Whitest Christmas in Memory

Snow storms and snow flurries, snow mixed with rain, heaps and piles and long rows of slush in the street. Christmas 2008 in Seattle. A mellow couple of days at home, family gathering postponed after another heavy snowfall. Soon it will start warming and flooding and raining. Oh, rain. Yes! Really looking forward to that. Here's the view from the living room window:

A Visit to my Ancestors

I was feeling out of sorts today but my neighbor pal came by and off we tromped over ice and snow up to the cemetery at the top of the hill. The beauty and stillness were awesome. We found my grandparents' grave and brushed off the snow so the inscription on the stone was visible. Then we went to Macrina for coffee. No more blues!



Tonight I made a batch of bourbon balls to give out tomorrow at the Christmas eve gathering (if it doesn't snow too much tonight). This amount of snow and the way it is sticking around so long is mind-boggling for this Seattle native. Oh, btw, we came back to Seattle just as the first flakes of the big snow were falling, so David could go to the Messiah at Town Hall on Saturday night. I'm actually glad to be back in the bigger house for a while and it's fun to be around family and friends again. We had an impromptu gathering the other night because our niece and one of our nephews were crashing here on their way back home for Christmas, so we ended up with eight around the table for lamb and white bean soup and lots of wine and laughter. "Ratsie" even joined us for fruit and cheese after soup and salad. (Our niece arrived with three chickens and a pet rat.) I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of the rat. It was really cute, like the star of Ratatouille.

Name Change

I just changed from my "real name" to "Julz of the World" because something triggered a happy memory of when as a kid I had a great job at the Seattle World's Fair giving coffee breaks to all the salespeople at Jewels of the World. There were dozens of them and each person sold costume jewelry from a different country. They were always happy to see me since it was their only chance to have a smoke or take a pee. The boss was a rough-mannered Puerto Rican Jew who told me he learned English watching movies over and over. Off at one end of the store paying customers could fish for a pearl in an oyster from a shallow pool tended by Japanese girls in traditional kimonos and one dude dressed in Japanese garb, but he was Korean. When we became friends, he told me about the historical animosity between the Koreans and the Japanese and that he didn't like having to associate with these girls, but, a job was a job. He was a very cool guy and if anyone knows Dong Yul Lee, the very good looking one who had been in the Korean air force before leaving for the US, tell him hi for me.

The name change (the "World" part) forces me to look at why I never want to go anyplace anymore, not even to Canada for New Year's, after a life-time of travel plans, adventures and yearnings for more. Is this the first stage of that phobia that keeps people virtual prisoners in their own homes?

Winter is Upon Us Now

Today I have been working on a small painting and watching birds flock to the snow covered deck for the bran flake crumbs and quinoa I put out for them to supplement the suet that hangs from the eaves. They seem very hungry. Right now one of the flickers is on the suet, a hummingbird just buzzed its feeder, and the chickadees, towhees, juncos and sparrows are flitting back and forth. They get aggressive with each other each time I put out a new little stash of something tasty for them. Eventually, they begin to share.
White-capped waves are rolling toward us today, but nothing like two days ago when the wind was howling out of the south, making the biggest waves we've seen so far. That day the lights flickered a couple of times and David went outside and made preparations for hooking up to the neighbors' generator, if we should lose power. Fortunately, we didn't. It's so cold we're actually running the electric heat plus the wood stove, as the fire isn't quite enough to cut through the chill that settled in over night. Besides that, we're running very low on seasoned wood and trying to burn the fresh cut as much as possible.
Looks like we got almost an inch of snow last night but it came late enough not to interfere with our opening and anniversary celebration at the gallery. David opted to stay home. Even the enticement of a string trio couldn't pry him out of his chair. He was tired from a long bicycle ride he'd gone on with the local club, those few members who weren't put off by the frigid weather. The gathering at the gallery was festive and fun. People are in good spirits in spite of the news that several members are dropping out. I'm excited about getting the notice posted in Artist Trust and hoping to get a good response.

Autumn #4

Autumn #4
Originally uploaded by JuliMil

I'll be having a show in April and I'm thinking the paintings will be grouped into the four seasons, either by subject or by colors. Now the autumn landscapes are done, time to get started on winter. That will be challenging as it's so bleak around here this time of year.

Orca Sighting

Today around mid-morning something out on the water caught my eye -- a small skiff, stationary, with a single occupant. Then, ah ha! three Orcas surfaced! The skiff had "Research" written prominently along its hull and was observing the whales as they made their way quickly north. Just a few days ago I'd been thinking of the possibility of seeing Orcas this winter here in Puget Sound, so this sighting was pretty exciting.

I'm happy to be back after a couple of days in Seattle. Had dinner with dear friends, struggled through Pilates, went shopping, cooked up a brown rice and vegetable dish for the monthly "Cena", dashed downtown to SAM to see the Hopper show and do lunch with Connie, more errands and finally, we got the ferry to Kingston. A funny thing happened. For the first time, by becoming so engrossed in my book, I missed getting back to the car and had to walk off the ferry and meet up with David further up the road. It was cold and dark but the holiday lights at the Port and all along the road were cheery.

It's so peaceful here. The sight of water so soothing. It's great to be back.

WSU has a Pet Memorial

WSU sent us a letter and brochure about their Pet Memorial Program in the College of Veterinary Medicine because our vet on Queen Anne had made a donation in Pepper's name. I was so touched at the time that I'm getting all weepy again thinking about it. I just sent them a photo of Pepper and a little blurb about him to join the other beloved pets that are memorialized on their website. Here's the link:

http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/PetMemorial/Default.aspx

Unfinished Painting and Pre-holiday Musings

Two hours of sifting and sorting through notes from previous Thanksgivings, making shopping lists and detailing those items that must be transported from the Seattle house (having breakfast at the same time), then looking for the cranberry relish recipe that used to be on the cranberry bag and researching the perfect method for roasting the turkey -- whew!  I just want to get back to my paintings now.  The painting is going well, especially the last thing I did last night -- loosely brushing in the beginnings of trees against a luminous background.  This sort of effect tends to get lost as the painting gets finished.  This time will be different! (I hope.)  

Now, if I can just tear myself away from this comfy couch with the view of birds on the suet, hummingbirds at their feeder and the soft light on the Sound, I might get some work done before it's time to get ready for my 2 o'clock shift at the gallery.  Oh, today the Dish Network is sending out a repair man.  We have "drift" and no TV since Thursday night.  We miss trouble free cable TV.  Comcast is getting closer but hasn't reached our road yet.  This is a very slight and really inconsequential flaw in "country living" and the only one I can think of so far.  Even heating with a wood stove, lots of work, is satisfying.  Yesterday we went up in the woods and sawed up parts of a big tree, maybe a wild cherry, that had been down maybe since last year. We hauled out four wheelbarrow loads of fire wood.  It really was enjoyable working in the woods in the fresh air.

7:15 am

8:15 am
Originally uploaded by JuliMil

High rise buildings of downtown Seattle outflanked by Mt. Rainier, seen from our deck this morning. I was out there in my bathrobe watching the light changes and when the hummingbirds started coming to the feeder their iridescent colors and red patches were brilliant. Didn't get any good photos, though, in the dim light.

We are So Screwed

This came from a friend in Canada.  The damage done by Bush and his buddies these last days of his regime is truly criminal.  Just the thought gives me a stomach ache.


Quote of the Week:

'I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.'

Thomas Jefferson 1802

Garden of Mystery

What is this that came up in my garden?  Does anyone care to venture a guess?

And this?

Big clue below:

Here's the envelope the seeds came in.  I can identify the kale, two kinds of lettuce and mizuna, so that leaves "corn salad" and Tah Tsai mustards.  Maybe I should look at google images.

Young Maple

Snapped on the return trip from the Long Beach Peninsula at a rest stop on I-5

Pak Choi or Bok Choy?

Pak Choi or Bok Choy?
Originally uploaded by JuliMil

Anyone know the difference?

It's November and I have an abundance of this in my still-growing garden. Kept an eye on the weather all day and dashed out just before dark to pick a big bag full for Jacob and some (too much!) for myself.

Lunch in Astoria

Lunch in Astoria
Originally uploaded by JuliMil

Seared Tuna Salad, after quickly devouring one piece of tuna at the Baked Alaska Cafe on an old pier overlooking the vast Columbia River in Astoria, Oregon. We loved the food as well as Jeanne, our friendly, enthusiastic and efficient server.

Smoked Oysters

Smoked Oysters
Originally uploaded by JuliMil

The Long Beach Peninsula has always been fascinating to me and these five days have been a real treat, especially since our friends Gerry and Nancy came down to join us for a while. Yesterday after they left we took a scenic drive to Ilwaco and Cape Disappointment, then meandered eastward along the Columbia River and crossed the magnificent bridge to Astoria. We had a great lunch there then walked through the historic downtown, window shopping and munching goodies from an old fashioned Danish bakery. And, we have two more cans of smoked oysters to take home.

Saddest of News

Pepper, formerly known as "The Devil Dog", more recently considered the sweetest schipperke in the world, took his last little walk yesterday morning and then collapsed, all used up.  Certainly, he had more close calls and adventures in his sixteen years than most dogs.  He survived a night of frigid winter weather in coyote country in New Mexico,  he got run over by a car in front of our Seattle house and survived with just some sore spots and, as Jacob remembers, "the shit squished out of him", he led all the dogs at the off-leash area under or over the fence and down the cliff and back again -- these are just a few memories of a most independent and high spirited dog who could never ignore an interesting scent.  We buried him in a beautiful spot overlooking Puget Sound.  It's been really painful.  Anyone who has truly loved a pet knows.  

Hitchhiker 2

Hitchhiker 2
Originally uploaded by JuliMil

Same little frog, different view.

Hitchhiker 1

Hitchhiker 1
Originally uploaded by JuliMil

I was driving along a country road and look what hopped onto the hood of my car!  After taking these two photos, I gave him a gentle poke and he only moved over a little, so I poked him again, he peed an impresive stream and leaped back into the woods. 

Technology and Nature: The Untameables

Cloudless sunrise over the Cascades this morning revealed thick fog over south Puget Sound and behind downtown Seattle.  I wrestled the spotting scope off the tripod and replaced it with my old Nikon film camera equipped with telephoto lens.  I've been unhappy with the results from my little digital camera, trying to capture the variety of boat traffic on the Sound so rescued the old SLR from storage.  Hoping the rising sun would glaze Mt. Rainier with a rosy glow like it did some months ago plus light up the towers downtown, I made coffee and waited, but no luck, the fog moved in and the scene got hazy.  Took a shot anyway and when I finish the roll and put it on a disk I'll see the results.  We get so spoiled by digital technology!

Speaking of technology, I've had my share of failures in the last 24 hours.  First, a very embarrassing email went out with my ragged, rough notes from the gallery meeting instead of the  three page polished to near-perfection version of the minutes it had taken hours to write. Panic!  Fortunately, the finished version was still in Documents, in some strange form that didn't allow it to be attached.  Those nasty notes kept attaching in my experiments.  After a call to my Mac guru, GVW, the problem was resolved and the minutes went out to the gallery members.  Huge sigh of relief as I poured a welcome glass of wine to go with my comfort food dinner (blue corn tortilla chip nachos).  Relief was short-lived because the internet connection soon failed.  A long phone intervention by the ISP tech repair determined that the problem was in our Time Capsule router, so I called Apple, but they were gone for the night.  That was last night and now this morning it's fixed, thanks to Apple tech repair in Ottawa.   Correction: It was not fixed. I had to take it back to Apple and then the new one didn't work right, so I had to take it back, and fight with the store manager because I didn't bring the box it came in.
The world is in financial meltdown but we still have the internet.  How cool is that?  The last techno issue is the satellite TV.  This morning a repair guy is coming to see why it suddenly shuts off plus I'm hoping he can improve the picture quality.

David left early in the morning to keep an appointment with the insurance adjuster for the boat and Jacob had gone back to Seattle the night before, so I was alone all day except for when neighbor Janet came over with two more balls of homemade butter.  When the internet connection failed, I suddenly felt so isolated.  It makes a big difference when living kind of remote like this. 

Yesterday was lovely prior to things messing up.  I was outside all day, landscaping.  The bed along the woodsy side of the house is finally done after digging down and sifting out an astounding amount of pebbles, stones and vinca roots.   Neighbor Joe's handy sifting screen really did a job!  The horrible, invasive vinca is now replaced with azaleas, pieris japonica and a single Yuletide camellia in the center between the windows.  In five years or so, it should look great!  After lunch, I went back out and worked on a border of beach rocks that used to be imbedded among grass and weeds in the flower beds.  Now they're placed in a partial ring over cardboard and landscape fabric around the former fire pit transformed into a drought tolerant garden.  I had used leftover plastic from construction materials under the rocks, but garden guru Dori advised me against that, so they all had to be moved and washed.  Today I plan on doing more digging and sifting out of rocks and gravel and planting the last azalea.    The wax myrtle still needs a home in the ground.  Jacob was here so briefly I didn't get him to dig the hole.  David doesn't do gardening.  Lucky I love it!  It's a beautiful day and time to go out and play in the garden.

McLame and the S & L Bailout

Keating Economics | Watch the Video and Share It with Your Friends

Tempestuous Times

Lots of wind today.    The mast broke on our boat while David was racing and both the mast and mainsail were lost.  It was hard to walk a straight line on the ferry.  We passengers grinned foolishly at each other as we staggered about.  Getting back after a quick trip to Seattle,  I noticed a big pile of maple boughs beside our lane and later heard that a neighbor's visitors had cleared them off for me, just being helpful.  People seem to look out for each other around here.  A few days ago, Pepper wandered off the property and a neighbor, one of the old-timers, tracked me down to tell me he was at her place, eating cat food she puts out for a wild cat.  I'm grateful for the help and feeling of community on our road.  Although I did have a bad moment a few days ago when I discovered my newly placed Obama/Biden sign tossed high into the bushes.  I fished it out, put it back up and there it has remained.

Earlier today I caught This American Life's in depth report on the financial crisis.  The descriptions of reckless excess among high level speculators were staggering.  I'm thinking the damage they did to our financial security is comparable to al-Qaeda's attacks on the Twin Towers.  I'm grieving for all of us whose lives will be forever changed by the simple fact that people in power who had the ability to rein in the speculators chose not to,  in the mistaken belief that the wizards of Wall Street knew what they were doing.  The future is always a mystery, but tonight it's looking especially grim.

Back in Town for a Bit

Good  Morning from Seattle!  Here's a note I just sent  to "Zanelle":

"It's an hour earlier than I planned to get up.  The clock radio by the bed got mis-set by an hour somehow.  Last night I fell asleep thinking about the determination and focus of some people, like Obama, for setting a goal and putting all their intelligence and energy into achieving that goal.  I felt so inspired to do that in my own life, so this morning I did a little pencil brain storming and pinpointed three areas:  Painter, Gardener and Studio Planner, and all the offshoots of those three.  Big on the Painter was Design Elements, so I came to the computer to search but just had to check the email first, and there you were, so here I am, off target as usual!  Oh well!  Friends are the most important thing in life!"

Well, that extra hour went fast so I'm off to the gym for Pilates, coffee with friends, and a slew of construction related errands.  

Other side

Best side -- other side will be alongside our neighbors' mailbox.
Originally uploaded by JuliMil

Stamped and sealed

Stamped and sealed
Originally uploaded by JuliMil

Soon our presence will be official on this remote road -- USPS will have one more box to fill with junk mail and the odd bill. David needs to hike up the hill with some lumber and tools to rebuild the existing roadside stand. Our part is rotten.

The sun is hot this morning. I had to strip down to almost nothing to finish up the vacuuming. Managed to clean the whole house while listening to Breakfast with the Beatles from 8 to 10, vacuuming during the commercials. Pepper is taking his third or fourth nap of the morning while I sit here looking out at the whitecaps on the water and the mountains way to the east that have slowly emerged from the huge fog bank that hung over the Seattle side. Once the few lingering items in the kitchen sink are washed, I will decide what else to do on this beautiful day, before heading over to Kingston and the ferry. Tonight we're having dinner with Joni and Dennis at the best Vietnamese restaurant in Seattle, the Green Leaf. Just in time, I'm getting a little tired of leftover pasta.

Pepper just teetered out the door to pee and I'll pry myself out of the chair to make a phone call to my garden guru about a box of sawdust.

Too Much Yellow!

Very risky business undertaken this morning -- I reworked the colors on a "finished" painting that never seemed to my liking.  I think it's better now, more harmonious.  Feeling lots of energy out here in Kingston and it looks like David is, too, as he has been busy working on the cabin renovations, filling in for Jake while he is on his trip to SF.  They've started the tiny but very beautiful bathroom, where I get to try my hand at tiling.  Today we're driving up to Hansville.  David will ride his bike back and I'll stop in at the Dragonfly Nursery again, maybe get a Pacific wax myrtle to keep the little red twigged dogwood company.  Two variegated pieris japonicas are waiting to be planted, too, and the rest of those daffodil bulbs.  It's hard work digging in the rocky soil here but my long-handled claw-type twisty tool that Garry recommended helps immensely.  The first debate is tonight and it will feel good to sit down and watch.  

Perspective

Newly installed Dish Network injects 250 channels into our little house overlooking the Sound.  TV comedians reap a bonanza of juicy material as the presidential campaign slogs on and the economy goes into nightmare mode.  It's late, it's dark.  Seattle's lights twinkle across the water, a friendly sight, but I feel a sense of deepening dread over what the geniuses in the financial world have wrought.  All day long I'm busy with tasks and don't think about national news, except on those days when I tune in to Air America, and today, with David in the house, there was no radio on. 

Got up early and painted another Pepper portrait on a block of wood.  Put a coat of clear acrylic on the mailbox, to protect the 100's of stamps from the weather.  Drove to Poulsbo with David to buy a chainsaw and see if the witch hazel was still among the offerings at Home Depot (it wasn't).  Had lunch at JJ's Fishhouse and coffee at the Poulsbohemia.  Back home, I organized the woodpile so there would be room for the fallen maple we're going to cut up with the new chainsaw and I pruned and cleaned up a lot of plant debris along that side of the house.  Then I moved up to the property line, dug a big hole and planted the red twigged dogwood between two scrawny laurels.  By then, it was 6 pm, I was tired and I let myself get sucked into watching "Bird on a Wire" on HBO, enjoying Mel Gibson as if he had never fallen from grace.  Made a stir fry with leftover rice and a big bunch of greens from the garden, garlic, ginger, fish sauce and orange juice.  

I need to remember where I've planted the daffodil bulbs.  There are groups of 5 to 7 in a big planter, in the raised bed where the cabbage didn't survive, down in the circle, up by the azalea . . .  . and that's a little more than half.  Another bunch will go along the garage and I'm not sure about the rest.

Every day here is busy but there's always time to pause and look down at the beach and across the water, watching birds and boat traffic, inhaling the cool, fresh air, feeling the wind and again and again appreciating our good fortune.  It's only at night when the tv is on and that satellite beams another reality into the house.  At least, the comedians keep us laughing.