Honored

Last evening we went to a dinner given by the Elks for the fire departments of Seattle, Bothell, Northshore, Renton and Kirkland.  Awards were presented to exceptional firefighters mostly, but in Kirkland the Building department is a part of the fire department, so a few non-firefighters received recognition as well.

 Darrell received the Employee of the Year for 2010 (non-firefighter), as well as a Group/Team Award for both he and fellow building employee Hans, who chickened out on attending the dinner!

The Seattle Bagpipe band played, also, and was quite impressive!  I know Darrell can step on some toes, and his 'sense of humor' can be called into question, but he certainly does put in the time and cares about his work.  Ask him any code question and he can cite the code, sub code, etc to the tee.  Probably the page number, too. Out of surely what are millions of codes, with new ones always on the horizon!

Congratulations, Darrell!

Kites

One day while walking in the tide on the Florida beach, a man was flying a pretty kite over our heads.....

Farkel

Elisabeth taught us a new, portable, quick and enjoyable game while in Florida. A good game for all, even if you are not an avid game lover since it is primarily a game of chance, and anyone can win!

Down at the Shore

maggie and millie and molly and may

maggie and millie and molly and may

went down to the beach (to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang

so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,and

millie befriended a stranded star

who's rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing

which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone

as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)

it's always ourselves we find in the sea.”

~ E. E. Cummings 

 Queens enjoying breakfast by the poolside

Karin kept us laughing........... 

Friends enjoying the warm breeze on the beach 

The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach. ~Henry Beston

Eagle Lake

A short walking distance from the house we stayed in, Eagle Lake has been transformed into a huge walking park for those who enjoy this form of exercise among some pretty cool nature!

Lots of turtles in the waters!

“When I admire the wonder of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in worship of the Creator”  ~Mahatma Gandhi

Specialty State!

Following are photos of just some of the many, many different license plates of Florida!  I hear it is the state with the most specialty plates to be had!  The top one is the standard plate.......

And while we are on the subject, Elisabeth spied her dream car in Clearwater....... a Jaguar!  She actually hopes to own one like this in the future :o}  Suhweet!