Matt's Parents Visit - Eagle Cruise in Coeur d'Alene

Matt's parents came out for a visit after Christmas, and we decided to go to Coeur d'Alene lake and take the eagle cruise. This is supposed to be the peak of the bald eagle migration, but the numbers had recently dwindled quite a bit. We did see several eagles though, and enjoyed the gorgeous scenery.

I got to wear my "happy hat" for the first time (good investment - it has ear-flaps to protect from an ear ache!).















The scenery was absolutely fabulous! It really didn't snow while we were out, although we saw a few tiny flurries, but it was really cold! The boat was fairly jammed, so we spent most of our time out on the deck, even though it took a half an hour to get to where the birds were.







My new camera doesn't take my old Cannon telephoto lens, so I am currently without zoom. I did get a couple pictures of mature eagles with white heads which you can barely see if you look closely (note arrow).






































The lights on the boardwalk are really neat at the resort. Matt's dad took this picture.

Halloween Pumpkins

I accidentally forgot to include our pumpkins from Halloween, so I thought I would post them now!

After Christmas Guests - Memory, Michael, Evan, and Maren

Well, we finally got our Christmas snow, late in the evening! We ended up with about six inches on the ground of VERY fluffy, light snow that wouldn't even make a snowball!

After Christmas, our friends Memory and Michael, and their two children Evan and Maren came to visit for a few days. The day they came it snowed quite a bit, so we enjoyed playing outside for a little while. Evan liked rides on the snow shovel, and Maren looked at our neighboring cows looking like a mini-snow bunny!




































































We also found time to relax in the house, and Maren enjoyed meeting Tillie!

Ugly Christmas Ornament Exchange

On Friday Matt and I hosted an ugly ornament exchange party and invited some of our friends that we know through Matt's work.  We enjoyed Christmas goodies, conversation, and some really, really, REALLY ugly ornaments!!

Nutcracker

Matt and I took Natalie, John (Matt's co-worker) and Connie's daughter, with us to see the Alberta Ballet put on the Nutcracker at the INB performance hall in downtown Spokane.  We enjoyed dressing up, treats at intermission, and a really stellar ballet performance.  The event kicked off my real Christmas celebration because I had taken my last final earlier that day!

Hobbes & Matt

Hobbes and I decided to get on the blog and post a recent pic of us.

Bwahahahah...next stop, world dominion!

First BIG Snow

This is the first time we have tried incorporating a video.  We had three days of snow in a row with a total accumulation of about six inches.  Amazingly, the rain started soon after and all of it melted in ONE day... you should have seen the swamp!  Everything is drained now, but there is still a lot of soggy mud in the unfinished part of the yard....I can't wait till it's done (spring project).

We plan to add some video of Diane, Terry and Emden playing guitar and mandolin soon!

Mandolin!

In early November, Matt and I traveled to the coast to join the celebration of Gram's 80th birthday. The evening of Gram's party, Emden, Diane, and Terry came down and played all kinds of fun tunes for us to sing to on their guitars and Emden's new mandolin. Emden had recently picked up the mandolin, and she was really fun to watch! She was able to pick out really quick tunes, and incorporated a really nice tremolo! I have always wanted to play a portable string instrument, but due to injuries to my wrists, I can't play the guitar or violin because of the required wrist orientation. I had never really thought about the mandolin, but after hearing Emden, I was intrigued. She let me look at hers, and I found it had a small enough neck that allowed me to play it comfortably!

I was so excited that when I got home I went to every music store in the area to look at mandolins. Unfortunately, most stores don't carry very high quality instruments, and most didn't carry any! So, I spent about two weeks doing homework on the web, and finally purchased a Michael Kelly Legacy FSE (has electric pre-amp installed so you can plug it into an amp) from a store in California, sight unseen (picture from folkmusician website). Although the finish woodwork had some issues (apparently that is common for this particular hand-carved instrument), it is supposed to have a much better sound that the average machine produced instrument. I have played every day since it arrived and am really enjoying it! First I learned all of my notes, and then many chords. Now I am working on speed when picking out melodies and practicing songs with chords. Matt and I have even managed to play some things together! We are looking forward to Christmas break when we can spend more time perfecting duets, and maybe even post some short videos! The only con to learning mandolin has been having to cut my fingernails REALLY short, and getting really sore fingertips!

Getting the Tree

Matt and I went with out friends, John and Connie, and their children to a Christmas tree farm in Elk, Washington, which is about 45 minutes north of our house. The farm had grand fir, concolor fir, and blue spruce. Although we always get grand fir, these trees had flimsier branches than we were used to, and had been pruned too aggressively. We were really disappointed because we love how they smell, but the blue spruce were very attractive, so, at the risk of severely poked fingers and rashes up our arms (not to mention the...um....interesting smell...), we decided to give the spruce a whirl. We trekked all over the farm (a good two miles - up and down hills!!!) to find just the right one, and ended up getting one 10 feet from where the hay wagon dropped us off....isn't that how it always works! They provided measuring poles and saws, so Matt made quick work with the saw and they packed it up and took it down to our car for us!
Tagging the tree for bottom of the hill pick-up!
All loaded!


After we got the tree home and got the lights on (OUCH!), we found that we didn't get too scratched up putting on the rest of the decorations, and the tree turned out to be one of our prettiest we have ever had! The color mixes well with the wall color in the living room, and it hasn't dropped a needle yet!

New Pics of the House

We have finally gotten our living room and library decorated and arranged. The living room paint looks finished but still needs to be touched up and the area under the window and behind the piano (and curtains!) needs to be finished.

The pictures don't capture the color of the walls very well, but it gives you the general idea. Additionally, I took these in the morning with the sun streaming in, so the contrast leaves a little to be desired.



The library is both Matt and my favorite room in the house. We actually don't use it as much as we would like, but as soon as the rest of the house is finished, we plan to read a lot more!

The aqua couch and chair (the couch is in our bedroom) are from Matt's apartment, and they pretty much inspired the decor, although the piece of glass in the living room was the initial inspiration. All of the colors in the house can be found in the glass.

First Snow

We just had our first snow!  It was brief and light, but the snowflakes finally came!  The drive to school was entertaining....but we were glad we took Dad's advice and got new tires.  

We have cleaned up the front lawn and driveway since....

Getting Pumpkins and Eastern in the Fall

Eastern Washington University Campus is beautiful in the fall!

Weekend Trip to the Washington Coast

This last weekend Karen, previously my chemistry professor, and I made a trip to Seattle and the surrounding area to relax before school started up again. The initial reason for the trip was to attend a gallery show of Joan Tennenbaum's jewelry, one piece of which Karen had purchased. She was excited to meet the artist, and to look at other artists being featured. We traveled over Snoqualmie pass Thursday morning, stopping at the Salish Lodge for lunch, and arrived in Seattle around 3pm. We unpacked and got ready, and then took a 20 minute cab ride (for about 8 blocks!!!) that cost a small fortune to get to the gallery.

The gallery features native american artists, and art done in a native american style. Karen wore a peice of Joan Tennenbaum's to the event, and the artist stopped her almost as soon as she walked in the door. Karen really enjoyed talking to her, especially as she is an anthropologist that has taken her experiences and translated them into jewelry. She was selling a book about her Ph D. work that she did in Alaska which involved writing down a tribal language that only had a few native speakers remaining. She actually lived with the tribe for about a year and recorded not only the language, but their oral history and traditional stories. The piece Karen bought featured the caribou and the raven, and discussed how the raven helped the caribou get his stamina and strength. She actually found several other pieces she liked, and I found one too! I got a pendant of a thunderbird that is simple, but very neat. I also noticed an artists work that I absolutely love. She uses seed beads and some type of colored grout to make beatiful designs on a silver background. My favorite piece was an orange starfish bracelet, and I really would like a ring in the same style. They actually asked the artist if she would do a commissioned piece, and she said she would! So, after I budget for it, I plan to have her make one for me.

After the show, we went to a good Mediterranean restaurant, and then turned in. The next day we drove up Chuckanut drive. We were headed for the Oyster Creek Inn, but happened to pass an alpaca farm that had an open sign up, and, well, we had to stop. We enjoyed the gift shop (found a cool wrap, and a beautiful jacket), but then the owner came in and offered to show us the alpaca's up close and personal. He had several pens, one of which had the moms and new babies, and the others had various groups of adults. Then he offered to show us the two day old baby in the barn. We jumped at the chance, and he was SOOOO cute! Mom seemed a little stand offish, but he held the baby up for us to pet, and he was very curious. They are so soft, and the they have the most beautiful eyes. Someday I can see us with some (have to have at least two..); I think they would suit our zoo mentality well!















After the farm, we continued up the coast and enjoyed the food at the Oyster Creek Inn (four stars in my humble opinion) and then stopped at a turnout to enjoy the sunset over the water. That evening we headed to Port Angeles and stayed at the Red Lion there on the water.

In the morning, we looked out on our balcony and noticed that there were loons, so we put up the scope and enjoyed checking out the birds. We ended up seeing a red-necked grebe, several common loons, and a couple of pigeon guillemonts. Then, out of the blue, six sea otters popped up and swam and played for a good fifteen minutes really close to shore! It was the first time I have ever seen them in the wild, and they were just as care free and fun-loving as the ones we like to observe at the aquarium in Newport. After a breakfast of waffles with whipped cream and strawberries (yum!!), we headed for Hurricane Ridge in the Olympics.




I enjoyed taking the ferry to Kingston (to avoid the drive around), and the drive up to Hurricane Ridge was breathtaking.

At the top we enjoyed the beautiful white capped mountains, the treed valleys, and the blue grouse (dusky version) life bird!!!!!


















What a surprise! We stopped at the creek to look for an american dipper, but the water was pretty low, but I had never expected to see something new. So that was fun. We also had a doe and fawn grazing right by the road that let me snap a few pics.


That evening we headed back to the tri-cities, and, after dinner at Salish again, we arrived (about 2am!!) at home. I was exhausted, but the weather was pristine, and a road trip to the coast is always refreshing. I ended up doing about five hours of GC/MS work in the lab for a couple of lavender farms that were referred to us by Purple Haze that I did some work for three years ago, and then headed home!

When I arrived home, Matt had things very clean and organized, and the house really looked good. We are really looking forward to living in the same house!!! Earlier in the week we took Tills to Riverside State Park and hiked for a couple of miles along the river. We are looking forward to more relaxing evening enjoying the beautiful Spokane area. We think our next trip will be to Fish Lake State Park to give the kayak a whirl, and see if we can get close to any birds. School starts the 26th, so I need to cram in the relaxing (along with the unpacking and landscaping) now!