Samvent: Day 24

My elves.

I Was Dreaming of a White...Oh No, This Was No Dream

This was December 18. The "Oh LOOK! It's snowing and so pretty! Glad I don't have to go outside today " Phase. I'm shooting roughly NW into the backyards of our block.

A view to the SW, from our back door. That's the neighbor's flat top garage.

"Oh well, I guess no more italian parsley and late peas for me! "

Three days later, December 21, it stopped being funny.
Remember this view? Now I couldn't even find where the parsely was, even if I wanted to.

Yes, that would be a FOOT of snow (12 ") on our grill bench.
Front of Mary Ave. Recognize the Action Wagon-- it looks taller here.

Charlie and I went for a walk on the 21st and got hot beverages from Honore Bakery. It began snowing (AGAIN) while we were out.
Behind me are the Ballard High School tennis courts.

Less of a smile, more of a grimace.Charlie is holding a wedge of snow covered in a 1/8" thick sheet of ice, grabbed from our drive. Walking was a succession of muffled punching sounds.Behind C is Mary Ave. Beyond that, 15th.

Looking to the corner of Mary and 67th. 15th had an ice median where the center turn lane had been.Dec. 22

Why didn't I publish this sooner? Well, obviously I am a deeply uncaring soul. Plus, I think I suffered from some kind of PTSD flashback whenever I looked at the pix. (Which is not meant to diminsh the very real horrors of PTSD) I was thinking about these after the reports that London got about 10 inches of snow over 48 hours. That is a city similarly unprepared for such events. I feel for my friend Dorothea.

Samvent: A Questionable Idea, I Now Admit

I blame the snow.

This is a few days ago, while Sam plays in his incredibly loud, but very good high chair.

Our friend Alex got him this shirt. Computer humor

Samvent Days 10, 11, 12, 13, 14...

Maybe we should all just acknowledge it's the holidays. And we're all busy. And some of us have small children.
Lisa came over for tea and cookies today. She likes to practice baby holding with Sam. As we are both only children, our exposure to small people has been limited (until now).

This is mostly about the tree Charlie went out and bought this evening. At the tree lot on the corner, which is downhill from us. He WALKED down there-- IN THE SNOW-- and hauled it back. Charlie is all man. Sam is fascinated. But at the moment, they're chatting on the phone with the Other Sarah.

Samvent Days 8 & 9

So, continuing on with Sam's pals... JM is enjoying both the baby and a delicious beverage by our own Zip Trainor. This was in early August. 'Round the same time as one of the all time faves below.
The Men

Samvent Day 8

Because Lisa Jackson-Schebetta, Sam and I went for a walk around Greenlake today-- and Jeanmarie, Sam and I had walked on Friday-- I was thinking about Sam's pals. This is another blast from the recent past. Lisa had walked over to meet me at the hospital and we were going to go to lunch and Costco. But this was the day they came to me and said, "Hey, wanna take your kid home early?" So, this is one of the last pictures of Sam in the hospital. The fabulous blanket is from his Great Grandma Saine.

Samvent Day 7

Ah, the whole family.

Samvent Days 5&6

So, an "exersaucer " (we like to think of it as Sam's own personal evil command center) arrived on our doorstep this morn. I was wise to hold off on the photos yesterday to save up for THE INCREDIBLE CUTENESS of Sam here.

Monk also approves of this toy.

"Look my cat minion, an evil command center from which we can rule!"

"Yes, oh Junior Cat Master....yeesss!"

Samvent: Days 3&4

Thank you Tiffy, for keeping me honest. And making me laugh with the "Sarah-- where is the sprog blog update!" Sam and I were making xmas cookie dough today. I keep trying to get him to full on smile, but the camera distracts him.

To Spokane for Government Conspiracy Holiday!The rearview/baby-spy mirror fell down in Charlie's car, so the only way of verifying that Sam was alive was through some backwards photography. Also, I was bored.

Then I took pictures of us.

Sam only deigned to wake up when the car stopped moving of he was hungry. At which point, he howled.

Guarding the cranberry muffins, on the Day of the Turkey.

(Note the FABULOUS striped pants. Also, he's got halloween/Harvest jack o'lantern socks on.)

Charlie, in his "Thanksgiving" t-shirt.

Look! It's a holiday table!

And then it started to snow...

There was more the next day but I didn't take pictures. Most of you know how I feel about snow. And if you don't I suspect you do after that statement. Don't let the smiles in the snow pictures fool you.

That's a blob of snow on his head, to make it more apparent. Ah, the magic, the wonder of my son's first snowfall.

It. Was. Cold.

Becky and Howard's friends Brenda and Jared, as well as their two girls, Stevie (17) and Carson (18 mo) came for dinner. Lovely, lovely family. Carson is shown here-- a vision of what we may be looking forward to.

Dos Krauters and Un Kovasky, in repose on Friday. Plus a rare photo of Simon the cat.



Sam and his Great Aunt Becky

This would be Becky mid-imitation of Carson's "DUDE!"

Sam and Becky

A Short Series Where Howard and Sam Have a Conversation

I guess they are Great-Great Uncle John and Aunt Loyal. Well, David's fabulous parents, at any rate. They were in town after Thanksgiving and we all had dinner on Sunday. John grabbed Sam right off-- he's a master.

These are all of our photos. Howard has sent me the ones he and Becky took, so I'll add those later this week. Given how fussy Sam's been -- possibly teething?-- it's an achievement to get these up!

Now, Thanksgiving is called Government Conspiracy Day by my friend Erin and I because it was invented during the Civil War era/Reconstruction as a means to unite the country. Don't believe me? Look it up, people. I like turkey as much as the next gal, but I don't like propoganda! As someone who spends a considerable amount of time reading about the Restoration period in England, I can tell you that Pilgrims are nothing to be proud about being descended from.