The only remaining snow in our yard (until an hour ago) was a four-square-inch patch or two on the parking strip where we had piled it. Everything was looking green and Seattleish. My scooter started fine on the weekend and I took it for a long and chilly ride. The car started when the day warmed up. No worries... until I wanted to go play guitar with my friend tonight and looked out the window... as Charlie Brown would say, AAAAAUGH! The street is completely white. My bamboo has bent to the ground again. Sigh. Well, it's forecasted to melt overnight.
Last night we were all set to go to the gym and the car would not start. The battery still had some power but not enough. Side streets were still completely full of slush. We'd been walking everywhere for a week. So we took our stuff back out of the car and walked to a local Mexican restaurant we had not been to since shortly after moving here 11 years ago. Crossing the small intersections of side streets sometimes was like wading in for a swim. I realized I was really getting used to walking everywhere. Everywhere within two miles, that is. It's seven miles to the gym. Walking in slush and snow was kind of a workout anyway.
Today Tom got the car started; it's over 40 degrees out. My rain barrels are draining, thank goodness; they don't seem to be clogged with ice. The overflow hoses are attached to what in summer is the spigot I use for buckets, the idea being the water does not fill the barrel in winter but runs out through a long hose, away from the house. I guess the hoses aren't full of ice, down under the snow on the grass, and I'm a little surprised.
My only damaged plant may be the ceanothus at the front corner. I shook the snow off the bamboo and the strawberry tree, and some little hebes, when they had leaned over, and they look okay now.
A big ceanothus by the front south corner of the house uprooted under the snow load, fell away from the house (taking up path space) and will have to be removed. That's an opportunity. I was planning to landscape the south side of the house in 2009 and this creates a lot of space and light. I wouldn't have had the heart to remove it otherwise but this will be exciting. And the added incentive to get going on the project will be a good thing.
Other plants, I'm rescuing by knocking snow off of them before the rain makes it heavy enough to break them. Not all the plants--just the broadleaf evergreen shrubs and trees, like rhododendrons, arbutus (strawberry tree), hebes, the other ceanothus, and bamboo. The bamboo bends low and springs up elegantly when I knock the snow off. Naturally I had to have a video of this.
We didn't get any more snow today, but it was freezing cold until noon and again after 4 PM so not too much was melted. I had a client scheduled in the gym for kettlebell training this morning, but neither of us could get there. I borrowed a sled, and Tom and I towed my kettlebells a mile to my client's studio where he has his massage practice and we did his session there. We towed the kettlebells home (uphill), stopping a few times to help people push their cars out of parking spaces. By the time we got home, I had about 20 minutes to have a snack and walk right back down there for my massage appointment.
I'm getting massages to try to help my elbow tendonitis, which has gotten a lot better but is still pretty easy to aggravate. The massage therapist was doing "fascial work" today. This involved putting me on the floor and standing on my various arm and chest muscles with the ball or heel of his foot, then making me extend my wrists and fingers or arms. It was intensely uncomfortable. I think some types of intense massage help it relax, but I'm not sure this did. I trust this therapist, though.
On the other hand, I had a lot to do today because I was supposed to host the book club's Christmas party and ornament exchange tonight. I did a little cleaning, and Tom walked to Safeway to get some wine. I made Filipino garlic fried rice with bacon and egg in it, and broiled a flank steak. We also had two kinds of ice cream. Only one person (who has all-wheel drive and had had to drive to work nearby anyway) made it here, which was a letdown, though not unreasonable. I wouldn't have ventured out in the car tonight to someone's house either, since I had not had to take the car out earlier for any compelling reason like getting to work. We had a good dinner and dessert and exchanged Christmas ornaments even though there was only me, one book club friend, and Tom.
We had six inches of snow on Thursday, three or four inches yesterday between 4 PM and 1 AM, and now it's snowing again and we have at least another inch or two now. This is really fun! Tom and I haven't seen this much snow in almost 12 years, I think, other than on winter weekend trips to the mountains. It's more exciting when it's where you live.
A nearby street corner, cute storefronts at the top of a hill:
Old Japanese style trees on the Seattle University campus:
Our house:
Our picnic table; it had eight and a half inches on it last night at midnight:
I think this is the most snow we've had since we've lived in Seattle, eleven years. We got about six inches starting early this morning and into the afternoon. I shoveled or push-broomed four times. Tom and I both stayed home from work and we went for a walk.
Saw these on 34th Avenue in Madrona outside of (I think) a day spa.
Had lunch at Catfish Corner on Cherry and MLK and watched this toddler staring out the door.
Closer to home -- yard pictures!
Not sure what happened today besides a long night of sleep, but I did a lot of things that made me feel virtuous. I ate a healthy (non-starchy) small breakfast, did a CrossFit workout in the basement, researched and collected some useful new exercises for my fitness classes, made two phone calls I needed to make, walked to the store instead of driving, and practiced the guitar. Some days I can't accomplish that much. Tomorrow if I do some cleaning I'll continue to feel righteous.
Here's a video of a hailstorm in our yard two weeks ago.
Backyard Hail from Fran Mason on Vimeo.
The little cherry tree and the lilac clash nicely with their orange and purplish under that yellow big-leaf maple.
Solomon seal and a hydrangea:
Strawberry tree--arbutus--I just love this big shrub. It's so healthy and colorful and evergreen, and hummingbirds like its little white bells.
The dogwood tree is almost pure red and it looks great with the sun shining through it.
This rose ('Fourth of July') and clematis are starting their third flush of flowers this year. I hope the weather doesn't get too cold for them to finish.
The new slope looks good now that I cleaned up some overgrown spent flowers.
We camped for four nights on Cooper Lake, north of Cle Elum. The site was recommended by someone from the gym. It was great. We hiked a lot of miles in three days of day-hikes. Our hiking destinations were Pete Lake, Diamond Lake, and Hex Mountain. We went to Pete Lake via a 13.5-mile loop that we didn't intend to do when we set out. We were going to go out a ways, to look for a nice view, and turn back. But we got carried away once we realized we had all sorts of things to eat in camp and didn't have to cook if it was too late when we got back.
We had sun every day, clear cold nights, and campfires. We cooked steaks, salmon, and bacon and eggs on our fire. I feel like we have done a lot to take advantage of the end of this summer and start of fall. This was our biggest camping trip and it was a lot of fun.
Click on the picture to see more pictures I uploaded on Flickr.
