Behind

This was nearly a month ago.
My sis from MN came into town during a week off that I took to attend SewExpo in Puyallup. She came to help deal with the parents and our sister who is depressed.

We squirreled Mom and (surprise!) our sister away on a beach trip. Our older sis is better than last winter but was sinking fast again in the grey Oregon winter. It was a surprise that she came on the beach trip as she doesn't leave her house.

It was winter.

Blustery, rainy and snowy.

We picked Lincoln City/Newport because that mountain pass sits lower. My temperature gauge sunk to 33' as I was driving....thankfully, it went no lower.

We stopped in Lincoln City to see where the big super moon tides at the end of January hit Kyllo's Restaurant and saw the construction crews already had the windows that blew out back in. ODOT was still repairing the hwy where the tide came up to.

But it was cold and blustery so we hustled back into the car and continued on down to Newport where the weather app said it wasn't raining as much.

Baked oyster. These were so good.

We lunched at Mo's down at the dock and watched the seals in the harbor. We tried to go to the Hatfield Marine Center but *winter hours* - dang. Oh well, Rogue Brewery is always open. Here's my mom - shocking those grandkids.

 Our next stop was actually a detour as we had seen fresh crab at the Newport Thriftway (supermarket) for only $5.99/lb. Awesome price. We stocked up and continued north to the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse. 

My little sis and I journeyed over to Galway, Ireland when my daughter was doing a study abroad and we clearly recall the Cliffs of Moher. One step forward, two steps backwards in that Atlantic wind. That wind was in both our minds at the top of the headland where the lighthouse sits.

But it wasn't raining....

Steamed Clams - afterwards.

I think I had crab three times that week. Winter - post Christmas - is the best time to get fresh dungeness crab. Yummy.

There is light at the end of the tunnel at work with a possible sighting of the new clerk  starting Saturday. (six months after the other clerk retired!). Anyways, that will help downsize all the overtime and long 12-hr split shifts for me.

I've got a couple of unexpected weeks off work coming up and I have already over-scheduled it with jobs that must be done. If you need to know what unexpected means you can email or private message me.

I'm gonna try to get my backlog of photos off my computer as it has caught a wee virus and probably needs a check-up. I need to throw my photo collections onto the external hard drive beforehand. Hopefully, I'll summon up the energy to write a few blog posts with them.

My son's quilt/throw (second time around) is nearly finished. I'm hand-sewing the binding down now. I can't send it to them until April 15th when they move into their house they bought. I may just fly out  to visit them with it in my suitcase instead. And I'll have news on them in another blog post!

Randomly In March Already

 Spring is here. Most of the east coast and midwest are buried in snow drifts. We in the Willamette valley of Oregon are just sitting back and enjoying our four month show of spring flowers. Maybe a few gray, overcast days to break up the monotonous beauty.

I am taking photos and only a few are even making it to Instagram. A fellow employee retired clear back in October and we have yet to get another body hired. Lots of 12 hour split shifts for me. I was pretty sick since December and I seemed to pick up three versions of something and it's been difficult trying to get on top of the crud with so many tiring work hours.

I took advantage of being tired and played Library Bingo where you could just read four category books and win a mug or you could play all 16 (blackout!) and be in the running to win a Kindle Fire. For some reason, this hit me at the right time of year and I was very inspired to read not just quick novels,  but some new to me books in categories I normally don't read and that seemed to fit my energy level quite well.

Anyway, I took a week off last week to go to SewExpo (sewexpo.com) and used the time well. My son and girlfriend visited and my sis from MN flew in to help do some family (interventions). So the week was busy but not over the top which so often happens when my sis visits.

I also had the opportunity to be one of the first reviewers of a friend's foray into writing children's books. She is a talented illustrator. I don't know if you're familiar with Jan Brett but this gal has a similar style of making the illustrations tell a story beyond the actual story.  She hasn't published yet but is very close.

 This book is a version of the 12 days of Christmas. "...My true love gave to me Six Warthogs Wading...", set in a fanciful zoo of animals.

 Until the princess is surrounded by all these wonderful animals and has to call mom on what to do now.

 This book features a boy who drinks a sip of coffee and turns into a fanciful animal. A very simple story but gorgeous illustrations that are fun to ponder and enjoy on their own.

So, here I am with new fabric for a new quilt. The post office keeps saying since they "delivered' it to a parcel locker, the claim for insurance is denied. The not giving out keys issue is totally ignored. If you're new to this story, I made a quilt for my son for christmas. he never got a key to the parcel locker. My sis in MN also sent him a package that arrived the same day and also, NO KEY. If you can read between the lines, a few choice swear words were inserted.

So quilt no.2 is all sandwiched now and I have started the hand stitching. After that, I can bind it and re-send it either to their new house or via UPS since USPS is ridiculous in their no communication.

I was in sort of a denial place. Partly because I didn't want to re-make this and partly because winter will be over before they get it. And it was made for Christmas Wintery Cold.

And of course the fabric store didn't have the same fabrics - they had also moved onto Spring. Now I think I should have made a spring gingham but I am committed. Possibly I should be committed.

 Here's a picture for Kyle of the snow that shut down Portland. Bare ground. Schools cancelled the day before it even snowed. Gone by afternoon snow.  Portland did get hit much harder than my banana belt community.

And finally.
My dd nailed this photo of the Northern Lights. She's still up in Alaska.
This is what 3am looks like on a cold wintry night.