Planes, Trains, and Automobiles...

It's so nice when you can combine business with pleasure!
Porters very generously chipped in on my very brief visit to kin in Portland and Marysville before I had to check into the showroom. I was able to fly to Portland, take the Max and then be picked up by Keira and a very cute little Zach to be whisked away to her house where Tia and children ( I assume that was them since they had had the audacity to grow to great heights in my absence!) waited. We then bonded by crafting Keira's day-camp flags...moi providing revised artwork for such. Kiera and I then completed the bonding process by going to the good Goodwill where we did not embarrass ourselves by wrassling over a 1915 novel with a provocative first line. We did say Hi to Russell ( their Goodwill furniture hook-up man) though, before Keira ably whisked me back into Portland to board the Cascade line train... “


"Railway termini are our gates to the glorious and the unknown. Through them we pass out into adventure and sunshine, to them, alas! we return." - E. M.Forster

I have to say that train travel is my most favorite yet. I arrived so very relaxed in Everett which is in stark contrast to my usual mood caused by traversing Seattle and Tacoma by car...the expletives were deleted!
Debbie and I had a great couple of days that included forays into beading, idyllic lunching at fashionable restaurants on the wharf ( with sunshine no less!) and a trip to Details (a must in Marysville!). I traveled back to Portland on Tuesday, again by train...Wandering around Portland's Chinatown until I found the Max again and traveled Tia's way. Dinner and games were great, then off to the hotel to collapse a little. Wednesday was all work ( we finished close to 8:30 pm) and then to a hotel with 3 ( count'em 3!) large queen beds in one room. I've never seen that before. It's too bad we were too tired to bounce from bed to bed. Our flight out was booked for 6:35 am and we ( and the rest of Portland, my goodness there were a lot of people there!) made it! A 5 hour layover in Boise gave us time for a working break and then home to my HSH! I wasn't sure it was my house at first since Wynn pulled a Debbie and put down laminate flooring in the living room in my abscence! What a guy!

G.H. Slept Here...

Here it is - proof Dad was here...and that he has very cute great-grandkids! It was wonderful to have him here! Come back soon!

Hope for Laura the Busker

On a recent trip into Montana ( Helena aka "the New Eugene") we chanced upon this young prodigy fiddling away. I wish I had the presence of mind to make a movie, but I was absolutely entranced by her playing and her nonchalant "stage" presence...she was really good!
Wynn loved that all her music was hand written.

See what little girls that practice their music can do in an open air mall, Laura? Just play, smile, and rake it in.

Memory Road

Michael's blog on small time life kind of inspired this entry. In his, a man comments on a toy that he had lost in his old home. And so it bespeaks the question, "What was your most memorable toy and whatever happened to it?".
I think mine was the (obviously) the Chatty Kathy dolls that Debbie and I received one Christmas ( mine a brunette, hers a blonde). I think I was five and that was the most "WOW" thing I had ever seen- it was even "high-tech"! I have no idea where they went or what happened to them...not one.
My second most memorable toy was a lime green Hot Wheels El Dorado Cadillac that I received to go with the ubiquitos Hot Wheel tracks one Christmas. During the races I won every time ( that never happened!). I remember Dad trying to wheel and deal me out of it but I finally must have been old enough to know better.
So, what was your most memorable toy ( or two?). Oh, that Caddy? Well, here it is ;)

Old Home Tour 2009

Old Home Tour Saturday started out with balloon games at Sara's house. A sunshiney way to start a truly drizzly, dreary day!
Cloudbursts assaulted us on the trip up the valley to the Yalecrest Subdivision and then settled down to a consistent downpour during the first half of the tour. There were a couple of really nice Craftsman bungalows to start followed by Tudor and English Cottage on the Yale streets.
The big impact for me was all the art that transformed the houses including the upstairs laundry in one house that had walls covered with great prints! These were not tremendously large houses like in the Victorian Era so the ways to use the more limited space were interesting. A lot of them just had some additions on the back, but the sun porch turned into an artist studio with adjoining computer area was done in a very classy manner. Landscaping was generally very conservative but beautiful, especially after the rain had gone.
The back garden of the house below was beautiful! Gardens within gardens. Question mark shaped paths. A large formal circle to revolve around, and quiet little nooks to sit by a fire or feed a fish or read a book abounded. This is the house that Spencer W. Kimball lived in for 3 years...it was awesome!

My cohorts in Antiquities...L-R Josie and Asher, Sara, and Kris. All in all a satisfying way to keep a tradition.

No Soaring, No Swooping.

Merely posting this to erase the image of the last pathetic blog. No response is needed or even expected. Thanks for your patience and I may try again later...much later when I have the time to be witty and/or charming.