Bon Appetit!!!

This is my first edition copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It was published October 16, 1961.

This year my birthday was my Julia Child birthday. Bryan got me the TV series, My Life in France and one of Julia's cookbooks - with full color pictures. We had discussed getting Mastering but it was kind of expensive. With recipes for aspics and brains, I didn't want to spend that much on a cookbook I really wouldn't use that much. I did tell Bryan that I would like a old copy, maybe a first edition, which I figured I would find at a garage sale or a used book store.

Well, that was not Bryan's plan. He searched eBay for weeks trying to find a copy. Weeks, he'll tell you. He was very meticulous in getting a first printing of the first edition. He won't tell me how much he spent. He really is the most awesomest husband EVAR!!!!!!

Day Three - Arizona Memorial and a long walk

Day three began early to get to Pearl Harbor before everyone else. The wait staff ask why were we up so early? Going to Pearl Harbor? Everybody knows to get there early. We were on the first boat over to the Arizona Memorial so it worked. It was very beautiful.



Arizona Memorial



Flag over the Arizona



Wall of Remembrance



USS Missouri

I didn't know it at the time but Bryan was in the Missouri's battle group (USS Hoel) when it(and he)was in the Gulf before Desert Storm. I wished I had known - it's a little heart's a flutter knowing we were in the same space, seperated by twenty years and thousands of miles. It's kind of silly but it makes me feel closer to him.

In the afternoon we hiked to Waimea Falls. The hike was beautiful but the falls were kind of anticlimatic.



I love these trees. They are so big.



The Falls



Becky hula-ing. I was too tired from the walk.

Day Two - Snorkeling!!!!!

Day two was spent snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. It was very pretty. Neither Becky or I had ever been snorkeling before. We were laughing so hard as we sat in the surf trying to put our flippers we thought that the life guards were going to have to come after us 3 feet from the shore.



Other people snorkling

It's weird having your head under water and still be able to breathe. For the first 10 minutes, I was thinking, "breathe, breathe, breathe, you're not going to drown." And I didn't!!



Me



Fishies



More fishies.

With the mask, the tide, and moving object, it's it rather difficult to know what you are actually getting.



Lots of fishies

Hawaii, Baby!!!!!

So Becky and I had a GREAT time in Hawaii!!! Beautiful and relaxing. Every day started with an awesome breakfast at the hotel. Lots of fresh fruit and yummy juice.

Day One was a drive around the island.



This is Hanauma Bay. It's a nature preserve and the next day we went snorkeling there.



Cairns on the beach.



Buddhist Temple



Koi fish



Buddhist kitty - or not. He was stalking all the birdies.



North Shore



Sunset at Sunset Point

Day Two Tomorrow!

Hallelujah Chorus Flash Mob

Cute Bears!!!!!

Happy Halloween!

These are our Halloween offerings. Mine is the less ambitious. We used the books with the stencils. I've did a kitty once before so I picked the easiest picture in the book. Bryan picked a castle with a dragon. Next year he plans to do triangle eyes and the crooked smile.

No pictures of the awesome carmel apples I made. Did I mention they were awesome?

These are the West Ladies. I wanted to can this year and got some books and DVDs from the library. The DVD was of these four women canning in their outdoor kitchen. They pickled eggs. Pickled eggs don't really sound that appetizing but after watching the DVD I wanted to pickle eggs. And make sauerkraut. They have other DVDs on candlemaking, soapmaking and a bunch of other fun stuff. And they have a CD.

We lost kitty

Mr. Maggie is in kitty heaven with Alex, Libby and Smitty.

Boeing Feature Story: Go inside the first 787 Dreamliner

Boeing Feature Story: Go inside the first 787 Dreamliner

Grover on marriage

An Afternoon of Blue Angels

Toni, Brandon and I had the opportunity to view the Blue Angels as they performed their show over Lake Washington during Sea Fair.  Unfortunately the weather was a factor, and due to the low cloud cover they had to fly what they call the "flat" show.

On board the Royal Argosy for a lunch cruise.  Uh... those are Thomas Kemper Root Beers.

The boats staged to watch the airshow.

"Fat Albert"

Diamond Formation:  They flew right over us.

One of the two Solo planes.

Yes... they were this close.

Slow pass "dirty"

The Diamond flying over the stern flag.

One of the two solo planes at 700 mph, just under the speed of sound.

You can see the vortex developing.  And it was loud.

Hi speed turn overhead.

All six.

What an incredible show!

Military Airlift (well sort of... I was in the military and I was lifted into the air)

Scenes from Bryan's trip to Moses Lake, WA.   Our plant in Moses Lake manufactures the largest of the Genie products including the Z135, an articulating unit that can reach 135ft.   The Moses Lake plant is located at the local airport.   It is used by the military for touch and go training, as well as Boeing for flight testing.  The buildings are 6 stories high and used to house B-52s back in the day.  Hopefully that will give everyone a little perspective on what 135 ft feels like.

Shot from my Black Berry at 135 ft

Going up.

At full height.

Yep at least one hand was on a rail.

The chassis of the Z135.

So, there you go... tomorrow... off to see the Blue Angels at the Seattle Sea Fair.  

Wow -it's been such a long time, I forgot my user name for getting on to the blog. A half an hour later and Google thinking I'm trying to hack in to my own account - I remembered. Yeah for me!

So Bryan is far, far away in Moses Lake doing businessy things. Phbbbttttt. That's all I have to say about that.

Brandon is settling in. He's practically moved into the local Guitar Center. It's a little bigger than the one in Pueblo.

My news is all good. Liver scan normal. Cholesterol good. Oh, I do have osteopenia so more calcium supplements for me. The side effects of the Tamoxifen are not too bad. Little bit of joint ache but nothing too bad. I do have a few hot flashes and am generally warmer but that's a good thing. Women who experience hot flashes are less likely to have a recurrence.

My lymphedema is controlled even though I didn't think it was. I went to the physical therapist to see where I was at. Turns out the difference in the measurements between my arms is about 1 centimeter. Which means there really isn't a difference. I still have some pain and was thinking (hoping) it was related to the swelling. Now it looks like the pain is just left over nerve damage.

Our next fun trip is to see the Blue Angels. We are going to use the same boat company that we used for the 4th of July excursion. All of the fun - none of the traffic.

We'll try to post a few more pictures from the last few weeks.

Love you all...

Going Farmin'... well sort of

Toni and I have started a weekly routine of getting organic fresh greens and vegetables from a local community supported agricultural farm.   The one we picked out is Chinook Farms.  This "farm"  now sits where hundreds of planted poplars existed (supposedly for a local pulp factory).  You will see them in the pictures below.   Uniquely this farm land is considered "fallow."   It has never been used to raise any crops.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our salads and vegetables.   Imagine crisp and flavorable greens (lettuces and spinach of all kinds), the sweetest radishes I have ever had, pototoes, beans, peas... you name it.   So enjoy the pictures.

Picture of the poplars, a maple leaf, Chinook Farms looking South, a waxy yellow flower, the sun peaking around the a tree, and the Subi hanging out at the farm.   Shot this with my new Canon SLR... cool huh? Like always... you can double click on the photos for a larger view.

 

Toni has her next oncology appointment on July 12th... update to follow.

Toni and Bryan visit NW Washington... almost the most NW point in the lower 48

Here are some snaps of our trip to the Port Angeles/Sequim area of Washington.
Two words... Pretty and Wet.
Double click on the pictures for a full size print.

Below... a super tanker at pierside in Port Angeles

A cute cafe (good food too) along the route to Port Angeles.  "Subi" our Subaru Outback was awesome... 31 mpg. 

Above and below:  Colette's B & B.  Our room was in the left house on the right side.

Crescent Lake... really blue and beautiful.

The view from our bedroom  window... Toni takes in a look at the Strait of Juan de Fuca. (Victoria, British Columbia is 18 miles directly across from here). 

Some of the flora ... unbelievable... this stuff is 20 feet + tall. 

A pair of nesting eagles were just 30 yards from our window. 

We walked the Hoh Rain Forest... prehistoric and serene. 

So, we did ok on this trip.   Other than the rain... fun.