Good times and Sad Times

 The cabin on Whidbey Island is on property Tom's family has owned for about 50 years.  In 2005 we replaced the old rustic cabin with this modern one.

Through all those years, we have celebrated birthdays and weddings and achievements and annual family reunions here with the extended family that this special place belongs to.

Tom and I fell in love one summer day here in 1968.  We spent our honeymoon here.  We watched the moon landing here in 1969.  We brought our babies here to vacation.  We learned of Tom's grandmother's passing while we were here.  We sprinkled the ashes of Tom's cousin and later her son here after their untimely passing.  There are so many stories.

We added to those stories this past weekend.

 Tom and I arrived at the cabin about mid afternoon on Friday so we could get the heat on and start warming the place up.  It has been very cold this past week, with temperatures usually not reaching above freezing.  

Jill and the kids arrived about 6:30 to find warmth and dinner on the table.  We settled in and played games late into the evening.

Saturday morning there was a skin of ice on the lagoon, but the sky was incredibly clear.  

 We had breakfast together and then went first to Bayview to a Christmas market in the old grange hall and then on to Langley for the Christmas Parade.

 The bagpipe band is my favorite part of this short, funky parade.

 Then we shopped in the village, including a stop at the Chocolate Flower Farm

 We listened to the bagpipes as they played in the little park,

enjoyed the view,

and posed on the Bud and Bernice Reeder memorial benches.

Back at the cabin, we had lunch, played outside for a little while, and I went for a cold walk.

 The ice rimming the lagoon was thicker as this was the coldest day yet.

 Inside Irene had set up shop in the loft, her favorite place.  Isaac and Irene had brought their cats, as they always do.  Mr. whiskers had had enough and was checking out when I arrived, summoned by Miss Irene.

 She had set up a cat study center where she interviewed me about my cat and her cat.  I was the "Patient".

Isaac's cat, Sandy, was content to lounge on a soft pillow and ignore Miss Irene's official duties.

I went back out to capture a bit of the sunset over the bay about 4:30.

 We cooked and ate dinner and played games until the kids went to bed about 9:00.  Isaac and Jill had noticed that Sandy was sleeping a lot in the last few days, not eating much lately, and getting thin, but we had no idea until about then how desperate the situation was.  

It seemed almost suddenly that Jill and Tom and I were looking at a cat who was dying!  It was shocking!  Jill tried to get her to eat and drink, but she couldn't.  She went limp and her breathing was labored.  Jill and I got on our phones to see if we could find help at 9:30 on a Saturday night.  Jill found a vet 20 miles away in Coupville, Tom and Jill wrapped up the cat and took off about 10:00.  At 10:30 I got a call from Jill.  Sandy died just as they pulled up to the Veterinary Clinic.  It was horrible.  

The vet talked to them and suggested it was possibly feline leukemia.  We will never know for sure.

A year ago Sandy and Mr. Whiskers were the much treasured gifts under the Christmas tree.  They celebrated their first birthday a month ago.

We let the kids sleep through the night and then told them in the morning.  Isaac is heart broken, of course, and we are all very sad.  We will have a little burial service here in the garden after school today. Those are Isaac's wishes, to bury her next to her kitten, Tiny. Hopefully we can get the ground thawed out enough.

 We had a quiet Sunday.  Tom and Jill and I did a little shopping in Freeland while the kids stayed put.  We played outside  a little bit and I went for another cold walk.  The sun went down as we watched the Seahawks football game.  They lost.

We were already packed up, and as the time ran out on the Hawks, we loaded up and were off to catch the 5:00 ferry, and then on to get resettled back in our homes.

Oh Christmas Tree

Every year I say I will not buy more ornaments, and every year I do.  

I think the tree has reached its load limit.

It took me a long time to get all of the ornaments on today, and I had such fun unwrapping each one and remembering when they were purchased or given or made and why they are significant.  So many memories are represented here and so many events are celebrated.

We may not have gifts under this tree this year.  With Jill and the kids in their home finally, Christmas morning will be at their house, as it should be.  But I'll enjoy our tree each day of the holiday season, Josy will sleep under it, and the Winnie-the-Pooh characters my mother-in-law made for our kids when they were little will keep the space filled with love.

"Fun Shopping"

You may remember that I said I had most of my shopping done, much of it on line.
Packages have been arriving at my door.

It's time to start the fun shopping - going places for the entertainment value as much or more than the shopping opportunities.

We went into the city today.  We had planned to take the light rail, but the park and ride lot was full so we drove in.  The first stop was at the team shops at the stadium.  We were looking for kid sized Sounders soccer gear, but struck out.  Everything is Seahawks right now, so we bought some of that.  We're talking Superbowl here in Seattle so we'll need that gear too!

Then we drove to our favorite outdoor lot right below The Market which had plenty of space reserved for us.  We spent the next two and a half hours walking and looking and shopping and tasting.

 The weather is cold and clear, wonderful for being out and about in the city.

 The original Starbucks always draws a crowd of photographers, and it was jammed inside too.

 There are so many goodies to drool over in the shops along the street.

We elected to have lunch at my favorite Starbucks, right at the entrance to the Market.

This is the view from the coffee shop.

 I had yogurt, and then a cranberry bliss bar with my latte.

 Inside the market, no fish were flying at the moment.  You have to buy one to fly one.

 What we did buy, because we had our car, was this big, lush wreath.

We were home by 2:00, got the wreath hung by the front door, and then Tom was off to Jill's house to perform a few more minor miracles.  He reports via text message that the oven now works, the doorknob is replaced, and he's making another attempt and getting the hot tub working.  What a guy! 

And me?  I turned on Christmas music and got the first batch of cookies made!

"It's the most wonderful time of the year"

"Full of holiday greetings and great, happy meetings,

 and everyone telling you, " be of good cheer".

It's the most wonderful time of the year! 

I took a few liberties with the original song, but you get the idea,  and actually, for me, it is one of the best times of the year.

Around here, the Christmas season starts the day after Thanksgiving.  No, we did not go shopping on Thanksgiving Day.  We didn't even go out early on Black Friday.  Tom and I went to our usual breakfast gathering and then met up with Jill, who slept in.  She wanted to take advantage of the kids still being away to get some shopping done, and since none of us were fighting for a big screen TV, we took our time, running some errands and getting a few more things tended to in her house before setting out for IKEA.  We made some purchases there and stopped by REI to make a few more.  Done with that we returned home to coordinate Christmas wish lists and then take the cat to the vet.

Josy Fuzzbutt came in from outside limping badly late Tuesday evening, and obviously in pain.  She spent much of the next three days hiding under beds. 

 We finally decided we'd better find out what was wrong.

Josy has a sports injury.  She blew out her knee; tore her cruciate ligament.  Surgery is not usually done on cats for this, and she'll be gimpy until  the other supportive tissues can strengthen to compensate.  She's slowly returning to normal but will be spending most of her time inside for a while.

Jill stayed and enjoyed turkey leftovers with us that evening.

Saturday Tom and I traveled to Oregon to attend a 70th Wedding Anniversary party for my mother's cousin.  There we spent the afternoon visiting with some of my siblings and cousins from several generations.

 I'm sure the "bride", Florence, could still wear her wedding dress from 1943.

Later, we checked into our hotel, the Best Western, Woodburn, OR, where we had a free room from using our BW reward points.  I went for a long walk as it got dark, and then we headed to dinner and shopping at the nearby outlet mall.

By now the crowds had diminished and we bought a few things, some on our list, and some impulse purchases.  We were back in our room by 8:30 and settled in for the night.

We got a fairly early start Sunday morning because the weather forecast was for heavy rain.  We lucked out with light traffic most of the way, and only one short period of heavy rain.  We were home in Seattle by 12:30.  I guess things got a lot worse out on I-5 after that.

It wasn't raining at home, and it wasn't icy yet (that's coming) so Tom got the lights up on the house.  He also got all of the boxes and tubs of Christmas decorations down out of the attic and stacked in the garage.

Inside, I cleared off all of the shelves in the family room, stored the pottery collection and put out the Santa collection.

I also began shopping on line.

Today I did some more shopping on line, and I'm just about finished with the necessary gift shopping.  Now I can just "shop" for fun, and not in malls or big box stores.

I also made fruit cake and went for a long walk in the cold sunny air.

The fruit cake will be wrapped in brandy soaked cheese cloth and then plastic bags to age for a while.  I need to go do that soon.

Tom went over to Jill's house to check out several more issues.  Tomorrow afternoon he will go back over while an appliance repairman works on the oven and a plumber works under the sink. This is an ongoing process.

The Seahawks were on Monday Night football tonight.  I found fresh Dungeness crab on sale at Safeway this morning, the first of the season.  So this evening Tom and I had our first crab feed while watching the Seahawks overpower the Saints 34 to 7.  

Tomorrow will be another busy day - more decorating, a haircut for me, and hopefully a walk.  

'Tis the season to be busy.  And to be of good cheer.