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17 December 2018

Life Lately From Coast To Coast

Things have been crazy since my last Life Lately post. Let's see. . .when I last left you it was the end of November. What's happened lately since?

After all of the Thanksgiving festivities, we tried to cut back on pigging out so much, but then we went for Ethiopian food in West Palm Beach. How can you not pig out when you're eating delicious sambusa, doro wat and miser wat? We took a bunch of people with us who had never eaten Ethiopian before. Thankfully, they loved it. Or, at least they said they did.


Then I took off for Portland, Oregon to visit my family (mom, sister, and two nieces). I made it out of the Charlotte airport in the nick of time before everything shut down due to a winter storm. Thankfully, I had packed lots of socks, mittens, and a hat. Once you get out of southern Florida, it's pretty darn cold.

We went on several fun excursions, including one to the Mt Angel Abbey and Seminary. If you're ever in that neck of the woods, definitely go pay the monks a visit cause there's a cool library, a fascinating museum, and the brother who works at the gift shop makes a seriously delicious mocha.

When your sister is a library person, this is what you do when you visit. Take a tour of a library. This one was designed by the famous Finnish architect, Alvar Aalto. We also toured the Portland Central Library and saw what happens behind the scenes.


The monk leading the tour, Brother Simon, really talked up the book sale they were having. So we bought a book plus a tote bag with the Abbey logo on it. I thought it might come in handy for my sister to take to work or the grocery store. Instead it's become a very coveted cat bed.

That's Georgie about to pounce. I think she was trying to make it very clear to Sebastian that it's her bag, not his.


This is Sebastian. He had to settle for napping on the bed. Yes, I got my Crazy Cat Lady fix while in Portland.


My nieces are seriously talented. My mom and I picked up one of them at her school. Miranda has been painting these great murals on the walls. Why didn't I go to a fun high school like that where they encourage you to turn boring white walls into artwork? Here's one she did with some friends, Kale, Sophia, and Taesha, last year.


And here's one she's working on by herself this year. Notice the underwater theme? Maybe she'll want to come sailing with us one day.


Miranda is also a published writer. I think her sales are probably better than mine. {grin} My other niece, Simone, is an extremely talented photographer. Check out her Flickr page. And they both get great grades and have gorgeous hair. Nothing like my high school days, that's for sure.

I also spent a lot of time visiting my mom at her new digs. She lives in this awesome building with really nice, interesting, and super active seniors. They're so active that I ended up doing back-to-back exercise classes with my mom one morning and couldn't keep up with the 102-year old lady next to me. You know someplace is a great place to live when they have a Crazy Cat Lady & Gents Society. The members get together once a month, drink wine, and talk about their cats. Sounds like my kind of place.


While I was away, Scott hauled out our sailboat on his own. Well, not exactly on his own. So many of our wonderful friends pitched in to help. Yay for wonderful friends! Tickety Boo is now in the workyard for repairs. But let's not talk about that anymore, shall we? It's all too depressing. {Photo credit: Tina Riley}


 
What's been going on in your life lately?

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30 comments:

  1. You've been busy! Glad you made it through Charlotte before the storm. Wish we'd been encouraged to paint the walls at our school.
    Merry Christmas!

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    1. I wish we had been encouraged to do the same as well. It would have been a lot of fun.

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  2. I can't remember if I've ever had Ethiopian food. The pic makes it look yummy!

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    1. If you ever get a chance, go for it. It's really delicious.

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  3. You have to pull your boat now and then. Bottom clean and paint. Check for blisters and all that fun stuff. It's expensive too.

    I would love to have Ethiopian food. Sounds really yummy.

    We've been staying home. Cold and wet and that's good. We'll head to the boat in a couple of weeks and spend some time.

    Have a fabulous day and week, Ellen. ♥

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    1. Hauling out your boat is a regular part of life. It definitely isn't cheap.

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  4. Get well soon, Tickety Boo! ~grin~ Seriously, I'm sorry for your issues. But hurray for a nice visit. Your mother's home sounds awesome, as do your nieces' talents. Take care!

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  5. Cute kitties. I bet Portland was chilly. Something about cold and damp that chills the bones.

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    1. I'm so unaccustomed to Pacific Northwest weather now. It was really cold.

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  6. Sounds like you had a great visit. Getting a cat fix is always good.

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  7. Just backtracked to see what the boat issues were - hope you can get them sorted out.

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  8. Library tours! Sounds like my kind of trip.

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  9. That library looks fantastic! Love the kitty pictures! And those murals--wow!

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  10. Visiting a library and buying books would be a fun thing to do on vacation, i love to read. It sounds like you and your family had a great time, i'm so glad you got to visit!

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    1. It was great to see the family. I'm glad I was able to go.

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  11. You've had a busy month! I didn't hear about the Mt Angel Abbey and Seminary while we were in Portland, but of course we had to check out Powell's. :-) We also had a nice time in the city and surroundings a couple of months ago.

    I hear you about everything being cold once you leave Florida. Even though we are in SoCal, we wish we were in Florida for warmer weather. Not that I should complain about mid-sixties and blue skies. Well, whenever I get from behind my computer...

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    1. I can't believe all of the years we lived in Portland that I had never been to Mt Angel before. Powell's is great. Oddly, I did't get there this trip. Not that I have room for any books though.

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  12. I've never had Ethiopian food, so the dishes you mentioned are big unknowns, but it sure looks good!

    Your niece is a terrific artist. It's totally cool that she's allowed to paint those murals at school.

    I'm glad you got your cat fix in while you were away. One of my cats is sitting on the arm of my chair glaring at me at the moment. She doesn't seem to be at all pleased that the laptop is on my lap... instead of HER.

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    1. There's a good Ethiopian restaurant in Atlanta. Might be worth trying out one day.

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  13. I wish we had somewhere to try Ethiopian food, it looks delicious. I'm preparing for Christmas, so much to do, so little time. I would have more if I got off of the internet.....

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    1. I sense a business opportunity in Alaska for someone to open an Ethiopian restaurant.

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  14. Your life is more exciting than mine. I've discovered Discord and joined a few writer's chat groups through Wattpad. That could be old new though. :-)

    Anna from elements of emaginette

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    1. I doubt if my life is more exciting. There's plenty of dull stuff in it that doesn't get posted about :-)

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  15. Sounds like a fun trip, and it's always nice to see family. I didn't know about that library of Alvar Aalto's! And I'm supposed to be a Finnish architect - how embarrassing!

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    1. I'm embarrassed that I lived in Portland for many years and didn't know about it until now either.

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