Discovering Ballard and Other Tales

We have had such a mild winter, and the days have been quite pleasant, perfect for getting out and exploring my new neighborhood.  My friend who lives across the hall from me in this "adult dormitory", met me at Miro Teas on Friday, and we had a great time.

I ordered a pot of Gingerine, which is, of all things, ginger and tangerine!  It was yummy, and enough for both of us to have two cups each.  The picture below is what happened when we added a bit of soy milk.

Still delicious.

 

This is the view from the corner table we sat at.  That is Ballard Avenue out there.  On Sundays, this street is blocked off for the Farmer's Market.  I'm not there today since I woke up with a nasty cold.  I know that is redundant.  Cold says it all.  Anyhow, I love to sit and watch all the activity outside.  I don't like going to restaurants or coffee shops alone, but I think I could enjoy this place by myself.  Their tea menu is a one inch thick three ring binder.  It will take me awhile to get through that.

Coffee just isn't cutting it for me lately.  Tea seems so much more. . . .civilized.

 

 

Meanwhile, I have been working on a needle felting project, a picture for my living room wall.  I seem to have a tree theme going on, so this will fit right in.

 

 

Now, yesterday I received a phone call from a producer of a Reality show, asking me to be at my friends' alpaca farm in Snohomish for the filming of a new Pilot.  I'm not sure about the details, I just know I high tailed it out there to help her out and to enjoy the fun.  I was part of a group of people who were supposedly attending an open house.  I was asked questions and voiced my opinions on things.  OMG me on camera~!  I'll let you know when I know more.



My Hamsta Gangsta Car

 This is my friend, the Rappin' Hamster at Kia Motors in North Seattle.  I love their commercials with the dancing hamsters, and have wanted a Kia Soul for a couple of years.  The sale of the farm finally went through, and my cars odometer was about to turn over the 200,000 mile mark, so I started doing my research and shopping for a new car.

 Wouldn't you just know the Soul won out!  I went in, planning on getting a nice racy red model, but the black one looked so sharp.  I feel really good about this purchase.  It makes me feel more settled.

 Here is a picture of my deck on the third floor, taken from my parking space below.  As you can see, living in an apartment in the city is not deterring me from having a garden.

And, I finally got started on the quilt for my niece, Rachael.  It's a wedding gift for the wedding that took place last May in Hawaii.  I was counting on getting snowed in for a week this winter, in Nooksack, in order for me to get it done.  That is usually when I am the most productive.  But, it has been an unusually mild winter, especially here in Ballard.  So, I had to bite the bullet and get started.  It's been difficult, because it took me three days to recover from working at the Pike Place Market on the day before and the day of Valentine's Day.  10 hour days on my feet on the cement with no breaks.  It was sooooooooooo much fun, but exhausting.  I'm still dreaming of gathering bouquets and wrapping them.  I walked into the grocery store and saw a display of them and almost ran away!!!  Oh, dear, am I not going to like tulips anymore?  Not a chance that will happen.

Oh, my Aching feet!

 I have been working the past couple days at the Pike Place Market it downtown Seattle, selling bouquets of tulips.  I have worked two half days, and today I work a full 8 hours.  I hope I can still walk when I leave there tonight.  It's tough on the old feet, but so much fun.

 There is a constant swarm of folks buying the tulips, and on Valentines day, we will have 9 people working the stall and 5 tents full of flowers.  WOW.

The owner of this endeavor, Alm Hill Gardens, has run this stall for 40 years at the Market.  They are the same people who own Growing Washington, the organic growers who leased my land at the farm.

Ironic that I move to Seattle and go to work for friends from Nooksack!

The tulips will be sold until April, and then the produce comes on and I will work for them at various neighborhood markets.

 We've been lucky, with two days of beautiful sunshine.

 Last week, I taught my niece, Erin, how to quilt.  First, we went shopping.  That was such fun.  She had to get herself a sewing machine, too.  Then we went to lunch.

I was so proud of Erin.  She completed a nine patch made with charms, quilted it and made it into a pillow in just two hours.

 

Blogger Meets Blogger

Yesterday was a great day at the Ballard Farmer's Market. 

To my surprise, I was greeted by a friendly woman, proclaiming herself to be Jean.

Jean.

????

Oh, JEAN!!!

I've been waiting to meet her!  She's another blogger who moved here from Nashville more than a year ago.  She was introduced to me through our blogs by Pat in Delaware!!!  This bloggerland is a small world.

Jean is tee-rific.  I sense a friendship coming on.

We pose here while she picks out a scarf to buy, and models the hat she has already purchased.

 

Things are a bit out of order here, but the below picture was taken at the farm last week.  Isn't it beautiful?  The sale of the farm has still not closed and I am getting very impatient.

 

 

Here is another building in Ballard that has been painted by Henry.  I will have to get a picture of the one right below my apartment.  Henry sure knows how to perk up a drab building wall.

 

I have been knitting and spinning like crazy, and below is a hat and a skein of yarn I made recently.

 

And here are some of my other yarns.