Another Week Flies By

 

It was another successful, but tiring, day at the Market.  I am seriously considering not doing it anymore.  I will build a website and do selected shows.  The set up and tear down is an absolute killer, and I am ready to drop when I get home.  Then I have to unload everything and put it in my storage room.  I think I need to accept my age and limitations and quit torturing myself.

This was my booth.  I had it set up more neatly and attractively, but the Market Manager came by and said I should change it to get more people in to try on hats.  I've never had a problem with that, but I gave it a try.  I don't think it was as welcoming.

These were my neighbors on the right.  Organic produce and beautiful flowers.  Very nice people.

And on the left we have the Crepe man.  Oh, my, I had to smell that all day.  I finally broke down and had the Spinach and goat cheese crepe, and it was Deeeelicious.

Cadel came to see me with his Dad.  I gave him that hat.  He seemed to like it.  Soft alpaca.  Kids love it.

Now, back to the homefront, here is a pillow I have been working on for my brother's birthday.  My mother always told us this when we were complaining about having nothing to do.

Then, this morning, I found this picture of me and Mr. Goodbar.  It was taken a few years and pounds ago.  A good incentive.

 

Since I am "thinking" of not doing the Market for awhile, I am going to concentrate on sewing and exercise.  I have so many projects waiting attention, and so many walks to go on.  As soon as this sinus infection is gone.  I'm finally on antibiotics and should be feeling better soon.

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.



She's Up and Running

Well, it has been a long while since I have posted here, but I'm back and ready to go.

First of all, I need to share with you a picture of my grandson, Cadel.  Yes, I am in love.

 

He's coming over for dinner tomorrow night to celebrate his Dad's birthday!!

 Now, here is a picture taken from my deck.  I now live in Seattle in a neighborhood called Ballard.  It is traditionally a fishing center.  Fisherman's terminal is right across the canal from here, and the Hiram Chittendom Locks are just two blocks away.  I can see the ships moving through the canal all day.  If you ever watch "The Deadliest Catch", you have visited this port and some of the local watering holes.

The very top of the space needle is visible at the top of the hill in the distance, and I was able to watch the fireworks display put on atop the needle on New Years Eve right from the comfort of my living room.

Whenever someone visits, we take a walk to the locks.  Here is an interesting little boat making it's entery into the first stage.

If you were wondering, yes, I love it here.  I feel so content.  Contentment is the word of the day.  I haven't felt like this in a long time.

I have been a vendor for the past two weeks at the Ballard Farmer's Market.  Above are a few of the scarves I have for sale there, and below are a few of the yarns.

I'm really enjoying the market here.  It's only 6 blocks from my apartment, and in a very upscale neighborhood.  So far, business has been good.  The first week, I sold 4 green hats to 4 red haired women.

Funny.

 

That's it for now.  I will be posting more regularly, now that I know how to retrieve my pictures from my Smart Phone.  The darn phone seems to be smarter than me.

The Village of Nooksack

 

Yesterday, the Cities of Everson and Nooksack lost a great man.  Police Chief Erik Ramstead was a kind and generous man and will be missed by all.

I read about the news on facebook in the morning, and while driving north to an appointment, it got me to thinking; thinking back to the day when my husband died, and how a Village came to my aid.

I've never told this entire story here, and if you need to, leave now.  I am not going to leave any details out.

I slept in late, the morning of December 21, 2010.  I NEVER slept past 6:30, but there it was, 7:20am.

All was dark in the house, and I jumped out of bed proclaiming "Alan, Gordon will be here in 40 minutes".  Gordon was our vet.  I went to the bathroom first, and looked out the window to see if the lights were on in the barn.  No.  Oh, no.  That's when I knew.  I turned around and saw the shadow of Alan in his recliner.  I turned on the lights and my worst fears were realized.  He was gone.  He had left me.  I was devastated.

I called my neighbors first.  My fingers were so conditioned to dial Judy's number, that even though I had intended 911, I got her.

Then I managed 911.

I was going in circles, wondering what to do, when I saw Gordon drive in.  Gordon is never early.  In fact, he is rarely on time.  Everyone knows this.  But here he was, 20 minutes early.

I ran outside screaming, "Gordon, Alan is dead".  He got out of the truck, wrapped me in his arms and held me while I screamed and cried and sobbed.  He never let go until my neighbors arrived.

I didn't know it at the time, but after surrendering me to Judy and Tom, Gordon called my friends in the alpaca community and the other vets.

Tom and Judy went in the house with me, and then the EMTs arrived.  I knew two of them personally, one of them being a school friend of Alan's.  A police officer also came, and he stayed at the house until Alan's body was removed quite a bit later by the mortuary.

As soon as the aid cars left, there began a stream of friends and neighbors arriving.  One came with her daughter, carrying two large trays covered with cookies, breads and other foods.  Kathleen, from my knitting group came and vacuumed my house and washed the kitchen floors.  She knew I would be having company.

The first neighbor, Kelly, organized about a dozen kids to come clean up my yard, which was covered with tree boughs from the last northeaster.  I didn't know she had done this, but at one point I looked out the window, and there they were along with a City employee who was loading the waste into a City vehicle and hauling it away.

The day went on like that with Alan's school friends coming and staying for hours, telling stories and reminiscing.  Esther, a young lady who had volunteered with me during the summers and being my friend, came and silently worked in my kitchen all day.  I did not remember that until this last summer when I was at her bridal shower and we were asked to relate how we knew her and to share a story.

 

Where am I going with this?

It Takes a Village.

The people of Nooksack and Everson embraced me in a manner I never anticipated.  People I did not even know came by with cards and goodies for weeks.

This is why it was so hard for me to leave my wonderful town of Nooksack.  It took me two years to make the decision, and I am not sorry.  But my heart remains with all my dear friends in Whatcom County, Washington.

Know that you are loved and will not be forgotten.