Yarnivorous

G'day all! It is almost June already.  Where has the year gone? This May has been interesting.  It is a month of changes, of farewells - both my parents died in May, many years apart - and this year is no different. Dunno what it is about May but if it weren't for the beauty of spring and early summer here, I'd go a bit nuts.  (More nuts.) My love affair with dogwoods continues... A while ago, DH was approached by a recruiter.  This happens quite often - the IT industry is really quite incestuous and they are always on the lookout for good people.  They thought that he was a different person of the same name, but it turned out that DH was in fact the right guy.  They had discussions and then those turned into interviews, and the upshot is that DH is leaving Amazon. We are not leaving Seattle... This means getting new visas.  Yay!  Not.... Every time we have to get new visas, we have to do mounds of online paperwork. Sorry, th...

G'day all! It amazes me to think I've now seen three Syttende Mai (Norwegian constitution/national day) parades.  This is my third Spring in Seattle and I have to say I am still appreciating them.  It is even better now that I can ever so slowly dig up some dirt and plant things. One part of the parade in Ballard. It is slow work digging up the grass - it has been around for quite some time and is very resistant to being dug up.  Sometimes the spade will only bite in about a centimetre and then nope, no further.... The good news is that my back isn't giving out, so all the work on developing core strength must be working! Tricksy not-our-cat Gardens around where I now live in Seattle remind me of gardens in Melbourne when I was a kid.  We never worried about water then - there was plenty of water!  It rained consistently.  We grew rhododendrons and azaleas and wisteria and lilacs and roses and clematis and various delicate woodlandy type p...

Be with you, always. G'day all! It isn't quite May the Fourth here yet but no matter. Chives.  Love the focus the poor old phone got in this pic Isn't it odd how geek things have gotten into public consciousness?  Like May the Fourth.  I can remember one of my uber Star Wars geek fan friends telling me all these things, and I absorbed them like any good little geek would.  And now they are common place. Star Wars made me a fortune! Paid off the mortgage! Bought me a car.... All of Mum's irises ended up looking like these.  They are pretty.... The internet has certainly helped.  It has made it so easy to spread memes and sayings and geek culture.  It has given the introverts voices and forums to chat with like minded people and really brought geekdom into being pretty much mainstream. Weird, huh? Pretty crab apple - a double! It is so normal for me to interact with geeks in person and online that it is a bit of a shock w...

G'day all! Another Anzac Day has come and almost gone.  I can't believe it is almost May - no wonder the weather keeps pretending to be nice every now and then! Does anyone here not know about Anzac Day?  Aussies and Kiwis (and peoples from the islands surrounding us) do, of course - have a look at the letters in ANZAC.  Australia and New Zealand Army Corps.  Really, the corps is misspelt.  It should be corpse, because that is what Anzac Day commemorates, the day that thousands of young Commonwealth men stormed the coves around Gallipoli in what is now called Turkey.  Why?  Because it was part of a push to ensure that the Black Sea remained open to Russia (then an ally of Britain) and then capture Constantinople and thereby ensure the Ottomans (now Turks) did not back up the Germans. Well, it was an unmitigated disaster.  I won't go any further, but many thousands of men died (on both sides) for very little gain by the Allies.  If you c...

G'day all! Last weekend was amazing.  The weather was warm - so warm I ended up wearing shorts.  I got to blind people with the glaring pink purple whiteness of my glorious legs.  It hit a whole stinking 21C! LOL Apparently my ideas about what hot is have changed in my time in Seattle. This weekend?  Brr!  It got to about 12C today and it seemed cold, especially when the skies cleared and the wind came up cold from the south-west. Spring isn't the only thing that is sprung. The days are getting longer and we are well into Spring.  I usually love Spring, though I'm starting to loathe the pollen that is blowing in the wind.  A lot more plants are wind pollinated here than in Oz. Last of the camellias There's so many flowers blooming now.  The crab apples are in full bloom along with the ornamental peaches/almonds/whatever they are, and even the early flowerers of the edible apples are starting.  Gardens are looking simp...