What the Boys Are Up To (and a Cute Cat Picture)

Today a little family news. Conrad has been working in a medical lab since graduating a few years ago with a degree in biology, and he recently passed the exam to become a certified histologist. Congratulations, Conrad! We are so impressed with all his accomplishments and also with his lively social life in Seattle. What a cool thing to live in such a great city and to be able to enjoy it with friends.

When Dad visited recently, Conrad showed him around Seattle. I hear they had a great time!

Dad on Ferry in Seattle

Chris had been living at home until recently since returning from his big New Zealand/South Pacific trip in the fall, and he's been doing some interesting things too. He worked a lot of hours at the grocery store where he used to work and saved money for another trip. Now he is on the road with his girlfriend Jo, and they are making their way down the West coast and hope to eventually travel in South America. Chris taught himself Spanish in his spare time and composed music. 

Chris took the "cute cat picture" of our cat Bitty while still at home. She has a thing for sinks. 

Seals and Such

View from beach at La Jolla, CA

We spent a few glorious days in Southern California (Laguna Niguel) visiting Greg's parents and sister. The weather was stunning. Even though we haven't had a hard winter here, it IS still cold and cloudy a lot of the time. To bask in sunshine and warm air for a few days was a nice change of pace. Our time was short there, so we didn't get in a lot of activities, but we did manage to drive to La Jolla one day and see the high surf and the seals lolling about on the beach.

Seals resting on beach at La Jolla

Conrad is learning how to use a special filter on his camera that compensates for the bright sun. He took some fantastic pictures like these:

Church in La Jolla

And here's a nice tree in a park near the house in Laguna Niguel:

Here's the link to see all of the pictures Conrad took on our trip: https://picasaweb.google.com/juliewinter6/LagunaLaJollaJan2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCN_Hx7PNsa6-zAE#

Deep Winter

Family: Conrad is home for the Christmas weekend, and Chris has been living at home since he got back from his South Pacific adventure in the fall, so we are all together for Christmas. It's the first time we've all been together during the holidays for three years. Our friend Karen is here with us too!

Book News: Here's the link to a book notice I wrote that was just published by the electronic journal of the Linguistic Society of America called eLanguage:

http://www.elanguage.net/blogs/booknotices/?p=1915 I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays!

A Little Advice from Walla Walla

You may have heard that Walla Walla, Washington has become quite the fancy wine area, with lots of vinyards, wineries and tasting rooms. Greg and I visited Walla Walla last weekend, but since we both are not huge wine drinkers (we'd like to be, just can't handle it!), that part was somewhat lost on us. However, we did have an amazing dinner with wine at an authentic French restaurant there, and we enjoyed the ambience of the town a lot. Here are a couple of views of the downtown. Cheers!

 

Now I'm on to Neckwarmers

I found a pattern for a cabled neckwarmer ("Chic Cabled Cowl" by Elizabeth Eisenstein on ravelry) that knits up quickly and is fun and easy to make. The finished cowl is very comfortable, warm, and even rather cute. I've gotten lots of compliments on this one! The first version is made of Lion Brand Martha Stewart Crafts Extra Soft Wool Blend. 

And this one is made of Vickie Howell Sheep(ish) by Caron, also a wool blend.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Fall Hike in Idaho with Unexpected Story of Heroism

Winter is rapidly approaching here, so this past weekend Greg and I took a final opportunity to go for a fall hike. We went to Wallace, Idaho, a small historic silver mining town not two hours away from Spokane. All of the buildings in downtown Wallace are on the national historic register, but after strolling around for an hour, one has seen what there is to see. However, the surrounding area is a beautiful valley full of evergreens and aspen, trickling streams and wide rivers. A hike was in order.

Just outside of Wallace is the Pulaski Trail, a well-maintained hiking path that leads to the Pulaski Mine, where in 1910, during the Great Fires, a forest ranger named Edward Pulaski led 45 of his men to safety. These were apparently the worst forest fires the United States has ever had, raging all across the West. Pulaski and his men were sent to try to get the fires under control, but it was impossible because they were so huge and gale force winds were turning the whole area into an inferno.

On horseback Pulaski rounded up his men and commanded them to follow him to safety into the mine, some two miles from where they were. The men were panicked, and it took him a long time and a lot of shouting to get them to follow him. When Pulaski finally got them into the mine, one wanted to leave, but he said he would shoot whoever tried to go. He ordered them to lie on their stomachs on the ground while he staved off the flames with wet blankets at the opening to the mine. Miraculously, this worked, and all but one of the men survived.

We hiked the trail that Pulaski and his men took and saw the opening of the mine. All along the way signs tell the story. It was a glorious fall day, cool but mostly sunny; following story of Pulaski's heroism made it seem like we were experiencing history.

Click to enlarge if you'd like to read the text.

One More Pair, But Maybe Not the Last

This is the best pair of mitts I've knitted to date. They are very soft and warm and fit snugly but are not too tight. The yarn is a worsted weight wool and possum (!) blend called "Supreme Possum Merino" that I bought in New Zealand. The pattern "Malabrigo Hand Thingies" is from Ravelry and was written by Anne Sahakian.