end of October

 If  you are arachnaphobic, quick, scroll down two photos before you realize what you're looking at.  Quick, now!

If you're not, look at this golden orb spinner.  Isn't she big?  Friends from Oz, this is as big as they get around here. Honest to goodness.  I've seen pictures of your huntsmen, and they creep me out immensely.

Summer is over and this spider is on her last legs(as it were) and getting ready to go to that great web in the sky, or I wouldn't get my finger so close to her.  We have little spiders, because they freeze out every winter.  This one has had a web on the front porch, and has been a meticulous housekeeper, cleaning out the after-dinner mess and repairing the structure every day.





There's a house in the neighborhood that decorates like mad every halloween.  This year, they have added a giant spider, about a meter and a third from head to abdomen.  The eyes glow in the dark and the darn thing waves its legs.  And in the groundcover underneath, they have  a set up that will flash a pair of red eyes at you, then the lights disappear, the leaves rustle as if something is scurrying beneath them, and a pair of red eyes flashes from somewhere else.

But nothing jumps out to frighten you,and there is no gore or overt violence.  Just mega-creepy atmosphere.

 We are much more moderate for the season.  I carve a few pumpkins, and we leave the porch light on.

I use my linoleum knife to carve the skin away, but leave the underlying flesh intact.  Of course, I have to cut off the top and clean out the seeds.  And, since the pumpkin is pretty much air-tight when I put the lid back on, I cut two air holes in the back - on top and one bottom.  If I used those battery operated led I wouldn't have to do that, but I'm anold-fashioned girl.  Sometimes I have to scrape the inside of the thicker-fleshed pumpkins to get to the translucency point, My favorite tool for this is a steel serving spoon with a wide bowl.

I made a little lantern out of this one, with simple geometric designs, but it looks cool in the dark..

I have a collection of stencils for the other designs.  I always do the kitty every year, and then something appropriately spooky as well.  This is the first year I have done the reaper.

We have 90full sized candy bars.  Last year, we had to turn out the light when we ran out of candy.  We had 70 kids and I was giving out Hershey's kisses at the end, because I had some for baking.

I haven't really planned on a costume.  Maybe I'll use up some old eyeshadow and paint my face like a butterfly.

Hope your all saint's eve is fun!

Sunday in October

Holy Crow!  It's almost Halloween!  We gotta go get pumpkins!  So, since DH did NOT have to work this Sunday, (If he did work, they would have had to pay him triple time, since reworked all of last weekend.) we went in search of the wiley pumpkins.  It was overcast and cool, and the pumpkin field was a sea of mud.  I had my hot pink galoshes, and DH had his profound masculine nonchalance, so we slogged out and made our selections.  And we picked up some assorted squashes as well because they were there,  lolling in their various bins, calling out in their little squashy voices to be taken home with us.  I thought I got some splendid photos of various bins of squash and fields of pumpkins, but I still haven't figured that one random finger stroke that turns on the damn movie camera, so I got lots of movies of the squashes, which don't do a damn thing but lie there looking photogenic.

At last, I got one still photo of the gourdish haul, before we loaded them into the car.  We took a scenic route home, through the hills, and all the gourds, squashes, pumpkins, ran back and forth across the back of the car, trying to get a good look out the window.  Squashes don't get out much and they simply couldn't sit still!  But they were only minimally bruised when we got home, so,no harm, no foul. Now I am squinting at those orange surfaces and imagining faces.

With an afternoon before us, we looked for something to do that we would both enjoy.  The new Three Musketeers movie is now showing.  It was SO much fun!  It's well cast with appealing actors young and old.  It even drifts loosely around the original story, though Dumas never imagined the flying warships or the Countess DeWinter engaged in Matrix-like sword fights with the Cardinal's guards or any of the other interesting twists, but I kept grinning through the whole show, and Dh enjoyed it, too.

There have been 40 movie versions of the Three Musketeers.  I think I remember Michael York as D'Artangan. And didn't Racquelle Welch once play Constance?

The costumes in the latest version were a treat, though only roughly accurate.  I adored the king's shoes and hats!  It might be fun to compare costumes across all 40 versions.

Now, /dh is back to work for another 12days straight, and I have pumpkins to carve.  And a camera to learn how to use. Wish me luck.

Trying to post photos again

This is how October looked on Tuesday.


And here is a movie of my cute little vase/napkin rings.
file://localhost/Users/roxie/Desktop/IMG_0087.MOV
It may come through.  "Why a movie?" you may ask?  Because I still haven't figured which random finger stroke I need to  make to get a still photo.

I have not yet pulled out all my hair.  I should quit while I'm ahead.

I'm so easily amused

http://youtu.be/yEH4Yum4nN4

What's it like where you are?

Autumn is edging it's way up on us.  Leaves are falling.  Wind is blowing.  Today we have sun, but this will probably be the last of it, so I'm going to bundle up and take myself out for a walk.  But I wonder, what's it like where you live?  Spring is bounding up on Australia.  Are there no daffodil photos to share?  How about the foliage in New England? What's October like in Southern California?  I challenge you.  Take a picture of your day and share it.



My cold has relinquished the flooding sinus and achey fever stage, and is just snuffly uncomfortable.  A "Woman cold" as Doug S. in Australia would say.  My DH says that "Man colds" are worse than "Woman colds" because men won't acknowledge  that they are sick until it actually kicks their feet out from under them and they are unable to crawl back up.  Then they accept the illness and enjoy it fully.  Women have the sense to pay attention to their bodies and treat a cold when it first shows up. Men are trained to be tough and steely eyed and deny all pain as merely a flesh wound, not worth paying attention to.  Women, who have to clean up the aftereffects, know enough to catch things before they get critical.  We rarely die of flesh wounds.

Things have been quiet in the blogverse lately.  How are things going for you?

Post knitting

The tea was lovely.Lots of happy women with lots of comfortable talk and love.  The set up was quite nice, if I do say so myself, but the pictures came out lousy.  Over exposed, under exposed and blurred.  I used my new little vase/napkin rings with little yellow and brown Peruvian lilies.  That was at 6 places.  Green and gold beaded napkin rings for 4 other places and wooden napkin rings at the ends.  Fruit themed round plates alternated with sage green square plates. (I had the square plates set on point.  A retired accountant sat at one of those places, and promptly turned the plate to be square with the edge of the table ;-)  Dark brown tablecloth.  Khaki or brown napkins. The two  three-tiered serving stands loaded with cookies and cakes, and between them, the cake plate bearing green and red grapes, surrounding a small vase holding five red roses.  Very dark and rich and opulent.  And because every tea party needs some chocolate, a scattering of assorted Lindor balls.  All in all, quite a successful party.

I give some credit to the subliminal messages in my red wall, though.  Pat thinks I should do a post on the red wall, butI've pretty much already told you all about it. You paint the wall with flat paint, then mix the remaining paint with high gloss glaze.  Cut out stencils of words you want to express.  My dining room has, "Eat, enjoy, talk, listen, laugh, love."  In the bedroom, it says, "Yes!" over and over with stars and hearts.  Tape the stencils to the wall, and paint over them with the high gloss paint. When you are done, pull off the letters.  They will show as matte next to the glossy. It will only show in the right light, but the words are there all the time, visible subliminally.

LG stayed and helped me with the dishes, bless her dear, dear heart, and then I sat sown to rest a bit.   The longer I sat, the more clear it became to me that I have caught DH's cold.This is the crappy cold with a fever that makes you feel like you have been wrung out like a washcloth and draped over the side of the bucket to dry.  By the time Dh got home from work (he had to work this weekend - blast it!) I was in full blown sinus flood and misery.  So do be warned, all you ladies who trustingly came to my party - Quite un-intentionally, you have been exposed.

I slept all day yesterday.  I've spent most of today in beads well.  I hope to get dressed tomorrow.  Maybe.

And unfortunately, being sick has never killed my appetite.  I am throwing myself on leftover tea treats like there is no tomorrow.  Seven cranberry oatmeal cookies is not the same as a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. I don't have the strength to just throw the stuff out, and DH Hasn't been remembering to take it to work with him.  Do you think three apple cake cupcakes could count as one small apple for WeightWatchers?  No, Ididn't think so either.

This is so cool! Hope it comes through

Amazing nature - The Eagle Owl <http://www.dogwork.com/owfo8/>

Eureka!

 Ha!It took about seventeen steps, but I finally got photos onto the blog!!  Here is DH in the Jade suite we got as a free upgrade at the Pan Pacific Hotel.  This is just the sitting room area.  There's also a separate bedroom, a bath and a half, a kitchen area, and a secluded little vanity perfectly lighted to apply makeup.

I sing the praises of PanPacific!  Even the bellhop makes eye contact and seems genuinely interested in your comfort and contentment.

And this is the balcony of the Jade suite.  Immense!  And whadda view!  I spent many a happy daydream imagining weddings held out here.

Then , for something completely different, the view from our shipboard cabin.  Yes, we look directly out on to the lifeboat we have been assigned to.  Hey, we booked an inside cabin, so this is an upgrade.  Natural light, a view of the sky, and the occasional entertainment of watching the crewmen washing things down or painting them up.

 Tea at the Empress in Victoria, BC .  Beautiful china!  Crisply ironed napkins, perfect tea and yummies to devour. It was such a civilized experience!

I wore this same black dress every night, so had to think of how to make it look different.  Beth Miles made me a necklace to go with my red cardigan.  I asked for a necklace that says, "Look at ME!" so no one would notice that ". .. it's that same damn dress again.  Doesn't that woman own anything else?"  The necklace is so very right for me.  I love it!  And nobody noticed my dress.

Knitting here on Saturday.  The theme is harvest.  Pumpkin bars, apple cake, grapes, figs if I can find them, and chicken with rosemary quichlettes.  I hope.

 Still fighting with the computer to get photos up. Here's a hat I knitted for my Bro-in-law the scoutmaster.  Gotta keep the ears warm on those snow-camping expeditions.  This is the yarn I thought looked like a dinosaur, and tried to knit a fierce sort of ridge across the top.  It wound up looking entirely too phallic, and got frogged right down. Still, it makes good cammo for a spring landscape.  Tuck one flap over your lower face, put on a gray jacket, and disappear under a willow tree.

And here's a quilt I made for my niece who was in the army. Red, white and blue, stars and stripes.  She ought have an emergent blanket in her 4wd truck.


There are lots of cruise photos in the photo album, but when I want to put them on the blog, it says "Server not connected."  I continue to fight the Apple war.

diddit!

It took four and a half solid hours, but I got ten months worth of paperwork properly filed.  Whew!  My brain is wrung out.  And I got in my ten thousand steps, because I had to spread out on the dining room table with the leaves pulled out,(and use the sideboard as well) then walk the finished piles in to the office to stick them in the file cabinet.  I pretty much filled a recycling bin with expired coupons, and the advertising shoved in with bills, and had to empty the shredder twice from all those credit card applications.  (I use the shredded paper as mulch, then cover with a thin layer of "beauty bark.")

I changed the sheets, and, thanks to my wonderful robot servants, I also got an entire week's worth of laundry done, and washed the dishes. Then I took the bottles to the store to recycle, used the change to buy a bottle of Ivory liquid for cheap bubblebaths, took in drycleaning, picked up drycleaning, mailed packages, folded and put away a week's worth of laundry, took down the curtains and washed them, and started planning for the knitter's tea.

My theme this month is Harvest.  I'll have apple cake, pumpkin cookie bars, oatmeal cookies, grapes, (and if I can find them, figs) and rosemary/chicken quichelettes.  MLR gave me some gorgeous fruit-themed china, and this is the perfect time to use it!

I got photos off my phone, and onto the laptop.  Now to get them onto the blog.  Wish me luck!!

List

There are 27 things to do on my list.  Dishes, laundry, plan and prep for the knitters on Saturday, and the dreaded FILING.  I have a two foot deep pile of paper that needs to be sorted and stored.  Receipts for taxes, medical bills, utility bills, cards and letters.  I have put this off, at least once a week, for oh, 42 weeks or so.  It's gotta be done, and ignoring it hasn't made it go away.  So today I will buckle down, knuckle down, and do it, do it, do it.  Then I will treat myself with a trip to the mall where I will buy new lipstick and get a free makeup bag.  I've tried the stick, and the carrot works so much better for me.

In spite of faithfully taking the stairs instead of the elevator, I gained three pounds on the trip.  The fresh bread and extra-fat butter, and the wine conspired against me.  Being lactose intolerant was a Godsend, since there were so many mouth-watering dishes made with cream and cheese.  They had macaroni and cheese with LOBSTER!  I had lots of salads and fresh fruit cups, but the fresh bread and butter, omg it was good.  Not just one slice and pat good, but three or four.  Back onto Weight Watchers. 

Also on my list of things to do is figure how to get photos onto the blog.  I am making transition from PC to Mac and am dazed and confused.

San Diego Airport

The cruise ship docks are about two miles from the airport.  We disembarked into a glorious sunny San Diego morning and considered.  Do we want to drag all our luggage two miles to we know not where?  Do we want to stand in  those LONG lines for a taxi?  Do we want to pay $7 per person to ride a crowded and un-air-conditioned shuttle bus that will go to every other airline before it gets to ours? Or... .  do we want to pay a bit more and have a young man with thighs of steel tow us in his pedicab through the balmy sunshine and sea-fresh air?  We went with the pedicab.  Squeeee!  It was sort of slow-going at first because there were lots of tourists wandering around with their heads up and locked and paying no attention to things going on around them.

So, I sort of let them know we were coming, and they obligingly moved aside.  "Yeee ha!  Coming through!  Woopwoopwooop! Let's go!  Yeeeee haaawww!"
When traffic thinned a bit, our driver said, "I didn't know they had the bar open this early."


We were late disembarking because the ship had so many non-American passengers (Canadians) and many of them didn't realize that even if they weren't getting off the ship, they would still have to be accounted for by US Emigration.  Everybody on the ship had to take their passport to the nice people and be verified.  An hour after we were supposed to be on shore, the cruise director was still announcing, "Will Serena Rodriguez of cabin 4198, Mr. and Mrs, Ngyn of cabin 8703, Mr. and Mrs Waldorf of Cabin 1022, Miss Waldorf and Miss Simpson of cabin 1023, and Mr. Andrew Po and Mr. William Johnson ofCabin 1028, please report to to the emigration officers on Deck 2.  No one will be allowed to leave the ship until everyone has been cleared."  If I had known any of those people, I would have chivied them down muy pronto, chop chop!  There were folks who were in danger of missing their flights.

But finally we all cleared, and DH and I wound up standing in line on the stairs, waiting to exit the gangway.  Behind us, a mom and dad were explaining to 6 ish Johnnie why he shouldn't be jumping up and down the steps and bugging everyone.  So I turned around and said, "Have you had a good trip, Johnnie?"

He was flat out flummoxed.  "How did you know my name?"  Then he suddenly went all shy and hid behind Dad.  When he peeked out again, I said, "I heard your folks telling you why you shouldn't be jumping up and down the steps.  Do you remember what they said?"

Evidently Johnnie thinks better with his finger in his nose.  Up the nostril and he could report, "It bothers everyone else."

"So let's just talk and we won't bother anyone else.  Have you heard any jokes?"
He knew most of the knock knock joke about the banana, but  he didn't know the punchline, so I had to give it to him.  Folks around us chuckled.  I told a couple of knock knock jokes.  Then another lady further up the stairs told another knock knock joke.  A grandpa down the line came up with an elephant joke.    Little Johnnie kept us all well amused by laughing uproariously at our silly old kid jokes.  When you're 6, you've probably never heard why a fireman wears red suspenders. Actually, he'd never heard of suspenders.  He didn't want to believe in them, but then one of the older gents in  line took off his cardigan and displayed his suspenders.  Johnnie was FASCINATED!  It was probably the best part of his trip.

And talk about good timing!  We get off the ship and head off for cool and rainy Portland, and the ship heads back out into the Pacific to play tag with a couple of hurricanes.  They will not be stopping at Puerto Vallarta at all, because a hurricane is due to hit the same day they were scheduled to arrive. So they will spend an extra day at sea, in hurricane stirred waters.  A second hurricane (Irving)is following close on the heels of the first, so they will miss their second port as well, spending a second extra day at sea.  Then Cabo San Lucas for a day, and back through the stormy ocean for two more days.  SO glad to miss that!

And since the connection is free here, and fast, And we have another hour to kill, I am going to catch up on all of your blogs now.  Happy trails!

Day 3 - last at sea

Yesterday the swells stayed high and a lot of people stayed in their rooms, so the formal dinner was not as colorful as others we have attended.  Of course, this is also Holland America where most of the passengers are retired and formal nights don't bring out the brides-maids dresses.  We have also cruised on Carnival.  Carnival to Holland America is like Las Vegas to Monaco.  Lots more color, glitz and flash on Carnival.  Much younger crowd.  Not nearly as much money and experience.  On Holland America, you see real diamonds. On Carnival, big cubic Zirconiums.  Carnival has firm, fit, youth and beauty.  Holland America has wit and wisdom.  Carnival, they eat and drink and party all night long, then sleep till the crack of noon.  Holland America, it's early to bed and early to rise, reliably healthy, wealthy and wise.  So no extraordinary attire to report, though I did see a number of diamonds big enough to choke a pony, and a string of Tahitian pearls that I would give my eye teeth for.  Lots of good black silk dresses and nice cashmere wraps.  One artistic old gal had what looked like a Tibetan gong slung around her neck and bouncing against her belly as she walked.  Between the gong and the coral and turquoise beads, the thing must have weighed about seven pounds!  Then she had her hair pulled up in a bun with whisps falling loose and half a dozen picks with fetishes dangling stabbed through at various angles.  That,with the orange eye-shadow did rather make her stand out in the crowd.

Today is calm and sunny. I'm on the lifeboat deck watching the walkers circle past.  DH is feeling much better, and soon we may return to the spa.  Tomorrow, sigh, off the ship and back to reality.  But for now, a cool breeze, bright sunlight, blue sea and all the food you can eat right at hand.  Life is GOOD!

Better than I could have hoped.

Last night, after a gray and rainy afternoon, the weather started to clear, and as we sat down to dinner, sun broke through.  We were at the mouth of the Strait of Juan deFucca, so the change to open ocean and the late afternoon light hitting the water made such a beautiful picture!  Luckily, our table is right near the window, so I was able to feast my eyes,  And then, in the golden afternoon light, I saw a whale blow. And another!  And another!!  There was a whole pod of whales.  One rolled.  A little one flipped his flukes!  There was a swirl where it looked like a pair were bubble-netting. (they swim in circles around a school of fish, blowing a curtain of bubbles and driving the fish close together and up to the surface.  Then they swim right through the bait ball with their mouths open.  Smorgesbord!  The gulls were going mad above them!  It Was So Cool!!

We passed on by, and turned south into the Pacific.  There was a heavy bank of clouds along the horizon, cumulo-nimbus pilled up in stacks and towers.  The sun set behind them, limning all the edges in liquid gold.  Then the few cumulus clouds overhead began to pick up color, going from cream to apricot to rose.  The ocean took on the reflected color and turned almost lavender.  DH and I sat in a quiet little bar with big windows, sipping wine and savoring the sunset.  It was perfect.  It was magic.  It was one of those things that you are glad to have lived long enough to enjoy.

We are experiencing 10 ft swells and full sunshine.  It's about 80 degrees outside, but the ship is rolling so much that half the passengers are in bed with mal-de-mere.  I don't mind it at all, except for getting thrown into walls, furniture, and other passengers as I trip merrily about the ship.  DH toughed it out as long as he could, but finally took a Dramamine and is napping.

I had miso soup and grilled salmon for breakfast (Japanese breakfast) and sushi for lunch.  And as I trot around the ship, I keep snagging a cookie here, a croissant there - - you can't get away from the food on a cruise ship.  If you're feeding a teenage boy, it might pay to bring  him on a cruise.  You might, possibly be able to fill him up - at least temporarily.

Tonight is formal night.  I love seeing what people are wearing.  I can hardly wait!

Victoria

Victoria,BC, is elegant and civilized and charming.  Even the clerks in the souvenir shops are courteous and cheerful.  We bought t-shirts of course.  But we also stopped at Munro's Books and bought British editions of PG Wodehouse and Terry Pratchet books.  I got "Nanny Ogg's Cookbook" for those of you familiar with the disc world.

And then we went next door to Murchie's and blew a wad on teas.  I got "Radio Blend"and "Library Blend" and "Empress Blend"  and Russian Caravan"  and some with black tea and lavender, and 1/4 lb of Rose Congu (!) and bags of decaf Earl Grey, and green tea with ginger and - well, I just went nuts.  Over the next few months I can pee with Chinese, Indian, and Ceylon accents. And thus will I warm and beguile the tedium of the winter.

Our last stop of the day was the Empress Hotel where we met Jim and Margie and had High Tea.  It was squeefully wonderful!  The china was exquisite.  The service was impeccable.  And the little three-tiered cake plates were chock full of yumminess.  Smoked salmon pinwheels.  Cucumber and butter on rye bread.  Egg salad on tiny flakey croissants, and pork pate on crostini.  Next plate - current scones with unsalted butter and strawberry jam in tiny eensy teensy jars.  Top plate - Battenberg cakes with pink fondant coverings, shortbread cookies, bite-sized lemon tarts, chocolate mousse in thumb-sized chocolate cups, and cheesecake in two inch squares.  And Empress Blend tea, of course.  The waiter invisibly kept the pot hot and full.  I never saw him replace of refill it, but I know we drained it twice.  It was hella expensive, but you know, the way the stock market is going, we may as well spend the money while it's worth something, because in another month, it'll buy 20% less. And, by God, it was worth every penny.  WE laughed and feasted and made plans to maybe go cruising together next spring.

Now we are wending our way down the Strait of Juan De Fucca (and no doubt hundreds of thousands of puerile lads have sniggered over that name.) and making our way to the Pacific.  Last report was that out at sea we are expecting eight to ten foot swells, but as big as this ship is, it will be like taking a gravel road in a Cadillac.  You know the bumps are there, but you don't mind them.  Happy trails, my friends.  We will be at sea until Saturday.  Sometimes the internet fails while we're out to sea, so If you don't hear from me, fret not.

Sigh!

The robes are thick and fluffy.  The bottles of water, and the tea and coffee in the honor bar are complementary.  The dinner was superb.  And instead of just shoving the room service cart at us and holding out a hand for a tip, the room service staff came in, spread a tablecloth and set the table for us, carefully arranging the plates to best enjoy the view of the city lights shining all twinkly, twinkly on the water, then tactfully departed, allowing us to feast in privacy and comfort.

This morning, DH took our last stale doughnut out and tempted the seagulls.  He knows he shouldn't encourage the little crapsters, but he can't help it.  One glided in and landed up-wind, which meant that it had to face away from the wind to pick up the treat.  The breezes are stiff here, and pretty much blew the seagull inside out.  Feathers from the tail forward flared out, and a few even came loose.  I laughed and laughed at him.  He endured, though.  A glazed cake doughnut is not to be denied.

Breakfast was beyond expectation as well.  And DH wants the computer NOW.

omg, omg, omg!!!

We are staying at the PanPacific Hotel in Vancouver, BC.  It's right at the cruise ship dock. This is the third time we have stayed here for just one night.  This is the second time they have given us a mind-blowing upgrade.  We are in - get this - the Jade Suite!  It has a 180 degree view of the bay and the city.  It has a sitting room with a desk at one end, a dining table at the other end, and two sofas and a comfy lounge chair in between.  There's a half bath to go with the sitting room, and a big screen TV.  Then there's the bedroom with about an acre of snowy linen, windows looking out over the bay, a mountain of pillows, and of course, the big screen TV to watch from bed.

And then there's the bathroom.  With the sunken, jetted tub which also has a view over the bay. And enough fluffy white terrycloth to polish an elephant.  They provide a couple of thick toweling robes, just the thing to wear while I'm doing my face at the marble vanity in its own, separate, carefully lighted little alcove.

Oh, I forgot the balcony.  You could skateboard on this balcony.  It wraps around the face of the hotel and has about as much square footage as our living room at home.  It has chaise lounges and potted pine trees and breath-taking, breath-taking, astounding views!  We are so awe struck by this room that we have decided not to go out for dinner but instead, to go nuts and order room service.  I can't bear to leave!

Until tomorrow, of course.  That's when we get on the cruise ship for four days of luxury at sea.  No views for us on board.  We have an inside cabin.  Four days of pampering for a bit more than $300 per person.  All the food we can eat, free room service, entertainment, and not having to make the bed.  ohhh, yeeeesssss!

I'm taking pictures, but still too dim to get them onto the blog.

trippin' again!

I write this from on board the Amtrack Cascadia, leaving Portland and headed for Seattle where we will then transfer to a bus and wend our way up to Vancouver BC.  We're headed for another re-positioning cruise.  EXCITEMENT!  Amtrack provides free wi-fi in business class.  They have big, cushy seats that recline, and wide windows to watch the passing scene.  And oh, what pleasant scenery it is.  I just glanced out the window and saw a heron stalking along a riverbank.  It's grey and cloudy of course.  It's October in the pacific NW after all.  But the cottonwoods still hold their leaves and the heavily firred hillsides remain eternal green.  It's a cruise through the verdure, and  -- oh, -- I saw a cow!  A steer to be precise.  One of many grazing across the fence from the train, and watching our passing with perfectly adolescent ennui.  Been there.  Seen that.  Boring.  Nothing can be as bored as a young steer.

Yesterday we stopped at a local bakery (Sarah Bernhards) and collected a bag of breakfastable goods.  Glazed cake doughnuts keep well, and should sustain us for hours.  The dining car on the train does leave something to be desired.

Weeeehooo!  Another train is passing on the other track, headed the other way.  It makes me dizzy to watch.  And then, when it's gone, the sudden absence of roaring wall is a shock.  I'm having such a wonderful time!

DH has the other laptop out and is watching an old black and white creature feature from the 50s called, "Behemoth"  Something comes out of the ocean and threatens the idyllic fishing village and the pretty love interest.  I'm willing to bet that the dark and virile hero courageously overcomes the monster.  Wonder if his shirt gets torn?

Taking the train is SO much more pleasant than driving!  In a bit, I'm going to get up and walk to the bathroom.  Then I'm going to walk to the dining car and get a cup of tea. (They run the water through the coffee machine.  Bleach.  But it's hot and wet, and with enough sugar, it's palatable.

Passing a corn field.  Passing a farm house.  Passing a hay field.  Passing a slough with ducks and geese.  What a lovely way to pass the time!  Passing trucks and cars traveling on the freeway.  Ha, ha!  We're taking it easy, and you're stuck in your trucks.

Sorry for the stream of consciousness, but I want to share the rolling fun.  Now, we travel alongside the Columbia and can appreciate the clouds dragging their bellies along the ridge on the far side of the river.  Oh, it's October for sure and true.  Lazy low clouds in every shade of grey (or gray).  They swoop in over the ocean, soaking up water vapor, and hit the coast range like a barrage of sodden sponges.

OK, I'vegot a few pictures on my phone.  I will now attempt to download and display what my busy hands have been up to lately.