leslee roberts :: shouting into the wind

family pets

collected up all the family pet pics and made this little movie:

monthly outside meeting - august 2005

just before i left for rainier, we had our monthly "outside meeting" at yerba buena park. tons of people came to relax and enjoy the lunch hour. i was also commemorating my 17 year anniversary with blue shield (omg!). i chowed down on buckhorn's steak sandwich (yummmy!) and enjoyed the maori dance troupe which happened to be in town. i handed off the camera to kaho, who came up with these pics:

keith

seatac - day 12

rode in to seatac with dave this morning at 6am. got to seatac before 8am -- my flight is at 1:30pm. it's so early that the flight is not even listed on the departure boards yet -- i didn't get a regular boarding pass when i checked in this morning. i got a "departure management card" -- no gate listed and no seat listed.

no waiting in line at the self-check in/no checked in baggage line. less than a 3 minute wait to get through security. the tram to the terminal took less than a few minutes. so now i'm sitting in front of cinnabon and burger king after leisurely eating a breakfast bagel.

purchased a one-day wireless internet access pass (wayport) for $6.95. i'm sure my laptop battery will probably not make it. oh well. i can read the news and catch up on email.

rainier 2005 - day 11

received a call this morning -- a very close friend passed away last night unexpectedly. i will be returning home tomorrow.

rainier 2005 - day 10

spent most of the day working on the beaddreamers database and prepping the data for import.

we had our big birthday celebration this evening at dave's. prime rib, au jus, mashed potatoes, spinach salad, beans, and cake. yummy food and a beautiful evening.

rainier 2005 - day 9

margie and i took a trip out to shipwreck beads; she fills my head with ideas and now i am anxious to play when i get home. good thing i've got a few days before i go back to work... too much to do!

daniella came by the house, all excited, with her new computer in hand. i spent a couple of hours with her going over basic computer use -- this is her first experience with a computer. it's interesting to see what her expectations are in using the machine and what questions she asks. i use to do this all the time for work but now i feel far removed from the actual work. she is highly motivated and not afraid... good signs.

worked on the mysql database for beaddreamers today. ended up using phpmyadmin instead of mysql monitor. things are going ok (i think...)

had an early dinner at The Red Wine & Tapas restaurant in Yelm. yummy food...

everyone else went fishing this evening -- every trip is an amazing boating adventure. i won't recount the stories... i think they're way to embarrassing. anyway, vicky actually caught a fish. here it is:

the hammock is a wonderful thing... i can lay in it, gently swinging, and think of absolutely nothing. i'm planning to hang my hammock at home in the sunroom once it's cleaned out.

rainier 2005 - day 8

today's big trip was to walmart -- more fishing stuff for tonight's fishing trip (not me of course). everyone's trying to put into practice all of woo dave's and yamamoto's wormin' tips for bass fishin' --

korean lunch today... yummy mackerel with lots of unknown side dishes

rainier 2005 - day 7

we drove to auburn (about an hour away) this morning to do some shopping for fishing equipment and to lust over boats. then we drove to the great wall mall and had dim sum for lunch followed by boba chasers (mango smoothies with yummie tapioca balls, coconut jellies and other assorted add-ons). drove home, rested and had an unbelievable feast prepared by vicky, including cold cucumber soup, salad, filet mignon with mushroom sauce and rice, followed by fantastic raspberry tarts.

here's the table before the food came out. when the food came out, i forgot to take pictures. believe me, everything was yummy! vicky, where's that cold cucumber soup recipe?!?!?!?

it was a very lovely day.

[update 09.18.05] well, vickie just sent that recipe for the cucumber soup. It was fantastic…. cool, refreshing, and light. I think this would be great for a potluck or a picnic.

COLD CUCUMBER SOUP
Makes 4 to 6 servings

3 cucumbers
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill or mint
1 leek, white part only, sliced, or 1/4 cup chopped onion
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 cups fresh chicken stock or canned broth
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
White pepper (optional)
1 cup Half & Half
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon honey

Peel and slice two of the cucumbers. Peel, seed and grate the remaining cucumber. Heat the butter in a large, heavy saucepan. Add the sliced cucumbers and cook over low heat for a few minutes. Add the dill or mint, leek and bay leaf and cook over low heat until tender, about 20 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for a few more minutes, stirring constantly. Add the stock and salt and simmer gently for 30 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and let the mixture cool slightly. Puree the mixture, half at a time, in a blender or food processor. Return to the pan and add the white pepper to taste. Add the half & half, lemon juice and honey; then taste and adjust the seasoning. Stir in the grated cucumber. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve in a chilled bowl.

rainier 2005 - day 6

omg, it's day 6!!!!!!!! no, no, no it can't be true.....

woke up late, lounged in bed, reading

went to visit a neighbor who happens to be a famous quilter/teacher. was inspired by her enthusiasm, her work and her workspace. plan on going home and fixing cheryl's bedroom and the sunroom into a guestroom/studio space.

still working on the beaddreamers stuff. set up the development environment today. still working on the db design and the inventory file -- all the stuff i don't really have experience with... front end doesn't worry me -- all the other stuff does...

been beading on my wire vase and making some progress:

rainier 2005 - day 5

i'm sitting on the couch trying to recuperate from my visit to the chiropractor this afternoon. i feel like a truck ran over me....

sat in on mom's art class... comfortable studio space with an enthusiastic teacher.

i'm also cleaning up a huge excel spreadsheet which tracks the entire beaddreamer inventory. this is in preparation of importing it into a mysql database. i was looking at that design i put together and had trouble understanding how it was all supposed to work... but i think i've got it now (i pray...). note that this is the first database design i have ever done and i taught myself general database principles and mysql from an online class. send me good thoughts... or pray for me if you're so inclined... i could use the help.

since dave and debbie are such fishing fanatics now and they've discovered how to do bass fishing in the local lakes, we were watchin a little videotape called "wormin with woo" -- a surprisingly interesting bass pro videotape filled with tons of tips on how to set up worms and lures and techniques for different kinds of fishing conditions.

speaking of fish... noah and mom each have a new fish tank with guppies.

here's the latest on the rest of the animal side of the family:

at mom's place (mom, send me some good pics of buddy and fawna):

sadie:

at dave and vicky's place (dave, send me pics of bubba, java, lofty and all the cats with their names):

here's marina, chi boy's and mewie's mommy:

rainier 2005 - day 4

another do nothing day. getting ready to have dinner with mika and mom. messing around with the computer... nothing much else.

mika

mom

last night i slept through the night and actually woke up late. my hands have also stopped shaking. it always takes me a few days to relax into a vacation...

rainier 2005 - day 3

where are the pics?

the card reader is not working... i think my card is somehow corrupted. i can see the pics on my camera but have no way of getting them into the computer at this time. didn't bring the direct camera cord with me so i'll have to wait til i get home to try that.

will continue to take pics with the hope of downloading later....

here's the view from mom's place:

today i learned how to play texas holdem at pokerroom.com... practice, practice, practice

dad's shack (also mika's place in a former existence) is now mom's art studio.

mom is taking weekly painting lessons in town. here are samples of her work:

rainier 2005 - day 2

spent a relaxing day doing nothing. went to the red wind casino for buffet dinner and some gambling fun. thanks, kurt, for the "8" advice -- it works for me too! i'm small time though so my $20 grew to over $80 on the penny, 2cent, 3cent and 5cent slots -- i think that's very, very impressive for a half hour of gambling.

debbie went a little overboard on the king crab legs and spent the rest of the evening paying for her overindulgence. i had much vicarious satisfaction from watching her since i can't eat crab now without getting deathly sick.

this year was supposedly the "worst" year ever for gardening... no matter... here are pics from mom's garden:

rainier 2005 - day 1

entrance to dave's and vicky's

dave's and vicky's house

dahlia from vicky's garden

today's travel day was tons easier than yesterday's. had a leisurely, uneventful flight to seattle. dave picked me up within 10 minutes of calling. settled in at the house with vicky and dave. visited mom's place and took tons of pics of her garden (coming soon). had dinner and chatted with deb. was back at the house by 8pm and ready to pass out. everyone's getting up early in the morning to go fishing at 5:30. i'll be sleeping in...

the past week [month] [year] has been hectic to say the least. it's time to recuperate.

3 more days...

until vacation. {{phew...}}

{{relief}}

my '91 honda civic fits the high emitter profile so when my registration came up this year, i needed one of those dreaded TEST ONLY smog inspections.

just got home from the 8am appointment -- it PASSED... HOORAY!!!

i only drive this car every 3-4 weeks when i go to safeway for groceries.

more ramen...

had cha shu soyu ramen from sapporo-ya this past sunday. generous, tasty serving of cha shu and noodles, just the right noodle bite. yummmmm...

noodle machine

noodles

cha shu soyu ramen