My gang

Here we are, my three sons, two wives, one girlfriend, and my friend. It was the annual fishermen's Christmas party and as always, a fun evening.

Northwest sunshine

Ingy and Jacob had a blast yesterday on the beach at the entrance to Gig Harbor. Ingy's daddy helped them haul long sticks to make their house and Mount Rainier, in the distance, kept an eye on them as they worked.

Matching

The boys put on their matching sweaters and posed for Santa....and it wasn't long before they were off and things were back to normal.

Concert

Our Christmas concert went great. It was the first time we had included a choir and though dress rehearsal was not good as it was the first time we had played and sung together, the concert was beautiful and I think we really wowed the audience. We did a very interesting arrangement of
"A Musicological Journey Through Twelve Days of Christmas" with each "day" using the style of either Bach, Saens, Sousa etc. It was delightful :o)

In the distance

I always enjoy looking across the bay at the little light house.

Beautiful view

Imagine waking up each morning to this view of  "West Pass". The house is perched on a steep bank and looks east to Vashon Island. The seiners fish in front in the fall and the gal who is staying here temporarily is totally enthralled with it all. We practiced our flutes in that very spot yesterday and it was all she could do to get me to go home :o)

Max

Max is almost two and is your typical two year old...busy, busy, busy.

Gig Harbor Concert Band

I love this picture of our band. It was taken at our last concert, which was a smashing success !!!!!

Morning

 I love looking out my dining room window at the little light house building across the bay. It's ever changing.

Halloween

We attended the annual Eagle's Halloween party Saturday night and the place was filled with clever costumes. I think this was my favorite. It's hard to see, but her fingers were filled with peacock rings. There  was a live band and the dance floor was filled all evening. Life is good :o)

Fall Colors

Fall is definately here as you can see by the color of the leaves.

Weathervane

This is the weathervane and the view that my cousin lives with each day......I know it isn't easy, but someone has to do it :0) If you can't figure out the buildings in the distance, it's the city of Seattle.

October sunrise

It's raining this morning, but the past two days have begun with the most beautiful sunrises.

Westerdam

I have followed a couple of my friends since Sept. 26th as they sailed east on the Westerdam from Seattle to Fort Lauderdale. Finally, they have gone through the Panama Canal and are on their way north. Of course I managed to see them go through the canal, thanks to the view cams along the way. If I were to reccomend a cruise to anyone who asked, that would be the one....

Baby no name

We have a new baby in the family, a girl, born Oct. 3rd, and she is my 5th grandchild. Now if they could only come up with a name :o) 

Room for Max

Max has his own room upstairs now. It used to be covered in flowers and girly stuff, now it's a boys room and he loves it :o)

Hiding Monsters

My youngest grandchild, Max, was totally fascinated by an app on my iPad called Hiding Monsters. The son of my late friend, Len, made the app and now all four of my grandchildren have enjoyed playing it.

Reunion 2015

We made it through another year and here we are at our annual Pen Hi reunion...there were two others who were there, but managed to escape before we got around to taking a pix.  It was a small crowd, but as usual, we had a great time.

Morning sun

I love this picture of the morning sun streaming onto the tree trunk.

Lucia

This photo was taken of son"s boat, the Lucia, when he was fishing on the coast this summer in southeast Alaska. The young man who took the picture was Chris Greinier. All I  can say is...What a shot !!!

Anthonys

This is what Anthony's restaurant looks like from the water. It makes my heart sing seeing the old sign on the roof as the restaurant was always the Shorline until a few years ago, and to us "old timers", it will always be the Shorline :o)

Flags flying

We spent a couple days at the Longbeach Kite Festival and even though my friend is 79 next week, it was nothing for him to scramble up the ladder of his motor home and put up the flag.

Martha

Son was in Ketchikan last week and came across our old boat. My husband bought her years ago when her name was Coral Sea, we renamed her Maria after my husband's mother. We sold her and the new owner named her Brian D. He sold her and her name was changed to Kjirstin Nicole, and now her new owner calls her Martha, after his mother. She's had even  more names, but with all the name changes, she still looks good :o)

Manoa

While visiting my cousin on Bainbridge Island yesterday, and watching the Westerdam,  Norwegian Jewel, and Grand Princess pass by her home, along came a familiar looking container ship.  Ordinarily freighters all look the same, but when I noticed this grey lady pass by, I was sure it was the Manoa, which is captained by a friend of one of my sons, and on which he was invited to ride along from Seattle to Oakland a couple months ago. With a peek at "Marine Traffic . com" when I got home, I found I was correct.
We passed the Manoa in the dark as she neared San Francisco and our cruise ship, the Norwegian Jewel,  left Frisco, headed north to Seattle. Two ships, passing in the night.

Deck work

Jacob spent the afternoon here a couple days ago and passed the time hauling and building. It was fun watching him use his imagination........

Kayak colors

Okay...one more....I loved the reflection of the kayaks in the water so had to get a pix....then of course, mess with it.

Steel and wood

We wound through the harbor on our cruise the other evening and it was fun to see the fishing boats from this angle. The blue boat belongs to one of my sons and the dock belongs to my nephews. It's all about family :0)

Summer fun

We went for a cruise last night with a friend who had just retired from her government job. As we headed toward the Narrows Bridge, this boatload of young men zipped past us. For some reason, Huckleberry Fin came to mind. We had a wonderful evening thanks to incredible weather and the many fun things to see, among which were, the homes on pilings at Salmon Beach, seals bobbing not far from shore off  Point Defiance, Mount Ranier glowing in the evening sun, and best of all, a white dolphin who was enthralled with the sound of our engine. All I could think was, we do live in a beautiful place.

Harstine Island sunset

A bunch of us from the Eagle's RV club camped for two days a the Teamsters RV park on Harstine Island. The first night, this was the sunset that brought everyone out of the RV's and onto the beach in droves, to watch mother nature do her thing. It was much more beautiful that the picture can even begin to show !!!

Sweet gals

We enjoyed these two darling girls each day as we ate our breakfast, lunch and dinner in the lido. The gal on the left was from Peru and the gal on the right from the Phillipines. As hard as they worked and the long hours they worked, there was always a smile for everyone. Not an easy way to see the world, but if I were young again, I think it would be a hoot.

Cartagena

Other than the Panama Canal, I think Cartagena was my favorite stop. This is the dock we tied up to and we could look across the distance at the tall buildings and to the dock next to us as they unloaded the containers from the ships.

Lovely ladies

One evening as we headed off to dinner on the ship, we passed these three women who were also headed for dinner. We would see them often at breakfast and lunch in the lido and they were dessed as the rest of us....in our casual grubbies :o)  When we spotted them in their beautiful attire, we screeched to a stop and they happily  posed for us. They were with a large group of american vietnaese and were a delightful bunch. They are scattered all over the US, but keep in touch.

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Our ship stopped in Puntarenas, Costa Rica on it's way to Seattle. We booked a bus tour and one of the stops was in a little village way  off in the hills. It was a Saturday and we made a point to stop there because on Saturday, a few childen are chosen to dance for the public. They must have good grades and the reward is to show off their wonderful dances and colorful costumes. The youngest was probably 6 and the oldest probably 12 or 13. As you can see, they are beautiful children !!!

Jeremiah O'Brien

Whenever I go to San Francisco, I love to visit the Jeremiah O'Brien. Our ship made a stop there on our way up the coast and of course we did the tour. What caught my eye as we walked along the water were the locks on the fence.

Bridge

This is the bridge on the Norwegian Jewel. Talk about a comfortable place to work !!

Victoria Water Taxi

Victoria was our last stop on the way home from our Panama Canal cruise. We walked from the cruise ship dock to the Empress Hotel, but because our feet were tired, we each paid $5:00 and took the water taxi back as close to the ship as we could. Victoria is such a nice place to visit, and getting nicer all the time.

Original Sonia

The Sonia as she looked with her original house. She is sitting on the ways at the Bujacick dock and it looks like she has a fresh coat of copper paint on her bottom. I found the picture stuffed in with a bunch of other things and was thrilled to find it, but sorry that it was so crumpled :o(

Net Shed

How nice the  shed looks now after getting a new roof and new supports underneath her collapsing self. I hear so often about the 17 remaining net sheds along the bay, and there's even an exhibit at the museum about them, but our shed, whitch should be number 18, is the only one still being used by the original family. And that's a fact :0)

Early Morn

Early morning from the old ferry landing in the harbor.

Peter and the Wolf

Our spring concert is just around the corner, and among the songs we are playing, Peter and the Wolf is one. Yours truly is stuck with playing the bird, and yours truly is not happy about it. I have practiced and practiced, but so far, it's a hit and miss thing. Let's hope it's a hit when March 15th comes along :o)

Sunrise

The sunrises have been beautiful this year and this is one of my favorites. My friend took it on his morning walk at least six weeks ago.  It's amazing how quickly the sun moves away from the mountain as the weeks pass.

Happy cat

Mittons belongs to my granddaughters and as you can see, one of his favorite places to relax is in the dryer !

Net shed roof

After 85 years, it's time to remove the old cedar shingles and put on new.

Spring last year

I have some yellow primroses blooming, but not like this !!!

Yacht Basin

It's always fun to see the pictures my friend takes on his walks. This one was taken on the other side of the harbor, from the sidewalk, looking down on the yacht basin with the sun coming up.  I like the color of the kayaks against the grey.

Two ferries

The Mariner restaurant in Friday Harbor burned down a while back and I see they are starting to rebuild....or at least they are moving dirt around. Let's hope they are rebuilding.

Commencement

It's cold and foggy this morning....thermometer says 40 degrees. A few of my friends are in Arizona and some of my family is in Hawaii. This was the best I could do this morning to brighten up the day :o)

Planter

My friend made this lovely planter for me for Christmas...in fact....he made two....I will put them together, end to end, on my front porch, fill them with geraniums and lobelia in May and enjoy. I had had a planter in that spot for years, but it finally gave way to rot, so I hauled the mess away and will hopefully have these til they carry me away...feet first :o)

Heavy metal

My friend, Dick, stopped by the other morning for coffee....and I mentioned that I'd cleaned out a hall closet and found an old Japanese war helmet. As I sat looking at him in his german shirt, I thought nothing could be more fun, that popping on a japanese helmet.  He is a good sport, posed for a pix and we have been laughing since.