Snowstorms in Seattle

As we have a brief break in the snow before tonight's storm hits, I thought I'd post some photos of Seattle as winter wonderland. For a couple of California kids, it's actually quite fun. I learned in Vienna that the cold does not bother me - but I wish I had my Calvin Klein camel hair coat with me up here! - and Tim lived in Reno for a long time by choice, so we enjoy it in small amounts. And you get to meet Pongo (please ignore the dumb name given to him by previous owners), our new dog. I am trying to re-name him Dog Vader, since he is the loudest sleeping dog you have ever heard. And he makes crazy throaty noises even when awake. Silly gruff pup. He came to us from some nice folks who had to move and could not keep him at their new place. Pongo was actually living in the guy's truck for a couple of weeks until we saw the ad on Craig's List and reached out. Tim's preferred breed of dogs is Dalmatian, and they are actually very rare in Seattle... so we'd been casually looking for one. Anyway, happy ending for a good old boy. Below in the first photo you will see husband in thermal shirt watching sports while reclining on his (*ahem*) Red Sox bean bag, and the lazy dog reclining on his own cushy bed. Business as usual in our house. ;) Still no couch or chairs, but who cares?!

2/3 of our sum total furniture (not pictured: bed)

Pongo, aka "Dog Vader"

The resplendent view from our porch the morning after it snowed.



Across the street.



From our bedroom window.



My trusty little blue steed/sled!

Our house in the middle, husband on the steps (look closely).

My trusty steed/sled again, after our slide down Capitol Hill to work and then back home safely later that afternoon. Look ma, no chains! Everyone at my work now respects The Mighty Scion.

The front of St. Joseph's, a block from our house. I like listening to the church bells.

White Christmas, anyone?

Wife, aka "snow champ"

Husband, aka "snow wimp"

The Space Needle, topped with a Christmas tree and surrounded by snow. Lovely!

Seasons changing

I took some photos of our street last weekend and have been delayed in posting them. You can see the leaves changing and falling off the trees... by now most of them have fallen off and the trees look all spooky and goth and bare, except for the evergreens, of course. I was awakened today by the sound of neighbors raking them into piles. Fun fun fun! In other news, I dyed my hair darker this week (which you can also see below - I've included a photo), and Timothy and I ventured out last night to see Roger Clyne and his band of merry desert men play a show. The boys were impeccable as always, and we spent most of today recovering from being out so late (we are getting old...) and doing the normal Sunday things like dishes and laundry. The weather has been excellent lately, in my opinion, although I am told that there has already been more rain for November than usual. Of course, I don't know what to expect, weather-wise, being so new to the area, but I consider blue sky in Seattle for several days in a row to be fairly outstanding at any time of the year. Next weekend Suzanne is coming for a visit... the first of many folks that we would like to have visit us up here (hint, hint). It will be great to hang out and show her the sights.

This is our front door, well, the one on the left is, anyway. The door on the right takes you to the downstairs floor of the duplex.

And this is a view of our top floor of the duplex, taken looking up from the porch. We call it the tree house because when you look out the windows, all you see is tree branches.



And this is my trusty steed, parked curbside in front of our place amidst many pretty leaves. Note the ferns at the lower left edge of the frame. I have long disliked ferns (the spores creep me out big time) and am sort of freaked out that they are all over Seattle, including in my front yard. Eww!



The view of our street from in front of our house, looking left toward the coffee shop. (Again, soooooooo many ferns. Gross.)



The view down our street looking to the right from in front of the house.



Houses across the street, or what can be seen of them. They are set back up from the street on a hill.

Another house across the street that I think is very pretty.

My new/old hair color. Very much like it was 7 years ago when I left for Vienna.

The cowboy boot and pant leg of a great man... Roger Clyne!



Onstage conjuring the magic and working that storyteller charm! :)



Rog with the badass P.H. Naffah and his drums of death, y'all!

Halloween!!!!!!!!!

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Originally uploaded by ifshewouldspeak

In my epic tradition of celebrity pumpkin carving, which has in the past yielded no less than the Trent Rezno'lantern and Jacko'lantern Nicholson, may I present to you the emo-tastic fey songbird himself, Duncan Sheiko'lantern!

Again, click on that photo to go to my Flickr page, with many more pumpkin shots, and some new ones of our house, too. We actually have a bed and a proper chair now! Seriously! :)

What evil lurks on supermarket shelves...

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Originally uploaded by ifshewouldspeak

How about a reminder of who you are? Oh, I'm just a little Pennsylvania Dutch farm girl set loose in the big city. And my fella was sweet enough to bring this home from the store for me as proof.

Click on that photo to go to my Flickr page where there are MANY more photos to be viewed.

I've been meaning to post this for awhile:

Official Wedding Photos

:)

The new place!

Now, without further delay, I present to you our top floor duplex in Capitol Hill. The entire building was condemned in the '70s, and then rebuilt as a HUD project. It has a very distinct vibe from that era. Dark wood trim, slightly shaggy beige carpet, a funky loft area, etc.

The kitchen, and our friend Dane's dog Guinness in the bottom right. We are not planning to keep the refrigerator in that spot, but have yet to move it.

Living room / kitchen split. That door leads out to a deck, small but big enough for a bbq, table and chairs. None of which we have yet.

Standing a little bit in front of the deck door, I took this photo. Ahead of us are stairs to the loft and bedrooms. Bedroom windows face to the street. To the right you can sort of see the entryway and stairs down to the front door.

Stairs down to the front door. The entryway has Berber carpet.

Coming back up the stairs, the door to the bathroom - which is really cute and has a claw foot tub. I have not had time to photograph that yet, so just take my word for it.

Stairs up to the attic. Paint is beautiful, and goes really well with my cross from Ensenada. So far, the loft is my favorite thing about this place. It feels kind of transcendental.

Bedroom# 1 - I think this is going to be where we sleep. Still pending paint touch ups on the walls and floor by our landlady, Barbara.

Bedroom # 2 - This is going to be the guest bedroom / office. It is the same size as the other bedroom, but has a much smaller closet. No thanks! ;)



Like I said, bedroom # 2 has a small closet, and when you open the door to exit, you have to walk under the stairs to the loft. It's sort of quirky and fun. In the background, you can see the kitchen and the door that opens out to the deck.



The attic loft, also known as MY SHOE CLOSET. Too bad I only have about 20 pairs with me right now. The shoes are lonely and want their friends (the other 180 or so pairs) to come up soon and join them in their new spacious digs. Seriously!



So much room for shoes, so little time to shop for them. This is facing the opposite way in the loft. The door opens to a large storage area.



The view from our kitchen window, and part of the deck. The whole neighborhood is covered in trees like this, and the houses are old and expensive. The grass is our backyard - unfenced - and beyond it there is a small alleyway and then someone else's backyard.

Downtown on a rainy Saturday

Sorry for the complete lack of posting since I arrived. Our internet access is limited until we get into our new place on October 1, but otherwise Timothy and I are adjusting quite well to living together in Seattle. Our work schedules are absolutely identical, as are our commutes, so we've quickly turned into this symbiotic "old" couple who gets up together at 5 am every day and is in bed by 10 pm. Totally revelatory for me, as it seemed like one or the other of us (and usually both) was always losing sleep and stressing out over schedules and when we could see each other before we got hitched and moved here. So, we're very happy about that. Our temporary place of residence is cute, but it's basically a basement apartment, and it's freezing! I sleep in socks and sweats and sometimes I am still chilly, even with Timothy next to me. Brr! The only issue we have is related to Dodger... and I am so upset about it that I don't want to discuss it, not now and possibly not ever. Suffice to say that my sweet boy is not adjusting well, and I've made a very difficult decision based on his behavior and our living/working situation, which is for the best. That's all I will say here. Anyway, aside from that, I have been taking lots of pictures, but forgot the cord today to upload from my camera, so I'll ask again for your patience on that matter. Tim and I are going to see Filter play at El Corazon tonight... one of our friends is in the opening band. Should be a lot of fun.

I'm heading to the Pike Place Market in just a minute... will write more when I can.

Love to you all... call me!!