Casting of tin

Seattle, Washington
Saturday, December 31, 2016

Spent a lovely (and low-key) New Year's Eve with friends. After dinner, the hostess broke out the Finnish tin horse shoes, and we set to melting them over the stove--and casting the melted metal into a bucket of water. The purpose of this activity? Seeing what 2017 has in store for all of us!

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Wolf sighting!

Pateros, Washington
Saturday, December 31, 2016

This morning as we were driving a few miles south of Pateros on Highway 97, we almost hit a wolf. At first Frank thought it must have  been a large dog or a monster coyote, but it sure looked like a wolf to me. When we got home, Frank checked online and found that there is indeed a pack that was confirmed in 2015 to be the Loup Loup pass area. They inhabit a territory between Twisp and Omak. Here is the newspaper article from the Seattle Times.

Winthrop!

Winthrop, Washington
Friday, December 30, 2016

It wasn't quite the vacation we were hoping for--between a sick kid and some extremely cold weather--but Winthrop was beautiful, and we did get SOME cross country skiing in...

The gingerbread ger

Seattle, Washington
Sunday, December 11, 2016

After much rumination, we decided that this year's gingerbread house would be a ger--or yurt--the traditional Mongolian dwelling with which we are now so familiar. This construction of this house proved to be a particular challenge, but with geometry and part of Quaker Oats container on our side, we prevailed at last.

Final touches included a fence and an outhouse...