Around this time of year, when it feels like spring may never come, Whidbey Island always makes for the perfect escape. I’ve had a serious case of late winter gloom lately, so since Andy and I had our first entirely free weekend of the year, it was an easy decision to head to Whidbey. Happily, while the temperatures were still decidedly wintry, we found sunshine and even a few early spring blooms! It was miraculously warm enough that on Saturday night, I was able to sit outside with my glass of wine to enjoy the sunset - wearing a heavy wool sweater of course! Spring may still feel a long way off, but even a few hours soaking up some sunshine will do wonders to tide me over until we’ve left winter behind.
Read moreLife: Week 8
After another week of mucky snow that just won’t go away, I didn’t venture far from home. My week was mostly work and knitting, although I did manage to get out for a lovely lunch with my mom and niece that gave me a much needed mid-week sanity break! By the weekend, I was beyond happy that my March Alpine Trails Book Club outing finally provided the perfect opportunity to to get outside. It may have been cold and overcast for most of the day, but we had a snow free hike, and even saw a few brief bursts of sunshine! It still felt like February, but the passing moments of warm sun on my face gave me hope that spring is still on the way.
Read moreLife: Week 7
After what was starting to seem like an endless winter, the heavy snowfall in Seattle that’s lasted nearly two weeks turned into slush and then rain by Tuesday. Unfortunately, now that snow just won’t go away. Even worse, early Tuesday morning, we lost power, as the weight of snow began to cause trees to start shedding limbs as if they were dropping leaves. After work - what little work I was able to do with no electricity and no internet that is - I spent a few hours knitting by candlelight until Andy got home and we decided to venture out into town for a hot dinner and some outlets to recharge our phones. Wednesday morning, with the power still out, I packed up my laptop and ventured out onto the sludgy sidewalks to work find a coffee shop with free wifi where I’d be able to work more effectively. After being cooped up in the apartment for so long, it was refreshing to work outside my home, especially with an almond milk latte and gruyere & thyme croissant for breakfast!
Read moreLife: Week 6
What started last week as a light dusting of snow has turned into a full week of actual winter in the PNW, with even more snow forecast to come over the next week. Overnight between Friday and Saturday, the Seattle area saw more snow than we typically get over the course of an entire year! While some are starting to tire of all the snow, I’m loving it! When I moved to Washington with my family as a child, I imagined that we were leaving behind the eternal summer of California for Great White North, where there’d be snow for three months out of every year. Our first winter in Washington was a snowy one - not the three months I’d imagined, but enough that we had an extended winter break with school cancelled for multiple days. I loved every minute of it, with sledding, snowball fights, and cocoa to warm up inside while our soggy winter clothes dried. Sadly, while we had a light snow most winters, that memorable snowstorm in 1996 was a rare event, and since I’ve had to head east for adventures in the snow.
Read moreLife: Week 5
With warm temperatures, sunshine, and the smell of late winter flowers dominating the last days of January, I had given up hope of seeing any lowland snow this winter. Naturally, this meant that just a few days into February, temperatures plummeted and a snowy wonderland descended on the Seattle area! I couldn’t have been more surprised, or delighted, as fat, soggy flakes began to fall on Sunday afternoon. Andy and I were out for a late lunch at Bellevue Brewing when the snow arrived, and the few people not at home watching the Super Bowl all clustered at the windows, phones in hand to document the snow. Happily, we made it home early enough for me to dash out to the Powerline Trail, meeting a friend and her family for a slow ramble through the transformed landscape. After such a warm, sunny winter so far, it’s such a relief to finally get a little snow!
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