway, I was standing out there browsing and struck up a conversation with a lady.  We talked about our favorite authors, and she asked me if I was in a book group. Actually I was, many years ago. We met in the evening after work, when it was still possible to get around Seattle in rush hour.

She said her book group met once a month, in West Seattle, in the afternoon, as they were all retired. My ears perked up at that! So I boldly asked if they ever accepted new members?  We exchanged information-- she would get back to me after she checked with the members.

Sure enough, I got a nice email yesterday inviting me to their February meeting.  The book is Barbara Kingsolver's novel, "Unsheltered." I have not read it, and just ordered a $4 used copy from the Thrift Books online. Lazy me.

OK, you could wring us out like a sponge up here after days of soaking rain. Nothing much going on this weekend, except Saturday I'm starting a drawing class again at the community college. Monday morning, off to Las Vegas for a nice hit of sunshine and visit with Marji and Dad.

Snakes and things

Researchers are trying to pinpoint the animal origin of this latest flu outbreak. I read this morning that it appears to have started in bats and then moved to snakes.  Snakes eat bats, and snakes are a delicacy in parts of Asia.

I suppose it's all relative. A live lobster in a restaurant tank isn't exactly a pretty sight, but for most people it doesn't evoke the same feelings. They say that humans evolved with an innate fear of snakes as a survival mechanism, which could explain why snakes are the most common phobia. No cute snake picture this morning-- this flu is scary enough.


To a Snake
by Jeffery Harrison

I knew you were not poisonous
when I saw you in the side garden;
even your name—milk snake—
sounds harmless, and yet your pattern
of copper splotches outlined in black
frightened me, and the way you were
curled in loops; and it offended me
that you were so close to the house
and clearly living underneath it
if not inside, in the cellar, where I
have found your torn shed skins.

You must have been frightened too
when I caught you in the webbing
of the lacrosse stick and flung you
into the woods, where you landed
dangling from a vine-covered branch,
shamelessly twisted. Now I
am the one who is ashamed, unable
to untangle my feelings,
braided into my DNA or buried
deep in the part of my brain
that is most like yours.

"You have a beautiful singing voice"

Not by any stretch of the imagination. But like everything in life, I guess it's all relative to the circumstances. We played some old standards for the senior lunch crowd at the Renton Activity Center yesterday, an appreciative and undemanding audience.

Four ukuleles, a piano, a box drum and one excellent banjo/guitar player from Seattle Banjo and Friends. And one reluctant lead singer.  Having a microphone pushed in front of my face was certainly a new experience. Don't worry, it's not going to my head! I greatly prefer backup.  But the few Ukes who actually can sing well weren't there, so that explains that.

But I was proud of keeping up with most of the songs, even ones I've never played before like "Way Back Home in Indiana." (Which unfortunately now reminds me of the VP.)

The best part was Christopher, the banjo player who leads the group, tells corny jokes, and actually counts off the songs. What a difference that simple thing makes. I felt almost like a professional.

If you aren't familiar with the area, the Renton Activity Center is about 15 miles from here, at the south end of Lake Washington. It's a very nice facility, much bigger than our West Seattle Senior Center.  The Cedar River runs through the city of Renton and right past the Center. In the summer, it most be lovely to step outside and sit by the water.

The only other news here is boring, drenching rain-- through at least Monday.  Compared to last week it is quite warm, almost 50. We are soggy beyond belief.

The Cedar River, Renton

That bright thing in the sky?

The last time Seattle had a completely sunny day was on November 30th. December was the darkest month on record, according to the University of Washington meteorological department.  And now, mid January, it has rained 20 out of the past 21 days.  With rain in the daily forecast right into February.

Let that sink in for a few seconds.

And are we depressed up here in the north? Naw!  Because slow but steady, the light is returning.  The midday sun, somewhere up there behind those clouds, is a bit higher in the sky. We're now over the hump and four weeks past the winter solstice.

Plus I'll be in sunny Las Vegas this time next week, visiting Marji and Dad. So there! 

I got tired of looking at the Christmas poinsettia, even though it was technically still "blooming." They must be genetically engineered to last forever.  Out with the old, in with the new. Nothing says spring like a vase of fresh pink tulips.  

The Ukes didn't meet yesterday (holiday) but today a few members of the band are meeting up at the Renton Senior Activity Center to join a lunchtime banjo jam. Some indoor fun on a super-soaker day. 

Winter fun

Amanda and the girls did the "Rendezvous Hut" ski experience this weekend with a group of friends.

Freight service is included in the price of the rustic hut, meaning your extra gear, food and water is delivered by snowmobile and waiting at the doorstep when you ski in. 

There are miles of safe groomed trails to explore...

The little huts are primitive, but cozy and warm after a day of skiing. Amanda does this trip every year with her friends, and now the girls are old enough to go.  It sounds like a wonderful time. Amanda said they didn't want to come home yesterday.

It's nice to see places where winter is actually joyfully embraced.  As you've noticed, snow simply terrifies Seattle. Best of all, these incredible Methow Valley winter experiences are practically in their backyard.  Many good family memories being made.

Bird dreams

The Cornell Institute of Ornithology sends me "Living Bird," their excellent quarterly magazine.  Especially this time of year, it has pages of advertisements for premier birding sites and special tours, designed just picking off those rare "lifer" birds.  

On these dull winter days, a nice catalog for daydreaming bird trips to exotic and not-so-exotic places, like Big Bend, Texas (never been there) and southern Arizona (would love to go back.) 

Who needs a lazy Carnival Cruise? How about some new dreams, with John's retirement on the horizon? Like searching out the "Seven Sublime Birds from around the World" with a group of bird fanatics. 

But just look at these guys. Talk about eye candy for bird lovers! 

Life is not complete, until you've seen the South American Horned Screamer.  Ha! Anyway, I'm just bird dreaming, on such a winter's day.  

Back to reality. Despite all the anticipation and hysteria (or maybe because of it) Seattle got cheated on snow this round. The warm, wet weather is back-- over 50 degrees by Sunday. We go to the symphony again after a long break in our afternoon series.  Coffee with Betsy and Paul at the art museum cafe first, our usual routine.  I'm looking forward to it.

Have a good weekend.

National Nothing Day

In 1972, columnist Harold Coffin proposed National Nothing Day. January 16th has been observed in all its nothingness ever since, the one day when there's nothing but nothing to celebrate, observe or honor.


The snow is gone with the wind, at least around here. In terms of snow, it was a spectacularly unfair storm.  The poor town of Snohomish, north of Seattle, has been cut off and without power all week, still buried under feet of snow.  The Olympic Peninsula got hit especially hard. Stevens Pass is still closed because of fallen trees across the highway. Unbelievable amounts of snow fell in the high mountains. 

Highway 2

Over in eastern Washington, the weather is brutal, even by their winter standards-- blizzards and single digit temps. Unlike Seattle, they don't close the schools with the first snowflake, so Amanda will probably have to drive to her district nurse job in Pateros today, 40 miles down the snowy, dark highway.  Mothers never stop worrying. It goes with the territory.

Well, today is somewhat of a nothing day for me. No more excuses about driving down a tiny hill, so back to the treadmill this morning.  But the first order of business? Pull a sopping fleece blanket off a very unhappy jasmine.

Sunshine on snow

What could be prettier? It doesn't happen often here, so I took a few pictures of the same old things. Usually we just make a soggy, grey transition over to rain, which is what should happen later today.  Seattle lucked out on this storm with just an inch of snow-- some of the outlying areas got over a foot.

Fortunately, the dire cold forecast never materialized. It's already above freezing this morning. Of course, winter isn't over yet, but I'm glad I covered the jasmine. Time will tell.

Oh yes.  In case you aren't quite awake yet, this should do the trick:

A mind of winter

The snow pretty much melted off yesterday, then we got another dusting last night. It's much colder today, only 27 degrees, so the sidewalks and roads are icy.  Another morning at home unless I want to hoof it. A "wintry mix" tomorrow (oh, goody) then transition back to rain by Thursday or Friday.

It's a slow news morning. Here's a winter poem:

The Snow Man
by Wallace Stevens

One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;

And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

All bundled up

I wrapped the jasmine pot like a mummy yesterday with an old fleece blanket.  It snowed about an inch here last night, but some areas outside Seattle got up to 9 inches so many schools are closed.

A certain thoughtful person gave me a new snow shovel for Christmas so that's my exercise for the day. The gym is at the bottom of a steep hill, and definitely off-limits when the roads are icy.

It's going to be cold the next couple of days-- in the 30's during the day, and high 20's at night, but not as bad as the earlier dire predictions. Everything should be fine and plain old cold rain comes back by Thursday. 

A Sharp-shinned hawk paid a call to the bird feeder this weekend. Not a great picture, but you can see him there on the left. He sat for a while and checked out the smorgasbord from the chopped off plum tree. Of course, the little birds saw him and headed for the hills.  We usually see small hawks in the fall, but the Urban Raptor Conservatory webpage said they are fairly common winter residents in Seattle.

The "S" word

Our local weather guru Cliff Mass says the weather is setting up for a "major" snow event next week.  Today will be blustery and soaking wet, about as miserable as it gets in Seattle, but then high pressure builds and arctic air pours into the region over the weekend.  If that meets up with a juicy weather system coming off the Pacific, it's the perfect recipe for snow in Seattle.  Of course, still too early to press the panic button. 

A dump of wet snow is actually good for the plants, but a hard, dry freeze could finish off my enormous jasmine, planted in a half whiskey barrel. It's way too big to bring inside, but I can put this smaller one in the laundry room and start over next year.

No particular plans for us this weekend, other than the Seahawks vs Green Bay game Sunday.  And the Ukes are playing at a birthday party on Saturday afternoon.

I spent most of the past week navigating the strange new world of Medicare and Social Security.  Our lives have gone along pretty much the same way for years, so in some ways, this still doesn't seem quite real. Like all big changes, it's incredibly energizing and a bit scary at the same time. But all good. My mind is already racing ahead to things we can do with our new freedom. 

“The only way to make sense
out of change is to plunge into it,
move with it,
and join the dance.”
― Alan Wilson Watts

Turkey pot pie

 Specialty of the house

Turkey pot pie is delicious. I don't make it often because you need the perfect ingredients, including leftover turkey and good gravy.  It also takes all afternoon, but not a bad job when you're stuck inside anyway on a wet Sunday, with football droning in the background.

First the vegetables. Chop onion, celery, potato and carrots and saute lightly.  Then cover with broth and simmer until almost tender.  

Add the gold: a cup of beautiful, homemade turkey gravy, hoarded in the freezer since Thanksgiving.

Add the cooked, chopped turkey and a handful of frozen peas. Adjust the seasoning. At this point, you have darn good turkey stew.

But now time to tackle the top and bottom crusts.

Don't cheat and make a single crust pie because honestly, there's nothing better than butter pastry soaked with luscious turkey gravy.

Now, this baby needs to bake almost 2 hours in a 350 oven, while the wonderful smell makes everyone drool.

You'll be tempted to dive right in, but let it rest an hour while the gravy sets up and it cools down to the perfect temperature for eating.  Or I should say, gobbling a meal fit for a happy king.