Avalon

It seems strange to see the Avalon sitting on a different ways other than her own. This picture was taken in the early 80's at a shipyard on Marine View Dr. in Tacoma while she was having a little minor surgery. I got a kick out of her name hanging all cattywampus. Most people paint the name on the boat, but because Antone made numbers for us of our street address, which to this day hang on our house, I know he must have made those letters too.

MERCURY LN7

This was a fun car. My oldest bought it when in high school and eventually gave it to another highschooler years later when he was just about to turn 16. It got great gas mileage and ran like a fine swiss watch. Other than it not being an automatic, I wish we still had it as it was fun to drive, great for hauling stuff and as it had only two seats there was no room for anyone else except the dog :o)

I stuck in another of Maureen Dowd's columns cause it says it all.

Yellow Cadillac

My kids gave me a fun scanner for Christmas. It's for slides and negatives and doesn't have to be connected to a computer as it has it's own little memory card which goes into a slot on my computer. Among my first test/learning pictures was this one of our old Cadillac. We were in the market for a new car and had always bought "new", but this tme we fell in love with this car, don't ask me why. We saw it on display at the Cadillac car lot in Tacoma, talked to the previous owner who said it ran great, but he had just wanted new, we bought it and enjoyed that "boat" for quite a few years, making one of our trips to Disney Land with two of our boys. It was a nice size for someone 6 foot 2, but for someone 5 foot 3 it was a bit big so we traded it in for our next car: a gorgeous, dark green, 1982 Monte Carlo.

Pickin Peas

This girl loves her peas....and she especially loves them when she gets to sit at the big people's table. Inge will be two in just two more months and is such a sweet child :o)

How Politics Works

I, personally, can't stand Maureen Dowd, but did get a kick out of her column this week. Politics is sooooo rotten.

Pearl

Pearl's Restaurant, right smack in downtown Purdy, is a long past memory for most of us, but those memories came flooding back when I came across this picture of Pearl and my sister's oldest son, Tom. We lived just up the street and mom would take him for an occasional visit and treat.

I did my stint there the summer I graduated from high school. My job was peeling potatoes and running them through the french fry cutter plus, washing the glasses and silverware in the sink behind the counter, which made it easy to visit with customers as they dined. It was a fun summer because a few of my classmates also spent their summer employed there before we went off to college. She always cooked us whatever we wanted after closing and my choice every single night was a plate of delicious deep fried scallops with a chocolate milk shake to wash it down...made the old fashioned way, with scoops of vanilla ice cream and plenty of chocolate !!!! Good God...my arteries must be in shambles!!! She was known miles around for the wonderful homemade pies she made early each morning, especially the wild blackberry pie.....made with the tiny wild blackberries that are so hard to find and so hard to pick.

One special memory of mine is when on my wedding day a few years later, she brought up a pan of her wonderful homemade cinnamon rolls for our breakfast. I have never seen anyone work as hard as she did, with the help of her hubby Gil, and sister Evelyn, which explains why they had such a successful business.

The restaurant has changed hands many times since they sold, but has never been the same.

Spinnakers

If you were visitng Perth, Australia a couple weeks ago or are lucky enough to call it home, you could have watched these young people race their boats just off the beach.

One of my scrabble buddies, who I met online, lives with her hubby and two children in Perth. She is a teacher, has irish ancestry as I do, and as it's summer right now, they are busy with summer activities. Her son, Ian, captaining the boat with the orange spinnaker, has been racing since he was in grade school, from one side of the country to the other, plus crewing in a race in Spain. It has been fun hearing about their life in OZ, especially the fact that they can eat their Christmas dinner out in their backyard !! I hope we continue our scrabble games and friendship for a long long time to see how far and where his sailing takes him.

An Uneasy Feeling

Victor Davis Hanson has "an uneasy feeling". Why don't you take the time to read his editorial.
I also suggest reading Thomas Sowell. He is, I think, my favorite writer.
And just for fun read the advice to Sasha and Malia from Jenna and Barbara.

Little People

While reading our daily paper online this morning, I remembered to check on one of my favorite local bloggers. She is a talented writer, in fact so talented that she is actually linked in the TNT.

I scrolled down to the story titled, It's The Little Things and immediately identified with her passion for collecting. I too have a collection of little things and they sit on top of the old china cabinet that was my grandmother's, which by the way, is filled with the china that she left me when she died.

The most special of my little people is the geisha doll that dad brought back from one of his trips to Japan. His ships traveled to many a port and many a gift he brought home to my sis and me. There were dolls from south america, a fez from India lined with a 1940's newspaper mentioning how the war was going, a tiny silver bracelet from Peru and wooden geta (clogs) from Japan to name a few.

I can tell you where each little "thing" came from sitting atop the chest, including the Matryoshka doll that my sis brought from Russia , and none is so precious that it can't be touched by the little hands of my grandchildren :o)

Maryline Blackburn

Maryline Blackburn will be singin for the president. She lives in Smyrna, Georgia, was born in Europe, but grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska and won the Miss Alaska contest in 1984, in which Sarah Palin finished second runner-up.

She's a singer with a "wide spectrum of performing experiences" and has opened and performed with Celine Dione, Bob Hope and many others.

Now, a quarter-century later, that crown is earning her more accolades, due in part to recent headlines regarding her competitor in that pageant: Sarah Palin.

The singer has been invited to represent Alaska at two inaugural balls during the daylong festivities planned to welcome president-to-be Barack Obama into office. They are the Legends Ball, hosted by Dionne Warwick; and the Urban Ball, hosted by rapper Ludacris.

I do think the governor of Alaska has hit the biggest stage of all though, some twenty-five years later.

Big Mountain Brrrrrrr

A while back I showed you a picture of my neice and her sweety trout fishing. In this shot, they were skiing the weekend, at Big Mountain, Montana. I think it must be near Whitefish, the town where they live and I think that must be Whitefish Lake in the distance. Frozen Stiff... Brrrrrrr. It looks mighty cold as they are bundled up from head to toe.

It reminds me of the Squaw Valley ski area where we skied when young. One of the things on my bucket list is going by train from here to there and beyond, say Chicago, in a sleeper if possible cause I don't sleep well sitting up. The last time I tried sleeping sitting up was from Maui to Seattle last year. We took the 7:00 pm flight out of Kahului, hopped over to Kona, then off to Seattle, packed in like sardines and neither of us near the aisle. By the time we arrived at Sea Tac, we looked like two whipped puppies. Never again !!! Give me an early morning flight and let me see where the heck I'm going, even if it's over the Pacific Ocean.

Thank you and good night !!!

Blackout

Stop the world...I want off !!! I have shut off almost all communation with the outside world and don't plan on listening or watching the news until this god awful inauguration is over.
People talk about change..but most of BO's cabinet is more of the same.
Who cares what Michelle and the girls will be wearing...more than likely it will be a warm coat since global warming has been proved a hoax.
If you want collector stuff...there's no end to the junk out there. Wait a few weeks and you can buy it at a greatly reduced price at Value Village.
I just want to see some honest, moral, ethical people appointed to the job of straightening out the mess that our government has created, often referred to as the "Generation Theft Act", then maybe folks wont fear investing in the market again, which would sure help the retirement funds of a whole lot of friends of mine
I did like this editorial by Charles Krauthammer.
On his radio show last week, Rush Limbaugh railed against “people on the right side of the aisle who have caved and who say, ‘Well, I hope he succeeds. We have to give him a chance.’”
“Why?” Limbaugh demanded. “They didn’t give Bush a chance in 2000. Before he was inaugurated, the search-and-destroy mission had begun. I’m not talking about search-and-destroy, but I’ve been listening to Barack Obama for a year and a half. I know what his politics are. I know what his plans are, as he has stated them. I don’t want them to succeed.”

1941 March

Alright aready, I know the pictue is too small to see, but it was the only one I could come up with to tell about the music we are working on for our orchestra's March "march" concert. The movie 1941, is about the Japanese invading California during the 2nd world war. It's a comedy and was filmed on the back lot of the studio in Burbank, California.

We have two terrific trumpet players who love playing their parts, though this song really puts them to the test. Of course those of us who play flute and piccolo are quite happy with the piece also.

Along with 1941, we are playing some other interesting pieces, all of which are marches, in a strange sort of way. Here are a couple more. Enjoy.

1941 March
Marche Slave
Turkish March
English Folk Song Suite #1
English Folk Song Suite #2
Englsh Folk Song Suite #3

Gran Torino

Oh boy, oh boy...if you want to see a good movie....this is the one to see.

It's about a widower named Walt Kowalski who is unable to get along with his grown children or his foreign neighbors, He's surly and gruff and set in his ways and he passes his time taking care of his 1973 Gran Torino muscle car, which he keeps in perfect condition. When Tao, a young Hmong teenager who lives next door, tries to steal his prize possession as part of a gang initiation, Kowalski sets out to reform the youth by teaching him the value of hard work. Eventually, Kowalski is begrudgingly drawn into the life of Tao's family and devotes himself to protecting the boy and his sister from the dangerous gang. It's a must see !!!

Green Dolphin Street

This movie was made in 1947, starring Lana Turner, Van Heflin and Donna Reed. At that time I was a 7 years old, we lived in Purdy, the war was finally over and we often rode the bus, which stopped at the end of our driveway, to town. By town, I mean downtown Tacoma. Mom would shop and she would occasionally leave my sister and me at a movie. This is one I remember, in fact will never be able to forget, thanks to the earthquake in the movie. I can still see people being swallowed up in huge cracks in the street as it opened suddenly. There is no way I would leave a 7 and 10 year old alone in the movie theater today, but maybe those were kinder, gentler times. We always lunched at Mannings, I always had an egg salad sandwich and loved watching the reflection of people in the mirror as they walked up the hill, when actually they were walking down hill. There was often a stop at Pentimonti's shoe repair, as most people didn't have a gazillion pair of cheap shoes then. We bought our shoes at a shoe store that had a wonderful machine that X rayed our feet when in the shoes to check the fit. We loved to wiggle out toes and watch how our bones worked. Gasp...it's a miracle we still have feet. And Rhodes Brothers always did the repair work on mom's nylons. Imagine that, repairing nylon stockings !!!! Woolworth's escalator served as as quick way up the hill and if I remember correctly, we caught the bus home right in front................................

In the 1840s, after a lengthy absence, Dr. Edmond Ozanne, a widower, and his handsome young son William return to their home on Green Dolphin Street on the English Channel island of St. Pierre. Their arrival causes a stir at a nearby convent and prompts the worried Mother Superior to rush to the home of Sophie Patourel, Edmond's former sweetheart, with the news of their arrival. Sophie, now married to the dull Octavius Patourel, was once madly in love with Edmond, but his drinking and her parents put an end to their romance. Sophie's two daughters, the shy Marguerite and the outgoing Marianne, both fall instantly in love with William and pay a friendly visit to the Ozannes. Later, while strolling through the town market, Marguerite receives a bouquet of flowers from her secret admirer, Timothy Haslam. After killing a man in a knife fight, Timothy takes refuge aboard the New Zealand-bound clipper Green Dolphin . Although the captain of the ship, Captain O'Hara, discovers Timothy before the ship leaves port, he allows the stowaway to sail with him because he is undermanned. Back on St. Pierre, William tells Marianne that he dreams of sailing the world, and she, hoping to win his favor, arranges to have him enlisted in the Navy. Years pass, and William, home on a furlough, professes his love not for Marianne, but for Marguerite, who responds in kind. Later, while docked in a port town in China, William misses his ship and inadvertently becomes a deserter when a shopgirl drugs and robs him. After regaining consciousness, William stows away on the Green Dolphin and disembarks in New Zealand, where he befriends Timothy. While settling in New Zealand, William writes Octavius for permission to marry Marguerite, but he accidentally writes Marianne's name in the request instead. Upon learning of this, Timothy insists that William shield Marianne from the truth and that he marry her out of pity. Meanwhile, Marguerite has become despondent following the death of her parents and has joined the convent seeking comfort and direction. Years later, Marianne and William have settled in New Zealand. Tragedy strikes, however, when a massive earthquake destroys the New Zealand town where they have settled, and Marianne nearly loses William and her unborn daughter. Several more years pass, and Marianne, William and their daughter Veronica are forced to leave their home when the region becomes a battlefield in the civil war between the Maoris and the colonists. William, Marianne and Veronica eventually return to St. Pierre after Marianne has her husband officially absolved by the Navy for his desertion. Soon after they arrive on St. Pierre, however, Marianne discovers a letter proving that William really intended to marry Marguerite. Marianne confronts William with the truth, and although he admits to the deception, he insists that he now loves Marianne. Marianne is hurt by the truth and tells Marguerite about William's blunder. When Marguerite assures Marianne that she has forgiven William and has found true happiness in her religious pursuits, Marianne puts aside her anger and vows to repair her marriage.

Narrows Bridge

It seems strange to see just the one bridge across the narrows. I'm not sure if this is the first one or the second bridge, the one that replaced Galloping Gertie. It looks so different on the Tacoma side now as there are far fewer trees and lots more house. And to think that we used to cross that body of water on the ferry from Point Fosdick to Titlow. Lordy, where in the world did they ever come up with the name, Titlow.

Hello World

Ingrid is telling the world about the wonderful cupcake she's enjoying. She calls it a cookie because she hasn't mastered the word "cupcake" yet, but we all know what she's talking about.

We had quite the dinner party last night thanks to her big sister who spent the day here, helping me decorate and cook.

We started off by taking all the ornaments off the Christmas tree and replacing them with multicolored silk flowers, mostly red tulips. She set the table, using a green and white checked cloth, covering that with orange place mats. We used white dinner plates and finished up with pink and purple plastic utensils from her tea set. She had decorated the cupcakes earlier with gumdrops and put one for each of us by our place at the table, again using plates from her tea set. The centerpiece was a bouquet of orange silk tulips and let me tell you, the table was magical :o) We served hotdogs, broccolli, apple balls, which are balls scooped out of apples using the gadget you use with watermelon, baked homemade french fries, and for dessert, our homemade fudge cupcakes. We had a wonderful day and I think today will be spent washing frosting off the phone and assorted pieces of furniture. Oh how lucky I am that I am a grandmother.

Census 2010

The U.S. Census Bureau is recruiting temporary part-time census takers for the 2010 Census. The pay is good, the hours are flexible, and the work is close to home.
Census taker jobs are excellent for retirees, college students, persons who want to work part-time, persons who are between jobs, or just about anyone who wants to earn extra money while performing an important service for their community.

I have enjoyed looking through old census material, and if it weren't for the work of the information gatherers every 10 years, the peek at our ancestors on how, where and with whom they lived, would have been lost. I printed off the application forms and am seriously considering being a part of the gathering process next year.

Rain Rain Go Away

Yesterday, torrential rain fell continually, resulting in rivers overflowing their banks, flooding highways, homes and businesses. Again, I am so thankful that I live in a home on a hill. In fact a hill with a view of the harbor, but as you can see, it is slowly disappearing, thanks to the city insisting that douglas firs be planted all along the property line of the office building that was constructed about 3 or 4 years ago. I pleaded with the planning commission and all who would listen, but to no avail. Each year my view is blocked a bit more by the scraggly branches of those miserable trees, and each year I struggle to suppress the desire to grab my trusty chainsaw and go completely berserk!!! What I need is a hitsquad....anyone interested ?????

Montana Snow

My sis took this picture a few days ago. She is now living in Montana and loves the big sky country. I have yet to visit, but maybe when warm weather comes back, my friend and I will drive over. I think the last time I made that trip was when I was in high school and mom drove us to Salmon, Idaho to meet my sister's future inlaws. The one thing that stood out in my memory was the spooky, dark entrance into the hillside where the family had for years, mined gold. No way would I have gone in there, no matter how rich it might have made me. After 1933 and before Jan 1st, 1975, we weren't allowed to trade or own gold other than jewelry, so my brother in law's dad made a loooong watch chain out of the gold that was definately not jewelry, but got around the gold ownership rules. I am not sure what became of it, and I am sure he never used it as a watch chain as there were definately no pockets big enough or suspenders with enough snap to hold up that much weight, but I would imagine it's locked away safe and sound if it still exists. Talk about a 401-k!!!

Drill Baby Drill

If only I were talking about drilling for oil, but sad to say, I am going to the dentist today to have a filling replaced on one of my molars, which was last worked on when I was high school. Those were the days before the high speed drills and lasars that they use now, but after the days of the foot pedal drill. I feared the novacaine needle so badly that I never had any and would somehow get through the procedure trying not to let my moaning or grimacing get too terribly out of hand. If only we'd had dental floss in those days. Sewing thread just didn't cut it.

Because I had such a mouth full of teeth and no where to put them, the orthodontist ordered two top and two bottoms pulled and in 6 months, because we decided to move to Alaska, he moved the rest of my teeth into place and sent me packing with a retainer. Those were the days of the metal bands around each tooth and not the glued on the front of the tooth wire holders. My God, it''s no wonder I am a little nutso !!!

Oboe Madness

I have always wanted to play Gabriel's Oboe on the oboe..the song you hear when this site opens so, I finally broke down and rented one. I read what I could online, bought a reed, soaked it for a couple minutes as I was told to do and sad to say, this was the pathetic sound I got on my first try. I think I would equate it to an air raid siren. I read that some people faint when first learning to play until they get the breathing down pat. I was a little light headed, but stayed in my chair, then again, with my asthma I tend to be a little dizzy at times anyway :o) I am renting by the month, and have a feeling it will be just the one month that the music store gets any of my money. The flute is looking a whole lot easier to play and so much cheaper thanks to never having to buy reeds. After buying just the one, it is obvious why oboe players learn to make their own. I guess I'll never be a Wang Liang, but in case I don't become a quitter, I will share my squawks with you.

Jenny

Found this picture of my middle son and his new puppy the other day. It was taken over 35 years ago and I see that he's using old string from the net for a leash. Years ago it was much easier getting a pet for the kids and they were always mutts, thanks to no worries about leash laws. She was part golden retriever and part german shepherd I think, but who knows. She was with us for almost 14 years, and when she went off to doggie heaven, we found another just like her.....and....named her Jenny too.

Just a couple of very different links for your added reading..
Davey Barry
Life In Gaza

Oh....one more thing.....I read this this morning......The biologist J.B.S. Haldane once said, “The world will not perish for want of wonders…but for want of wonder.”

She's Five

Would you believe that this sweet young thing is now five years old/young !!!! Well not really until 6 more days, but her birthday party will be today at her favorite jumping, bouncing sliding place. Her papa said there will be 18 giggling, screaming little girls at the party, but thankfully they supervise all the activities and provide the pizza and cake. When my youngest was little, Chuck E Cheeses was the place where so many celebrated, though I have to admit that I really didn't like it there and always had his party here at home. Course it was in June, the weather was usually nice and they could be outside. January is a whole different story.

Finding another gift so soon after Christmas hasn't been easy as she has a mountainous supply of multicolored plastic. And to think how as kids we treasured the "key" from a sardine can or the endless pleasure we got from the old oyster crates that washed up on the beach. You have no idea what can be done with a bunch of old wooden boxes once they've been taken apart and the nails pounded straight with just the right rock. Many a beach house was built by my sisters, cousins and me and all for free !!! I think we were the lucky ones.

Neighbors

My neighbor is quite the reader, but she's also a smoker so I always see her early in the morning in her "office". She stations herself at the rear end of her mom's car or the recycling bin, no matter what the weather and reads and smokes, keeping watch on the neighborhood. Her hearing is extremely keen and even though I thought I'd made absolutely no sound at all tip toeing across the street and up her driveway to sneak a picture, she heard me, but was kind enough to return to her usual and accustomed position for this shot.
I am so fortunate having such nice neighbors.

SU's Back

Happy New Year !!!
The Seattle University Red Hawks, formerly the Chieftains when I attended SU in the 50's, will have their first home game tonight as a Division I school at Key Arena against Loyola Marymount, another D-I school. The last time SU played in that program was 1980.
I was a senior in high school 50 years ago when Elgin Baylor played for SU, taking them to the NCAA tournament, but my older sister was attending SU at the time, and I still have memories of my dad and the principal of our high school, dad was Catholic, the principal Lutheran, giving each other a bad time all through the tournament. At the time, dad owned a little store near the school and the two men would talk basketball when Art stopped for groceries on his way home. SU and Baylor didn't win the championship, they lost in the final game to Kentucky, but I will always carry the memories of those two men and the fun they had throughout the competition.