Happy Solstice 2008!!!!

It's the first day of solstice and winter is letting itself be known with a rare and thorough dumping of snow. Here are some photos:

First thing this morning Aaron and I got a box of solstice gifts from Heidi and Mike. It was super fun to get to open them today as we ate our scone appetizer before breakfast. You'll see that little Ben (3 or 4) made us a beautiful painting. Add that to the art collection.

Sledding/skiing/goofing around on a hill a block or two from our house. They've been there all week straight. I see them every night when I'm hoofing it homefrom the bus stop on Aurora.

Aaron walking in the snow. He liked it because it was "crunchy snow". The first layer of snow had time to firm up and then we got several inches of fluffy snow so as you walk through it you hear crunch, crunch, cruch. He zig zagged our way through the neighborhood. I mostly walked down the middle of the road in tire tracks. When we're done Aaron probably walked twice as far as I did. We plan to go again tonight because I want to see the christmas lights and the snow and Aaron wants to go to get some fresh air and exercise. Win-Win!!!


Our back yard in the snow. Hard to image and ice cream social right now. Be strong little plants...STRONG!

Art on the wall….

Aaron and I have been collecting some paintings by Connie DeLaVergne. It all started with the one piece that Debby gave to Aaron. Then last Hanukah I gave Aaron another piece. Once we were engaged we decided to commemorate it with a couple of “big pieces” so we could put a collection over our couch. A year later we took a notion to take the four paintings in for framing and then just a few nights later we broke out the hammer and the level. We are happy to announce we have bonafide art on the walls!!! Just like grown-ups. The wall is still a little bare so we're going to add a bit more before we're done.

Baby it’s snow out side….and it’s cold too!

Seattle is having an unusual cold and snow spell. You’ll laugh but the weather man says it “feels like 11”. I suppose the Minnesotans are not so impressed. I’m getting used to navigating my way to and from North Seattle in inclement weather. It’s been about 2 hours one-way this week. Blech!!! This is a big change from being no more than a 45-minute walk from home and always within a cab’s rides reach, but it is what it is. Compared to a lot of folks I’ve had reasonably reliable bus transportation. Today at work nearly everyone who was there was an admin person. We ordered pizza for the admin staff that showed up. I bet it’s practically deserted tomorrow. I’ll be there!

Sleepy time for dahlias....

It snowed here yesterday. Big. Fluffy. Wet. Snowflakes. They came down in sheets and it was just lovely. We were downtown and I think it really put me in the holiday mood (caramel corn is in the oven as I type!)

Luckily it was AFTER I planted some new plants yesterday morning. I've had some snap dragons blooming for 2 years now so we planted some new ones. It's nice to have the color in winter even if the snap dragons don't know they're 'spose to die. We did bring in two of the hanging fuchsias inside. We’re hopeful that the snow will signal to the dahlia’s “time to hibernate” since they are re-sprouting in they’re pots. Watch they are going to wear themselves out and not do anything this summer. Good thing we can buy more tubers at the Flower and Garden Show. Aaron is working on getting us a guest blog spot there. That will be fun!

"Shh the dahlias are snoozing..."

Dreidel - it's not a brand name!

I thought it would be fun to make some dreidel shaped sugar cookies this year. I thought I’d just head to the local kitchen store and pick up a dreidel cookie cutter. Easy. Off to Northgate mall where. I walked in, “One dreidel cookie cutter please.” The sales lady responded with, “Sorry. We don’t carry that brand.”

Hum? “Ah, it’s not a brand. It’s a shape. You know….a dreidel.” She looks confused so I thought I’d job her memory. “No, it’s a top thing….’dreidel, dreidel, dreidel I made it out of clay….lalallalala….”

Blank stare. In over her head she reached for the mic, “Manager to the front!”

In comes the manager who was very nice and seemed to have a pretty good idea of what a dreidel was because she immediately informed me they don’t carry them but she does have a Star of David has she showed me the five pointed star. Hum? So she had a general idea of what I was talking about. I give her credit for trying. It beat the associate that chimmed in with "Maybe you could cut them out free-hand." He had a good point although it defeated the idea of looking for a cutter, doesn't it? I thanked them and left the store.

I thought over my situtation and decided that perhaps a dreidel was too obscure for a north side suburb. I needed to go downtown. The big city. The melting pot. I went to my favorite kitchen store, City Kitchens. It’s a tiny, tiny little store with a brilliant sales team that is VERY helpful. They devote an entire wall to cookie cutters. They knew exactly what I wanted but sadly they were out, “torah instead?”

“No thanks.”

Next, Seattle’s own, Sur la table. No perfect cookie cutter there.

Finally my last hope, the Mother of all kitchen stores: William Sonoma store. The glossy lipped sales girl said “Oh no we’re out….they’ve been hot sellers” and points to the blank space on the display. I was surprised that they were hot sellers but on the other hand it reinforced my notion of the big city having everything I could ever want. She sprinted away to look it online. I took a closer look at the display. It had a blank spot with a picture and one word: “Ornament”. Apparently “Ornament” and “Dreidel” are interchangeable. It was a relief when she said she couldn’t find any others in town because I didn’t have to explain. She recommended City Kitchen and when I told her they were out she just went off on how bad they are….which was about all I could stand. I wanted to scream, “at least they really know what I'm looking for...take your ornaments and.....” Instead I got a grip, grabbed my complimentary cup of tastey W-S Cider and did a 180 and headed home.

After much thought, we’ve decided to make marshmallows instead. Sugar cookies are over-rated anyway. Plain, square, marshamallows. Much better. We hope you have a good holiday no matter what shape your sugar cookies are!!