A Blemish on our Weekend

Well, this last weekend was anything but mundane. There is so much to write about, I'll have to break it up into chunks to get it all. I think I'll start first with the lousy part. I guess there were actually 2 lousy parts but this is the one that affected me the most.

My father had one sister who died when I was a teenager. And my mother had one brother who never married nor had any children. He just passed away this weekend.

Mom emailed me that he was sick last week and it sounded pretty grim. She left Kauai Wednesday night, got into LA Thursday AM and finally got to the hospital to see Uncle Eugene about noon. He was in the ICU, he couldn't breathe. His breathing was so bad that he found it difficult to lay down, walk or talk, virtually impossible actually. So Mom got to visit him Thursday and Friday evening he went home after the doctors admitted there was nothing to be done for him and the DNR issue was resolved.

When he got home they set up the bed in the dining room facing the window so he could look out. They put a picture of Kathy's cute doggy on the wall and he got to visit with the 4 dogs that were there at the house. I'm sure that comforted him, he always loved animals and seemed to get along better with them than he did with people.

Apparently he had cancer all over and probably a blood clot on his lung. Sounds like it was a fast way to go. He was 72. He died quietly in his sleep when Mom finally left the room to go in the bathroom Saturday morning about 9AM. Kathy and Edith (my sister and 2nd cousin) got to see him right after he died, Edith had the guts to touch him and said he was still warm.

Now poor Mom has that huge job of taking care of the estate. At least she's done it before so she knows the ropes.

Mundane Life with Sue

Well, it's been a while since I blogged anything so I suppose I ought to fill in the big blank spot. The reason I haven't been blogging is because nothing especially blogworthy has been happening. Mostly just normal day-to-day stuff.

Rick and I have done a few rides on the Harley for my benefit. We're planning on a 3 day weekend in the middle of June with a ride to a town in central Washington called Toppenish. The ride there is about 165 miles so I have to get myself conditioned for that length ride. So this past Saturday we went about 101 miles (one way) to where the kids were camping, a few miles east of Cle Elum. It was a nice place, but no Lily Lake. The ride was ok, I have to get used to taking curves at highway speed, it's a little nerve-wracking. When we hit the summit it got pretty cool, we were dressed down a little since it was in the 70's when we took off. So on the way back I put the liner back in my jacket and wore my gloves. The next day we headed out to visit a coworker at his vacation home on a lake about 35 - 40 miles away. Again, the weather in town was beautiful so we dressed down a little, but this time I left my jacket liner home - oops! As we headed out we could see rain in the distance and the temp just kept dropping off. I was freezing by the time we got there. And there wasn't much to do on the way back to make me warmer. But I sure learned a lot, mainly, don't take out the liner of the jacket unless it's in the 80's!!

When we got to where the kids were camping it was coolish and almost drizzly. Rick and I wandered around with our cameras getting whatever was there to get pix of. Our main focus ended up on the bumblebees visiting the wildflowers. They would let us get right up to them, about 4 inches away!! We got some neat pictures of bee fuzz. The wildflowers were also screaming for us to get them, so we indulged them. Then, of course, there were 3 grandsons. We stayed for a couple hours and then split just as the drizzle began and avoided all the rain squalls we could see off in the distance. It was gorgeous again when we got home, maybe we should have just done that - stayed home! No, the ride was fun and good practice for me.


A couple weekends ago we had planned to go to an automotive swap meet up north in the fairgrounds. It's a huge annual event and we had been looking forward to going for a month or so. About a month previously though, a relative of Rick's died, she was in her 80's and it wasn't unexpected. Well, they chose that particular Saturday for the memorial. The Monday before, though, a friend from the kingdom hall died unexpectedly. She was Dane's best friend's mom and was only 42. Well, they decided to have her memorial on that very same Saturday. So Rick and I each had a memorial to attend, weird. We'll have to try the swap meet again next year.

Last week I got a little gift from Rick. He's been watching Craigslist for a bike for me so we can ride together (pedal-type, not motor). He found a real nice one for sale for only $50 that was $450 new. I swear it couldn't have 50 miles on it. It's a Diamondback Topanga, a nice all-terrain type bike with 21 speeds and the shifters are upshift and downshift! Cool, the neat stuff they come up with!

Other than work, going to meetings and spending time with the kids, Rick and I do a lot of photography. I have a goal of spending a few hours each weekend doing nothing but photography. We seem to have perfected the macro stuff, the close-up bugs, flowers, etc. Good enough anyway (but it's so much fun!!) Now I'd like to work on landscapes where we use a technique called "bracketing" and then sandwich and stitch the pictures together to get a more detailed landscape. We also need to work on indoor lighting, that's a tough one. But necessary if we want to do portraits.

So that's my mundane life for now. I guess I can't always wait for something exciting to make myself sit down and blog. Mundane will have to do.

Don't forget to go check out our picture site!

Something new!

If you look at the left side of my page you'll see something new. It simply says "my pictures". But for the small mention it is, it's actually much bigger once you go there.

Rick joined this new photo sharing spot and decided to share it with me, since it has unlimited space. What a sweet guy. So please, check in once in a while and you can see some of my best (along with the mundane) shots, past and present and Rick's as well.

Rick was a photo buff long ago and when we started spending time together and my photography was just blossoming his interest was reborn. He ended up buying a camera almost identical to mine and now we always have them with us and find photo ops together. We both seem to be interested in the same type of shots, so far anyway.

So feel free to take a peek and leave comments.

"Thank you for your support."

A Weekend Getaway in . . . .Walla Walla?

Yep, Walla Walla. Known for it's onions and the Ace Novelty Co from Looney Toons days. Well, we came for neither of those (although we ARE still looking for that Novelty Store). Instead, we came for a balloon stampede, car show and fireworks display. After our busy, hectic week at good ole LaCroix we were both so anxious for our weekend getaway that we planned kinda last minute - about 10 days ago. One evening we were talking and I brought up this event and Rick said he had just been looking into it too. So we jumped into action and grabbed one of the few available rooms left in this town. Not the best room in town but prolly not the worst either. Actually the worst thing about it is the bed, sags in the middle. We'll throw it on the floor tonight and see if we sleep better.

We actually set the alarm for 5:30 AM to get up in time to see the balloons take off. There were about 30 balloons I would say, and hundreds of people. We were not restricted from going around the balloons in any way. We were able to look right inside the balloons, while they were still lying on the ground and when they went up. There were so many camera geeks like us, it was cool. We got some really interesting shots. The event took place across the street from the fairgrounds and there was stuff to look at there too.

When the balloons were all gone we went back to the motel and walked down Main Street to town, just a couple blocks. There were twinkle lights in the trees, lots of statues and blooming things, interesting buildings and stores. A very photographic town. We found a farmer's market on the far side of town too. 2 of the stores that we decided we had to go back and visit when they were open were a unique toy store called the Inland Octopus and a record store (reminded me more of an old "head shop" from the 70's) called "Hot Poop". Rick just had to get a t-shirt from that place.

After a fantastic lunch in a grill and pub we went back to the fairgrounds for the car show. Rick took about 200 shots and I took about 300. There were some very flashy classic cars. Here's a sample of what I got:


As soon as we made it through all the cars we went next door and caught a horse race. I got a few good shots of that too:

We went back to our room for the afternoon to shower and recover from about 100 deep knee bends (taking those car shots). Then we returned one more time to the fairground for the balloon glow and firework show. It was a first time for those kind of shots so it was purely experimental and Rick and I made some of the same mistakes. We got basically no good balloon shots and only a few good firework shots. But it's all a learning experience. The main thing is we're having a great time and enjoying our time together.

One more day with no real plans. We'll see what this leads to . . . . .

Another full Saturday

After a very busy week at work Saturday is always something to look forward to. Sometimes they must include a honey-do chore but when done as a team, they aren't so cumbersome and time-consuming. Unfortunately, being the homeowner and parent of many, I am usually the one needing the assistance on my project and have the most projects needing doing.

This week was calipers on my car. I was limping and jerking my way to work all week and hopefully it was stuck calipers, that's what we replaced anyway. While we were working on the car Rick's friend Steve showed up while he was waiting to meet up with other friends at a tavern called Draft Choice. He was teasing Rick for changing his style and having his bike suitable for a female companion. His group was making a circuit, visiting a number of taverns and finally meeting up at the Yella Beak in Enumclaw.

So after getting the car fixed we suited up and hit the road. We headed out to Roy and McKenna on mostly back roads but some highway. Rick went to all the work and expense of putting on a detachable windshield for my comfort and then a nice cushy seat, also for my comfort. But the cushy seat sat me high enough to put me above the deflected area created by the windshield, so it didn't add to my comfort unless I hunkered down. We'll get it right eventually. Anyway, we tried to find an old workmate's house but were unsuccessful. It was a fun ride though. On the way back we stopped in Orting for a beer and people-watched from the "beer garden" part of the tavern, there were tons of bikes out, it was a nice day, mid 60's. From there we headed to Enumclaw to see if we could meet up at the Yella Beak with his friend from earlier that day, he wasn't there so we headed toward home. I mentioned that I had burrito fixin's ("burrito guts") so we headed for my house.

We got to my place and started making the burritos when Rach showed up, everyone was at Denny's as usual. She went back and then Kevin and Denny showed up with Denny's poochie, Gage. I think Rach blabbed that I had burrito guts and that's why they came over. They stood there visiting and looking back and forth at each other, then at the food, then back and forth again. I told them I would share it with them and Kevin remarked that they don't eat half, they eat ALL. Then Denny quietly put the lid on it and snuck it out and was gone.

Once we ate we grabbed my laptop and went back to Rick's. He snoozed (he's getting over a cold) and I started playing with my new scanner on my laptop, one that will scan larger size slides and negatives. It does an awesome job, it has the software that does auto color fix and dust removal, etc. I did a few from 1966, apparently when Dad's family visited and we went to San Francisco. I left Rick's about 9:30 so he could go to bed, he looked pretty worn out, I hope he feels better today. I got home and there was no one home so I grabbed my tape of Grey's Anatomy and laid in bed and watched it. All in all a pretty full day.

Must-do's, wanna-do's, stuff with Rick, stuff with kids. Good day.

the Monster Within

Oh boy, Rach got these great shots of us on Saturday. Just thought I'd share them to show what I have to deal with. And since a picture is worth a thousand words - I'll just let them do all the talking.

A fantastic Saturday!

The weather forecasters had been predicting Saturday to be about 70º for days and for once they were right. Fantastic! When Rick and I heard the forecast we started planning a bike ride.

But first I had to get the rest of the necessary gear and I happened to have some spare funds. So we got out early and made it to the leather goods place in Tacoma at opening time. I got some chaps and gloves, both were size small which made me very happy - but as many of us already know - "small is the new medium". Either way, my ego enjoyed it. Next we hit the Tacoma mall for Rick to find some new shoes, which he didn't. But I was planning to look for some shades for Keith since he kept using mine whenever we were in my car together. I found some for half price, good deal. And he totally loves them.

We finally got back to Rick's and suited up for the drive. We started by going to a local cycle place where I got some new glasses to use for riding. My sunglasses let the air flow in and my eyes would just run like a river. The new glasses worked great and were only $10. So we were finally prepared to hit the road. First we went to the Harley place in Tukwila to get a free lunch and so Rick could get some bushing / spacers for his new windshield. Turns out it was an anniversary and the place was jammed. But we got the free lunch and enjoyed people watching and checking out the other bikes. They had a live band that was pretty good too. We continued our ride by driving back on the hill toward my place. It was so warm and nice. I got smacked by about 3 bugs.

We went to Denny's place and the kids got to see me in all my new cycle gear. Shirley seemed to enjoy it as well. We decided to have a BBQ so Rick and I went back to his place again to change out of our cycle gear and buy dinner. It was Rach, Tony, Denny, Heather and all 3 grandsons beside the 2 of us. The steak was good, Tony did a good job of cooking it. Someone came up with the idea of bringing Denny's trampoline down to his place. I had brought it to my place a while ago, when they were contemplating moving and Heather was pregnant. It was in pieces so it was easy to transport but it had to be assembled. To move it out and down the street 5 houses we decided to keep it together but we had obstacles to get around / over. We ended up lifting it up and over my house. Then we stuck it on Rick's car to bring down to Denny's. We had been planning to use my car but when the time came it was at Rick's so we used his instead. So he slowly drove his car down with a trampoline on top and we all walked behind, it looked like a parade, people, toddlers, a bike, a dog and 2 two strollers. Quite an interesting thing to do on a Saturday afternoon.

After dinner Rick and I went back to his place to watch a movie. What a great day! But was I bushed, I slept in Sunday AM til 10:30.