Birthday

Well, I can't stall it any longer. My birthday has arrived. And so have a bunch of cards and birthday wishes from friends and family. These are just a few of the goodies that made it to my mailbox. I'm lucky to have so many wonderful people to help me celebrate.

This evening I'm looking forward to a nice dinner with Clay at one of our favorite restaurants, Bahama Breeze. My tastebuds are doing a happy dance already!

Family Gathering

Memorial Day weekend is a traditional time for our family to get together. Along with celebrating Memorial Day we also have several birthdays at this time of year. It's been more difficult to get everyone together in the last couple of years since my father passed away. He was always the life of the party.

This year some of us got together rather impromptu and enjoyed a nice lunch/dinner at the Chinese buffet in Lacey. We all love that place as there is always lots of yummy food including plenty of fresh seafood.

After the lunch we got some flowers and took them to my Dad's grave. Today is his birthday. He's buried in the veteran's section of the cemetery and on this weekend in particular there were flags on most of the graves.

Then we went back to my mother's house, shared some pictures and visited some more and then my sister and I repotted Mom's large peace lily. The serious rain managed to wait until we were leaving. All in all it was a really nice day spent with family.

You can click the picture and use the Next and Prev links at Webshots to see more photos from the day.

Objets d'ecriture

I recently received this cool postcard from a Canadian on PostcardX. There is a birthday list available on the site and sometimes users send each other birthday greetings. That's what this was - an early birthday greeting.

It's fun to look at all the old writing implements depicted in this picture. I see a lot of these items are French but I'm especially intrigued with the red white and blue pencils from the Queen Elizabeth Coronation in 1953.

Coincidentally, one of the users I traded cards with on Postcrossing was interested in postcards depicting anything to do with writing (pens, pencils, handwriting). If only I had one like this to send him!

Good Friends and Good Times

Last night Clay and I had dinner with a bunch of friends who are also coworkers and former coworkers of mine. We call this an "intern dinner" because the first people always invited are folks who have filled the network intern position at the law firm where I work.

This is a fun group and we had a good time at Kona Kitchen last night. You can click the picture below to see this group photo and to access more photos from the evening.

Two Years and a Month

Here's a picture from my young friend Cameron's birthday last month. She's 2 years old!

Her Mom reports that Cameron loves to read books, sing songs, play with her farm set and dinosaurs, loves to color and paint, and loves anything outdoors including bugs, dirt, rocks, and plants. She also is fond of picking out her own clothes and refuses to wear matching socks.

I get to see Cameron at dinner tonight and I can't wait. What a big girl she is getting to be!

Varekai

On Sunday my friend Kimber and I went to see Varekai, the traveling Cirque du Soleil show at Marymoor park. Varekai is a Gypsy word for "wherever." The show included quite an extravaganza of acrobatics, world-beat music and elaborate sets and costumes.

Cirque shows always feature the most talented and agile of circus and acrobatic performers. This show was no different. I am always amazed to see what people can do with their bodies and not get hurt. If you've ever had a dream that you were flying, the performers in Varekai make such a dream a reality.

I have seen one other Cirque performance - La Nouba which is a permanent (non-traveling) show in Orlando. Of the two I think Varekai is my favorite. My favorite performances within Varekai were the juggler (who did amazing things), the Icarian Games in which two men juggle two other men on their feet, and the amazing arial strap act of the Athertons who are twin brothers.

If you get a chance to see Varekai take it. You won't regret it.

Early Birthday Present

Clay got me a digital camera for my birthday!! My birthday isn't for another couple weeks but the camera I wanted was on sale so Clay decided to get it for me early. This is a Canon PowerShot A530. With the online order we got a free 256mb memory card which should do us for a while.

I've thought about getting a digital camera for years, but I resisted because my print camera takes such good photos. I had not been able to master the rhythm of the one digital camera I've used, and more often than not those pictures come out fuzzy. This new camera is easier for me for some reason. Every picture I've taken so far has looked great. I'm still playing with it so the verdict is still out, but so far I'm quite happy.

I like that this camera comes with a cord that allows me to plug it directly into the television and see on the TV what I see in the LCD screen. That should make it easy to show a room full of people any pictures. We've also figured out how to use a function where you can take a still photo and lay down up to 60 seconds of audio on top of it. Great for taking notes.

I don't intend to abandon the print camera entirely, but I think I will get caught up on developing all those rolls of film laying around the house before I take more.

Eyesight Optimism

Clay's recovery from the corneal transplant and lens replacement is going well. For quite some time he was having problems with dryness and roughness on his eye and that caused really poor vision. Last month his doctor put in a contact bandage which although it only stayed in two days seemed to help. Then the doctor switched him from regular liquid artificial tears to a gel drop type of tears. Those stay in the eye longer.He takes those 6 times a day along with all his other eye drop medications. The new gel drops have helped to keep his eye smooth and moist and the doctor was very pleased when he saw Clay this week. He doesn't have to go back for a month.

Clay's sight has definitely improved. It's amazing the difference really. When we are out in public he no longer hesitates walking around. Instead of lagging behind at the mall because he doesn't want to go too fast and run into something he charges ahead dragging me along if we are in a hurry. No fears that he will accidentally run into someone or something I guess. He still has about 15 stitches in his eye so there's quite a ways to go on the healing. Hopefully it will continue to go well. At this pace it's going to be pretty exciting when he gets new glasses to see what he can see.

The only problem is that he now complains about aging because he can see the lines and wrinkles in his face in the mirror. I'm afraid I haven't been as sympathetic or supportive as he would like because I have the perspective that "wow, isn't that a miracle that you can see those lines!"

You've Gotta Love Pike Place Market

I'm fortunate to work just a few blocks from Pike Place Market. It's fun to go down there on my lunch hour. The other day I headed to the Market for the purpose of picking up a bouquet of flowers for my desk. It was a beautiful day and there is no more affordable place to get gorgeous flowers. Check out this arrangement I scored for only $10!

As long as I was at the Market I decided to pick up a humbow for lunch.

And just as I began my return walk to the office I came across some wonderful yummy Champagne mangos which I had to bring back to share with Clay.

I will have to make sure and return to Pike Place several times this summer. There are always good finds when I do.

Leather Postcard

I am not the only postcard fan in my family. My sister Jozi has been fortunate to collect a few vintage postcards. This is one she found years ago when someone had a box of fabric to give away for quilting. Amongst the fabrics she found this postcard printed on leather! The postmark date is 1908.

The use of the word "POST CARD" was granted by the government to private printers on December 24, 1901. At that time writing was not permitted on the address side. Postcards with a divided back were permitted March 1, 1907. Although this card was sent after that date it probably was made between 1901 and 1907 during what was called the "Post Card" era.

Frustration

Along with the home buying class we attended they gave us access to an online service where we can search properties for sale. We have a lot to do before we can seriously think about buying a home, but since we had the online service I did some searching to see what's out there. It proved to be quite discouraging. Just about any home we would want (even with a long commute) costs about $60 - $70K more than what we can afford. Yikes!

It looks like if we want to buy something we either have to seriously adjust our thinking on what type of properties we can look at (consider condos and mobile homes instead of houses) or find a bunch more cash. The first option is much more likely. But out of desperation we might have to start buying lottery tickets. Sigh...