Girls' Fun

It seems I have been playing for most of the past ten days, and I had willing accomplices along the way!

Karen and I spent four nights in Seattle week before last because we attended a six-hour quilting class. That makes sense, right? We stayed at my newly established favorite B&B; Colleen's cute apartment in Queen Anne. She now has a real guest room complete with twin trundle beds, duvets, and guest robes and slippers.

Karen and I enjoyed the class with Brenda Henning of Alaskan quilting fame and Triangulations software, but it wasn't as spectacular as we had expected. Contrary to what we have encountered in other classes, Brenda seemed to be tired and bored and just wanted to be finished with the day. That's not to say we didn't learn some new tips or that we are sorry we attended, but we now know we don't need to completely rearrange our lives if we learn of another class being taught by her.

Since both of us had all our sewing stuff with us, we spent Friday and Saturday alternating between trying two new purse patterns and going out to shop for more fabric and seeking good places to eat. Success was had in both categories and Colleen was the recipient of a fun carryall bag plus a rather stunning little pillow for her living room that boasts satin bees and red and gold cording.

I came home Sunday afternoon to be present for dinner with Craig and Ken for Father's Day and to recuperate from four days of fun and get ready for the next round. Colleen was in Oregon, so it was just the three of us for dinner.

Jeff and Bev arrived on Tuesday so Bev and I, along with Elisabeth and Katherine, could hit the road Wednesday morning for the western Washington Quilt Shop Hop. Three more days of fun!! Katherine drove, and she has a lovely big Dodge Caravan so we had lots of room for luggage, ice chest, and all our purchases. I was the right seat navigator and took Maggie, our Magellan GPS, and she didn't let us down once. We boldly plunged onward with nothing but a street address in towns we had never visited, and she delivered us to the doorstep every time; sometimes over our common sense protests, but she proved she knew what she was doing.

Vancouver was our destination for the first night, and I had cruised the internet to find a great B&B in the downtown area. Success!! We had two rooms to share in a lovely restored Craftsman and were hosted by Ted and Sallie, neither of whom has ever met a stranger. They were ten years in the restoration process and have been in business for two. He is retired from Motorola and she from United Airlines. Sallie steered us to a great Italian restaurant for dinner which was walking distance from the B&B and Ted served yogurt parfaits, scrambled eggs and bacon and gingerbread pancakes for breakfast. We ate well!!

As we head back north on I-5 on day two, we veered off to the west and made our way up the west side of Hood Canal where we stayed the second night. We had done no pre-planning for this part of the trip, but we slept well and ate at a small restaurant on the canal that served marvelous seafood.

The third day for the home stretch took us to the head of Hood Canal and back down through Poulsbo, Port Orchard, Gig Harbor and home. We visited 16 shops over the three days and found fun stuff in all of them.

Ken and Jeff entertained each other for the three days by tearing our computer apart and rebuilding it. All the while grousing at each other as they are wont to do. A normal adventure for the two of them.

Now I am realizing that the Fourth of July is looming so I need to focus. We are planning to take the motor home to Spokane for the 4th weekend for the Bill & Lillie descendents reunion to be held on the fifth at Calla and Sam's in Spokane. We have places we could stay, but Cooper is the problem, so we will take his accomodations with us. Keith and Janet and the girls have arranged their summer vacation to fly into Spokane on July 3 to attend the reunion and then will go on to their lake property near Kalispell and visit her family in Billings.

It sounds like most of the family will be in attendance, and we haven't even met some of the younger people, so it should be fun. Our great niece, Marty, came up with the idea, and I commend her. Families always seem to get together only when there is a funeral!!

Enough for now. Ciao

We have lost a good friend

Our good friend, John Nicoletti, succombed to cancer last week. We lived across the street from John and Carol when we lived in California in the 70s and spent many hours playing bridge, having dinner, and partying with them and others in the neighborhood. I told the Nicoletti family that when I think of John I remember his hearty laugh, his warm touch and kiss when meeting, and his beautiful head of white hair. His mass and celebration of life is this coming Friday, but we are not going to go. There were already too many things on the calendar. Bev and I are thinking we will wait a while and then plan a little road trip with her, Carol and me.

Last weekend I attended a choral concert in which Colleen participated - Sacred Music Chorale is about 60 strong and is comprised of some very talented and educated musicians from around the Seattle area. The first half was the 'Mass Ordinaire' composed by one of the choir members. It was very enjoyable to watch that composer as he participated, and very familiar to me since it was in latin which is how I heard the mass growing up. I must say I enjoyed the entire program and anticipate purchasing their CD when it becomes available.

Colleen is still in the process of getting settled, and organizing the guest room was a priority while I was there. She had trundle bed frames but no mattresses, so after a lot of discussion as to how we were going to get the mattresses from Costco to home, we drove to Costco, rolled the mattresses out to her Honda, hoisted them up on top, lashed them down with bungee cords and headed for Queen Ann. We made it just fine, and now I have an organized guest room to sleep in when I visit.

And visit I will next week, along with Karen, when we attend a quilting class in Edmonds on Thursday. Karen is driving over on Wednesday and we will probably spend Friday poking around Seattle. Colleen is going to be away, so we will have her apartment to ourselves. There are so many great neighborhoods with wonderful shops and restaurants that we should not want for something to do.


We enjoyed the Jaynes' and the Millers' visit last Friday night. The Millers have never been here, and it has been years since Bob and Sharon visited. We spent many hours talking, eating and sipping. The Millers are in the market for a new/different motor home since theirs doesn't have slides, so they visited most of the RV dealerships up and down I-5 from Olympia to Federal Way. However, I haven't heard that they have purchased anything.

It is cold, cold, cold here. When can we expect summer? Ciao