A warm January - warm people, warm hearts and warm weather!

Yes it was a grand time for me, from beginning to the sad end, when as I crept out of Sagas room she woke up with tears rolling down her beautiful little face, asking me to not go.  As all good things come to an end so here I am, back to the relentless cold and strong winds contemplating such worldly questions as should I or should I not walk with Ralle at lunch time or should I rearrange the spice drawer?

Let me start at the beginning.  January was spent with family and friends "over there".  Charlotte, my terrific neighbor and good friend came along for the visit, with a desire to spend some time in the sun. That is where we stayed primarily,  in Sunny California that is,with the exception of a shorter trip for me, arranged by John and MariVic to Seattle.  Looking backwards now I have to chuckle when I recall that Charlotte was a bit disappointed the first couple of days in Hollister as the weather was overcast and a bit gray with temps only in the + 7 C range.  It has not been that warm here since we returned if I recall correctly.  Yea, yea, yea I know it is still winter  here!  The weather did get much better after just those first few days however with sunshine and walks on the beaches and sun tanning opportunities galore.

This trip to Seattle in the fun company of Kellie, Gary and Chris was truly a memorable experience!  Not only because I, in spite of having listened to Kellies instructions to Chris about "what to pack and / or NOT to pack" in our "overnight" bags since we did not want to have to wait for our luggage coming or going totally forgot that the small bottle of Swedish vodka / aquavit  intended for John, was tucked into my bag between my jeans and whatever else I was carrying.  Did that make for an uncomfortable and truly embarrassing start of our trip!

That said, I may tell you that I had the pleasure of meeting the most amazing and kind security person!  All the comments I have uttered in the past, regarding the security personnel at the various airports, all those usually snarling, angry and seemingly frustrated people......... forgive me, I take it all back.  This one kind, sweet and understanding soul makes up for all the ugly persons I have had to deal with in the past.  Long story short, once my blood pressure was back to normal and we all were on our way I think Kellie forgave me and in the end John did get his bottle.

In Seattle, a city I love, we had the BEST time!  We walked up and down those streets, led by John and MariVic who truly enjoy living here.  We went to Fremont Market, had hot chocolate in the newly renovated beautiful one hundred year old Sorrento Hotel, ate wonderful pizza from Serious Pie, stuffed ourselves with burgers from The Red Mill a burger joint rated one of the ten BEST in the USA!  We cooked fantastic food such as Crab and Lobster Fettuccini all together and the best French Toast, with a caramel sauce made by Kellie single handedly, that is to die for, we ate Steamed Pork Buns, shopped for cheese at a cheese factory near the Fremont/ Pikes/ Peoples Market among other things.  Yep, we ARE true FOODIES all of us and a Food Fest it was!  I had the pleasure of having Kevin introduce his sweet girl friend Haley to me too, she came to the house to play games one night, came along on some of our outings and came to pick Kevin up one evening when they were going out to a dance, for me it was another kind of delicious experience.  Being around young people in love, such as Kellie and Chris, Kevin and Haley just  lifts you up!  Hurrah for LOVE on this Valentines Day!  I LOVE my David too, still, after ALL these years!

While we were tripsing around in The State of Washington, Charlotte hung out with Maria.  Delivered Ryan back to his University in Redlands among other things. More reports to follow.

Wanted to tell you that we have a neighbor here in Sweden by the name of Bo Laestadius.  He has written a book, the title is : "Friska Fåglar Flyger" ( Healthy Birds Fly ).  Bo is traveling up and down the country being interviewed by radio and TV stations.  Pretty exciting I think......... now, if I could only get my hands on a copy of the new book so I could read it, that would be exciting too.

Speaking of reading.....

While I think of it I wanted to close with this David Thoreau quote just because I like it so much, not any other reason................ it inspires me.......

"I wish to live my precious time upon this earth deliberately, so that when my life is over, I would not discover that I had not TRULY lived"

Have a good day !   or evening !  With love, lot's of LOVE !