The Middle of January

January is a month when I don't say "already", as in it's the middle of January already. January is the month that can go as fast as it wants to, usually.

However today and yesterday were so beautiful, with temps in the low 60's and blue sky, that these were days we would have liked to have linger. 

Sunday had us urban trekking. But Monday is house keeping and laundry day, and that's how we spent our morning. It was also ML King day, a day off for many, but when you are retired, every day is a day off. 

I didn't participate in any ML King commemorations, but I did read three very good editorials in the Seattle Times that spoke of the need to continue to work to achieve true equality, and given the racist nature of our president, that does seem evident. We still have far to go. 

After the work was done, I went outside to pick a new winter bouquet for the bathroom. 

 All shrubs from the yard,  there is gold splashed acuba, nandina, euonymus, shiny lunaria, fragrant sarcococca, and pink tipped sprigs of abelia, with some golden blooms of winter jasmine. 

After my leisurely lunch hour, I went for a walk in the neighborhood and the little nearby park. I had to shed my fleece vest once I worked up some body heat. I saw someone mowing their lawn, a family out washing their car, kids playing, and people walking and dogs playing in the park.

 As I was getting ready to return home I saw the clouds moving in. Tomorrow we will be back to the 40s and on and off rain. But it certainly could be worse!

 Tom didn't walk with me today because he was busy in the garden. While I was walking he got the raspberry bed spaded. He has been shopping on line to decide what type of raspberry plants to buy to replace the old plants we took out two years ago. We hope to defeat the Asian fruit flies this time around. 

He said it felt great to get back out to working in the yard. 

Busy Week, Slow Down Sunday

I have continued on my mission to Reduce. I am now well down on my list, having this week crossed off cleaning out kitchen cupboards, the pantry, the china closet, coat closet, and the guest room closet. And yes, Kay, I did clean out my refrigerator. 

As for reducing me, at least I didn't gain, and worked off that fancy french toast from last Sunday. We have walked every day and I have been faithfully doing my stretching exercises daily, trying to keep arthritis at bay. 

We also went to two movies this week, The Post, and The Darkest Hour. I can highly recommend both of these movies. They are both historical, both skillfully presented, and both very well acted. I found them both to be inspirational. 

Today, Sunday, we decided to take the day off from any work projects, take our walking to a new location, and do some urban trekking. We drove into the city to the Fremont area, parked along the ship canal about a mile from the Sunday Market, and walked along the canal before checking out the market. 

 There were some interesting ducks in the canal. 

 This female Common Merganser was enjoying her bath time. 

 There were Greater Scaups.

 Dinosaurs - moved from their original location at Seattle Center, from the World Fair days. 

 Lots of bikes everywhere. You pick them up, put in your code or phone app, and ride wherever you want to go, then leave them for someone else. 

 Birds, bikes, bridges, and boats - lots going on along the canal. 

 Common Merganser males. 

 Under the Aurora Bridge.

 JP Patches and Gertrude are still doing their thing. Long gone but never forgotten from the childhood of many Seattlites. 

 The Fremont Sunday Flea Market is always funky. 

 We browsed and talked to a few vendors. We saw a new kind of food vendor, Raclette, where half wheels of cheese were being melted over burners and then scraped to top baked potatoes or salad ingredients with, warm, melty goodness. 

 And then we walked on, back along the canal to where we had parked our car. 

From here we drove west to Ballard, where the Sunday Farmers Market was in progress. But first we parked ourselves outside at the Starbucks across the street for a little coffee and chocolate. Here's our view from our sidewalk table. In case you didn't notice, it was a beautiful day, and folks were out en masse. 

 Tom went full bore caloric with a double chocolate brownie. I was content with one of the chocolate covered grahams and will save the other for another day. Such sacrifice. 

Of course I made up for the calorie economizing here. No one can resist these freshly made mini donuts, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and so hot you have to wait for them to cool down a bit. 

We sampled cheese and smoked salmon and toffee and then bought freshly made ham and brie crepes for lunch. 

Then we found a bench and just sat in the sun for a while, listening to street music and people watching before we walked back to the car.

Since returning home we have accomplished very little. I guess now I'd better send this post on its way and figure out what we're having for supper. 

Celebrating Isaac's 15th Birthday

On Monday evening Tom and I and Jan joined Jill and Irene to celebrate the birthday boy. It is hard to conceive of our grandson being 15! Tom picked him up from his first Driver's Ed class before dinner.

Jill prepared a delicious meal for us, and then it was time for gifts.

 A water proof speaker from his dad came with its own pool float. 

 Grandparents presented cash and checks!

Jan gave him a fun tee shirt. "Snapping a Shellfie"

His mom gave him shoes. 

and a Porg shirt. 

 Mr. Whiskers just observed, but he did sniff his photo when I couldn't resist taking one. 

 And yes, there was a theme - sort of. Porgs. Only Star Wars fans will know about these cute little creatures from the latest movie. The story is that the island where Luke Skywalker had exiled himself, actually in Ireland, was inhabited by puffins. Rather than try to erase them all from the filming, they turned them into Porgs. 

Jill and Irene created the Porg cake. 

 They lit him up,

 we sang Happy Birthday, 

and then we ate him - the Porg, that is. It was quite tasty. 

And now Isaac is 15!

Working and Playing

Saturday, in my efforts to REDUCE, I cleaned out closets. The donation pile is growing. 

 I finally bit the bullet and got rid of the last of my professional clothes and my dress up clothes. They were all of a size I hope not to be ever again. I have one good pants suit I bought after I lost weight, and some sort of dressy casual clothes. That will have to do. I spend most of my time in jeans and tee shirts anyway, short sleeved for summer, and long sleeved for winter, with fleece layers over the top. 

We got in a walk on Saturday in a gap in the rain, and then I made a big pot of beef stew. This is a photo after we had our first meal of it. We'll eat on it for several days, along with a green salad. 

 On Sunday, after a week of working in the house, I decided we needed to play. Since it was spitting rain all day, we decided to take the light rail into the city to SODO (south of downtown) to a large antique mall. We spent several hours looking at lots of other people's treasures. I did buy one thing, a McCoy pot like one I had before that got broken. 

By then my legs and feet were very tired from all of the "slow walking". We were right across the street from the Starbucks headquarters, but their coffee shop was closed on Sunday, so we walked several blocks up 1st Ave to the Macrina Bakery for a late lunch/brunch. We had eaten there once before and I remembered the brioche french toast, and that's what I ordered: three thick cut eggy slices, flavored with cinnamon and vanilla, then drenched in caramel syrup, topped with maple whipped cream and chopped dates and cashews, served with chicken sausages. Oh my! It was 2:00 by then, I was hungry, and I ate every bite. So much for reducing me. 

Tom had a breakfast "sandwich" of omelette, lox, and sour cream on a brioche bun. He did leave a few potatoes on the plate.

Because my legs were still hurting, I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in my recliner, where I watched the Golden Globe Awards. I must say it was an interesting presentation, even though I didn't know most of the TV shows or movies. I loved all of the black gowns. Oprah was magnificent!  

Today we got in our 3.35 mile walk, but besides that I haven't done much except the laundry. This evening we will help celebrate Isaac's 15th birthday. 

Tomorrow I'll get back to more reducing projects. I think the pantry is next. And me, of course. 

Seize the Day

Winter arrangement gathered from our yard, in the downstairs bathroom. 

Once I wrote about my one word intention for 2018 -Reduce- and committed myself, I was motivated to get going on making that happen. So today I seized that motivation while it was still warm and got busy.

Of course that was this afternoon, after we had stayed for three hours at breakfast, just talking and laughing and sometimes despairing, depending on the topic. Then Tom and I went shopping for, and ended up ordering a custom frame for Irene's painting that she gave us for Christmas. 

After that I took my hour long lunch with the newspaper, so you see I was well rested by the time I tackled the under-the-sink cupboards. I also decided to give my self a day off from exercising, partly because it was raining. 

So now I have cleaned out and reorganized under the sinks, and all of the drawers of the three bathrooms and the kitchen. I did, absolutely, REDUCE the stuff that was stored there.

Also, the projects that were waiting on the washer/dryer are taken care of, and the last of the cookies (not counting the ones still in the freezer, which will stay there) have been disposed of, as in eaten. Now maybe I can start on reducing me, although there is still a LOT of chocolate in the pantry, and I know where every bit of it is. :-/.

It's dark and dreary again here in Seattle, but at least we are not freezing. We count our blessings. 

This is the winter arrangement on my kitchen table. Isaac gave me the salt and pepper polar bears and Tom gave me the boots, both just because they liked them. They are now filled with the appropriate substances and add a bit of color and whimsy. 

Stay warm out there. If you are stuck at home, clean out a cupboard. Tomorrow I'm tackling a closet.