Seattle!

Green Lake 2/1/13

You know I love a trip to the Pacific Northwest for so many reasons and this trip is no different. I found a very reasonable fare and even though I saw A and R in December even up to Jan 6th- I couldn't pass it up. Amy is working like crazy to get her dissertation finished and I knew she would be working during the day. I've spent the time catching up on web surfing, blogs, online window shopping and blogging, taken walks and done all measure of fun activities!

So, for your reading pleasure and my diary keeping.....

 She gets her shower and is at the desk by 7:30 or 8:00. I do my surfing on the table. When she's ready for a break we have a snack and conversation, take a brief walk or trip to store and she's back at it again. I chose to just stay close to home day one, a dreary, drizzly one. R made delicious baked cod and sweet potato fries and A made a spinach salad for dinner. YUMMY.

We had a toast to A's paternal grandfather on the 3rd anniversary of his death and to EK on his 32nd birthday. And of course I always think of my dad and sister anytime a death anniversary is being discussed, so a toast to all departed dear ones.

I practiced with my new iPhone lenses and a new app Over which is available for iPhone only at this point. I sure do love being able to write over photos and it is very intuitive and a fun app to use.

 She's at it again on day two- look familiar?

I headed out to explore downtown.  I planned to go to the Chihuly museum but didn't make it. It turned out to be a fairly nice day so I shopped and walked around.

 Of course my first stop was a perennial fav- Pike Place Market, where I never tire of the same old thing and seeing a few new things, too. I had a sandwich at Beecher's Cheese shop-a toasted turkey, cheese with their special sauce, grabbed a lemon ginger currant cookie at Three Girls Bakery.

 A view from the market window. Love it!

 I can't pass up running down the stairs to see the gum wall!!

 And oh, the beautiful display of fruits and veggies. Not as many flowers in the winter as you can imagine.

 Looking at the concrete reminds me I lost a brand new earring downtown. Boo

 I can't believe that I passed this up but I did. I WILL have a Deathcake tomorrow when we go to the Ballard Market! I love their cupcakes and I'd have one everyday if I'd let myself. I'm also passing up Cafe Besalu as R has gone gluten-free and think that Cafe Besalu would be hard to watch us eat.

Saw this cute guy and thought of Sue, who has a pug and loves pugs.

I stopped in Fireworks where I have gotten my fun cow, duck and pig pens for my business and picked up some more cows and a cat!

 I headed down to Green Lake for a morning walk

 Gotta love flowers in the winter!

The foggy mist was beautiful and since I'm always the photographer behind the lens, I try to remember to be in front of it from time to time so my grandchildren will remember me when I'm gone!

 Dont the branches reflected in the water look fantastic?

All sorts of interesting things grow on the trees around here.

Hellebore is a favorite of mine and I look forward to my own blooming in the spring

You can't see his green jacket but it was striking in the gray morning.

The sun peeked out on the way home.

Blue skies! A rare treat on a winter Seattle morning.

After getting home I headed straight out with R to an enamel studio to spend the afternoon! I had her all to myself for 4 hours and learned how to enamel copper for some jewelry pieces! So fun, thanks a bunch :)

So many colors to choose from, brights, translucents, neutrals. YUMMY

I chose this egg shape for a piece.

Cleaned the copper, painted with Klyr-fire, added the enamel powder working with a vacuum system.  Carefully transferred the coated piece to a holder on a wire mesh stand to go under the heat lamp for a bit to warm the metal and powder.

Heating up!

Into the 1500 degree kiln for 3 minutes, safety glasses, gloves on-check!

Finished pieces. Not bad for a beginner and 4 hours time. 

These will be earrings, a nice eggplant color.

These will be pendants. The egg was going to be a concave side yellow (success) and a convex side purple/pink but the enamel stuck on that side so I'll probably only wear it on this side. Metallics don't photograph well with the iPhone. I plan to layer the two smaller pieces which are colored on both sides (the other sides are orange and purple) and then I can flip them with different combinations.

Another pendant and earrings. I did a two color on the earrings- love how they turned out! The enamel is unpredictable with layers and reheating so it's kinda fun to see what they become. Sometimes good and sometimes not so good ;)

Since it was sunny, I asked to go to Sunset Park- another favorite stop- for the sunset. It didn't disappoint.

There was a crowd looking at this tree! We found out and got to see the Snowy Owl perched atop. They are huge! I put the full size in so you can maybe get a glimpse of him at the very top of the tree. 

We grabbed quick showers and headed for the Freemont Art Walk for the rest of the fun evening.

Don't I hang with a cute, hip crowd?

Today brought news of their good friends' new baby's arrival so the day will be spent visiting them and planning food for their return home tomorrow. A and R are good friends to their friends and will be "aunties" to new baby Sloane.

Thanks for hanging in.

See you soon.