Cooking

In NY, we ate out or got take out almost every meal! Part of our new lifestyle here in Seattle is that we need to cook more at home.

I am not a great cook but I am trying to learn a bit and enjoy it. I have to be in the mood to do it. I am definitely the kind of person who can specifically follow a very detailed recipe but I need to be told exactly what to do, when to do it, and how to do it! I can't make up anything on my own! Today, I started with several new recipes that I would like to try this week and tried for the first time to actually plan meals ahead of time. (Do people really do that in real life? I am not sure how long that will last!) I went off to the store armed with a great healthy list of ingredients!

I, of course, knew I would get in trouble for photographing in the store. Indeed, this was the second photo I took in the store and I was instantly pounced on by employees who wondered what I was doing and if they could "help me". I always play totally dumb and say something like "Oh, I just thought the produce was so pretty" and I give them a dumb smile. Today I took it even further and asked the man to help me pick out a ripe mango (which totally distracted him from the fact that I had just been shooting)!

I struggled with this one for a long time for such a simple photo - I could never get the color balance quite right because of those strange store lights so in the end I gave up and made it black and white. My favorite part is the little glimpse of the old man in the background.

p.s. I made lasagna tonight and it was just "ok" - need to get a better recipe next time! I took pictures but it looked much worse than it was.

Running Route

This is the turn-around point on the basic 5k running route from our house. This is not the greatest photo of Seattle ever but I think it's kind of cool that this is the destination for our run! At twilight, when we usually run, it's even more beautiful!

Cat Nap

One of Mushroom's favorite things about our new place is the great napping sunbeams that the west-facing windows give us in the late afternoon.

I woke up just long enough to see all three of us cat napping in a sunbeam and take this photo.

Camping Ice Cream

M/T brought this nifty gadget for making ice cream while camping. All you need is some cream, ice, and salt and you shake it around in this ball for a while and voila! ice cream!

Camping Dinner

No one likes getting their pictures taken. But, I hope in like 5 years or so, they'll be glad they have them. Evidence and whatnot.

Smokey Joe

Smokey Joe didn't need much to get into the relaxed spirit of camping.

I spent most of today learning to play Cribbage for the first time. Later, in a heated Boggle tournament, I tried to use the word "neds" which all my friends laughed histerically at saying it was most certainly NOT a word and they wouldn't give me a point for it!

For those interested, I decided to simplify a bit (camping, you know) and take only one lens - my wide angle - so all my camping shots are taken with that.

More camping photos:
Camping!

Camping Views 3

Here is the view of our tent.

If you want to see more pictures from camping, go to the camping set on flickr:
Camping!

Camping Views 2

Here is the view, looking out, from our tent.

If you want to see more pictures from camping, go to the camping set on flickr:
Camping!

Camping Views

Here is the view, looking up, from our tent.

If you want to see more pictures from camping, go to the camping set on flickr:
Camping!

First Day of Camping 1

As soon as we arrived I was eager to photograph and document our camping trip! The result of this meant that all of my good photos came from the first day of camping, and then as the relaxation and apathy kicked in....I had no incentive to shoot on the following days!

If you want to see more pictures from camping, go to the camping set on flickr:
Camping!

Let's get ready for camping!

I spent all yesterday cleaning house, doing laundry, endless chores! so that we can be all ready to go away for the long weekend coming up.

Today, I was in charge of all the grocery shopping for the 6 of us going camping. This is the biggest grocery order I have ever done! It was a little strange buying food for other people so I took longer than usual - standing in front of each item going "I wonder if they care what brand of milk I get? There are grades to eggs? Which is the right bread? " and so on... I was afraid of getting busted for photographing in the store, so I had to shoot this quickly and on the sly!

When I got home, an apple made a break for it and rolled triumphantly down the hill!! Due to it's more perfect roundness, it got a bit farther than the veggies from last week. This time, I was amused instead of upset and we cheered the apple on as he got to the bottom of the hill, crossed the street all by himself, rolled along the curb, dodged a passing car, and disappeared onto the next street. We may go look for him later today just to see how far he made it.

Meta-cat

This is Mushroom in his meta-cat kitty tent.

Working in Close Quarters

Learning to work together, all day long, in our small but cozy office is proving to be a challenge, but kind of nice. I think you can see at least 4 computers in this shot - mine is in the background with the two big screens. Coffee on both our desks - and a sword in the background.

Flower

Braille

A mysterious package arrived in the mail yesterday that had been misdirected and
rerouted several times, beginning in our old Brooklyn neighborhood, and eventually followed us all the way across the country; but it was never meant for us.

It was marked fragile, and I opened it to find about 6 pages written in Braille. They are very simple, very beautiful pages that were stapled in the left corner. They clearly aren't anything as long as a book - but perhaps a letter? pages of a manuscript?

I find this all very mysterious and intriguing (which is fitting as Braille began as secret code). I wonder what they say?! But, at the same time, I prefer not knowing. That lets me imagine all sorts of possibilities and it would probably be a let down to learn the real meaning.

I have no idea who they were originally intended for and there is no way to return them. I am thinking I may use them for some purpose; but what?

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to two of my favorite ladies - my great aunt and my mom! This is one of my favorite old photos - taken in 1965 - because they look so happy. I have many fond memories of swinging on that old porch swing. This makes me wish I could go back in time and sit there and chat with them over some ice tea or lemonade. I also wish my mom had saved that great dress she's wearing because it reminds me of the one I wore out for our anniversary and I would love to wear it.

Drinks on the Links

I joined a mini-golf league called Drinks on the Links as a way of meeting new people. Basically, you pay $65 for the priviledge of playing golf and for the grab-bag of friends you may meet. Anyways, here's my team. There are many funny stories that I am not going to put on the internet. But, the two guys in the back, both named Peter, are now my first Seattle-met friends!

Uggh

I had "one of those days" today. Nothing went right for me at all.

I was unloading groceries from the car, on our street, which is a 45 degree angle hill and one of the bags split and all my produce went rolling away down the hill....a potato, an onion, a yellow pepper, a lemon...all just rolling, rolling, away from me. I have been pretty homesick lately and I am all alone this week and this was the last straw! I sat on the curb and cried!

But, I managed to pull myself together and take out my frustration on the veggies that I had left! Chop chop! Into a pot of chili you go! Mwwhuauauhahah!

Simple Pleasures

Not sure what this yarn will make but I am feeling happier just thinking about the possibilities! Stay tuned...

Highlights of today included: seeing a dog on a skateboard and a little boy washing his "tummy" in the park water fountain.

Alone in the city...

Had to drive J to the airport for a week away on a business trip. Since he's pretty much the only friend I have in our new city, it will be weird to have him away and be here all alone.

On the way home from the airport I drove by, got out in the freezing cold, and shot this photo of the city. I didn't do a "proper" job of it but I kind of like the bit of motion that makes things looks not quite right.

Bad couch

This is J at Ikea being happy that we didn't buy this much less expensive, much less comfy couch!

Sea Anemone

I saw my first sea anemone on our hike down to the beach.

So that's what the outdoors is like!

Lovely day today. Forced J to get away from work and the house for a few hours too and we went on a nice long hike through Discovery Park. It's amazing to me that a few minutes from our house we can hike through meadows, forest, and down to the beach. A huge life improvement in a little small way!

New Haircut

Self-portrait.

Assembly

This pretty much sums up the day!

Anniversary Dinner 2

Anniversary Dinner 1

We went to an amazing restaurant called Canlis. It was the best dining experience I have ever had, any where in the world. It made for a wonderful anniversary dinner! The staff was amazing and so sweet. They offered to take our pictures too!

Anniversary

This weekend is our first wedding anniversary. We got dressed up and went out to an amazing restaurant to celebrate but first, we put the camera on the little tripod and took photos with the self-timer!

I like this one because it shows all the mess of our house in the background - from the recent move - and that makes it much more of an environmental portrait - placing us in this time/place in our lives as well as just photographing us. It has "first year of marriage" written all over it. Also, to me, it has an old-fashioned snapshot portrait look to it like old photographs I have seen of my great aunts and uncles from the 30's and 40's.

Kitchen Window

I have always wanted a kitchen window and now I have a big, beautiful one that catches the afternoon light just perfectly!

Seattle Day

Today was the first day I would call a "Seattle Day" where we got what people think of as Seattle weather - dark clouds, rain, more rain, stop raining suddenly, sunshine and blue sky, freezing cold, terrible wind, cold mist, etc., etc.

I was out and about a bit today and saw lots of things to photograph but didn't have a camera, which is unusual for me.

So I just yelled to J "I'm going out in the backyard to find something to shoot!" and off I went to find raindrops on the deck that looked like continents and polka dots and mercury.

Couch Shopping 2

Here is the couch we bought. This is the one in the store but it looks just like it, with different pillows. It should arrive in 6-8 weeks! I am so excited!

Couch Shopping 1

Here's how happy J is to be couch shopping.