Diamond Chip
Is there anything sweeter than a new baby? Diamond Chip isn’t even one week old.
This is his quilt:
Seattle’s Houseboat Sub-Culture
In Seattle, there is an entire sub-culture that lives on houseboats, mostly urban professionals. Unlike many parts of the world, the houseboats in Seattle are truly designed as houses, and have to meet city standards. They can only dock in designated areas, and they are solely for living, they don’t have any means of propulsion. They are not truly boats, but houses floating on the water.
I lived in one for two weeks, many years ago. I never got used to it. I worried about sinking all the time.
Seattle is quirky. Houseboats, caffeine-addiction, super-technology, fitness addicts, airplanes (home of Boeing) and one of the most literate cities in the United States. Washington state has the highest minimum wage in the nation – $7.93 per hour.
Desperately Jet Lagging
The shift from Kuwait to Seattle is 11 time zones. It means that no matter what time it is, my body time is almost exactly the opposite. Sometimes I hardly notice. This time, it has been miserable. I am like a newborn baby, up and wide awake at all the wrong times, and falling asleep at all the wrong times.
Not one of us made it until midnight last night. My son and his bride are also jet lagging from their trip back from Kuwait, and also their red-eye special to Seattle for Dad’s services on Saturday. We are all fairly wrung out with the emotional toll. By nine last night, everyone was asleep. My son and his wife and Little Diamond all had early early morning flights, so my day started early – I never could get back to sleep.
So early on this New Year’s morning, I headed over to my Mom’s, stopping first at the little local Starbuck’s – yes, open even early on New Year’s morning.
Parking was plentiful, a welcome surprise, but I was not the only customer. There were several people and a city policeman having a get together so early on New Year’s Day. It is cold today, windy, rainy, cold and damp, it penetrates and chills your bones. Ahhhh, yes, a perfect time for a Peppermint Mocha.
You can see the Olympic mountains in the distance, with a fresh coating of snow. Can you feel how cold it is?
Alhamdallah for the New Year!
A fresh new year, and a fresh new start! I’m not going to make any resolutions, other than to try to get more exercise, and to be more faithful in my spiritual life.
Meanwhile, this is the view my sweet niece has from her room with her new baby:
They will have a perfect view of the fireworks that will go off at midnight to celebrate the coming of the New Year.
Farewell Old Year
I’m ready for a new year. I’ve read your blogs, I can see that most of you are ready too, we are all ready for a new start, new hope, a better tomorrow.
2006 was a full year for us – a move to Kuwait, our son’s wedding to a wonderful young woman, and several trips back to take care of family business. My husband and I looked at each other and laughed – this year we haemmoraged money. We thank God we had the money we needed when we needed it, but the sheer volume of it, going out, stuns us. We hope this will be a better year, a more stable year, as we squirrel around, hiding our nuts for the winter of old age.
By the grace of God, my Mom is doing well, and thank all of you who have expressed concerns for her. She is grieving, she misses him so much, but none of us would choose for him to suffer one more minute on this earth when he could be in a better place. She spends her time right now surrounded by family and friends. We know she is going to have some bad moments, but she is amazingly resilient, and we see all sorts of signs that she will do well, once the grief abates.
Here is a photo of the photo I told you about earlier in the blog – Dad holding me up so I almost look like I am sitting on the mountain. Those old black and white photos were SO crisp; they enlarged without any serious loss of resolution.
I tell my friends this set the pace for my life of thrill seeking behavior . . .(just kidding, folks)
I wish you all a great day, tieing up loose ends, and a wonderful new year.
Beautiful MidWinter Day
Today was my Father’s Memorial service. My Mom chose to invite old friends, relatives, people who knew and loved my father on a boat ride. In the midst of a gloomy, dark wintery week, the morning dawned bright, clear and bright. The sun made everything crisp and clean, if not warm.
Our guests arrived, and the boat departed. People spoke of my Dad, and told stories about him – how he had influenced their lives, funny stories from his childhood, things they remembered about him. Then we shared a buffet lunch. The weather held. it was a beautiful day.
This is a photo of the freezing fog to the south, and a shadowy Mt. Rainier:
This is a photo of the Olympic Mountains, in the other direction from Mt. Rainier:
This is a photo of a boat on Lake Washington – I loved the RED against the neutrals:
After the boat ride, the family went back to my sister’s house, where I am staying, where we watched a hysterically funny movie, Kung Fu Hustle, and then went out for Thai food. As we were eating dinner, we got a call – my sister’s daughter had just delivered a baby boy!
We celebrated the full circle of life in one day – my father’s passing, a new life, the joy of being all together . . .it’s been a full day.
Photos in the Bleak MidWinter
As I was waiting for the shot I wanted, I had a visitor:
Not for long:
It is SO cold here – this is 3:30 in the afternoon, it feels like the sun will set any minute, you can see it sparkling on the snowy mountains:
Seaside Bride
My son and his wife married in April, on a beautiful white sand beach in Florida. Between trips back to be with my parents, I made a wedding quilt for them. This pattern is very difficult. All the pieces are curved, and putting them together requires focus and perserverance. Aaaarrrggghhhh!
The main fabric is not white – it is a white sand color, with seashells! All the colors are the colors from the beach on that beautiful wedding day. And it was finished just in time for Christmas, alhamdallah!
Dining Out: Souk Mubarakia
This is for Skunk – he recommended the outside restaurant at Souk Mubarakia, which also happens to be one of our favorite places to go.
Does anyone know of a restaurant around here with an old Kuwait theme – like where they have private small rooms where you sit on the floor, like a small majlis?
Liberation Tower at Night and Qatteri Cat
We love going to Souk Mubarakia. Took this recently on a cool, clear night from the souks
The Qatteri Cat has not lost interest in the tree, but no longer seems interested in pulling it over. The blanket is Masai, from Tanzania. Great Christmas colors!
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