Saturday, December 27, 2008

Winter DrivingZ

These past couple of days, or should we say last week, some residents and media has been very vocal over the state - or maybe lack thereof - of snow and ice removal on our wintry roads. People complain that is it bumpy, that they get stuck, that they can't go anywhere, etc, etc. But, based on the crowds out in the malls and grocery stores, I doubt the (fun) snow really had any real dampening effect on most peoples' driving.

For us used to driving in this "stuff", it has just been fun and interesting. Feeling a big 4x4 slowly tug its way through gigantic snow drifts is an amazing feeling. Why spend tons (literally) on salt and other environment (not to neglect the impact on the cars) damaging chemicals, when we all know the snow will be gone in a few days? Just roll with it.

And, so yesterday morning, it really started to get wet, wet, wet, and much warmer. Whatever snow is left by tomorrow will only be in piles, if even that. Seattlites have gotten a few days of rest - we do not need to rush around EVERY day - and more importantly, we have again been taught a lesson not to mess with mother nature. When it snows, sit tight, or know what you are doing before you go out, instead of complaining about the winter weather's effects.

I could have lots more of this (snow). It just makes everything so amazingly beautiful!

Friday, December 26, 2008

Winter PictureZ

Sort of hard to imagine that this is Kirkland, WA, in December. We NEVER have it this nice (in the winter that is...)!


Click here for better resolution photos.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

2008 Yearly ChriZtmas photo

Due to Herbie's unexpected passing (link), Christmas was put on the backburner a bit this year, and everything got delayed. But sooner or later, even Christmas catches up to you. This is what we managed to compile this year:



If you like to see what it took to only get this far, embedded slide show might highlight the efforts in getting these guys (and girls) to fit inside a tiny frame...



Better resolution

Do not really understand how we only a few years ago (link) could get all seven into one frame...

All that said, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Very Happy New Year to all family, friends, and others scattered around the globe!

And for the ones getting a link to this posting a tad late, apologies will not help, but I guess better late than never...

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Lake Washington CruiZe

One of Beth colleagues, Anne and her husband John, invited us out for a winter cruise on Lake Washington to follow the Christmas ships as they "charoled" on Montlake and Lake Union. It was sort of "perfect" since we bailed out on the ships when they were passing Juanita Beach just on Friday night (after an hour Beth was too cold to stand out and wait for them). Many times I've planned to put the boat in the water just for this (wintry) event, but sort of glad I haven't.

John has a huge Viking 40 SportFisher, and even onboard this one, with hot chocolate, food, and dessert, some were still a tad chilly.

Apart from the amazing charoling from the "Peace" ship (Argosy Cruises), the decorated vessels are truly awesome. Taking photos in the dark night, from a moving vessel, of other moving vessels, is no child's play so you just have to imagine what it really looked like. Beautiful is probably the best word in any case! My guess is that there were some 100+ boats/yachts/ships/kayaks (yes, even kayaks) out on this white and wintry evening. An evening with the lake flat like a mirror!


This one followed us in from Lake Washington, other decortated ships behind.


View of Montlake with the amrada in the background.


Two frozen babes onboard Viking...


Maybe the BEST Christmas sign I ever seen: "NO L"! - Awesome!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Znow in Zeattle - but no Znow Ztorm

Wow, what wonderful weather. We are actually getting snow in Seattle! It started Thursday morning and we got a good few inches - enough to really make it a true joy to drive! The LandCruiser - even though far too heavy for spirited snow driving - showed its class and we got everywhere and more where we needed to go. Even took a few neighbors out and made sure they got groceries, got to the bank, the post office, etc. All in the spirit of Christmas!

One of our distant neighhbors was not so lucky. she did a nice slide down the hill, firmly planting the right front fender into a tree. Picture to follow...

Saturday afternoon, we took our neighbors to the airport and snow started coming down again just south of Bellevue. Leaving the airport for Fremont and Ballard (to pick up the annual Christmas ham) made for interesting driving and wonderful sceneries through downtown Seattle. On the way home, crossing Seattle, the 520 bridge, and then up through Kirkland was like a Christmas miracle. I wish we could have this EVERY YEAR!

And I am so glad that we don't salt the roads around here. There is really nothing better to drive on than a nicely packed snow road. That and it keeps the cars "pure" - compared to many states out East where even brand new cars start to rust due to excessive salting and just "shitty" weather in general.

After checking on-line, we thought our neighbors had been able to take-off, before it got pretty bad at the airport, but turned out they endured a 5 hour delay on-board w/o anything else than water and dry pretzels. The crew visely wanted to really be on standby in case there was an opening in the weather. Smart, since there are not that many connections SEA-LHR on a daily basis, so better get out when one can. Just talked to the "touristas" and they safely arrived in Vienna, only about 4 hour late - which is nothing compared to the tons of travelers that are stranded out at SeaTac.

For us remaining here, sometime around 7 PM last night the wind started to kick up, and we had for a few hours something that - for a Seattleite - really could be called a small blizzard. We even got fairly decent snowdrifts on the roof, and it is just plain pretty. I guess you have been too long in Seattle when you start to really enjoy these small tricks by nature, tricks that were fairly common during the time in the French Alps or in Northern Sweden.

For some photos, check this post!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Bye Bye Herbie Boy!

Due to the unexpected passing of Beth's Grandfather Herbie, we had to quickly bail to a wet and wintry Michigan for the funeral. Herbie is now going to spend Christmas with Grandma Anna who passed away in the spring. They both obtained the very respectable age of 90+ years, so even though they are gone, they lived long and good lives!

These sad events has put the Christmas holidays on a delayed schedule this year, so for all of you out there waiting for cards and so on, hang tight. They will be coming - eventually and electronically!