You Can Take The Boy Out Of New York ....

The coldest April on record is morphing into the coldest and wettest May it seems.  We've had one teaser day when the sun shone all day and the temperature actually nudged 60 degrees.  Poor Hilary, my hothouse L.A. flower, is arriving on Sunday and will no doubt be convinced that we now live above the Arctic Circle.

But at least she'll have a new puppy to snuggle with.  Daisy Mae is here and quickly winning all hearts and minds (except Poppy, the elder Schnoodle, who pretends she can't even see her.)

Snuggling with Judith.

Blissed out with Frost.

Passed out with Susan.

Being ignored by Poppy (but blissed out anyway.)

Daisy Mae was almost called DD, for Discount Daisy.  She is apparently a less than perfect Labradoodle which resulted in a substantial reduction in her quite ridiculous price.  Turns out the Cocker Spaniel four generations back made a return appearance, so I guess she  really should be called a Labracockadoodle.   She's basically a designer mutt, and a deeply discounted one.  Whatever, I love my little TJ Maxx pup.

So despite the crummy weather Fair and Festival Season officially kicked off with the Jefferson County Expo out at the fairgrounds.  This is the fundraiser for the big county fair in August and the events on offer were too exciting to miss.

First up was the Mud Drag Racing.

Thias poor chap got stuck in the mud and had to be towed out - the ultimate humiliation.  Needless to say, the crowd went wild.

Then came the Classic Car Competition.

A true "woody"

My favorite - a '56 Pontiac

I believe there are more VW vans per capita in this town than anywhere else in the U.S. - but none of them look like this one.

But neither event compared to the sheer thrill and suspense of the Pacific Northwest Arm Wrestling Competition.

Note - TWO referees!

No guessing which one won here

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 Honestly I forgot to breathe, my teeth were clenched and my stomach was in knots as I witnessed the epic struggles between men and women (missed the kiddie competition unfortunately.)  Sometimes it was over in a split second, with the loser slinking away in shame, but sometimes it lasted forever and sweat poured down, veins popped, faces contorted - and that was just us spectators.




But the absolute highlight of the day was this:
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And if that weren't enough to cement his hero status, Dan took part in the Walk A Mile In Her Shoes March to support shelters for abused women.  Now, the last march Dan participated in was the March on Washington after the Kent State shootings in 1970.  And look at him now.  You go, Dan!

 I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing with you.  Really, who knew you had such well turned ankles?

A better fit were the strappy lucite open toe 5 inch heels.

Loved Mike's look - next year the black anklets and leggings for sure.

Which just goes to show that yes, you CAN take the New York out of the boy!

Vincent Van Ghost and the Green Goddess

I'm probably going to jinx it now but we've had 5 sunny days in a row.  Granted, the temperature hasn't gone much above 50 but the sight of blue sky again has everyone feeling a little giddy.  Even Vincent has been affected.

I used to call him the Gray Ghost because he appears suddenly on the beach, always dressed in gray so he sort of blends in, head down and striding quickly over the rocks.  He never acknowledges my good morning, even though he passes just a few feet away.  Maybe I'm not supposed to see him.  Terry told me it took two years before she got him to even nod at her.  I got a good look at him once and realized he look just like Van Gogh - short ginger beard, hat and all (can't verify the ear situation though.)

Well, on Day 3 of our Sun Streak old Vincent actually said hello to me - before I'd even opened my mouth.  It felt almost as big a score as that mother lode of blue beach glass.  Of course no one actually believes me.

And another sign of the changing season is the Green Goddess is back.  This lovely creature glides down the beach wrapped in a sage green blanket to perch on this old tree stump and she greets the day in a prolonged lotus pose.  If I see her up there I turn around with the dogs as it feels somehow sacrilegious to disturb her.

the meditation stump

 
I got a shock the other morning when I opened my eyes and saw Dan glowing in a brilliant light.  Turns out it he wasn't an angel,  it was the sun shining in our bedroom window.  It's been so long since we've had a clear sunrise that the sun has shifted right around on the horizon without us even being aware of it.  In another few weeks I'll be glowing too.

The bald eagles are on the prowl big time.

On a long walk from North Beach to home past the lighthouse and Fort Warden we had several fly overs.  I keep getting conflicting opinions about whether they will actually snatch up a small dog, but I take no chances.

The coyotes are getting bolder every day.  We often see them out and about and I do my best to scare them off.  If you've never been stared at by a coyote as you're yelling at the top of your lungs and jumping up and down and waving your arms about, you don't know the meaning of the word humiliation.  That bugger simply would not move away.  Meanwhile my neighbors all think I'm crazy,  especially when I get up in the middle of the night to roar at the howling pack which seems to be right outside the bedroom window.  And howl they do - and yip and yodel and hoot.  It would be quite entertaining if I weren't so sure they were practicing the Schnoodle Death Song.

So I bit the bullet and finally joined the gym.  Not getting carried away though, starting out slowly by doing just yoga five days a week.  Mind you, it feels like I've been lifting weights but my Downward Facing Dog is coming along nicely thank you.

I did, however, commit a Major Yoga Faux Pas the other day.  In my 7 am class (all women) we were on our backs with our knees hugged to our chests and concentrating on letting go of all the tension in our lower backs when someone let go of an almighty fart.  I was the only one who laughed.  Everyone else pretended it hadn't happened which just made it funnier. I got an appalling attack of the giggles which only got worse as the smell started to drift across the room.  I'm now attending the 8 am class.

Favorite items from this week's Police Log:
'A Forks resident called to report he was called names on the Hoh Reservation on April 7.'

'Deputies were asked to conduct a welfare check in the Port Hadlock area after public utilities district employees heard a man belting out Beastie Boys lyrics April 14.'

The Grass Is Ris

Even though the skies are mostly gray and the thermometer has barely topped 50, "Spring has sprung" here in Port Townsend and "the grass is ris" enough for Dan to mow again.  As for wondering "where the birdies is" well, I admit I've been spending some time on that lately, wondering where one birdie in particular is.

Here's Romeo, one of two former racing pigeons out at the animal rescue farm.  A couple of weeks ago Juliet disappeared and he's been a sad, sad bird ever since.  He now perches right beside the front door, desperate to get inside (maybe to look for her in there?) 

He checks out everyone who goes in or out and follows them around for a bit just in case we might be hiding her.  I swear I can hear him asking if we've seen Juliet anywhere.  He even tapped on the windscreen.  "Are you sure?"

Other happier news from the farm - a new foal was born last week.  Here she is, one day old. 

Mama so relieved.  When I saw her last week she was standing there, in the rain, swollen belly (which I could  actually see moving as she was being kicked from inside - ouch!) with that look all mothers-to-be get when they are just days away from birth - that "Dear God get this thing out of me!" look.

The weather, I have to admit, has been pretty dismal.  The coldest April on record so far.  Everyone keeps telling me this is so not normal but I'm beginning to wonder.  We had one lovely day last week and I took the dogs to North Beach for a long walk along the stretch famous for its beach glass. 

Our neighbors Becky and Alan have found the elusive Holy Grail there - red glass - but I had no luck this time.  Plenty of bald eagles, though, checking out the Schnoodles Schnacks.  Just wait till my big vicious Labradoodle arrives.  And here she is at 6 weeks of age.  I just want to put a dollop of clotted cream on her and eat her.  Let's hope the eagles don't feel the same way - or the coyotes ....

And a final sign of Spring - the Friday evening sailing regattas have begun.

Soon we hope it will be warm enough to watch from the deck, cocktails in hand, but for now we're huddled inside by the still roaring fire.

Of Goats, Aunties and Armageddon

Saturday, April 2

Okay, it's been a while I know.  Perhaps you though I'd given up?  Ha!  Truth is, the last six weeks or so have been a bit busy.  First of all there was the massive amount of chocolate I had to work my way through post birthday and Valentine's Day (thank you to Glen, Linda and Dan and don't ever do that again.)

The first box disappeared before I could even warm up the camera.

In vain I tried to distract attention from the rapidly expanding waistline with a beauty treatment from the mud baths.  Here's a useful tip: if you're looking to make yourself more attractive to someone try not to let them see you in the process of doing it.

The end of February roared in with another snow storm - this one was so bad that Linda stayed over rather than brave the roads to her home 30 minutes outside town.

And the next day it kept on snowing.  And then the temperature plunged to 18 F so there was ice everywhere.  Remember, we moved here in large part because of the mild climate and we were busy congratulating ourselves that we wouldn't have to deal with snow any more.  Ha!  Also, we're supposed to be in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains and only get around 17 inches of rain a year.  Last year we got 30. 

I escaped the blizzard for the warmth of  the Napa Valley and the mud baths for Leslie's 60th birthday bash.  A whole bunch of her friends came up and we floated and yakked and laughed and ate and wallowed and decided we didn't have to fix the world's problems for at least two days.

In March we celebrated Aunt Zenovia's 90th birthday on Salt Spring Island.  Lots of cousins and Aunties and Uncle Leo attended.

 





Aunt Daria came back with us to PT for a few days and we did our best to scare her out of her wits each night.  First the wild wind started banging the deck gate against the wall her bed was up against, then the next night the even wilder wind sucked open the also unlocked French door in her room.  I'm actually very fond of this Auntie so I felt terrible that her first visit to PT was filled with nightime terrors (although, to be fair, the third night scare was somewhat self-inflicted as she fell out of bed trying to get away from the noisy heater which kicked on right beside her head.  Okay, maybe that was my fault too.)  Sorry Daria - please come back again and I promise a calmer visit.

I was thrilled to learn that Miss Devon, the singing cowgirl who entertained us in the post office last year, was coming back to town so we took in her show and it was wonderful. Apart from her singing pardner all the musicians were local talent rounded up for the night, including the amazing fiddle player.

Thank goodness Daria left the day before the terrible earthquake in Japan or there would have been one more scare when the police knocked on our door at 7 am to let us know there was a tsunami warning in effect.  Actually, I started getting text messages at 4 am from my east coast friends - Wake Up!  There's a tsunami heading your way!!!  - so we'd been following developments for a while.  This was the morning that Kate and Auntie Elaine were arriving for a quick visit and it was all a bit confusing for a while but luckily our tsunami was only a foot high and we couldn't even see it.  I made it to the airport in time.

It turns out that the only place in the U.S. capable of producing as massive an earthquake lies just off the Washington coast.  The subduction zone there last generated a huge earthquake in 1700 and the ensuing tsunami raced across the Pacific and devastated parts of Japan.  Not so well documented here at the time, but there is geological evidence of a 30 foot wave that swept into Puget Sound, as well as native American oral accounts handed down through the generations.

We learned that in the event of a huge earthquake along this fault we would have 90 minutes before the tsunami reached us.  Okay, not so bad.  It would only take us two minutes to drive to high enough ground - assuming the ground doesn't liquify under us.  Oh, yes, it turns out that most of downtown Port Townsend, including where we are, is not only in the Inundation Zone, but is actually land fill - basically sand, which has a nasty tendency to gurgle and flow during earthquakes. 

And the good news just doesn't stop. There is another fault line running through Whidbey Island which is only a couple of miles across from us.  If that gives way we're toast - soggy toast.

We began looking at houses on higher ground which is most of the rest of Port Townsend.  Suddenly the proximity to the beach and town and the fabulous view and light paled in comparison to the absolute certainty I felt about dying a horrible death at any moment.  We looked at every house available and finally did the only sensible thing - we signed on here for another two years.  Armageddon be damned - I can't give up my beach and my view.  BUT we did hedge our bets a little by renting a storage unit in a safe area and into that we've put all the precious irreplaceable things - photos, the girls' art work and sad letters home from camp, wills (!), insurance papers and so on. 

And we now have a Grab N' Go Bag in case we do have time to get up the hill.  It's full of useful things like passports, I Phone charger, bandaids, space blankets, tea, underwear (hey, I've no doubt we'll be needing a change immediately) and Walker's Shortbread cookies.  I'm sure there are other items that should be included so suggestions are welcome.

I've also laid in food and water for 10 days with back up supplies out in the storage unit.  One of the many shocking things to come out of the Japanese disaster was how even hospitals ran out of food very early on.  I refuse to consider any of the so-called MREs or dehydrated emergency pouches (just shoot me now) but found very nice organic tinned soups, foie gras (we'll need the fat and protein) and smoked pouches of salmon, cereals, pasta, dried fruits, chocolate, cookies, and of course lots of  tea and medicinal whiskey.  I also said no thanks to all the recipes in the Emergency Management Handbook, including the Never-Say-Never Nettle Soup ("It's delicious, packed with nutrients and NO, it does not sting!"), and the one for Making A Solar Still which sounded promising until I read it fully and discovered it only worked for water.

So now I feel somewhat less anxious about the impending apocolypse.  And of course I trust I haven't put you off coming here to visit. This major earthquake is supposed to occur every 300 - 500 years so we may have another 189 years before The Big One.  Rest assured, we are now fully prepared and you will be able to relax and enjoy the goings on around town. 

Today, for instance, was the seasonal opening of our Saturday Farmers' Market and it got underway with a red ribbon cutting and the official Goat Parade at 9 am - a bit early for some goats apparently as only two showed up.  Still, they were the most popular goats in town and now it's officially Spring in Port Townsend.

And Spring has ushered in another major event. Dan passed a new milestone in his life.  He bought his first lawn mower.

And finally, some good news.  Instead of months of expensive therapy to help me deal with having no job, no tea room, no control over earthquakes and tsunamis and liquefying land fill, we're getting a puppy.  She's a mini Labradoodle (Schnoodles and Doodles!) and will be ready to come home in another month and I'm ridiculously excited.

Name suggestions please!

Wild West, Wild Life

Thursday, February 10

As if the bald eagles weren't enough to make me nervous about walking the dogs, we also have otters to contend with.  I was delighted when I saw my first otter doing it's cute roll-over-onto-its-back-to-eat-a-clam thing,

but our neighbor Gail warned us to be very wary of them.  They can be quite vicious with curious dogs, especially when there are babies involved.  Gail hates them - they drag fish under her house (a charming B&B you'll see in the photo later) and leave them there to rot, and they spray, just like skunks.  Eeew.

But perhaps the most alarming new wildlife development is the coyote I saw sauntering past the house a few days ago - in broad daylight.

Coyotes in town?  Oh yes.  They're back.  A few years ago a pair had a litter of pups right across the street in the brush covered slope.  The pups wanted to play with Gail's labrador.

Dan saw two full grown coyotes in the field next door dragging a seagull carcass across the parking area.  I've been hearing horror stories all week.  One woman says she's seen them hanging around the courthouse steps, but maybe she got her analogies confused and she really meant vultures (although, come to think of it coyotes also feed off carrion.)  Susan and Nathan told the story of a neighbor who let her small dog out at night only to see it snatched by a coyote.  Luckily she ran after them in her nightie and slippers and was able to get the dog back still alive.  Yikes.

I never thought for one second we'd have to contend with Wile E. Coyote in Port Townsend.

Sure, it's the west - it's about as far west as you can go - but it's not the west west.  Dan's busy researching Coyote Foiling Devices, hopefully not from the Acme Company, and we have the Schnoodles on tight leashes and close supervision.

We treated ourselves to a few days of mud wallowing in Calistoga, California.  Leslie and I go every year for our birthdays and it's always been a highlight of the year for me.  Dan and I went here on our honeymoon as well.  Indian Springs is an old spa that's been tarted up quite a bit, although they haven't replaced the concrete sarcophagus you do the actual wallowing in.  Far from fancy but absolutely blissful, especially when you've spent several hours floating in the Olympic size swimming pool that's filled with hot thermal water from the geyser right there.

The steam from the geyser rising in the background.

Happy Dan

Calistoga is at the northern end of the Napa Valley so we weren't lacking in fine wining and dining opportunities either.  Our one big blowout was Ad Hoc, one of Thomas Keller's restaurants.  Interesting concept: there is only one set four course menu daily that everyone has.  Too bad if you've booked way in advance (as you have to if you don't want to get there at 5 to maybe snag a seat at the bar) and the day's menu has something on it you don't like.  I guess vegetarians, vegans, non-red meat eaters and picky diners just don't come here.
adhocrestaurant.com

I used to hate going back to New York after spending time at the mud baths.  If the long plane ride didn't erase all the bliss then certainly getting through JFK and driving through the arse end of Brooklyn certainly did.  But this time it lasted all the way home - only a 2 hour plane journey, followed by a relaxing ferry ride and a drive through evergreens towards the mountains and the water.

And I get to go back again at the end of this month for Leslie's Big Birthday!  I should feel guilty - but I don't.

My birthday showed up right on time and for once I wasn't too bummed about it.  Hilary's card may have had something to do with it.

 Or maybe it was the rainbow Dan arranged, right on cue.

That's Gail's B&B with the stinky fish on the right.

Susan, Nathan, Linda and Chuck came over to help me celebrate (not much open in PT on a Monday night in winter) and my chocolate raspberry and banana chocolate cupcakes were a big hit (especially with Poppy who has the fastest tongue in the west.)

Before Dan found out it was HIS cupcake Poppy snagged.