Dungeness Spit

A chilly and beautiful anniversary stroll along Dungeness Spit

Cape Flattery

Greetings from the most northwesterly point of the contiguous United States!

Tatoosh Island

Sitka spruce on Cape Flattery

North towards Vancouver Island (seen in the distance)

North Cascade Mountain Loop

This old guitar taught me to sing a love song...

Years after reading Stephen King's novel Lisey's Story, what still sticks in my mind is his wonderful portrayal of the marriage of the main characters, with a particular focus on the power of language in their relationship - a thousand little phrases, pieces of lyrics, jokes, and other words that were shared between them and took on inside meanings that only they understood. Apparently others thought so too, the Washington Post review states: "In fact, one of the great charms of this novel is King's attention to the private language of affection: the silly phrases, lyrics, puns and pet names that Lisey cherishes as signs of their intimacy". And music was a key component, certain songs evoking long-ago memories, or pieces of lyrics became incorporated into greetings or jokes.

Music has always been a wonderful and major element of our relationship, also shaping the cadences and rhythms of the shared language of our marriage. When we first met, Matt had years of piano lessons behind him, and had recently been taking guitar lessons. I played a litany of wind instruments and was learning to play the guitar. He always had more patience than I, and would practice complicated pickings for songs he enjoyed until he could play them fast and well. I was more content with strumming basic chords, mostly to add another "voice" to what I enjoyed most - singing. Without the structure of playing in bands, our primary instruments today are the guitar and an electric piano of Matt's and as always, singing. Matt's taste in music has always been a bit more eclectic than mine - I would be more apt to learn a new song from a narrow selection a favorite radio stations, whereas Matt was always picking up new songs and bands from all over the place.

With the invention of Pandora, the ability to find new artists that had a similar "sound" to favorite songs or bands became even easier (though I still was managing to mostly find new British bands or female folk singer-songwriters, and Matt was bringing home cds of Swedish alternative bands, British techno, or American bands with piano-driven ballardists). I enjoyed playing classic rock and modern music at work with the "HisGen Band", playing guitar and singing with Sam and Jean on the library floors when the building was closed to the public, or jamming in an oversized closet (which had great acoustics!).

Matt, a video game programmer with a great love of video games, was very happy to have me discover a favorite game to play together - Rock Band (always a bit harder to wail on those drums or project some of those songs in apartments with neighbors above and below us). Our current apartment seems to be surrounded by music, though. A pianist practices everyday two doors down, and in the evenings, sitting on the balcony we often hear acoustic guitars and faint singing filtering through the open patio doors of other apartments. So we add our music to the mix, playing Pandora or iTunes and singing aloud while we cook dinner, or strumming a favorite song on the couch.

Mount Rainier

Blue Angels

Blue Angels over Lake Washington from Viewpoint Park

Opening Day of the Bellevue Farmer's Market

Today was the opening day of the Bellevue Farmer's Market.

Although I originally had wanted to look up some recipes and have some ideas for what veggies to buy, since I am still recovering from a cold, I decided to just wing it, unprepared, and take the lovely walk in the sun to see what was there. With some cash in hand and grocery push-cart in tow (I love that cart!), I took a stroll around all of the vendors and saw some fantastic things for sale! Since today was the opening day, there was a lot of family friendly events going on, with live music, face painting, and tons of tables with families grabbing sandwiches and pizzas made from locally grown produce and grain.

I ended up with some juicy Bartlett pears and pink lady apples, a peach-nectarine "gem" (more fruit and less sugar than in a jam), and some freshly baked-bread for Matt. I picked up four basil plants for the balcony garden - a sweet Thai basil, a cinnamon basil, and two Italian basils. Bring on the pesto!! On the way out, I couldn't resist a sample of Seattle's Jonboy Caramels, and ended up buying a treat for date night this weekend - Fleur de Sel caramel. Yum!

There was a ton of rhubarb, so I will investigate some rhubarb recipes this week and possibly pick some up next week.

I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the market, all of the vendors were really friendly and happy to talk about their farms or their products, and there were tons of delicious free samples! I overheard some of the families with small kids walking through the stalls and saying how they were going to try to buy one new or different vegetable each week to try unusual flavors and recipes, which sounded like a great idea to me!

Hanging with some Sea Lions in Puget Sound

Pike Place Market at Dusk

Visiting Snoqualmie Falls

We went last month to see Snoqualmie Falls,  a 268 ft waterfall on the Snoqualmie River, which apparently is Washington's most popular tourist attraction!

 The falls are an important spiritual location for the Snoqualmie Native American tribe, and there was an interesting outdoor exhibit discussing the history of the tribe and the significance of the falls.

 Which therefore was made a bit stranger by the fact that today the falls are used to generate power, and are owned by Puget Sound Energy...

 The Salish Lodge and Spa sits next to the falls, which is famous for serving as the exterior to the  Great Northern Hotel in Twin Peaks.

Thoughts of Last Spring...

Last spring was a very exciting one - the first spring in our new home! With almost 2 acres of yard, it was exciting to see what would turn up, a surprise every week!

We had crocuses by the side entrance...

And graph hyacinth too, along with a solar-bunny from IKEA...

 

Pretty white flowers bloomed along the tree stump...

And of course, daffodils everywhere! They popped up everywhere in the front gardens, along the stone walls which bordered our property, and even under some rhodeys...

 I picked up these vases on sale at Michael's to hold the bounty of our yard. I feared they would shatter in the move to the West Coast, so I left them behind, but I have been missing them! Perhaps another trip to Michael's is in store...

Happy Red Eye Valentines!

My Kinda Swap: Baked Goods for Free Plants!

We took a lovely walk today to a nearby park with Luke, and I was amazed by how many plants were already blooming - in early February!?! We're not in Boston anymore...

There were several rhodey varieties that had large and small pink, red, and white blooms, as well as a few flowering shrubs which I couldn't identify. They were all so beautiful! I grabbed a bloom along the way to brighten up the kitchen.

It made me think even more about the possibilities for my balcony garden, which I have been plotting and planning now for awhile. We have a decent amount of space on our balcony, which faces east, and therefore has good morning light. But it's always tough starting any garden from scratch - it can get pricey trying to create a mature look for the garden!

So I was wondering about ways to find plants for free, and figured I would give Craigslist a try. I've sold a few things on Craigslist, but always find it a bit stressful to co-ordinate - making sure you have selected a non-sketchy purchaser, settling on a price, setting up the exchange... but I figured plants might be a bit less stressful to exchange. And sure enough, there were all sorts of interesting things out there - mostly involving the following scenarios:
"Hi! We are about to add an addition to our house/build a patio/add a pool/ or these bulbs/shrubs/flowers have taken over!!! and so if you are willing to come to the yard with a shovel and bucket, you can dig them out for free!"

These all sounded like a decent way to get plants for free, if you are willing to do some leg work, have space in your car, and are on the lookout for a particular type of plant.

But then I saw an advertisement for a really cool event - four times a year, gardeners gather in Redmond for a Green Elephant Plant Swap! The idea is that gardeners fill up their trunks with plants from their yard, line up their cars, and walk around swapping plants for free! It helps the gardeners clean up their gardens, plus pick up a few new items. And if you don't have any plants to offer, you can bring baked goods to serve as your "currency". PERFECT!!! It's sounds like a great way for me to inexpensively receive some starter plants that are already hearty and thriving in the local area, have an excuse to bake some delicious treats, and receive tips and conversation with local gardeners! Plus without any idea in advance at what specific plants will bring, there is a fun element of surprise to see what will be there. And they look like a friendly bunch!:



What a fantastic idea!

Currently Coveting: Envirocycle Mini Composter

After years of renting apartments, our house in Hanson was the first time we had actually had a yard - almost two acres! I had always been excited to have a space to plant, garden, and play, but I had never really given much thought to composting. Growing up in Carver, we had a system derived from the natural by-products of having a half-acre farm - occasionally Dad or one of the boys would go the the side yard and dig a big hole, and over the year it would be filled with wood shavings, rabbit manure, chicken manure, yard trimmings, etc. to then later be transferred back into Mom's garden.

But for the first time, we no longer had on-site trash removal, and every week or so needed to drive our trash to the town dump. Recycling was fairly complex at the dump, certainly more complicated than Abington and Billerica's recycling - in those towns, we just needed one bin for all recyclables (plastic, glass, paper), but Hanson's recycling was more more item-oriented. Separate bins at the dump for plastic and glass, paper, cans, metal (I tried my best, but really, who has that much space in their kitchen for that many bins?).

While apartment-living, though, it was really shocking how much less trash was generated once all the recyclable materials were pulled out - certainly over half of the material. And what remained was largely food waste and some other things. So once in Hanson, the reality of having to lug trash to the dump frequently became a nuisance - weird hours, as well as a tendency to be closed for lunch just as we were pulling in (and sometimes grumpy attendants!). With that in mind, I really started thinking about the content of our trash itself - since most of it was food-based anyway, and we had a huge yard, why not give composting a try? Good for our garden, plus would allow more time between dump-runs since the trash would no longer be filled with decomposing, smelly items!

I got to work searching the internet for ideas. There were tons of great videos on Youtube and articles about all levels of composting. After spending long hours raking and trimming the yard, I knew I wanted a large space for composting, since yard waste would take up a lot of space, plus food scraps, bunny manure, shredded documents (I love my shredder!), etc. So we went to the local grain store and picked up seven wooden pallets and brought them home. I painted them white and using some bungee cords, pieced them together to form three open bins. This was during our first year at the house, in early springtime. Little did I realize, though, that I had set the bins up in a field of poison ivy, which had been covered by fallen leaves! That made summer composting a lot harder, and eventually instead of trying to keep the piles hot by turning, they instead nicely served as cold storage piles.

And now we are back to apartment living. Here, recycling is easier again, since it can all be together - one bin for plastic, glass, paper. But that still leaves the remaining trash as mostly food scraps. Bunny reaps some of those rewards with leftover apple cores and other tasty fruit scraps, but I have been craving the ability to compost again. But it's a small space, and composting can be a messy business. I searched around for small-space or apartment-balcony composting ideas, and came across the Envirocycle Mini Composter, which seems an ideal solution. Small and compact, full contained and made from durable recycled plastic, and best of all, designed as a tumbler with wheels (because I know how heavy flipping compost can be! Obviously we'd be composting way less here without yard scraps, but the convenience of tumbling rather than having to manually flip the pile seems ideal), with a runoff to collect compost tea to add directly to the soon-to-be balcony garden! (I'm resisting the urge to start planting right away! It might be milder here than New England, but not THAT much more mild to plant in February!).

Here's a review of the composter on Youtube:


What's not ideal is the price. So I'm going to keep my eye out for a good sale...

WW Quick Tip

When I am looking for a low-fat snack at home, I am a big fan of Snyder's of Hanover mini pretzels. Crunchy, salty, delicious! And at 18 pretzels a serving, I always feel like I am getting a good bang for my buck! One serving is 3 Points.






But if I am on the go, who has time to count out 18 pieces for a serving? In that case, I turn to Snyder's of Hanover Rods. Each rod is 1 point, so I usually grab 3 for the road along with some fruit.