MatterPics

We took a day trip down to Mt. Rainier National Park today, a little over an hour away. Unfortunately it was cloudy down by the mountain, but it was still nice to get out of the city for a few hours.

Heading toward downtown:

Leaving the city:

Seattle finally has some semblance of modern mass transportation:

Passing near the adoption agency where I got Joe Jetta:

Farther south, somewhere near Puyallup:

Really in the middle of nowhere ... getting close to the park:

Yes, that blue sign says "Volcano Evacuation Route":

Entering Wilkeson, the last town before entering the park:

The long and winding road:

Too cloudy to see the mountain:

The Carbon River flowing from the Carbon Glacier - the water is kinda milky-white from the mineral content:

On this side of the sign, you're in Mt. Rainier National Park ...

... and on this side, Mt. Baker - Snoqualmie National Forest.

The road was closed and we couldn't go up as far as we wanted, but we took a short hike through the rain forest:

There's Scott - he really is standing on a path:

Hiking up the mountain:

Hiking down the mountain:

Crossing that bridge when we come to it:

On our way out:

There's a steep drop-off to the right - and one lane of the road had, well - dropped off:

Looking down at the valley:

NOW the sun comes out:

Back in Seattle - for those of you who really believe it always rains here:

Downtown:

We won't talk about the other road we took in the mountains to see a pretty lake. Let's just say that I think it is completely idiotic to have a gravel road hugging the side of a mountain with no guard rail. Since my hands were sweaty and I'm pretty sure my heart stopped a few times, I wimped out with no shame. I'm like that.

Hope you enjoyed our little trip!

MatterPics

It was sunny and 73 degress today! In Seattle!! After the most f***ed-up winter I can remember since moving here 14 years ago (including snow on April 1 - hahahahahaha, that was funny!), the windows are all open, we can smell barbecues cooking, and we have SPRINGTIME MATTERPICS!!

MatterPics

Sunday. Long, odiously difficult week at work - done. More to come. Worked today - 6:45 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Wishing all my chores had been done this weekend - impossible. Hanging in there. Waiting for Scott to get home from work. Wanting to sleep for 14 hours. Won't happen.

Started corned beef for dinner before I left for work. Slow cooker and Guiness is the key. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

Need to replace a floor tile in the kitchen. They're warped. Flattening one out using old college yearbooks. See the one on the right - definitely the 80's.

Can't find an IV, have to ingest wine orally. House wine will do.

We've nicknamed our stove "JJ", since that's all it displays until being fixed.

Our "special needs" kitty, Kasha. She's 13 years old. She loves to head-butt you until you give her some love. I adore her.

Matterday.

I realized tonight that I hate being alone. Especially on Sundays.

Scott usually works on Sundays. I should be running errands, doing laundry, cleaning the house ... but I just want a day to relax and do nothing, especially before going back to work the next day. Today, it was all I could do to get in the shower and get dressed, much less get any kind of work done.

I think it's in part because we had such a nice, relaxed day together yesterday. Finally. We sat on the couch, cuddled with one of the dogs, watched movies, and just enjoyed being with each other. We made dinner together. We had, by its very definition, a "Matterday".

And, while looking through some old records, he found something I had taken back from my Dad's house after his funeral three years ago. It was worn, tattered, in danger of completely dissolving, so he scanned it and printed it out on sturdy photo paper, and gave it to me:

This is a calendar page from December, 1968, that had been hanging on the side of the refrigerator in my parents' house since then. Notes in my Mom's handwriting mark appointments and events such as "Matt really started to walk instead of crawl" on the 14th.

I started to cry, and Scott put it up on the side of our refrigerator, where it will stay.

I've been pretty melancholy lately, the holidays do that to me, especially because there's never any time or money to make the Norman Rockwell holiday that we're supposed to have. There's too much stress and worry of whether I'll have my job for much longer. The bad weather the last week didn't help - two of the gifts I bought for Scott online still haven't been delivered. And I talked to my brothers on Christmas for the first time in probably a year, and realized how much I miss them.

So having a day with Scott, to just be, to cuddle, made me feel better. I want more. I wanted that again today. I've been watching outside for his car since 5:00, but he called at 7 to say he wouldn't be home until after 8 ... so, I sit. And wait. And want so many things to come back. My Mom and Dad. My family. My childhood. December 1968.

I want Scott to come back home from work. I want another Matterday.

MatterPics / Do The Puyallup

Last weekend, Kali and Kitty got into another fight (what is it with these dogs?). Luckily it was a holiday weekend so I was able to keep Kitty inside the next two days while she recovered from getting her right rear leg chomped near her hip. The bite was pretty superficial, but she bruised pretty badly and had trouble moving around. Here I had coaxed her for a walk:

Getting up the stairs was the hardest part. She seemed frustrated and embarrassed that she needed help. Scott crawled up the stairs next to her so she wouldn't feel bad:

We're happy to say that she seems to have pretty fully recovered and is spending her days in the backyard with the other dogs again. So today Scott and I went on the road looking for adventure. We found it in Puyallup.

The Puyallup Fair is an annual event - and a pretty big one, too.

A prizewinning vegetable display:

A 1,034 pound pumpkin:

Fair fashion:

Lots of military down presence here:

A man carving giant pumpkins. They were really very cool. The one he's working on is all cats:

There was a booth for a place named "BJ's" that sold hair extensions. They also sold this t-shirt:

Fair fashion #2. At least the bad shoes matched the bad leggings under the bad dress:

We walked past this ride where people paid to be brought up about a hundred feet in the air, then dropped part way, brought up a little again dropped again ... it's called "The Tower of Stupidity" or something like that:

What's a fair without a trip to the Livestock Barns?

Baaa:

There were lots of these around:

Cow taking a shower:

Baby chicks:

I guessed a song correctly and won a prize - purple Mardi Gras beads and a pen:

What's a fair - especially in the Pacific Northwest - without a Native American band?

Rides and things:

It's Scooter!!!!!

Time to eat ... mmmm, barbecue ...

Scooter wants ribs:

Mmmmm ...

After eating pork ribs and BBQ pork sandwich, we saw these seven-day-old piglets:

Then the drive home, with this view of Mount Rainier behind us:

Now we're home - exhausted and a little sunburned. I think a hot shower and fresh sheets on the bed sound good. I hope everything had a good weekend!