Cousins

I took my first ride on the Chetzemoka ferry to Port Townsend on Wednesday. My cousin Kris and I were headed to Union, Washington for a cousins get together at the Blue Heron Condos. I was quite impressed with the new ferry. It's quite an improvement over the days of the old rattly Olympic, but that's been years ago.We stopped in Port Townsend to see Leah in her sail shop. She is Kris's daughter and therefore my first cousin once removed, I think. It's quite amazing to think that she can sew sails for these big ships. She actually made sails for "The Pirates of the Caribbean" movies. When you watch the movie and see the sailors up in the riggings, one of them was Leah. Yup, she not only made the sails, but she had to help with them during the movie. Ah, our family movie star!You can see some of her planning on the chalkboard behind her. Oh, and this is one of her special sewing machines for sewing the heavy canvas.

We did get a little nice weather, though it was cold. So, we went down to Alderbrook to look at their facilities. It's a beautiful place and there were a couple retreats taking place. Then, we went down the road to the Cameo Boutique and Wine Shop. Another very fun place to visit and shop. From there we decide to walk down the street to a historic waterwheel. This was built by the Dalby family in 1922 to bring electricity to their home and a few other cabins on their property. In 1924 the wheel was in need of repair and was replaced with one which was brought over from Seattle.On the way back to the car my cousins couldn't resist taking a look over this wall. Hmmm, why do people build walls anyway? Usually to keep looky loos out, but they just couldn't resist. Here they are checking out a well known persons "Gateaway".

Next we went to Harmony Hills, which is a retreat center. Karen has been their for different school events, but I believe they mainly support cancer patients. Kris and Karen walked the labyrinth. I started it, but got dizzy going around in circles, so I had to step out. If you ever have the opportunity to walk one I suggest you do. They are quite interesting. The sun came out, so we headed to the beach. What a lovely spot and the beach was covered with oysters. It was their lucky day since I don't eat them and had no license.

This is Alderbrook from the water side.

Carole, Karen and Kristi
I have no idea how many pictures we have had taken together like this over the years, but it is A LOT!! We always get in this order as I am the oldest and Kris is the youngest. BUT, I'm not older by much. Karen's birthday is just 3 weeks after mine and Kris follows in 7 months.What a fun time we had together! It's time to head home, but first get to stop and see Baby Max in Tacoma. To get there we cross the Narrows Bridge. I always love seeing this bridge. It's quite impressive. We are on the new section that was completed just a few years ago. And here is Max. The little 1 pound baby now weighs almost 6 pounds. He is no longer in the warming bed, or on the respirator. He uses a C-Pap for most of the day, but they are now putting him on a cannula (small oxygen tube in his nose) for 6 hours a day. His little lungs are getting stronger and stronger. Look at all the equipment it takes to monitor this one tiny, tiny baby. This is a pretty heart warming picture. Max is holding his mommy Alissa's finger. His hand still looks pretty tiny, even though he has gained 5 pounds since birth. Keep up the good work Max.

Cats

For Christmas we gave the kids tickets to "CATS", which means they have waited a few months to get the real present. The Mount Baker Theatre in Bellingham is bringing us some high quality entertainment and we thank them for that. It's amazing how cat like the people were and the singing, dancing and costumes were great to see and hear. Barbra Streisand is singing the version of "Memory" that you are hearing as background for this blog. In the play it is sung by Grizabella, who is a cat that has returned to the Jellicles (that's the cats). She is now old and looks nothing like the young glamour cat that left them to venture into the outside world. All the cats shun her and claw and hiss at her. She wants to return and be accepted by her old friends. They continue being cruel until she appeals to them once again in the song "Memory". She is finally accepted as they see how she has suffered. This is just one small piece of the play, though a major one. It gives you an idea of how the most popular song of the show fits in.

Easter

HAPPY, HAPPY EASTER!

Yes, the kids still like to get baskets from the Easter Bunny. Plus, the bunny, that would be me, really likes to fill them. Since we just got back from Arizona I had several swap meet items. Those colorful crayon looking things I got at Lettuce Days in Yuma. They shoot water about 25 feet. They'll be quite fun if we ever get some warm weather.Here's the dinner table with it's centerpiece decorations.The tulips were especially pretty and the color matched the table runner, napkins and dishes perfectly. It's so nice when it works out that way.Here's the cousins - Jennifer, Jodie, Amber and Cara. We are so lucky they all live in town, so we get to see them often.Amber brought these beautiful flowers. Aren't they colorful? She got them because...they match the cupcakes she made for desert. She and Jodie went to "Our Kitchen is Your Kitchen" on Newmarket in the Barkley neighborhood. They showed them how to do the decorations. Pretty cute, huh?Rylie and Cara were going to share a cupcake. I don't think that was really Rylie's idea. Once she got a taste of it she would not take it away from her mouth. Cara figured she probably thought that as long as she held on to it her Mommy would not get a taste. Pretty cute!Amber also brought chocolate covered strawberries - Mmmmmm I made a basket full of Easter colored hats and let the girls choose the one they wanted. If you click on the picture to make it larger you will be able to see that each hat has a butterfly crocheted into the pattern.This is my Auntie Dorothy. She is 85 and has always been quite a character. Somethings never change and it is always fun to have her around. She makes up songs about anything that might be happening. She sang one for Rylie, but being only 2 I'm not sure she really understood what it was all about. Here she is singing a song with the duck. :-)After dinner I once again got out the chocolates so the girls could make chocolate covered cookies.Rylie wanted to be right there with us. She's pretty interested in everything that happens.

Oh Jennie, no sampling!Amber is very carefully adding pink for the ears. Some of this is very tiny work.Rylie wanted to make her own cookie. If the big girls can do it so can she!

The boys, of course, were not very interested in what we were doing - until we were done. Then they decide to try their hand at making the cookies. They weren't to particular how they did it as long as they got chocolate on a cookie. Their idea of an end result was not a cute cookie, but simply something to eat.

New Camera

As you may remember my camera was putting spots on my pictures. When I got home I contacted Panasonic and they had me send my camera to them. Since it was still under warranty they said they would replace it with a new camera rather than repair it. The turn around time was amazingly quick, so I was without a camera for only a few days. If you are wondering about the camera, it is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS6. It's a great camera with a fantastic zoom and close up capabilities. Thank you Panasonic!

Cowlitz Work Party

This is the weekend for the Spring Work Party at Cowlitz Shores. The weather has not been very good, so we were afraid we would have rain. Though it wasn't sunny and warm we did have a nice day for working outside and in. The night before the Work Party we played a few games with friends. Of course Pegs and Jokers was first and then a game of 3-13 and George. Skeet is checking his cards and planning his next move.
Saturday morning we are at work. There was a list of all the jobs that needed doing and after breakfast people begin signing up for what they would be working on. Doris, Sheral and I chose windows inside and out. Lucky for us someone came along and did the outsides for us. I ended up washing the screens and putting them back up.
Some of the men worked on insulating the clubhouse. On these cold days it should make it much warmer.

A new compost hole was also dug.
Ron chose to work on the burn pile. It was a huge job as everything was wet and they had a hard time getting it going. You can see some flames here, and they were thinking that might be about all they would get. However, they stuck with it through the weekend and by the time we left there was only one very small log left. Way to go boys!OK, I know I am supposed to be working, but as I was over checking on Ron and the burn pile I spotted these mushrooms. They were so pretty I couldn't resist a few pictures.

Skeet chose weed whacking, so he was all over the park whacking here and whacking there.

There was a problem with the sewer pump, so these men worked on it. They did have the septic tank pumped and were talking about replacing the pump. Whatever they did it was successful as the system ended up working perfectly.

Jan brought her Slider maker, so we had Sliders for dinner. They are pretty small for the men, so we made them several and put 2 patties in them. It was a fun adventure.

Ron's dinner. We used potato rolls for the buns. They worked just fine.

We stayed at the campground for 5 days, so we also had some time for fun. I brought my materials so the ladies could make Easter candies. Doris is checking her molds to make sure there are no air bubbles and that all the areas are filled.

Sheral is putting her molds in the refrigerator so the chocolate will harden.I have taken my candy out of the molds and am arranging them on the foil. When I am finished I will put them in little clear bags.
Sheral is arranging her candies on a plate so she can carry them home.While the ladies were making candy the men were out fishing. Looks like they had a great day!
The next morning started out very foggy, but in the spring that can mean that the sun will shine as soon as it burns through...

and it did! We had a beautiful day. Sheral wanted to make a quilt, but it turned out to be quite a challenge. She wanted Easter fabric, but we did find any. We also couldn't find any of the quilters grid that we needed. Hmmm, what a deal this turned out to be. I finally found her some fabric, so we cut the pieces so she will be ready to sew when we get together again. I will bring the grid so we are sure to have the supplies we need.There are many doves in the campground. This is a Turtle Dove. We hear them all the time, but don't often see them up in the trees. I was quite surprised to see one right outside the motorhome.