St. Augustine, Florida

In St. Augustine is a fort that dates back to the 1700s. We loved the late afternoon light shining on the old stones of the fort, and as the sun began to set, we got some beautiful shots over the water, with the full moon beginning to shine above the sunset. We wandered all around the outside, took a ton of photos, and watched the moon rise.

As we left, we chatted with a park ranger about the fort, and he told us about the film crew that was shooting scenes here tonight. We were heading into town to see more of the old section with its stone buildings, then chose a Cuban restaurant for dinner. We had window seats overlooking the waterway and bridge, and could watch the horse-drawn carriages go by. The paella for two that we chose was very, very good, and so was the wine I had with it. Dave had a margarita with his dinner.

After dinner we walked back through town, which was very lively even at this late hour. Our rental car was right where we left it (not that I expected otherwise), and we drove back across the bridge to our little motel and crashed. The room is small but clean, and the bed was very comfy. A good thing: we're driving to Savannah tomorrow, and the alarm will go off early.

Zebra Lighthouse

Near St. Augustine, Florida is this beautiful lighthouse. We could see it from the beach, where we did a geocache before heading for town to look for a motel. The lighthouse was down a short road through a neighborhood of old homes, a beautiful black & white spiral painted tower, capped by a red metal roof. It’s a working beacon, with original Fresnel lens.

We didn't realize how big the structure was until we got close. Look how tiny the people are, out on the circular deck around the lens. We could have taken a tour of the grounds and climbed the tower, but we were anxious to get to town and find a motel, then visit the 1600s fort before the day ended.

Why do you only find striped lighthouses on the East Coast? Our Pacific coast lighthouses, from Canada to Mexico, are painted white.

Snow Bookends

Tonight I opened the Columbia Crest Two Vines Shiraz I bought at QFC. It was very good, especially for the price. It’s a 2005, the year the experts are predicting to be one of the best vintages ever for Washington State.

On one trip to load wood into the stove, I noticed the deck was white… again. I peeked outdoors, and it was snowing hard with two inches already on the ground! How cool is this… my 17-day holiday was bracketed by snow at both ends, just like bookends.

Primitives

I've been looking for old hand-turned, shallow wood bowls… used for dough rising, and often painted on the outside. I’d like to build a nest of them for my country kitchen.  It would be very cool to find some of these dough bowls outside of eBay. The ones I prefer are either naked (no paint), or painted only on the outside. That way you can sand and oil them, and be able to actually use them. 

I’d also like to finish up my nests of old yellowware bowls (I'm working on nests of dark brown, and green). These are heavy earthenware bowls with rims, in graduated sizes so they nest together (thus the name given to a complete set). The smallest is about 4 inches across, the largest is 12 inches (a guess; I don't have the largest size). Nests are usually 6-7 bowls. I was way behind the 8-ball on these—by the time I started collecting them, prices were pretty high. This is the McCoy ivy design; one of the more expensive bowls. Mine are simple, with a striped glaze.

But a lot of primitive wood dough bowls are still affordable, although really large bowls that are signed with the maker's mark are really expensive. I've seen 20+ diameter bowls going for $650+ on eBay. Both of these fit right in with the decor in my antique farmhouse kitchen.

I sure miss antiquing expeditions with Linda...  there are shops near Yelm in the old backroads towns that I’m just itching to visit, and it's so much more fun with company.

Getting to breakfast is gonna be a challenge

After a decade of watching the Green River Gorge bridge slowly become misaligned with the highway, the Washington Department of Transportation has finally closed the bridge. They’re routing SR-169 traffic through Ravensdale or Green Valley for at least the next 6 months while they figure out why the land on the south side of the bridge is moving.

The final straw was a recent landslide that came pretty close to the south bridge abutment, and they're not sure the bridge is stable any longer. So until they drain off the water and figure out how to prevent another slide, they’re not taking any chances. Since the road and bridge have been misaligned for years as the land moved sideways, the only surprising thing is that it took the DOT this long to start working on the problem.

No GPS required

A new cache near the Soos Creek trail was announced this morning, (I get e-mail notifications), and I thought I'd go home by a different route, and pick up the cache on the way. At lunch I pulled up the cache description and found it on the map, and knew exactly where I needed to park. When I drove in and looked around, I knew exactly where it would be. The cache description was all I needed; I didn't even take my GPS with me! Sometimes finding a cache goes this way, sometimes it doesn't. That's one of the things that makes this sport so much fun!

Goodwill by the pound

I spent the day with my sister, niece, and great-niece (and also got to see my nephew). Our day included a walk in the Arboretum and a picnic lunch, both wonderful. But our visit to the Goodwill store near Boeing Field was a tale I need to tell.

This Goodwill is unusual—everything is just dumped into large, roll-around bin-style tables (each about 3 x 6 ft). The tables are lined up in rows, and if there is a missing row, it means they’re busy stocking a new set of bins in the back room. There’s even protocol for this: everyone lines up on either side of the missing row, and waits until all the bins in a row are in place. Only then can you start digging for treasures. People toss things around, turn the bottom stuff to the top, and move on.
It’s also cheap: this Goodwill store charges by the pound. For $9.00 I got a big canvas carry bag with gusseted bottom and inside pocket, 8 ziplok bags of old wood alphabet blocks, a nylon shoe rack that hangs over a closet rod, 4 pieces of pink Depression glass stemware, a tiny little stuffed zebra to go with my zoo animals collection, a huge cream & brown enameled stock pot (new home for my alphabet blocks collection), a new red wallet, and a brand-new Igloo insulated lunch bag.

My niece, Caroline, has an eye for designer and vintage clothing. She comes to the Bins (as they all call this place), and buys clothing to sell in consignment shops. A lot of the regulars here are doing the same: looking for items to sell in consignment shops, or on eBay.

Washing gutters

I offered to clean out the garage gutters today while Dave scrubbed the deck. It's a nice day, and the garage roof is low, so the ladder wasn't an issue. I'm not a fan of ladders, except for the short one I use to get things off the top shelves in the kitchen cupboard. I don't do extension ladders or get on the house roof… too tall, too steep.

Cleaning the gunk out of the gutters wasn't bad, just a boring routine of scooping the leaves and needles into my bucket, climbing down, dumping the bucket into the wheelbarrow, moving the ladder a couple of feet, climbing back up, and on (and on) until I reached the end of the roof.
When I finished, I stood back to survey the results, and noticed that the bright white gutters are sadly green with algae. So I got the shop rags and glass cleaner, and cleaned the entire length of gutter until it was bright white again. That rather blew Dave away… "Did you actually wash the gutter?!"

Entering the digital age

For half a decade now, I've resisted giving up my Pentax SLR and going digital. Dave made the change in 2002, and recently upgraded his digital camera. I inherited his Pentax OptioS, which fits into an Altoids tin. It's the perfect size to keep in my pocket or bag, and it takes pretty good pictures. But I miss the ability to zoom in close, and using the zoom to crop photos.

With the Alaska vacation coming up, I finally decided to do some research into digital cameras, and finally replace my SLR. Can I find a long-zoom digital without going to a DSLR, one that still takes great photographs? I keyed in on the ultra-zoom digital cameras, because one of the best features of my film camera is the 70-210mm zoom lens. I love the photos I can take when friends and family don't know I'm there. I've gotten some wonderful close-ups, with no posing or artificial smiles, and don't want to give that up.

So with the help some great camera review sites on the Internet, I'm narrowing the field. There are so many things to consider with digital, from sensor size to image quality, noise to soft edges, speed to power up, and time between shots. Things strictly digital, not even issues with SLR camera. So much research is needed... which is fine with me. I love doing research.

Ellensburg Blues

When we cleaned out Martin's storage unit we found a small bag of Ellensburg blues. Martin bought them from Jerry’s here in Kent back in 1982, and there are three: a dark blue rough piece about an inch across, a dark blue oval about 1x2, and a small narrow piece about ½ x 1.  They're beautiful, and since Linda keeps me entertained with stories about her own search for the elusive blues, I've become very "tuned in" to the beauty of this particular type of agate that isn't found anywhere else. In fact, it's considered to be a precious stone.

Since my father-in-law kept the receipt for everything he ever bought, I know what he paid for these stones 25 years ago. Have they become more scarce in the past couple of decades? I don’t know much about them, but sure love the color. I'm looking forward to seeing the stones that Linda has found.