Camelama

Sunday Sunbeam

 

Phoebe and I spent most of today napping in the sun.  Recovering from bronchitis is taking a lot longer than I expected, and the latest windstorm really stirred up all the dust, pollen, and mold - so it's as if I took a leap back in health.  Coughing so much the neighbors are commenting.

I hope that a full day of rest today in our weak winter sunshine, cozy under blankets and my boiler-furnace of a cat, will help me move forward in health again.  I have a full week coming up, I need all the energy I can get!

Ornament Swap!

Four years ago I spotted a lovely ornament swap too late to join in. I stalked the blog for the next year waiting eagerly for the swap to start again, and I've joined every year since.

The swap is now so large the organizers have had to move it to Swap Bot, but it's still the same great swappers making some incredible ornaments.

If you're in a craft mood, and are up for making and mailing 10 ornaments (and thus receiving 10 lovely ornaments from around the world), sign up!

I swap with Swap-bot!

Halloween funny

I love the Abominable Charles Christopher halloween strip (click to go to the webcomic site, and read from the beginning!):

 

Hee hee!

Bronchitis 129, Me 0

For the last two weeks I've been knocked out by a horrible cold - or so I thought. As it lingered and became so harsh that my neighbors could hear me hacking up a lung *three houses away* with doors and windows closed, it was time to see the doc. Bronchitis!  Aw man. Treatment? Rest, hydrate, make sure my asthma is under control, and more rest. ARGH. I have things to do! But ... I guess it wouldn't be a good thing to hack up a lung during a job interview, so resting I am. 

This means everything I'd been planning for a great pre-halloween crating, give-away, and nifty week o' blog fun: cancelled. Next year. But once I'm no longer sleeping 20 hours a day, I'll work up some Christmas goodies.  And I can still do some giveaways, once I'm able to make it to the postoffice and back. It wouldn't be fun to win a giveaway and not get your prize!

Last sunbeam nap for a while...

We had our last sunbeam nap for the season a few days ago.  It's now rainy every day, and the few sunbreaks we get aren't worth much in warmth - just enough to cheer the soul, not heat it up!

So this nap's happiness will have to last her for a while...

 

I know I promised crafts and giveaways, but life got busy on me. Hoping with things calmed down a bit, this next week lets me catch up on projects and get some stuff up for you to win!

It's that time of year again!

 

Yes, it's candy pumpkin and candy corn time!

These little orange pumpkins just make me so very happy. I know they're just sugar and food coloring but I don't care.  They are pure bliss. 

Mobile Chowdown

This past weekend there was a confluence of mobile food vendors (that is, mobile vendors, not mobile food - walking sandwiches, eek!) in Seattle.  I stopped by, thinking to grab a bit of bbq and a delicious dessert of ice cream, but alas, I was thwarted by the unexpected:

 

CROWDS!  Who knew that on a cold windy Saturday in Seattle, hundreds and hundreds of people would turn out for a casual, word-of-mouth event in an empty gravelly lot behind a grocery store in a light industry neighborhood?!  (I'm amused by how many people are in black and dark colors on this, the first truly chilly weekend in Seattle. Where are all our colors?!)

One truck I really wanted to visit, el camion:

Then there was the truck-shaped-like-a-pig:

And my favorite, the Parfait Ice Cream truck - with my NOT favorite thing, a GARGANTUAN line snaking across the parking lot:

 

A view of the limited seats/tables, full, with more folks sitting on blankets and the bare cement/gravel:

Everyone there seemed happy, and all the folks I chatted with were resigned to the crowds and even joking about it.  And with the weather gods smiling, and no rain, folks could linger as long as they wanted.

I left empty-handed - not that the lines alone deterred me, but I was on my way to somewhere else with a timeline, so couldn't stay long. Upon hearing this one woman snatched a forkful of bbq from her take-away box and said "you MUST taste *something*!" and so I obliged. YUM.

I hope to catch Parfait in one of their normal weekend spots soon, to make up for the lines today.

Tomato Nation challenge - IT'S ON!

Port of Seattle Cruise 101

This Friday I had the chance to tour a cruise ship, the Holland America "Zaandam", courtesy of the Port of Seattle.  We got to run around on the ship, and saw a presentation by the Environmental Officer regarding waste treatment etc by the company and individual ships, and the Port of Seattle. Fascinating! While running around I was so busy gawking I forgot to stop and take good pictures!  So here are just a few quick shots I got.

Heading up the covered passenger gangplank, a massive 4-story inclined walkway from dock to level ... 4? I think? on the ship.

The oddly ornate-and-elegant-yet-cheap-and-tacky organ - which was the vibe of the whole ship. Beautiful, tacky, elegant, cheap, crowded, massive, it was so weird.

The other cruise ship in dock at the time, a Celebrity ship:

A 1790's man's outfit - gorgeous incredible embroidery, hand beading, handmade lace etc. Why they had this and another outfit on display, we couldn't figure out. They weren't Dutch, they weren't from any other time period of anything else on board the ship...

The two-story dining room - top floor is assigned seating, bottom floor is take what you can find.

How do you remember what day it is on board ship, where day/time doesn't seem to matter? The elevator floor mats tell you!

One of the pools, on the Lido Deck. I was told by a crew member that this pool is *crammed* full of people normally.  During loading, though, no one is swimming - and it is getting a bit cool out in Seattle.

Another pool, towards the stern. Why it was covered with netting, no one knew.

A view of Queen Anne hill and downtown Seattle:

View the other direction, of Magnolia, the marina, the bridge that no one can decide what to do about, the hillsides that lose houses once in a while during mudslides, etc. 

The "teens only" section of the ship:

Staff had been out swabbing down the decks before we came by:

View of the new cruise ship terminal, crab/fish boats, light industry, etc. This is the Interbay area, between Queen Anne hill and Magnolia hill, with Ballard to the north. 

Lots of warning signs all over the place.

Massive lifeboats:

The ship we toured:

The other ship in dock:

Looking out the cruise ship terminal to Puget Sound, with the gangplank:

It was a great tour, and I encourage folks to sign up for the Port of Seattle's email announcements so that you can join a tour too!  www.portseattle.org

SUN!

During the summer, the sun is too high for really good sunbeam action in the house. But the fall and spring are prime beam times, so we've been busy lately napping in them while they last.

Lots of action next week on the blog, crafts to share, giveaways, patterns, oh boy! Excitement! Or, um, not. But hey. At least lots of posts.

Little Cotton Rabbits giveaway

Look at this sweet rabbit that Little Cotton Rabbits is giving away!

Road - er, Ferry Trip

Mr Cow and I got out of town on Labor Day and spent the day out on the water. Walking on the ferry at Edmonds, we traveled to Kingston, got off the ferry, wandered around the marina and the town, had dinner at the Ale House, wandered around a bit more, then walked on the ferry again to head home with the city lights twinkling.

Here's the ramp for foot traffic at Edmonds, this leads you up to the ferry:

The day was just perfect - cool, rainy at times, cloudy, and some wind.

Sometimes the rainclouds would loom and darken the day
 

We saw fantastic cloud shapes all day - I saw a leaping rabbit in this one

I like ships' wakes

And then the rain squalls would hit us again

Then the ferry took an abrupt turn - because this idiot wouldn't get out of the way. Really? You want to play chicken with a *FERRY* in your little tin can of a motor boat?!!
 

The turn was needed anyway, as we were headed into Kingston ferry dock:

Kingston itself is about two blocks long up the hill, and one block along the waterfront - and that's it.

Here's the Kingston ramp for walk-on traffic:

And Kingston's nice city park with their new gazebo/stage, we'll have to make it over for a concert some lovely summer evening:

After a walk around the marina we headed into town (one block!) and to the Main Street Ale House. We splurged on fish and chips, accompanied by Moose Drool beer (YUM - lovely brown ale), and then splurged again for dessert: Chocolate Pate' with raspberry coulis and freshly made whipped cream:
 

With night falling we headed back to the ferry, perfect timing - we walked up to check the schedule and there it was, nudging into the dock to unload:
 

Night ferry rides are a favorite of mine, especially when you can catch the sun still shining over the Olympics but you're running along in pitch black:

And so to home and bed. We were soaking wet from the pounding rain, wind-blasted, cold, and so very happy. We're typically the only people outside on these ferry runs. Tourists and most natives alike seem to fear the elements - after about three minutes of being outside at the start of the run, everyone turns and goes back inside. I can't get enough of it - cold, hard wind! Splattering rain drops or stinging mist or wet wave splashes! That's my kind of ferry ride! I'm so not a tropical island gal...

Road Trip Video

Heading up Colockum Pass.  A wee bit bouncy.  Just a bit!

Road Trip!

So a few weeks ago I told my pal Mr Cow that we should go on another road trip.  We discussed where to go and decided on Leavenworth.  I pictured a quick trip up this side of Stevens Pass, a day in Leavenworth itself, a little hike up Icicle Creek, and driving back down the Pass.

HA.

I should have known, no road trip with Mr Cow goes as planned.

Our route ended up being: Seattle, heading out I90 west. Quick stop in North Bend to fuel up:

and off we go over Snoqualmie Pass and along Keechelus Lake

Next we had an errand to run in Cle Elum

We headed out into the surrounding farmland
 

On our way to Ellensburg and lunch with a dear friend. Where I forgot to take photos! Oops. Ah well, off we go again, north out of Ellensburg to Colockum Road.

We stopped to lock the truck hubs to get ready for 4-wheel driving, and got an early warning of the road conditions ahead...

So, up and over!

 

We took a quick stop to let our teeth stop rattling

 

We saw some wildlife

And some wirelife (ha ha)

It's tough to keep a fence up if you can't dig any post holes

We drove along the Coffin Reserve

We found an actual roadsign, made out of steel - and yet still some silly people blasted at them with shotguns.  Sigh.

We made a few wrong turns, but always found something wonderful - like this beautiful cool green glen, after a hot dusty afternoon

 We moved out of Ponderosa pines to more larches

But had to head back to pine country when we realized we were going deeper into the mountains, and not north to Wenatchee. We realized we were on the right road again with this view of the Columbia:

Looking off to the other side to Wenatchee
 

No photos of the bumpy slide down the Pass, we were too busy holding on! Holy cats, that was bumpy. We finally stopped in civilization to let the brakes cool off.

It was late enough in the day that we headed for home, a quick dinner in Wenatchee and a dash through Leavenworth. It was dark yet good conditions over Stevens Pass, and we were soon home. Whew!

I'm still finding dust from Colockum Pass in my hair, even though I've showered twice. That stuff is tenacious!

Farmers Market

Lots of flower vendors at the farmers market today, more than I remember from previous.  Root veggies are really starting to show up - I forgot to stop by the great potato booth on my way out, wah! Next week.

I indulged in flowers as my veggies turned out to be much cheaper than I expected.

 

Was tempted by, but did not give in to, the organic filet mignon. Droooooool.  Only 31 bucks!  (HA!)

And of course, had a slice of Verace' pizza - they had a line about 20 people long. Was worth the wait, as always.

Came home exhausted, sweaty, wiped out - my legs and hands are kind of shaky, I walked so many miles in the sun (yes, with a hat to shade my face!). Reminder to self: this is why you were going to get up early and go to the market at 10am, not 1pm! Not as many people, not as hot, not as many kids, and the pizza oven might not be ready yet to tempt you. :)

YAY! "United Breaks Guitars Song 2" is out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-UoERHaSQg

Catnap

I'm spending today getting caught up on paperwork, filing, emails etc. The cat is catching up on naps.

Dangit, now I'm craving pot stickers. At midnight.

YUM.

Safe haven

While I whirlwind around the house on a cleaning binge this weekend, the cat has found the one safe place:

Tidied herself away into a box and stayed there for hours. She went right back in again this morning when I started mopping the kitchen floor.

I scream for ice cream trucks

YUM.  Look what visited my neighborhood this afternoon?

It's the Parfait ice cream truck!  Oh, such deliciousness. They were already out of Orange Star Anise so I decided to be a purist and I got the Vanilla Bean. Pure bliss, it was. Creamy and rich but with a bit of granular texture, and lots of real vanilla bean bits - just how I like it. One scoop was almost too much ice cream, it was that good.  (I *forced* myself to finish it, mind you!)

Check out the website to see if they visit your Seattle neighborhood.