Second Wettest February on Record

(This is also my cyber report for my pen pals)

Rain, snow, fog, wind, ice, clouds, sun. We had it all this month. Amazingly I did get in some rather nice activities indoors as well as outdoors. And I did a lot of reading!

The class I had signed up for at Creative Retirement Institute (CRI), offered through Edmonds Community College, got me out of the house and held my interest for the first few weeks of the month. It was about the Korean War: The Forgotten War. The instructor was very good and the information was well presented. I knew little about this war and learned quite a bit.

Actually the very beginnng of February had a couple of sun days to give us and I took advantage to go on some bike ride with friends. Cindy and Bette-Ann drove over to Redmond to start a ride and at first we were disappointed with traffic on the route. We pursued enough though to enjoy more remote riding and had a highlight of coming across the Red Brick Road ;'-).

 

Picturesque bridge takes us through part of a park

 

We came to a paved trail with a canal running through it

 

My bike likes this trail

 

B-A and Cindy like the trail also

 

I like the trail so much I take another photo

 

Quite a few years ago I rode on this road for the first, and I think only, time before this ride. It was nice to "discover" it with my friends again today.

 

 

 

I have posted in a separate entry the Alphabet letters that I uncovered through search by bike and a few by foot. That was a great self imposed challenge that helped me through a rather dreary month.

Then there was snow.

 

Getting out our door for a morning snow walk

 

 

The road in front of our house

 

Snow people that someone else built

 

A walk on the trail very near our house

 

We earned lunch at the Thai restaurant. It started snowing again while we were eating lunch.

Speaking of lunch, and breakfast for that matter. Meeting friends for movies, lunch and breakfast is always a great treat for me. My monthly movie/lunch date with Pat became lunch only as there was no good movie for us to see this month. We met at a new spot for us and had lunch at Scott's which had good choices of food and a fine place for us to catch up with each other. Pat and I had chosen the movie Hidden Figures last month and I had wanted to also see La La Land -- because of all the hype. My friend Bill showed interest as well so he and I and a friend of his met for that movie and dinner afterward. Though I was glad to see the movie, I was a bit underwhelmed given all the hype it had been given.

The weather actually allowed for several rides and walks during the month -- one had to be diligent about watching the forecast and determining whether to heed it. They are so wrong so often.

 

A walk along the Edmonds waterfront with Bill & Susan. Working fishing people down there.

 

A ride to the Snohomish Bakery and this baker showed up ;'-)

 

Intense on her work

 

Indication of our wet and windy weather.

More than one of our days were quite chilly! But we bundled into our finest to brave the weather.

 

Brenda dug out her snow suit and found that it kept her bum quite warm

 

The little gnome home on this ride

Another sunnier day brought us onto the north Centennial Trail.

 

 

Bette-Ann gives her hand at the xylophone

 

We enjoy several murals along the way.

 

Nakashimi Barn is our destination at the end of the trail

 

The barn is part of the farm owned by Japanese Americans who were forcd into those miserable internment camps during WWII. Sad story for this large hard working family to lose their land during this time.

Another indoor activity I got to do was to play trains with my friend John. I must try to get a photo the next time we do this. John is train hobbyist and has taught me so much about the workings of the railroad. His club has an extensive layout of track with scenery, towns and working yards. He sets up a work scenario for me and (with his help) I figure out how to accomplish the job at hand. It is most fun!

Susan and I drove up to the Mountain Loop Highway for an attempt at snowshoeing with the ranger who would be leading a group from the Verlot Ranger Station. We got close -- but the snowy driving got to be too much for us so we aborted that thought. We drove down to where there was no snow (only rain!) and did a little walk/hike around the falls of Granite Falls.

 

 

 

Add precious and fun times with some of the grands and this was indeed a full month! No photos of them this time but we shared some valuable times with them, including having some of them (one at a time) have a slumber party here with us. ;'-).

Here we go into March now -- and weather is not so good here at its beginning.

 

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Alphabet

A February 2017 activity ;'-)

Years ago (decades now) when living back east, I took a photography class. In addition to dark room work we also had field assignments. One of those assignments was to take photos outdoors of things that looked like, or at least "represented" the letters of the alphabet. It could be anything "natural" or any structural thing, but no actual printed letter like on a sign or building or anywhere.

On one of my solo neighborhood bike rides this popped into my mind. Repeating a bike route many times, though with nice views and a pleasant bike ride, one can begin to experience a little ... boredom. Such was the case on a ride a few weeks ago so I decided I needed a "challenge" and this would be a good one.

With all the rain we have had this month (wettest February on record) I adjusted the rule to include any hikes or long walks I did. Once I told Susan to use her imaginative artful eye, even she was able to discern the letters I had taken a picture of, and she volunteered some on a couple of our walks.

I invite readers to use their imaginative artful eye as well. Some of these are a bit out of focus, so forgive that; some may be hard to determine a letter, but it is not as easy as one might suspect to find a "g" for example.

Without further word -- here they are (taken over a little more than a week):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Follow the skinny limb

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was a fun little project -- at least for me ;'-) as Susan got tired of my searching whenever we were on a walk together. But -- even with that thought, she helped me find a couple of letters.

 

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January 2017 -- Keeping up with my cyber (pen pal) friends

 

Hello my friends,

I am telling you about much (most) of what January held for me, and it will be in no actual chronological order. First let me say that December did not end the year 2016 too well for me. I think I complained to all of you and each of you enough, but let it be known that I was sick for way too long -- and like you Larry -- had that horrendous cough stay with me much longer!

I will try to do this report with some kind of order.

PATCHWORK: Let me start with this.

You know I do the coffeeneuring challenge (but with tea), and I earn a patch for each year I do it. I now have three of those and also purchased an "always coffeeneuring" patch that has no rules attached to it -- it simply assumes that one is always on the search for coffee, or in my case tea.

How to display these patches is a challenge for everyone. Hard, to sometimes impossible, to sew onto one's pannier, and if sewn on that could compromise the rain resistance by creating holes (even though small). I thought of gluing them on (one person on fb was trying hot glue) but learned that that would end up cracking (especially in our weather) and potentially ruining the patch and maybe the pannier. Same thing with double sided tape that I was considering. What to do other than stuff them in a drawer?

Fortunately I have a creative and talented friend in Bette-Ann. She did this ...

 

 

I had this map holder that she lined with upholstery fabric (because it doesn't ravel), put a piece of cardboard inside for a stiffener, and tacked each patch onto it. Tacking makes it possible to easily remove and add more patches as they come ;'-)

Here is how it looks on my rear bike trunk:

I am very pleased with my patch display and thankful for my friend Bette-Ann.

FROZEN FUN plus ONE MILE:

You will recall the photos I sent you showing our frozen tundra. It has been that kind of January and has kept all of us from doing much bike riding. Finally my friend Cindy and I decided to give it a try -- we were unsuccessful in recruiting any other of our friends who may have had more sound judgement than to ride in below 30 degree weather.

 

I had so many articles of clothing on, I felt like the boy in "The Christmas Story" who couldn't get up from his fall because of all the clothing he had on. Layers and layers above and below (plus those chemical hand and toe warmers) kept me warm enough to complete a nice little ride with Cindy. And she served us soup afterward. I tell ya, I have the BEST of friends!

 

That's ice covering the pond we meandered around to visit. Two days later I thought I would take a little ride around my neighborhood. HA!

ONE MILE!

I don't know if ever I have ridden just one mile!!

Here I took the time and all the effort to get bundled into all those layers of clothing, got on my bike and rode only around my block for one mile!! It was simply too cold -- or I was too cold. I don't know because Cindy and I rode in colder temps and we were fine. So this day it may have been a combination of things -- riding alone; not having the right mind set; no warm up days in between. Whatever - I was not having fun and felt frozen from the start so simply returned home. All I could think of was reading my book in my nice warm home!

There were some ice patches out there, but nothing I couldn't have avoided --- AS LONG AS I KNEW in advance that they were there and didn't come upon them around a turn or they were hidden in some corner or under some tree! My block did not seem dangerous, but I was surprised to see a few thick ice patches out there.

TEANEURRING:

I have not taken photos of each ride with a tea and crumpet stop (you know any pastry for me is a crumpet) but I did get a couple. I had a few rides to Top Pot Doughnuts with a couple of friends and totally enjoyed the goods.

 

And yesterday we had a fine stop at a cafe in a pharmacy! I liked that because I could add it to my "list" of strange places for places. Also on my list (of two now) is having had sandwiches from a deli in a liquor store.

 

 

"Stilly" is a colloquial shorthand for the Stillaquamish River which is the river that this town of Arlington is on.

This is a poor photo but I was trying to show that we are in a pharmacy having tea and crumpets.

End Part 1 ;'-)

SOME OTHER RIDES:

Unbelievably, given this ice laden month, I got in a few more rides mainly with friends.

Yard art always welcome.

Cows are few and far between so close to home anymore.

The old large tree trunk nurses new tree growth.

Our siting today. This regal eagle!

TWO PLAYS AND A MOVIE:

"Singing in the Rain" was well done at our local theatre -- with semi-professional acting group. Though I enjoyed it, it is indeed "dated" and I don't have to see it again. Well, maybe the real thing with Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds ;'-). The theatre extended the run of the play in memoriam of Debbie.

"Woodie Sez" was a very entertaining and well done play about Woody Guthrie -- his music, his drive for the underdog, his life story, and the Huntington's disease he died from. I very much enjoyed this one.

"Hidden Figures" is the movie that Pat and I saw this month. A rather moving story of three black women in Virginia in the 50s and early 60s working at NASA, knowing more than many whites who worked there, and the discrimination factors that existed. Good movie that I could see a second time.

SOME READING:

Not at all high brow, and no where near as educational nor classic as much of Larry's reading, but I did get three books read this month.

 

Story of Ingrid Bergman by Ingrid and Alan Burgess (from Mary @ Christmas) Lots of disconnect in her life -- interesting read.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (from Pat)
Retired school teacher in small town of Crosby Maine with many different characters and each have their own stories to tell.

Tara Road by Maeve Binchy (from Mary last Christmas). Kind of like a soap opera and rather enjoyable even though it does ramble on just like a soap opera.

THAT'S ALL FOLKS (for now):

This has gotten to be quite a long cyber report, but I love sharing it all with you. I save thoughts and take photos to share and it is helpful to me as well, to see all I have done. Though January is not quite over, I will add anything else I do this month into my February report (that's a short month and maybe a short report ;'-)). Maybe not.

One last photo -- two year old Kaitlyn found her way to see what was going on outside in her yard.

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