Summer's end...?

For the past few days the Sun has been out, but it has not been as warm as it looked. At night it gets down into the 40's F. It has also been very still. No wind blowing just a slight breeze...just enough to let you know that the leaves are drying out and Fall is on the way. The ships in the Strait are blaring their fog horns, so even though I cant see the fog up this high, I know it has settled in on the water. Yep, Fall is just around the corner. Warm days and cool nights makes for fog. We call it Nature's Air COnditioner. THe ferry every morning blows it's fog horn all the way across the water. A lonely sound. Every once in a while it will be answered by a deeper louder voice, a freighter on it's way out to sea. I lay there in bed listening to the music they play and loving it!! It is so comforting to me. It takes me back to my child hood when we had fog horns all along the island on the west side, and you could hear them, in their un even toots. And you knew just which one was making the noise. I love it still.

I am right in the middle of A CHORUS LINE, and it is really keeping me busy. THe Director is new to our Playhouse, and I have found that she was expecting me to do things that I normally would not do. SO I am busier thatn normal.

The picture is one of the cast during rehearsal. We dont have our costumes finished nor the set painted yet. I started setting lights tonight, but they will not all be completed until next week end. This show is kicking my butt.



The Oak Harbor Pool has been closed this week for cleaning and reconditioning, so no aquarobics. I tried to go down to the pool on the beach, but the sun has been out and so have the teenagers. So I have not been swimming this week and I can feel it.

This weekend is going to be a full and busy one, we have 5 birthdays we are celebrating on Saturday. Sherry is 50 DOnna is 40 and Galen is 30, then Mike and TIm. On Sunday I am sposed to be in two places. A minor league baseball game in Everett and a BBQ at a friends house. I am afraid I have to go to the BBQ and miss the ball game. DAMN!

Monday I will be setting lights and filming the commercial and then Tuesday is more lights. ARRGGHH!

THis too shall pass, just like the summer has, fast and furious.
Be safe!

Monday Musings...

Last Friday my darling baby daughter, AKA Omnipotent Benevolent Empress on my comments, had a milestone Birthday...She turned 40! I KNOW I gave birth to her, but Good GOD 40!!!!???? I sure dont feel like I am old enough to have a daughter that old! She has taken up knitting, and felting, and now she is taking up spinning her own wool! She has been looking at spinning wheels, as she was using a drop spindle to spin with, and that takes forever. Bob is fascinated by her spinning, and being the sweetheart that he can be at times, He had me look it up on the internet, and when he knew which one she wanted, he ordered it for her for her Birthday. WOW!! She now is the proud owner of a Lendrum double treadle collapsable spinning wheel. And soon Bob will be the proud wearer of a pair of felted and hand knitted and hand spun Clogs!



LAst night I went to the store for cat food and kitter litter...the important items in this household. On the way there I drove the back road by the ferry landing and the spit, and saw that the parking areas were FULL of cars. THe salmon are running right now, It is a Humpy year, and there must have been over 100 cars in that tiny little spot, and as I drove by two fishermen were showing off their catches...each had two 10+ pounders! NICE FISH!!

I came home from the store along Ebby's Landing just as the sun was about to set, so Sadie and I pulled over and parked along the beach head and watched. It was so pretty! It was so peaceful too. I must have sat there for 30 minutes or so, just breathing in the salt air and listening to the waves wash up on the shore.

Autumn is on us wether we know it or not...the air is crisp and smells like Fall. THe leaves are already turning and drying out. When the wind blows, they rustle now where in the spring and summer they dont. We have not had much of a summer, but this week we are expecting warm days and cool nights. You all know how much I look forward to those COOL NIGHTS... AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Did any of you watch the teen miss USA? Oh dear LORD!! We have GOT to do something about the education our teens are getting...go to YOU TUBE and check out the answer miss SOuth Carolina gave. THe question was...a percentage of our young people can not point out the USA on a world map. You will NOT believe her answer. Everybody needs to dig deep in your pocket and send that young lady a map of the world! THere is NO excuse for that, and people if you cant find the USA on a world map, then YOU TOO need to get one and study it hard! GADS!!

wasting time

Ok, I have to admit it...I have been wasting time. I have been sitting at this computer for 6-8 hours a day, doing zigsaw puzzles! It is all Miss Leslie's fault. She mentioned she was doing some, so I checked it out and got hooked! I even went so far as to spend 19.99 on line to get the full version of 50 Lighthouses. Then I found another site that will allow you to play for 60 minutes free before it closes. I discovered a way to play all of those puzzles on the same 60 minutes of free time. I just dont click on finished, or show it in the gallery. I just use the back button which takes me back to the menu and the rest of the pictures. It even has a feature where you can create your own puzzles with your own pictures. You can make the pieces differnt sizes or you can cut them differently. It is ADDICTING!!

Spin Top Games is the site, and as long as you do not close it down (you can minimize) nor turn off your computer, or go off line, it will stay there. THe only problen is that spy ware has a ball with an open line, and slows the computer waaaay down. SO my high speed cable was slower than my CRAP dial=up. SO I turned off everything, defragged, and ran spy-aware, and pc cillin and now I am back running fine, but no more puzzles!! WAAAAHHHH

I MAY have to spend another 20 bucks just so I can make my own puzzles.

anybody know of any really cool puzzle sites that are free?

Ellen Crush

Good bye dear friend. I hope all of your pain is now behind you and you are sitting on that dock on the lake and fishing your heart out....You were a pleasure to know.

You will be missed.

Promised photos...

I had promised you pictures of the Coupeville Festival, but I downloaded them and could not find them. SO here is our streets.

I thought I had the waterfront on here, but I didnt, so I need to go back and find it.



Well, I still didnt get it done right!!

Hang on...




There!

So the street is 2 blocks long, goes uphill 1 block and then comes back 2 blocks and then down to the waterfront for 1 block. We are right on the water, and the tide is out, When the festival is going on, the streets are elbow to elbow people, at least 20000 a day! The vendors love it, the townspeople love it, and the crowd loves it.

I used to buy all my christmas presents there, but now that I am retired, I have no money, so I just window shop. THe fare has not changed at all, there are leather goods, hand made dresses, pottery, jewelry, (Leslie, come be a vendor next year!) paintings, photos, food, any kind of kitsch you can think of. It is fun.

stuff...

I have a brain shut down. I can think of all kinds of things to talk about, but when I sit down here to type, it leaves my memory! I feel like that cat up there, on a single track and on a dead stop! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

My back and leg are still giving me fits. I cut back on swimming, and only go to aquarobics 2 times a week, which has really helped. I think I just over did it. I am not a patient person at all, and I was trying to push my way into getting mobile again. I am not sure I ever will be. I just do not want to give up and become disabled permanently. I want to get out and WALK! I want to hike in the mountains again, I want to walk along the beach and hike the cliffs. And I want it NOW!!

Ok...politics, just what are you folks that live in the USA thinking about the upcoming elections. Last election we burned up the blogsphere with opinions, and with Wanda just being a lurker and not commenting any more, It just isnt the same.
RIght off the top of my head, this country needs a change of direction. We need to pull back our resources and heal ourselves from within before we spin out of control even further and fragment this wonderful country. I am leaning towards the left this time, but that is because I cant see anyone on the right that I think will tell the GOP to pack sand, and come back towards the center. John McCain would but he is not getting the funding he needs, and I am concerned about his age and health. Right now, I would like to see John Edwards get the Democratic TIcket with Obama as his running mate. THat would give this country the experience in political office and a new direction. It would also give Obama the chance to gain experience which seems to be his biggest drawback, and get him groomed for 2016!

I am anxious to see what Fred Thompson will do. Trophy wife aside, (jeez guys isnt there any thing else to talk about?) there does not seem to be any bad press coming out on him.

But the candidate that will get my vote is one who will give us universal health care for EVERYONE! A candidate who will protect the environment, a candidate who will get the economy back on track and back towards a balanced budget. I would also like to see a candidate who will back free education for all Americans who want it, and put emphasis back on learning instead of coddling our younger generations.

I think we need to pull out of Iraq, out of Afghanistan, out of the middle east and just let them do their own dirty work. If they dont or wont do it then they have made a choice that they will have to live with. I am not sure that Democracy in its present form will work over there, as there is too much History to the contrary. I watched Lawrence of Arabia the other night, and when the Arabs took Damascus, (i think) each tribe was fighting with the others over who was going to control what. Nothing has changed. THey are still fighting, they will always fight, ANd until they take up the fight and govern their own cities and towns, it will forever be that way.

Ok off my soap box...I am just an aging fat woman, with an opinion, and Lord knows that will change as the wind blows.

SIGH!!!

Pooped!

I came home last night and was in horrible pain. Oh Yeah I told you that already. I woke up this morning, still in pain, but knew I had to get to the festival. I offered to take the 12-5 shift as they could not find anyone else. I have always wanted to get involved in the festival, since the days it first started. Well 44 years later, I did. Only I got there so late, I did not get to order a shirt. WAHHH!! I did get a coffee cup though.

I rushed out of the house this morning, and stopped to get a big cup of coffee, and stood in line for almost 20 minutes! GOD I HATE those ditzy blondes that come in and order mochas and lattes for their entire group. so there were three people in line, the ditz, an older lady with a bag of coffee and me. 25 Minutes folks!!! unreal.

I got back in the car and headed down to try to find parking. THe festival is on front street, which is on the water, and the rest of the town heads up a steep hill. and I Do mean steep. the vendors were all along Front Street and then up the Hill and then back up COveland. Quite a walk! I headed to where I was parked yesterday, and squeezed through the barricades, and then since there was no one else there, I drove on down to the off limits parking lot right in the middle of the vendors. It was for handicapped people, but no one knew that, so I parked right smack in front of the office, right by the potties, and crawled on in.

I do not have a handicapped sticker on my car, and I am trying like Hell to avoid being labeled, but I think if this keeps up, I will have to. I can not walk any distance at all any more. I miss it so much! Anyway, no one said a word, and when I told the president of the Assn what I did, she said GOOD for you! and smiled. SO there too.

I am going to take it really easy next week, and tomorrow I will go down and try some stretching exercises in the pool.

Hope you all had a great weekend. Im going to bed.

Saturday....

I had to park way up the hill and walk down to front street, and the office is right next to the portapotties, so I did not get a chance to get pictures. I will tomorrow though, I go in at 12:00. Getting back UP the hill took all my breath away, and did a wild number on my back. I came home and went right to bed with Ben gay and aspercreme on it. I am getting worse and worse. I HATE getting old!

purrty huh?

My sister posted a picture of this afghan that she made for me,but she did not know how to turn it the right way, so for those of you like me, that get a crick in their neck looking sideways, I stole the picture and made it right side up. SO now she can steal it back and post it correctly. *tee hee)

Tomorrow I stuck my neck out and volunteered to work the Coupeville Arts and Crafts festival from 9-3. I will be sitting in the office answering phones and watching people. It is always fun to look at all the people that show up. THey are expecting over 20.000 people this weekend. So COupeville will be wall to wall with pottery, yarn goods, photo artists, leather toolers, kitsch makers, people with strollers, and people with dogs. (WHY do people take their dogs to things like that? THey just get stepped on)

I plan on taking quite a few pictures, so I should post them tomorrow. Continue keeping Ellen and Curtis in your thoughts, They are having a very rough time right now. Curtis made me cry with his last post. Sniff! It was so poignant!

ELLEN...

When I first started blogging some 4+ years ago, I met a lady from winnepeg, who was a school teacher. She was also a writer, and wrote articles for a canadian magazine. THe way she wrote about her life and her kids, her School kids...she has none of her own, You could tell that she was one of those very rare teachers that actually cared about her pupils.

I got the opportunity to meet Ellen and Curtis three years ago, when she came out to see her brother in Vancouver, BC. My sister and I drove up to White Rock BC to meet with them, and enjoyed our visit a lot. She is as bubbly in person as she is on her blog.

Ellen had cancer and licked it, and then it came back. She now is in her final stage of life, sleeping and being kept comfortable. Her Husband by her side, reading her all the comments that she gets on her blog. Her last entry was July 21, and you could tell she was tired.

I spent the Month of December last year folding Origami Cranes to send on to a friend who needed to have 1000 cranes for a Crane Project to send to Ellen. I managed to fold over 400 of them, and sent them on. Ellen got them several weeks ago. SHe was astonished and overwhelmed by all the love and prayers that went with them. Curtis found her sitting in the middle of the floor, surrounded by the cranes, and bawling her eyes out with happiness. I feel so good knowing that for a very brief time, I was able to be a part of the great feeling of love she received in that batch of cranes.

Brian over at AUDIENCE OF ONE has challenged us all to write about Ellen on our blogs and send every one of our readers over to her Blog and leave a comment, that Curtis can read to her. Curtis will be reading for days!

So all of you lurkers and all of you regular readers go tell Ellen Crush hello, and make her final hours even happier than she has been.

Saturday. Now what...

I remember the days when I would so look forward to Saturdays. Days when I knew I did not have to get up early and rush in to work. Days when I could sleep in if I wanted, or take a day trip up into the mountains. THere were always places to go and things to do and sights to see.

THere still is, only now I have no money to do them with. I woke up this morning and wondered what day it was, just another day in a long string of days that are all the same. Days when The house needs cleaning, the yard needs mowing, the gardens need tending the car needs to be washed, the blog needs to be updated, yada yada yada.

Retirement isnt the jewel that it once seemed to be. Everyday is a Saturday now, and every night is Friday night. It just goes to prove the point that we all need order and regimen in our lives. There once was a book written that said that we all NEED the celebrations and the rituals in our lives. We need to acknowledge Birthdays and anniversaries and we need to celebrate the holidays.

I had not given that much thought, but then I realized that when I was in grade school, we were always counting down to a certain DAY a certain EVENT that helped us realize just where we were in the course of our lives.

Once I grew up, My children gave me those reasons to celebrate and look forward to. It wasn't until just recently that I realized that now I NEED those reasons back into my life. It is so easy to just let them slide by without celebrating them. It is almost summers end, and I am still waiting for SUMMER TO ARRIVE! My deck has not been readied, I planted no flowers, I just let the days slide on by with no realization that my life is also sliding by.

I have a tendency to procrastinate and put the everyday things off, and by doing this, I just shove Monday into Saturday and wonder where the year went. I look around the house and see the trim that STILL needs to be painted, and the projects that still need to be finished. I need a personal trainer. A person that will motivate me into getting these everyday things done. I need some one to do them with. I can work like a horse but I cant work alone. Another Saturday is here and once again here I sit wondering WHat NOW!? SIGH

Easton Ridge Fire

This afternoon about 400, a helicopter with 4 people aboard, crashed into the densely forested mountains just over Snoqualamie Pass. THe crash broke out in flames and that started a 4 acre fire that quickly grew to 300 acres.

The phone rang about 730 and it was Tim calling collect to tell me he could not talk, but that he was on his way over to the fire. THis one could be a really bad one, as it was fueled, and it crashed into very dry timber on the east side of the mountains. It is also very sttep and there are no roads into the site.

TIm and his crew will be breaking trail, and climbing mountains to get to it. Say a prayer folks, THis has the potential to grow HUGE!

I will keep you all posted as I know more.