Goodbye, Gig Harbor

It's official! As of March 21, 2009 we are no longer residents of Gig Harbor, WA.

Can you believe we have lived here for 19 years!!

We moved in 1990 with four kids and 2 dogs. Craig was 12, Kristin was 11, Rachel was 9, and Scot was 6.

Nineteen years later, Craig is finishing up his Master's Degree, Kristin, Rachel and Scot are all married and I have 4 wonderful grandchildren. Time does fly!!

How fortunate we've been to have lived in such a beautiful part of the country. I will miss the harbor. I'll miss the sea water, the daily spectacle of Mt. Rainier, and even, the rain.

In my new home there is an enormous evergreen tree that partially blocks the view out of my living room window. It's a grand and stately specimen, and reminds me so much of the fir trees in Gig Harbor. I'm so happy to look at it every day. It makes me feel as though I've packed a bit of home with me and brought it to my new surroundings. A comfort.

I think I'm going to like it here.

Winter wants to linger longer

Brrrrrrr!
It is a short distance to the ocean from my home. On a sunny day I can walk there, and was hoping to do so today. That was before I realized that the weather looked like December but the calendar read March. So I got out the camera and took some pictures of my yard.

Dust of Snow

The way a crow

Shook down on me

The dust of snow

From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart

A change of mood

And saved some part

Of a day I had rued.

-Robert Frost

Wisdom in a Dove chocolate

When anxiety rears its ugly head I go straight for the chocolate!! Those little Dove chocolates are so cute, too. Unwrapping them is like opening a fortune cookie and reading the paper slip of possibilities. You never know what clever saying will be on the wrapper. Luckily there's more than a stinking commercial. Not like Ralphie's scene in The Christmas Story where all he got after much anticipation was this advice, "Drink more Ovaltine". No, not me, I got a couple of real gems. Fitting for my current circumstance I think. Here they are:
Count your blessings not your worries.
And:
You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.
Yummy.

A walk to Al's Grocery with sights along the way

The weather has been so nice this week. I went for a walk and took my camera to capture some of the local sights I often taken for granted around here. Potholes! The ones in our lane are sure sign of Spring approaching! On the way to the grocery store I passed the little, white church that is so Norman Rockwell-ish and the beautiful property of our retired neighbor. As I headed down the hill I could see the bay. The tide was out and a heron was standing like a statue in the mud. I tried to get his picture, but he was not cooperative. Instead, I saw this poster for a missing dog. If you can't read the name, it's "Shredder". I was hoping as I read it that the dog's owners would find him (or her) before I did.
Oh, I also took a picture of a pretty purple flower that is in my previous post. It was
growing right out of the middle of our front yard. A volunteer! It made me smile and with that I bid Old Man Winter good riddance.

Spring Is Coming!

A trip down memory lane

Thought I would include some photos of my (and my hubbie's) remodeling skills. These are all photos from the Rosedale house. After the last kiddo left the nest we decided to trade out the old gray carpet in the living/dining room and stairway for something lovelier...hardwood flooring! While we were at it we thought why not remove the laminate flooring in the kitchen and extend the hardwood through there, too? So we began a 3 month remodeling project. It was a LOT of work! But it turned out beautiful. Absolutely worth it. I'm including a sample of some of our outdoor projects, too.