A Tale of Two Peninsulas

Yesterday our adventure took us to Seabeck, Washington on the Kitsap Peninsula and Quilcene, Washington on the Olympic Peninsula. We began in Seabeck to meet up with D & G at their home. D & J met us there too and the six of us headed to Quilcene for an afternoon of music. But not before a delicious picnic supplied by our hosts, D & G.
They spoiled us all day and it began with the picnic on the grounds of the Olympic Music Festival. If you haven't been to a concert in the barn yet, make sure you make time for it this year. The season began yesterday and runs to August 22. After a which included roasted red peppers, cheese, salami, asparagus wrapped in prosciutto, bread, red quinoa salad, broccoli salad, macaroni salad, Ranier cherries, and a nice bottle of rosé.
The program we saw was:

REMEMBRANCES

DEBUSSY: Suite Bergamasque
SCHUMANN: Kinderszenen, Op.15, Scenes of Childhood
MOZART: Adagio in B Minor, K. 540
GRIEG: From Lyric Pieces

Paul Hersh, Piano

You can watch the performance from inside or outside the barn. There is an upper level too.During intermission we took a nice walk around the grounds.I had to record the fact that the sun shone upon us, if only for a little while.If you're worried you might make an ass of yourself, hang out where asses are already in residence. Back in Seabeck at D & G's place we were spoiled again. Their house is on Hood Canal. Down on the beach I found plenty of interesting colors, shapes, and critters.Inside the house there was a buffet of wine (For the record, just two of these bottles were opened before dinner and then two others opened during dinner.). Before dinner we nibbled on cheeses, nuts, and crackers while we sipped the vino.I couldn't resist this warped shot of me and S in the light above the table.
For dinner G prepared a beautiful piece of salmon on his new grill. Perfection. We also had corn and a wonderful salad. By the way, beside the food and the music there was actually plenty of good conversation. D & G are wonderful hosts. Soon we will host them. But G can bring the wine.

Cheshiahud Lake Union Loop

Today we explored half of the 6 mile Cheshiahud Lake Union Loop. Not sure why Seattle Parks and Recreation spells the name of this Duwamish chief differently than the Duwamish spell it on their tribal web site. However, this loop is a great urban walk covering several neighborhoods. Along the way we explored a P-Patch, a handful of the thirty-five total pocket parks along the loop, residential neighborhoods, commercial complexes and industrial business areas. Noisy to quiet. Pretty to grimy. Everything in between.
Here is the Eastlake P-Patch. The gardeners here know what they are doing. It's a patch tended as a labor of love and has several pieces of handmade art and folkie craft items.
Here be rusted chain dragons.
I do love bugs and critters.
Perfect use for toy soldiers and such.

Plenty of beautiful flowers along this walk (barring any industrial areas).
Nope, not a neglected bike, just a cool piece of garden art.
I'm a sucker for tiles.


Came across a couple of beautiful plants with these lovely tiny flowers. Each was very similar in appearance (above ground) to an allium like a leek or garlic.
Another pocket park. Each one had a name but I can't remember off hand the name of this one. We had a printed map which named each park but it's upstairs and I'm downstairs - so there. I should add that this loop is very well marked by easy to spot blue signs to guide Cheshiahud Lake Union Loop walkers.
Again, a sucker for tiles.

House boats can be found in several places on Lake Union.
We could see a few adult geese and these goslings up ahead on the sidewalk but we had no option (other than to swim around the buildings) but to slowly approach and just quietly walk past. The adults hissed but we expected that. The goslings just scurried away in a group and re-huddled a few feet from their original resting spot. Here is a quick video.
At the south end of the lake is the Center For Wooden Boats. We were able to walk all around the boardwalks and check out the boats up close.
I liked the different colored little boats. All in all this is a great urban walk. Next week we might do the other half. After that we'll take on the whole thing. On our walk back to the car, we took Eastlake instead of Fairview (which you are on the whole time on this side of the lake) so we could stop in and rest our feet and re-fuel at Grand Central Bakery. Pretty good lattes. Didn't try the food but it looked good.

Does This Fridge Pack Make My Butt Look Big?

Earth Hour Almost Here

I hope you are participating in Earth Hour. Many of you already have, I'm later posting about it. It's really simple. Just turn off your lights for hour beginning at 8:30 pm wherever you are. If you can't do it at 8:30, do it whenever you can. In fact, do it every day, whenever you can. And always keep your lights off when you aren't using them.

Tonight I'll light some candles and listen to my hand-crank radio for an hour. Or I'll call a friend on my cell phone. Or do pilates. Or just close my eyes and enjoy the silence of no electronics. I'll post again when I turn on the lights again.I made this lantern on the Earth Hour web site.

Coastal Get-Away

A weekend trip to Manzanita, OR recently allowed us some breathing room. Work has been crazy busy. School is challenging. And life is hectic. But the ocean is perfect. Enjoy these photos and wish you were there. For pics and info on what to eat and where to shop, check this out. In regard to coffee, because we don't go far or long without it, we hit Manzanita News & Espresso. I've been to this coffee shop in the past and I've always wanted to return. The baked goods floating around Manzanita are out of this world. You can also get hand-made coffee mugs from local artists and such a variety of interesting magazines. Not at all your typical newsstand.

Your seat cushion is not a floatation device

Emailing from cruising altitude at 6:36 am. Virgin America and Google are offering free in-flight WiFi for the holidays. Should be an uneventful trip. We've been up since 2 am and we're in a daze. But I can see the first signs of light out the window.
Current details and conditions.

Adventures a la Turk

We ran off to Turkey for two weeks on a Rick Steves tour - Turkey in 13 Days. I've been planning a trip to Turkey since I met Edna while on the Rick Steves Barcelona tour in 2004. Edna told all of these great stories of her lifetime of traveling with her husband. She told stories of when she and her family did the Turkey tour. She had me at merhaba (that’s hello).

Please visit our Turkey vacation blog, Adventures a la Turk. There are two weeks worth of photos, videos, stories, and links on the blog I’ve created dedicated to our Turkey trip.

If you don’t visit Adventures a la Turk you will never get to read my essay on using the squatty potty. You won’t learn how to make gözleme at home. You won’t see the Rose Valley from a hot air balloon or a ninth century church carved out of volcanic rock and covered in frescoes. You will miss plenty.

Enjoy!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I know we aren't getting tons of snow like what is hammering folks in the Mid-West, but this is cold and we don't like it. It's colder still in other parts of th greater Puget Sound area. Put on the kettle and pull on a sweater.

Live from my G1!

Foam On The Range

It's really cold here. Dipping into the 20's at night. Today we reached a high of 30, I think. Lows will be in the teens around us. Same for tomorrow. Granted, it's bright and sunny. But we're cold!

The foam on my latte reminded me of the pile of snow on our porch table last December. Oh, if only latte foam fell from the sky when it snowed.