Friends and fun
Claire's 50th birthday at our place was well underway by the time pictures happened and I totally forgot to upload them to flickr for quite a while. She hasn't been using Facebook and had no idea until she got here that we have two dogs now and was so happy to meet Tilly. She's a professional pet sitter and loves dogs especially. Here she is enjoying our new gazebo with Tuvix and a cocktail.
There are better pictures of her with the cake, but I like this one because it captures the chaos of the dogs trying to help themselves.
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Speaking of birthdays, I finally got this amazing birthday present from Bev framed.
I thought I'd seen a Velveeta box done in Diamond Dotz online but when I finally tracked down the image, it was needlepoint. She enjoys Diamond Dotz and said she'd use the printout of the needlepoint one as a guide and make me one using Diamond Dotz instead! It took a while to get it framed because I had to finally give up on trying to find a standard frame for it. Its size meant it had to be custom. Totally worth it!
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I met my friend Rachel many years ago when our mutual friend Holly invited us both out to brunch up here in Everett, where we happen to live within walking distance from each other. Well, walking distance that's easy if one of the shortcuts between us isn't overgrown, and still walkable but a bit much if you have to take the long way. Basically if they wanted to come over for cocktails on foot so they could have as much as they want, it's doable.
Anyway! 2020 happened and we kept in very good touch online and she also took over as the productive food writer at Live in Everett when I stepped down from local blogging because I began writing full time. We've been great URL friends and I was so excited when she asked if I wanted to join her and her boyfriend Lance and their friend Tanya on a hike Sunday! I feel like I may have inadvertently cultivated a loner personality when it comes to hiking, getting an invite was a rare treat.
We all went up to Whistle Lake in Anacortes and had a fantastic time. There are lots more photos adjacent to these if you click through to flickr.
As far as I know, Rachel and Lance are only recently becoming interested in hiking, though their incredible selection of gear is not amateurish at all. But they haven't been to Japanese Gulch yet, which is an incredible urban hiking destination that's just 10-15 minutes from our houses by car. I'm very familiar with it and offered to take them on several trips to show them around, and it's big enough that we'd need 4-5 trips for really good coverage. At this point, they want to concentrate on flatter walks, so we'll start with the western portion near the neighborhoods on Sunday. Unfortunately, after one or maybe two walks up there, the rest of the available walks are hillier. But we'll, uh, climb that hill when we get to it.
Two more people I haven't met yet are coming along this Sunday and the six of us are meeting Garrett at our neighborhood bar for some lunch afterward. I'm excited to play tour guide in one of my favorite places.
There are better pictures of her with the cake, but I like this one because it captures the chaos of the dogs trying to help themselves.
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Speaking of birthdays, I finally got this amazing birthday present from Bev framed.
I thought I'd seen a Velveeta box done in Diamond Dotz online but when I finally tracked down the image, it was needlepoint. She enjoys Diamond Dotz and said she'd use the printout of the needlepoint one as a guide and make me one using Diamond Dotz instead! It took a while to get it framed because I had to finally give up on trying to find a standard frame for it. Its size meant it had to be custom. Totally worth it!
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I met my friend Rachel many years ago when our mutual friend Holly invited us both out to brunch up here in Everett, where we happen to live within walking distance from each other. Well, walking distance that's easy if one of the shortcuts between us isn't overgrown, and still walkable but a bit much if you have to take the long way. Basically if they wanted to come over for cocktails on foot so they could have as much as they want, it's doable.
Anyway! 2020 happened and we kept in very good touch online and she also took over as the productive food writer at Live in Everett when I stepped down from local blogging because I began writing full time. We've been great URL friends and I was so excited when she asked if I wanted to join her and her boyfriend Lance and their friend Tanya on a hike Sunday! I feel like I may have inadvertently cultivated a loner personality when it comes to hiking, getting an invite was a rare treat.
We all went up to Whistle Lake in Anacortes and had a fantastic time. There are lots more photos adjacent to these if you click through to flickr.
As far as I know, Rachel and Lance are only recently becoming interested in hiking, though their incredible selection of gear is not amateurish at all. But they haven't been to Japanese Gulch yet, which is an incredible urban hiking destination that's just 10-15 minutes from our houses by car. I'm very familiar with it and offered to take them on several trips to show them around, and it's big enough that we'd need 4-5 trips for really good coverage. At this point, they want to concentrate on flatter walks, so we'll start with the western portion near the neighborhoods on Sunday. Unfortunately, after one or maybe two walks up there, the rest of the available walks are hillier. But we'll, uh, climb that hill when we get to it.
Two more people I haven't met yet are coming along this Sunday and the six of us are meeting Garrett at our neighborhood bar for some lunch afterward. I'm excited to play tour guide in one of my favorite places.