city feet and forest friends

Sorry I have missed many days of writing! Friends were in town and I was caught up with spending time with my lovelies. Then the internet was down last night.

The first morning of Finn's visit, I made coffee and toast which we put the plum amaretto jam on. We sat on the porch and talked and gazed out across the water. I looked through my binoculars and saw that Celia was home, so we went over to say hi to her and Corbie. Then we hauled out the blue kayak and went for a cautious paddle, due to it being so tippy. But we found a rhythm and didn't tip over! There were other kayaker groups out, with their lighter and less tippy modern kayaks. We went down to the lagoon by Camp Parsons and snacked and drifted and looked at seals. The sun was out, the water was calm. Wonderful! We sat out in the water a bit and cooled off, then took quick showers and went out for lunch! BT was on his way, but we had time. Time to go to Hama Hama Oysters for some fresh grilled oysters and cole slaw.

I don't think I've ever had oysters out of the shell. They were so good and I licked the shells clean. Very much a meal to savor. We swung by Halfway House too for some carbs. I watered Grandma and Grandpa's grave and BT arrived at Pulali about five minutes after we did. He and Carnegie! A convergence of people. We trekked through the woods out to the point to give Carnegie a walk (as well as a chance for BT to stretch his legs). Dan was on his way too, but wouldn't be around till 7ish. I picked some greens for a salad (carrots and green beans from my garden and tomatos from Heronswood). And Dan arrived!! Woohoo! We hugged and were joyous and utilized the wall mounted beer opener. The salad featured greens from Central Market, cut up tomatoes, cucumber, hard boiled egg, and quality salad dressing. It was delicious and we ate it all almost entirely! It's awesome to eat vegetables sometimes. Post dinner we sampled grog and sat in the living room and talked and drew till late.

The second morning, many coffees were made in the AeroPress and I cooked up bacon and eggs, Trill style, in the cast iron. BT brought fresh ground & roasted coffee from Courier Coffee in Portland. Good stuff. I said "pick a mug" and they did. BT favored the Welcome To Night Vale and Sears mugs, Dan went for M&Ms, and Finn liked the Beaton mug,

We coordinated with Karen for a Port Townsend rendezvous, and at 11 we loaded up into my car and north we went. Beautiful drive up with plenty of trees. Parked just off main street, and Karen showed up right as we were crossing the road (and didn't run us down). Hurrah! Carnegie had some words with a fake dog outside a store front. First up was a pizza lunch at Waterfront. We sat on logs and ate our slices and drank soda and caught up on the news. Coffee was procured from Better Living Through Coffee and later some ice cream from Elevated. Dan bought some books from the second hand shop. I love the malted chocolate flavor so much.

I drove us (including Karen) up to Fort Worden for some bunker fun and beach walkies. The aquarium was open but not free, so we didn't partake. We stuck around at the lower bunkers, and did a bit of spooky fun. I found a bit of bull kelp and stuck shells in it to make a face and tried to present Karen with the dolly "Kelpie". She rejected Kelpie. So I spun kelpie in a circle and tossed her out to sea.

We returned Karen to her car, ran an errand on the way home, and returned to Pulali. There were some backseat nappers on the way back.

I had removed Casey's casserole from the freezer to thaw it for dinner, so I got that cooking. Finn drew. Dan had a coffee. BT prepared a peach cobbler. The casserole was devoured. Dan packed up to go and was hugged. The seals were not welcoming to Dan and he was unable to swim with them like he wanted.

There was a double feature of Mrs Doubtfire and Moulin Rouge, and the peach cobbler was gone in an instant. So delicious! After the movies we played a new game: you open up Tinder and go to your matches and read name and age and their "about me" and other people make guesses at whats going on in their main picture. You can give hints if you want, such as "it's a selfie" or "they're with other people".

The third and final morning was time to say goodbyes. Coffee was made and english muffins consumed. I offered to drive Finn to the airport. Yeah it is a drive, but I'd rather spend more time with my friend and get them to the airport than save ~45 minutes and drop them off at a ferry where they have to cross and get to the train and that takes time. It was an easy drive, and two hours isn't all that bad. The drive was over all too early and we hugged at the drop off and I headed back home. Swung by the library. Stretched my legs. Finished the drive. Listened to podcasts.

My house needed no cleaning or tidying or any post-visit tending. The power cut out at around 8pm, which was very inconvenient. A fire took down some lines down in Skokomish. A brush fire, so not a huge one. That is worrisome that there would be a fire so close.

Power came back around 10ish.

Today the internet hasn't been reaching my house all that well, so I'm at Celia's doing my work. Listing stuff on eBay and all that. Tomorrow is a big day!!

Finn is hereee!

Alarm went off at 8ish and I didn't dilly dally in waking. I threw on sheets on one bed, tossed the compost, showered, washed my car, did my makeup, had coffee...not in that order. I also cleaned out my car a little. Don't want it to look as crumb filled as it normally is. I headed out right at the minute I needed to in order to pick Finn up at the Bainbridge ferry. Nice easy drive and no hold up at the bridge.

I parked and got to the dock right as people were starting to disembark. I took a snap with my disposable camera. I bought one to use for the visit, as well as the upcoming wedding. It'll be nice to have a few actual photos. If they turn out okay, maybe I'll make a habit of taking a few photos here and there with a disposable camera.

We hugged and headed out. First up we went to Bella Luna Pizzaria in Suquamish for pizza and soda, then we swung by Central Market for salad fixings. It was an easy drive back, up until the classic Hood Canal Bridge being up thing. Argh. But it wasn't a long wait. At least it happened going back.

So nice to hear someone going "wow!" non stop when they see how beautiful where you live is! We walked around the property, went down to the beach, said hi to Corbie and walked Corbie out to the peak. He was a good walking buddy. Stayed closed and we actually saw him poop! He always poops in the woods so there's never dog bombs around on the property. It almost seemed like a mystery.

Back at the house, we got lasagna assembled. Made a store run while the noodles soaked up the sauce (they were no boil) and when we got back we cooked it up. The mice trap has been happily snapping mice all day and night long. It's up to seven right now.

The lasagna was delicious and consumed while watching So You Think You Can Dance, which had some amazing routines. I've watched that show with so many rando people this season. Every few commercials I went to empty the snapped trap. Again.

Finn gave me a shirt and a print and a tote as a thank you gift for the stay!! So wonderful. One can never have enough totes and great things.

Tomorrow BT and Daniel are coming up at some time. Hopefully with enough of a window to cruise up to Port Townsend for a visit.

Modan, Rutu

Saturday:

My internal clock got me up early. Had a scramble. Kept it mellow. I had some pasta too. I lit a fire so that I could sit in front of the fire while I read. I finished Rutu Modan's The Property, then I took a nap which turned into a long nap and when I woke up at 11ish I decided to just go to bed good and proper.

Sunday:

Woke up early, lay awake in bed for a good while thinking about stuff. Got up. Swept. Tidied. Made a little breakfast. Watered plants. Did laundry. Left the house to go see Mr. Holmes with Celia. What an enjoyable movie with a powerhouse of a performance by Ian McKellan! So good. A very nice movie indeed. Well made, directed, acted, costumed. Can't think of a bad note to say about it. I went to Seabeck after the movie to pick up my mail. Got two Rutu Modan totes in the mail from BlueQ! I love them so much. Great illustrations and good sturdy bags too. I have a Tomer Hanuka BlueQ bag and it's still in good shape. I like having cool reusable bags. I went to Trader Joe's for some shopping and BOTH cashiers complimented my bags. One went back and forth between picking which to load items into and they asked where I got them from. I happily supplied the information because everyone should have cool bags!

Dropped off my recycling in Dosewallips. New house rule: put recycling in the goddang correct bin because I don't want extra work to be made for myself by picking paper out of the plastic & aluminium or cans out of the glass. I just want to dump and go.

Now to sleep and wash my car/clean the inside of my car, for FINN IS VISITING TOMORROW FOR A FEW DAYS!!!!