Today is the 21st anniversary of my arrival in Seattle (okay, it was a Motel 6 in Issaquah and I didn't actually set foot in Seattle proper until the 24th) and I still love it here. 

I spent the first 23 years of my life in the Greater Los Angeles Metro Area and wanted out from the time I was 14.  I hated the heat, I hated sunbathing (unlike two of my sisters who were sun-worshippers), and I wasn't crazy about the beach.  I finally joined the Air Force after college to escape and my first base assignment was in Northern California at Travis AFB about half-way between San Francisco and Sacramento.  Naturally when I had time off I headed to San Francisco with its cool breezes rather than hot, dry Sacramento.  I spent 18 months at Travis and then moved to my second base assignment at Offutt AFB in Omaha, Nebraska.  There I experienced tornado warnings, huge hail storms and blizzards for the first time.  I prefer earthquakes.  I spent 2 years in Omaha where I did like having four seasons, but I missed mountains. 

I thought about moving to the Colorado Rockies when I got out of the Air Force, but one morning I woke up with the thought "I'm moving to Seattle."  I had never been to Seattle but I loved what I learned about its climate in a Physical Geography course I was taking at Bellevue University in Bellevue, NE (just outside the air base).  Since this was 1987 before the World Wide Web, I went to a Robert Half office in Omaha and had them fax my resume to their office in Seattle, then I had the Air Force pack up my stuff to send to Fort Lewis in Tacoma, WA until I requested it.  I got out of the Air Force on April 15, 1987 and immediately drove to the house my mother had recently purchased in Denver.  My mom and sister suggested I move in with them and get a job there, but Denver reminded me too much of LA with the dry brown hills and sprawl.  A few days later on April 22nd I got a call from the Robert Half agency office in Seattle asking if I could be in Seattle by 3pm on Friday the 24th for an interview.  The phone call came at 10am.  I had my car loaded and was out of Denver by noon.  I spent the night in Twin Falls, Idaho and got to the Motel 6 in Issaquah at 11pm on the 23rd.

I fell in love with western Washington and didn't leave for my first 5 years here.  I spent my free time exploring the Seattle area and the Olympic Peninsula.  I remember being at Sol Duc Falls and thinking "This is paradise.  Who needs the Caribbean?"  Yes, I actually LIKE rain.  It keeps everything so green.  Even the gray skies make the green of the trees look more vibrant to me.

Sometimes I think of coulda/woulda beens, but I always end up of happy that one morning I woke up thinking "I'm moving to Seattle."

We went to Gay Bingo last night.  The theme was "rocking out" and Dick really went with the theme.  I love that wig he wore.

Jonathan won $33 - the only one at our table to win anything.



This Sister of Perpetual Indulgence had the greatest lipstick - red and yellow.

Jonathan gave me a back-rub at one point.  I was dressed as an aging one-hit-wonder rock star.  My hair was so stiff from product that I couldn't run my fingers thru it.


All eight of us had a great time.

George & I went to Barack Obama's rally at Seattle Center's Key Arena this morning.  We car-pooled with his coworkers Mira and Zane, and Mira's partner Mark.

Mark, me and Mira

We were too late to get inside the Arena.  One of Zane's friends called him from inside and told him that the line had been around Key Arena 3 and a half times by 10:30 with the doors opening at 11am.  It worked out okay for us as Obama came over to where we were to address the crowd before he went into the arena.  George took the photos by holding his digital camera at full-length above his head.



This guy was climbing the wall to get a better look when Obama told him "Get down from there, young man, before you hurt yourself."  The guy got down immediately.


While waiting, I worked on the booties I'm making for George's co-worker's coming baby.

I finally had to stop because my hands were freezing.

Overall it was a great experience.  The arena was completely filled and there were about 3000 of us standing outside in front and back of the arena.

We had Frank, Lyndol, Peter, Carol, Raven & Iain over for Christmas dinner this year.  George & I prepared a pork roast and the others brought various side dishes.  As usual, everything was delicious.  After everyone had a chance to digest a little, we brought out the Plum Pudding George's mother had prepared and given to us when we were in Dublin in August.  (Frank and Lyndol bring the holly sprig from their tree every year.)  George heated up the brandy and poured it over the pudding while everyone ooh'd and aah'd over the flames.

We served the plum pudding with brandy butter and whipped cream.

George finished the Christmas Fruit Cake today.  The cake is so huge that the only thing large enough to hold it is the pizza stone which George covered in aluminum foil.  I told him that we would be getting a 10" pan for next year's cake as his mother's cakes always fit on our cake plate.

George rolled out his home-made marzipan and laid it over the cake.

He then spread the cooked hard icing over the cake.



It needs to sit for awhile for the icing to harden.  We'll be serving it on Christmas Day at our dinner party.

In the past, when George's mother Ethna has sent us a Christmas Cake, we've gone out to buy marzipan which George would then roll out and lay over the cake before frosting it with a cooked hard icing.  George decided this year to make marzipan from scratch.

He had to blanche the almonds (I helped him remove the skins), then ground the almonds, then cooked up the sugar syrup and finally mixed the ground almonds with the sugar syrup.

When it was all done, George stated that he will NEVER do that again.  The marzipan needs to sit in the fridge for a few days before he can put it on the cake.  Meanwhile George has been regularly pouring whiskey (some inexpensive stuff I picked up at the liquor store) over the cake to keep it moist.

We usually get a tradition Irish Christmas Cake from George's mother every year.  I have never cared for fruit cake until I had my mother-in-law's.  This year Ethna didn't make any cakes so George decided to use her recipe, which he's had for years, and make his own.  He had to make several substitutions for dried fruit the recipe calls for but that isn't available in the US.  Here's a quick photo essay of the cake.

George soaked the fruit in the good whiskey as we didn't have any inexpensive stuff in the house.  George let it sit for several days so all the whiskey was absorbed into the fruit.


George was convince that his mother used a huge pan for this cake so I ended up getting a 12" round pan at a restaurant supply house. Following directions over the phone from his mother in Capetown, SA, George lined it with lots of parchment paper.


Mixing up the batter in the Kitchenaid.  George called his mother in Capetown because the recipe just said "add eggs".  She had forgotten to write down how many eggs in the recipe she gave him over 12 years ago.


Blending the fruit and batter in the biggest bowl in the house.


Filling the pan.  The cake has a milk mixture poured over it.


The cake got very high while baking and then cooled to this.  George was very proud of himself.  We both thought the cake smelled delicious.

George & I went to visit his friend Muhsin and his family yesterday evening.  Eda, the baby, is growing fast as is Janelle who is almost 5.  George had fun playing with Eda while I spent time playing hide-and-seek with Janelle.  Banu and Muhsin both look completely exhausted, but also very happy with their girls.

Janelle, Emma, George & Eda

In the beginning of July, while telling his father that we were going up to Vancouver, BC to visit some friends, George found out that his great-uncle Dick O'Reilly was living in Ladner, BC.  Up to this point, we thought that Dick and his family still lived in Thunderbay, Ontario.  George got Dick's email address from his father and arranged for us to meet Dick and his wife Margaret while we were up in the area.

Dick and Margaret are both 90 years old (Dick will be 91 in August).  Dick emigrated to Canada from Ireland in 1938, while his second wife Margaret was born and bred in Thunderbay.  We found out while visiting that they had been living in Ladner for 14 years.  Margaret's daughter and family had settled in BC and finally talked them into moving out away from all the snow in Ontario.  Dick still rides his bike and Margaret swims three times a week.  We had a great visit and extended our time with them by going out to dinner.  Dick told us stories about his experiences in WWII.  When I commented that he was one of the many Irishmen who had joined the British Army during WWII, he protested that he had not joined the British Army, he had joined the CANADIAN Army.  That's when I found out he had emigrated in 1938.  He was in a tank battalion and lost the hearing in his left ear during the war.  He was stationed in North Africa and then later in Italy.  Dick has a great way with telling a story.  Margaret also had some wonderful stories about growing up in Thunderbay, Ontario.

George & I plan to visit Dick and Margaret again when next we go up to Vancouver.

George & I went up to Victoria, British Columbia for a long weekend with our friend Alan. 

We left Seattle at 9am on Friday morning and were on the 12 noon ferry from Tsawwassen.  We have never made it up to BC that quickly before, but then we've always left around 2-3pm before.  We're still in shock about how quickly we got there.  I think there were only 3 cars ahead of us at the Peace Arch border crossing.

We spent Friday afternoon at the Victoria Butterfly Garden.  We saw some wonderful butterflies:

and some gorgeous flamingoes:



On Saturday we wandered around Victoria and then headed out to Butchart Gardens for the afternoon.  Here are George & Alan in the Japanese Garden (George is in the yellow):



After Butchart Gardens, we drove up to the viewpoint at Mount Douglas.  It was a clear, beautiful day and we could see 360 degrees.  In this photo, you can see Port Angeles, WA:



George also got this photo of a hiker on the ridge:



We had dinner in a restaurant on Victoria Harbour Saturday evening and in the morning, we took the ferry over to Port Angeles and drove home down the Olympic Peninsula.

This is the first trip I've taken where I really enjoyed myself.  Some things didn't go as planned, but rather than concentrating on those things, I let them go and truly enjoyed myself.  It was a wonderful, new feeling for me.  It was also very freeing.

I was sitting in the living room on Monday night and my fingers were freezing.  I thought "I need a pair of fingerless gloves."  So I checked out various patterns online and on Tuesday started this pattern:

This is the "Fetching" pattern from Knitty.com.  I knitted them in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran that I had left over from the scarf I knitted George back in December 2005.  The color number is 300506 and I would describe it as Fir Green.  With this pattern, I cabled without a needle for the first time and picked up my first thumbs.  I had to re-do the thumb on the first glove because I had big holes.  Now they're done and I'll leave them next to my chair in the living room for the next time my fingers are freezing while I knit, needlepoint or read.

Thoughts

I've been reading the Knitting Curmudgeon's archives lately.  She writes a lot about people being afraid to try new things in knitting.  I realized that I can often be one of those people.  It takes me a lot of time to work up my nerve to try something new -  a technique, a pattern, a substitute yarn, etc.  I tend to doubt my abilities.  Some of my fear is left over from when I couldn't afford much yarn so I was afraid of messing up and destroying the yarn I did have. 

But some of it is a fear of losing/wasting time.  I don't know where this fear comes from, but it has a big hold on my mind.  I fear losing time to having to reknit an item, to surfing the web and getting nothing substantial done, to just wasting time.  And I waste a lot of time, often doing nothing.  And then I beat up on myself for wasting all that time.  I often fear that my life will just disappear into "wasting" time.  I need to work through that and actually get somethings done.

Boy, I have a lot of photos that George & I have taken since we got digital cameras.  I created a lot of new folders so I can more easily find what I'm looking for.  Here's a photo from June 2005.  It's of my niece Catherine (left) and her friend Mel (right) in the Temple Bar area of Dublin.  This was a trip I'd promised Catherine if she did well in high school.  Not only did she do well, she was a National Merit Scholar.  George said it was a good thing the trip wasn't pro-rated.  We would have been in Europe all summer!  As it was, we spent a week in Ireland and a week in London.

I've just spent the last 2 evenings finally arranging all the digital photos I have on my desktop from 2001 - 2006.  I created new folders by date(s) and events.  Now I can more easily search through the photos to find what I want.  Since this is now done (tho' I still need to copy some 2006 photos over from George's computer), I'll be putting more pictures up on the blog.  Here's an example from 2002 Jul 6:

Doesn't it look delicious if messy?

Here's a gorgeous photo George took of a tree at the beach near our time-share back in March 2005.  Click on the picture to see a larger size.  The photo has almost a 3-D quality.

I'm still working on George's socks.  At least I'm on the second one now.  I spent weeks not working on them and then found that the needles had come out while everything was sitting in a bag I kept shoving things into.  I finally got all the stitches back the way they were suppose to be (I was in the middle of the gusset decreases) and am now knitting the foot.   I said for the past 3 weekends that I would finish this sock over the weekend.  This time I think I'll finally be done over the Labor Day Weekend.

I'm still knitting the sock continental (pick) style and my stitches are getting much better.  Practice, practice, practice.  I mentioned below that I was knitting a scarf continental style.  Well, I've decided I hate the stitch pattern I was using and I'm going to rip it out.  It's been great practice, but I wouldn't want to wear it.

I got a big shelving unit for my basement studio.  I'll try to get some pictures of my basement studio/office up in a day or two.  I think I might get another of the same kind of shelving unit as the present one looks good, but I have lots more stuff.  We have a very large house for just the two of us, but it's always messy.  I think this is mostly because we don't have the right furniture for the storage/display of what we have.  I wish we could afford a professional organizer AND the furniture/storage they would suggest for us, but since that would be prohibitively expensive, we'll have to muddle through on our own.

My contract job is probably ending Sept 14th.  RealNetworks isn't extending my contract as they're changing their QA focus yet again.  I'm ready to move on to another company with a different dynamic.  I can say that I've really enjoyed the people I've been working with, but it's not the company/position for me.

I should get home now before George starts worrying.  Bye for now.

I just read the Yarn Harlot's July 1st post "Canada, eh?" and am busy reading the various comments by mostly Canadian and American knitters.  When Steph posted about Canada Day last year, an American wrote that Steph was a "terrible American, Canadian-wannabe" seemingly unaware that Steph is Canadian.  A lot of the comments from actual US Americans (as many people pointed out, everyone in North, Central and South America is an "American") have been along the lines that they really are "terrible American, Canadian-wannabe"s.

This got me thinking about being American/Irish.  Like many of those commentors, I'm ashamed to be a USAian(?).  I don't like (ok, I'm sick to my stomach) that our present administration approves torture, spies on its own citizens, and always plays the terrorism card to try and distract we the people from all their scandals.  Often, when I'm really upset with our government, I image escaping to Ireland.  The thing is tho' that I don't really want to leave Seattle, and the life and friends George & I have made here.  I like the thought of being able to leave if I must without being a refugee, but I really don't want to leave because of my government.

When George & I got engaged, we talked about me getting Irish citizenship after we were married the required number of years (in our case 3 years with no residency required) so that we could take 6-month contract jobs in the EU while leasing out our house in Seattle.  We're both in computers (George is a programmer) and jobs were plentiful at the time we were talking.  With an Irish passport I wouldn't have to worry about getting a work permit and we'd have time to explore an area while earning money.  Our plans always included returning to Seattle to our friends and sharing our adventures with them.

I don't really feel like an Irish citizen as I've never been in Ireland for longer than 3 weeks.  I know that if we did move to Dublin (that's where George's family and most of the jobs are), I'd suffer culture shock because I AM an American/USAian/USian in my thoughts and perceptions.  I grew up in Metro Los Angeles, California and live in Seattle, Washington.  I'm a left coast liberal and I think I do well at trying to see things from other people's points of view, but I have been formed as an American.  I expect certain things and am startled when they're not there or are different in some way.  Discovering these kinds of things while travelling is exciting and expands my horizons.  But as I found while living in Taiwan for 6 months in 1981, even the most open of minds can only take so much before culture shock hits.  And then hits again after one thinks one has adjusted.  Does it ever really go away if one is an expat?

My perfect solution would be for the Pacific Northwest to secede from the union and become Cascadia or whatever name you wish, with a liberal government that cares about its people.  That way I wouldn't have to leave my home and my friends if my present national government continues to slide into despotism.  What a pipe dream! <g>

This is long enough now.  I'll visit this topic again another day.

As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, I've started another pair of socks for George.  I got the first one done and had to rip out the toe after George tried it on (it was too tight).  All the stitches are back on the needles, but the hot weather here in Seattle results in a suana in our living room (where I do most of my knitting) so I haven't felt like working with wool.

I also haven't made much progress on the seaman's style scarf that I am knitting continental method.  Again the heat issue, and the fact that I knit slower in the continental method so I get a little bored with it.

It's time for me to purchase some shelving for my studio-to-be in the basement so I can get all the boxes of knitting and sewing stuff off the floor, and have a comfortable and cool place to knit.  Also I need the space to sew up some curtains for our 1st floor guest room.

We made our 2nd annual move to the "summer palace" on Monday night as our master bedroom on the 2nd floor is stifling in hot weather.  The 1st floor is better, but if the summer heats up much more we'll be moving to the southern hemisphere (my basement office/studio-to-be); yet another reason to clean up all the boxes spread out across the basement floor.

I can't boot my main desktop so I've been unable to work on my Finished Projects gallery.  I will hopefully figure out what the problem is and get a few pictures of finished and in progress projects up along with details.

I think the problem with my desktop is the motherboard or CPU.  They're both over 5 years old.  My husband George has created a Linux boot CD for me so I can reach my data files and maybe figure out just where the problem is.  I'm not too worried as I'm used to recovering data files and re-installing operating systems if necessary.  If the problem is the motherboard or cpu, I'll be heading over to Fry's Electronics in Renton, WA to pick up new one(s).  I've built desktops before.  I even built one of George's desktops tho' he mostly uses his wireless laptop these days.  He only uses the desktop when he wants to do hard-core programming and wants an ergonomic keyboard.

Yes, I've been lazy about updating my blog.  A lot's been going on.

George & I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary on Saturday, May 6th.  We had 4 people over for dinner and then told them it was our anniversary.  George made Aghan Chicken, cooked on a rotisserie over a charcoal fire.  He also grilled some tomatoes and red bell peppers directly on the coals, and grilled some asparagus which he then doused with balsamic vinegar.  The final dish was the cooked up onion and spice marinating sauce from the chickens.  Dinner was delicious and we finished it with a Black Forest cake that one of our guests brought.

On Sunday May 7th, George & I took the Spirit of Washington Dinner Train.  We did the brunch trip.  We're glad we finally went on the train, but we're in no hurry to go again.  The food was alright, but we've had better.  I've since been assured by people who have been on the dinner trip that the food is great.

Last night (May 9th), we went to see Cirque du Soleil's performance of Varekai.  It was wonderful and different from the original show as developed and shown on the series "Fire Within".  Some elements were still there, but a lot was new to us which made it fresh.

Well... I've been a little ill and a lot injured.  I picked up some kind of headcold or something that caused me to miss work last Thursday 4/27 and work only 3 hours on Friday 4/28.  Meanwhile on Sunday evening 4/23, my right foot started to hurt.  As the week went on, it got worse.  I saw my podiatrist yesterday and he took x-rays.  Good news - no fractures.  Bad news - he thinks I've torn a tendon.  I'll be in a walking cast for the next 3 weeks while we see if that helps it heal.  I'm in a lot of pain and last night woke up at 3am because of it.  I was back in bed by 5am and the alarm went off at 7:30am.  I'm now exhausted and in pain.

On the knitting front, I finished the small basket and felted it.  It's looking pretty good.  I took the 3 baskets to my knitting class last week.  Lauren and I agree that I need to run the largest basket through a hot wash again after I fasten the handles on more securely.  I did a much better job with the handles on the medium and small baskets after seeing how the handles on the large basket turned out.

I re-did the toe on George's left sock and he's much happier with the fit.  Now to wash and block them slightly.  And to get him to wear them out of the house.

I started another pair of socks, this time for me.  I've finished the first sock and last night I started the second sock, and with being up for two hours in the early morning, started on the gusset already.  The 2nd sock will likely be done tonight or tomorrow evening.

Hello.  My name is Emma Bartholomew.  I'm a dual Irish/American citizen.  I was born in Los Angeles, California as a US citizen.  A year ago, on February 16, 2005, I became an Irish citizen via marriage.  I recently sent off for my Irish passport.  My husband George is a native of Dublin, Ireland.  He became a US citizen 3 years ago after living in the US for 13 years.

I am also a knitter.  I enjoy knitting, but I'm not obsessed with it all the time.  I go through phases of knitting/not knitting.  When I am knitting, I go through phases also.  For awhile before the winter holidays, I was doing a lot of felting.  I made bags for myself, my new sister-in-law Lizzie and my eldest niece Catherine.  I also knitted & felted a purse that I'm still working on since I need to add some support to it.  I'm not much of a sewer so that's what's slowing me down.  I also knitted my first fair isle project - a drawstring bag for my sister Maggie.  And I made scarves for George and his brother Mark.

For the 2006 Knitting Olympics, I made a Fenna shawl.  You can see pictures of it here.  I'm now working on a pair of socks for my husband.  I'm using the "Madder Ribbed Sock" pattern from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks book.  I will start a circular shrug for my youngest niece Sarah this weekend for her 14th birthday.  I found the pattern on the web at a craftster.org forum. 

I'll save more for later.  Meanwhile, welcome to my blog!