July 2015 – Retreading for Retirement

Three Things Thursday

It’s Thursday again!

Time for Three Things Thursday, the purpose of which is to “share three things from the previous week that made you smile or laugh or appreciate the awesome of your life.”

Trip to Leavenworth, WA

Since moving to Tacoma we’ve traveled along the West Coast between Seattle and San Francisco, but we haven’t yet gone inland from here into eastern Washington State. One of our new neighbors, a life-long Tacoma resident, suggested that Leavenworth would be a good place to visit. So when Franke Tobey Jones offered a three-day, two-night trip to Leavenworth, we jumped on the opportunity.

Leavenworth is located in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, about 120 miles east of Seattle. It’s Washington’s Bavarian Village, with most buildings in town decorated with ornate woodwork and murals of Bavarian motifs. In summer the buildings and grounds in the city are ablaze with full-color flower displays.

(Click on any photo to see a larger version.)

1. Bavarian Lodge

We stayed at the Bavarian Lodge, which epitomizes the city’s identity with its painted decorations and flower boxes. Our room was large, the bed was comfortable, and the free breakfast was delicious.

2. Decorated Building

Imagine a town full of buildings similar to this one and you’ll visualize Leavenworth. The paintings on the buildings were fascinating. The many stores carry a variety of items, from typical tourist souvenirs to hand-crafted cuckoo clocks and music boxes, nutcrackers, Dresden china, and artwork by local artists. There’s even a nutcracker museum, although we did not get a chance to visit it. Behind the building you can see the steep, rocky Cascade foothills.

With its Bavarian village setting, Leavenworth obviously caters to tourists. For outdoors folks there are nearby centers for hiking, climbing, biking, skiing, snowmobiling, kayaking, and horseback riding. Leavenworth is beautiful in summer, but it also offers lots of festivals and events during other seasons, including the following: Ice Fest, Christmas Lighting, Wine Walk, Maifest, Autumn Leaf Festival, Oktoberfest, Salmon Festival.

The highway to Leavenworth passes through Stevens Pass, elevation 4,061 feet, the site of a winter downhill and cross-country ski resort. Stevens Pass is often closed in winter when there’s snow in the Cascade Mountains, so plan accordingly if you decide to go in winter.

3. Eagle Creek Winery

We also had a wine tasting and tour at Eagle Creek Winery just outside the center of town. The heat and soil make the region a perfect place for growing grapes. We liked several of their wines and came away with six bottles.

We also attended a production of the play Into the Woods by the Leavenworth Summer Theater at their outdoor venue, Ski Hill Amphitheater. (No photography allowed there—sorry.)

Overall, the trip to Leavenworth was delightful. We hope to return on our own sometime. And now that we’re retired, it won’t even matter if we get snowed in.

What ”Going to the Office” Means to Me Now

This morning when I got into my car to drive to my office, I was afraid I might not remember the way. I haven’t gone to the office in two and a half months.

After the age of 29 I didn’t have an office that I went to every day. I had about a six-year stint as a stay-at-home mother. Then I began a 30-year career as a freelance writer and editor. Eventually we added an office for me to the back of our house. I then “went to the office” to work, even if that only meant walking through my family room. I did occasional contract work that required me to show up at a client’s office and work there, but mostly I worked from my home office.

When we retired, we moved 2,100 miles away and downsized from our 2,100 square foot house (that number includes my office but not the garage) to a 1,300 square foot unit (including the over-sized one-car garage) in a senior community. This is a two-bedroom unit, and I had to choose between a home office and a guest room in the second bedroom. Because we wanted to be able to have guests come to visit us in our new location, I was left without an office. Despite lining the wall of the combination dining room—living room in our new house with bookcases, there wasn’t enough space for all the books that my husband and I had both accumulated over a lifetime of reading.

Since I had a lot more books and work stuff than my now retired husband, the plan was to find a small office to rent where I could store my books and work. After nearly a year we finally found the ideal space and set off for Ikea to buy a desk and several bookcases. Once the furniture had been delivered, assembled, and installed, I unpacked my books, which had been filling up the garage, and got to work.

After a 30+-year career of avoiding both the academic and corporate worlds, I finally have a real office to go to.

“Going to the office” now means something quite different to me than it would have earlier in my life. I spent enough time going to an office in my early adult jobs and later contract work to know that I would not want to spend the majority of my life working like that. Staff meetings, the proximity of desks, crowded cafeterias, the semi-required socialization of after-work get-togethers all do not suit my introverted nature. And it’s not just that I like to be alone; I also work better alone, without the noise, movement, and other distractions of having a lot of people nearby. I feel certain that going to the office would have become something I both dreaded and hated if I had had to work like that all my life.

Now, in retirement, “going to the office” excites and invigorates me. My office is in a small building, and very little talking or movement goes on in the hallway. With my door shut, I’m able to work without distraction. Most of my books are here, and being surrounded by books has always comforted and inspired me. I had always wanted to shelve my books alphabetically by author, and the move allowed me to do that. Also, I now have separate sections for fiction and nonfiction.

I don’t ever have to go to the office; I go in when I choose to go. And now that my husband and I are traveling more than we did earlier in our lives, there are sometimes stretches, like the last two and a half months, when I’m not around to go to the office.

I realize that I’m very fortunate to have had my dream job of writing and editing from home most of my adult life. But now I’m enjoying going to the office—and sometimes not going.

Healthy Aging

Ask Well: Assessing Knee Supports

A while back I had gotten lax with my walking routine and found myself quite out of shape. My husband encouraged me to accompany him for a walk one day, and I did. But he was much more ambitious than I was, and we walked so far that when I got home, my right knee was a bit sore. I went to the drugstore and looked at the various knee supports available. I chose one made of neoprene that wrapped around the knee and fastened with Velcro. I wore it for a few days and my knee gradually got better.

Because of this experience I was interested in this column in the New York Times in which Gretchen Reynolds answers the question “How effective is wearing a stabilizing knee support?”

When you say “effective,” I assume that you’re asking how well a knee support can stabilize a wobbly knee or lessen the pain of an arthritic one. The answer, based on a large body of science, is that nobody really knows.

“It’s important, however, to differentiate among the types of knee supports,” she adds. She distinguishes between braces, which include rigid materials that press against the bones of the knee and offer firm external support. Soft neoprene sleeves do not offer the same support but may increase knee stability by improving the wearer’s balance. But, Reynolds says, a 2012 study found that neoprene sleeves offered no significant improvements in balance for people with knee arthritis. There is also no evidence that knee supports worn on healthy knees prevent knee injuries.

Reynolds ends with the advice that if your knees are bothering you, don’t self-diagnose. Go to a doctor, who can diagnose your problem and determine whether a knee support will help.

The knee support I used was not really a sleeve, which is a tube, but one that I could tighten or loosen with the Velcro. I wore the support and avoided any more long walks, and my knee pain did clear up within a few days. Of course the same improvement probably would have occurred whether I had worn the brace of not, but I did think that, at least initially, it lessened my discomfort.

Here’s Why You May Be Aging Faster Than Your Friends

Alice Park discusses recent research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that examined 18 measures of aging in people in their 20s and 30s. The markers studied mirror the biological effects of aging found in older people. The study followed 954 people born in 1972 or 1973 in Dunedin, New Zealand, from age 26 to age 38. The 18 markers measured included blood pressure, lung function, cholesterol, body mass index, and inflammation. On the basis of these measurements, researchers calculated a biological age for each volunteer. They re-examined the study participants again at ages 32 and 38 to calculate the pace at which each person was aging.

Some people were biologically older and aging faster than others, despite being the same chronological age. Not only that, but the researchers showed, by giving the 20- and 30-somethings the same tests of balance and thinking skills that gerontologists give for older adults, that these aging changes were the same as those occurring later in life.

Comparing the data of those aging more quickly with those aging more slowly should suggest some ideas of how to slow down again. Such a testing program can also provide a way to test whether a specific anti-aging treatment works.

Researchers plan to re-evaluate study participants again at age 45 to see if habits such as diet, exercise, and smoking affect the rate of aging.

Exercise can improve brain function in older adults

Here is that E-word again: exercise. New research out of the University of Kansas Medical Center suggests that older adults can improve brain functioning by increasing their fitness level.

Results indicated that aerobic exercise improved brain function, and those who exercised more saw more cognitive benefits. The intensity of the exercise appeared to be more important than the duration, so it’s important to exercise as vigorously as you safely can.

As always, check with your doctor before beginning any exercise program.

Swindlers Target Older Women on Dating Websites

This article is painful to read but could prevent some heartache. It describes scams that people employ through online dating sites to woo potential victims out of their savings.

Older people are good targets for such scams because they often have accumulated savings over their lifetime. Older women, who outnumber older men, are particularly susceptible.

Just how serious is this problem?

How many people are snared by Internet romance fraud is unclear, but between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2014, nearly 6,000 people registered complaints of such confidence fraud with losses of $82.3 million, according to the federal Internet Crime Complaint Center.

Most of the scams involve online contacts who establish a relationship with a potential victim, then began asking for money to cover situations such as medical emergencies or having their wallet stolen abroad and needing money to travel back home. And one request follows another, often adding up to significant sums:

Victims typically lose $40,000 to $100,000, said Wendy Morgan, chief of the Public Protection Division of the Vermont Attorney General’s Office. The highest reported loss in the state was $213,000.

Read the stories in this article of how people were scammed. Knowing how the process works could help you avoid losing your life’s savings.

Three Things Thursday

Another Thursday brings another episode of Three Things Thursday, the purpose of which is to “share three things from the previous week that made you smile or laugh or appreciate the awesome of your life.”

Vintage Cars

(Click on any photo for a larger version.)

Recently we had a few vintage cars on display here at Franke Tobey Jones during the ice cream social on a beautiful Friday afternoon.

1. Dodge Brothers 1928

The Dodge Brothers Company was founded by brothers Horace Elgin Dodge and John Francis Dodge in 1900 as a supplier of parts for automobile makers in Detroit. The company began manufacturing complete cars in 1915. Both brothers died in 1920, and the company was sold to Chrysler Corporation in 1928.

The wheels on this car are made of wood. The owner told us that he has gotten the car up to 50 miles per hour, but it cruises along best at about 40 mph.

2. Buick Special 1938

The Buick Special was the company’s entry-level full-size auto from 1936 to 1958.

3. Studebaker Commander 1941

Studebaker Corporation used the model name Commander between 1927 and 1964, except for 1936 and 1959–1963.

Letter to the Woman I See Walking Every Day

Dear Walking Woman,

I see you walking almost every day. You walk all over campus here in our retirement community. Sometimes I see you in the morning. Other times I see you in the afternoon. I have a feeling that you probably walk your circuit more than once each day. Or perhaps you walk different circuits at different times of day.

Soon after I moved in here two years ago I was walking to the front desk in the main building when our paths crossed as you walked toward me. As we approached each other our eyes locked for a second. Then you looked down. I said “hello” as we passed. You mumbled “hello” and kept walking with eyes cast down, letting me know you didn’t want to stop to converse. A few days later we again ended up on the same path, approaching each other. This time, when our eyes locked for a second, you looked off to your left. I got the hint. As we passed each other, neither one of us spoke.

Since that second time, I have avoided you when I’m outside. If I see you in the distance, I alter my path so we won’t pass each other. I’m an introvert myself, and I cherish my solitude, too. I get that you don’t want to stop and chat.

You walk all year. In the winter you wear a heavy coat, a knit hat that covers your ears, and gloves. I think you must live in one of our three options for independent living here, since your ability to walk so much means you don’t need assisted living care. Yet I have never seen you in any context other than walking. You don’t attend the monthly resident council meetings, nor do you take part in excursions such as the monthly Lunch Bunch trips to local restaurants or the quarterly dinners for independent-living residents.

I’ve even thought that perhaps you live somewhere nearby but come here to walk around our large and lovely campus. But recently I met a new resident here, M., who asked me if I knew the woman who walked all around. I said that I had seen you but that I don’t know you. M. told me, “She says she keeps walking because she’s afraid that if she stops, she might never start again.”

So you can talk, and you did carry on at least a minimal conversation with M. Now I have to wonder if there’s a particular reason why you talked with her but not with me. M. is an overtly friendly person. Perhaps she didn’t notice your body language and stopped to talk with you anyway. Or perhaps you reacted differently to her than you did to me. Did I give off some kind of aura that made you turn away to avoid me? If so, it was unintentional.

I’m glad you enjoy walking here. May you long continue to walk on in silence and serenity.

Sincerely yours,
Mary Brown

Three Things Thursday

It’s yet another good week for Three Things Thursday, the purpose of which is to “share three things from the previous week that made you smile or laugh or appreciate the awesome of your life.”

Olympic Music Festival

Last Saturday a group of us from Franke Tobey Jones drove an hour and a half out onto Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula for a performance at the Olympic Music Festival. The venue of the festival is snuggled into the grandeur of a forested, sparsely populated area.

Alan Iglitzin, a member of the Philadelphia String Quartet, founded the Olympic Music Festival in 1984. He originally intended the festival to be a summer retreat for the Philadelphia String Quartet, which had been the quartet-in-residence at the University of Washington in Seattle from 1966 to 1982. But the summer festival drew such large audiences that the festival quickly expanded from the three weekends of its opening season to the current twelve.

The Olympic Music Festival takes place in the refurbished barn of an old farm that Iglitzin purchased near Quilcene, WA. An extensive picnic area surrounds the barn, and many patrons arrive early and enjoy a picnic before the performance. Two listening options are available: seating on benches and bales of hay inside the barn, and outdoor listening (on your own chairs or blanket) on the grassy hillside adjacent to the barn. The outdoor seating allows families to bring children who may not be quite ready to sit still quietly indoors for an extended period. The atmosphere reminds me of Tanglewood in Lenox, MA, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

True Confession:

Last Saturday was a windy, overcast day with occasional sprinkles of much-needed rain. We did manage to eat our picnic lunches outdoors before the performance, but it was not a good day for photography. Therefore, the photos below are from our 2014 visit to the Olympic Music Festival.

1. The Barn

When Alan Iglitzin bought the farm near Quilcene, it had fallen into disrepair. He knew nothing about the farm’s history. But over the years he learned that the farm’s original owners were a Japanese American family who had built the farmhouse and barn to accommodate themselves and a herd of dairy cows. They also grew berries and other seasonal produce and for many years provided dairy items and produce to local residents.

When the U.S. entered World War II, the family was sent to an interment camp. After the war they were unable to regain the property, which passed through multiple owners but never again became a thriving, working farm.

In the 1990s Isamu “Sam” Iseri, the son of the family that had built the barn called Iglitzin and asked if he could visit his boyhood home. He and Iglitzin became friends. Sam died in 2004, but members of the Iseri family continue to visit their ancestral farm periodically.

2. Musician

For some, the festival provides the opportunity to speak to the young musicians.

3. Tractor

There are several reminders of the venue’s history as a working farm.

Three Things Thursday

Here’s this week’s installment of Three Things Thursday, the purpose of which is to “share three things from the previous week that made you smile or laugh or appreciate the awesome of your life.”

Seattle Mariners Game!

(Click on photos for a larger version.)

And awesome my life was yesterday, when a group of us from Franke Tobey Jones went up to Safeco Field for a day game between the Seattle Mariners and the Detroit Tigers. We sat in the Hit It Here Cafe, which is a covered area just above the right field wall.

1. Safeco Sign

Safeco Field is a beautiful stadium that officially opened on July 15, 1999. I especially like this sign along the third base side of the field:

2. Runners on 1st and 2nd

The Mariners had runners on 1st and 2nd in the opening inning but didn’t manage to score:

3. Cleaning up the Infield

The grounds crew rushes out for a quick clean-up job on the base paths just before the start of the 7th inning:

It was just about a perfect day for baseball. We were all glad that we had chosen the seats in the covered cafe, as people on the lower levels were in direct sun. The temperature was in the low 80s, but as always up here, it felt much cooler than that as long as you were in the shade.

We even had a bit of added excitement during the game: a fan ran onto the field. He was quickly tackled by security personnel and escorted off the field. He spent at least a few hours in jail and will pay a hefty fine. This guy wasn’t a streaker because he had pants on. I don’t know if you get fined extra for running naked onto the field.

The only thing that kept the day from being perfect was the Mariners’ 5–4 loss to the Tigers.

The Love-Hate Challenge

One of the bloggers I follow is Andrea at My Spoken Heart. Yesterday I read her post in response to The Love-Hate Challenge. I haven’t been formally challenged, but I liked the idea so much that I’ve decided to use it today.

The Love-Hate Challenge as us to write two lists of 10 items each: Things I Love and Things I Hate. I’m going to start with the hate list so that I can end on the positive note of listing things I love.

Things I Hate

1. Being around negative people

I recently wrote about ending a relationship with a narcissistic friend (scroll down to the question right before the bonus question). At that point I had decided that it was necessary for me to surround myself with only good people. My narcissistic friend didn’t make the cut.

A 2,100-mile retirement relocation gave me the opportunity to meet new people and make new friends. Most of the people in our retirement community are gems. There’s only one woman, whom I’ll call L., who is not. L. never stops talking, and she talks about only two subjects: other peoples’ shortcomings and her own superiority. I do my best, short of being downright rude, to avoid being near her. Most other people seem to have the same feeling, as no one ever voluntarily sits with L. at gatherings. L. is a constant reminder to me of how much better life is when I’m surrounded by pleasant, polite, caring people.

2. Brazen ignorance

All of us are subject to confirmation bias, the tendency to believe and remember information that confirms what we already believe or want to believe while at the same time denying and forgetting any information that contradicts our pre-conceived biases. A good many people, though, can look at something with an open mind when confronted with strong evidence and other points of view. It’s the people who stubbornly refuse to listen to any other points of view that I hate being around.

I also hate being around people who vociferously express opinions based on brazen ignorance. An example was a man, B., a fellow traveler on our recent European trip. After we had toured a Benedictine Abbey in Melk, Austria, that was built in the 16th century, B. sat across the aisle from me on the return bus ride. Here’s what he said to the person sitting next to him:

That was really something. Five-hundred years ago, when they were building this abbey, American Indians were still digging arrowheads out of the dirt. And in Africa they didn’t even have language yet. But look at what these Europeans were doing.

There’s nothing I can do but step away from such people.

3. Racist behavior

Someone might want to point out to me that this is the same as brazen ignorance. But this particular kind of brazen ignorance is so repulsive that it demands its own category.

4. Shoes that aren’t flat

Despite being short (5 feet, 2 inches), I have never wanted to wear shoes to make me look taller. Add to that the fact that I have a bad back, and you get my long-time refusal to wear shoes with any kind of a heel. If I can’t find a flat shoe appropriate for a particular occasion, I either don’t go or I go in inappropriate shoes.

5. Life without treats

I’m talking about food here. I refuse to live in a world that does not allow for the occasional order of french fries, two-scoop dish of ice cream, or piece of cake with frosting. Or blackberry cobbler. Or blueberry pie. Or chocolate-covered cherries.

6. Hot, humid weather

For 40+ years we lived in St. Louis, MO, the nation’s capital of hot, humid summers. We turned the air conditioning on in April and didn’t turn it off until October. I was known in my neighborhood as the summer recluse because I almost never left my air-conditioned house to venture into the heat and humidity.

7. Bland white fish

When I was a kid, my mother would put pieces of cod in a baking dish, add about 1/2 inch of water, and bake the fish in the oven. She’d serve it just that way: not even a dash of paprika to give it some flair and flavor. To this day, the only kind of white fish I eat is swordfish, which I actually like a lot.

8. Getting up early

I hate it when people say something like “Get up early and get more accomplished during the day.” I am a night owl. Getting up earlier doesn’t make me more productive. It makes me more miserable.

9. Boring chores

These include vacuuming, dusting, cleaning up the kitchen, and folding laundry.

10. Forced socializing

When I was last in graduate school, we had to attend a five-day conference twice a year. We attended workshops together, ate meals together, and had more meetings and classes together after dinner. After a couple of days I felt frantic.

I’m an introvert. I need periodic time alone to process what’s going on around me and to recharge my batteries. I’m more comfortable with three or four people than with 150. I’m also a highly sensitive person (HSP). Too much stimulation—crowds, noise, movement—also makes me crazy.

The world is run by extraverts who think that we should all love getting together in large groups. And corporations favor group projects so much that schools now insist on teaching kids to work in groups. The world is not kind to those of us who require periodic solitude and quietness.

Things I Love

1. Spending time with family and friends

I’m sure this tops everyone’s list of things they love. But really, what would life be like if this weren’t true?

2. Reading

Reading has been my favorite activity ever since I can remember. I’m always fascinated when somebody says something like “I started reading at age 3.” I have no idea when I started reading. I just can’t remember a life when I couldn’t and didn’t read.

3. Book groups

The joke about book groups is that they’re often an excuse to get together, drink wine, and talk about life. But if you can find a good book group, one that actually talks intelligently about the book, there’s nothing better. I was fortunate to be in two such groups for several years, and I found most of my closest friends there.

When I moved from St. Louis, MO, to Tacoma, WA, one of the first things I did was to look for book groups. I was appalled to learn that the entire Tacoma Public Library system sponsors exactly one book group, which met at a time and place inconvenient for me. I tried a group run by one branch of the Pierce County Library system, but none of the people there were close readers who could talk about anything deeper than “I liked” or “I didn’t like” the book.

Finally, I found a classics group that meets at my local independent book store. The members of this group are informed and interested in the books. I’ve been attending this group for about 15 months now and have learned a lot.

4. Purple

Deep purple is my favorite color. I always wear something purple (although you might not always be able to see it). My nails are always purple.

Purple clothes go in and out of fashion, so, on years when purple is in, I buy whatever I find that I can wear. That allows me to weather the times when there isn’t a purple item anywhere in sight.

5. Being “of a certain age”

When I turned 50, I decided that I was old enough to speak my mind. So I’ve been speaking my mind for quite a few years now, and I feel a lot better, thank you very much.

This is my favorite shirt. Notice that it’s purple. I like it so much that I own two.

And there will be no facelift for me (although anything in a bottle, tube, or jar is fair game). I’m proud of these wrinkles. I endured a lot to get them. I’ve earned every one.

6. Having short hair

Really, life is too short to spend time fussing with my hair. It’s wash-and-go for me.

7. Writing

I’ve always loved writing, and I’ve always been pretty good at it. But I haven’t thought of myself as “a writer” until recently. I have challenged myself to write a blog post a day in 2015 to establish the habit of writing daily and to convince myself that I am a writer.

8. The Pacific Northwest

My husband and I lived in St. Louis for about 42 years. Our daughter was born there. When it came time for her to choose a college, she chose the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA. She loved the area so much that she stayed.

Since she is our only child, it made sense for us to move here when we retired. We had been visiting Tacoma for about 15 years, so we knew we liked the area. As retirement approached, we became more and more eager to move out here.

Now we’re here, and we love it. We particularly like the more moderate climate. Also, we live near the city’s largest park and can walk to the zoo and aquarium.

9. Facebook

I know many people complain about Facebook, but I’m glad it exists. It allows me to keep in touch with friends we left back in St. Louis. It has also allowed me to reconnect with several of my cousins whom I had lost contact with over the years.

Perhaps I don’t get as annoyed as other people because I have a very small number of friends on Facebook. All these friends really are my friends or family, not some mere acquaintance I casually interacted with somewhere. I’m also careful about the kinds of information and photos I post.

10. Going to the farmers’ market

Most Saturdays during the summer we travel down to Puyallup, where our daughter lives, and go with her to the Puyallup Farmers’ Market. The Puyallup River provides a fertile growing area, so there is a lot of good local produce available there. This routine also allows us to see her at least once a week, which is, of course, the real reason we do it.

Lunch Bunch: C.I. Shenanigans

3017 Ruston Way, Tacoma, WA 98402
Phone: (253) 752 – 8811

The first Friday of every month our activities director at Franke Tobey Jones offers us the opportunity to go out for lunch. Today’s destination was C.I. Shenanigans, on beautiful Ruston Way. Shenanigans advertises that it features sustainable seafood, Harris Ranch beef “from cattle that spend approximately 80% of their lives grazing on grass,” and artisanal cocktails.

I can vouch for the cocktails. My Moscow Mule (vodka, ginger beer, and a splash of lime) was delicious. There were five people at our table. I had a cup of their lobster bisque, which turned out to be delicious. My husband ordered the crab-stuffed mushrooms and pronounced them quite good as well.

For our main courses, the gentleman who ordered mac and cheese said that it was too dry. Two women liked their salads, which were generously sized. My husband and I both had Columbia River King Salmon, “simply grilled,” which was cooked through but not dry. Our vegetables—green beans, wax (yellow) beans, and broccoli—were also good, not overcooked.

Our only complaint was that it took a LONG time to get the food. We had a group of 20, so it’s understandable that we might have put a strain on the staff. But our activities director always lets restaurants know well ahead of time how many people will be coming, so I’m disappointed if an establishment doesn’t prepare adequately for us. My husband and I have eaten at Shenanigans a couple of times on our own, and I don’t remember the service being particularly slow.

I see that Shenanigans gets three out of five stars on Yelp, 3.5 stars on Trip Advisor, and 4 stars on Open Table and Facebook.

Ruston Way hosts a huge crowd every Fourth of July. Early in the day the road is closed to traffic, and people pack the place. On our way to and from the restaurant we saw city workers setting up out rows and rows of blue portable toilets all along Ruston Way to accommodate tomorrow’s crowd. They were also setting out many huge plastic trash receptacles. We’ve never gone down on the Fourth because it’s just too crowded. And tomorrow’s high temperature will be about 88 degrees. So we’ll stay home tomorrow and let all those other people enjoy the day along Commencement Bay’s beautiful Ruston Way.

Three Things Thursday

It’s time once again for Three Things Thursday, the purpose of which is to “share three things from the previous week that made you smile or laugh or appreciate the awesome of your life.”

1. Farmers’ Market

We hadn’t been to the farmers’ market in three or four weeks because of our European trip. And, because spring arrived about a month early this year, when we went to the farmers’ market last weekend it was much different than the last time we were there.

I’m kicking myself for not thinking to snap any photos. You’ll have to use your imagination to picture all the festive colors of the produce:

vine-ripened tomatoes
snow peas
red and golden raspberries
green beans
carrots
green and yellow zucchini
Rainier and Bing cherries
blueberries
red and golden beets

And, of course, flowers galore. It was certainly a feast for the eyes.

2. Paprika

Before we left for our trip, our daughter surprised me by saying, “If you visit Hungary, you’ll have to try goulash.”

Now I’m sure I made goulash a few times while she was growing up, but I was still surprised that she took such an interest in it. We didn’t buy many souvenirs, but we did buy her a tin of paprika in Budapest:

Paprika can range from mild to wickedly hot. We were careful to get her a container labeled sweet. Now we’ll just have to get her to make us a big batch of goulash.

3. Miska Jug

The only other souvenir we brought back is this wine pitcher from Budapest. The shop was full of variations of these, but we finally settled on this one.

It’s a Miska (which I think is pronounced mishka) Jug:

Click on any photo for a larger version.

Trip to Leavenworth, WA

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Vintage Cars

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Olympic Music Festival

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Seattle Mariners Game!

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Things I Hate

Things I Love

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