Crecent Bar 2012

Once again, Mary hosted a group of us ladies at her condo in Crescent Bar this summer:

While there, she treated us all to a dinner out at the Martin-Scott Winery!  The chef was Tim Putman from Smokeblossoms.  The theme being Decked Out Tapas, he prepared five delicious appetizers during the course of the evening:

Blue Rangoon 

Crisp Crab Stuffed Wonton Teamed with Sweet Chili Coulis

Chicken Lettuce Cups 

Marinated Grilled Poultry with Jicama, Scallions and Shitakes Arriving in Chilled Iceberg

Coconut Curry Two Biters 

Large Shrimp Teamed with Toasted Almond Texmati and Apricot Chutney

Bam Flats 

Tangerine Ginger Beef Tenderloin in a Fresh Frilled Tortilla with Tuber Confetti and the Incomparable Peanut Sauce

Key Lime Cheesecake 

Dense Citrus Spiked Batter over Macadamia Graham Crust

......and a beautiful sunset on the Columbia River!

Where No Man Hath Gone.....

We had dinner the other night with Phil and Beth Claussen, and their son Jonathan.  Remember him from my blog in August of 2008?  Click on that link to see what he wants to do with his life!  Anyhow, he spent 2 months last year traipsing across the mountains of northern Papua New Guinea.  Took 20 Power Bars with him for food.  That's it.  And a bunch of small pocket knives to use for trading.  He traded for food, for a dug-out canoe and I suppose that is how he collected these different types of spears...... a man spear, an alligator spear, pig spear, bird spear and who knows what else.  And yes, you can assume that a 'man spear' is for killing humans.  Yes indeedy.  Below is a closer look at the heads of the spears:

Notice that awful-looking barbed head.  I think that one was for pigs.  Wicked!!!!  The long, thin flat one is the man spear, to slide between the ribs.  Oh my.  A couple of those have troughs dug out on the tips, which carry poison in them.  The target dies a slower death, waiting for the poison to do its job.  All very fascinating!

But the stories he has to tell of his trek!  I wish you all could hear him talk!  Absolutely amazing!  He is a linguist, so since he was doing this trip(just for fun), he decided to do what is called a 'rapid survey'.  At each tribe he came upon (about 60 in all), he used this survey to record the language.  He spoke  pigeon-Tok Pisin (or something like that), a creole language that is the language that is most widely spoken through-out the more civilized Papua New Guinea.  There was often one member of the tribe that spoke it also, so that they could trade with other tribes.  That made it a bit easier to communicate in those tribes.  However, he visited about 30 tribes that had never seen a white man, and had nobody who could communicate in tongue with him, but he was successful in all!  He gave all of his information to some New Tribe missionaries that he ran into on his way out.  What a wealth of knowledge for them to be able to determine which tribes have unknown and unrecorded languages!  But his experiences are amazing....  can't hardly begin to tell, and we only heard a small fraction of them!  The different greeting for each tribe that he had to follow........ kissing on lips, touching the inner thigh, and even the grasping of the testicles!  Yikes!  Learning to hunt with the different spears.....how to run with the spears, how to use them, how to dislodge them from the prey.  How to eat each and every part of the kill........ brains, private parts (the alligator had the biggest and most-difficult-to-eat  private organ)...... the incredible alligator hunts from their long, skinny canoes (not wide enough to fit more than one foot in; one stands on it and paddles with a long paddle, all the while balancing)...... learning how to eating big, taut, plump, juicy grubs so that the PSI doesn't force them to fly out of the mouth with a terrible force....... going hungry for days while looking for the next tribe....... constantly cold........often sick......intestinal parasites that he drank iodine for to kill........ crashing his dug-out canoe on a 500 mile trip down the huge Sepik River, getting caught under a log jam, but managing to get himself out from under it, get his canoe out from under it and get down river to reach it, and finally get to shore, exhausted and I am pretty sure at this point he was wondering if he would make it to the end of his travels alive.  He started out at 150# and ended up at 120#.  Apparently looked pretty emaciated, but he said his body had adjusted and he was doing okay.  The protein in the grubs made him feel the strongest, so he learned to desire those nasty buggers!  One tribal chief thought he was Jesus because a photo of a blue-eyed Jesus had been traded from tribe to tribe until it had reached their tribe!  Usually he was first greeted by the tribal chief and the elders as he entered each tribe, but at one he entered at a point where some women were out working the gardens.  When they saw him, one woman shrieked something and the others all started shouting with her.  They proceeded to slap him with banana leaves in a celebratory manner.  He had no idea what was happening, until later he learned that the woman thought he was her son returning from the dead because he was so pale!!! 

Long enough.  Best stop here.  But if any of you close by Monroe want to laugh and be amazed, have Jonathan over for dinner some time!  He is here for a bit.  He plans to go out with Pioneer Missions, working with some of these isolated tribes, learning and recording the full language, as soon as he gets enough financial support.  If anyone can do it, it is a Claussen!!!  His brother Andrew will maybe then follow him and plant a church!  Amazing young men!

Birthday Breakfast and Concert

Anna Lyn's birthday is actually Dec. 20, but Joy and I celebrated it a bit early with a birthday breakfast in early December.

Joy made the cutest, most delicious individual omelets, full of vegetables and meat!

On her actual birthday, Reba and I went with her to the beautiful Covington Library to hear erwilian, a Renaissance Musical group that plays a wonderful assortment of instruments!

There are 5 musicians.  One man plays a variety of percussion instruments, two men play different stringed instruments such as the guitars, mandolin, viola and the mountain dulcimer, as well as the bodhran.   The woman plays a recorder, the mountain dulcimer, and the larger hammer dulcimer.  The young man plays the other smaller hammer dulcimer, the xylophone, the celesta (the instrument that plays the Sugar Plum Fairy dance in the Nutcracker Suite), the marimba, the melodica and the recorder.  Not only ONE recorder, but TWO recorders at the same time!  He was absolutely amazing!  They all were! Someone played an auto harp as well.  Very beautiful music! 

It made for a great evening out to celebrate the birthday of a great friend :-}

 

Happy Birthday, Anna Lyn!

Summer Wedding

I had been diligent in the past to blog each memeber of The Elite Eight when they get married.  In this summer's lack of blogging, I missed posting Danny and Rachel's wedding.  However, in mid August these two exchanged vows in Olympia. Danny is the first Brevick of those eight boys to be married. It was a beautiful wedding, with a delicious dinner reception in Lacey. Best wishes go out to you!

Summer I ~ Colorado

I rarely blogged this summer, but I did do some fun adventures, as well as seemed to pick up plenty of hours at work.  I think I will now try to blog the highlights over the next little bit. 

 First off, I flew to Colorado to visit my dear friend Elisabeth and see the many beautiful memorial gardens they created for their son, Carson.  Colorado has stunning  clouds, too! At least compared to the Pacific Northwest's solid, flat gray clouds......

 Stones, bird baths, a beautiful variety of plants and even catnip for the his cat!

 Games, good food and relaxing in the backyard grandeur...........

Wild animals......... the squirrel and the lion! 

It was a very relaxing visit.  Nice and warm as well!

Feliz Cumpleaños

A moment was taken to celebrate the birthdays of Ryan and Kevin at the Mexican Fiesta BBQ held Saturday July 31 at the Harmon Homestead.  Party cakes included a Tres Leches Cake served with fresh strawberries, and a Mexican Chocolate Cake. A fuller report of the BBQ can be had at this link: http://lavidadebeth.blogspot.com/2010/08/comida-mexicana.html

Who has but once dined his friends, has tasted what it is to be Caesar.

~Herman Mellville, 'Moby Dick' (1851)

A Summer Visit

My best friend since nursing school days came up for a week long visit last week!  Still wasn't enough time, though, but we enjoyed our time together. 

Of course we ate all sorts of good things.  This was a steak dinner of sorts, prepared by Darrell.

Using the tea blossoms that 'sprout', we made some delicious teas.........  along with Lemon Lavender Cookies!

Taking a break from the usual, we took a hike to Barclay Lake.

Much of our time was spent either crafting

OR......

.....watering and picking raspberries and strawberries !

We also had a young man come out and teach us how to use our DSLR cameras better.  It was very helpful, and son Scott and another teacher from his school (Sandra), joined us for that.  We played with our cameras a bit this week, trying to put into practice the things we learned.

It was a grand week!  Hopefully it won't be another 5 years before we see each other again!  Thanks for coming, Terry!

Weekend Blitz

My talented friend Elisabeth flew up from Colorado this weekend for a stamping fest with me!

She created many fun cards, while I bumbled around and made a grand total of seven cards, but we had a wonderful time visiting and stamping together!

The willing chef for the weekend was, of course, none other than mi espouso. So relaxing to have him feed us like royalty while we did our 'thing'.

I did make one thing...... the buttered potato rosemary rolls again (but I ate fewer this round). Darrell made ebelskivers with raspberries, chocolate and almonds inside for Saturday breakfast, along with creamy scrambled eggs, bacon and fresh fruit.... YUM! A total surprise, he made cute little chocolate cream puffs for snacking on! Can you believe that guy?!?!?!

This morning we wound our way up to Snoqualamie Falls for breakfast and to deliver Elisabeth to her friend for her final days in the Northwest before she flies back to Fort Collins. It was a beautiful and sunny day! Perfect for a trip to see the falls once again.

We even saw a rainbow in the mist from the falls. A double rainbow popped out occasionally, too! So pretty!

We ate the Snoqualamie Falls pancakes with real maple syrup that they are famous for, as well as eggs Benedict! A first for me on the eggs.......... never even knew what eggs Benedict were (a delightful poached egg on Canadian bacon and an English muffin with a tasty Hollandaise sauce poured over all). Totally loved it!

Alas our time came to an end, as all good things eventually do. Thank you, dear Elisabeth, for coming clear up here for a great visit :o)

Gift of Friendship

What a fun surprise to find a brown paper-wrapped package in the mailbox on this cold afternoon! The return address told me that it was from my dear friend in California. Not my birthday; too early to be a Christmas gift........ a 'just because' gift!

These are but a few of the wonderful photos contained in this unique cookbook full of different recipes from all cultures around the world! She reads my blog and now thinks I am a gourmet cook! Silly girl! But I will have fun trying out some of the terrific recipes! Bon appetít!

Thank you, my Friend!

Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things. ~Author Unknown

Off to Indonesia!

Remember "The Boy"? Andrew and Amberlynne and Chase were back here for the last month to say final farewells. It was good to visit with them, and exciting to hear about their departure.

Early this morning, they flew out of SeaTac Airport in route to Indonesia, via LAX. If any of you would like to follow their adventures, you can hook into their blog site at www.claussenminitries.org

May God hold you in the palm of His hand, Guys!

Comfort

Once a week, my friends Anna Lyn and Joy and I try to meet together. It doesn't really happen that often. But we try. Last week we met here for breakfast. I served those yummy strawberries on french toast breakfast.


We ate out on the new deck, overlooking the bird garden/feeding area. The wild honeysuckle is blooming now, and their sweet scent filled the air as we ate and talked. We chat all over the map when we are together. About books we are reading. Computer stuff. Jobs. Gardens. Politics. Religion. And yes, we are still friends afterwards :-)

A few weeks ago Anna Lyn graced us by playing her mandolin as Joy and I watered and weeded. She is a gifted stringed-instrumentalist. Her father makes stringed instruments. That truly amazes me! He makes them one by one, completely handmade!

She also loves to read out loud, and has perfect inflection, making her an easy-to-listen-to entertainment. After music, she read to us from a book, Traveling Mercies, by Anne Lamott. I later finished the book on my own. Humorous, yet thoughtful reading.

Those are my raspberry bushes Joy is watering. Joy loves to water, so I put her to work when she is here :-) They need watering right now, too. Maybe I need to have them over tomorrow! Instead, we will be meeting in town at a Smoothie Joint..... yum.....

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our soul blossom. ~Marcel Proust

Bride-to-Be #3 (Elite 8)

Today I tooled on over to Fall City for the wedding shower of Tennyson. She is to be married in 3 weeks to Kyle, and together they will make the third couple of the Elite Eight to tie the knot!

Gorgeous, is she not?!?!

Tea was served in beautiful cups and saucers.....

Tennyson and her mother, Roslyn.
Wonder where she gets her smashing looks?


For you Jones Soda Fans out there!
You can get your own photo on a bottle.....

Piles of gifts. I wonder what is in that Victoria Secret bag? There is a note attached that states it is for Kyle, but she can peek! Hmmm.....

My favorite card!

(Above and Below)

Some of my favorite gifts:

Fun ice cream bowl set!

And look at these heart-shaped teaspoons with cute recipe ingredients written on them ..... 'a spoonful of laughter', 'a heap of love', 'a pinch of patience' and 'a dash of kindness'! I have no doubt that her dishes will turn out perfectly, and win Kyle's stomach ..... oh, I mean heart :-)

Mary (Kyle's mom) made some stickers on her computer of Kyle, Tennyson and family to give to her flower girls and ring-bearers, along with activity/sticker books to put them in! Here she placed a sticker of Kyle in a firetruck (he is a fire-fighter). Talk about creative!

Of course my most favoritest (sic) gift of all came from Aunt Bonnie again! Remember the cute one she made for Andrea's shower? High heel fabric to go with Andrea. Get a closer look at this one for Tennyson!

Double click on it if you can't see it well enough. You'd have to know that Tennyson has this little pipsqueak of a dog that is her baby, and Kyle has been photographed snuggling up to her, too. The dog, that is. It is the same kind of dog (maybe it is a picture of her dog?), that is on the bodice of this apron! And of course not only does the skirt have dog bones, but fire hydrants for the dog to use. How clever, since Kyle is a fireman, too..... You know what? Just double click on this photo whether you want to or not! It is just so dang cute.

Tennyson and Andrea

Mary is so exuberant to be gaining two daughters this year. And such sweethearts they both are! Mary always wanted some girls. My own daughter, Bethany J, was the recipient of much girlie attention from her during her growing-up years. Seems like yesterday. But no. Now the kids are all grown up and living their own lives. *sigh*

Heaven give you many, many merry days. - William Shakespeare