Okay I have been slacking I know; we got to Seattle and got caught up with seeing all our old mates, ended up helping to paint and decorate Evan and Amy’s house in Richmond Beach as they are due to have twin boys in a matter of weeks and need to get moved in, Tony and Sandra came to town, I attended my first baby shower and we house sat for Joni and Eric! All this and much more in only 10 days of being in Seattle! First things first – we are staying at Bruce’s in the Maple Leaf area of Seattle. Here’s a picture of Bruce with his lovely girlfriend Deb and a picture of his neighbour Peggy with him in front of beth’s Cafe – Peggy’s house is just behind Bruce’s and one of Bella the dog who lives here with us with Sandra and Deb; Bella is blind in one eye and totally deaf – but beautiful and very strong. (actually these 3 photos I took last June but they haven’t aged a day since).
Last Friday morning Peggy drove Dave and I out for a crepe breakfast with her daughter Sue, who then took us on to an area just 10 minutes drive from Bruce’s called Wedgewood to see her amazing 1960’s house. She bought it after seeing it advertised privately in her specialised conservation magazine for plants etc. The house is situated in the woods with it’s own creek and 1 acre of private woodland. It is absolutely stunning and Dave and I loved it! Peggy arranged for us to go and see it after I saw a funky rat pack style 1950s 3, 400 square feet house in an area called Innis Arden with Evan and Amy – which would have been a massive refurb project but was amazing. Some of these places are huge, so much space. …I want to buy one! Here’s Peggy’s daughter’s house below, currently not being lived in as they are planning on what to do with it. Lots of houses of this era get demolished, they call it tear-down, and they re-build on the same plot. I hope this isn’t going to be the fate of this stunning house. Check out the funky teak hand made kitchen including matching fridge!
On Sunday I went to my first baby shower! Evan’s sister Marcy hosted it at her house for Amy and family and friends. Lots of people turned up and we ate too much food, played silly baby related games (Yeah I wasn’t very good – how the hell am I supposed to be able to guess what a ‘pureed veggie dinner’ baby food looks like! I damn sure wasn’t going to taste the stuff). Amy got loads of baby gifts – lots of doubles because she is expecting twins in about 4 weeks! We were hoping she might pop them out at the baby shower to make it a truly memorable event. Ha Ha. We bought her stuff from her baby gift register, similar to a wedding gift register, I have never heard of this before but it’s common practise over this side of the pond! I also got a chance to catch up with Kathleen; a very old friend of Evan’s who I last saw staggering out of the Oaxaca bar in Ballard last June. We hope to repeat a similar night out very soon.
Kathleen, Amy and Joni.
Amy non-alcopop drink in hand!
Kathleen and old mate Evan.
Let that pregnant lady through to open her gifts!
Evan and Amy in full gift opening mode.
A room full of women saying oooh and aaah and welling up generally.
I got to catch up with my old mate Joni and her two tearaway daughters Elsa (5) and Ava (3). The little monkeys climbing around on Dave; Elsa left and Ava right.
Being chucked about in Joni’s fab new living room and Whitey, Joni’s cat deserves a mention for being very cute but extremely fat. He is mainly white – honest!
I challenge you to try supermarket shopping with these 2, it’s bonkers. We spent more time taking stuff out of the trolley that they kept putting in.
Sandra and Tony our old mates from London who moved to Vancouver Island a couple of years ago, hopped on the ferry with their car and came on down to see us here and stayed at Bruce’s for 3 nights. We went to Beth’s cafe for breakfast and laughed at the hundreds of hand drawn pictures stuck on the walls by customers.
We hung at a bar in Ballard called Flowers where we met a very odd Glaswegian man and looked at ourselves in the mirrored ceiling whilst drinking margerita’s.
Tony found a skateboard park but thankfully had no skateboard with him as it was particularly cold on this day!
We went to one of my favourite shops in the U-District (university district) called Red Light which is a vintage place selling lots of crazy things.
Sandra was actually trying to buy a hat for a June wedding in the South of France but passed on this natty little number.
Retail shopping in America isn’t quite the same as in London.
The Travel Diarist 
Thanks for a great couple of days, it’s always magic spending time with you two.We miss you much and look forward to seeing you in Vancouver in March.xxxSandra & Tony
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