Graupel

I learned a new word the other day:  Graupel.  Snow was predicted for the lowlands and instead of your garden variety winter snow, it seemed that tiny round snowballs were falling.  I've seen lots of snow in my day, but I never saw this kind before.  Not in Massachusetts.  Not in Maine. Not here. They were like styrofoam beads and accumulated quickly.  Everyone was talking about it and flooding the news websites with questions on what it was.  Because it's still so icy cold and clear, they have stuck around for a few days in the round form in which they fell.

This kind of snow is called Graupel.  From Wikipedia:

Graupel (also called small hail, soft hail, or snow pellets refers to precipitation that forms when supercooled droplets of water condense on a snowflake, forming a 2–5 mm ball of rime; the snowflake acts as a nucleus of condensation in this process. Graupel is the German word for this meteorological phenomenon.

Cool, eh?

Merry Christmas, Happy Crimbo, Have a Cool Yule, Io Saturnalia! etcetera

I just want to wish my friends a very Merry Christmas or whatever you all prefer to say.  Personally I think it's gotten out of hand.  You can wish me a Merry Christmas because I won't take offense.   I hear that the new secular greeting is "Happy Crimbo".  I'm not entirely sure of the origin but.I like the word.

You all mean the world to me and I appreciate the support of everyone who stops by, whether or not you leave comments.  I hope Santa is good to each and every one of you. Enjoy the time off with your family, pets and loved ones.  Do some fun things for yourself.  Make some memories.   Love you all!!!!!

Being Bad in Sumner

It's been a long time since I visited downtown Sumner, due in part because of the economy and also because I kind of burned out on the stores.  It's only a few blocks long and there aren't that many places.  It doesn't take long to do both sides of the street, hitting every shop.  I haven't been down there in well over 2 years.

I figured since I took the time to visit the Old Cannery, and since it wasn't raining, I'd browse through the stores.  First I took a quick walk over the Stuck River Bridge.  The lights look very pretty at night and I'll try to get pictures before the end of the season.

"This third Stuck River Bridge was built here in 1927.  The first bridge was built in 1863 just down stream at a cost of $495.  It was rebuilt in 1884.  In 1904 the White River was diverted in Auburn into Stuck Creek to make it a permanent tributary of the Puyallup River.  The original lights on this bridge were removed during World War II.  The lights were replaced in 1991 to celebrate Sumner's Centennial.  City of Sumner 1891-1991."

I parked behind Main Street, at the back of some of the stores.  This one was called, appropriately, Picket Fence.

I do love bric-a-brac gardens.  I've always wanted to do one myself.

Out front on Main Street.

I never noticed this mailbox before.

Sumner Centennial mural, showing quite a bit of wear over the past 20 years since the Centennial was celebrated.

I think this is the Sumner Historical Society.  They have a really pretty lit tree as well, which is the City's official tree, but it didn't photograph well at all in the daylight.  

Another mural depicting 1800's life on Elhi Hill, which is above Sumner, where I live in Bonney Lake.

When I was on my way to the Old Cannery, I was blasting one of my tapes.  The song that was playing was my favourite Ultravox tune, "Sleepwalk".  I had it turned up to 11 and I was singing at the top of my lungs.  In the middle of the song, I saw this sign and in the middle of the song I screamed, "NO WAY!!!!"  I was to be a very bad girl....I swear I went in just to look.  But like any other junkie, being around all those sparkling, saturated colours, the endorphins kicked in and I found myself heaping strands onto my wrists.  Before I knew it, I was in too deep.  lol

KC's Caboose burned down a couple of years ago.  It was very sad to see it go as it had been a part of Sumner time out of mind.  It was perched at the end of the block, a few feet from the railroad tracks.  It even had a fairly large-size (about 4' long) replica of an Amtrak car on an overhang below the roof.  

This used to be a small German restaurant and bakery the last time I was downtown, and now it appears KC's has taken over the space.

I walked up one side of the street and down the other.  At least 3 trains came through town while I was there too!!!  And no trip to Sumner would be complete without a trip to the Whistle Stop Antique Mall.  I love to look at all the old Christmas decorations that are for sale.  Those old glass balls with the painted and glittered stripes are my fave and I have to force myself not to buy them.  So I go and look at them instead.  I ended up finding some amazing deals while I was there.  And no trip to Whistle Stop is complete without a few greeting barks from Kat, the owner's wirehair Doxie.  

Finally, on my way back to the car, I had to shoot Nicholson's Drugs, because I just dig the retro sign.  I went in a couple of times and it's as retro inside as it is outside.  It's like stepping back in time to a 1970's era drug store.

I liked the look of this old white gate.

This arch is a smaller version of the one I saw in Confederation Park in Victoria.  I love it.  I was able to get inside this one and see up close how they brace the trees to train them to grow this way.

Here are my purchases, except for the small wooden shadow box shelf that screams out to be painted and ephemera'ed.  So I snagged me an end-of-day glass tumbler, a green insulator (this shade is more green than the normal teal ones), 2 books of vintage linen Victoria postcards, gorgeous flowered paper, a mint condition Peter Max Design Paper Airplane book (copyright 1971), and a pile-o-beads.

Every paper airplane is intact in the book.  I bought it for $12.00, and when I got home, I checked out eBay, where bids were upwards of $80.  I got a freakin DEAL on this.  As soon as I saw the price, I knew that the seller had absolutely no idea what he had.  I'm so glad that my eyes are trained to spot psychedelic art because this book was on a bottom shelf, half buried and at the back of a very dark case.  All I could see was the bottom of the face, and I thought it was John Lennon at first, till I peered in and finally saw the "Peter Max".  The pretty papers come from The Paper Muse.  I got a few things in there as well, as she has a great selection of vintage and steam punk altered art items.  

This glass is actually worthy of it's own blog post.  And I dig the green insulator.  I'm still looking for the elusive and rare amber.

This photo doesn't do these beads justice.  I've never seen anything like them, nor did the owner of Blue Iris.  She said they've been flying off the board.  They are so unique.  Never seen them at Shipwreck or in the colossal Fire Mtn Gems catalog either.  I think she said they are Czech.  

I'm actually glad I went down there and I'm glad I treated myself.  I used some of my Christmas bonus money so it didn't have to come out of the bank account.  I will be off work starting on Dec. 22 and I'm looking forward to having a crafty holiday, in addition to going to see "Voyage of the Dawn Treader".  I may not have decorated, but making things is what makes me happy, so if I'm gonna salvage this season, it might as well be by doing the things I love to do.  I was also able to use my bonus to get my Victoria photos processed, and I picked them up on Monday, so that means I get to create a new photo album as well!!  Next week should be fairly quiet, and then I'll be off again on Friday the 31st.  

I hope everyone has a safe, peaceful and quiet holiday, Yule, solstice and/or Christmas.  

The Creepin' Crud and an Altered Book

I've been sick for the past two weeks and it is getting really old.  My boss was sick in mid-November, going into the Thanksgiving weekend.  By the time Deb and I found out he was sick, we hadn't been taking precautions of swiping stuff down with Clorox wipes.  I admit since the swine flu scare went away, I've grown lax about using Purell, although I do wash my hands a lot. 

Deb came back to work from Thanksgiving, with it too.  By that Wednesday, I had lost my voice as well.  The clients and the other attorneys who called kept asking why we were even still there at all.  We were both coughing, sneezing, blowing our noses....croaking into the phones....getting overheated and sweaty from standing at the copier for too long.  Or just standing for too long.  He sent us home Thursday and I went to the doctor on Friday.  I was good and sick.  Fever.  Freezing cold.  Headache that would not quit.  Earache. Painful lymph nodes....They made me wear a mask at the doctor's office.  I got my antibiotics that morning and spent the rest of the weekend sleeping and shivering under a blanket on the couch.  I was so weak that I couldn't even sit up straight at my craft table.

The antibiotics started to work their magic fairly quickly, but now this creepin crud is just hanging on for dear life.  While I'm not full blown sick, I'm still not 100% either.  Do you have any idea how uncomfortable it is to sleep sitting up?  I have no choice b/c I start coughing if I don't.  It sucks.  My nose got so sore from blowing it that my septum was torn to shreds and scabbed.  But every time I blew my nose or sneezed, all the cuts would open up and gush blood.  Oh and let's not forget about the "other" side effects from taking antibiotics....I'll spare you the TMI images but you all know what I mean, esp. if you are a chick, which most of my readers seem to be.  I've had more energy and was able to do a variety of crafts over the weekend which was awesome.  But I'd really, really like to shake this bone weary exhaustion and coughing.  My right ear still feels full although it doesn't hurt.  And I cannot get enough to drink.  I just had my bloodwork done the day I went to the dr. and my glucose is normal so it's not diabetes. I'm just thirsty, cold and tired every day.

It concerns me to think that these illnesses are becoming more and more drug resistant.  Deb's still coughing pretty much nonstop.  She and I are both over 2 weeks into this and it's not going away.  I wish I could go into work late for a few days, so I could sleep, but as usual we are straight out with cases.  I'll be very glad when the holiday season is over.  I'm ready to put this year to rest.

Anywho, over Thanksgiving weekend I worked on an altered book project that I've wanted to try for awhile. I have some favourite papers, ephemera, and other trinkets and decided to finally put them together into one place. The book is a plain, white thin foam board craft book from the scrapbooking section of the local craft shop.  I covered each page with pretty papers and stuff.  

My idea was to cut windows into some of the pages, and then insert a frame with glass in the center, with designs on each side of the page.  Once it was all done I sanded all the edges of the pages so that they'd be even, then inked the edges with green aging ink.  Click on the pics for a closer look, as the papers are so pretty.

The left page shows another glass 'window' from the hole I cut in the cover page.  I do want to add a couple more watch pieces and faces onto the right page.

I used some quotes that I liked, about living your life on your terms.  There's another window on the right page with glass covering a quote.

I love keys.

This page has a removable little card.

Left page is the reverse glass frame of the long window page.

Another removable card on the left.

The butterfly and dragon fly are attached w/ foam mounting tape to give it a 3D effect.  The bottom border is stacked on 2 layers of the foam tape.  I was trying to go for a garden fence look. It looks better in real life.

This is the back cover and I covered the spine with a piece of ribbon.

Only in America

This is easily one of the funniest stories I have heard in a long, long time, and it happened not too far from where I live.   Below text is taken from KING-5, written by Owen Lei, one of their reporters, but the still shot comes from KIRO-7. 

"AUBURN, Wash. -- Few things in this world can cause frustration, annoyance and road rage like stop-and-go traffic.

After a few months of his new commute between Auburn and Bellevue, Oscar Molina, 23, decided to do something about it -- something many of us only dream of. 

"I spend on average a week, about 10 to 15 hours in traffic," he said, chuckling, "Gives you a lot of time to think."

Problem is, he got caught.

It started last Monday morning, when Molina, a hardware salesman, flipped on the news and saw an accident along his normal route.

"I was late to work, I saw there was a huge traffic on [Highway] 167 north," he said, adding that's when he decided, "I'm hitting the bypass lane on the HOV."

Lacking a carpool companion, though, he singled out Diego, a plush doll belonging to his 3-year-old daughter. Diego is a character based on the TV cartoon "Go, Diego, Go!"

He said he figured if he went fast enough, no one would notice.

"It's a blink of an eye. They see something, they look away," he said.

He didn't count on two things. First, the traffic jam extended into the HOV lane. Second, state troopers happened to be running a carpool lane enforcement that morning.

"I go around the corner and I see three state troopers standing outside the vehicle," he said. "The cop is doing double takes."

His wife, Jessica Molina, said she had warned him before he left. 

"I told him not to use the doll because it had no nose," she said.

But it wasn't Diego's nose that caught the trooper's attention. Rather, according to the trooper's report, it was the "huge unblinking eyes."

"He starts walking closer to the car and I see him coming, and I"m still going two miles an hour," Oscar continued. "I just keep my face forward and I wanted to laugh, because I knew I was going to get caught.  He walks over to my mirror and he says, 'Come on.'"

A media release also noted Diego's seat belt was securely fastened.

Oscar said other than his traffic ticket, which carries a $124 fine, the troopers were just as amused at the whole situation.

"The first cop that pulled me over said, 'Do you mind if I get my friends? It's not every day you see this,'" Oscar said. "He asked, 'can I take a picture?'"

The picture, which accompanied the release about the HOV enforcement, gave Oscar an unexpected fifteen minutes of fame as news outlets around the country picked up the quirky news item, though it did not identify Oscar. That included a paper in Jessica's mother's in hometown in Georgia.

"She was at the dentist this morning and she said 'Who would do something like this?'" Oscar said.

"She was saying 'What an idiot," and I was saying, 'That's your son-in-law,'" Jessica said. "I think the whole thing's pretty funny. I'm not upset about it at all."

As for Diego, Oscar said he is leaving the doll back in the capable hands of his daughter.

He said he understands the situation can be embarrassing and apologized with a smile.

"I mean, what am I going to do about it? I got caught breaking the law and that's it," he said, noting that from now on he will just sit in traffic. His lesson? "As bad as it is, everybody has to do it."

In this guy's defense, the northbound commute on 167 and 405 is horrendous.  I think it's a hoot that the doll was belted.  We take our seat belt laws fairly seriously, b/c of the "Click-It, Or Ticket" campaign.  And I especially love the fact that his wife has "I told you so" bragging rights.  He's never gonna live this down.  

Holiday Cards 2010

2010 J. Wolf Original Holiday Cards.  This time I remembered to write down who got what.  Axe's card didn't scan well, but it looked really cool with shiny blood red paper under the punched out snowflakes.

Bah! Humbug!

The Top 10 Ways Christmas Has Changed Due to the Economy

10.  Twelve Days of Christmas now down to ten and a half.

9.  "Ho Ho Ho" now replaced with an exasperated sigh.

8.  Three out of Eight Maids A-Milking are unemployed.

7.  Yule log has to last all year.

6.  Frosty the Snowman now a depressed, melancholy soul.

5.  Letters to Santa include resumes.

4.  Tinsel recycled for cash money.

3.  People hoping to get coal in case gas gets shut off.

2.  Out of town company staying through next Christmas.

1.  Getting a meat and cheese assortment, not such a bad gift!

Well the holidays are looming and this will be the third Chrimbo that I won't be decorating.  Over and above being sick, it's just too much damn work.  While 2010 has been better than 2009, money is still very tight and times are still hard for so many people.

We were watching the news the other night, and found out that the Washington State Employment Development Department (EDD) made a huge calculation error with unemployment benefits, for people that started collecting 2+ years ago.  That explains why Brian was booted off in October, and why he is unable to get anyone at the State to call him back or respond to his email inquiries as to what's going on.   At least I am still bringing home an income, but the poor guy they interviewed on the news is single, over 50, has already lost his home, and now EDD told him, "too bad, so sad."  He said that he applies for tons of jobs, even for low paying ones, and either never hears back, or told that he's overqualified.

In October, one of the cartoons in the paper showed someone going into a costume shop and asking for the scariest Halloween costume they had.  The shopkeep retorts, "Over 50 and Unemployed".  Sometimes I think that some of my family and friends think Brian's just malingering or not trying.  I know he's trying, but there isn't anything out there.  Unemployment in Washington is just about 10%.  He just doesn't hear back from anyone, ever, about any jobs he applies for.  It's frustrating as hell for him.  My mom keeps saying, "he can't give up!"  But you know, after 2 and a half years of rejection after rejection, it's awful damn hard not to give up.  Plus his health problems are fairly significant, which limits the kind of work he can do.  

I used to be so into Chrimbo when times were good.  I would look forward to decorating and would do it on Thanksgiving weekend, so we'd have a whole month to enjoy it.  The last time we had a real tree was the year b/f we got Sagan, which was 2005.  I used to be able to cover the wood stove's brick pad with decorative candles and holiday snow globes.  I had a really cool smaller fake tree in the upstairs window and a large brass wire tree to hang my Radkos and the beaded balls I've made.  I used to put green (fake) pine garland around the wall that frames the picture window upstairs, and I hung beautiful glass balls from it.  Our tree ornaments are very unique and very fragile too.  My parents would give me a new one every year, starting the year I was born.  That makes many of them over 40 years old, aka, "antique".  I have one of an angel inside an eggshell that a neighbor gave me in 1973.  All these years and the egg has not been crushed.  I have a wax-face angel too.  And the star for the tree was bought in the early 50's.  There are several ones made of wood that I assembled from a kit when I was 9, also fragile.

Now, I love my little sweet Sagieboo to death.  And that's part of the reason I stopped decorating so much.  He's just so clumsy sometimes, and walks over the brick pad, dripping water from his dish, stepping on whatever's in his way.  He jumps around by the slider when he's excited.  He likes to roll around on the floor with toys in his mouth then wants you to play fetch with him.  He stands in the upstairs window, barking at perceived threats, often putting both front feet on the table to increase his height.  He races around the livingroom with his treats, leaping on and off 'his' couch.  He'll take the pad out of his upstairs bed and whip it around from side to side. Do you see where I'm going with this?  The breakable-ornament carnage would be unreal.  I decided that I'd rather not decorate, than to risk one of my precious and irreplaceable ornaments being shattered because Crash Craddock knocked over the tree or pulled down the garland.

Over and above the Enthusiastic Doggie Factor, it's just too much damn work to drag all that shit out.  We have a lot of decorations.  Tons of them.  They are all fragile and unique, and some of them are now antique.  They must be carefully wrapped and stored.  So unpacking them, and then putting them away, takes so much time and effort. It can take days to do it.  I always take everything down on the 26th, mostly because the real tree we always get is pretty much tinder by that time.  That means piles and piles of pine needles.  It's bad enough we're tracking them in from outside, without piles of tree needles too.   Last year when I didn't decorate, I promised myself that this year I would.  Now I'm promising myself that next year I will.  In my defense, I've noticed a marked decrease in the lights and decorations I see in my travels over the past couple of years too, although there is one house on the corner that looks like Chrimbo threw up on it.  I'm going to have to take pictures of it and post it.  I can see maybe having one of those blow up lawn ornaments, but man alive, these people have about 10 of them.  The inflatable Joseph, Mary & Jesus is particularly disturbing.

I'm just not feelin it.  At all.  I want to.  I was trying to...but it's not happening.  I can't force myself into it.  It's more trouble than it's worth. So it seems that the sum total of my holiday spirit will be the 35 holiday cards I made, and will be posting soon.  Card making is something I do enjoy, and I was actually quite bummed out when I finished making them!  But the decorating just ain't happenin' this year.  I know come the afternoon of December 25th I'll be very glad I made the decision not to put it up, because now I won't have to put it all away.