Gnome Lights

This morning the stairs looked like they were guarded by multi-colored gnomes.
Now at evening, the snow continues falling and the temperature is right at freezing. Tomorrow we will stay home until we see an improvement in the roads.

Today I decided to follow Julia Child's recipe for Caesar Salad. It turned out very well and we had nachos as an accompaniment.
I baked two loaves of a spiced pear bread that is moist and flavourful.

We are trying to have a Christmas Season this year and do something special every day as a treat.

Stay cozy!

Weather outside is Snowy--a Treat for Wet Washington

The temperature is a brisk 24 degrees F. The breeze out of the east just lifting the stars and stripes gently. The sun is shining and birds are enjoying the seeds left in the feeding stations protected by our gazebo. The suet is hanging on the cherry tree next to the house for those birds who crave a little fat.

Fire is going in the fireplace to augment the electric heat. The fireplace heater is wood burning and is a closed box with fan for more efficiency. I need to water the houseplants today.

The Christmas tree, a Nobel fir, gets special water that keeps the leaves green and the needles fresh.

December 5, 2008
Well, it's getting colder but nothing like this penguin is experiencing at the South Pole.

We have been enjoying just being home and doing the little tasks of daily living like shopping for groceries, doing the laundry, and straightening up the house.

With just two of us at home it would seem that clutter would be a nonevent but that is not true. I have my projects which seem to have multiple pieces and my husband has his interests which also explode to fill the available space.

Nevertheless, it is all manageable.

Saturday in England

Here I am with my husband, at a little fishing village called Lymington.

Forde Abbey Kitchen Gardens

/This castle-like home used to be a Cistercian monastary. It is now a private home.

Penguin Pictures

Here is a quick run-through of the places Percy Penguin and I have been in the last two weeks:

Percy practices flying on the train from Weymouth to Bournemouth (above).

We took Percy for a walk on a real English country lane.

This is Percy at an ancient fountain in a city called Wells.

This is me, standing by one of the doors to my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather's house in England. He was born here in the year 1605! I think he was not very tall...

This is a candy shop in the same town as the house above. When I was a little girl in California, candy was still sold from jars like this!

Here is a picture of the beautiful countryside near Yarcombe, England -- where we took Percy for the walk. It looks a lot like Tenino, I think!


Finally, here is a picture of my husband in a little church called St. John the Baptist. The other man is explaining how the bells for the church work.

On Sark

Here I am with Liz, a penpal who lives on Sark Island. Sark is part of the English Channel Islands. There are no cars on the island! Everyone walks or rides a bike everywhere.

Fougeres

A Busy Week!

Since I last wrote, we have done so many things!

We toured the area around the Eiffel Tower (but we did not go up it this time). Here is a picture of my husband, with the Tour Eiffel in the background:



We also went to a Maritime Museum. Maritime means "things to do with the ocean."

There were small models of old-fashioned boats:



Pictures from long ago, do you see the castle in this picture?



And here is Percy Penguin with me, in front of a huge lighthouse lightbulb:



Next time, I will be writing from the northern part of France, a place called Normandy. Can you find it on a map?

Percy at the Opera!

We took Percy on a tour of an Opera house. They weren't singing when we were there. Here is a picture of the outside of the building...



Percy and I admired a beautiful statue inside.



When people come to hear an opera -- which is like a play that is sung instead of spoken -- they get dressed up in their very best clothes. Because I am on vacation, and no opera was being performed, I wore my school clothes. Percy, of course, is always dressed in his very best!

It took 13 years to build the opera house. They worked on it from 1862 until 1875 when it was first used. On the outside, there are fancy statues covered in gold, and on the inside, there are busts of famous people and more statues!

This last picture shows the busts and the doors that lead into the very fancy private boxes for seeing the shows. Do you see the fancy floors, too? Everything gets decorated!

Notre Dame

These are pictures from one of the most famous churches in the world. It is called "Notre Dame de Paris" "Notre Dame" means Our Lady and is a very common name for churches in some places. "de Paris" means in Paris -- so you know which Notre Dame we are talking about.

Here I am, in front of the western face of the church. It is 69 meters (more than 226 feet) tall! This church is more than thirty times taller than I am!



Inside, the church is somewhat dark, and very big. It is made of stone, and sounds are a lot more noticeable.

People have been singing music in Notre Dame for almost a thousand years! Here is a picture of the kind of music they sang when this church is new. It looks different from modern music, but you can still see where the music goes up or down.



In some places, this church displays beautiful things that have been used in the past and for fancy occasions. Here is a set of candlesticks, a cup and a platter that we saw. Do you see the spikes on the candlesticks? They hold big candles on special occasions.



When you are inside the church, the windows glow with beautiful pictures. Here are some of my favorites.







Do you see the round window at the top of this picture and the shape of the two smaller windows just below? Now look at the next picture of the outside of the church. Do you see the same shapes? This is where the window is!



The last picture for today is of a funny little house near Notre Dame. Do you know the Mother Goose poem about the crooked house?




There was a crooked man and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile.
He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse.
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

Pretty things

Here are two pictures from Tuesday, September 16.

This chandelier is in the big art museum called the Louvre. It used to be a palace for the French kings! Can you see all the sparkly pieces of glass? Can you see some of the paintings on the ceiling? Kings and queens used to decorate their homes with fancy things everywhere they looked.



Even though Paris is a big city, there are still some parts where people keep gardens. This garden is next to a fancy store called Le Bon Marche. The name of the garden is L'Hospital Ennec Jardin Catherine Lafoure. That's a big name. It was named for a lady who used to live in Paris. The French word for garden is "jardin" -- can you find it in the name under the picture?



L'Hospital Ennec Jardin Catherine Lafoure

In Paris

Here I am in one of the many plazas in Paris. Can you see the Eiffel Tower in the background?

Eating a la Paris

Here is my husband, reading the menu in a little cafe.







And here is Percy the Penguin, looking at the meal he ordered!

A Parisian Meal?

I received a photo but no message. Here is Mother, eating what looks like Quiche and a Milkshake!

 

Arriving home to discover the bookcase is completed! Quel surprise!

 

Here is Percy Penguin, ready to set off for his trip to France! Next to James' Giant Peach, in front of a Friendly Frog. Can you see him?

First Tuxedo

This is the elder grandson, wearing his first tuxedo (which he needed for his musical commitments this coming year), playing the Adagio from Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.

July and all is well.

Since our wonderful trip to the North Country, things have been very quiet on the Sound. Watering has been the order of the day as the rains have ceased for a couple of months and the gravels and bedrock filter and seep away the moisture. Our big event was an evening in Tacoma for an a cappella peformance of music from the times of Henry VIII through Elizabeth I. Because the music was for church, it was mostly in Latin (translation was provided.)

One Saturday, recently Stidmama and I went to a Pampered Chef party and found some wonderful items to add to our kitchens.

So far, vacation has been placid. I have been enjoying the Lyric Pieces of Edvard Grieg on my recently-tuned baby grand. All I have to do is become more fluent with the music.

Vancouver Island Adventure

Here we are in Sidney, B.C. on vacation. Babble Convention!

YES! An Endless Summer Vacation

This is stidmama posting for stidgrandmere who is still recovering from nearly 30 years of teaching...

She is well, enjoying the prospect of a long summer unburdened with the need to consider next year's curriculum when she shops for souvenirs on her travels, unworried by the little nit-picky things every teacher faces at the end of the year. This year, as she cleans her classroom, she needn't keep anything for "just in case it comes in handy" in a year or two...

Here are a couple pics from Thursday:

The last calendar wall day... the kids had been so excited since the end of May to see the "days of school" strip gradually grow shorter!



Here she and I are with stidkid#1 at the buses, blowing bubbles as the kids leave for the summer...



Here she is with her husband, getting the food ready for her retirement picnic (held in the gym, in case of rain):



And here is the principal presenting stidgrandmere with flowers and a lovely garden plaque for her retirement present.