An Incredible First

What an incredible first... a 29 year old woman hearing her voice for the first time.

http://www.youtube.com/user/sloanchurman


And this is how it works.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdBzjR-i9E0&feature=related

Mt. Rainier Sept. 28

This morning's cam view of Rainier with it's  pink top made me wonder just how long  will  we have to wait to see fresh snow on the slopes.  The temperature is 42 degrees here and my parabolic heater is working overtime to keep me warm cause I refuse to turn on my oil furnace !!!

Chocolate Fudge Birthday

What a fun day for all of us ( ich's). As I've mentioned before, there is a fairly new winery in Olalla, the Olalla Valley Vineyard, and on the label are the names of many of the slav families who settled in Gig Harbor....ours being among them and on the top of the label because we are related..Joey's dad and my mother in law were brother and sister.  Every year Joey and Konnie Serka..okay I know there is no "ich" on the end of their name,  have a huge potluck for us all  and yesterday was the day...it was also the day before Joey's sister Antonettes's birthday so we celebrated early and had a giant chocolate  fudge cake. As you can see, Ingy got the first piece :o)

Breakfast feast

These pesky raccoons looooove the wild blackberries in my yard and this years crop has been a doozy.  Sorry the picture is so blurry, but I took it through the window in the early  morning light with the zoom :o)

Kissing

There's just something about a kiss :o)

Reunion 2011

We, the class of "58" are here to tell you we had a really fun time at the Mega Reunion last night. Ours was a small group, as were the rest of the classes, but it felt like old home week. Maybe because we aren't getting any younger and so many are no longer with us that we appreciated being alive, mobile and together again, able  to celebrate one more year of living :o)

Cheetos Cheeks

Jacob spent a good part of the day with me and while here,  I introduced him to Cheetos. Don't tell Mayor Bloomburg cause he'd not be happy about all the salt :o)

Three Musketeers

It's not often that my gang is at the same place at the same time, but this day it happened and this day they took a pix :o)

The Rule of Law

Paul Ryan is the guest speaker at  Hillsdale College's Constitution Celebration this morning and what he stressed was Rule of Law if we want our form of government  to survive. Let's hope folks are listening.

Here is some of what he said....

"This Saturday, we celebrate the 224^th birthday of the Constitution written by the Framers in Philadelphia. In paying tribute to this inspired document, I want to talk about how we should think about the Constitution, and why that matters.

Usually, our defense of the Constitution is presented as a defense of America’s founding principles and values, and rightfully so. But our constitutional system is not just a collection of principles; it embodies an approach to government with profound practical implications for both our freedom and our prosperity. When that system is threatened, both freedom and prosperity suffer.

Freedom is lost by degrees, and the deepest erosions usually take place during times of economic hardship, when those who favor expanding the sphere of government, abuse a crisis to persuade free citizens that they should trade in a little of their liberty for empty promises of greater economic security."

Click the link above and read the rest....

From Lens

My friend Len has a magnificent view...especially when the tide is high on a warm summer evening. It was all I could do not to grab a paddle and take out the kayak.  If he were well enough to give me a hand I know we would have gone for a short row. The good news is that he is feeling better each day :o)

Heitor Villa Lobos

Yesterday was our orchestra picnic at the city park and in the course of conversation, Michael, our bassoon player, mentioned that he has a great duet for bassoon and flute by Villa Lobos.  I immediately said "who in the world is Villa Lobos"?   He told me and when I went home I right away started checking him out on youtube.  Well, the music I found with just flute and bassoon sounded really terrible, but as I kept searching I found a wonderful song about a little train that travels through the mountain country of Brazil. Here it is, done by a very small group and here it is, done with a full orchestra. I love them both and remember hearing the song so many times over the years as I'm sure you have, but now I know who wrote it and what it's all about :o)

Don't forget

9/11 was a deliberate, carefully planned evil act of the long-waged war on the West by Koran-inspired soldiers of Allah around the world. They hated us before George W. Bush was in office. They hated us before Israel existed. And the avengers of the religion of perpetual outrage will keep hating us no matter how much we try to appease them.

Happy Fishermen

Ralph and Esther have been married over 50 years and have been fishing together in the fall over 50 years. They keep their gilnet in the basement of the duplex they own and every year at this time, they haul it out and load it onto their gilnetter. As I stood in my robe at my kitchen sink across the street watching them work, I thought maybe a picture was in order.  They laughed, stopped their work and let me do my thing. 

Three Flutes

We had a fun concert this morning, at one of the retirement homes in Tacoma.  They really enjoyed our racket and, for coming over and playing our hearts out, they served us a delicious lunch. We were to sit at  a place at any table where there was a "guest" sign so that way we could visit with the folks who live there.  Jean, one of our trumpet players, and I sat together at one of the tables with "George", and don't ya know...George gets up too late and doesn't leave his room until lunchtime so missed our fantastic music. Well...we told George to be on guard, because next time we come to play..we are gonna wake him and haul his lazy a$$ down to the concert.  I think he enjoyed his lunch today and who wouldn't enjoy being around two crazy old women.
Here is the song they enjoyed the most played by a group I found on youtube.

Equator

The Equator used to be  a Gig Harbor boat and  tied  up in the harbor for years, but was later moved to a dock near the owners home on Treasure Island, an island near Allen, WA, because the owner had become vision impaired and getting back and forth became impossible.  A couple weeks ago, son was in Port Townsend and spotted her getting  new planks etc. I don't know who owns her now, but it's always nice to see an old boat get much needed TLC.

San Juan Fishing

The Mystic Lady is towing her net  and the skiff man is towing the Mystic Lady. While all were busy towing, the skiff man captured  this beautiful picture in the late afternoon sun in the San Juan Islands this week.

Tony's Place

I saw the owner of this chair yesterday, walking far from his  home in the woods, which is near my home,  so I again grabbed my camera and walked up to see what's new. It was mostly the same old stuff, but I was curious to see what was under the brown plastic tarp...and to my surprise, he now has a new, very comfy recliner, minus the foot rest.  I really wish he would go live some place else, but I know he likes being near his mother's home which is close to me. He has built trails through the woods and as I walked along one, I found two small refrigerators.  Me thinks he has a refrigerator fettish :o)  Or, quite possibly, he uses them to store things that he doesn't want the critters to get. 

Jerisich Dock

This being a 3 day weekend and with our fantastic weather, the harbor is swarming with tourists, as you can see from this picture of Jerisich dock. As I walk along looking at the beauty of this area, with our sea and mountains, I can see why folks enjoy visiting.

First Day of School

Bergen still looked pretty peppy after spending her first day at school when she and mama stopped by my place to pick up her little sister. Oh, to be young again and have all that endless energy :o) She loves her new second grade teacher and was so happy to be back with her friends. Well some of them, because not all were in her room, but I told her, now she will have even more friends as she will make new.