Seattle Snowpocalypse!

Oh my stars - There's snow in Seattle!

In winter I dress like Paddington Bear

Streets are closed. Businesses are closed. Schools are closed.

Roads are impassable.
No one owns a shovel.
There's no road salt.
There's screaming in the streets...well, there's kids in the streets and they're shouting as they throw snowballs at each other...but you can sense the panic :-)

I waited until near the end of the Superbowl to head out to the grocery store, not because of the snow - just to get my weekly supplies! The snow was just an added bonus as everyone had already raided the store and it was open and easy to shop. I'm not sure where you are, but 6pm on Sunday night the grocery stores here are usually packed! Thanks to the Superbowl and the snow - I was in and out in 15 minutes.

By the time I got home it was coming down pretty heavily and had started to stick. I set my regular Monday alarm, just in case, but woke up to a wonderful white winterland I've never seen in Seattle before. A true New England-style winter holiday.

I checked the news and sure-enough everything was shut down for the day. No school, no work, no nothing.

So, for the first time in a long while, I had a snow day.

I got back in bed and napped.
I made a really real breakfast with eggs and toast and tea.
I watched cartoons.
I read.
I reorganized the pantry, dusted the wall art, and cleaned the tub.
I worked with Pye on Roll Over and cuddled with Fams.
I went for a walk with Pye and threw snowballs for her.
I made a snow angel. If you haven't made a snow angel in a while, this is super fun!
I took Pye to the indoor dog park and threw a ball and practiced tricks with her.
I had company and made a dinner to share, and breakfast, and cookies...I did some serious baking!

Thank you snow day, you were a lovely day.



Big snowball!



Hover-dog



CHOMP!



Catch!

 

Happy Lunar New Year - Year of the Rooster

Happy Year of the Rooster everyone!

 

I celebrated the new year with a visit to the International District for their holiday festival. The area was full of food, people-watching, dancers, and fireworks. The streets were covered with red firework wrappers and my ears are still ringing from all the explosions!

While the lines were long, there was entertainment provided by dueling dragon dancers, children running all about, and the general chaos that is large crowds.

We got focused in on all the delicious food options around us. Many of the local restaurants offer a special $3 promotion meal where you can pick up a small snack and sample the foods that the particular restaurant specializes in.

While the guys dug into some crawfish tacos and rice bowls, I spied all the cake, crème puff, and other desserts available in the International District. We wandered from one place to another, skipping some if the lines were too long and working out divide-and-conquer plans for other shorter lined venues. It helped (and hindered) that the map of the food venues itself was off in a couple sections. The restaurants that had been mislabeled on the map had shorter lines. They had lovely food though!






I wore my yukata and cashmere scarf from Japan. I don't wear the yukata very often so it was a special fashion day as well! I enjoy wearing it though, and kimono in general, so perhaps I'll try to find more events and occasions where kimono would be appropriate.

Yukata are the casual cotton kimono for warmer weather. They are exceptionally comfy. Well, they are limiting on how big of a step you can take, but I don't have a large stride so it isn't so bad. Being cotton, they also wrinkle like a madhouse, so there's ironing to do - but they allow for a lot of airflow and are super absorbent and easy to wash. They also fold easily into perfect little rectangles so storage in the tiny-house isn't an issue.

After all the walking everyone needed a little nap! The guys and I spent the rest of the day on Sunday chores - house cleaning, a trip to the dump, grocery shopping for the week, and prepping meals.
General Sunday Stuff.

As a side note: The scooter decided it no longer wanted to start. So, once the dump trip was over, the guys picked up the scooter and put it in the back of the truck to bring it home so we can look at repairing it. Maybe a sparkplug issue?


Hopefully the Year of the Rooster brings good luck to us all and the scooter issue will get resolved before the cocks crow!

May the 5th, 7th, and 8th day of every month be sunny and joyful.

May the brown earth bloom in gold and yellow flowers to brighten your day.

May the scent of gladiolas float along on the southeast breeze.

Happy new year!