Not A Minute Wasted

I headed off to Minnesota October 15 for a whirlwind week of visiting, very long overdue.  I started out at Henni's and our first night did not go silent until about 2:30 a.m...this for a mother who is usually in bed at 9 p.m.!!  We really made up for lost time and what fun we had.  We shared a wonderful bottle of Chilean Carmenere wine and celebrated our reunion!  The Minnesota weather was lovely and sunny and after a weekend with Henni (Rich gave us lots of space:-) I headed over to Katri's and spent two days just with Ava and one day with Eliah doing all the things Grandmothers are supposed to do...color, paint, play doh, cutting, pasting, playing doll house..we had a great time.

On my day with Eliah, we got out all his train tracks and had a very fun time putting them together.  He learned about "right of way" and yielding and soon decided that it would be better to put up one of his stop lights so that it would always be green when Grandma's train came close to his...well..it is his train stuff afterall.  We raked leaves so they could be jumped in and played some games and soon the day was coming to an end.  Katri and I headed out that evening to her weekly knitting group so I could meet some of her knitting friends.  A great group and they even knit a bit when they aren't talking and drinking coffee!

Next, it was off to my sister's for a day of catching up on sister talk and a lovely walk around the neighborhood.   Now I'm home again, welcomed at the ferry landing by my two main men, BJ and Hank.  Kisses were great from both.

In Love

I mentioned some time ago that we are sponsoring a little boy in Bolivia through http://www.compassion.com/.   As a result, I am in love with Google.  I have discovered their wonderful translation assistance.  My letters to Daniel are written in English and then are translated by Compassion staff into Spanish but I want to send postcards also and be able to write something in Spanish or write little notes in Spanish in my letters.  So Google not only translates but also tells me how to prounounce words/phrases.   I am excited to learn Spanish as well and maybe resurrect some memory of my Spanish classes from my college classes in the 80's.  Anyway, this is such a cool service and I get a letter monthly, written by a tutor of Daniel but I will be so excited when he can write back himself. 

Progress

Well, we now have the foundation in as well as the floor poured and the frames are in for the concrete slanted slab as you drive into the garage as well as the slab for outside the side entry  door.  They will be in exposed aggragate like the rest of our walkways so probably will be done when the steps are done going down to the back door of the house.    

Precious

I know, we are usually behind the times when it comes to watching movies but last night we watched Precious.  BJ and I were both incredibly moved by this movie, it's very raw story of life at it's worst.  We became numb to the "f" word but the message of hope that this movie portrays and the impact of just one person who cares and especially a really good teacher, well, it's what goodness is all about.   Don't watch it to be entertained but watch it to see what making a difference can mean in the life of one other person.   The woman who plays the mother (if you can call her that!)  in the story won an academy award for best supporting actress.  We agree it was well deserved. 

Peter

I have just finished reading a wonderful book titled, Peter The Great, His Life And World by Robert K. Massie.  This was an amazing historical saga about a larger than life tsar of Russia in the late1600's, early 1700's.  Peter was 6'7" which in that day was extremely rare.  In an era of opulance and grandeur, he preferred simple clothes and hated pomp and circumstance, however the people were still taxed to death to fund the armies, wars and building projects that he demanded.  St. Petersburg is called the city built on bones for all the lives lost creating a city built in a swamp.  I became captivated with all the history, not just of Russia, but the neighboring countries as well.  In spite of the revolution of 1918, many artifacts have been preserved from Peter's reign and I would love to see them.  Oh, aren't books wonderful!!!

A Lovely Weekend

We left for La Conner last Thursday for a yacht club outing and decided to take Hank this time.  We normally leave him with a sitter but since we planned to be at a marina the entire time, the potty trips were not an issue.  He must be showing his 7 years as he did very well and soon settled into boat life and the meeting and greeting of other dogs and humans.   He is out like a light tonight so must not have gotten in his normal nap times, but it was fun to have him with us and the weather was perfect.  You can see his accommodations are quite adequate!

We had a bit of drama.  When we got to the marina we discovered a line coming from the end of our boat...not our line.  BJ tried to free it but could not get it unstuck.  We must have crossed over a crab pot line on the way over.  Shortly after, another boat came in and the owner asked about our problem and he said he had a wet suit and a tank and that if we needed help he was available.  BJ soon took him up on the offer and after a short dive the guy came up with the most tangled line that had been wrapped around our skeg and propeller.  It's amazing that we did not lose power after seeing the amount of line that had been cut away.   We invited him and his wife over afterward to visit and had the best time getting to know each other.   Clearly one of those divine intervention moments. 

And So It Begins

The lighting is not very good but you get the idea for the general layout.   We'll still need that hooded jacket to run from the garage into the house in a downpour, but hey, the cars will stay dry!!  How I rememer our suburban homes where you drove into your garage then walked into the house, all neat and tidy like.   I guess that's why we put in all tile floors!