Seattle

 

Departure gate at DFW airport (yes, I take pictures of everything, because I'm a nerd like that)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

My friends' outdoor space

 

 

Pike Place public market

 

 

Flowers

 

Vegetables

Seafood



 

The original Starbucks

 

 

The stall at Pike Place where they toss the fish

 

Barney, the Leopard Seal at the Seattle Aquarium

 

Starfish (you can pet them!)

 

Moon Jellies at the Seattle Aquarium

 

 Chocolate-dipped Belgian waffle

 

Outside Ivar's Seafood--we fed the seagulls

 

They are definitely not afraid of humans!

 

 

Otter being fed by staff at the Seattle Aquarium

 

Dinner at Din Tai Fung, Chinese dumpling restaurant

 

Snoqualmie Falls

 

Mount Rainier--as clear as it got!

 

 

We went on a short hike

 

View from the trail

 

Paradise Falls

 

Yep, Mount Rainier National Park has already had snow

 

What's left of Mount Saint Helens, the top of which is obscured by clouds

 

The flora and fauna around Mount Saint Helens has only barely returned in 33 years

 

Display at the Chihuly Museum

 

Seaforms at the Chihuly Museum

 

Glass floats at the Chihuly

 

Zelda, the German Shepherd dog

 



Saturday evening treats

Guess who got Saturday evening treats?  Everybody!  Even Poquito, who is hiding under the coffee table in order to protect his little bone.  Ignore my knees and my shoes, please!

Someone's been sitting in my chair

Someone named Sitka!  So cute--she never does this when I'm at home (even when I'm not in the chair). 

An Attentive Audience

It's no secret that I don't cook at home a lot...or ever.  Being married for nearly a decade to the pickiest eater on the planet sort of soured me on the thought of having to cook every night, and so I've gotten out of the habit.

 

Lately, however, I've tired of restaurant food.  So, for the second time in a week, I've cooked at home.  And not only did I cook, I grilled!  Hamburgers were the order of the day.

 

Yes, I cooked enough to share with the dogs! 

They were a very attentive audience while waiting for me to share.  Sitka was there too, of course, but refused to hold still for a photo.

Sibling Rivalry

After Juneau and Sitka had a little spat this afternoon--during which Sitka was nominally the top dog--Juneau decided to get a little revenge on her:

 

She was peacefully lying in front of the fan, and Juneau came along and shoved himself in between her and the fan!

 

Just like having two year olds.

Sleepy Saturday

On this long holiday weekend, it's too hot to go outside, so everyone's napping inside!  Someone doesn't realize that since it's 105F outside, no blanket is necessary.

Beep beep!

Here at Camp Run-Amok, we like to keep things exciting!  Guess what today's excitement was?  No, Sitka didn't get out of the yard again (although that might be as likely as anything else).

 

We had another wildlife spotting--something I've never seen outside of a Looney Tunes cartoon:  an honest-to-goodness roadrunner!  For those of you unfamiliar with what a real roadrunner looks like:

 

And, yes, they do run across roads! 

 

Let's see that brings the wildlife spottings up to:  raccoons, snakes (including a scary cottonmouth), possums, rabbits, coyotes, armadillos, rats, mice, Mexican geckos, green anole lizards, hummingbirds, roadrunners, hawks, mallards, and herons.

 

Never a "tame" moment!

 

The view from my chair

Someone may be a "bit" too attached to her food bowl!

Camp Run-Amok

After chasing my darling "daughter" yet again this morning...and after saving a possum from Juneau's hungry jaws the other night, I've decided that my house should be named Camp Run-Amok!

 

Ch...ch...ch...ch...changes (thanks, David Bowie, for getting that tune stuck in my head)

It's been a little over a year and a half since my mom passed away, leaving me and the dogs to our own devices.  Since then, I have tried my best to combine both houses of stuff, edit what I don't want, and make my childhood home into the current "50 year old me" home.  It hasn't been easy, surprisingly.  There are so many memories and emotions tied up in the things that inhabit my home(s); it's hard to let go when I can remember when, where, and even why something was purchased. 

 

Mom--and daddy, too--worked hard to make our home a lovely, comfortable, and interesting place.  We collected souvenirs and momentos from our travels.  The things that we brought home were never cheap, tacky, tourist-y junk.  I don't remember even buying a souvenir t-shirt until I was in college! 

 

Because my parent's home was lovely when I moved in, I was at first reluctant to make any changes.  I planned on bringing in the few antique pieces I owned and calling it a day.  But the longer I lived in the house, the more I realized that it just wasn't me.  My mom was raised in the 30s and 40s, a time when everyone's home was much more formal than those of today.  Each room's furniture matched religiously.  And it was expensive furniture, too.  Mom didn't buy anything until she could afford exactly what she wanted.  It seemed a sin to replace things just because they didn't suit me.

 

I felt guilty about replacing and redecorating too.  If it was good enough for my parents, it should be good enough for me too.  I've had several dreams in which my mother suddenly reappeared from wherever she's been for the last 18 months, and scolded me for changing "her" house!  In one dream, she just started moving things back to where they "belonged."  Now that's some powerful guilt!

 

Despite my feelings of guilt, I resolved to make some changes.  As I've mentioned before, the room I feel worst about changing is what used to be my mom and dad's vintage soda fountain.  I am selling almost everything soda fountain-related in my estate sale, to make room for my studio.  Ugh, even writing about it makes me feel a twinge of guilt.  They worked so hard at collecting the stuff, and in making the room so authentic.  I know in my head that it's okay; that they would want me to be happy, but I still feel bad.  I'm pushing on, nevertheless.

 

Stay tuned for a lengthy house tour in August.  And, then you won't ever have to hear about my house-guilt again!  I promise!

 

 

Big doings at the Parker house

Old bathroom light fixture

 

New and improved bathroom light fixture



The cheesy 1960s scrollwork from the lights

 

Completely new bathroom fixture, installed after I decided that "mid-century modern" just wasn't my thing, even though the light fixtures did look better without that tacky scrollwork

 

New light fixture in the guest bedroom.  It's a vintage-looking mini-chandelier. All the furniture in this room is antique, so I thought something vintage-looking would be pretty.  Real vintage is too expensive!

 

New drapes for the living room--to replace the "lovely" pink sheers in the background

More decorating "stuff"--new fabric for the living room chairs, a new pillow for the rocker in the office, and some other goodies

A vintage, purely decorative medicine cabinet for the bathroom

This poor broken thing is being replaced on Wednesday!

 

Yes, there are big doings at the Parker house!  I'm doing some renovations and replacing fixtures.  Look for a post on the completed projects--and a house tour--in August!

This is how we roll...

On a really hot Texas summer day, what do snow dogs do?

 

 

We nap in front of the fan! 

 

Poquito does too!

Juneau's "Gotcha Day"

Close on the heels of Sitka's "Gotcha Day" comes Juneau's. 

 

After eating his treat--and sharing with his sister and little brother--this is what he spent the rest of the day doing! 

 

Ah, the life of a dog! 

Happy Fourth of July!

I am thankful to live in the United States of America--let freedom ring!

The prodigal returns

When I started this post last night, I was too sad to actually do more than write a title and quit.  It was going to be called Vaya con Dios, Poquito.  On Friday evening, Poquito took a page from his sister's (the Princess of Mayhem and General Naughtiness) book and take off. 

 

Just before dinner, all the dogs wanted to go outside--so out they went.  Because it has been so hot, less than five minutes later, the big furries wanted in.  No sign of Poquito, but that's not unusual.  He likes to stay outside in the heat.  I waited about ten minutes and tried again.  No Poquito.  At that, I went out and looked.  And looked, and looked, and looked.  No Poquito anywhere!  Not in the backyard, not in the front yard, not in the alley. 

 

I got in the car and drove around to see if I could spot him.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to spot a tiny little brown dog in amongst the houses, bushes, and trees?  It's not like looking for Sitka or  Juneau, who are hard enough to find as it is.

 

Needless to say, I had no luck in finding the little booger!  I kept thinking he'd finally show up in a few hours, but by Saturday morning, I didn't think that was going to happen.  After work on Saturday, I checked the Garland animal shelter.  Lots of sweet babies there, but none of them were my baby.  When I got home, I looked everywhere again, even in my closets just in case he had somehow, improbably, snuck in and gotten himself trapped. 

 

We celebrated Sitka's "Gotcha Day" without him and by Sunday, I resigned myself to the unhappy fact that he was lost.  I spent the day moping around the house and trying not to imagine the possible array of bad things that could have happened to him. 

 

I went to bed around midnight and at three (which seems to be the magical hour for dogs returning home), Sitka woke me up.  She was fussing at the back door, and I thought she needed to go out.  When I got up, there was Poquito waiting to be let in. 

 

Both big furries checked him out like he was new to them all over again.  He ran to get a drink and I fed him.  He is in perfect shape except that it looks as though he lost weight.  When Juneau and Sitka were satisfied that he was still the same dog as before, and he'd eaten and drank, he curled up in my lap like nothing happened and went to sleep.

 

Someone is not going outside unsupervised anymore!