I don’t know about you, but I’m all about some sunshine!
Yes, this was yesterday! Beautiful but COLD! And this was the night before:
I could never live on Mars because I’ve GOT to have color in my life! (I think that’s why I like glass).
Up until just a couple of days ago, we still had snow alongside the private road to our house. Since the Big Snow, the temps have barely made it to the low 40s so shady areas in particular took forever to melt. I’m looking ahead (hopefully) to spring. Please.
From a Northwest weather bureau:
“Seattle's average temp so far this month is 36.5. The last time Seattle was this cold in February: Bill & Ted were having an excellent adventure, Guns N Roses had an Appetite for Destruction, and home computers were about 70 times slower than the smartphone in your pocket.”
Ack. Nate and I texted last night and it was depressing. I know stuff like this is “life,” but it does seem like a whole lot of crap at once. First, his new(ish) truck is in the shop with serious electrical issues and of course it’s not covered under warranty so he’s facing a $2000 bill. Then, they have apparent water damage in their house in the wall between the kitchen and a bathroom. And, both he and Quinn have been sick (Quinn with bronchitis, Nate with a bad cold).
But that’s not all! This news has lit a fire of dread in my belly. He has been attending schooling (I believe learning a new sonar system), and he’ll graduate in mid-April. It will follow with new orders, which will not be San Diego. He said that he will likely be shipped to either Norfolk, Virginia; Japan; or….Everett, WA. He said the chances of it being Everett are about 25%. So there’s a wee chance that I’ll be over the moon, and there’s a much bigger chance that I’m going to be devastated.
John and I are making plans to visit them in San Diego in April, after his graduation, since he’ll be taking some leave then. Right now, with his schooling, he doesn’t have the flexibility that he had before of taking a day off for a long weekend, so Quinn will be 19 months old the next time we get to see him. And then what????
Coming up for air after reading yet another four books since my last post. I’m not a huge fan of science fiction, but I do love John Scalzi’s books. SF tends to take itself too seriously, but Mr. Scalzi certainly doesn’t and I so enjoy the humor and snark and irreverence of his books, all while being swept along in a fascinating space opera. The latest are the first two books of a series—The Collapsing Empire and The Consuming Fire. I’d read the first one a couple of years ago and before reading the new 2nd one, I reread the first one! I don’t do that very often, but in this case I felt I needed to, and I’m glad I did! I enjoyed them both SO MUCH!!! I highly recommend them, even if SF isn’t your thing. The characters are incredibly dynamic, and so much happens! Great stuff!
Then I read our Book Club book, The Stars are Fire, a novel about a real event that took place in Maine in the late 1940s, when a huge swath of the state burned to the ground. It was riveting and compelling, with a few little quibbles, but I’d give it 4 solid stars.
And I just finished The Silent Patient, a crazy psychological thriller (or mystery) that has some huge twists and that’s all I’m going to say about it because I don’t want to give any spoilers!
I’ve had one kiln failure (got a great big ugly bubble), but I was kind of happy with this experiment. (Click to embiggen—you can see it much better). I was trying out a couple of techniques and curious how it would turn out, which wasn’t too bad (aside that it won’t stand up on it’s own and has to be leaned against the wall). But it gives me some ideas and a foundation for some other projects I’d like to try.
That’s it for now! Off to parse the Michael Cohen hearing (why do republicans elect such morons? None of them on the OVERSIGHT committee even cared about oversight of this godawful president). And then I’ll continue to stew about where Nate, Sandra, and Quinn will be in the months to come. Dare I even hope for Everett? What a life changer that would be!