Kingfisher Cove

Holiday Weekend?

For 40 years of working year ‘round, Memorial Day weekend was always a shining light I lived for during those l-o-n-g sloggy months between New Years and the end of May. We never had any other holidays off from work during that horrible slog and holy moly was it welcomed (and desperately needed). Usually three days off, but I sometimes took a vacation day to stretch it into a 4-day weekend. Lived for it. And it was almost always (always?) spent at either Camano Island with my folks, and since 2004 at Harstine. (That first time at Harstine was in our tent! In the pouring rain…)

Yep, we did some blue tarp camping!

(It wasn’t a TOTAL washout, as you can see). It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work since that tent platform was down the hill and across the gully and we had to haul a TON of equipment and supplies down steep slopes. Our master bedroom now perches above the area where that tent is!

We had shrimp on the barbie!

(I need to make that again! It’s been a while and it’s nummy! Plus a skewer or two with grilled shrooms and veggies. Mmmm).

Anyway, this is the 2nd year that a “long” weekend doesn’t mean what it used to. “Oh that’s right! This weekend is Memorial Day!” Previously, it was in my laser sights for five whole months, that dim light gradually growing larger and larger until it FINALLY arrived. In January I knew exactly what date Memorial Day fell on. These days? Not so much.

I’d be feeling a little miffed in my previous life right about now because the weather is supposed to be sucky until Monday (the day that we’d be packing up to head home to go back to Day Jail). Seems like that happened a lot. But now?

EVERY DAY IS A LONG WEEKEND!!!!!  

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I’ve been having conversations with my cousin, Sheri (hi, Sheri!) and we’re planning a Cousins Picnic here this summer. We had one a few years ago at Camano Is. and it was a lot of fun. The core seven of us grew up together and saw each other regularly throughout our childhoods. Of course, now our own kids are grown and there are several grandkids! I think it’ll be fun to ALL get together (as many who can attend) and I’m hoping for sunny beachy weather! It’s planned for the last weekend of July, which is statistically the BEST weather weekend in these parts, so my hope is science-based!

Here’s a picture of four of us cousins as kids (the four on the right in the picture above). My brother is in the high chair, I’m behind my mom’s old cake carrier that I totally remember, Sheri is beside me in the headband, and her brother Craig is in the foreground:

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I was intrigued to learn that my brother and his family got a new puppy! Get this: a MINIATURE Golden Retriever! I never knew there was such a thing! Her name is Sadie, she is 8 weeks old, and she’ll only get to be about 35 lbs. or so! Is she cute or what?

I did the Google on mini goldens and it was interesting. They are a combination “breed” of golden retriever, cocker spaniel, and poodle!

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And then, there’s this. My brother’s DNA test results (from Ancestry.com) finally came back and look how much our ethnicity differs! You’ll probably have to click the image to embiggen so you can see it, but I was shocked that he has 61% Great Britain (I only have 1%), and while I have 33% Irish, he only has 6%! Genes/DNA is very weird and very complicated.

Nate’s DNA test is currently processing, so I should receive the results pretty soon. Will  his Japanese heritage be evident?

Pets

So, Nate and Sandra got a kitten! She’s a little calico named Merlot. (Love that name!)

There have been a fair amount of critter rescues around here (plus a gang-up on a mouse loose in the house). A couple of incidences simply involved opening the deck doors to scare away a pine squirrel (enjoying the dropped seeds from the birdfeeder), thereby preventing a cat or two from imminently launching upon him from behind the deck furniture. Then, we saw Wylie trot-trot-trotting the length of the deck toward our bedroom window that we leave open this time of year (to provide them with an ingress/egress for that side of the house) with a mourning dove clenched in her jaws. I made a beeline to slam down the window to keep her from bringing the poor bird inside, and as I was doing so I could see the bird rapidly blinking at me. I felt just SICK. But the “slam” scared both the bird and the cat and the dove was able to wiggle free and fly away! I was so relieved! (Wylie was covered in feathers).

THEN, and I slept right through it, all four animals had a mouse trapped behind the curio cabinet in the bedroom the other morning! Even Peanut was in on the action! (Obviously John reported this to me after the fact, while I was snoring sleeping on the bed just a few feet from the crazy activities). Later, John found the dead mouse out in the kitchen where he suspects Bailey likely dropped it. (Her signature). They all have their signature—Bailey is OCD about flushing out a critter long after the cats have lost interest, then immediately kills it with a lightning-fast shake and then drops it somewhere and then goes back to where it had been while alive and obsesses all over again, because smell. Wylie often brings in live critters, or if they’re dead she just places them near our bed as a “gift.” Mojo kills them and EATS EVERY BIT OF THEM, save a tiny coil of intestines. You can’t even tell what it had been when he’s done (unless it includes a pile of feathers). Peanut? She sometimes expresses a little curiosity (especially if the critter is alive), but typically sleeps through the drama and has no interest whatsoever in catching or killing. She likes her food out of a can (or off a human’s plate), thank-you-very-much.

It’s a zoo around here.

And the thing is…have you ever loved your pets but also wanted to kill them? Every time I clean the floors I feel that way. And see all the damage to the area rugs, furniture, and window sills the cats have done. It’s so depressing.

And yet, yeah. I also love them. Usually.

Day Tripping

We’ve had one of those long strings of seemingly never-ending cold gray days. No rain, though. (In fact, it’s been a while since we’ve had any rain). We knew today was supposed to be a little warmer, but we were both surprised (and delighted!) that it was also SUNNY!

So we grabbed the weenie dogs and took a scenic road trip along Hood Canal to wonderful Victorian Port Townsend. Such a pretty drive along the Canal with all the blooming native rhododendrons (and COLOR, you know, because of the SUNSHINE). And doing this on a Tuesday was awesome because the traffic was mostly light and stress-free (except for logging trucks, gah!) and Port Townsend itself wasn’t a freaking zoo like it can be on weekends (the only time I’ve ever been there before).

We had lunch seated outside at a great restaurant and it was wonderful! We each had a salad and a cup of their excellent smoked salmon bisque. My “house” salad was exquisite—mixed fresh greens, julienne apples, and toasted hazelnuts with a nummy vinaigrette. John had the Caesar salad and he said it was really good, too. Very impressive, decent prices, and we were amazed to be able to eat outside and squint! Ha.

The shops and galleries were fun, too. Places like this tend to have a lot of clothing boutiques, which have never been my thing (even when I was skinny…). Yeah, they have some pretty things, but also pretty pricey and usually hand-wash only, so I pass those by. BUT, we had great luck at an awesome kitchen place! Woohoo, score! All kinds of teal green!

 

A simple but really nice canister set! I’ve been looking for a canister set for a long time and just didn’t want to deal with HUGE, or chickens, or ornate. I like simple. Plus, you know, teal.

And then, a beautiful big bowl and platter! Believe it or not, these are melamine, which is something I’ve always avoided (yuk), but these are beautiful and do not look like melamine at all, until you lift one (and light weight is A-OK with me).

They’re quite large; I think the platter will also make a great cheese tray.

Picked up a couple of gifts, too! Need to keep those secret, though!

(It’s weird; that platter is oval, but it looks round in the photos).

I also wanted to mention that the other night John and I watched “Philomena” with Judi Dench and what an excellent movie. Highly, highly recommend it. It is poignant, funny, mysterious, and also maddening as hell, thanks to the Catholic church back in the 1950s (I will always have issues with that church, although it’s not alone in my laser glare). Between giggles and misty eyes, you’ll also be clenching your teeth in fury. The ending is uplifting, although not in the way you might expect. It’s a MUST WATCH. Judi Dench should have won an Oscar for her role.

May Days

I captured a photo of Mojo (through the blinds) chomping on the catnip I’d planted and thought it was pretty cute. (The plant is obviously CHEWED).

As you can see, the sky is blue, the water is blue, and it’s been lovely! (82° today!) I can’t imagine peering out the window (or taking in the view from the deck) and not appreciating it. We’ve owned the property since 2003, and have lived in the house for going on 2 years, and we gasp just about every day. I love my view from the kitchen sink, from my laptop table, from our BED (especially in the middle of the night when the moon beams down on the water).

Even the less dramatic sunsets are amazing to us.

Yeah, we’ve had strings of gray days and that does get old. I much prefer the vivid color that sunshine brings.

My BFF Oregon friend, Helen, took an extended Mother’s Day weekend to visit with her 90-year-old mom in Puyallup, then stopped here to visit us on her way back home to Oregon on Monday. It was SO NICE! Sat out on the deck and ate some cheese and crackers and grapes; yapped our lips off; and took a nice beach walk. She brought bird seed and critter toys and treats!

We’ve known each other since the 2nd grade, then became close friends in the 8th grade when we had every single class together—and have remained best friends ever since. We’ve experienced many many wonderful and crappy life events throughout our lives. It’s pretty remarkable. She was 60 in December. I’ll be 60 in about two weeks.

The driveway wall continues to “grow” block by block! (Literally).

It’s such a slog, since John is doing it manually, and it involves LOTS of shoveling gravel. But it’s getting there!

He’s almost 63 and I think he’s starting to feel it.

(How did this happen?)

For Mother’s Day, Nate and Sandra had this delivered to me!

Sooooo pretty! (I also scored with John—a hanging flower basket PLUS a live Azalea to plant!) It’s definitely flower season, and I live for that.

Finally, I took a chance with shaking up my “style” a little—you could call me a little bit hippy?

No Title Needed

“I don't know about you but I'm tired of hearing about the Republican Party trying to “distance” itself from Donald Trump – as if the GOP hasn’t been using racism, inciting anti-immigrant bigotry, declaring war on women’s rights, and promoting “America first” xenophobia for years.

Trump doesn’t come out of nowhere. He’s the logical culmination of decades of Republican hate-mongering. The GOP created this Frankenstein monster. Now it has to figure out how to avoid being killed by it.” –Robert Reich

Bub-Bye, Ted Cruz! Hello, Flowers!

Good riddance to you and the swayback horse and rusty buggy you rode in on. I have ZERO tolerance for living in a theocracy. And honestly, I have zero tolerance for extreme conservatism, period. Cruz would have opposed that buggy having wheels, because it would have been too progressive.

And now I confront my horror of Drumpf being the presumptive GOP nominee. I can’t wrap my head around this—he started out as a joke and he is even more of a joke, and how in hell did this happen? He is a despicable person; he has insulted and demeaned everybody—women, every minority, poor and struggling people, working class people—everybody. And yet idiots vote for him! He’s the lowest common denominator of fear, racism, and divisiveness in our populace, and I guess a sizable portion of our populace relate to that. How utterly sad that is. His demeanor is not presidential nor statesmanlike nor diplomatic nor intelligent. (And did you hear his Palin-like vocabulary salad speech on foreign policy? The man is a narcissistic psychopath). I do believe that the vast majority of Americans will ultimately NOT reward that hateful behavior.

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John and I ventured out to our favorite nursery in Olympia yesterday (in 86° sunshine) and loaded up on flowers and herbs for the deck pots. (Wow, they $ure did add up!) Today I planted the pots and the deck looks so nice! (Even though the weather deteriorated). Quite the job, but I was methodical about it—prepared the pots with fresh potting soil and mixed in some plant food that my horticulturist BFF Helen gave me (Osmocote), laid out the flowers in front of each pot, then planted the thrillers, fillers, and spillers! Then watered them all, of course! One pot is herbs—lots of basil plus some garlic AND catnip! The cats both discovered the catnip before I planted anything.

I caught Wylie on video:

 

 

Here are some shots of the finished pots!

Cheerful Glass for Heavy Heart

I haven’t hung out in the glass studio for quite a long time, but today I was back at it. I had a hankering to make some wind chimes and here’s what I’ve been working on today:

They’re currently cooking in the kiln so it’ll be a while before I see how they turn out. I haven’t completely decided on the top part yet (the part that the wire or fishing line holding the seagulls will hang from), but I have a couple of ideas. It’ll be a new challenge for me because I haven’t attempted drilling holes in glass yet. (I’m about to!) Have a new little diamond drill bit coming from Amazon.

It felt good to focus on a glass project; cutting the glass, grinding to shape and smooth the edges, assembling the seagulls, and adding some colorful frit (that will likely tone down after firing). My brain (and heart) needed a diversion. Nate and Sandra’s news truly blindsided me.

Apparently there was no heartbeat at her appointment on Friday. Nate said that she’d mentioned several times in the past weeks or so that she didn’t feel pregnant. It’s possible that the miscarriage happened quite some time ago—things were fine at her previous appointment [likely at 6 weeks?]. I know this is a common thing that happens to many many people, but the gamut of emotions this past week have sure taken a toll on all of us. All we can do is move forward.

Lovely day today! We officially had the warmest April on record. (How many records have we broken this past year? It’s incredible). And here it is the first of May already (pushing 80°). Sadly, anarchists are protesting with expected violence in downtown Seattle as we speak. Whatever happened to “May Day” meaning you delivered a basket of flowers to your neighbors, rang the doorbell, and ran away to hide?