Hellooooo, bay-bee!

Remember, clicking on each photo makes it larger.

This is right outside my bedroom window, on our front porch, We have 2 houses with babies (one with sparrows, these photos, and one with black capped chickadees, in the one with the door that faces the other direction).

Yes, I will miss that part of living here. But I am going to have a "certified wildlife habitat" deck and maybe I will be real successful!

Picking out the furniture for the new place.

Jesper shelving system for our new library

Office-in-a-cabinet.

Taa-daa! I can hardly wait.
Cherry wood lateral file drawer (left) that will go with new office-in-a-cabinet.

"Wing" couch doubles as a sleeper. This will be in my new "Tuscan" inspired office space.


Ekornes Manhattan Paloma leather couch in chocolate leather, with Wenge wood trim (espresso). The couch is going to go in the family room, the love seat we have now will be placed in the living room. We don't think the difference in wood trim will matter - even if they ever end up in the same room.

Double ottoman that goes with the Manhattan couch we ordered. It will have the wenge (espresso) wood instead of what is pictured here.
Cherry wood display cabinet will go in the the living room to match the cherry dining hutch and chocolate leather Manhattan love seat we currently own. The liquor cabinet will be the bottom portion.
Steel, wood, and microfiber make up this snazzy counter stool. We've ordered three, in "Cafe" fabric color.

Avion entertainment center from BDI Design.
With optional mount (we decided to not put any holes in the wall)

We'll be getting a 46" Bravia by Sony

Click here to read CNET.com's review of the Sony Bravia

Sony Bravia specs

Dance, girl, dance

My girl friends in West Seattle know I've returned to belly dance class, since I tried to recruit them (any one of them - this was their chance!) to join me in a class - or three. I am actually taking 3 different classes from 3 different instructors on 3 different nights. A sure-fire way to get a good workout, and also find the best teacher.

Noor, my Monday night teacher, is pictured above on the far right. I took this picture of her troupe, Fleurs d'Egypte, performing at The Great Bellydance Show at the NW Folklife Festival last night. I was in the very front row.


A dancer performed with "Isis wings". It was a beautiful dance.

Tamalyn Dallal performed.


Nalini, of Russia, was a special guest.
The finale, performed by Troupe Raks Awalim of Portland, included sword dancing, a candelabra, and two sets of Isis wings.
When searching for a belly dance class I discovered there are actually three different belly dance classes being held in West Seattle. It’s been a few years since I danced, but it’s time to get back to some sort of regular exercise and I have not managed to get fired up over yoga for some reason. I think those downward facing dog poses are just too much for my rheumatoid arms, still, so I am not real motivated.

My friend Connie, from dog therapy visits at Lifecare Center, has joined me at the Monday night class with Noor. My friend Kate, whom I met on a tour of Daystar Retirement Village, was going to bring a friend to the Wednesday night class, but was a no-show this last week (first class) so I will have to check with her and see what happened because it is not too late to join! My friend Chloe, who I met in belly dance class about 5 years ago, is moving back to West Seattle (from Queen Anne) and may join me in the Hiawatha class at the end of June.

Leslie Rosen, the Wednesday class, is the best instructor. I look forward to advancing my skills with additional training in future months.

Egyptian Bellydance
Monday nights at 8 PM – session started 5/21
($60 for 6 classes)
Noor http://www.raksalnoor.com/html/instruction.htm
At Youngstown Cultural Arts Center on Delridge http://youngstownarts.org/contact_us/driving_directions

Beginning Bellydance Toolbox
Wednesday nights at 6 PM – session started 5/23
($60 for 6 classes)
Leslie Rosen http://www.leslierosen.com/html/index.html
At Youngstown Cultural Arts Center on Delridge http://youngstownarts.org/contact_us/driving_directions

Middle Eastern Dance
Thursday nights - beginners at 6:30, intermediate at 7:30 (this class is mid-session. A new session begins June 21st )
($60 for 10 classes)
Sian of The Babylonian Ensemble (hosts of MedFest) http://www.babylonianensemble.com/
At Hiawatha Community Center in Admiral District http://www.seattle.gov/parks/centers/Hiawatha.htm

Something to do on a rainy day in Seattle

Sophia and I had a recent rainy Sunday outing from West Seattle to SAM's Olympic Sculpture Park for "a walk in the park" with other iggies and their people. We left the car in the Junction near the farmers market and took the free shuttle to Seacrest Pier to catch the Elliott Bay Water Taxi across the bay to Pier 55.

The "Sightseer" operated by Argosy Cruises.
We walked along the waterfront and stopped for fish and chips at Ivar's Seafood Bar. They have a glassed-in eating area that appears to be dog friendly. Then we walked the length of the waterfront headed north towards the Olympic Sculpture Park. I finally got to see Father and Son at the same time.
These "Eye Benches" are very cool. There are 3 pairs of them. One side is a huge eye, the other side is a sitting bench.
A hardy group of 5 people and 7 appropriately dressed IGs braved the wet and windy weather.
My favorite piece, "Love & Loss". It is hard to appreciate it in 2 dimensions since it is 3 dimensional, interactive art. You can sit on it! The letter e in the word love is the top of a table to the right of this shot.

Several hours later we headed back, walking back to Pier 55 and catching the boat back across the bay, the free shuttle back to the Junction, and then dragging our wet and soggy selves into the car to drive the few minutes home. We were pretty tired!

A recent warm evening along the beach

Sophia and I try to walk every day - altho with my current dance class load that makes it difficult. But we did get out to the beach near the Fauntleroy ferry dock on a wonderful warm evening, close to sundown.

Sophia was sporting her "Bling Bling" t-shirt. Even tho the temperature was mid 60s, the wind out there is pretty strong, and we both needed an extra layer of warmth. And fashion, too!

Looking west from the Colman Pool.


The ferry plies the waters constantly between West Seattle and Vashon Island.

Imps and Monsters

I found this artist at NW Folklife on Friday night. I bought this print for Steve, I wish he still had the original! It's called "Staring Contest". Steve loves gargoyle stuff. The artist, Justin Hillgrove, hales from Snohomish, Washington, near where I grew up. He has some interesting stuff!

Visit Imps and Monsters

A guide to area farmers markets

Hot off the press and in today's Seattle Times. Read or print out A guide to area farmers markets

Crystal-covered MINI Cooper to make its debut on Good Morning America on Wednesday morning

You know how I love my MINI. But I've received comments that it is the most conservative MINI people have ever seen - even when it's on the track. I've had drivers in the car next to me waiting at a light give me advice on how to jazz it up. Most people think I should get some flames on it or something - I've been envisioning lightning playing across the hood.

The "American Icon," a MINI Cooper covered with a mural made up of more than a million Swarovski crystals, will make its debut Wednesday on "Good Morning America."

The car, featuring scenes of famous Americana -- the Statue of Liberty, White House and Mount Rushmore among them -- was created by CrystalArt, a new company that makes fancy greeting cards out of crystals. The car incorporates 50 different hues of crystal color to represent the 50 states. It took four people six months to finish the drivable art, which carries an estimated value of $250,000. To see more, check out Crystal Art.

How can I ever compete with this?

Live Earth: The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis

Wow, this is too cool. A whole web site and series of 7 global music concerts in support of greening the Earth and reducing global warming. It's an MSN channel that "melds music and movement". Live Earth, as MSN editorial director Mark Pawlosky points out in his inaugural column, “is a user-friendly, green-tinged site wrapped around one of the most ambitious music events of all time”.

The date to remember? 07/07/07
In fact, you can even click on a link to automatically add the appointment to your Outlook Calendar - or your MSN Calendar, Google Calendar, Yahoo Calendar, Apple iCal - or get "Windows Live" alerts.

I signed up for the newsletter.

Luckily it's a Saturday or else I would have to take the day off work to watch!

Put it on your calendar! Visit Live Earth and the Alliance for Climate Pretection, the beneficiary of this fundraising effort.

There is even a section on the web site called Green - that gives you tons of tips on how to live green, reduce your footprint, and your contribution to the global warming problem.

Where does Seattle fit into all this?

Seattle is listed as one of the 10 greenest cities in the United States according to the Live Earth web site.

Read how Seattle's current Mayor Greg Nickels has led us in meeting the emissions reduction targets of the Kyoto Protocol, and challenged every mayor in the U.S. to do the same.

A walk around the new 'hood

We headed up to High Point to check out the new stairs (we asked that they replace one of the stair cases since it was not properly constructed), and since it was sunny we thought we would get a nice shot of the view.

Darn! Still can't get a clear view of the Cascades. Maybe we need a better camera...

Hrmmm, not sure what this is - we can't agree (neither of us knows for sure...) It's on the corner by our building.
Baby ducks in the High Point detention pond. There is a nice walking trail around the pond. Momma duck was across the pond.

Our townhome is the 2nd deck in from the left. You just wait - I am going to have the most amazing garden...

@home : In bloom

Steve took these photos at about 6:30 am. One bearded iris bloomed in yesterday's heat, the poppy was this morning.

We are going to have a planter garden at the new place. We'll be taking some of our lovely native plants with us!

California poppy

Dutch bearded iris
Strawberry bush
Native sword fern

Food 911!

For once I was paying attention and reading the paper online at the right time to find out about Tyler Florence's visit to Seattle...he did a cooking demo at Macy*s downtown last week and I seats! I invited my boss, Linda, for the other seat (Steve had to work). I have to thank her for moving fast and snagging front row seats. We had a good time, and they gave us tastes and recipe cards for all of the items he cooked.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Chili-Coconut Sauce

Coconut-Tomato Salad

Lemon Ricotta Crepes with Blueberries and Fresh Bananas


Tyler does a cool show on Food Network called Food 911 (among others). He also has put out a few cookbooks (you should have seen the line to get books autographed!!).


Tom Douglas, one of Seattle's most famous chefs, was in attendance. He's the guy with the big hair in the middle at the very back of the photo, leaning on the wall. We experienced a Douglas dinner creation at Teatro Zinzanni last week. I can't wait for friends from out of town to visit so we can take them to the dinner and show - it was great!! Of course, no cameras allowed...sorry!!

Progress on our townhome at High Point

The siding is on!

This is the view from the front door (SW Raymond Street) A nice little pocket park with two preserved Red Oak trees.

Inside the walls are in and they were getting ready to drywall over the weekend (May 5/6). Haven't been up there yet this week to see how it looks now...




It was a pretty nice day - this is the view in the direction of the Cascades from the office on the top floor.

This is the view from the deck on the main living floor.

A girls' weekend - tumbling tumbleweeds

Sophia and I went on an overnight trip this last weekend. We attended the "May Madness" Iggy Meetup of IGGY Ambassadors-Inland Empire in Spokane, WA, near the Washington border with Idaho. This is a sister chapter organized by Washington's IG rescue rep, Alice Espey. There were 4 of us who traveled from Seattle to attend the meetup/picnic season kick-off.

It was 290 miles to our destination and I knew I was not going to be able to drive both directions in one day. So I booked a room at a dog-friendly Motel 6 close to the freeway (I-90). Not an easy feat considering it was Bloomsday weekend in Spokane. Over 50,000 participated in the annual run this year, I guess I was lucky to get a room and not pay thru the nose for it.

I packed magazines and a movie and the little dvd player. We left around 9 Saturday morning, after a visit to the vet for a nail trim. We didn't get there until almost 2 pm because I did stop to eat and Sophia requires occasional stops to stretch her legs and do her business. I thought it was from 1-4 pm, but when I got there I found out it had started at noon. Oh well!

It is a long and boring drive, even at 90 mph. I hauled butt over, occasionally slapping myself to stay awake, and one time got off the interstate onto some farm road thinking about taking a nap but after walking around a bit and marveling at the birds in that region, we got back in the car refreshed and awake once again. I barely made it, the last 15 miles there I was sleepy again and had the window down, music going, etc. Obviously I was tired (I had gotten up at 6 am to get ready for the trip).

So the dynamics of the group in Spokane is different than the folks here in Seattle. I think part of the difference is that they do not know each other very well since they did not have an indoor meeting place over the winter. So they really are just getting organized and getting to know each other. I stayed until 5 pm, when it started getting too cold, and we headed off to our motel. We checked in around 5:30 pm. First order of business was dinner - I asked about a Chinese restaurant that would deliver and was given a menu. I ordered my favorites and it arrived in short order.

After eating, I settled in to watch the movie I had brought, Hollywoodland, a newer release with a good cast. It was a little slow and I dozed off shortly, until my cell phone rang and it was my friend Colette, who had come by the house and saw no one was home and wanted to see how things were going. She of course told me to go to bed since obviously I was tired ~ I told her I would think about it but had trouble with it since it was still light out!! After talking with her awhile I was awake again and tried the movie again. As I started feeling sleepy I decided what I *really* needed was dessert! I had a hankering for a Peanut Buster Parfait - which meant I had to get lucky and find a Dairy Queen around here without getting lost.

We went for another walk outside before getting in the car and driving down the strip leading from the freeway. Tons of fast food restaurants, no DQ. I came to a stop light and things looked a little dead beyond it, so took a left since a lot of other cars were, too. And there it was! A DQ! What a score. We went thru the drive-thru, brought it back to the room, and Sophia licked ice cream out of the lid while I enjoyed the chocolate sauce and peanuts on the vanilla soft serve. Of course, now I am disgusted that I ate that, since I just looked up the nutrition (haha) information and read I ate 730 calories and 31 g of fat in that (less the part Sophia ate). This is after take-out Chinese food. Good thing I don't travel alone very often!

It ultimately took 4 hours to get thru a 2 hour movie. I went to bed with no alarm. I took Sophia out at 2:30 and 6:30 am (that's the only problem with a small dog - small bladder). I had a new sleep outfit that was ok to be seen in public and I was wearing a coat over it anyway since it got down to about 35 degrees overnight. Brrr!

I kept turning over and managing to go back to sleep, finally getting up at 8:30. It took me an hour to get ready and pack up, and we hit the McDonald's drive-thru down the street at 9:45 am. I made a stop for gas and bug-scraping off the windshield in a "small town with a big heart" named Sprague. I drove around looking for a tumbleweed in person since I had seen a ton in the middle of the freeway caught on the fences. Couldn't find one in town, but did find this neat stone arch marker, and also a neat church (These pictures on this page). We then didn't stop again until Ellensburg, where I had lunch at the Palace Cafe. It's been open since 1892. I sat at the bar and had a Screamin' Jack burger with salad. I saved bacon and burger bits for Sophia, anxiously awaiting me in the car.

We got back on the road and made it to Steve's office in Redmond at 3:30. (Yes, he worked ALL weekend). I said hi, and left him my pocket pc/phone to work on since it's been hanging and giving me problems for some time. I came home and relaxed, unpacked, and waited for Steve to come home. The whole weekend was over, gone in a flash - or should I say, blur at 90 mph. (Well, I tried to stay closer to 80 on the way home). We missed Steve-daddy!

Snoqualmie Pass still has snow in the mountains above it.

Does green mean business?

Great post by Ideal Bite on green MBA business school.

'Urban' farmers riding the trend for fresh, local

Some of our favorite farmers are quoted in this great story in today's Seattle P-I. Steve comes with me to the farmers market JUST to talk to Wade Bennett of Rockridge Orchards. We took a MINI Cooper group there when going on a drive around Mt. Rainier in 2003 and have visited a few times since. Jeff Miller is also a great guy to talk to, and his farm is in my "hometown" of Monroe.

All I know is at this last Sunday's grand opening of the West Seattle farmers market it was more crowded than ever - perhaps partly attributed to the nice weather. Arriving a half hour after it started I still managed to get eggs! (which always sell out fast). Once the other markets kick in around the city there will be less for those shopping at Sunday markets since these farmers also go to Saturday markets in other parts of the city and sell out of a lot of things.