Windy nights

The wind was sure galloping about last night, beating rain against the side of the house. It's one thing to get out of bed at 4:20 am when the robin is chirping in June, but I felt for John this morning when he left the dark house and crossed the sloppy bridge down to Boeing Field.  So another dismal morning in Seattle, with more rain and wind expected followed by a chance of snow later in the week as a cold font moves in. Hopefully a pork chop dinner will cheer him up tonight. The simple joy of food (and wine) keeps us going this time of year!

Oh boy. But despite the snow rumors and a few mornings below freezing, this is nothing like last January when we had an epic ice storm. In fact the outside geranium pots haven't frozen yet. This might be one of those rare years when they make it through to spring.

With this bad weather I've only made to the barn twice this month, so I'm missing the horses and gossiping with my riding buddy-- she's been down with the flu since Christmas.  Well, sometimes life just looks like this:

Please keep Candi, Roger and Casey in your thoughts for a safe and quick trip back to Missoula. 

Darkness and light

Measured in billions...

December in Seattle was much darker and wetter than normal. Weather scientist Cliff Mass said that in terms of solar radiation hitting us (or rather, the lack of) it was the darkest month in a century.  Doesn't it seem like these "in living memory" weather events are hitting fast and furious?

It was a dark December, in more ways than one. The days were brightened with family and holiday busyness, but underneath that, for our friend Roger, the profound sadness that he and Candi were facing the enemy leukemia for probably the last time.  After difficult weeks in Salt Lake City, this morning they leave the oncology hospital and make the long trip home to Missoula and hospice care.  God speed, and peace on your journey. 

When you reach 60, you realize how fast the decades passed.  Where you even paying attention?  Some people fill their short years to the brim with a zest for living, creativity, spontaneity, endearing goofiness, optimism and grace. And we are so lucky to know them.

Portlandia weekend 

April 2012

City birds

I put the black oil sunflower feeder up again around Christmas, even though it's a hassle keeping it filled and trying to clean the mess the hulls make on the ground. This patch of grass will be dead soon if I don't get busy or move the feeder.  The birds came back immediately, and will drain a good sized tube feeder in just a couple of days, with a little help from their fat friends, who hang on the "squirrel proof" feeder eating away, no problem.

The crows and starlings could care less about seeds; they prefer protein.  I caused a neighborhood feeding frenzy the other day with some very "fragrant" feta cheese left over from Christmas. When there's nothing that good around, I see them foraging around underneath, probably picking up insects hatching in the rich mess of decomposing hulls.

We have hundreds of Oregon juncos in the yard this year, also ground feeders.  It's rare to see a roaming cat in West Seattle, so they have it good these days.

There are plenty of noisy black-capped chickadees...

Thousands of house finches...

The other day, an unusual rufous-sided towhee...

 And my favorite Seattle bird, a big Northern Flicker hanging upside down hogging the feeder...

Epiphany

'A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.'

from, Journey of the Magi, T.S. Eliot 

The early Christians fixed the date of Epiphany on January 6.  The celebration marks the day when the three Magi visited Jesus with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The season of Epiphany begins now and ends the day before Ash Wednesday.  Christmas ham leftovers are still in the freezer, and Lent is just around the corner.

But most of Seattle is occupied with more secular things today, namely the wild card play-off game between the Seahawks and Redskins.  I can see from my little view west that the next round of chilly rain is headed in, so a good afternoon to spend reclining on the dual Barcalounger.

John said he would take me down to the fish market grill for lunch, our outing of the day. Do I have enough New Year's willpower left to resist the fried oyster po'boy?

Twelfth Night

Today is the beginning of the Epiphany, and the traditional end of the Christmas holiday season. Take down your Christmas decorations, or risk bad luck for the coming year. Bake a King's Cake. In the old days, Twelfth Night was wild holiday and a much bigger celebration than Christmas day, when people simply went to church.  The cake was an important part of the party because a dried pea or bean was baked inside, and whoever found it was crowned king or queen for the day. 

From Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac:

George and Martha Washington didn't usually do much for Christmas except attend church, but they often hosted elaborate Twelfth Night celebrations. It was also their anniversary; they'd been married on January 5, 1759. Martha Washington left behind her recipe for an enormous Twelfth Night cake among her papers at Mount Vernon. The recipe called for 40 eggs, four pounds of sugar, and five pounds of dried fruit. It wasn't until the mid-1800s that Christmas became the primary holiday of the season in America, and at that point, Twelfth Night celebrations all but disappeared.

 Twelfth Night- The King Drinks

 David Teniers

Nova's first haircut

Nice job, mom!