The Wolf Costumes

My Brother-in-law Rich's FastPass (good for crossing the Canada/US border quickly) had expired on his birthday. He had an appointment to appear at the Border Crossing in Blaine in person this morning to get it renewed. On his way north from their home in Olympia, he dropped Sister Roxy off at Daughter Mary Mae's to visit.

After a stop at Starbucks to pick up lattes for all, we joined them to spend the day working on the costumes for the two wolves that will be in PAN, the Musical. Forry came along in his role as supervisor and found a comfortable chair to work on his Sudoku...

Sister Roxy brought her sewing machine with her. I cut out pieces and she pinned and sewed --

We were using a fleecy grey blanket that the costumer had brought to rehearsal. It took a bit of ingenuity to get enough material out of it for the two head hats and two sets of leggings and two sets of arm warmers, but we managed.

I think the head coverings turned out to be rather cute --

It took us most of the morning and the early afternoon, but we got the job done. (I definitely know it wouldn't have happened without Roxy!) MM did some shading on the ears, then put the elastic in the leggings. It truly was a group effort.

Roxy and Rich headed back to Olympia and we went back to Auntie Violet for a well-deserved nap. Later we met up with MM's family again for a Mexican dinner at Lorenzo's, then came home in the rain...

The Farmers' Market and Crab for Supper!

Sister Roxy and I headed out to downtown Olympia late this morning to check out the Farmers' Market. There were lots of plants for sale -- some beautiful tomato plants loaded with blooms; some gorgeous hanging baskets and all kinds of annuals. There were a couple of vendors selling good-looking -- and great-smelling pastries and breads; there were the usual soap, wood and honey sellers. Roxy bought some kohlrabi plants but couldn't find any lemongrass.

From there we went to Olympia Seafood Company and bought some shelled crab for my planned pasta crab salad and bought a couple of nice large crabs for dinner tonight. Roxy thought the $9 per pound was a bit high, but I told her I hadn't had good fresh Dungeness crab for a couple of years! (And it was good! The guy at the fish store said they had just come out of the steamer about an hour before...)

Next was a stop at the very busy Post Office to send off a baby blanket, made by Sister Roxy, to Ethan Richard, the son of our Godson, who was born in Moses Lake's Samaritan Hospital this morning. There have been lots of fun pictures of the newborn fellow on Facebook. So fun to get to see him right away!

Our last stop was at a place called Shipwreck Beads, surely the largest bead store I have ever seen! Roxy was looking for some tiny beads to add texture to one of her quilted wall hangings. I did find some nice presentation boxes for my squash blossom necklaces. I've been looking for some time as they both came in just nice cardboard boxes. The contemporary necklace and earring set fit into one of the boxes just fine, but unfortunately, the other box still wasn't big enough for the antique necklace.

We Move to Sister Roxy's - Skagit River Bridge Collapses

Today was another rainy, drippy day. We emptied the grey and black water tanks and flushed them out well this morning in preparation for a few days without a sewer connection. We left the Travel Inn Resort in Elma about noon and headed for my sister and brother-in-law's home just outside of Olympia.

Brother-in-law Rich had gone to Home Depot and picked up a 30 amp box for his shop, so we have electric and water. It was interesting to maneuver through the gate into their place and park over by Rich's shop. (It's going to be even more interesting to back out and get turned around when we leave...) It was raining pretty hard while we were getting parked. By the time we got the jacks down, the slides out, and the electricity hooked up, I was drenched.

Sister Roxy had a cup of hot tea ready for me when I got to the house -- along with a towel to dry my hair! So good to get to visit with her and see all the treasures she has accumulated from their travels to Africa, Panama and Italy (all since the last time I had been here!). We spent most of the afternoon catching up on both activities and family. Roxy made a crock pot of white chicken green chili for supper. It hit the spot on this rainy chilly day.

While we were talking and sort of half watching the news after dinner, we saw the news about the collapse of the I-5 bridge across the Skagit River between Mount Vernon and Burlington. The news broadcast said there were cars and people in the water. So of course, I immediately got on the phone and called Daughter Mary Mae, who lives in Mount Vernon with her family. The house phone line was busy; her cell phone immediately went to voice mail; but I finally got through on Son-in-law Scott's cell phone. They were all at home and fine -- in fact, they hadn't even heard about the bridge collapse yet.

From later reports, it sounds like there were three people rescued from the collapsed bridge and two were taken to the hospital and are in stable condition. It also sounds like an oversize truck load may have hit the upper portion of the bridge.