A Busy August, 2010....

Have I mentioned that I have a cousin who lives in Seattle? She's my cousin Kim and her father, my Uncle Gil, is the reason I became a social worker. I don't have a picture of Cousin Kim to show you...I'll have to work on it.

This is Aunt JoAnn, Gil's wife--she's always so full of enthusiasm and encouragement. As a child, I was always glad when Gil and JoAnn were around.

Visiting made me miss all my other aunts and uncles--and my parents.

Kim and I decided to go north to Vancouver, Canada. We have always enjoyed Vancouver--it's such a great, international city. It's our first time out of the country since we returned from Italy...sigh.

OHHHHH, Canada, I sing my praise to yooooooo......

English Bay where balancing rocks has become a symbol for the city. There's an amazing walk along the bay at Stanley Park; we never tire walking the trail.

On our return, this had totally dissipated...it was really interesting close up and made lots of patterns...is it pretty caca? I don't know.

This is Siwash Rock. The Indian legend tells us that a man was turned into this immortal rock as a reward for his unselfishness....We never know from whence our rewards shall come.

Beautiful impatiences....

We went to the Vancouver Art Museum where they were having a very good exhibit of art from the Musee D'Orsay from Paris. (Thanks to Kim for the spelling and reminder....)

It was a weekend of NW coastal art as well.

I am guessing that this hole helps the totem stand.

We found ourselves at a salmon hatchery near the motel where we stayed...what a great find. We took a really nice hike.

Nature's natural totem.

A little elf house; no one was home that we could see....

A good fishing hole. Can you hear the rushing water?

Finished products....

This guy (in orange) was not having a good day. The Canadian police were examining his boat. A few minutes later they brought in a sniffing dog. Can you guess why?

Home again. A meeeerica, A meeeerica.

A Social Worker Does What Must Be Done....

One of my clients has active & contagious TB and today I attended a care conference. Before entering the room, this is the device I was told to wear. Attached, behind my back is an air pump which pumped air into my mask.
It was cool and refreshing.
Only tiny drawback is not hearing much but the whooosing sound of air.

A Sunday Outing....

Because I will be busy teaching aspiring acupuncturists for the next two weekends, Kim and I thought it would be nice to get out of the city and go for a hike. We found an interesting destination at a state park in Kirkland, WA.

First rule of the hike: keep your eyes peeled and your feet ready....

The underbrush was thick and the trees tall.
They were so straight as they headed toward the sky

There were multiple trails and we just wandered as we enjoyed the sites and sounds.

And yes, there were horses and their riders.
The rule is to yield to the horse.

Looking up or down brought wonderful sites.

There were times we felt we were being watched....

OH MY! IT'S JUST EVERYWHERE!!!

Kim doesn't like it.....

We pushed forward and kept walking. We began to realize that we didn't know quite exactly where we were, except in the woods.

But soon we found our way out and we encountered
a horse show contest.

This one was finished. Note the stunning tail presentation.

Another beauty.

Horse paraphernalia.

And from the depth of the woods, we wandered to downtown Kirkland
where they had a different sort of horse power show.

There were many droolers in the crowd.

A different kind of love affair.

And with that, we strolled along the beach for a few minutes and headed back
to our fair city across the lake, in the distance.

Bye horsey, horseys. I will miss you.