Movies, Movies, Movies!

Wednesday I was worried I wasn't going to be able to make it to the librarian's birthday/retirement party at 11:30... at one point we were told we'd be staying late for a quick walk-through of a lab... but it was recanted. :) I made it there right on time. Some people were waiting for the doors to open, since it was another hour before the library actually opened. So I used the back entrance that was left ajar and had some very good locally made supreme pizza and strawberry cream cake with Mark, Ieda, Pam, and Liz, along with a few others; only one other volunteer, I think. Pam made some wonderful nut-filled brownies, and there were fresh strawberries besides.

I ended up working for an hour, putting away all the audiobooks and youth DVDs. While refiling them, I picked out a set of 1940s Donald Duck cartoons, the first three episodes of The Lone Ranger (1949 - where they set up the story and behave much like a radio show... narration, abrupt endings and a storyline continuing "next week"), Snow White, and a film from 1945... Mildred Pierce, with Joan Crawford and Eve Arden. For the rest of the day, I watched them one after the other, except for Snow White, which I watched this evening.

But Wednesday evening, after sitting down so long, I decided to get in the car and drive after the sunset to Ocean Beach, just a couple miles down the road from the library. It was the street market night, so I parked far away, knowing nothing would be available close by. Took a short jog on the beach before getting a little snack to eat at the market and drank in the beautiful sight. Big clouds out to sea as the sun melted into them.

Jw

Evenings This Week

Wednesday, 24th: Duty Day... talked to Andrea Hawkins for a half-hour!!! Wow! And then I finished writing the the thank-you cards for the shower, shined my boots, and something else... too long ago.

Thursday, 25th: went out to Rosecrans to visit "Point Loma Books". Got Winne the Pooh, to read during dinner, and a very nice copy of Virgil's works. Tons of books in there; I'll have to go back, since I didn't get much time before it closed. Had dinner at Miguel's Mexican on Scott Street... I had pollo asado, and liked it better than the same dish at Santa Fe, our favorite back home. Decided I'd like some ice cream, so I stopped in at Cold Stone in Liberty Station for a small of half strawberry, half chocolate cake mix (so thick and good!). From there I thought I'd stop off along the waterway... gosh, was it beautiful! I missed not having a camera! Clouds towered up behind the low-lying, long arched bridge (Harbor Dr.), nearly in a pyramid. The inlet was light turquoise on the ripples and lavender on the calmer parts. The top of the pyramid was lit up with the golden, evening sun, and was reflected in the water. sigh.

Friday, 26th: When I finally got let go from the base, I headed out for dinner. Couldn't stand five more minutes in the galley. I had Georgia's Greek Cuisine, except I tried their chicken & rice soup, and a small Greek salad as well as the gyro sandwich. When I got back to base, the sunset had ignited the western sky, so I decided to drive out to Ocean Beach to watch it go down. Got there just at the end of it, but got a front row seat. Sat in my car and saw the sun melt into the ocean... a few silhouettes of surfers, lovers, and visitors made it particularly nice to look at. Stopped at Stump's Market on the way home; picked up wheat bread and baloney for snacks. I was also able to finish all my laundry... so that was nice.

First Birthday

The Preliminary Party

The ladies at work are so nice. Every birthday we go out and celebrate, and today we went out for mine in advance of next Thursday, since one of my coworkers will be unavailable then. We went to our regular haunt, Coho Cafe in downtown Redmond. Some people tried new things! We all have our regular favorites, and I had one of mine, the Northwest Seafood Fettuccine. It's in an Alfredo sauce with hunks of fish... I think it's halibut, shrimp, scallops, and sun-dried tomato. Mmmm. And since the restaurant gives you a dessert to share if it's your birthday, I had the baked apple crisp with ice cream and caramel on the side. Oh, gosh, that was good.

At about 4:30 I remembered about Jazzercise being at 5:30, and I hadn't brought workout clothes with me... this makes for two weeks in a row I've had to go back home and quick change and then go a little further into Redmond for the hour-long class. It was a particularly hard set today, and I felt great afterwords. I took myself out for a veggie sandwich at Panera, then came home, took a shower, then washed my bed and continued reading in Meg's dissertation. I even got to the part where she mentions Rupert and Linda in a footnote! :)

On the drive back home at 7pm as I came down 132nd St., the sun was sitting just on top of the Olympic mountains in the distance. Thin, wispy clouds melted into a golden sky above the impressive peaks. I love how you can see just the one mountain if you look west at 132nd square. It's one peak that rises out of the road as it slopes up, keeping the following stoplight out of view. It's a view I savor, especially with a sunset like today's.

Jp

Running Around and Never Stopping

Well, I had a lovely ride on Friday afternoon! After I fought with Roo over picking his right back hoof - and after I won - he behaved marvelously! My sister and I were kinda late getting out there, so we didn't ride for long. The sun started setting right after we got to the power lines on the trail, so on the way back we were treated to some gorgeous sunlight and a beautiful sunset at the pasture upon returning.

Most of today was spent putting up Christmas lights on the bushes and on the house (I do that part of it alone each year) and then the family headed out to Issaquah to buy a tree. I found one about 5 feet tall with a perfectly straight trunk and stem... which is highly unusual for our family for some reason. So it went on the car right away.

Upon getting back to the house I put up more lights in the windows and on our big laurel bush.

Hurrah for Christmas! I love the lights and the joy!

Jp

Chasing the Sun

I leave work a little early on Thursdays (my job is very flexible that way - I just make up the time on Fridays), so as I left to get here to school about an hour ago, the sky was just gorgeous with creamy yellow and soft pink melting into a pale blue behind the black tree outlines.

And then coming down Clyde Hill in Bellevue (as I'm avoiding SR-520 traffic) there were fancy Christmas lights all over (it's a rich part of town) and from the crest of the hill I can see the sunset going down behind a lighted downtown Seattle across Lake Washington with the light just fading behind the Olympic Mountains... Ahhh... the blues and yellows with wispy clouds... I don't think I could ever move away from the Pacific Northwest.

Well, now it's almost time for my third to last photography class...

Until later,
Jp