Dearest friend.
I will miss you tremendously.
Safe journeys.
We'll see each other again one day.
I love you.

brrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Michael and I took Eem-er up to Harewood Mines for a walk yesterday. Holy Frostbite, Batman. Seriously. There were no other tracks through the snow up there yet. We thought we would be blazing the first trail. Sweet!

We hiked less than a third of our normal walk...which, really, is none too strenuous to begin with. The snow was deep and cold. Beneath it, ice and mushy puddles.

My feet would feel so heavy and when I would down, there would be a huge ball of ice stuck to my shoelaces. My jeans were soaked to my knees. Eem-er started the walk in her red, sheepskin-lined coat(don't laugh, that little dog just can't take this weather), but not far into the walk, it was doing nothing but holding a layer of snow and ice next to her skin. Once the coat came off, she was ready to roll....

for about five minutes. This poor little girl just can't take it....

Look at how miserable she is...she just STOPPED walking. When I went to see if she was alright, she literally climbed up me to get out of the snow. That's a pretty desperate thing for her, since she really HATES being carried. There was ice between her poor toes and she just shook and shook. What else could I do? I carried her...until I fell, plunging her, myself and the camera into the snow. Nice.

So, Michael dried the camera(whew) and I tried to warm my aching hands(didn't have gloves on), Eem-er decided to try walking on her own...for about 45 seconds. Then she stopped walking again, waited for me to come to her and crawled into my arms again, even with the knowledge that I had just dumped her in the snow a minute earlier.

By the time we reached the car, I couldn't use my fingers anymore...so cold they felt like they were burning.

We all hunkered around the pellet stove when we got home...we must get a bigger pillow with room for everyone.

still snowing....

The snow stopped, cleared, then started again....and now it's cold enough to stay around a few days...until there is another snowfall predicted. Sigh.

I know, I know....some folks love it. Me? Not so much.

So I am hunkered in, watching the Polar Express and thinking that I really need to figure out a present for Michael in the next two days since work will be crazy after that...and avoiding my Christmas cards for one more night. It is the Polar Express, after all...it's just that good.

it's officially winter now....

West coast winter's first snow....

it's mush already, and sloppy, and soon it's going to freeze into a sheet of ice...and fools out there can't drive in it or on it, but think they can...our house is on the ambulance/fire/police route and the sirens just keep going so we know how well they're driving....

by the way...have you ordered your local free-range Christmas turkey yet??? Don't wait too long...

Heidi, HELP

Miss Hick Chic...please have Jethro watch this and tell me what Martin, er, Mr. Sexton is using at 3 minutes and 24 seconds for that sound. All I can find in google is Moog Synthesizer. He used this at the concert I saw. It was the most amazing thing ever.
I want to be able to do this at home...all the time.

Wouldn't that be the best?

Rainy Days and Sundays...

Man, the lighting during a west coast winter doesn't really work for outdoor photos...with the flash on at noon, all my pictures look like I am out with the camera at midnight. That's how it is here, though. The long Grey...today looks pretty good for some sun a little later, though after the rain, it'll be a soggy doggy walk.

The hooker traffic and drug traffic seem to be picking up again on our street. Somebody somewhere must be making a push to clean up their street. I don't know why they always come back here...and there's rats living in and under the garage next door. I am so very NOT THRILLED by that. Doesn't seem like the neighbours intend to do anything about it and I don't know what that means for us. I can handle a mouse in the house every once in a while, but if I come across a rat...or if they get into our garage with the old vw van? Or bite my dog while she's in the yard?

I put up our five Christmas decorations the other day...and still don't feel very Christmas-y. Maybe once we get a tree...don't have a clue for a gift for Michael. Anyone got any ideas for me?

I don't seem to find much to write about these days...nothing seems to flow. I have to reach for every word...

...but at least I have been reaching for the camera again. And that feels alright.

There must be a story here....

and I hope it's not a sad story. The other morning I woke up(a relative term considering my sleep of late) and went out to walk the dog and found this painted along the curb across the street from my house. Darling

it's not like I

believe inever-lasting love.

So many questions...who is Darling? Who wrote this? Will Darling ever see it and recognize it for what it is? Darling seems such a lovely name to call someone you will not have everlasting love for....

I think, in fact, perhaps, the writer MAY just believe in ever-lasting love and is trying to be brave in the face of something...but maybe that is just my own romatic ideals coming into play. The funny thing is, I was pretty much awake all night the night this happened, me and my friend insomnia...but for some strange reason, I never did pull back the curtains that night, as is my usual habit on nights I cannot sleep. I just wandered from living room to bedroom from couch to bed to easy chair and back again. Maybe I wasn't meant to know the story...maybe it was meant to fuel my imagination.

OlyWa

Remember how I went home not too long ago? I got to walk Capitol Lake a few times. The weather was beautiful and there were lots of folks out enjoying the views.

I wonder how many times I have walked this lake in my life....

Dome over the lake...with skies and clouds.

Yummy.

Yummy.

Yummy.

This is the last free artesian well in Olympia...there used to be 13 or more, free-flowing clear, crisp clean water. I used to get my water here. All gone now. This one will be gone too, soon. The non-profit agency that tested the water twice a month will no longer be testing it. It will be gone. One more piece of history...so freaking sad.

Well, not sure what this post is really about...