Calm...

Breathing in the calm before 2012 will announce its entry...

Dawgs...

It was a great party! Lots of fun decorations, excellent food (catered remember!) and lots of laughter. And oh yes, there was the game, of which I didn't see much I must admit. Apparently it was the highest scoring Bowl game ever! (but they lost...)

In Between Days...

I was just looking around in  'blog-land' and came across Agneta's blog post which was called 'Mellandagen'. This sort of means 'in between days' in Swedish and hence my own blog title. It also gives me a good link to share with you that we finally ate the 'Jansson's Frestelse' recipe last night that Agneta sent us a few weeks back: it was delicious!

My kids threw some serious teenager tantrums about the fact that the dish contained Anchovies, but they had to admit that they barely noticed them (and definitely no bones to be seen) and they actually finished their plates! Of course the large amount of cream (500 ml!!!) helped as well but is was really tasty and certainly something I will make it again, although not any time soon, keeping all the calories in mind....

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I think this time of year is always both my least favorite(all the looking back and the gaping wide open 'hole' of the new year makes me feel down) but at the same time it is also my favorite since I have a very strong 'throwing stuff away' feeling!   <wink>

I got rid off all the x-mas stuff the day after and that included the tree. And now I am just slowly getting rid off other stuff that I just really don't want anymore. A lot of it is just lovely but very oriental in design and my tastes have changed so much over the past year and a half or so. Fortunately my neighbor across the road is totally into the oriental (Indian) look so I will be giving a lot of items to her when they get from their vacation. The rest will go to Goodwill...

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Well, no other pictures to show you. (there were plenty last week)  I did do a lot of work again on a new header (several actually if you have visited here in between on those 'in between days'...) and some new sidebar tags. My sister and I have both signed up for some online Photography and Photoshop classes  with Kim Klassen and those will start early January. How fun that we can do something like that together while living so far apart?! (she lives in The Netherlands)  {smile}

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Tonight we have been invited to a 'Dawg' party. Our local university's Football team called The Huskies (their mascot is a Husky dog of course, hence the name of the party) are playing in the Alamo Bowl and we're all going over to a friend's house  to watch the game and where they are catering (!) for the event!

For tomorrow night we are invited at another friends' house for a Brisket dinner (some kind of smoked meat from the South if I got that right) and  Saturday (New Year's Eve) we have been invited to come all the way to the big city (i.e. Seattle) to celebrate the beginning of the new year with some famous rock stars. Well, one at least, our friend Kim from the band Soundgarden. Yes, I'm doing some bragging here.  <wink>

I hope you all have something fun planned also for that last day/ night of 2011?

Until we meet again in 2012!  {smile}

Christmas Day...

Ours is just starting, hope it is or has been, wonderful for you as well!  {smile}

Indianapolis,
X-Mas 2003

Road Trippin'....

Boy, were we lucky the last couple of days or what? On Thursday we had the bright blue skies as we were touring the Boeing plant and surroundings, and yesterday, on our 'road trip', the sun came out just as we drove into Poulsbo.
Today, it is pouring...

Mr. G. and I had a lovely time on our road trip, which was without the kids! (yahoo!)  <wink> Originally we had thought to catch the 9.30am ferry in Seattle but when we got up I just didn't think we would manage that. So we decided on taking the ferry an hour later and that worked out just fine. Pretty cold on deck but we had some fabulous views of Seattle and the Puget Sound...

From Bainbridge to Poulsbo was only a 25 minutes drive or so, so we got there just before noon. Off we went on an exploratory walk and the first thing we found was a thrift shop where I bought some lovely dark grey with pink roses flannel pajama pants for $2! Score!

Since it was around lunch time we stopped by a Dutch sounding bakery (named 'Sluys', see picture above) where we got some raspberry scones. Mr. G. kept on pressing me about visiting this tiny grocery store which was supposed to be fun to visit. Well, it certainly was!!!

As we approached the front door the smiling face of Queen Beatrix greeted me (= present Dutch queen) and inside they had the largest selection of Dutch, German and Scandinavian food I have ever seen outside of their respective countries!!! Score again! We came out with three full grocery  bags filled to the rim with Bokkepootjes, Mokkastaafjes, dropjes, kaneelstokken, kano's, beschuit, oliebollen mix, appeltaart mix, vlokken en Rolmops! Yes, I had a Rolmops (pickled raw herring with a pickle inside) for lunch, outside at the edge of the harbor in the sunshine: it was glorious! {smile}

Mr. G.!
(and me with my Rolmops and my Dr. Martens)

Mr. G. had obviously done his homework and knew about this place but didn't tell me a thing and surprised me big time!

After all that excitement we walked around town some more and visited lots of little shops and another Antique Market (= second hand stuff) where I bought some fun little pieces of ribbon, bias tape and some vintage buttons. We walked around the harbor side a bit more where we were greeted by the luscious sunshine:

On our way out of Poulsbo we stopped for a beer called 'Entendez Noel (11,4 % alcohol!) at the local Sound Micro Brewery (yum!) and we brought home a growler (a half gallon (2 liter) bottle) of  'Monk's Indiscretion' beer ('only' 11%) ...

I found this clearly Dutch connection here on their wall...

What a day right?  {smile} We did miss the ferry in Kingston on our way home but that gave me the chance to take these pictures...

With Mount Rainier in the distance which I didn't see until I started editing the pictures...

Boeing...

We just returned from a really fun and interesting tour at the Boeing plant in Everett. (just North of Seattle) Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take pictures during the tour but afterwards I could shoot some from a distance. The weather was the most glorious ever!

The pictures above were taken in the inside gallery. The first two were of a moving engine propeller.

And this is what it looked like outside on the roof, facing East toward the Cascades Mountain Range...

The largest building in the world: the Boeing factory where they build, among others,
the latest in their fleet: the Dreamliner!

Mount Rainier in the far distance...

Mount Baker: WOW!!!

Beautiful cloud formations...

On the way back home we had to stop for some photos in our River Valley of course with the sun shining so bright. We took a different road then normal and found lots of horses out in pasture.

And beautiful views of the mountains of course...

My favorite barn...

And then, when we were almost home, we had to stop and take a picture of the cow that has been the reason for the naming of this blog:

The kids had a great time as did we so a very successful day indeed! Tomorrow the hubby and I are off on our road-trip...

A Frosty Morn...

Yesterday I took lots of lovely pictures in our back yard, almost like part of the 'Signs of Spring' thing I took part of last year. That is how spring- like it has been feeling! Until this morning that was... 25F! (that would be about minus 3 in Celsius I think)

As I was opening the sliding door to let Olive out at 7:30am, I looked outside and immediately ran to grab my camera: WootWoot, get ready for lots of Frosty Film!  {smile}

And a couple of pretty leaves...

Plus a couple of house/ mood shots...

That should do for today right?  <wink>

PS It has come to my attention that my blog wasn't regularly being updated by Blogger in some of your blog lists, so please check back a few posts on what you might have missed.
To resolve the problem (after reading up on it in quite a few help-forums), I added my own blog's URL to my own 'reading list' and that seemed to have done the trick.... Maybe a tip for you if you are experiencing those problems yourself?

Birthday...

Today is my dad's 75th birthday so a big "Hip, Hip, Hip Hurrah!" to him.  {smile}

I took these pictures last summer whilst visiting The Netherlands. The top one is a very typical one of us sharing a drink on his balcony overlooking the medieval Muiden harbor. In the bottom one he has just prepared some fresh (and raw!) Dutch Herring for us to share: Yum! (the kids just plain refused and I think Mr. G. had a bite to be polite...)

I added the old map background since that is an interest that both he and I share also. So once again: "Gefeliciteerd Papa!" It is days like these when I miss living closer to you!

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Yesterday I spent a lot of time behind the computer (Mr. G. was still at work and the kids were playing the Wii for hours in a row) re-organizing files, deleting stuff etc., but there was also time to 'play' and I created first my new Facebook profile image...

And then after that I prepared a fun picture of our dog Olive. (picture taken by Miss M.!)  She (Olive that is) will be turning 11 in February and you can see her gray hairs increasing every day. Our baby!  {smile}

So, that was that. Today Miss M. and myself will visit one of her friends who, three days ago, got their new Portuguese Waterdog puppy! They already have an adult one and it will be so much fun to see them playing together. I've just re-loaded the battery of my camera because lots of pictures will be taken!

And oh yes, I finished putting the Charles Wysockis puzzle together!

What you see here in these two pictures is just a detail...

Then for tomorrow we have (finally) planned a trip/ tour of the Boeing plant in Everett. We have been living here for four and a half years now and still haven't been...

And the day after that we are going on a little mini road trip to Poulsbo on the Olympic Peninsula, a Norwegian town. First we will take a ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge, drive north to Poulsbo where there are apparently lots of fun Scandinavian shops and restaurants and then we will take another ferry back from Kingston to Edmonds.
What a day and this was all my hubby's idea! {big smile}

Otherwise not much of a Christmas feeling here since it feels more like Spring! I've even been experiencing Spring Cleaning Urges!

A Year Of Rambling...

Who would have thought I would have so much FUN blogging???

I remember when my sister started her blog in October of 2010 and that she immediately said: "Sis, this is so something for you!" and I was like: "What on earth do I have to blog about?" and even more so: "Who on earth would ever read what I have to say?"

Well, one year and tons of 412 posts later (sometimes even three times a day!) I am totally addicted to blogging and more importantly yet, I have 'met' so many fun, interesting and creative people all over the world!

Thank You!

Christmas Brunch...

(Warning: another picture overload...)

This morning some of the Little Bit ladies and myself attended the most wonderful Christmas Brunch ever! 

It was at another Little Bit lady's house that overlooked Lake Washington and Seattle: stunning views!

These pictures were taken from both her driveway and her living room. Wasn't that just amazing?

And even though the view outside was very distracting, inside there was a lot to see as well. (and 'a lot' is an understatement here!)

Meringue cookies filled with lemon curd...

Hot Buttered Rum...

One of my favorite pictures...

The company and the food (oh my, the food!) were all outstanding. We had Mimosa's, Hot Buttered Rum, egg + cheese dishes from the oven, sausage links, fresh fruit and the most delicious cookies, handmade by her son who is a pastry chef.

Thank you Galen!    (and yes, for the Swedes reading over here: that is her name!   <wink>)

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And then, to top it all off, these were some of the views on the way home...

Mount Rainier...

Quite the day let me tell ya!  {smile}