On the "close to home" front: A lady is missing - car left on ferry - from the Seattle/BI ferry run... where did she go? Did she possibly walk off and start a new life elsewhere? Or was the economy too much for her? Could she not wait for the O.... or didn't she trust either?
On the quilting front, I have my Dear Jane quilt on a lap hoop and ready to hand quilt. That will go quite slowly, I think, given that I have no experience at all with that. 
I began work on what's called a Depression quilt - an easy 'half-square triangle' one - and I intend to use it as an extra blanket on the sofa for those cold drafts and cool mornings when I feel chilly. I've also signed up for a Block of the Month quilt posted on The Quilt Show. I wasn't even able to choose the right colors for it so who knows how that's going to turn out, but it is something new and adventure is not only a part of life but a great way to learn something new. So, onward ho! I'll post pictures as I go along.
The picture here is one of the record amount of snowfall we experienced on the island this December. It was extremely bad timing for the Christmas season because it kept people home just before Christmas. I shopped online as much as possible but I really wanted to shop locally so on Christmas Eve, I went out and bought as much as I could find in the stores I could slosh to. Then I lost the bag of gifts and had to slosh back to the store I found all the right stuff in and re-buy the same things. At least the things that they had left; it was a small shop with one-of-a-kind gifts so a little frustrating. The day after Christmas, the shop called and said that my bag had been turned in by the book store where I had also tried to find gifts. So I had to return those for credit. Christmas 2009 - bah, humbug! Actually I had a very nice Christmas with Richard, Abigail and the boys playing their Wii gift and meeting their friend, Kirsten and SO who were visiting. Laura made a very good dinner and we opened gifts here. Cozy!
One of the most eventful weather things (in my eyes) that happened this winter happened in January. On the 4th, I decided to take my Christmas tree to the recycling yard for recycling and Richard brought his bottles along with some garbage from the holidays. It was approximately 4:30pm and Richard asked me to stay for dinner - salmon. I wasn't going to but Walt was so persuasive that I capitulated and said yes. It was a wonderful delicious dinner and there were no regrets .... until I went to leave and found about 3 inches of snow on the ground. I decided that it wasn't enough to stop me from driving home but I found myself sliding a little as I backed down their hill. As I turned onto the road to go down the hill I realized that I had made a mistake... I was skidding badly and the brakes wouldn't hold... I couldn't steer either. It was either leave the minivan in the middle of the road and hike the 15 feet back to Richard and Abigail's to spend the night or slide down the hill into the other vehicles I could now see off the side of the road. I called R and he came and jumped into the van in time to experience it slide right into the side of an Audi. Luckily we stopped there. We left the van and hiked back home. At 4:30am, Richard and Abigail shoveled snow from the front of the van and slowly advanced the van down the hill to a parking spot, which unfortunately was in a soft spot of a park lawn. I had to call AAA to come and winch it out... and someone had hit the L tail light during the night which will need to be fixed, but not bad considering. It was extremely annoying at the time though. I still have a broken tail light. grrrr.....New Year's Eve was quiet. Had drinks with Laura and her date Mark, over at a bar nearby then headed home to enjoy the evening. Laura and Mark continued on to a party in Seattle. Laura was concerned that she might not see the fireworks from the Space Needle but evidently she was able to, so that worked out fine for her. Laura and I saw the Northwest Ballet's version - by Maurice Sendak - of The Nutcracker in mid-December which was a great event that we both enjoyed. The evening was beautiful and we got some great pictures of the Space Needle which was close by... and of Christmas lights in 'the hall'.
My dental work is progressing slowly but surely. My final appointment is February 4th which is kind of scary but I'm looking forward to it too. For my entire life, I've had to deal with a terrible cross-bite and over-bite along with bad enamel. All my teeth have been capped, filled or pulled and I am looking forward to having a normal bite after all this. Of course, every dentist I've ever been too has promised that I will be very happy with their results also... and I was for a while. Let's hope I'm happy with these results for years and years.
Liza seems still undecided about when to leave CF but she wants to sell the house... not just walk away.... so hopefully it will sell quickly in the Spring so she and Madeleine can leave for other parts soon. She mentioned Victoria which is close by so I like that idea. Vancouver is too sleazy to live in.... besides the Olympics is coming there in 2010 so rents will be astronomical. Smart move for her. Shawn is still in all of our thoughts but it's only been 4 months so of course we won't forget him in such a short time. This was Shawn:
Happy the man, and happy he alone,
He who can call today his own:
He, secure within, can say
Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.
He was a great guy and lived life to its fullest. Tomorrow came but he was secure because every minute of the day was his. Cheers, Shawn! You were (and are) loved.
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