Pioneer Square & Pike Place Market...

Yesterday I got to drive shotgun (i.e. I was sitting in the passenger seat) in this fun little sports car all the way to Seattle and back. I felt like a movie star...  <wink>

My friend Kim had some errands to run at Pioneer Square and invited me along: yes please!  {smile} Here we go...

What a beautiful area with lots of old brick buildings and gorgeous old greenery. (i.e. trees) I also found a clog store but oh boy, those prices were steep: $135... {not smile}

Those blue ones were my favorites!

After we were done with our errands we drove a little bit further and parked right at Pike Place Market. (and saw this truck along the way which reminded me of home of course...)

With the incredibly nice weather we are still experiencing (40 days in a row without any precipitation and  still counting!) it was of course extremely busy, but Kim knew the way and before we knew it we were sitting at a tiny counter among all the touristy crowds and had delicious 'blackened salmon on organic salad plus garlic bread' platters in front of us: Yum!

After all that fun it was time to go home again. Tomorrow I will show you the pics I took along the CowRoad, which was it usual beautiful self with all that sunshine.

Right now I'm going back in the yard and in the sun. We have a long weekend now (Labor Day on Monday) and by golly, I will enjoy it! {smile}

Cheers!

Blue Moon...

Agenda Craftiness...

About one year ago I crafted a whole new desk-top agenda for myself. It has been very useful, but of course boredom has crept in and I really wanted to look at something new. Now, with my recently acquired Photoshop skills, I have come up with a completely new design. Voila:

Love it!  {smile}

I first made four templates for the Monday through Wednesday parts and then four templates for the other days. Copied them into word, printed them out, cut them in half, punched in some holes and done.  I also made new monthly tabs for on top. Easy Peasy! <wink>

Seniors!!!

Yes! The day has finally come that my baby boy is now a Senior!!!  (woot woot!) 

Our school has a fun tradition that on the very first day of the new school year, the Senior Students line up half way down the hill with hand-made signs (and in their senior class hoodie sweat shirts) to greet the other students and parents. Lots of hollering and hooting and honking is involved: Love it!  {smile}

Bottom left you see our new boss. My lovely husband is standing to his right,
keeping an eye on things... (it gets pretty crazy!)

Three cheers to the Senior Class of 2013!!!

Another Great Day On The Water!

And salt water this time!  {smile}

J. in action!

Yesterday we spent several hours on board of an old Coast Guard dingy (with  a hard shell, which is the bottom of the boat) zipping around two of Meike's friends (brother and sister) who were participating in a Laser sailing regatta on the Puget Sound. The weather was glorious (78F) and so once again, great times were had by all...  {smile}

Here is a small selection of all the photos I took. Sorry that not all the horizons are straight, it was rather choppy out there on the water...

Here is the dingy in the foreground. 
It has one of those long seats in the middle that you straddle, like sitting on a horse.
The engine had 90 horsepower: needless to say we went very fast!
(and yes, Bo the Black Lab came as well)

J.'s younger sister T. in the lead while battling her team mate around the buoy...

J. rounding the buoy...

 

J. in the lead at the start of the third race...

J.: The Rugged Sailor...

And a few pictures of the marina and then back on the road home again...

Shilshole Bay Marina with the Olympic Mountains in the background...

Seattle skyline, two pictures 'glued' together...

Good old Mount Rainier with Lake Washington in the foreground.
Well folks, today is the last day of our summer holidays. We had a great time!  {smile} 
Now we're getting ready for a new start of the school year...

Last Days of Summer...

Have a great weekend everybody!  {smile}

PS I used PicMonkey for the editing this time and I am just not happy about the typography results. Sorry about that...

Odds & Ends...

I'll start off this post by sending a great big 'thank you' to my mother (who is now sailing in Greenland!) for sending me the most beautiful birthday present this week. Just look at this:

The silver square is only 1 inch by 1 inch (2,5 cm x 2,5cm) and if you look at it in the right light you can see the pictures appear. (these are the pictures I took while we were visiting Long Beach, WA)
Just to be clear, this is one pendant with a picture on either side. I think it was meant as a key chain hanger, but I want to make it into a necklace. I just love it so!  {smile}

--  **  --  **  --

'Tis the last Friday before school starts again and the tensions are building. 

Mr. G. (who is the head of our High School) is experiencing the busiest time of year and so is 'off on another planet' as I call it. The kids are reading like crazy to finish their summer reading and  trying to remember all their crazy Math skills for their Math packets that are also due on Monday and on which they will be tested! Master C. will be taking Calculus this year and Miss M. does Algebra 2 Honors. They are both way further in this field than I ever was...

Cross-Country Running practices started last Monday (every day from 3:30 until 5:30pm) for Master C. and Miss M. is almost done with all the driver's ed classes. (and is doing great by the way) This all meant  that I felt like a taxi driver this week: first 25 minutes to school to drop off Master C., then another 30 minutes (through very busy traffic) to drop-off Miss M. at her driver's ed and then another 30 minutes to get home from there. Thankfully Mr. G. then picked up Miss M. at 6:15pm so that I didn't have to jump into the car again... Pfiew!

Anyway, that is over now. Master C. will be taking my car today and Miss M. will be picked up for a fun Laser Tag event somewhere south of Seattle I think, so I will have a whole day to myself and might actually start a little bit of sewing, who knows... <wink>

I did do some sewing over the summer holidays and this was one of them: a new sewing machine cover.

I just love the combination of these two fabrics! I made a handbag out of them also last year and a little credit card/ business card holder this summer, but I haven't made any pictures of that last one yet.

In the upper picture you can see that I have some patterns spread out on the table for my perusal. Still haven't decided on which one to tackle first but hopefully that decision will be made this morning...  <wink>

And in news from the garden: we have onions!

And finally, just look at what I found at Target yesterday:

I just had to have it! 

I think I will use it to store all my zippers in since it is about a foot tall and measures approx. 6 inches across. (30 cm tall by 15 cm)   Giant I tell you!  {smile}

Ramblings...

Yay, after several extremely hot days in which we did just about nothing, today arrived with clouds. Clouds people! This means lower temperatures!  <wink> I know I'm going to regret this sooner rather than later but: "Clouds, Yahoo!!!"

This morning we stopped for a very quick visit at our local Value Village where I found this very vintage looking recipe box from the 50's. 

Now the people that know me a little bit better also know that I don't enjoy cooking that much. I see it more as a necessary 'evil'. The little box will probably be used in my sewing notions area, but isn't it just the sweetest?!  {smile}

--  **  --  **  --

This afternoon, when I went to pick up the mail, a lovely surprise awaited me. Look at this gorgeous Amy Butler fabric!

Marcha (from 'Post van Mars') sent it to me as a thank you for a very easy favor I did for her a little while back. How nice was that? (her present, not my favor)

We have one more week of vacation left and after that I will (hopefully) have lots of creative energy again to start sewing some clothes. I can't wait! What shall I make with the beautiful fabric... (ponder, ponder)

--  **  --  **  --

In the mean time I think I will be cooking up another batch of  my Curried Zucchini Soup. Just look at this Zuper - Ziced  Zpezimen of a Zucchini!  <wink>  

Pictured you see a 12 inch/ 30 cm ruler...

And yes, it is another homegrown item. The heat has been doing wonders for Mr. G.'s veggie patch...

Taxi Please!

Yes, these tomatoes are called 'Taxi' and they are just starting to become ripe: Yum!

Every time I see these tomatoes I hear the song of 'Joe le Taxi' in my head... <wink>

The ripening is no problem with the totally crazy temperatures we've been having:

And another day like that is in the forecast for today. Miss M. and some of her friends will go to the river to cool off. Don't worry, they will be wearing their life jackets. A twenty year old man drowned two days ago in the bigger river and we saw  all the emergency vehicles and police boats in and near the river trying to resuscitate him, to no avail... (i.e. he didn't make it)

Hopefully this will be the last hot day for this year because we're just hanging inside with a/c blasting to cool us off, rather boring I must tell ya...

Meet Bode!

And here is the latest addition to our neighborhood: say hello to 10-week old Body!

Just kiddin'...

Miss M. is very happy as well!

He's flying!

He truly is the smallest dog I've ever seen!  <wink>

Welcome to the neighborhood Bode!  {smile}