Weekend before last I spent the weekend with my girlfriends and my son at my friend's cabin at Hood Canal. I go here for a weekend everytime I come to Seattle. It is one of the most relaxing places on the earth and the best company. My friends are loving and generous and I love it here. But what ever you do, don't tell Tyson and Barkley that I hang out with their dogs too.
There were 6 more but there isn't time for all of them. Amelia the Basett and Moose the Ridgeback cross were the quietest and thus the easiest to take photos of. But this was one time where I really did want to spend more time with the humans than the dogs (for me, often, it's the other way around). I had a great week after the cabin 5-day weekend I had dinner with friends, stayed a couple of days with my son (and made homemade chicken stock which ended up the base for lentil soup - best ever!) shopped with my mom for a new sofa, and went to the golf shop. Now, going to the golfing store for me is like my son going to the yarn shop. Man, there was only golf stuff and nothing, nothing that could even resemble anything knitted or knitable. Luckily for me, son has grown up enough to know he needs to pay for stunts like that so he took me for a vietnamese sandwich and to the book store for a browse. I bought him The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao and had a lovely lookround.
On Saturday after second nephew's soccer game, my brother and first nephew and I went up to the mountains to my brother's place for the weekend. Along the way we stopped to watch the Husky's (University of Washington's gridiron team) game at a sports bar with 30 TV's! Really! and 25 of them were tuned into the Husky's game. Wow - it was big.
So a burger and couple of beers later....
I kid you not - this IS the life. We slept, we read, we ate, we swam, we lounged, we did nothing. There is a spa there but my brother forbade me to go anywhere near it. This is a resort where he has built himself a holiday house - a resort with ALL the amenities you can imagine. Oh, and this place is right next door to Roslyn where they filmed Northern Exposure all those years ago.So this is my last few days here. I have restrained myself from any shopping. No books, two magazines, one skien of yarn (socks that rock!), a small parcel from KnitPicks that has not arrived yet, and one new pair of shoes. I've made up for the lack of shopping by eating - I am going to have to do more than run around the block when I get home. Oh, well - who cares, right?
So just a couple of little things - there are still drive in hamburger joints in Seattle. Yes they deliver your buger, fries and Cokes to your car on trays that fit on your open window - just like in Happy Days.
And they give you coffee cup holders on the shopping trolleys - HA!
America - you gotta love it (except for the politics which is all anyone talks about and is very exciting, confusing but exciting)
from here.... 
Another great day - I had a smoked salmon chowder that was really wonderful - good enough to match the view.
