Merry Christmas...

.... to all you good people who venture to come here. 

We are home in Port Orchard WA.  Our friend from Canada, Bill Jones, is visiting us for the holidays. 

We are having a good time, cooking & eating, watching Christmas movies, shopping, eating out, etc.

We are not going anywhere this year, at least, not yet. 

 

We hope all is well with you, and your holidays are as happy as ours.  

TJ & SoCal

After the dentist pried out my broken denture, we stayed overnight while they made a new one and installed it. Then we took the train to visit our friends in Encinitas. Now we are all staying in a nice, WorldMark penthouse condo in Oceanside, for a few days, then back to Encinitas, for a few more days, then back to Port Orchard on November 2. 

In Tijuana for dentist

We got up early 10/20/15, and took taxi to bus to Seatac Airport to catch (barely) Alaska Air 11 a.m. flight to San Diego. We were picked up by a car from the Dentist's office, who drove us across the border to Tijuana, where we waited about 2 hours for my turn. 

After a grueling ordeal, I finally staggered off to the car to the hotel, with nice, strong upper teeth, but no lower teeth at all.  And very sore gums. And I was hungry.  

Fortunately, thanks to a very generous and caring and thoughtful son & daughter-in-law, Manfred was able to come, too, and we could go for a nice meal. He had a steak, and I had a marvelous shrimp cream soup. And some wine. And a strawberry milk shake. I felt much better, but sleepy, so I slept for a couple of hours. 

Next month - San Diego

We have bought tickets for San Diego October 20 - November 2. I need my dentures fixed, and we will visit our best buds in Encinitas, Chuck and Diane Fitzgerald. They have booked a WorldMark condo in Oceanside for part of that time, including a penthouse for one of the days. It will be so fun!  

Nothing much happening

We have decided not to go to Europe this year. We bought some more WorldMark credits, so we need to save money. The weather here in WA was hot in August, but now it's perfect, and the leaves are starting to turn, so it's the best time to be here. 

Bill Jones came to visit for 2 weeks, but we didn't go anywhere, except to Port Angeles. 

Finally bit the Apple

We finally went ahead and bought some shares in my fav company, Apple, Inc.  We should have done it ages ago, but better late than never. The price was $114, Aug 4.

Kirby offers

A Kirby salesman came to our door, offering free carpet shampoos. So I very happily brought him in. Our little rug was a disaster, with candle wax and years of dirt. The Kirby cleaned it good ;)  

Then he came out with the offers. First one, he wouldn't even tell the buying price, but my impression is it was around $2300. $100 down & $100/month "until it's paid off." 

After receiving a flat refusal, he proposed a 2nd offer: $1800, $0 down, $40/month. 

After I refused that as well, 3rd offer: $900, $0 down, $25/month. 

When I flatly refused that as well, he was ready to bargain even further, 

   but I took pity on him and told him I didn't want his infernal machine at any price. 

(I'm just not that into cleaning.)

The lesson is, don't pay the 2st, 2nd, or even 3rd price.  

Anyway, I'm very grateful and happy that the rug is clean, now.
Yayyy!

Moccasin boots rock

Moccasin boots is something I've always envied, but I never considered buying them because they seemed to be too self-indulgent and extravagant. Now, thanks to the generosity of Richard and Karen, I have a pair.

Those smart, wonderful people remembered a passing remark I had made, and they sent a gift card for Minnetonka moccasin boots for Mother's Day. 

The boots are even nicer than I imagined.  And they go so well with my super shawl.

Port Orchard is lovely

The flowers have bloomed and now the new leaves are coming and all the trees are changing from their Easter finery to their summer greenery. The Scotch broom is just staring to yellow up everything. I'll put some pictures soon. In the meantime, here's an egg I painted. 

Leavenworth, again.

We are in Leavenworth, with Bill Jones. We came to see our WorldMark concierge,Tamas, to make some plans to go to Europe with our new credits. Tamas is now the manager here. We were here in January, but that's when it was full of ice and Xmas lights. Now it's pretty plain, getting ready for spring. We return to Port Orchard on Friday, the 20th.

Port Orchard is getting pretty, and we, too

Trees of Port Orchard are very fashion-conscious. They are putting on their lovely spring dresses. It started early February.

 

 

 

It goes well with my new finery -- this beautiful, hand-woven shawl bought by wonderful daughter-in-law, Karen, in the Pike's Place Market, Seattle. Colors most sumptuous, feel most soft. 

 

Not to mention Manfred's new hand made leather just-the-right-size shoulder bag, also bought by Karen, in Pike's Place Market. Looks so cool, feels so soft. Goodbye ugly fannypack. 

Back from SoCal

The visit with our best friends in SoCal was so marvelous - all wonderful. We went 1st to a hotel in TJ, next day to the dentist, who fixed Manfred's teeth, no charge. Now they are beautiful again. He finished about 1:30, the driver took us to the border to walk across, because there was nobody lined up. We crossed quickly and got on the slow, bumpy tram to San Diego, then took a slow, bumpy Coaster to the little town of Oceanside.

It was so nice to be able to call Chuck, on my new phone, and tell him where we were. So, he was waiting at the station to take us to the WorldMark condo when we arrived, about 7:30. 

The WorldMark Oceanside condo was very nice, as expected. We had fun cooking and watching movies and talking story. Diane brought her crockpot and cooked some great soup.  Turns out that a crockpot is a good thing to have at a WorldMark condo. 

 

We walked over to the harbor to check out the restaurants and shops, which were very nice. Diane and I used the hot tub and pool, which were wonderful. The next day, when we left, we went to a harbor restaurant for fish and chips. It was sooo good. 

Then we drove to their house in Encinitas, and stayed for 4 more days, cooking, talking, watching movies, playing with iPads. It was great!

Chuck and Manfred had fun making shrimp fettuccine, tortillas, and such.

We flew back to Seattle on Feb 10.
What a wonderful trip this was!

Going for a week in SoCal

We leave tomorrow, Feb 3 and return Feb 10. We go first to the dentist in Tijuana, for Manfred to get his broken teeth fixed. Then we get to visit our best buds, Charles & Diane Fitzgerald, for a week. They have taken a WorldMark condo in Oceanside for a few days, so we will join them there, then proceed to their house in Encinitas on Feb 7. It will be so nice to see them again. And to stay in another WM condo.

We fly non-stop on AlaskaAir to San Diego. The flight is 2 hours 35 minutes. 

It takes us 3½ hours to get from our house to the airplane, allowing 2 hours for security and boarding. I prefer to allow 1½ hours max, but we take a bus that does not give us that choice. 

The dentist's car will meet us at the airport and take us to cross the border, then to the dentist's office. Afterwards they drive us to a hotel for the night, and we get to eat some real Mexican food. Yum! 

Next day we see the dentist again. When we are done, they drive us to the border. We have to do that awful long line, on foot, to cross into the US, where we take a poky, bumpy American train to Oceanside. 

I'm putting all this in for my own reference -- after a month or 2, I forget the details, especially how much time things take. 

A phone, finally

Now I finally got a real, proper cell phone. Not one of those pre-pay junk ones that can't text and are always out of minutes. This is sooo coool!!  Finally, I can phone people, receive calls, and text, just like regular people. And it even has a keyboard! And all thanks to my so-wonderful #1 daughter-in-law. I put the Chihuly w/Space needle pic as home screen.

The kids came visiting

Richard and Karen just left after a wonderful (for us, anyway) 2-week visit. We stayed home, we went places, we ate in, we ate out. It was all so great. And Robin was able to come and spend the night, the weekend when Seahawks won the NFC championship.

They got WorldMark apartments in the Hotel Camlin in Seattle, where we stayed 4 nights. We visited the Space Needle and I was finally able to see the Chihuly Garden and Glass and to actually go up the needle, their treat. Among many, many generous, thoughtful treats and gifts.

  

 

Back in Port Orchard..

Tomorrow we go to SeaTac to meet the planes of #1 son Richard and #1 daughter Karen. They will be staying with us for 2 weeks. This is a wonderful treat, for us. We hope that #2 son Robin will be able to come for a weekend. 

Leavenworth in ice

We, Manfred & I & Bill Jones, are having a fantastic stay in the WorldMark condo in Leavenworth. Fantastic because there was a freezing rain and all the trees, branches, leaves and needles are neatly encased in ice. It is so beautiful, and enhances the Christmas lights.

 

Number 1 coming...

Number 1 Son, Richard, and Number 1 Daughter-in-Law, Karen, will be visiting us here in weird WA, the land of water and mountains, Super Bowl champs Seahawks, and legal marihuana. It will be sooo nice.