My 35th Order from Abundant Harvest Organics

Coming up on my 2 year anniversary, for getting an occasional box of produce.

See the next issue, to get the update on where I stand with them.

Here is what I got in my box.

2 Bell Peppers

1 Cantaloupe

1 plastic container of Cherry Tomatoes

1 bunch of Dandelion Greens

1 small bunch of Garlic Chives

1 head of Red and Green Lettuce

1 small brown Onion

1 Slicing Cucumber

4 Plums

2 Peaches (the ones that are depressed in the center)

1 Zucchini

1 yellow Summer Squash

4 ripe Tomatoes

The newsletter this week talked about the fact that the only place in the U.S. that can meet the rigid standards that give you certified organic stone fruit, is in the state of California. There are some in Oregon and Washington, but nowhere else is organic. I did find an article that mentioned the fact that South Carolina is trying to bag the peaches, to keep the bugs and rot away. Very labor intensive, but a noble effort. Check it out HERE.

I couldn't resist, I just grabbed one of the Santa Rosa Plums and am eating it as I write this...maybe it's not so bad getting produce from them. :-)

See you next time.

The Kogi BBQ Truck

A few weeks ago I was sitting at my desk, minding my own business...

Someone whispers something to my team and off they go, telling me to come along.

I am like OK, why not?

It ended up that someone in our building had hired the Kogi BBQ Truck to serve all the members of some IT Conference. So we all tried to look like Information Technology nerds and we bellied up to the front of the truck and ordered.

I had tried Kogi two other times, when we first moved into The Pointe and I was not impressed enough to lay out my hard earned cash again.

But free...yeah, I am in.

I got the short ribs this time around and unfortunately for me, they are still not wonderful.

I am kind of lost, in regard to why the Kogi truck is so darn popular. Is it the price?

Have any of my readers ever had any and be able to clue me in?

Maggie And The Lava Floor

I went to an Oswego Media Summit back in 2012. One of the speakers that year was a young journalist named Kevin Torres.

He graduated back in 2006 and worked in Denver at KUSA and now days at Fox31-KDVR/KWGN-Channel 2.

He just recently moved into a condo in downtown Denver and he loves to show it off.

When he is in the mood, he especially loves to show off his cat, Maggie.

For some reason, known only to her, Maggie hates walking on the floor and so she tries to stay on the rug in the middle of the room.

We followers of Kevin and his life are well acquainted with Maggie's aversion to "the lava floor".

I got a real kick out of this photo, showing her paw as close as possible to the floor, without touching it.

She is just stunning and I am glad that Kevin takes the time to photograph her.

Losing Our Landline

Ooh, look. A photo of something I am going to talk about (on the far right) and it has Makenna in it. Two for the price of one. :-)

My house is quite the wreck these past few weeks.

What with buying our new car last week, and trading in the old one, our fiances have seriously changed. A new car means a hefty car payment each month and so we are trying to cut corners where we can.

We changed our Internet service from one company to another, over the weekend (to hopefully save some money each month). We bundled the two services and supposedly there will be a small change there. We were not happy with U-Verse for our Internet service and hope things will go smoother with our cable company.

We are changing our cell phones to Google's Project Fi this week. Lord willing that they are not lying, we should save a goodly amount of money with these phones. It also gives my son his own service...Win!

Next up is the bane of our existence, the landline phone.

Due to the convenience of having a number that we all share with companies, friends, etc, we have put up with the robocalls (especially the newest one the "IRS").

In addition, all the candidates for the primary were using robocalling too.

Well a week or so ago, on a Saturday at 6:30AM, we got one of those "IRS" calls and that was it. Woke both me and my husband up out of a sound sleep. I have had enough! So that will be leaving our lives and save us $53 a month for basically nothing.

I am sad, but life and the world goes on.

Artichokes Sicilian Style

The other half of my Sunday Dinner.

My Mom used to make these quite often, when I was growing up. I loved them and figured out that they were truly the most simple dish.

The only effort involved is getting the choke out of the center of the artichoke. I use a melon ball tool, to help me there.

I cut the top off the artichoke with a knife and I also cut the ones I don't reach, with a pair of scissors.

You need to cut the stem, so the artichoke will sit correctly in the pot.

You sprinkle Progresso Italian Style Bread crumbs all over the artichoke, making sure to get it in between all the leaves.

Then you drizzle olive oil all over it.

If you want, sprinkle them with cheese. (I do not do this)

Fill a pot with a small amount of water. (Note: I filled it with too much water, in this photo)

Bring to a boil, lower the heat and cover the pot.

Cook for about an hour or until you can easily pull a leaf off the artichoke.

Let cool and enjoy.

In regard to the technique of eating one. You take a leaf and you put the tender end in your mouth and pull the flesh and bread crumb off. The tough part of the artichoke is not edible.

The bottom of the artichoke is the prize at the end of the rainbow, truly luscious.

Note number 2. Don't ever get those big ones that are in the store (see my pot for an example of what not to buy) they are too woody. Go with smaller ones, they are more tender.

Shrimp Fra Diavolo

This recipe (from America's Test Kitchen) has shown up several times on my KCET feed at work. Every time I see it, I think to myself that it seems like a real yummy dinner.

It turned up again on Friday and since I had not gone shopping, I made sure I had all the ingredients and forwarded the recipe to my guys, to let them know that this was on the agenda for Sunday.

My Hubby was not impressed with it, but my son and I loved it!

Shrimp Fra Diavolo

Serves 4-6

1 pound large shrimp (31-40 per pound), peeled and deveined
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, divided
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1½ teaspoons salt
¼ cup cognac or brandy
12 cloves garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 1/4 cup), divided
½ teaspoon sugar
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
1 cup medium-dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc
¼ cup minced fresh parsley
1 pound linguine

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.

Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over high heat until the pan is very hot. Combine the shrimp, half of the red pepper flakes, 2 tablespoons of the oil, and half of the salt in a medium bowl; toss to blend. Add the shrimp to the skillet and spread into a single layer. Let cook without stirring until the bottoms of the shrimp turn a spotty brown, about 30-45 seconds. Off the heat, flip the shrimp over. Add the cognac or brandy to the pan. Let stand briefly to allow the cognac to warm slightly, about 5 seconds, then return the pan to high heat. Wave a lit match over the skillet until the cognac ignites. Shake the skillet until the flames subside, then transfer the shrimp to a bowl and set aside.

Cool the skillet for 2 minutes. Return the skillet to the burner and reduce the heat to low. Add 3 tablespoons of the oil and 3 tablespoons of the garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until the garlic is sticky and light golden and begins to foam, about 7-10 minutes. Mix in the remaining red pepper flakes, the remaining salt, the sugar, tomatoes and wine. Increase the heat to medium-high and simmer until thickened and fragrant, about 8 minutes.

While the sauce is simmering, add the linguine to the boiling water and cook according to the package directions until al dente. Drain, reserving 1/3 cup of the pasta water. Return the pasta to the now empty pot, add about ½ cup of the sauce and 2-3 tablespoons of the pasta water. Toss well to coat.

Stir the reserved shrimp and accumulated juices, remaining garlic and the parsley into the sauce. Simmer until the shrimp are heated through, about 1 minute. Stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Divide the pasta among warmed serving bowls and top with the shrimp and sauce. Serve immediately.

The Space Needle - From Eliott Bay

My Water Post For Today.

When we took our cruise of Elliott Bay, we were told that this was the best shot of The Space Needle.

I took the obligatory photo and I am glad I did.

It is a totally different view from the water and I like it.

I hope you enjoy.

==========================
Fire update:

The battle for the Eastern slope of Santa Clarita rages on. Robinson Ranch development, Sand Canyon and Placerita Canyon are all occurring Sunday and will probably continue today.

Good for me, the wind change means our air was better on Sunday. Not good for the residents in the area though.

Day Two Of The Sand Fire - Playing With Makenna

To take my mind off the smoke and ash from day 2 of the fire, I give you a shot of my cat and I relaxing on the bed.

A recap of the day. I did go to aqua fit in the morning and things weren't too bad, smoke wise. Until we got to the pool and you could smell the smoke in there. So our teacher decided it would be a better idea to do muscle work, rather than cardio and that is what we did. She also cut the class short by about 15 minutes.

When we returned to the area of Canyon Country for our haircuts at noon, the smoke was so much worse. Ash was everywhere and we decided to spend the rest of the day indoors.

This photo is the result of that.

I am sure she has no idea what is going on, but hey, I enjoyed playing with her.

The Sand Fire

Mid-afternoon on Friday I heard about a small fire off the 14 Freeway.

Those happen quite often, so I was not too concerned. Our fire department gets onto them, in a big way.

As the afternoon progressed, it got out of hand and suddenly it became a big deal.

Around 4:30PM, I heard from my van pool buddies, saying that it was going to be a killer commute home that evening. So I suggested we try to leave early.

It took a bit, but we got out at 5PM and watched that fire burn toward the Angeles Forest. My photo was taken on the overpass at Sun Valley (basically the center of the Valley).

We did not have too much trouble, considering the traffic was halted on the 14 Freeway and the Metrolink trains had a bus bridge past the fire scene.

My home is all the way on the I-5 side of Santa Clarita, so the fire is nowhere near where I live, thank goodness.

Going to be one of those years...

A New Car In Our Life

We have been working on this since the weekend of the 4th of July.

I am tired of fixing 3 cars all the time.

The money I am pumping into these cars, could go toward a payment on a new one.

I also want to take two cars out of the mix. Unfortunately for me, one of those cars is my beautiful red Saturn Coupe 5 speed stick.

You may remember that I brought that car to Oswego with me, back in 2013. I have a lot of love for that car, but I am the only one who drives it.

I rarely drive, since I am on a van pool for work and so it sits. Costing me money and getting older.

What I decided to do is trade it in to get some sort of a down payment on a new car. I thought I would get a substantial chunk of money for it.

Then I thought I would get a lower amount, but still an OK amount.

What finally ended up happening, is I did not get much of anything for my beautiful car. I am heartbroken, but relieved that it is now out of my garage and my life.

In a few weeks, we will figure out what to do with my Husband's 15 year old car and then we will be down to 2.

The lovely car you see at the top of this post is our new car. It is a 2016 Chevy Malibu Hybrid. Totally retooled and potentially using some of the ideas that the EcoCar2 teams had, from the last competition.

Reviews mention that Chevy finally got hybrid right, with this car. We shall see how that goes.

Our thanks to the team lead of the EcoCar2 team, Chris. He gave us a GM discount for family and friends.

Sunset On The Experience Music Project

This is the Experience Music Project building.

If you remember, I mentioned some of our thoughts about the exhibits in the building, HERE.

We were in The Seattle Center (the first night) at sunset.

That made the already cool skin on the EMP, look even more unusual.

The photo was taken from up at the monorail station.

You can see it travels right through the center of the EMP, which is about the nicest thing the EMP does. ;-)

Need A Rest Room?

I could not resist posting this photo.

When we were in Seattle, at Pike Place Chowder, I needed a restroom.

I followed the signs and went into the building itself and saw this majorly cool tile sign.

I must admit that someone has a very quirky sense of humor.

Check out the Dad, running with the baby. Ha!

2 points for creativity.

Glass Inspired By Pottery

I am a big fan of southwest art, especially pottery made by Native American's. My home is full of different objects, including a beautiful throw rug.

When I walked into the first room in the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit, there were all these glass pieces that were designed to look like Indian pottery, via the use of earth tones.

I was mesmerized by it all and I took several photos of them.

If you look closely at them, you can see that he adds jewels and etchings onto the glass.

I am not sure how, but they are stunning to look at.

There were also Indian blankets on the walls of the room.

As with all things Dale Chihuly, presentation is everything.

More Vandenberg - The Boat House

First off, I want to wish a very happy 1st Anniversary to my Godson and his wife.

Congratulations, you made it!

My Water Post For Today.

Back to Vandenberg and a more colorful image.

We still have the far water on this image, but we have a field of yellow grass in the foreground.

from what I can figure out, this is an old Coast Guard Station that is now used for camping.

I love the fence leading to the buildings and of course the dead grass.

Check out this video of someone taking a journey there. The photos are stunning...and, of course, I hope you enjoy.

Video of the Boat House.

The Camino de Santiago

The Camino de Santiago is a famous pilgrimage route, from the Pyranees of France, to the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral. There are actually many ways to go, but this route is the most popular.

Pilgrims walk about 18 miles a day, for 5 weeks or so.

I have a college friend who is going to do this in September and right now she is training for it. So it means something to me.

These photos were taken from an episode of Rick Steves' Europe, which walks parts of the Camino and concludes at the Cathedral.

The Camino de Santiago ends at this church, where the noon Mass each day is celebrated in honor of the pilgrims, who have finished their journey and gotten their paperwork signed. Their names are announced at the Mass.

In addition, the Botafumeiro is swung during the Mass, filling the church with incense. The Botafumeiro is a famous thurible (which is a metal container, filled with fire and incense) and is only found in the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral. Check out THIS Youtube video, shot using a GoPro Camera.

The second photo shows the statue of St. James, who gets hugged by the pilgrims, every day.

It all seems pretty awesome to me and yes, I fully intend to document some of my friend's journey.

Good luck to her.

Johnny Carson Park Returns To Burbank

Here's...Johnny!

Yes, it's Back!

Johnny Carson Park, which sits within feet of my building at The Pointe, has finally returned after a remake that took almost 2 years.

Most of it seems to be similar to what it was, but you can tell that they went with reclaimed water for the grass and plants.

It also seems to have changed the landscape of the river that runs through the property, to a more natural area, rather than a lined brook.

No matter. What counts is that it seems to have more benches and tables and even grills for the public to use, to picnic.

I have no idea how that will work, moving forward...but for now it seems to be pretty well used and not abused.

The formal dedication will occur on July 21st, with a picnic and Concerts in the Park performance.

Yes, I admit, I am thinking about attending.

Do click the link, since there are photos of the park being transformed, that I found of interest.

The grass was grown from seed and it is still in process at this point. That seems to be the way parks go. Our Central Park was grown from seed.

I have no idea what Johnny would think of this park...but I hope he would be impressed.

Learn The Risk

I happen to be a person who believes in vaccinating my child.

My son did have problems with the DPT vaccine, but only in that he would cry, after he got it.

To the best of my knowledge, he was good to go, otherwise.

When I went to college, I had to get some vaccines, because I was going to be around young kids. It wasn't pleasant, but I didn't get sick and they all did.

So you can see where I sit on this issue.

I was driving home the other day (on Hollywood Way in Burbank) and I saw this bus shelter with a webpage, Learntherisk.org.

I wasn't pleased with that and I did go over and check it out.

It is basically saying not to vaccinate your child.

Didn't we go through all this, with the Measles outbreak at Disneyland, back in December of 2014?

Obviously, they the anti-vaxxers, have not given up.

This saddens me no end.

The Parlour Car On The Coast Starlight

Since The Coast Starlight is the only train that comes equipped with a Parlour Car, I thought that I would show it off to my readers.

This first photo shows off the dining area of the car. There is a bar where the dining car attendant works on getting your meal together. We ate in the formal Dining Car, so I am unfamiliar with his routine. There were people eating there, most times we came by.

In this photo, you can also see the two etched glass screens that say "The Coast Starlight" on them. Very cool.

This next photo was taken by just turning around, basically. Now you see the couches on either side, in the center of the car (my Hubby was siting there at the time).

It has little tables to hold drinks or snacks or a lap top, if you so desire.

There are also single swivel chairs at the end.

There is Wifi in the car, which makes it super wonderful, if you want to fire up your lap top.

You can see stairs on the left, going down to the lower level.

There is a 20 person movie screening room there. I sat in that room, because there was a wine tasting going on and wrote my blog post about the train trips we had taken. It was just me and the preview screen for Shaun The Sheep, which played the audio of the preview, over and over and over again. Sigh...

This 3rd photo shows a close-up of the couch in the center.

Comfy and oh so wonderful for getting to know your neighbors.

Highly recommended by this knowledgeable train traveler.

It was a great perk for us first class customers. :-)

Lemon Zucchini Bread With Lemon Glaze

I still had lemons on my lemon tree and so since the new crop are seriously arriving, we needed to use those lemons.

I had 4 zucchini (from my box of produce) and so I decided to go for this recipe.

My comments. I should not have taken the water out of the zucchini. My bad.

I should have poked some holes into the bread, to take up more of the glaze.

Otherwise, a good bread, in which you do not taste the zucchini, but you do taste the lemon.

Recipe is from Eats Cake For Dinner. Click the link below, to see the original.

Lemon Zucchini Bread

2 c. all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1/2 c. canola or vegetable oil

2/3 c. sugar

1/2 c. buttermilk

juice of 1 lemon (or 2 Tbl.)

zest of 1 lemon

1 c. grated zucchini (peeled or un-peeled)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan (I lined mine with parchment and greased); set aside.

In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a medium bowl beat 2 eggs, then add the oil and sugar and mix well.

Add the buttermilk, lemon juice and lemon zest and mix well.

Stir in the zucchini.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined; do not overmix.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (mine took 50 minutes).

Cool in pan 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely.

While the loaf is cooling, you can make the glaze.

Lemon Glaze

1 c. powdered sugar

juice of 1 lemon (or 2 Tbl.)

or

1 c. powdered sugar

1/4 - 1/2 tsp. imitation lemon extract, to taste

milk, as needed to reach desired consistency

1/2 tsp. meringue powder, (optional)

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients until smooth and creamy and desired consistency is reached.

Pour over cooled loaf. Allow to harden, slice and serve.

We Made It To 36 Years!

Happy Anniversary, once again. 36 years and counting...

It has been a wild year and right now my Husband's phone is locked...so we are a bit busy trying to unlock it.

Marriage, the problems never end. :-)

All in all, we had a good year and we managed to get a quick vacation in, so all is well.

Love you, guy.

On Vandenberg Air Force Base

My Water Post For Today.

South of San Luis Obispo in Central California, we traveled onto Vandenberg Air Force Base.

I work with someone who did his Vietnam service there and he swore that someday, he would return.

He returned about 10 years ago and loves living in Santa Clarita and working with me. I guess he was tired of Maine's winters.

Bringing us back to the photo. This is one of the things that I saw, along the coast.

I love the near water...and the far water.

I hope you enjoy.

La Cuesta

I had ridden this part of the Coast Starlight before, but being I was still pretty new to L.A., I had no idea about La Cuesta.

So this trip I was seriously looking forward to riding on this section of track. Like the Altoona Curve in Pennsylvania, it makes a very circular "hairpin" curve, to lose elevation, in an ordered fashion.

We have taken the 101 Freeway through La Cuesta, but it is a fairly straight passage. Similar to the I-5 through the Grapevine.

This second photo is a Google Map of the hairpin curve. It gives you some perspective of what the track looked like, as we got photos of the side of the train. Note that I have 8 cars showing, in photo 1. Our train is the longest one that Amtrak runs at around 11 cars.

A cool related thing. I found THIS report, about the different roads in the pass, very interesting.

Chihuly: Garden And Glass

Chihuly: Garden and Glass was a concept that came from the people who own the Space Needle. They felt that having the glass creations of artist Dale Chihuly right there at Seattle Center, would not only give the visitors to Seattle a good chance to see some of his work, it would bring people to the Space Needle.

It was a fabulous idea. As the Space Needle itself brings some of the visitors, Chihuly brings others and all enjoy the beauty of two very different exhibits.

There are several areas of the exhibit. You first see some of Chihuly's southwest creations. As you follow the crowd into different rooms, there is a room with a ceiling filled with glass bowls, another room with glass forms and glass cactus', another with these bowls you are seeing in the second photo. There was also a boat filled with balls of glass, I liked it so much, that I bought a refrigerator magnet of it. My only souvenir of our trip.

Then there is a room with all the chandeliers that hung in Venice, back in the 90's. I had a poster up in my office on Sunset, of the show Chihuly Over Venice. As I walked into the room with the chandeliers, I immediately recognized several of them. We aired the show (one of the first shows totally shot in HD) over and over and over again on something called DT2A (our first all digital PBS channel). Over the course of 9 years the amount of airtime Dale got, was worth more than money itself. He became a superstar of the glass blowing world.

His pieces are totally out of my price range, but I loved taking photos of many of them at this museum.

I don't quite understand this piece. It was out in the garden area. The guide said that it is made of some substance that is not glass. The reason why, is that it would weigh too much and take forever to cool down, when creating. It is made of polyvitro. As it ends up, he made several sculptures using this substance.

It looks like rock candy, to me. :-)

Here is what I found online. "The sculpture was created from Polyvitro, a material that Chihuly created when he needed a lighter material than blown glass when he was installing a chandelier in the Sydney Opera House, Ziegler said.

“They actually take large chunks of glass and they break it,” he said. “Then they create these molds from that and then they pour this material into it.”

The individual Polyvitro pieces are shaped like crystals and attached to the central steel armature by stainless steel rods. Some of the pieces were used in a similar sculpture in a museum in Jerusalem."

Photo 1 is out in the garden. Look at those unusual flowers that are in front of the blue glass pieces. The gardens are top notch, btw.

Photo 2 are some of the bowls he has created.

Photo 3 is the rose sculpture. Check out the beautiful pieces in front of it. The entire garden area was that way, one beautiful thing after another.

All in all, it was a total blast, seeing all the many sculptures he and his team have made, during a long and productive career.

A Few Scenes Of Seattle

We went to the waterfront of Seattle, first off, to get some chowder. After we were done, we made a quick trip through Pike Place Market.

The place was just so busy.

The big thing, for me, was passing a fish monger's stand called Pike Place Fish. Two men were tossing a fish back and forth, between them. The fish (I have no idea what fish it was, but it was probably salmon) was HUGE! Click the link, to see some fish flying through the air.

We were being led to the waterfront by my son and so we then immediately went down a flight of stairs to something called "The Gum Wall". All sorts of designs with gum as the medium.

Down to the water we went, for our cruise of Elliott Bay, via Argosy Cruises.

Ours was a 1 hour tour (we figured how much trouble could we get on a 1 hour tour, right)?

The boat was already pretty packed when we got on it, so we ended up sitting inside, which had a working bar that served craft beer and snacks. We had just eaten, so we passed on this.

It took us past the Space Needle, the waterfront, downtown skyline, cruise ship piers, the ferry piers, the docks where they load and unload the container ships. It was all explained to us and definitely made the time go fast.

This last photo was taken in the Chihuly glass house.

I loved the fact that you had the glass sculpture within the glass house and yet, you were feet from The Space Needle.

From what I learned, this was the exact reason the exhibit was placed where it it.

This sculpture, seems to be the biggest one he has in his indoor exhibits.

It would not surprise me if it is the biggest one of the outside ones, too.

More on Chihuly, tomorrow.

Glass Making At Seattle Glass Blowing

After we went to the Chihuly exhibit, we had a bite to eat and then walked a few blocks to a glass blowing shop called Seattle Glassblowing.

It is a block away from Bell Thai, where we went to dinner the previous evening and so I asked the guys if I could check it out. It was closed to the public that late at night, but the sign said it was free and so I kept it in my mind and made plans to visit it the next day.

I have never seen glass being blown. I have seen it on TV, but never using those big ovens and things.

It was pretty impressive and not nearly as hot as I expected it to be.

The man you see working with the glass spent a few moments informing us of what he was making (and for whom). It ended up that the shop had to make 200 paper weights for Microsoft. He said that they had about 40 of them done.

My major question was: "Were they the same, or was each one unique?"

The basic answer was they were similar, but no two are exactly the same.

The first photo is when he is about to swirl the inner orange glass. The second photo is him starting to make it into a ball. He has to keep rolling it on that bar on the chair, to make it even out. He actually had just used a mold to get the flat piece of glass, to begin becoming spherical.

If I had the time and money, it would have been nice to take a class.

Definitely worth a visit.

King Street Station

To leave Seattle on The Coast Starlight, we needed to get ourselves to The King Street Station, before 8:30AM.

Being it was potentially going to drizzle or rain, I was a bit concerned and we came up with a "Just in Case" plan. Taking a trolley for about 3 blocks, before going back underground to take the LINK (which is the transportation option for getting back and forth from SEATAC Airport). Light rail and very convenient, by the way.

No rain was forthcoming, so we dragged our bags those 3 blocks and connected with the LINK, at Westlake Station.

Our station was International District/Chinatown, about the 3rd stop (outbound to SEATAC) on the LINK.

We got off the train and when we got ourselves upstairs, we could see (across the street and tracks) our train Station.

To say the least, I was impressed. Old style, (it was built in 1906) but beautiful.

Once we entered the building, we could see the results of the recent restoration that had been done. It was almost a decade in the making and it was completed in 2013.

They restored the upper area, which this second photo was taken at. it is a balcony, overlooking the waiting room below.

We then made our way downstairs and took in the waiting room itself.

In this next picture, you can see the balcony we had just vacated, over on the top right of the photo.

All the marble has been totally restored and so have the restrooms.

A noticeable difference, is that the family bathroom is within the Men's room, not the Women's room.

Since I read several reviews, I knew they had no food to purchase, but since about 2 months ago, they added some vending machines. A smart move and appreciated by the passengers.

All in all, a wonderful end to our almost 3 day visit.

Where We Ate In Seattle

Sometimes, the best thing you can say about a city is that they have good food.

We arrived in the city around 6PM and so we did not have a lot of time to figure things out.

So we asked the help of the desk attendant and her choice (especially late at night), was a restaurant called The 5 Point Cafe.

We decided to give it a shot, especially since she mentioned that the building goes back to the early 1900's, when men were more segregated from women. What that meant was that the men's bathroom has a periscope in it, that shows Elliott Bay, off in the distance. My Hubby checked it out, though I really wanted to get in there. :-)

The place had a lot of the atmosphere of our own Saugus Cafe and the food matched it. That ended up working for us. Our only problem was we were sitting right next to the juke box that suddenly would start playing...very loud.

The food was good and on our last day, we made a return trip there, after visiting the Chihuly exhibit. We did even better the second time and got as far away from the jukebox as we could.

Maybe a block from The Seattle Center, so the location was perfect.

The next day we worked our way to the waterfront. My son had a request that we visit a place called Pike Place Chowder. So we headed that way, after our morning at The Seattle Center.

The line was huge (at least a half hour wait), but they gave out menus, so it helped pass the time.

The chowders were amazing and my son got a taste of 4 different chowders. My Husband and I stuck to good old New England clam chowder.

I did get a taste of the Cascadia Chowder and also the Salmon Chowder. I was glad of my choice.

Definitely worth the wait and the money wasn't too bad, either.

Dinner that night was a chore, for some reason.

We finally decided on Thai food and took a walk up to Bell Town, where Bell Thai is located.

From what we could figure out, the place makes its money via take out food.

We were the only ones eating there, most of the time.

Guess what, the food was good and the service was fabulous.

Prices were bad, either.

Another win for us.

Our final night, I took control of the search and I found an Italian place a block from where we were staying.

We had no idea there was a building right behind the one that we could see from our hotel room.

Above the Whole Foods Market, there was a restaurant called Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria.

It was drizzling on and off, so we were glad it was not a far distance.

We ordered a pizza and my son and I shared a plate of Linguine and White Clam Sauce.

That left room for us to try a slice of the pizza and all were happy.

We also had a bit of room for TIRAMISÙ!

It was so light and wonderful. We were shocked.

All in all, a major win for the humble travelers and the money did not break the bank.

The Fountain At The Seattle Space Needle

Happy 4th of July!

We have managed to get our house back in order, after our journey.

So I will be dedicating this next week to the city of Seattle.

It is truly a vibrant and wonderful place to visit and if you make through, without being involved in their extremely big earthquake that is 100 years overdue, Win!

I found it interesting that the fault that they keep mentioning in the papers recently (immediately after I booked this trip, btw) is called Cascadia and one of the specials at the chowder place we visited was Cascadia chowder. I passed. :-)

I thought I would start my water posts with a view of the fountain at the Seattle Space Needle.

They had cars valet parking there, so it was extremely difficult for me to get a decent shot, but I thought I pulled it off.

I love the Space Needle and hope you enjoy it with the water fountain.

My 34th Order from Abundant Harvest Organics

It is 4th of July weekend, we are back from vacation and we are out of produce...so it is my box of produce week.

Here's what came this week.

1 box of Cherry Tomatoes
1 bunch of Cilantro
4 ears of Corn
1 bunch of Dandelion Greens
1 head of Garlic
1 bunch of Red and Green Lettuce
2 Pickling Cucumbers
2 Nectarines
4 Apricots
3 Zucchini 1 small yellow Summer Squash
2 big Tomatoes

OK, I will confess that I still have the fennel from the last box. :-(

Some of the corn was not good looking and so I sent a message to AHO to let them know this.

I used what I could of the bad ones and cooked the good ones. We will have it, this weekend.

I bought another 10 lbs of oranges, since we basically used up the last bunch.

I also bought some of their Stone Fruit. 5 lbs worth.

Wish me luck.

A Classic Photo Of The Space Needle

This crappy photo is of the photo in our hotel room. As is usual with such things, you are shooting at an angle, to keep the glare from being too predominant.

I don't know what year it was taken or anything like that, but it has the feel of a classic photo from years back.

I am sure that the fact that the Space Needle is a 1962 piece of architecture, has something to do with it.

I hope you enjoy this classic image and look forward to my water post on Monday.

I will be kicking off Seattle Week, here on this blog. Enjoy.

The Beauty Of A Sunset & Fire

I got home last night at sunset. I had no idea there was a fire anywhere near us.

Well, it was actually quite a distance to the west, in Ventura County.

When I got out of the car, that news was not known to me, but I could tell immediately that the sunset had smoke from a fire affecting it.

Look how beautiful the sun is, trying to get through the smoke.

Beauty and destruction.

There always seems to be a yin-yang thing with fires.