Our belated Christmas breakfast

Our holiday gathering, a few days late

Although it's not a very ancient tradition, both Lamont and Lily have invited a few special friends to join them at Avenue Bread for a lovely Christmas Eve gathering for the past few years. This year, we couldn't even get out of our driveways, so we had a belated gathering this morning, the Tuesday after Christmas. In the foreground on either side of the table are Paula, Gene's special friend, and Gene, looking very Santa-ish with his lovely full beard. Next on the left are me and Lily, and Lamont and John on the right. I had a smoked salmon omelette with their famous home fries, which are different from other places but very, very tasty. I was very full after we finished, but I didn't let that stop me from finishing it all. I did leave a little of the sourdough bread, but I ate everything else.

Lily and Lamont have started bowling a couple times a week, since they now live near an alley, and they asked me if I would join them today. Since I had promised to do so awhile back, I agreed that today would be a good day. We played two games, and I was surprised at how much fun it was, even though you can probably guess who was thrilled to have made two spares (no strikes) in two games, and came in last but still had a very good time with a couple of forgiving friends. The game has changed somewhat since I last played many years ago. It's all computerized now, and when you make a gutter ball, the entire screen makes sure everyone knows it! I will join them again, and I can see how you can get quite obsessed with the game.

Me at the bowling alley

I hope my arm will not be too sore from throwing the nine-pound ball down the alley twenty times, but it reminded me that I need to get back to some regular weight lifting. Another thing the pandemic cost me was my usual twice-a-week strength and tone classes at the Y. You don't think you're doing much, but I was accustomed to some light soreness the next day even using just three- and five-pound weights.

I'm eating that nose right now

I am also accustomed to getting up and finding such delights as this one on the kitchen counter created by my dear partner. There's no doubt he'll see some whimsy and find a way to share it with me. I'm pretty lucky, with friends and family like I've got, there's no dearth of smiles and happy moments around here. Now that the weather is actually kind of nice, back to wind and rain, our old friends, it's like all the holiday diversions never really happened. Only one more week to navigate before we enter a brand-new shiny year!

:-)

Dry morning for a change

Magnificent lilacs

I walked to the bus this morning in perfectly dry conditions. I even left my raincoat snug inside my backpack and didn't need to pull it out all morning. However, the rain conditions this afternoon have picked up. Yes, I am truly tired of all this rain, but we still have more to come. It's sure been good for the lilacs, though. I've never seen them this luxurious in all the years I've lived here. And they are right at their peak. It won't last, so this picture is meant to capture the moment for posterity.

I walked through the Cornwall Rose Garden on my way home, and I do think I am seeing the first signs of rosebuds. I know it's hard to tell from this picture, but the red blob in the middle is almost surely a bud. The rain has certainly made them happy, but the cooler-than-normal weather and cloudy skies has curtailed our springtime flower show a bit.

Maybe I'm imagining a rosebud

By now, I would have thought that there would be lots of buds throughout the garden. Of course, it's still only mid-May and summer is six weeks away. But all this rain down here has translated into snow for the High Country, and we are thinking we might not be able to do any of our normal summer hikes until much, much later than normal. Every day Mt. Baker gets a little more snow. At least we are not in any danger of an early fire season.

After I walked home on my usual three-mile journey, I noticed how beautiful it is even when the sun isn't shining, especially when the clouds are not letting out any wetness. Not yet. I came home, got in my car and drove to Happy Nails to get an overdue pedicure. It had been long enough since my last visit that I was almost ready to snip those toenails myself. Luckily, I didn't need to wait very long, but I also discovered that they are now requiring appointments unless you want to wait. Next time I'll make an appointment, but it shouldn't be for at least two months.

When I was reading my latest book on quantum mechanics, I ran across this funny cartoon, which has been around a long time. I found it online a dozen times at least, but every time I see it I break into smiles. I'm hoping it might do something similar for you.

Thank you Sidney Harris

And with that, I've managed to come up with my Monday post. John thinks I should call it my Tuesday post, but that would not explain me at all. I'm happy to fiddle around with time a bit.

:-)

Summer reminders

Chris and Melanie at Bellingham Bay

I feel so fortunate to live here, where we need our jackets in the middle of summer, when the sun is shining among pretty clouds, and the temperature hovers in the mid-seventies (around 22-23°C). It won't always be like this, but after that awful heat we had at the end of June, this feels like paradise. Plus, it's awfully pretty here.

I just finished watching the news. Now that's a very good way to ruin a perfectly good day, but I'm feeling quite confident that I can count on one thing: it will get better. Maybe not tomorrow, since the resurgence of the pandemic is causing worldwide economic havoc. And the stock market is just the latest bad news, as Germany and Belgium got hit with flash floods and the western US states are burning to the ground. Climate change is here in full force.

I've been around long enough now to react to the difficulties, but I know without a doubt that it will change, and hopefully for the better. Many things are looking up! My ankle is so much better that I might be able to hike this coming Thursday, and the Canadian border will be opening once again in just a few short weeks. And I can sit in my easy chair and watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics, which should be quite different, without any spectators, this coming weekend. And one more thing:

Don't forget to follow the rules

:-)

Interurban trail

Nice trail, mostly dry

I didn't feel much like doing a hard hike today, so Melanie agreed that we would walk the Interurban trail, nice and mostly flat, as you can see here. It spit rain most of the time we were out, but it wasn't much, so we concentrated on having a nice conversation for most of the time. Every time I thought the rain had stopped, I'd pull down my hood and found that no, there were still some drops hitting my old-lady white-haired head. Then I'd pull it up again.

Another nice waterfall

Almost every place we hike has at least one rather lovely waterfall. This is the one on the Interurban trail, and while sometimes it's just a trickle, today was rather impressive, with the recent rains making it more interesting.

Bellingham Bay

The trail follows an old rail bed, making it nice and flat, and as we traveled south we had some nice views of the bay at times. I wondered if the people who live in that house ever get used to the magnificent views. They probably have plenty of weather to deal with, though. This was as dry as the day got, with nary a bit of sunshine, but on the way back it didn't rain, thankfully.

Yes, it's really a dragon

On the way back (it's an out-and-back trail), Melanie asked, "Do you want to see the dragon?" I didn't know if she was serious or not, but we took a short trip up a private drive to see, yes, this very fun creature! I snapped this shot and then we hastily returned to the main trail. We covered around six-plus miles and a bit of elevation, nothing much really, but it was a very nice and relaxing walk with a good friend. 

:-)

A different Thanksgiving

 

A few trees still have leaves

We Trailblazers usually don't go hiking on Thanksgiving, since everyone is gathering with family and friends to celebrate the holiday, with many traveling across the country as well. Not so much travel this year, in the middle of a raging pandemic, with our health officials warning against it and many of us older folks continuing to keep our distance to mitigate against possible spreading of the virus. However, I went out for a short five-mile walk down to Arroyo Park with my friends Melanie and Terry.

Terry and Melanie on the Arroyo Park bridge

It is cloudy and overcast today, but without any of the you-know-what (not supposed to come until later). We looked to see if there are still any salmon spawning in Chuckanut Creek, and we found plenty still striving to get upstream, with some dead ones on the sides. It's the end of the season; I'm not sure whether they had already spawned or just didn't have the strength to go the distance.

The bridge and creek

It's a beautiful place for a walk, and I enjoyed the company very much. Since it's Thanksgiving, there was nowhere for us to enjoy a cup of coffee or tea afterwards, but it was a very nice way to begin the holiday.

Spooky tree roots

When I first saw this tree, the roots first reminded me of a spider, but then I realized that this is what is left after an old log has decayed and left tree roots still intact. Nothing really spooky, but my imagination played tricks on me for awhile.

Salads, pizza, and sweet potato rounds

We ordered this delicious non-traditional Thanksgiving food from Greene's Corner yesterday. We were unable to eat it all at once, which was the plan: today we will enjoy the remainder of it, spreading our holiday treat out over a couple of days. Plus, nobody had to cook anything, just enjoy. It's something I might do again when I don't feel like cooking, and also support one of my favorite eateries during this trying time.

My morning smiles

And I'll leave you with this little guy, who greeted me when I woke yesterday, a gift from SG, who often leaves me little artistic creations that he knows will make me smile. I especially like the eyebrows.

:-)

Getting one's feathers ruffled

Are you even listening to me?

I saw this funny picture online, and I just went searching to see if I could find out who took it so I could acknowledge the artist. But no, I couldn't find it at all. It makes me laugh just to look at it and consider just what the birds might be saying to each other. I'll bet some of my readers can come up with some doozies.

When visiting a favorite blog, I saw on the sidebar a website that looked interesting, so I went to visit it. AnvilCloud's blog, called The AC is On, is pretty funny. He recently put up some hospital reports, some of which had me laughing out loud. Here's a short excerpt:

She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life until she got a divorce.

Examination of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized.  

The pelvic exam will be done later on the floor. 

Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities. 

When she fainted, her eyes rolled around the room. 

The patient was in his usual state of good health until his airplane ran out of fuel and crashed. 

I have seen these sorts of hospital reports before, but these were all new to me. In any event, this website is filled with humorous posts, so I'll be visiting there often. Hope you will also find something to laugh about in this post, too. After all, laughter is the best medicine.
:-)

What makes you smile?

My front porch flowers

Yes, these pretty flowers do make me smile. I'm learning that it's worthwhile to try to find ways to laugh and smile more often. When I wrote that last post about Yogi Berra, several people pointed me to some other quotes of his. I have been laughing out loud about this one:

"I don't know if they were men or women fans running naked across the field. They had bags over their heads."

This was in the days when people would streak naked across fields to make statements. I really wonder whether he really didn't know, or whether he just wanted to make people laugh. It's a well-known fact that laughing is good for the soul. So, I wanted to ask my readers what makes YOU laugh?
:-)

It ain't over till it's over

Yogi Berra 1953

Last Thursday on our hike, somehow we got to talking about Yogi Berra. Although I'd heard his name often enough and knew he was a famous baseball player, the thing I knew most about him was his "Yogi-isms." From Wikipedia:

Berra was also well known for his impromptu pithy comments, malapropisms, and seemingly unintentional witticisms, known as "Yogi-isms." His "Yogi-isms" very often took the form of either an apparent tautology or a contradiction, but often with an underlying and powerful message that offered not just humor, but wisdom.

We managed to come up with several of them, and they had us laughing as we regaled each other with our favorites. My own favorite is told that when giving directions to Joe Garagiola Sr. to his New Jersey home, which was accessible by two routes: "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." Another favorite is "You can observe a lot by watching."

I didn't know much about him before looking him up at that link, but I learned that he was an amazing catcher and hitter for the New York Yankees for many seasons. He was only 5'7" tall, but apparently he was able "both to swing the bat like a golf club to hit low pitches for deep home runs and to chop at high pitches for line drives."

His combination of bat control and plate coverage made Berra a feared "clutch hitter," proclaimed by rival manager Paul Richards "the toughest man in the league in the last three innings." 

And he was a legendary catcher as well. All of this information was news to me, until looking him up on Google. Many books have been written about him, and in 2005, The Economist named him "The Wisest Fool of the Past Fifty Years," based on his manner of speaking. He lived a good long life and died in his sleep at the age of 90, in 2015. If you're interested, that Wikipedia link will give you much more information about this unique and delightful person.
:-)

Another soggy Saturday

Flaming tree and sculpture in Big Rock Garden

Guess what? It's raining again! Rain all day Thursday, all day Saturday, but Friday, the day in between, was sunny and gorgeous (go figure!). Fourteen of us ladies walked this morning, and when we started out, it wasn't raining, although it had been all the night before, and we thought we might luck out, but it started sprinkling lightly about a half hour before we finished our five- or six-mile-long walk. Cindy, our leader, waited for those of us with small bladders to take a quick side trip into the bathroom at Big Rock Garden, and I saw this stunning red tree in front of a sculpture on the way back to join the others.

Lots of yellow trees in the distance

Although many of us had removed our rain jackets as we trudged up the hills, just before this picture was taken we had begun to put them back on, as the light rain coming down just wasn't stopping. But still, it was rather warm and nobody minded the rain too much. It was a good walk.

Trick or treater slug

I saw this adorable photo of the perfect Pacific Northwest costume: a slug with a slime trail. Before I moved here I wouldn't have appreciated it nearly as much as I do these days. Slugs are ubiquitous in my garden, and they do really make long trails like this one. Someone's parents were ingenious!
:-)

Spooky Halloween faces

My new hairdo

I've been having fun with the Messenger app from Facebook, giving myself a couple of new looks. It's interesting how well these apps work to make whoever is playing with them look so, well, different from their usual appearance. Some of them are so complete, they don't even look anything remotely like the person. In the above picture, at least you can tell it's me; maybe it's the forked tongue that gives it away.

Yeah, it's me

But this one? if I didn't know it was me, I wouldn't know it was me. I think it's supposed to be the Bride of Frankenstein, but with all that makeup and those beauty spots, I'm completely unlike myself. The hair is a step up from the Medusa snakes, though, don't you think?

Happy Halloween!!
:-)

What is it about Tuesdays?

Playing with the app on Messenger

Well, here it is almost my bedtime, and I again forgot to write a Tuesday post. So, once I remembered, I put down my latest book and brought out the trusty laptop to write a quick and dirty post. Well, with that picture it's not so dirty, but still.

I think I'm ready to say that the Tuesday time slot is quickly beginning to drop off my radar. If I write one, fine, but if I don't, it's fine too. Given that the world of politics has lately also drawn me into reading the news more than I should, it's becoming obvious that there are other things taking my time away from thoughtful postings.

Maybe if I free myself from "shoulds" I can just go with the flow for a change.
:-)

Herons, gardens, and humor

Heron posing for a picture?

This morning on the walk with the ladies, I was pleased to find that my legs had returned to their usual springiness after more than a week of recovery from my Church Mountain efforts. And halfway around Lake Padden, I saw this heron who does seem to be posing prettily for me. Or maybe he was fishing, but still I was happy to say hello to him (her?).

Our cornfield today

Then I went out to the garden to pull some weeds before it gets too hot, and I see that our corn has tasseled and has some ears beginning to form. Our garden is a veritable cornucopia of goodies right now: I am harvesting beans, zucchini, Sun Gold tomatoes (the little cherry type ones), and cucumbers. My friend John will bring me a bunch of kale from his garden tomorrow, so we are in vegetable abundance here at the end of July.

Aww, so cute!

After I left some zucchini on my neighbor's porch, she sent me this image in  text, and it's so adorable I have to share it with you. None of the squash I left her were crookneck, but after seeing this, I just might have to grow some next year!
:-)

Last lovely summer's day

Unusual bandaid

This morning on my walk with the ladies I saw this car with a well-placed bandaid, but methinks it might need more than just this quick fix. It's not likely to heal up on its own. But it did make me smile. We had a really lovely walk in cool, brisk weather, but tomorrow our drought will end and the rain will return with a vengeance. In fact, I think today we had our last sunny day for awhile. We've got rain in the forecast for the next few days, and Friday will bring the first official day of fall. I found out from Time and Date, one of my favorite websites, that this year we will experience the advent of fall on September 22 at 1:01pm in the Pacific Northwest. It was a really lovely summer, and the first time I've gotten to harvest so many ripe tomatoes in my garden.

Me and Peggy, with Linda and Al in the background

My dear friend Mike (also known as Mikey Poppins since he uses a big umbrella on rainy days) gifted me this week with a CD compilation of pictures taken of me over the years. I'm not sure exactly when this one was taken, but it was a minimum of five years ago, or longer when I look at the pack I was using back then. It made me smile to realize how fortunate I've been to have this group of friends for so long. I know things change, but I will enjoy my memories forever. And I'm still happy to be able to hike, although who knows for how much longer? I need to cherish every single one. And I do.
:-)

Fly me to the moon

Astronomy Picture of the Day 17 Jan 17

This picture on today's Astronomy Picture of the Day, something I look at as part of my daily routine, is especially lovely, don't you think? You can go to the link under the picture for more information about who took it and why it's that color. Although there are most often pictures of galaxies and stellar nurseries on APOD, sometimes the pictures are closer to home. Like this one.

I don't really want to fly to the moon. Today's weather here in Bellingham is pretty much back to normal: rain last night, overcast today, and a warm wind from the south. In fact, the temperature has gone all the way up to 58°F (14.5°C) from the frigid cold and wind we've had around for what seems way too long. Yes, it was sunny, but it was COLD, too. Now it's about ten degrees above normal and feels balmy outside. I rather like it.

I've decided not to stress too much about my blog posts any longer. This one on Tuesdays has been difficult for me to maintain, but what if I just put up a pretty picture, or a poem, or something like that? Easy peasy, and nobody (me!) gets stressed out. I might just miss another one or two, like I unintentionally did last week. Nobody was more surprised that I was when I went looking for what I'd written about and found nothing at all.
:-)

Getting tired of all this sunshine

Whatcom Falls this morning

We are soon to get a break from all this unaccustomed sunshine that we've had for weeks and weeks. We did have a short respite when we got some rain (for a day) and it warmed up a little, but not for long. Then the deep freeze started up again. Last Thursday when I got up for our hike it was 12°F, but this morning it was 20°, so gradually it is getting back to our normal winter temperatures.

I wouldn't mind the sun so much if it wasn't accompanied by a cold north wind and ice everywhere. If you look carefully at the above picture, you can see lots of icicles, along with the beautiful rushing waterfall. I took this today while we were on our walk with the ladies (and our sometimes guy, Ray). For the first part of our walk, we saw no sun at all, but gradually it came up high enough for us to see it.

Now I don't want you to think that I'm going to start taking a lot of selfies, but here is one more, comparing this morning's look to the one I took last Thursday. I got some purple highlights in my hair yesterday, and I just had to show you the comparison. I am also wearing the same glasses, which are Transitions, obviously.

Fun!

I tried out a new stylist, Dyan, and she asked if she could also shape my eyebrows. I was very hesitant, but she didn't charge me and did it anyway. I like the look, and she knew I would, of course, and I will let her do it again. It's been so long since I've had any color in my hair at all that I was a little bit surprised at how much I like it!

Now, about that Tuesday post I didn't write. I'm beginning to get rather forgetful, it seems, and I think I'll just leave it off without any guilt whenever I don't post. Last week, I didn't even remember that it wasn't there until I went looking for it before I put up my Thursday hiking post. Oh, well, I'm probably the only one who lost any sleep over it. I'm willing to let it go. Or not.
:-)

Coffee art

A half smile from my alien

My regular barista wasn't there when I got my coffee on Sunday morning. Nika tried to make a design for me, but she apologized when it didn't turn out right.

"Well," I said, "it looks a little bit like a smiling alien with a tail to me." It tasted just fine, and I am actully quite fond of the little tyke. It must be hard to concoct a drink with foam. Just for fun, I went to Google and typed in "foam coffee art" and came up with some simply amazing designs. This one caught my eye.

By Kazuki Yamamoto

Cute! A kitty and his very own koi pond. The only problem I see with this one is trying to drink it. Adorable, isn't it? My regular barista, Zack, makes some beautiful designs himself, but none are so fancy that I hesitate to drink my latte. Here's one of his.

Nice work, Zack

We do have fun in the coffee shop. Who would have ever expected that making a coffee drink could be so much fun?
:-)

Kernels of truth

Corn on the cob

Many of us enjoy corn on the cob during the summer, especially now when it is fresh out of the garden. A couple of days ago my friend John gave me a bonanza of it from his garden, and I shared it with my neighbors and then came home with the rest. 

I am not a huge fan of corn at any time, but this way is probably my favorite way to eat it. As SG and I sat down to dinner to enjoy our lovely feast, we noticed immediately that we don't eat it the same way at all! I like to start from the middle, eat a nice little section around, and then start eating the rest from right to left, on one side only, then the other.

He, on the other hand, eats it like it is a typewriter, starting on the right end and eating the entire row, does a carriage return and goes to the top and eats the next row, right to left.

Well, this morning it was the topic of conversation at the coffee shop. It turns out that all my buddies are typewriter eaters, sometimes left to right, other times right to left. I have never eaten an ear of corn that way. I think the best corn is in the middle of the ear, and so I get that and then eat the rest in an orderly fashion. I don't always finish an entire ear.

I got online and found this interesting article from the LA Times, titled "Kernels of Truth Come Out When You Eat Corn." So I decided to find out what my readers do. Nowhere have I found anybody who eats it like I do. What about you?

:-)

Spring is sliding into summer

My garden plot plus a new friend

My neighbor Lynn bought me this cool purple flamingo for Mother's Day, and I have to say I just love it! And as you can see, my garden is coming along quite nicely, too. I have been sneaking out in the early morning and tossing slugs off my pretty plants. Still can't bring myself to smash them, but I'm getting there. A few are going into the beer trap and dying what I hope is an easy, at least boozy, death.

Beatrix Potter

This morning I laughed out loud to see Jo's version of Beatrix Potter on her blog, A Brit in Tennessee. The gloves are a really nice touch. And finally, there are roses in bloom outside my front door, and they are so gorgeous and fragrant that I thought I'd share them with you. They were planted by a long-ago resident.

Roses

Can you smell them from over there? Enjoy!
:-)

Garden news and a good egg

Krysta in the henbit

This past weekend, another sunny one, I found Krysta finally making some headway amongst her field of henbit dead nettle. She's a full-time nursing student and had to wait until she got a break to get started. Not long after this picture, though, we began to receive a fair amount of rain. In fact, it rained all Sunday night, most of Monday, and today (Tuesday) is off-and-on showers. However, once this patch is over with, we've got more nice weather on the way.

My garden plot as of today

And look at my wonderful area! It's all ready for planting. In the foreground are some strawberry plants I transplanted from the rear area (see that stool? it's in the part of my garden that still needs work, pulling weeds and clearing, basically).  Now it's time to head to Joe's Garden to find the starts I'll be putting in there. It's an exciting time of year for me.

The things I find in my refrigerator

And yesterday when I went to the fridge to make my breakfast, this good egg smiled at me, his eyes at half mast the way mine are before my latte. He was just too precious not to capture for posterity. And for my blog. Now I am going off to the local Home Depot for more garden supplies.
:-)

More downtown art

Entrance to parking garage

Scattered around Bellingham one can find some very interesting art. Although I don't park in this "Parkade" very often, it's open and free on the weekends, and I couldn't find any other place on Sunday than a spot in here. Everything was taken on the street and I suspected I'd find something if I entered the garage. Most people don't realize they don't charge for Saturdays or Sundays. (shhh! don't tell!)

This series of windows caught my eye, and then I realized that they aren't really there. My first indication that something was amiss is the picture of the sea in the lower left corner. And there is, unfortunately, no candy shop either. I'm not even sure if there are any bricks or whether it's all painted concrete. The sky provided a needed clue, though, since there isn't any!
:-)