Signs of the Times…

I’m linking up with Wordless Wednesday and Signs, signs!

Signs in Seattle…

Dear and I were able to go downtown on Sunday night to enjoy a belated Valentine dinner at Morton’s. Here are some signs I snapped with my little camera.

Here’s my Dear waiting for the valet to bring us our car after dinner.

The window dressing in this store next to Morton’s was different…

From the car window I snapped this blurry 5th Avenue sign as we headed to the freeway.

We thought that downtown Seattle was very busy for a Sunday evening. It was a long weekend and the weather was so nice that people came out of their cocoons to enjoy a night out in the city.

Thank you Lesley for signs, signs.

L is for Lofty!

Time for ABC Wednesday and we are on the letter L.

Thank you to the founder of this meme, Mrs. Nesbitt and her now trusty crew that keep the meme going.

A few weeks ago I was on an airplane flying out of Seattle and I was treated to some lofty views of downtown Seattle, Mount Rainier and the Columbia River.

The Columbia river where it divides the State of Washington from Oregon.

This Saturday flight on September 13th was a nice flight and time to have a window seat. I most always choose an aisle seat.

Maybe…just maybe…

…I’ve missed my calling. I could have been a tour guide.

The Fremont Troll who lives under the Aurora Bridge is a must see when you visit our area. You can read all about it’s origins here.

My new nephew by marriage, Lenny, had never been to Seattle so we had to show him the top picks in our area.

Sorry, couldn’t resist the “top picks” reference!

The Troll could use a little cleaning up because it’s hard to see the full size red Volkswagon bug that is under his left hand without straining.

You really get great views of downtown Seattle from Kerry Park on Queen Anne Hill. We never miss this photo opportunity with our out of town company. I never resist photo opportunities of our “in town” kids, either.

My niece Debbee is in the bright blue coat nestled in amongst Auntie Lana, Cousin Laura and Auntie Ellen. I missed the shot of her and Lenny here but made sure to get plenty of the two of them at some other favorite tourist spots in our area.

And of course we didn’t miss out on some great local food, either…

We started with some delicious sustenance that carried us through all our adventures of the afternoon at the Portage Bay Cafe in the South Lake Union area of Seattle. All seven of us would recommend this restaurant. They had lots of great Gluten Free choices for my niece, too. Before we met up for brunch Josh, Laura, Debbee and Lenny had visited Pike Place Market, the original Starbucks and the Gum wall. After the troll we headed to the Ballard Locks but that’s another post coming soon…

I have several days off before my next tour guiding gig. I’m looking forward to a week from today when I get to show some VIP’s a different part of our city. Of course you’ll hear all about it and it could be that you’ll hear about it from a few more sources than me since several of my VIP visitors are bloggers, too. Stay tuned! Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!

Fashionably Late…

Here I sit on this Friday after, Black Friday, It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas Friday, still in my robe Friday but still very thankful Friday!

I’m joining in with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story with my favorites from this past week. Five (or so) faves but lots more than five photos!

1. I’m thankful for this leftover photo of when my kids were all together a couple weekends ago.

2. I’m thankful for our Son-in-law, Andrew, serving his country in Afghanistan. He had to have Thanksgiving in what he calls the sandbox.

This photo is from his cold weather training for Afghanistan.

3. I’m thankful for some leisurely shopping the evening before Thanksgiving with Dear and Katie topped off with Happy Hour at Daniel’s Broiler in Bellevue. I know from here on out it will be crazy out there in the stores. I am still sitting here in my robe on this Black Friday with no intentions of going anywhere.

A good meal with a lovely view with people you love…priceless.

We could see all the way across Lake Washington to downtown Seattle.

I’m always grateful to see a glorious sunset!

4. We were invited to our friend’s home for Thanksgiving. There were forty five of us gathered and the food was amazing and oh so plentiful. I made double the amount of yams needed and I could have fed a whole neighborhood with just the yams. Oye. By the time we ate my memory card was full so I can’t show you the ginormous pan of yams with marshmallows on top browned to perfection. You’re going to have to take my word for it.

The cousins table, the kid table and the collective table. The collective table was for those of us who had the most collective Thanksgivings…translation ~ the old people table! We had those of us starting in the 50’s to two matriarchs that are very close to 90 represented.

Some of the younger guests!

When you see a crowd on the deck poised with their phones, quick, grab your camera and fun out there, too!

There was a cloud layer resting above the Puget Sound and at sunset we got a fun view of the Olympic Mountain range peeking out above the fog with the lovely colors of the sunset above. What you see with the naked eye is very hard to capture with a camera or phone. The view with the eyes God gave me was so much more spectacular than this photo.

5. I’m thankful that with our technology we can talk to and communicate with people across the world and in a different hemisphere than us. Our hosts’ youngest daughter is on a 2 year trek around the world living in different countries. We were able to communicate with her and see her on one of the I-phones from Australia.

Hi Jamie!! We love you and miss you! (Jamie was our Katie’s maid of honor)

Did I mention I’m still in my robe? I love the morning after Thanksgiving when there is nothing on the calendar and I can just dilly dally the day away!

Sunday starts another week of celebrations around this old house. Now that Thanksgiving is behind us I’ll start getting serious about Christmas, too. How about you? Have you started on Christmas?

Celebrating 60!

We had a wonderful time in Downtown Seattle celebrating Dear on his 60th birthday. Josh, Laura and Katie brought the evening together and when we arrived home there was a card in the mail from Dan that topped the evening off with a good chuckle. Love our kids and their sense of humor and love for their dad!