To "Home" and Back Again

Here's some peeks at Christian and my trip back to Washington (state).  I think you can click to enlarge (if not, oops!). I also apologize for the wonky tilt-your-head-to-see-them pictures.  I swear on all that is holy that I turned them correctly but they went afoul when uploading to this.  Due to the sheer volume of pictures, I have opted not to fix it at the moment.

A cool bench in Poulsbo, Wa.

Give us this day our daily bread.  Amen.

A British phone kiosk in "Little Norway" - cool, but kind of weird.

My favourite bakery evah!

Sly's had these delicious cookies.  Yes, Vikings!!!

Waving the flag a bit.



Some of the main street in Poulsbo (Viking Way???)

Cool salmon handrail.

My pops.



My pops and baby brother, Bill.  This is some army bunker on Bainbridge Island.  Dad and Bill took Christian on a long hike and a drive around the island one day.



He's actually holding that sucker up!

A cute pic of grandpa and grandson.

Uncle Bill and Christian.

A ferry boat from Bremerton.

Christian got some good pictures that day.  In fact, many of these in this post are his doing.

Christian got a good chuckle out of this street name.  Dad and Bill got a chuckle out of his chuckle.

A Japanese memorial on the island.

Seattle . . . only saw the city from a distance.  Next time we're in town, I'm going to go to Pike Place Market.  I lament that I didn't make it in this time.

Christian at Frog Rock.

Eagles Christian saw.  I was jealous, but happy for him, as I hadn't seen any yet.  I say yet.  Because, a day later at the petrol station, there was a lone bald eagle flying overhead.  I was so happy!

Jen, Sabrina, Erika, and I.  Old friends!

My sister, Mary, and I.

Mary and Christian.

Mum and Christian.

Me and the dern Parents!

First meal after landing in Seattle . . . clam chowder and some proper coffee.  And, on the ferry boat!!!

See the radar ball?  Yes.  Well, that thing is usually parked out off the side of Ford Island (where I live), but it had been gone a while . . . only to find it in Seattle. I spied it from the taxi to the ferry boat and died laughing!

High School Road, Bainbridge, with the Olympic mountains in the background.  The Cascades are the ones over on the Seattle side.  I double-checked with my dad just now so I wouldn't be a total dum-dum here.  I would show my old high school, but there's only one building left and the original sign.  Too different to really bother.



At Waimea Falls last weekend with Dan, Christian, and Rachel . . . it was REALLY wet.



I can't recall the names of these, but they are really funky.

cock-a-doodle-do!

I can't remember the name of these either, but I did cross stitch one once.

White Ginger. 

Mama and baby peacocks.



Playing with her camera before the rain really pummeled us.



Wet and wild (mildy upset) at the Falls.

Her camera is safe in my purse (I still have the shoulder strap marks to prove it - just kidding).

This is what is keeping me busy and BLIND!  Back stitching is a pain, but it's always so pretty when it is completed.

Okay, so here it is (most of it).  40 pictures (out of nearly 400).  Uff da!

I'm Home!

I will add more later (with pictures), but I'm home!!!  Just in case anyone cared.  *snort*

So far today I have managed to clean the downstairs bathroom, pick up a framed picture I bought before I left, shopped at the commissary (uff da!), and took Christian to his orthodontist appointment.  Oh yes, and stopped by Bed Bath and Beyond for two boxes of regular coffee k-cups, because in my absence my older two children decided to become 'regular' coffee consumers.  They left me four Jamaica Me Crazy regular coffee k-cups and four Breakfast In Bed k-cups. 

I do need to cut back, though.  I was, after all, in Seattle.  Well, on Bainbridge Island (to be specific) . . . where there literally are many coffee shops (including Starbucks).  I also went into Poulsbo (Little Norway) and Kingston/Hansville . . . where there are little mum and pop coffee shops all over the place.  Wow.  Anyway, I've had one cup of regular coffee this morning and one decaf. 

Yes, I do have an headache.  But, I'm glad glad glad to be home!!!!

On my mum:  her recovery is going well.  Her shoulder did not need surgery, thank God.  If so, I would have (with my siblings) agreed she would need to recover from that in a nursing home (mentally, this would have done mum in, we all believe - she has a dreadful, irrational fear of being stuffed into one for the rest of her days; which, is tempting to say the least, at times . . . ahem ahem ahem, oh heavens!).  Okay, so that didn't need to happen.  They wanted her to recover from her heart scare/shoulder in a nursing home but she went wacko off on them and that's why I went home:  so she could go home.  She does not have congestive heart failure (although, if she does not continue to take care of herself - insert doubt on all our parts here - she will have before long).  Apparently, oxygen rich blood isn't filling her chambers up and that causes her light-headedness and chest discomfort.  Honestly, her potassium levels were so high, she had to stay in hospital longer than she wanted.  She struggled with feeling like she was tied down (in the bed; she wasn't tied down, but the rails up made her uneasy).  They let her sleep in a chair, because, quite frankly, she wasn't having the bed.  In fact, they released her the day I flew in . . . my brother, dad, and mum were on the ferry boat right behind Christian and I.  Huh.  I barely got turned around before she came in the door.

She was sooooo surprised.

I hope that in the coming days she won't start complaining I didn't do nearly enough for them while I was there, but knowing her the way I do, it's inevitable.  Personally, the more ornery she is, the healthier I know she will be.  So, it's not such a bad thing then.

God is good all of the time.  Amen.