Thursday, May 26, 2016

Does a bear need paper in the woods?

We're having a great time with Chrissy, Nicky and Matthew - you'll see pictures soon.  
Yesterday we went to a paper museum at Georgia Tech, which was fascinating, seeing the history of how somebody decided to chop up a bunch of rags or plants or wood, soak it in water,
 smush it all onto a screen, wait for it to dry, then write on it.   

 We stopped for a quick and disappointing lunch at the world famous Varsity where they yell out "What'll ya have?"
 and are notorious for feeding college kids quickly. 

Al had a burger and fries that might have been left from Monday.  
Mine turned out to be a BLT with fry. 

Monday, May 23, 2016

Georgia on My Mind

 We enjoyed our time in Lake Charles and a peaceful drive through Alabama. Along the way we saw 
swamps,

 lots of wooded and well maintained roads, trucks, trucks, trucks,

the Mississippi,

and knew we had arrived in Atlanta when we hit traffic.  Which is challenging enough with a car, but the frustration changes quite a bit when a huge RV is being dragged along.  We're settled in and ready to watch the lickety-split actions of teen-age boys dealing with finals and graduation.  I'm trying to remember way back to fifty years ago but things are a bit fuzzy.  Okay, a lot fuzzy.  

Monday, May 16, 2016

Nothin' But Road

It kind of feels like we have just been sitting on wheels forever.  Friday and Saturday were 12 and 13 hour driving days, but Sunday was broken up with a pleasant stop in Houston for lunch with Pat, Emily, Oliver, Lachlan and Gigi.  We arrived in Lake Charles for dinner with Teri and Willie, who just happen to be visiting Julie and Robert now, too.  Good thing we brought our own house.  In three days we hauled a total of 1,705 miles.  A few days of sitting still will be nice.  

 Al was going to walk a bit, but . . . .

 Most of the drive looked like this.

Or this.

Friday, May 13, 2016

Capital entertainment.




 Wednesday we visited the Hill Air Force Base Museum, which is very interesting 
with all that military airplane stuff.


Remember when computers didn't fit in our pockets? 



Thursday was all about downtown Salt Lake City, starting with the noon organ recital at the Mormon Tabernacle.  How 'bout them pipes?  11,623 of them, played on a five-manual console (that means five keyboards, a jillion stops and adjustment thingies, and a full set of foot pedals).  Amazing!


Then we toured the Capitol, another work of art that make these United States all worth visiting.


After a museum visit we went back to the Tabernacle for the choir rehearsal, which is open to the ordinary public, the likes of you and me.   Four hundred people sure can make a lot of music, especially when accompanied by a full orchestra.  Why didn't we all get that talent?
Well?  Why?

Friday was all about driving.  We left SLC (airline talk - look it up) at 6:40 am and arrived in ABQ at 6:40 pm.  It was a long day but everything went just fine, thank you.  

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Look what he did!

We had quite a day of accomplishments -
  Starting with The Great Salt Lake, which is the second saltiest (15 - 25%) body of water on Earth (Dead Sea, in case you forgot 4th grade education), and is 72 miles long and as wide as 30 miles but only 10-28 feet deep.  There are a lot geographical and historical statistics about how it got this way but you'll have to look them up for yourself.

 We went to a little sports bar where he got a chubby.  Really.  Shall I explain?  The Chubby Spicy Guac Burger is served between two grilled cheese sandwiches.  
 See?   Yes, a mouth does open that wide.  And he ate the whole thing.  The whole thing.  

While on the Big Alventure we were lucky enough to see "Peter and the Starcatcher" on Broadway, but those two beers with lunch caused major sleeping through the entire first act of the matinee.  Deep heavy sleep.  But he enjoyed the second act.  A year later we happened to be in San Francisco when it was playing, so determined as I am, we went.  Guess what?  A perfect repeat performance.  By the actors and by Al.   Kind of costly napping. Well, during planning of this trip I was thrilled to discover that it's at a local theater, so let's try it again.  The afternoon nap and large Coke with that ginormous burger worked!  Both eyes were wide open and we both loved everything about the production.  See it if you can.  


Which route should we take next? 
























Monday, May 9, 2016

Driving Miss Crazy

Saturday friends from California were visiting and we wandered up to Hurricane Ridge for the gorgeous view of the Olympic Mountains. 



Sunday morning we hopped into Homer and began a Road Trip.  As you can see, sometimes the biggest challenge is finding just the right parking space near the chosen restaurant.  



Now it's Monday late afternoon and this is what we've done in the 34 hours since we left our driveway: 997.2 miles, several pee-and-stretch stops, 2 lunches, one dinner, numerous travel snacks, 16 hours and 14 minutes of driving, one little nap (You get three guesses, but two should be enough), one very happy stop at the Pendleton Woolen Mills fabric shop, one overnight stop in Baker City, Oregon, this many stitches on a baby blanket,
                                             

 lots of "are we there yet?" and one arrival in Salt Lake City, where we'll stay for a few days.  All this  in spite of Mr. Keep-To-The-Schedule's disappointment that we missed the target 7:00 am departure by 22 minutes on Sunday and 34 minutes on Monday.  Check back once in a while for updates.

Saturday, May 7, 2016

Choked

Al was disappointed that you didn't see his artichoke plant.  Yes, singular. 
 This isn't really artichoke country, but we'll see what happens.  
Are you on the edge of your chair?

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Darn

It has been brought to my attention that no attention has been paid to this blog all winter.  Shucks.  Can hibernation be to blame?  Well, now it's spring and things are popping up all over, including me.

 Al's swiss chard.  With the famous (infamous?) bucket garden lurking behind it.

 Will this corn be knee-high by the Fourth of July?  Depends who the knee belongs to. 

 The Calla lilies are in bloom again.

 A few empty spots in the blue star creepers, but there is hope.

Pee-on-these.



 Life in Sequim is wonderful!  

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Autumn

Look at what has been going on among all the plays, concerts, (we were thrilled by Rhapsody in Blue twice in one day - and a flugelhorn concert) lunches, dinners,  leaves turning and falling, rain for days (finally),  snow in the mountains, gale warnings on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and overall good life.

 These are called hardy kiwi.  Look like grapes but taste like kiwi and make super freezer jam. 
 That's because I'm too lazy to make Miss Wikerink's home ec jam.

 Our Danish neighbor is kind and generous enough to share his crabbing skills.
  These guys were in the water about two hours earlier.  What more could you ask for?
 
 Al's stream is making slow progress.  He spends about an hour a day playing with his rocks, moving them from the big pile that was noisily dumped in the yard to the growing stream. 

 While he's getting all that fresh air and exercise, burning fat and building muscles, I choose to sit around with more ladylike (hard to imagine, right?) endeavors, getting plumper and more languid.  These are for the grandsons to commemorate their annual trip to England.  Oh, the poor boys. 

 All of that extensive dirt toiling produced some very yummy veggies. 
  If only the tomato crop had been as successful.  Maybe next year. 

We made a quick trip to San Francisco to pick up the table saw so that he can get to the serious stuff on the honey-do list.  We were the envy of all the city sophisticates as we headed toward the highway.  Granny was on the roof when we left town, but she must have blown off somewhere around Redding. 

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Pondering

Yep.  Al has been working on his stream and pond. 
 It's important to have river rock.  Apparently.

 The stream bed was dug, the pipes installed and covered, then it all got lined with old carpet,

 Then covered with pond liner,

 And more pond liner.  I hope the power cord to the RV got moved before he sealed that. 
 Maybe I should go look.


 I learned how to do this double quilt binding so that it looks like piping but isn't.  It's my first time, so let's hope that practice will improve my technique.  Stand back.  It looks much better from afar.

The Santa is stitched, but what will it become?  I'll think about it for a couple of years before
tackling that part of the project. 

That's all.  Just going on about normal life, enjoying the change to autumn and waiting to see 
what will pop up next.  Isn't it fun?