Our first goodbye

Tomorrow morning our friend Kris leaves for a three month training in the southeastern U.S. By the time he comes back, we'll have left for Texas. So we said goodbye on Sunday night. I know he'll be busy over the next few months, but I hope that we can all stay in touch and that he and SYL will come to Texas to see us.

I especially remember Kris' kindness that first summer when I came back from Japan alone. Kris always welcomed me, even though we really didn't know each other. I was lonely and he and SYL were always willing to have my company. I must have driven them crazy.

In other news, it's still pretty cold here. Spring, you could show up any time! Instead, they are predicting snow for the local mountains this weekend.

Saturday, however was a rare exception - sunny, warm, summer-like. We went to discovery park, to enjoy the ocean while we still could.And we saw a great dane puppy.And then on Sunday, it poured. Of course.

Chicken and Waffles

I went to a conference in Atlanta this weekend. Before going, I followed the example of Kate's friend Miso, who surfs the chowhound message board before visiting a new city to find good restaurants. I found a restaurant called Gladys Knight and Ron Winan's Chicken and Waffles, and I convinced two friends to go with me on Saturday night. One was a Japanese woman who said that from her perspective, it was one of the most exotic experiences she had ever had. The other friend was a very tall redhead, originally from Texas, who kept ordering more food. It was fantastic, and definitely the most memorable experience of the weekend.

Squirtle / Sheldon

With Mike gone, my big weekend accomplishment was finishing a baby gift for baby Zachary. You know, now that he's eight months old. But, voila, I present to you a knitted turtle:Although small, this was a big knitting project for me - I had to learn how to crochet to finish the darn [ha!] thing. Big props go to Jen Em who, with the patience befitting an elementary art teacher, taught me how to crochet.

I have several other projects forthcoming [in theory. certainly not with any alacrity]: a sweater-vest for my brother, some fancy socks for me [inspired by Dr. M's gift], and a baby present for baby Emma's new brother [who is expected to make an appearance in late May - can that family handle any more cute???].

We'll see about finishing all that before, oh, 2012.

In other weekend news, I went to the fancy Pacific Northwest nursery to help Jen Em shop for plants. Here are a few pictures:I really like the picture of the dog - although the background is a little busy. I'm considering making it my new internet avatar.

And then we went back to Jen Em's house and I got to kick it with the most wonderful [real] dog in the world.As a parting gift, here are some shots of the cherry blossoms on campus. I took this last week when the shone briefly. Now it's back to being rainy and cold.

Opening Day

Yesterday, Mike and I went to Opening Day. It was fun, but it was also really, really cold.

Here's a picture that captures the fun part - all the special things done for opening day:Here's a little self-portrait [note my new baseball hat!]:And here's a picture that captures the cold part - midway through some inning, it started to snow! For real, SNOW! So, the picture isn't that great, but you can see the white beyond the stadium roof.The snow just lasted for a few minutes, and then it turned to rain, then sun-ish. But it was still cold. As we were leaving the park, we saw a marquis that said it was 39 degrees. Brrr.

But we still had a great time, especially since the Mariners won - beating Texas!

San Diego

We spent last week in sunny San Diego. I forget how bright the sun is when it really shines. Also, what my shadow looks like.

Anyway, first we went to the desert to see the wildflowers blooming. Driving up there, we drove past many of the areas that were burned in the fires last October. It was a little strange, since a gentle, downy, green spring grass was growing on all the hillsides. It made things not look so bad. And then you noticed that the trees were all charred and leaf-less. At one point we drove by the place where the fire had crossed the freeway and I just realized how big a fire had to be to burn down one hillside, cross eight lanes of freeway, and burn up the other hillside despite the best efforts of the fire department. Big.

But the wildflowers in the desert were so pretty. Also, so atypical, compared to how the desert looks the rest of the year. I am not really a desert fan, but this really was very scenic. We got up early one morning in time to see the sun rise and get in a hike before the heat of the day. Here are some pictures from that morning:Also, on the hike we saw a cloud shaped like a fish:We also hung out in San Diego, spending time with our favorite two vegan political theorists and my family from San Francisco. My allergies were bothering me a lot in San Diego, so I wasn't feeling the picture vibe quite so much [also, I noticed in my pictures from the desert that I haven't quite figured out how to adjust for bright sun. I'll be working on that, I guess. . . .].

I did manage to take a few pictures, though:

Mike getting a lesson from my grandmother on how to make margaritas.Cinnamon rollsSucculentsBaby Emma [isn't she adorable?]The scholar hard at work.And then we came back to Seattle. And it snowed.

Etc.

Well, I'm finally done with my last externship for my new career. I feel like I'm rejoining the world of the living again.

To celebrate, here are some pictures - first of a belated Valentine's Day rose and then of a tree in bloom at the lake near our house.Although the picture above was taken on a sunny day, we haven't had too many of those recently. Yesterday morning, it was 39 degrees in the city when we woke up. So we are really still in the eagerly-awaiting-spring's-arrival phase.

In other news, my dresser broke. Or, really, I should say: In other news, we gave up on my broken dresser. The dresser hadn't been in great shape before we moved to Japan, and the journey to and from the storage place didn't really help things. I sort of accepted the dresser; it was willful beast whose drawers stuck frequently, but, in the end, I could always yank the drawers and make things work. That is, until last week when the drawers became so hopelessly stuck that I couldn't get my clothes out. I was actually planning my days around which clothes were not in the dresser.

But, with the upcoming move, buying a new dresser seemed dumb. On a number of levels [levels, stairs, whatever, get it?]. And buying a cheap dresser from that Swedish place was what got us into this mess in the first place.

So we went plastic. And light. And, yes, sort of lame and pathetic.
We posted the old dresser on freecycle, and had several offers within a few hours [fools!]. I will say, though, that this dresser met a better end than Dr. M's dresser [her dresser was, in weird twist of cheap and functionality-induced decision-making, the exact same model] which her father hated so much that was always threatening to hack up with an ax every time he helped her move. Did I mention how heavy the darn thing was? Her father may have actually taken an ax to the dresser in the end. The dresser certainly deserved it.

Thus endeth the dresser saga. Talk about a boring post. . . .

Oh, and as for what we'll name the blog - you all are such a creative lot! I especially liked the suggestion of "burritos for breakfast". I also like "(deep in the heart of) fish for breakfast". So we'll see. I'm also thinking about a re-design of the blog to accompany the move and the new name.

You know, now that I have all this time on my hands.

Fort Worth, Fort Woof, Etc.

This July, Kate and I will be moving to Fort Worth, Texas, because of a job that I got. I am extremely excited about this job, and I am also excited about moving to Fort Worth. One of the nice things about that city that Kate just noticed is that their dog park is called Fort Woof. That is a good name for a dog park.

We named our blog "fish for breakfast" shortly before we moved to Japan, and its name is a reference to traditional Japanese breakfasts. Now that we are moving to Texas, we are contemplating changing the name of our blog. We have a few good ideas, but we would appreciate ideas from our scores of loyal readers as well. So, loyal readers, what should we call our blog?

Oregon

We had a great few days of mini-break. Remarkably, it was sunny - it feels so much like spring that it's hard to believe that the rain will be back [but, oh, it will . . . ]

First, we went to the Oregon coast. We were lucky enough to be staying in someone else's beach house and visiting with a friend of Mike's from the ag. school.
On Monday, we headed north. We stopped at my favorite Oregon coastal attraction. We also visited Blue Heron French Cheese company, which was a first for me. The best part of Blue Heron? Why, the wildlife, of course!
We spent Monday night in southern Washington, on the coast. The best thing there? Well, while walking on the beach, we saw a bald eagle.

Catching up

I've been a bit busy these last few weeks - too busy to put pictures up, but not too busy to be taking them. Now I have a few days to catch my breath; Mike and I have just returned from a lovely sojourn on the Oregon coast.

Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks. I'll put the Oregon pictures up in the next few days:

Hooray for cupcakes!
My most recent knitting creation, expertly modeled. The cutest baby on earth:Rare, clear, sunny winter day:Cat:Super-delicious cookies!Green Lake, frozen in January:

stories like

this

make me cry.

[since it's actually a happy story, probably you won't cry. I don't know why I am such a freak]

A great video

Nakamura Kinniku (translated as "Nakamura Muscles") is brought in as a "muscle food researcher" to talk to some chefs. He dumps "muscle cinnamon powder" on their cakes. They are unhappy with that. He asks for permission to apologize. His apology consists of a dance that includes much flexing. The chefs are not impressed, and he dumps more powder on their cakes.

It makes more sense in video form.