On Thursday, November 22nd, we headed across the border to celebrate US Thanksgiving with Donna and Terry and assorted family and friends. This was our third Thanksgiving with them - they had also kindly included us in 2009 and 2010!
Some photos from before the feast...
Table settings
Team effort
Our lovely hosts with their granddaughter Etta
Kelly stirring the gravy
Thanksgiving dinner...
Scrumptious buffet
Eating for three
Customary whole-table photo
Decorating cookies the next day (Black Friday)...
Donna and Etta
Want some batter?
The 4-day weekend went by in a lovely blur of great company, delicious food, shopping trips, singalongs, pregnancy discussions, and lots of relaxation/ reading time. On Friday the guys did some firewood chopping and then went clay pigeon shooting at a nearby range, and that evening Angharad arrived to join in the festivities for the rest of the weekend. On Friday night, Kelly and Janae prepared a delicious seafood chowder for dinner, and on Saturday night Ben and I had our turn and made potato-leek-coconut-lime soup.
Some Sunday photos...
Janae, Etta and Kelly
Me (31 weeks) and Janae (35 weeks)
We headed back to Vancouver on Sunday afternoon, via Trader Joe's and Wee Ones Re-Runs in Bellingham. The latter is a fantastic kids' op shop/ thrift store... I think we've found a new place to add to our Bellingham to-do list every time we cross the border!
THANKS, Donna and Terry, for another wonderful Thanksgiving!
The weekend after we came back from Boston, we headed down to Bainbridge Island (just off Seattle, WA) for a concert by the band Eddyville on Saturday, October 13th. The guys in the band know many of our friends, and we had met the drummer, Darren, briefly a few years ago. The concert was "sponsored" by Glenn and Hazel, whom we have stayed with on Bainbridge Island a couple of times before (and did this time too).
We arrived early at the concert venue, a small art museum, and spent a while listening to rehearsals, buying two Eddyville CDs at the merchandise booth being manned by Eddyville's self-proclaimed "number one fan", band member Bruce's son Cameron, and sharing a crepe at a nearby cafe.
Eddyville rehearsing with guest violinist Sheldon;
L-R: Sheldon, Bruce, Dave, Jason, Darren
Sheldon
Sound guy/ former band member/ founder of Eddyville
Cameron manning the merchandise booth
Hazel with her granddaughter Kendra
Before the concert started, Glenn and Hazel's family had organised a barbecue dinner in the parking lot under the museum. We met a bunch of people we hadn't met before, including some of the other band members, and caught up with a few friends we had met before. After a yummy meal of burgers, softdrinks, chips, and homemade cookies, it was time to head back upstairs for the concert.
Well, the concert was absolutely fantastic! The music was a combination of Eddyville's original songs (the concert was actually a "CD release party" for their newest album, Pocket Aces) and covers of well-known songs - everything from the Beatles to Land Down Under. I'd describe Eddyville's music as primarily rock, with some folk and country thrown in. It was a thoroughly enjoyable show, complete with amusing on-stage banter and four different guest musicians/ singers joining in for various songs. It was obvious that the guys were really enjoying themselves, and they kept playing for as long as they could before the concert finally had to end.
Cameron introducing the band at the start of the concert
Dave
Darren
Bruce
Jason
Dave on trombone
Bruce, Dave, Jason
Here are a few videos of Eddyville performing their original songs from Pocket Aces. Below each video, the hyperlinked song title is a link to the album version of the song on their website. These three songs happen to be my favourite Eddyville songs. :)
And here they are performing a couple of covers...
As you can see, it was a great night! We'd definitely love to see them live again if we get another opportunity.
That night, we stayed at Glenn and Hazel's home, along with their daughter Sue, her hubby Brian, their daughters Kendra, Kayla and Kenzie, Glenn and Hazel's other daughter Jo, most of Eddyville, and a few others! We spent Sunday morning and lunch with them all and then headed back home via the Bainbridge-Seattle ferry, a 3 hour drive, and Trader Joe's. It was a great weekend!
Here are a couple of photos we took while at Glenn and Hazel's...
One Saturday morning at the end of August, we headed across the border with Angharad for a blissful overnight trip to Whidbey Island. The plan for Saturday included going to a bluegrass festival at the Meerkirk Gardens, and then seeing a free outdoor performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Lunch at Calico Cupboard in Mt Vernon
Here are some photos we took at the peaceful Meerkirk Gardens as we meandered our way towards the distant strains of bluegrass music...
Once we reached the music, we realised that "festival" may have been a bit of an overstatement. There were three bands playing throughout the day, one at a time.... and no queues for the site's three port-a-loos! Anyway, it was a pleasant setting and we listened to most of the second band's set before deciding it was time to hit the road again if we wanted to have time to purchase the makings of a picnic dinner before the Shakespeare performance.
The band and the crowd
18 week photo
After getting ourselves picnic-ready, we headed to the outdoor performance venue, arriving only to find cardboard signs and sympathetic volunteers advising us that the evening's performance was already full. They'd had hundreds more people show up than they expected and were now turning carloads more away. Even our sob story of driving all the way from Canada was to no avail!
Anyway, we drove to a nearby beach - the same one we had eaten at with Kelly, Janae and Etta a month earlier - and enjoyed our picnic dinner there instead, watching cruise ships pass by and happy dogs frolic on the sand.
That night we stayed at a Dutch-themed motel in Oak Harbor, and on Sunday morning we had a hearty breakfast at a typical American diner down the road.
Our motel
Low-fat breakfast...?
After breakfast, we followed some of the locals to a meeting back on the mainland at Anacortes, and had lunch with them afterwards at their favourite Chinese restaurant.
That afternoon we drove home again, having had a slightly different kind of weekend to what we had anticipated, but a very nice one nonetheless!
At the end of July, we headed down to Whidbey Island (across the border and about 3 hours south) to visit Kelly, Janae and Etta. We had a very relaxing and fun weekend with them, and it was great to see them getting settled in their new place!
We met their goats, Pig and Lydia...
Ben helped Kelly with some work...
We dug up their patio in search of a long-lost root cellar...
Sat around chatting and munching...
Had a BBQ at the beach while the sun set and cruise ships sailed past...
Played fabulous duets...
And had Sunday lunch in the cute town of Langley, after which we wandered through the shops and ate ice cream...
It was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend - thanks guys!
