An explosion of peonies

We've had lots of peonies in our yard, and a co-worker of Mark's sent many home with him for several days.  Quite pretty and aromatic.

So, what's been going on....

Our next door neighbor invited me for a walk on June 15.  It was fun, only my body decided to actually develop lymphedema in my arm while we were out.  So, now I'm being treated for that with a big, bulky sleeve-thing I have to wear at night.  It's getting better, so that's good.

We went to a great high school graduation party for our friends' Jon & Julie's daughter.  Lots and lots of good grilled stuff and fruits and veggies.  Of course there was lots of imbibing of spirits, too.  It was lots of fun; met new people, including some of the neighbors.

Our friends Des & Judy came over for the weekend and we had a good time, as always.  Des & Mark played golf with a friend of Des, Galen, and Galen's friend, Ken.  They played at the country club where Galen is a member.  It poured down rain on them all day until they had finished, and then the sun came out and the rest of the day was gorgeous.  Judy and I went to the Farmer's Market while it rained and then we drove around to scope out a couple of the local parks.  For the late afternoon and evening we all gathered at Galen & Rondi's house for bbq and spirits.  There were lots of folks there, too -- forestry friends of Galen.  A beautiful house and a terrific evening.

After Des & Judy left on Sunday we called our nephew who just moved to Seattle and asked him to come down for dinner.  He and Mark went out to Cabela's and had a good time.  Then we grilled some steaks that were really good.  It was nice to have Kristian down for a visit.

Other than these fun things, life has been pretty much the usual -- errands, working Weight Watchers, going to Weight Watchers, getting the dryer fixed.  Mark and I went to a presentation at St. Peter's hospital on living with cancer.

Once again/as always/it never ends, I need to focus on 'finding' my office this week.  I got the bills paid today, but there are papers laying around everywhere that need to be filed.  And, I have another WW on-line class I have to do this week.  So, I kind of plan on hunkering down inside at the end of the week (tomorrow is going to be too nice to be inside) and get some of this stuff done.

Now I need to go start preparing some veggies for snacking on and figuring out what we're going to eat for dinner.

So, that's it for now.

Life is moving along well

I'm having a good time here.  Yea!  So, what's been going on... 

June 6 was Ty's second birthday.  We had puppy-food birthday cake for him and Brenna that night after dinner, which they loved.  Here's his birthday picture:

He is such a funny dog.  We really enjoy him a lot.












This is a picture of him and Brenna on his birthday (he looks like he wants to go to sleep):

I'm still going to my yoga class on Tuesdays (about every other week, though) and enjoying it.  The people in the class are really nice, and I like the after-class lunches with them.

Last Saturday our friends from Portland, Jon and Joyce, came to visit us and introduced us to their friends here in Olympia, Cleve and Marty.  We had a great time together.  We all met for breakfast at Budd Bay Cafe, walked around the farmer's market for a while, and got a Chilly-Goat at Batdorf & Bronson.  Yum.  After that we went to Cleve & Marty's house (on the water) and had birthday cake (belated for Joyce's 60th that got snowed out in January) and laughed and laughed.  Great day.  Fun was had by all.

Sunday was awesome, too.  Our cousin who lives here, Julie, took us for a walk at Chambers Bay Golf Course.  It was a really nice walk.  The course is on the Sound, so we got to go down to the water.  We took the puppies with us, and afterwards we ate lunch at Steamers (good fish and chips) and sat on the waterside.

I worked my Drop In Hours at Weight Watchers on Monday, but no one came in.  Oh well.  At least I made $15.00 for my two-hour effort!  Whoo-hoo!

Last night I went to a girls' dinner as a guest of my friend Julie.  It was a new combination of two cancer groups that Julie had participated in.  I really, really enjoyed it.  Lots of nice women, all with different diagnoses and in various stages of treatment/recovery.  It was a nice, warm, welcoming connection, and I am looking forward to next month's dinner.  Afterwards, Julie came in for a while and she and Mark and I had a good evening together with lots more stories and laughter.  (There seems to be more laughter in my life here.  Yea!)

Weather report -- the weather does not seem to be bothering me like most folks thought it would.  I think it has to do with the fact that our family room/kitchen/my office, which are the rooms the puppies and I are always in, has limited 'exposure' to what's going on outside.  Therefore, my light exposure is pretty much at a constant, so I don't get the highs and lows of sun and gray.  And when I do go out and it's raining or drizzly or gray, it doesn't bother me because it's pretty much what I expect.  So, I'm feeling pretty good about dealing with being here on the Wet Side.  I'll be interested to see how I feel about it 20 years from now though....

And, that's about it for now.  There are fun things coming up this weekend, so I'll write about them later.

That's it for now.

Having a good time in Olympia

Life is good, and busy, really, sort of.  I am lucky to not have to work for a living, thanks to my most wonderful husband, but for some reason, I don't seem to do anything yet I stay incredibly busy!  I was busy this last week with working on stuff in my office (I was able to see the floor and the desk top for a while, but no longer).  I did some Weight Watchers training so that I can work Drop In Hours.  I started walking this week, and roundtrip from our house through the neighborhood is one mile.  Yea me!  I attended a Cancer Survivors Celebration as the guest of my friend Julie on Saturday.  It was lots of fun.  Then that night we went to Susan and Brian's for a bbq -- again, lots of fun!  Sunday Mark and I played golf at Capitol City and had a really good time.  Today I worked my first Drop In Hours and actually had a person show up and join!  I made arrangements/plans today to join a support group in July to help me address some of the post-cancer issues I have been struggling with, so I'm looking forward to that.  I'm also looking forward to Wednesday when I don't have anything on my calendar "To Do" so that I can once again/continually clean up my office!  Sheesh.  I have no idea how or why it becomes so crazy in here so fast so all the time.  I thought computers and old age were supposed to make paperwork easier!  Oh well.

Anyway, that's it for tonight.

It has been a really long time...

Whew!  It's been a crazy bunch of days and weeks.  Let's see if I can catch myself up to what I've been doing so that I can be reminded later.

May 5 -- we watched the Kentucky Derby; I'll Have Another won.
May 6 -- we took Ty to get his eyes checked at Breeders Day at Steamboat Vet Clinic.  His eyes are perfect.
May 8 -- I went to yoga and lunch after.
May 9 -- I got my hair cut.
May 10 -- I went to my Weight Watchers meeting and went to see my lymphedema therapist.
May 11 -- Mary Kay got here to visit and puppy sit while Mark and I went to Orlando.
May 13 -- our cousin, Julie, came over and the four of us had a delicious bbq pork loin for dinner.  It was lots of fun.
May 14 -- I had an appt. at Judy's for some pretty new bras.  Ooohhhh.
May 15 -- I met with Karen, an oncology social worker.  It was a good visit.  That night, Mark and I left for Des Moines, WA, to spend the night at the Marina Inn before leaving for Orlando the next day.  We stopped in at the All Star Sports Bar next door to the hotel.  The bartender was wonderful.  He liked making 'special' margaritas for me.  He also gave each of us a complimentary shot of Fireball, which we had never tasted before.  It was really good, like drinking ice cold cinnamon hearts.  Yum.  It was an interesting place.  Every male in there, except for Mark, was wearing a lid.  And there were lots and lots of nice tattoos.  One of the bartenders had a beautiful branch of various fruits on her arm.
May 16 -- we leave for Orlando.  Fiasco at the car rental desk, so we called Bill & Frances to come pick us up at 11:00 p.m. in the pouring down rain.  Oh well.
May 17 -- got a new rental car.  Went to see mom at her assisted living apartment and had dinner with her there.  Had a good fun evening with Bill, Frances and Curt.
May 18 -- I think we just sort of puttered around that day.  Jennifer & Joseph got in that evening.
May 19 -- great day of golf with Mark, Bill, David, Joseph, Curt, Bryan and Craig (a friend of Bryan's).  Beautiful day, not too hot, hardly humid.  And there were no alligators on the course this time.  Yea!  For dinner -- Joseph grilled steaks and asparagus, and we had baked potatoes and lots of other fun food.  Yum.
May 20 -- 85th Birthday Party!  A good party.  Chuck and Carole showed up, so everyone was really excited to see them.  Lots of friends and family for mom.  We ate lots of Bubbalou's Bodacious BBQ and birthday cake.  A good time was had by all.
May 21 -- Mark and I played a really nice golf course (Stoneybrook).  Bill, Jennifer and Joseph had a wonderful time at Animal Kingdom.  Frances got to stay home and relax and take naps (good for her!) and Curt worked on his computer and got all the work he needed to do done.
May 22 -- Bill and I met with mom and talked about some serious stuff.  Mark took Curt to the airport and then spent 3 hours in Golfsmith.  Jennifer and Joseph went to Universal.  David and Lynn came over for dinner with everyone.
May 23 -- We left to come home.  We got 'stuck' in St. Louis for a few hours, so we didn't get home until 11:00 p.m.  We were tired, but we were home and the puppies were glad to see us.
May 24 -- I managed to go to my Weight Watchers meeting.  I didn't do too badly over the last two weeks.
May 25 -- Mary Kay and I ran errands, got more stuff framed and hung.  (While we were in Orlando, Mary Kay framed and hung artwork, shampooed carpets, trimmed shrubs, and just a whole bunch of other stuff around the house.  She's amazing.)
May 26 -- Mark played golf and Mary Kay and I went to see Dark Shadows.  It was a fun movie.  Then we BBQd two kinds of sausages and some lamb loin chops, along with grilled corn on the cob and greenbeans.  Delicious dinner.
May 27 (today) -- Desmond came down to play golf with Mark, so we made a huge pan of scrambled eggs that had sausage in it, plus Canadian bacon, yellow peppers, sauted onions and garlic, grape tomatoes, and three kinds of cheese.  The eggs were delicious.  Then, Des and Mark took off and Mary Kay left to go home.  I've been vacuuming, doing laundry, generally cleaning up, and now I am going to tackle my office.  I have been tossing papers in here for weeks without doing any sorting or filing, so I now have a real mess that needs to be dealt with.  But, that's what this afternoon is for.  I'm home alone with just the puppies for company, so I can be productive.

I feel like I've caught up with myself now, so I guess I'll go and get busy.

And that's it for now.

Time warp in Olympia WA

It's been a busycrazy week, but loads of fun.  Along with the usual errand running, cooking, yoga class and Weight Watchers meeting attending, we were introduced to some of Olympia's more iconic events over the weekend, enjoying them all with our friends Brian and Susan.

The fun started on Friday evening when we attended the Luminary parade that is part of Arts Walk and Procession of the Species.  The parade was very cool, with folks carrying all kinds of lighted birds, fishes, animals, a praying mantis, just lots of fun creatures.  Very pretty, too.

On Saturday afternoon I went to a Weight Watchers celebration lunch.  It was fun meeting more of the staff from this area, and the food was good -- a chicken wrap in a spinach tortilla.

Then, Saturday evening we went to the Procession of the Species (see pictures).  It was like attending a Happening in 1968 (hence the time warp).  It was lots of fun.  After the parade we went to Susan and Brian's house, along with friends Paul and Connie, and had wings, salad, snacks, margaritas and GnTs, and sat around a wonderfully warm fire pit.  Lots of good food and laughter.

On Sunday, we went to the Shellfish SLURP.  This was held at a local brewery, Fish Tale Ale.  There were about a dozen local wineries sampling their wares and a dozen or so local restaurants showcasing their menu items using oysters, clams and mussels.  Lots of good food and wine.

Monday brought a nice lunch with my friend, Jules, at my favorite coffee place, Batdorf & Bronson.  Yummy Chilly-Goat (blended mocha) and chicken pesto sandwich.

Monday evening brought the decision to fix the kitchen sink faucet (it dripped).  Well, that led to calling a plumber (the faucet wouldn't come apart and we couldn't get the water quite turned off all the way). We now have a fancy new faucet, installed by the plumber.  It's very nice.

Today was what I think is what folks consider a typical Pacific Northwest day -- very gray and quite rainy.  It was the first time that I really wanted to just stay home curled up in a blanket and read a book.  I was good, though, and went to my Weight Watchers meeting and ran some errands.  I spent the afternoon working on computer stuff.  So, now it's time to think about fixing something for dinner, and feeding the puppies.  Then I think I really will curl up in a blanket and read a book.

That's it for now.

A weather report

The weekend weather was amazing!  We have had three weekends in a row of gorgeous, sunny, warm weather.  It actually got up to 78 degrees on Saturday; a new record.  Mark played golf Saturday while the puppies and I worked in the yard.  Sunday all four of us worked in the yard.  It was nice, but I discovered that new dandelions actually grow right in front of you while you're pulling out old ones.  They are amazing.  We have some beautiful flowering trees in the back yard.  I need to find out what they are.  One of them has really pretty white flowers.

Thanks to the weather, house work has gone to the dogs (really -- I cannot believe how much dog hair is floating around at the moment).  Today was supposed to be yoga class and house cleaning day.  However, it turned into yoga class and office work day, instead.  I don't have anything on my calendar for tomorrow, so I think I'll just get up early, put on my Dolly Domestic clothes and go for it.

I've been having a good time lately, but I can't remember doing what.  Most of my days consist of running errands and cooking dinner.  We take the dogs for a run a few evenings a week.  We eat dinner and watch TV.  I go to yoga class on Tuesdays, with lunch afterwards with the other folks in the class.  I go to my Weight Watchers meeting on Thursdays and have a good time talking with the other members.  It's feeling rather 'Spring-y' and I'm enjoying it, as is everyone else in the area.  I'm looking forward to about a month from now when things have slowed down a bit and Mark and I can start exploring our new surroundings -- a trip to Nisqually Wildlife Refuge, over to the beach for some waves and sand, Mima Mounds to see the wildflowers, that sort of stuff.

And that's it for now.

I shot a 72!

Saturday was awesome.  Mark and I played golf together for the first time in two years (thanks to his broken ankle and my broken arm last year).  The weather was a bit colder than forecast, but still warm.  It did not rain.  It was good.  We were paired with two really nice guys -- a youth pastor at a Baptist church and a custom cabinet maker.  The pastor was on par with my playing, thank goodness.  It was just a good day.  I did not have to play "Best Ball" and was able to feel out what my game is all about.  I really enjoyed it.  After the game, Mark and I had dinner in the Club House.  I had the House specialty -- a Firecreek French dip that was really, really good.  Mark had a BBQ'd Bleu Cheese burger.  The Bleu cheese was really good, too.

We spent Sunday working in the yard.  After taking the puppies for a field run, we bought a new landscaping tool at Lowe's that we had seen on an HGTV show on Saturday that digs up dandelions (we had a bazillion dandelions in our back yard; too bad we don't know how to make dandelion wine!).  So, while Mark dealt with the dandelions in the yard/flower beds, I dealt with the dandelions in the terraced area.  The backyard looks pretty good now, though there are still a few dandelions to be removed.  It also looked like it was snowing in the backyard today because the wind was brisk and, therefore, blowing the tree blossoms around.  It was pretty, though I do hate to see the trees lose their flowers.  I love the colors of Spring.

So, for now, and for tonight, that's all there is.  Life is good.  Yea.