Off to the City

I'm not entirely sure why I have become such a weeny sissy about traveling outside of my own little corner of the world. Perhaps because I seldom go out and about anymore. Partly because I don't like crowds, everything costs too much, freeways drive me nuts, and I get too tired before the day is over.  I usually enjoy myself just fine once I'm where I'm going (and if somebody there will take care of me) -- meaning I don't have to drive but ..... getting any place these days is becoming a hassle.

I can handle Sequim and Port Townsend, of course, but I have to put more effort into it if I intend to travel further.  Part of the problem is just plain age.  I don't feel that comfortable driving with traffic and people are getting ruder and stupider all the time!
I went to Seattle Saturday morning.  I had read (more than once) the time time schedule for the bus I was catching and exactly when I had to catch it back home again. (there was only ONE bus on Sundays)  How I managed to read it wrong still puzzles me. I'm blaming it on old eyes.

I established that to come home I had to catch the 4:40 ferry out of Seattle. That would allow me to climb onboard the Strait Shot bus from the Bainbridge terminal to Port Angeles.  The only bus that day.  I was so fretful about being stuck on the freeway to get to the ferry that I made Mary take me a little early.  I was definitely in "old lady mode" and I recognized that.  We got there fine. Early enough for me to catch the ferry BEFORE the one I actually intended to take.  Which was okay. The weather was nice and I could sit on the Bainbridge side to read and people watch.  It was a struggle to hike from the ferry across the long gangway to the terminal as I had an extra large sack coming home and still had to have one hand free for my walking stick.  But I managed.

The ferries were running a little behind schedule so I figured I'd probably have a longer wait for the bus.  What I didn't realize is that I had read the schedule wrong and I needed to catch the 5:30 ferry, not the 4:40.  And the bus left at 6:15 from
Bainbridge, not 5:35. Sigh....  It was bad enough that I mis-read it but I mis-read it AT LEAST 3 TIMES OR MORE!  Old eyes!  At any rate, we finally pulled into Port Angeles at 8 pm and Jenni picked me up as I hadn't eaten much all day.  I seldom eat on the ferry.

Ignoring the foul up of returning home, it was a busy weekend otherwise. Mary and Jake picked me up and drove to Kent to see Catie and Brandon at her booth at the farmers market.  It was the last day of the season and she did pretty good selling her jewelry. Made $238.  I bought two pair of earrings. One had a tire swing hanging from a tree.  Loved it!

Here's a couple pics I took of Catie and Brandon at her booth.

Two things I shot on the Seattle waterfront while waiting for Mary to arrive was a bunch of people riding segways across the street.  Also noticed these guys bike riding offering rides. I'd like to try that sometime.

I also took a picture of these gourds for sale at a booth near Catie's. I don't think I'd ever seen gourds like that before.

Catie gave me this really neat hanging planter for my birthday.  I can't wait to get it filled up with pretty flowers.  I hung it right away when I got home.

Saturday night Andy and Mary took me and Catie out to dinner at a neat place in Issaquah.  Then we came home and had birthday cake.  Jake had picked out my cake this year so it had a car on it and footballs.

We were relaxing on Mary's deck earlier and Andy found a couple of baby frogs which he shared with Jake.  Poor thing did survive though, when we made him free them.

I just love Mary and Andy's patio furniture. Soooo comfortable.

On Sunday, Andy took Jake fishing for the first time. A pond near their house where they even clean the fish for you.  He had a ball.

On the way to the memorial gathering for Andy Robson, husband of Ann who I graduated with, we stopped at Costco so Mary could run in and buy a couple items.  I was sure glad I wasn't having to shop there.  So crowded. I waited in the car and took a picture of the gas pumps nearby.  Couldn't believe the long line up of people in line to gas up. This picture isn't that great because I didn't want to get out of the car. (too hard for me to climb back  up and in Mary's SUV)

Here's a picture I took at the memorial of Ann with two of her children and one grandchild.

This last picture is one I saw on Facebook and thought it was too great not to keep. Shows dogs leading cows to safety in a Florida flood.

Jenni has started moving little by little into her new house. The big push will be this Saturday and Sunday. She's so excited.

I plan on driving to the casino on Friday for lunch with the girls and then I'll be laying low until October 5th when we go to Seattle to visit the Pike Place market and see the Wings over Washington exhibit.

Today was spent doing laundry and cleaning up paper work and computer chores. Also had to make a run to Swains to buy some rat poison as I think I saw more mice turds in the old icky storage box.  Lots of little gnawing marks on my bird seed bag too.

Tomorrow I plan on hanging out in the sewing room. I've got a couple of little projects in the works.