Morning sunrise

My friend walks most every morning and I think I have him convinced that carrying his camera is a must. This morning he happened to be at the old ferry landing just as the sun popped up over the hill and  noticed that the sun has already moved away from the mountain as it rises....and that is a good thing :o)

Night lights

For years my son has had a Christmas fish light the way to his home, but it was finally time for a change, so this year his boat lights the way. He has always loved drawing boats and one year, a drawing of his graced the front of the school t-shirts. Another year, he was asked to draw one for the cover of a book about our local history. It seems we are all creative one way or another and his gift is definely boat drawing. Here is another group's endeavor at being creative...yes...it's our local community band, and we have such a grand time :o)

High Tide

December always brings us high tides, and this is what it looked like when my friend took his morning walk yesterday.

Carnival Elation

We just returned from a cruise on the Carnival Elation. We left New Orleans, went to Cozumel, tried to go to Progresso, but because of high winds and stormy seas, we turned and headed for home. This picture was taken on our way home, once the seas had quieted down. It was a fun, short cruise, the food was good, with baked beans and grits each morning, nope, we didn't eat them, because the passengers were mostly from the southern states. We have now begun using y"all...cause it just feels good :o)

Father and sister

Well here we are, dressed in our finest for the halloween party at the Eagles. We didn't win a prize, but we had a lot of fun. I can't remember ever going to a costume party as an adult so there's another thing I can check off my bucket list.

St. Peter

Halloween was a blast yesterday, especially for the kids at St. Nicks School. They dressed as saints for their party and ended the school day with angel food cake and strawberries.  This is our first experience with a parochial school and it's really nice the way they keep things somewhat saintly. Oh, and Jacob is supposed to be St. Peter :o)

Wild wavy day

Canon Beach is a great place to visit, summer or winter.

Benched

It's nice to see Jacob's parents are starting him in the right direction politically.

Sittin pretty

I noticed this bird out my window the other day...I guess it's a hawk, but I'm not a bird expert so will just have to google or guess.  It seemed to be enjoying the warm rain and all that goes with it.

Mother of all hairdoooooos

We had dinner at my favorite harbor restaurant and what to my eyes did appear, but a very attractive woman, with a very weird hairdo. I kinda snuck a picture from a distance and had to enlarge it... hence the blur...but you get the idea :o)

Ivanovich house

There's a new home popping up where the Ivanovich home used to be. It's always sad to see the home of people you've known your entire life torn down to be replaced by another, but it's always fun to watch a new house grow into that space. The owner of this property has already redone the net shed, which you see just beyond the arm of the excacator, and now the foundation has pretty much been poured. There was a continuous stream running through so we noticed there were drain pipes running beneath it all. The weather has been good so I am sure it's a relief to have the cement poured and dry. I will post an occasional picture to keep you up to date of the progress :o) 

Ready and waiting

The morning was calm as the Commencement was readied for the visit from the Croatian Prime Minister.  It was a fun day, all went well, and I am sure Zoran Milanovich will return to his home country with a whole new interest in Gig Harbor and the Narrows Bridge.  When he spoke, he mentioned that all he knew about our area was having seen  the video of the Narrows Bridge as it fell into the narrows. Now he's been across both, been all over town, met  oodles of croatian heritage families and dined with the city fathers.  I guarantee he will never forget our sleepy little fishing village :O)

Croatian Prime Minister

Zoran Milanovich, the Prime Minister of Croatia,  visited Gig Harbor this morning and most of us were  able to shake hands with him and welcome him to our fair city. I must say, I got a kick out of the nose my son on the right has and the prime minister"s.....good old mediterranean noses :o)

Father and son

Sunday was the annual Olalla Valley Vineyard and Winery party and as usual, it was great fun. Everyone brings a salad or dessert, the winery owners provide their wine and we all just carry on. Most guests are of croatian heritage, and most names end in "ich"....The two in the picture are father and son, both born in Gig Harbor, both lived just up the street from me, and the son has made quite a name for himself in the music world. He plays a mean guitar and sings in a band call the "Beatniks". They play each summer for one of the tuesday night summer concerts at the waterfront park and they are so popular, that the city closes the street during their appearance as the place is packed. ...land and sea. If you've never been to one of their concerts...I guarantee you'll enjoy hearing them.

Reunion 2014

Well, our annual mega reunion has come and gone and as usual, it was lots of fun. This was our class of "58" picture and there's no question, we all had a wonderful time. It was all the photographers could do to get us to pay attention, stand still, shut up and pose, so they  had to settle for this :o)  It was just too much fun seeing everyone again !!!

Dinner with Dick

It was my friend Dick's birthday the other evening and as you can see, the weather was beautiful. He rented one of the four houseboats again this year and we spent the evening kayaking and eating leftovers from the night before.  There wass no end to the activities going on,but the highlight was watching the kids jump from the railing into the water. Oh to be young again :o)

Circle of life

I spent a few days at Long Beach with a friend and our walk along the beach took us past the remains of a very dead salmon.  There were quite a few salmon carcasses along the beach and quite a few salmon fishermen just out past the surf in small boats, catching salmon to their hearts content. It looked as if they filleted them and fed the remains to the hungry scavengers.

Sox

Oh boy, did Jacob ever love the new sox from Costco....a package of 8 that contained sox with soccer, basketballs, footballs and baseballs on them....the other three pair were plain, but who cared.

Max moves

Max is 7 months old and very much on the move. He is a happy little fella and I enjoy having him come visit, but am always glad when mama comes to take him home...I am old :o)

Cheeks and grapes

We found some giant green grapes this morning and Jacob filled his cheeks with just two for this effect :o)

Happy 4th hat

Just for fun...this is my 4th of July and band hat....so far I've only worn it for this pix :o) It looks especially nice with the price tag still on :o)

Sold

My friend has more room in his garage as of yesterday. He has owned this 1967 Mercedes since 1987 and within an hour after he put an ad in Craigslist, calls started flooding in, most from California. The fellow who ended up buying was from southern Cal., was originally from germany and was thrilled with his purchase. He flew up the day after he saw the ad, paid for it and yesterday a car carrier loaded it on and away it went. At our age, less is definately more.

Yard makeover

My friend has been tearing his deck apart, replacing rotten decking, painting decking, hauling dirt and laying sod and at last is finished. He has created quite a serene place in his backyard which he looks out at from his kitchen window. The weather has been nice enough so that we have been able to enjoy all his work.

Baby Max

Max is almost 7 months old and spent a couple hours with me yesterday. He is now quite the crawler and hopefully I've made things fairly safe around my place. It wont be long before he figures out how to pick up tiny things and of course all that he gets into his hands goes directly into his mouth. Lordy lordy...I can see why we have kids when young....I had him for two hours and his big bro. for four and it wore me to a frazzle :o)

Scooter

We went for a couple days in the motor home to Harstine Island. I have not been there before and was very impressed with the area where we stayed.  There were about 10 "campers", the weather was great, other than one day with non stop wind, and everyone had a great time. My friend has a "pump/rock" scooter he brings along, and the picture has him showing one of the campers how to ride it. It's not easy, let me tell you, but she mastered it and wondered where he got it cause she wants one too  :o)

Westerdam

Sure looks like fun :o)

Salud

This is another pix of the blessing. Judy, in pink, had had her foot operated on just 10 days earlier so was confined to her chair most of the day. She did a good job of keeping it elevated and we did our part in keeping her entertained. As you can see, it was my turn and we toasted to her complete recovery and that she will be dancing in no time.

Old lightboat

Yesterday was the annual blessing of the fleet and as you can see by the sun sparkling on the water, it was a gorgeous day. We stayed longer than usual thanks to the fellow who ferried the  folks in who had to leave early.  We did the best we could to consume  as much food and drink  as possible so there would be less to haul back home and I think the entire bunch of us slept very well last night :o)

Trolley 2014

It's trolley time again so Jacob and I walked down the hill and no sooner did we reach the bus stop...along came the trolley. Other than the driver, we were the only people on it so for the next 45 minutes...we hopped from seat to seat, trying them all, and even stretched out on the long one and took a pretend nap.  It was a wonderful ride and we are looking forward to a summer filled with more trolley rides.

New house

Sis is heading home from Ireland tomorrow and will get to see the inside of her new house. Her son found the place and thought it would be perfect for her as do I so she bought it, sight unseen. We stopped by to peek in the windows last week, it is tiny, but has a big back yard shaded by a giant old maple tree and a garage off the back alley. Oh...and a friendly black cat that lives nearby which stopped by to visit us as we were busy exploring.  

Top down

My friend stopped by the other day while Jacob was here and lo and behold...the top was down on his car. Of course a car with it's top down must provide a ride for a 5 year old and as you can see, the 5 year old was totally pleased with the whole thing.

Grand Princess

When  we were in Hawaii, two cruise ships stopped by with  the Grand Princess being the one you see in the background. We made the mistake of going into Lahaina on one of those days and learned our lesson. I think about the towns in southeast Alaska and the chaos the tourist must bring. I guess you'd learn when to do your shopping and when to not.

Couple

I just returned from my Maui vacation and had to share the picture of the darling couple we ran into in a shop in LaHaina.  The Grand Princess was anchored out that day and I think they had come in from the ship. I don't know if they spoke english so I held up my camera and pointed and they happily obliged. I don't know Japanese from Chinese, but would think they were one or the other. From the side, it was quite evident she was expecting and the dress was big enough for at least triplets. What fun it would be to know more about them and if they designed their own outfits.

Sistership

Just for fun, here is the sistership to the Western Clipper. 

New family member

There's a new boat in the family! The Western Clipper arrived at her new home just a few days ago. She was built in Richmond, Canada and her birthday is just 3 days after the birthday of my youngest. They're both June babies :o)  The boys have been busy sawing off part of her stern, the part that was added after she was built, and the part that made her too long to fish in Alaska. If she were to fish in Washington state, Oregon or California, there would have been no problem. She is built of aluminum, hence no paint. Oh, and she also  has a sistership in the harbor, owned by another commercial salmon fisherman who also brought her here from Canada.

Kjirstin Nicole

We took a drive to Westport a couple of days ago and of course headed right to the Kjirstin Nicole slip. Whenever a family member visits that little port town by the sea, we always have to check the old "Maria", the name we named her when my husband bought her,  to see if she's being well cared for. And she is. She started out as a commercial salmon seiner, but is now being used to fish tuna way out at sea. Her owner has taken good care of her so there should be many more years spent doing what she was built to do.   If I am correct, she started out as the Janice, then  the Tern, Coral Sea, Maria and Brian D before she became the Kjirstin Nicole.
For a change of topic...I thought this article was interesting.

Hummingbird

The girls found a stunned hummingbird in their garage. I haven't heard whether it survived or not, but I sure hope so. I have a bird feeder on my porch and love watching them eat.

Brothers

Jacob got to hold his baby brother the other day...I'm not sure if baby was trying to talk to his big bro or getting warmed up for a cry :o)

Seven already

Ingy is 7 today, but she started celebrating  yesterday with two of her friends with  a mini slumber party. Let's hope they saved some cake for us and that she is able to stay awake for today's party :o)

Edon Park

Edon Park used to be a sand and gravel company. Barges would come in at high tide to unload sand or gravel, then sail away before the tide left them high and dry. What was there has all been taken away and what is left is a wonderful place for people to play and  Jacob would have thrown every available rock into the water if I'd have let him stay long enough. How lucky we are to have  been planted in Gig Harbor :o)

New bulkhead

Now that the weather is warmer, Jacob and I went for a walk down to the waterfront to check out the bulkhead project. The new owner of the old Ivanovich home and dock is spending a ton of money redoing the old netshed and bulkhead. I can't think of a cooler place to live than in the shed, but I am sure once the stones are set in place along the shore, the old home will be redone, even more tastefully than the rest.

Different world

It's a different world than the one in which I grew up. The girls spent the night here so mama and daddy could attend a retirment party for a friend and in the "old days", they would have parked themselves in front of cartoons while waiting for granny to fix pancakes, but this morning it was an iPad for each, with Bergen doing what she does on hers, and Ingrid using mine to play the scrabble games that I play with her other grandmother. When I was their age, the only electric "toy" we had was a radio, filled to the brim with tubes,  which we listened to on Saturday morning or during the day to soap operas when sick, but only if our moms didn't know. Ingrid and Bergen are terrific readers so I guess these tech toys aren't harming that endeavor. All I can say is...I wonder what we will be doing ten years from now !!!!

Swoosh

Ing looked so cute the other day at Bergen's game in her patent leather boots and striped dress. I tried to get a picture of her as she ran across the gym. but as you can see...she is just a blur.  I did get a short video of Bergen dribbling the ball down the floor at around 30 seconds. They aren't allowed to grab the ball away from the other players so I just about had a nervous breakdown.  They play in the gym of one of the churches just up the road from me and I really do give the folks who organize and run the whole thing, tons of praise. 

Orcas Island

Just checked the Orcas Island cam and see that they are getting snow.  Let's hope it stays in the San Juans where it belongs :0)

Baby Max

Max stopped by yesterday for a short visit...he was  born Jan. 2nd so must be 6 weeks by now.  He is definately all boy and still a little fussy, but getting better as each week passes.

Belfair State Park

I went for an over night adventure in a 32 foor motor home a couple days ago. Our destination was only about 45 minutes from home, but it was definately another world. We found the last spot with a water view to "tie up in" and once in place, the excitement began. Rain came down in torrents, nonstop, until morning and no sooner did the folks across from us get a nifty canopy set up, tiny lights and all, hurricane force  winds came up and either blew it away or they managed to get it down and stowed before it set sail. We were snug as bugs in a rug and had all the comforts of home, but if morning hadn't brought sunshine, I think I might definately have gotten cabin fever. We took a brisk walk around the entire park in the chilly morning sunshine, checked the swift flowing rivers on both sides of the park, and watched nature at her finest. That was my first time in a motor home and I think I just may be up for another, if invited :o)

Morning snowfall

Okay...I bet you thought I died :o)   Just about, but  I managed to survive the crud and think I may be on the road to recovery.  I haven't been out of the house on my own for almost 3 weeks, except to see the Dr. and my friend picked me up once and drove me  through the harbor in a nice warm car, to check out the ice along the shore. The highlight of our drive was  a stop at the new Carl Jr's burger joint, which we  bought and brought  dinner home to eat.  I was intertaining the thought of going to breakfast with the ladies this morning, but as you can see..our plans were changed :o)

Book books

Jacob loves to be read to so while he was here yesterday...he heard all of these stories...with his favorites being How the Grinch Stole Christmas, How I Became a Pirate and How Do You Hug a Porcupine. It seems like yesterday I was reading his daddy the pirate book and I think it was his favorite too...maybe because of the wonderful illustrations and because if you're a pirate, you don't have to brush your teeth, say please and thank you,can eat with your fingers, and can wear your clothes to bed . My favorite forever will be "The Little House".

Tis the season

It's basketball season and Bergen is playing for the first time this year. Basketball is definately my favorite sport and I'm not sure if it's because we don't have to stand out in the cold to watch or because everyone in my family, from father, to husband, to sons played, and now it's granddaughters doing their part to uphold the family tradition :o) 

Laminated lady

This fishing vessel has been around for many years with a handful of owners and as of now, it belongs to one of my sons. He recently had her bulwarks rebuilt and I must say, she does look nice. When the shiprights began tearing things apart, they were astounded, amazed, astonished...whatever you'd call their reaction...to find not a bit of rot. I had always heard the guys talking about how sturdy the boat was because it was laminated.  Of course I couldn't wrap my brain around what that meant, so didn't give it any more thought.  Well, son was over yesterday and showed me pictures of the wood used to built the boat...it is all laminated wood and because of that, water wasn't able to penetrate, which had the wood still looking like new. I can't imagine the cost of the boat when built new in Tacoma, but it must have been pretty spendy even then.