Snowshoeing at Mt. Hood

Went snowshoeing on Sunday after we got back from Christmas in Seattle. The weather was terrible! It was pouring rain when we got up there and was coming down in sheets!

The three snowshoers: Thor, myself and our friend, Michelle!

Thor & I

Thor early on in the snowshoe -- you can see how wet his jacket is! We were pretty much soaked.

Moving down the trail -- tons of debris in the snow due to the warm weather, rain & wind.

Three very attentive dogs: Laea, Annie & Skylar. Out of the picture Thor is poised, ready to throw a snowball.

Christmas Time in Seattle

Thor and I braved the snowstorm last Wednesday to drive up to Seattle for Christmas. Here's a shot of the tree that Thor & I helped put up when we arrived on Christmas Eve.


Kathryn and I both brought our most comfortable t-shirts to wear on Christmas morning - turned out we both thought of our Pacific Whale Foundation shirts that we got from Anna!


Aunt Susanna at the breakfast table. She made delicious pecan rolls and a tasty, tasty egg & cheese breakfast casserole.

Thor opening up a big package!

The day after Christmas Thor, Kathryn & I went skiing at Alpental just East of Seattle. It was fun, but Thor and I were sore afterwards!

Christmas Cookies

Inspired by cousin Amelia and my mom & Aunt Julie I decided to whip out some Christmas cookies to take up to Seattle with us.

The New Blueberry Plant

I feel badly for this little plant. I am worried it is not going to make it! We bought this about two weeks before the snow hit and of course I procrastinated on putting it into a larger pot and now I am worried the roots are frozen. It is a Sunshine Blue Blueberry which is a self-pollinating, semidwarf blueberry that does really well in containers. Fortunately I picked up the card for the lady selling these guys at the Farmers Market.

Gretchen O'Brien
River Rock Nursery
www.riverrocknursery.com

I think I'll try to visit this nursery some time early this spring. I think it would be a fun field trip out of Portland and it wouldn't hurt to have a couple more blueberry plants anyways. Yum!

We're 'Those People' Now

Well, it has finally happened. Thor and I broke down last night and decided it seemed reasonable to ski around the neighborhood. After 5 years of living in the NW and laughing everytime we got a skiff of snow and saw everyone bust out their nordic skis we have joined the club. Granted we have a bit more than a 'skiff' of snow right now, but still. We had dinner plans with our friend Merrill and realized it would be more fun to ski over to her neighborhood than drive. It was SO MUCH FUN! I had forgotten how much I like to ski and Thor and I realized that we might need to move somewhere with regular winter snow.

Here we are in front of Merrill's house. She whipped up a feast worth skiing for: delicious spaghetti with homemade meat sauce, bread, salad, tasty wine and mini key-lime pies to finish off the meal. Yum!

Snowshoeing in Forest Park

We had a snow day today so my friend, Michelle, and I went to Forest Park to snowshoe for the day. We ran around with the dogs -- and then met up with our friends Sarah & Megan at the New Old Lompoc for beer. Delicious!

Me & Laea

Michelle & Skylar

Thor's Christmas Stocking

Hooray! This winter ice storm has been good for something as I finished Thor's Christmas stocking this evening. I used Judy's Colors 'Red Velvet' Christmas stocking pattern. For the most part the charts were really good - there were some parts of the actual pattern that were open to interpretation though....it was definitely possible to figure out what you were supposed to be doing, but the pattern doesn't lay it out for you. Just in time for Christmas!

Winter Wonderland....Sort of

Today I was planning on heading up to Mt. Hood with my friend, Michelle , so we could take our rascally black labs (Laea & Skylar) for a romp in the snow. Then I woke up to 3/4" of crusty ice on top of about 6 inches of snow. Buzzkill. Chains are mandatory in Portland today and many of the main highways are closed. Sigh...the only good news about staying inside is that I'll probably finish Thor's Christmas stocking today. As I'm writing this post it is currently raining on top of our snow & ice. Yuck. Here are some pictures of our little house and the ice around our neighborhood.

The house with Laea trotting down the driveway. The icy weather does not deter her from fetching!


Me in the backyard shoveling out a path to our garage.

My car encrusted in ice.

A street sign near our house. We busted the ice of the lower sign so you could see the difference!

Thor at the end of our walk. It started raining on us and our jackets had a layer of ice on them by the time we got home.

Our shoveled out front porch area. This is NOT supposed to happen in Portland. It was cool until it killed all my plants in my garden and now I'm just cranky!

Snowy Roads in Portland

We've been having cold weather all week here and the roads have been a bit of a mess. For a good laugh at Portland drivers...

Snow Garden

We've been having some pretty unbelievable weather here in Portland. The temperature dropped on Saturday and on Sunday we had a full on blizzard here. We got about 2" of snow yesterday -- and today the wind just howled. It is supposed to stay cold (below 25 F.) all week. Sadly, I am not sure my little garden is going to make it through this cold snap. I think my kale & lettuce is dead for sure....not sure if my garlic, broccoli, brussels sprouts and leeks will make it through. We'll just have to see.

Backcountry skiing in Alaska

Thanksgiving in Alaska

Sorry these pictures are so late! I feel like the past two weeks since we got back from Alaska has been really hectic. We got to AK on Tuesday night and immediately went over to Ian's house (Thor's old roommate) to check out his new pad and say hi. We talked him into coming out to the Bear's Tooth with us and we met up with my Dad and Ralph there for a couple rounds of beer. I was beat by the time we got back to Ralph's house at 12:45am. Wednesday a.m. we got up bright and early to meet my good friend Kristy at Kaladi Brothers. Thor and I felt sort of scandalous for meeting her there because we were delivering her two pounds of coffee from Stumptown here in Portland. I stuffed the bags into her purse and hoped none of our old friends working there noticed.

Wednesday and our first stop was to Summit Tea & Spice to visit our good, good friend Audrey Paule (who owns Summit). Her shop is amazing and filled with such yummy tea & spice blends - I have converted to ordering all my bulk tea and spices from AK - which feels sort of extravagent - but I love supporting Audrey's shop! Here are a bunch of pictures from our weekend up in AK -- I'll make another post with our ski specific shots.

Audrey & I in front of her beautiful wall of teapots. She just received this rainbow assortment the day before we arrived.

Thor & I on the bridge over Campbell Creek at the Lower Bicentennial Parking lot.

Look at all the snow! This is about 4 miles away from the home I grew up in.

Thor sewing up the turkey. With his experience putting stitches in fish he did a great job!

Minor Thanksgiving emergency when the needle for sewing the turkey went down the drain. Oops. Fortunately Ralph is quick at taking the sink apart and putting it back together!

Carving up the turkey.

Our Thanksgiving table.