It's a Blizzard!

Christmas 2011

Bjorn's family joined us for the Christmas weekend.  It was a wild and fun time as holiday weekends are meant to be.  Roger's dad Al and brother Eric as well as my sister Rosalie and her husband Tom joined us for Christmas dinner.  Next year, we will be enjoying the company of our new grandson as well.  He'll be nine months old and ready to tear into that wrapping paper.

The following weekend we hosted our long time friends from Seattle for a New Year's celebration.  As usual, we had plenty of great food and conviviality. 

Then, at the first Grange meeting of the new year, Roger was elected Master in what might be considered a landslide.  He has been busy creating committees and taking stock of building maintenance needs ever since.  Being elected Master means that many people believe in his leadership abilities.  He is very committed to proving his constituents correct.  2012 is setting up to be a noteworthy year.

Every January I join my friend Liz, sister Jeannette and other friends for Spa Day at the Olympus Spa in Lynnwood.  This is a tradition that goes back more than ten years.

tour of Olympus Spa

The following week, I spilled hot tea on my HP Laptop and ZAP! no more computer.  A week and several hundreds of dollars later, you are now witnessing my first blog on my new Acer laptop.  Thanks goodness for Rockisland support and their ability to save all my files, pictures, contacts.  Let this be a lesson to all of us about backing up our files and not drinking tea around valuable electronic equipment.

This week it is all about the weather.  After teasing us for several days with light little flurries, the weather gods gave us a bit of a blizzard this morning.  Temperatures in the mid- twenties (stop smirking, Linda)  I must have passed some sort of threshold nearing the fourth anniversary of my retirement from Metro, because I'm not even interested in following the news about how many artics are jack-knifed all around Seattle.

I



view from bathroom of 2008 snowfall

Yes, it has been four years since my retirement from Metro.  Four years full of craft, home-improvement, socializing, communing with nature, doting on my dog.  I'm living the life I've dreamed about for over thirty years.  Wouldn't trade it for nothin'.

Summing Up 2011

Instead of a long Christmas letter this year, I've decided to sum up the year via the blog and then post the link on Facebook.  I am still sending out paper Christmas (or Winter Holiday) cards.  Coming up with a design for the card and then executing it are a big part of our holiday tradition.  Here is an early prototype of this year's card.  I had to show off the fact that I did a lot of exterior trim painting this summer:  

To sum up the year, I first have to say that it wasn't as momentous as 2010 or 2009.  There were no trips abroad, our surviving parents are still surviving.  It was more of a hunkering down kind of year.  I took up more weaving and basketry and yoga.  Roger brought in more firewood and concentrated on the Grange and the Agricultural Resource Committee for the County.  He believes fervently that the Grange is an optimum venue for community involvement, a place where people with diverse views can come together over common issues of survival in desperate times.  It should be a place where a human secularist can feel at home.  The jury is till out on that one.

Al and Roger relaxing in Al's new digs

Another major theme for 2011 is the settling of Alfred Ellison, Roger's father, in an Assisted Living Facility up here on the Island.  Many of our friends can relate to this scenario.  It involved countless trips to Auburn over the last ten months or so.  It also involves the dismantling and disbursement of the family heirlooms and goods.  And the selling of assets to pay for the new lifestyle.  Does anyone want to buy a practically never driven 2010 Chevy HHR or a Kodiak RV?  The home in Auburn is also up for sale.  On the plus side, Al is spending a lot of quality time with two of his sons.  He comes here for dinner at least once a week.  Roger can accompany him to all of his doctor appointments.  It has brought us a lot of peace of mind.

It should be noted that the weather this past year was weird.  The Spring/early summer was horrible, cold and rainy.  Many crops failed due to the poor, freezing bees not venturing out to pollinate at the proper time.  But from August through late Fall, it has been pretty nice, and dry.  Today, for instance, 32 degrees with sun and blue sky.  There have been a couple wind storms, but the rain has not come, the pond still way below spillway levels.  They say another La Nina this winter, we shall see.

So, to hit some of the highlights:  Trip to Maui in March, Granddaughters getting pony rides for their fifth birthday: 
And in July, the Tribal Canoes landed here first on their way to the their meeting at Swinomish:

And in August we spent a few days on Lake Roosevelt in Eastern Washington with some very close friends.

In September, I reconnected with the Class of '71 at my friend Mary's house in Maple Valley:



Me and Mike Schmitt



In October, Roger organized the first Harvest Parade for farmers and I went to the Barreca Thankstween celebration on the same weekend., 

And so there were lots of fun activities all year long, and plenty of visitors, too many to list.  But I think, most of all, 2011 might become known as the year of the carport--or as we like to call it--Temple of the Subaru.

It is not quite done, but a heck of a lot further than we were last December.  Feel free to wander back to past posts to see the progress we've made throughout this past year.

Maybe it wasn't the most exciting year that ever was for us, but it was a full and satisfying year.

Next year holds plenty of promise.  Our first grandson is due in the Spring.  A family reunion, centered around my Dad's 90th birthday will be here on San Juan Island in June.  And a few interesting road trips are planned, as well.  Stay tuned.

December 2010 in Pictures

ready, set, open!



Nikki and Austin



moon over Baker

Shann turns 60!

Red Dawn over Thornbush



Moving rail for new carport



Craig on uke, Roger on guitar

Parties and a Flood

Roger's Dad Al stayed with us through the celebration of Roger's 55th birthday at the end of the month.  It feels a little quieter now that he is back in Auburn.  But we will be seeing him soon enough as we go down to celebrate Christmas with the Ellisons in a week.

The Christmas Season began in earnest for us with a couple of parties on Dec 4th.  The first was our annual National Park dance at English Camp.



I dressed up in my 1850's garb but had no time to change before the next shindig, and open house at the new Brickworks Farmers' Market.  Roger had gone directly from the market to the open house. 

The next day the Soroptimists had their annual Holiday Party at the Community Theater. I made devilled eggs. Three days after that, I drove one of the cars in a caravan of Textile Guild members to the Burke Museum for a show on fabric from countries throughout the Pacific Rim.  A nice weaver named Erica gave us a talk on the similarities and differences in weaving techniques.  It's a good show.  See the link Burke Museum And on Saturday, we attended a lovely Caroling Party at Heritage Farm.



Our new floating dock



our road?!



Meanwhile, back at our farm, the waters were beginning to rise.  And rise.  And rise.  What happened was--Alaska Place overflowed its culvert which overflowed the ditch to Eric's place which jeopardized his shop so he diverted the water into the Ellison Lane ditch which couldn't keep up.  So our road became a mini-stream.  And the pond filled and filled and filled and the stream became a river, and then a lake.  The paper said it rained 2.66 inches that day on top of the 2+ inches in the five previous days.  Oh, and our shop flooded, too.  I, myself, vacuumed 35 gallons out and Roger matched that amount.

our stream?!

Don't worry, the waters have already receded.  Although they do say we are in for more rain through December.

Oh and Tuesday, the Textile Guild Holiday Party was a big success.  They seemed to like the tree ornaments I made by pressing Queen Anne's Lace into snowflakes.  More parties planned for this coming weekend.  Stay tuned.

Thanksgiving and Christmas 2009

Seasons Greetings, Buon Natale, Happy New Year to All!

We have had a wonderful, family filled month of festivities this year.  It began with a large family get together at my brother Marc's on Bainbridge Island.  Everyone was able to come.  Kudos to Marc and Leigh for taking on, feeding, and entertaining 32 people.

Even my neice Bina came up from Alameda with nine month old Ovid Duke.

A good time was had by all.  The guys played music most of the afternoon and after dinner we watched a slide show of my trip to Italy narrated by my sister Jeannette.  It was fun to relive the memories.

Here is a family portrait:

 

That same weekend we visited Roger's folks in Auburn and celebrated his 54th birthday.

December was filled with Christmas parties, cookie exchanges, caroling, tree trimming, lots of visiting with friends and even a play called " Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol".  This year they could say of me "She knew how to keep Christmas well."

After spending four days in Seattle doing a lot of Christmas in the City type things, we brought Dad up to Thornbush.  Bjorn and his family joined us Christmas Eve.  Two three-year olds at Christmas time add up to a lot of fun.

Iliana

Lenora

The kids hadn't been here in awhile and there was a lot to show them, including Uncle Eric's bunnies.

But soon it was time to go and celebrate Christmas yet again at the Ellison's.  This time all the attention was on the newest member, Miles James Ellison, just three months old.

Here he is held up by proud Great-Grandfather Al. with Pappa James and Grandpa Guy alongside.

This year my Dad joined us at the Ellisons and convinced all the guys to play a game of pinochle.

Joe, Guy, Leif, Roger, Al

And the fun is not over yet.  Tomorrow is New Year's Eve and our guests are coming in on the 4:30 boat.  We plan to make merry into the next decade.

May all your 2010 dreams come true.