Baby, it's Cold outside!

It's 8 a.m. and in the low 30's outside.  Brrr....  I got up around 6, brewed coffee, and sat down with a piece of toast to browse the net.  Always look forward to Wednesday mornings so I can look over the E-edition of the PT Leader. But nope...not there yet!  So I guess I'll blog instead.  I suppose the weather and icy roads might have something to do with why the Leader isn't appearing  although I can't quite grasp the whole scenario since we're talking "on-line" and not the hard copy. Oh well, it's not the end of the world.

I had a pretty good day yesterday. Got a lot of odds and ends done. Even drove the car through the car wash downtown.  It was filthy and I just couldn't talk my back into hooking up the outside hose and washing it down in the driveway.  We're supposed to have cold and sunny weather all week so at least it will stay halfway clean for a while.  Doesn't take long for that boxy white car to turn into a sooty mess.

I picked up Jenni at 7:15 and dropped her at the short stay entrance of the hospital where she'll undergo exploratory surgery. Hopefully, she'll finally get some answers to why she's had so much difficulty with stomach pain.  The nurses will call me when she ready to be picked up again.  Later this afternoon I'll take Maddie up to the high school so she can work the concession booth at the basketball game.

The washing machine is running with a small load of very dirty rags from a bucket in the garage.
Been meaning to wash them up for some time.  They were an accumulation of rags I wiped down the outside of the car with so I could see out the back window or climb in without getting mud all over my pant leg.  Sitting on the kitchen table is 4 very full photo boxes that I intend to sort through today. Another overdue project.  I need to dispose of some of them as they're more or less just duplicates but it's always hard for me to throw away a picture.  Course I won't have that much of a problem with ones of me.  For some reason, I look pretty pathetic in most all pictures I appear in these days.

I put away all the Christmas decorations yesterday and vacuumed the house and mopped the kitchen and bathrooms.  I was just a little whirlwind of activity.  Once I get these pictures in order, I intend to set up a jigsaw puzzle I got for Christmas.  It will be one I'll frame for the wall.  Sue bought it at LL Bean and it's an aerial map view of my childhood neighborhood in Port Townsend. I can't wait to see it completed.

I called somebody who may or may not be able to come over and help me program my new Smart TV that Mary and Andy gave me for Christmas.  I sure am enjoying it.  I borrowed her latest season of Homeland while visiting so I've been wrapped up in that during the evening.  I sit there bundled up with a blanket and work on these knitted slippers I'm making.

I hung up my new calendars even though January 1st is a few days off. I do love new calendars.  And, as usual, I'm taking a couple of my old calendars and sticking them up in the closet for safe keeping.  Sometimes you just cannot throw away those fabulous scenes.  I've got a bird calendar I bought from Current Catalog hanging in here and a PT Gathering Place calendar in the kitchen. My Downton Abby desk calendar is sitting by my recliner and I have my First Federal Calendar near my computer. It will be the one I mark up each month with reminder notes.

I really lucked out at Christmas this year.  Mary and Andy also gave me a very generous gift card to Costco along with Andy's old tablet.  It's taking a little getting used to but it's way better than checking my email from my recliner than using my phone.  One of my favorite gifts from Jenni was this book on making cakes in a cup. She also provided cocoa powder, flower, vanilla, and two cups. I do love cake.  Ha!

Had an electrician come in a couple days ago because I couldn't understand why my heat never turned off.  Sure enough, it was the thermostat that needed replacing.  So nice to hear it turn on and off now.  I knew having to manually adjust it all the time wasn't right.  It's so cold this morning that I turned the heat on in the sewing room -- just in case I decide to get back there and play around.  I've been buying material and am anxious to settle in at the machine again.  Must do those pictures first, however.

Tomorrow I'm picking up Joyce Lee and we're heading to 7 Cedars for lunch with Linda and Joanne. IF Joyce and I both win (very unlikely as I'm never lucky) we might hit Elwha Casino later that night. It would be early, though. Like 6 pm.  Joyce says they have a free buffet on New Years Eve that is pretty good.  I can't really afford to gamble right now but it would be kind of fun to do something to close out the old year.  We'll see....

Facebook put up a picture on my timeline yesterday of "two years ago" and it brought back happy memories.

Below is their Christmas card this year....

And here's one from Catie and Brandon (which made me laugh).  They spent the holidays in Utah. Even drove there themselves.  You can do stuff like that when you're young and fearless.

Well, washer just clicked off so I'd best get in there so I can move on to the picture project early. Have a Happy New Year!

For My Relatives

Always fun to read something about family members. My Christmas letter from Katy Mason this year was especially interesting.  Katy is the daughter of Ann Evans. Ann is the daughter of Arthur Blankenship, my dad's oldest brother.

Ann married William Evans in Tacoma in 1959. Katy was their only child. I always knew Bill worked in a bakery but I didn't really know much more about their family. Katy shared a link in her Christmas letter which I'm saving  for my genealogy files.  The article in the Tacoma News Tribune read:

When Patti Jeffrey and Bob Gunderson were house-hunting in Tacoma 15 years ago, the one thing they knew they wanted was an older home.

What they bought was a two-story house in the Oakland-Madrona neighborhood, built in 1910.

“We looked in the windows here and it was a perfect layout, absolutely charming,” Jeffrey said. “It was stripped bare, no carpets on the floors. So we had a blank canvas.”

What they eventually learned was that they’d bought a history far richer than they could’ve imagined.

Inside a wall, in what had been an attic, they found a bread label from Evans Bakery.

“I was curious, so I did a little investigating and found a website with information on the family,” Jeffrey said. “And I found we had this marvelous history with a bakery that was directly across the street.”

From the early 1920s through the ’90s, Evans Bakery was a family operation. And the Greek family that had owned the bakery all those years had also owned the house that Jeffrey and Gunderson now owned.

Then history came calling.

“Bill Evans had run the business after his father died, and liked to drop by the bakery, even after the family had sold it. When he did, he’d stop by the house,” Jeffrey said. “He’d tell us stories about the house, his family, the bakery. We loved it.”

The more Jeffrey looked into the Evans family, the more people she found. One of those was Katy Mason, a Tacoma woman who was Bill Evans’ daughter.

“Patti said my dad visited six or seven times,” Mason said. “He was very sociable, loved to chat. That was his job with the bakery. He was an actual baker, and delivered bread throughout the city, so he talked to customers.”

“Evans” was the name the family had shortened from Evangelou. Two Greek brothers, Louie and Peter, migrated to Tacoma about 1917. Louie worked for small bakeries in the downtown area, then bought a building at 3812 S. Wright Ave.

It was a bakery with a small apartment in the rear of the building, a tiny grocery in the front and a full-service gas pump outside.

“A few years after they bought the bakery, they bought this house,” Jeffrey said. “We still get junk mail addressed ‘Evans.’”

Over several generations, Evans Bakery was essentially a neighborhood employment agency. Most families in the area had one member or another who worked for the bakery, for the small retail store, or as drivers for a fleet of trucks in the ’30s and ’40s.

Mason spent a lot of time in the house across the street from the bakery when her grandparents owned it. Her father, his brothers and his sister, Ethel, all grew up in the house — and stayed there until they married.

“I spent lot of nights with grandma at the house,” Mason said. “Dad worked across the street, mom worked full time, so I’d get dropped off in the summers and spent days with grandma.”

By 1998, Bill Evans was the last of the family still working at the bakery. He sold it to Gavin and Cindy Jury, who operate the bakery today as Baker Boys Northwest.

“They’ve kept the bakery much the same as it was, and they even left old pictures of the bakery and the Evans family on the walls,” Mason said.

What of the remodeled, former Evans home and its previous occupants?

Bill Evans died in 2013. Mason and her aunt Ethel, who lives on Camano Island, hadn’t been to the house since the early ’90s. Last weekend, Mason accepted an invitation from Jeffrey to visit.

“I felt my grandmother there as soon as I walked in,” Mason said. “Patti kept it historically accurate while updating some things. It really seemed like walking into grandmother’s house again.

“It was funny, because I wanted to see what Patti had done to the house, and Patti wanted to know how my grandmother had done the inside.”

For all the years the Evans family lived there — and at times there were as many as six or seven in the house — there was only one bathroom.

“They were probably just glad it was indoors,” Mason said, laughing.

“The home is lovely, and at one point I stood looking out the window at the bakery across the street. For just a moment, I felt like I was waiting for dad to come home.”

A photo of Louie Evans selling doughnuts in the 1940's hangs on the wall of Baker Boys bakery in Tacoma on Monday,

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/larry-larue/article33221112.html#storylink=cpy

http://greeksinwashington.org/float-like-a-butterfly/

Last week of the year

Well, here it is -- 5 a.m.  I woke up two hours ago and decided at 3:45 I might as well get up.  Course I've done nothing but yawn for the last hour so I'm fairly certain a recliner nap will occur at some point.  I had half a dozen little chores on my to-do list today and have already crossed off half of them.  Still need to undecorate the house and take down the outside lights but that shouldn't take all that long as I didn't put out my whole collection this year.

I've been sneezing a little too much in the last hour or so and I've got my fingers crossed that it doesn't indicate a cold is coming on.  The house was really cold when I got home from Renton yesterday.  I turned the heat on around noon and since the thermostat has a mind of its own and doesn't turn off, I finally turned it off myself at 3 a.m.  Gotta get an electrician out here to look it over.

Other chores include getting the car cleaned up a bit.  Not inside as much as the outside. It gets so muddy so fast, it just seems useless to even bother paying to go through the drive-thru. I plan on wiping it down myself although I suppose I could hook up the hose and give it a quick wash.  Not sure I want to go to all that trouble, though. Hooking up the hose isn't the easiest chore for me.  Still, I have to make some effort to get the crud off.  You have to be careful climbing in and out or you get mud marks across the back of your pant leg.

Outside of those two chores, my list is quite short. Clean the toilets and shower mat and set out nectar for the hummingbirds.  Maybe I'll sit down and try to stay ahead of my picture sorting. It does have a tendency to get away from me fast.  Took a ton of pictures in Renton this past weekend but managed to whittle them down to just a few. Same with videos. I had maybe 9 videos and downloaded just three short ones. I'll add them here even though I already put them on Facebook.





And here are some of the photos that made the final cut.....

 Jenni made various yard stones for some of her gifts this year. Andy's had tools embedded in his

 It amazed me how Jake took time with every gift (even books). This one was a Richard Scarry book, who he is especially fond of.

 Dean and Candi Johnson bought this electric go-cart for him and he delighted showing us how well he could maneuver through the house.

 Hunter took a few minutes to shoot baskets with Jake's nerf ball set

 Mary was right there to help him get around and remind him to turn...turn...turn

                           Jake & Andy share a laugh while opening presents

 He's such a little mimic. He opened this delicate Xmas decoration and people ohhed and ahhed.  So he did too and then he took it to the tree.  Nothing quite so cute as a two-year-old oohing over a gift.

 I watched him as he played with his train set and seemed to carry on quite a conversation with himself.

 I had to watch everything he did this weekend and was fascinated at well he used a spoon while eating yogurt and fruit.  He eats everything put in front of him and enjoyed the prime rib too.

 This cute little guy is a suitcase on wheels. He received it from his aunt & uncle in Penn.

 Two family group pictures at the dinner table.  As you can see, Jake is more interested in cartoons.

I think he might end up being left-handed as he hit the ball everytime but was using his left hand to do it.

Here's some photos from Christmas eve at Wayne and Jenni's house....

                                              This was my favorite I took that night

 The twins with their "other" grandparents, Kathy & Ed

                                                        I think I'm boring Sammy.

                                   Hard to believe they'll have their driver's license soon

I didn't send out cards this year but did mail off a handful of Xmas postcards.  I received about twenty or so cards and this one was my favorite.  A National Geographic form Linda Brooks.

I also got a kick out of my granddaughter Catie's card with her and Brandon shown with Santa.

And last but not least...Andy, Mary and Jacob's card....

(it had more salutations but I trimmed it down just to show the photo)

And that's it for this early morning.  Time to get dressed and see to those chores.  Have a good week.

Almost Xmas Eve

I took the twins into town as they had some last minute shopping they wanted to do.  Walmart's parking lot was packed but (for a change) all the checkouts were being used instead of just a couple. I wanted to buy a little more yarn so I wandered back to the sewing section while they each went in their own direction.  Much to my delight we all got what we wanted quickly and it was back to the car in record time.

Hunter wanted to drive and I need to let him so I handed over the keys.  Amazes me the little odds and ends they're teaching me about my own car and driving rules in general.  He lowered my steering wheel, for example, and said it's not supposed to be near your face. I guess because of the airbags. I didn't know that.  Also didn't know how to move the steering column.  Anyhow, we headed home and I treated them to burgers and fries at a take-out place on our side of town called 'The 8th Street Bridge."  It was pretty good too.

I told them that as soon as my Match 4 numbers hit, I'm ordering a truckload of gravel for their folks. So hard to maneuver around the mud getting in and out of the car in their driveway.  I think the place needs a drainage field too because when it rains hard for several days, their front lawn ends up looking like a small pool.

I finished this small flannel baby quilt for Linda's niece today.  Gonna take it to the casino next time we go so I can avoid skyhigh postage.  Especially since the postage cost would outweigh the worth of the blanket.  I really shouldn't even give it. I should start a fresh one and do a good job.  But that's not my way.  ha ha

This is supposed to be the top but it would probably work better for the bottom as it's such a crazy mix.  I had some squares cut out already of baby design and some blue flowers so I sewed them up intending to use this other blue receiving blanket (one of Jakes) for the back.  The front was too small so I found some leftover baby blanket material and sewed that on. It still didn't fit so I went and bought some pink flannel. Once that was sewn on, I really had a pathetic blanket on my hands.  I didn't let that stop me, though. I added batting to the middle, attached the blue blanket to the back and proceeded to tie it together.  Decided I'd machine quilt it in places and then (naturally) I had a few puckers going.  Didn't matter, though. I was on a roll.  Finished the edges and called it good!  Figured if nothing else, it can be used on the floor so baby can puke on it.  Ha ha

As soon as I finish this blog, I'm proceeding into the sewing room to gather up all the material I've bought recently.  Intend to wash it all up even though it means I'll have to iron it afterwards.  I finally figured out that I suspect the sizing chemicals or whatever you call it that they add to material is what was making my eyes so uncomfortable and itchy.  I was doing a lot of sewing but didn't connect it until I quit sewing, my eyes cleared up, and when I started to resew, they flared again.

Oh, here comes the rain again.  That's okay, though. Just don't need to see any white flakes. Am going over to Jen's tomorrow night and we're taking off for Renton on Christmas morning.  Jacob is two years old today. Here's the picture Mary posted on Facebook. It's already got 135 "likes."

I met Mary Norton for lunch yesterday. I shopped in Bay Variety next door and was reminded of May's Variety in PT when I was a kid.

Had Sue and Paul and a friend of theirs over for dinner on Sunday. Jenni stopped in for a bit too.

                                                                   me, Sue, Jenni

                                                        Paul and Tucker "with Buddy"

Other pictures I saw on Facebook and decided to keep for my collection include the following......

 my cousin, Grant Walker, when he was a boy and fed chickens on the farm

 Joanne & Patty Plattner as children visiting Santa at the Dry Goods Store in Port Townsend

                          Cousin Linda Wheat on the left at work in Louisville

                      Ruth Kvinsland with her grand kids, Robert and Sissy

 My cousin, Tyler Johnson, with his wife Amber and five kids ---- so darn cute!

a ferry boat in Port Townsend Bay that I liked so much, I had it enlarged and framed. Not sure who took it.

Well, must get to that laundry chore now and just remembered I need to make a label for that baby blanket that kind of looks like it was made by somebody who is unstable.  

Have a Merry Christmas. I probably won't get back to blogging until next week.

I think I'm ready for Santa Now

Man, it was cold outside this morning. I sure was glad I didn't have to go anywhere except for the alleyway to pull the garbage bins back up into the yard.  I did end up making a quick Safeway run as I gave all my goodies away and had nothing left in the house for me.  Ha!  Like I need goodies. But oh well, it is Christmas.

I made a library run too.  Once I settled into the sewing room, I discovered that most of my audio books were not going to play on my CD player.  It could be my player but I suspect checking books out of the library that have been through several playings is more apt to be the reason for skipping. At any rate, I grabbed half a dozen more to bring home.  The gift shop had some cool quilt books on sale too so I bought three of them.

Stopped by the Airport Nursery to price bird seed but it's just too dang expensive.  The birds are gonna have to rely on richer people doling out their winter seed.  Thought about buying Sammy a toy but they were out of my pocketbook range too.  They had a lot of neat stuff I would have liked to buy...bamboo mobiles, neat bird feeders, garden decorations, flowers, etc. but I decided to just browse today.

I saw the neatest video posted on Facebook. I'm going to have to go to Youtube and see if I can find it so I can post it here.  Here it is:



And no, I haven't a clue how it's done.  It is fake, though. Has to be.

Drove into Hadlock and Port Townsend yesterday to deliver a few presents and cookie packages. Joyce Lee Adams went with me and obliged being the photographer so I could get pictures everywhere we stopped. These aren't in the order that we stopped but Blogger lets me drag a whole bunch of photos at once now instead of one at a time. Quicker and easier.

 Barbara Shaw and Joyce Adams. Joyce's sister, Carolyn, married a relative of Barb's and Barb remembered going to their wedding.

                                                        me and Barb in her living room

                                                                Clarence Lammers

                                               me and cousin Lee at Life Care Center

                             Mike Hammers and Norm Sather were at the next table

                                             Janie and me at her apartment

                                        Ruth's caregiver, Jeannette Barnhouse

                                      Joyce and Joyce at Dana and Lill's house

                                    me, Kelly Brebberman, and Clarence

                           Laura Lammers and me (Bill & Teresa Arey weren't home)

                                                    My brother, Les and me

                                             Les, me, Kris, Brend'n, Bill Rust

                                            Lill and me  (Dana was bike riding)

                                                          Linda and me

Ruth Kvinsland and me

                                                            Kris' llama and goats

                         Some of Linda's decorations. (Her whole house is Christmas)

                                       An ornament Linda gave me. I just love it.

                                                         My nephew Eddie's dog

                                              the guy sleeping at Linda's house

                                                                 Linda's bathroom

                                                          a 3000-pc jigsaw puzzle she did.

                                                      One of two trees she decorated



Andy and Mary took Jake on the Santa train to North Bend today. She sent me these photos.

Well, I tidied up my sewing room and think I'll mess around in there for a while. Am having Sue and Paul for dinner tomorrow and then I'll go to Jen's Thursday night.  Off to Renton Christmas morning and before you know it.....2016 will be upon us.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!