I thought we'd had an impressively stormy spring already, but this past week was especially dramatic. The week started cool and overcast, but Wednesday morning the the sun was shining and temperature began to climb. Throughout the afternoon, clouds began to gather and conspire, eventually deciding on a torrential downpour to lull me to sleep that night. Thursday, along with the previously mentioned rain, saw a series of intense thunderstorms, with more lightning than we see in most seasons packed into one day! By Friday morning, the sun was once again shining, as if nothing had happened. Andy and I had taken Friday off to drive to Wenatchee for his dad's 60th birthday. After the storm, the rivers were crashing alongside the highway well above their usual spring levels, and I could barely resist the temptation to stop for photos or even a short hike. With Andy driving there were no stops, and we made good time to our destination.
Read moreLife: Week 52
The last week of 2016 was filled with snow, sunshine, family, and sweets! Most of it was spent in Wenatchee, celebrating a belated Christmas with Andy's family. After the hectic scramble leading up to Christmas this year, this was the perfect way to end the year, and start off 2017. We spent hours playing with new games and toys and reading new books with our niece and nephew. We drank hard cider made by my father-in-law from the apples on Vashon and limoncello made by my brother-in-law from the lemon tree in their backyard. We ate far too much delicious food, as we usually do when we visit Andy's dad. We stayed up late playing cards and dice, and catching up on life. We went on several snowy adventures, including two snowshoeing treks, with hot cocoa - or hot rum cider! - to warm us up after. Sadly like all good things, it had to end, but with 2017 off to such a good start, I'm optimistic about the year to come!
Read moreLife: Week 47
So much eating! Andy and I had not one but two Thanksgivings this year, and both times, I ate so much that I wasn't really hungry until late afternoon the next day. It's been along time since I've eaten that much rich food. At this point I feel like I need to eat nothing but salads for a month to feel like myself again. Since I've got nothing but holiday parties, travel, and visits with family on all my weekends until the new year, I don't think I'll get much of a reprieve until then. I guess in the meantime I'll just have to enjoy the cakes, pies, cookies, roasts, and gravy while I can. Maybe by Christmas, I can get the hang of taking smaller portions of everything so I don't end up with such a heaping plateful of food at every meal. Still, there are much worse problems to have than too much good food!
Read moreLife: Week 21
Hooray for long weekends! Since we both had Monday off, Andy and I took the opportunity to spend some time in Wenatchee. We ate barbecue and lemon meringue pie, and I made some progress on knitting, then spent hours reading (this book) in the sunshine while Andy played with power tools in the garage. On Sunday, we went for a short hike from the Mission Ridge ski area. Even though it was a beautiful day, and a short hike, we had the lake to ourselves for a while. It can be so lovely to get away from home for just a couple days, and totally worth the rather terrible holiday weekend traffic we had to sit in on Highway 2!
Read moreLife: Week 9
I started the week with an exhausting one day trip to Sacramento for work. I was at the airport by 5:30 AM, and didn't get home until 10:30 PM. At least I made it to the airport with enough time to pick up an enormous coffee and breakfast. Thankfully the rest of the work week was mostly uneventful. What really made this week splendid was the weekend spent in Wenatchee. With my sister-in-law and niece in town, we dashed over to the sunnier side of the Cascades for some much needed family time. We played games, read stories, and explored the yard. While spring seems much further off in eastern Washington, the crocuses poking up all over the yard were a sign of spring to come. After such a lovely weekend, it was difficult to get in the car and head back home, but we managed.
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