Reality Check

PAYTON: "Gammie, you have spots on your hands like an old lady! You know, like the old lady on "Tangled".

GAMMIE: "Well... At least I'm not a mean old witch!" (most of the time.)

"Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what happened."

-Jennifer Yane

Look what We Brought Home from Seattle....

Two Little Munchkins and their mother too! It was spring break for Payton; Jenni SO wanted to be here when Emily's baby was born; so we packed them into the back of our Civic, car seats and all. They were such good little travelers for the 13 hour trip! (So was their mother!)

On Saturday morning, Jenni and I found ourselves with all eight grand-children/cousins. Time for a bit of Munchkin Fun!

 "A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand”

Or in Evylee's case, cookie DOUGH will do!

Sugar Cookies

1  1/2 cups sugar 1 tsp. vanilla

2/3 cup butter 3  1/4 cups flour

2 eggs, beaten 2  1/2 tsp. baking  powder

2 Tbsp. milk 1/2 tsp. salt

Cream sugar and butter.  Add eggs, milk, and vanilla.  Sift dry ingredients together and beat into creamed mixture, combining thoroughly.  With hands, shape dough into a ball; wrap and refrigerate 2-3 hours until easy to handle.  Grease cookie sheets lightly.  On lightly floured board, roll one-half or one-third of the dough at one time, keeping the rest refrigerated.  For softer cookies, roll 1/8” to 1/4” thick.  Cut into shapes with a floured cookie cutter.  Reroll trimmings and cut.  Place cookies one-half inch apart on cookie sheets.  Bake at 400 degrees about 8 minutes.  Remove cookies to racks to cool.  Makes about 6 dozen cookies.

Cherry Blossoms

Cherry trees were abloom on the University of Washington campus.

What a GREAT photo opportunity! Jenni was so anxious to take her two children and have Potts photograph them there; 

so she dressed them in their very best and we headed that way.

I think EVERYONE in Seattle had the same idea! Tree to tree people and not a spot to find! So disappointing... not the trees, mind you - they were SPECTACULAR; just ALL the PEOPLE!

We grabbed a couple of shots just for record-keeping purposes...

 Then headed to a more secluded corner of campus.

 Who needs cherry blossoms when your own little peaches are SO BEAUTIFUL!

In the Light of Morning

Photographs by Randy Collier

"In the cherry blossom's shade
there's no such thing
as a stranger."
--Kobayashi Issa

Raindrops Keep Falling - It's the Seattle Way!

Ahhh... A little rain just makes life a bit more interesting!

Grab your umbrella,

And your rubber boots

And you are ready to spectate at 

A SLOSHY Seattle Soccer Game

A rather messy sport, if I may say so.

 See the cute little smiling guy in the blue shirt? That's our grandbaby #1, Payton.

Always running... Always smiling.

These little five and six-year-olds are pretty serious players!

Well... MOST of the time.

Great Job, Payton! Potts and I can't wait to come and watch another game!

Seattle Rain

What do you call two straight days of rain in Seattle? 
A weekend.

It only rains twice a year in Seattle: August through April and May through July.

What does daylight-saving time mean in Seattle? 

An extra hour of rain.

What's the definition of a Seattle optimist? 

A guy with a sun visor on his rain hat.

How to predict weather in Seattle: 

If you can see Mt Rainier, it's going to rain. If not, it already is.

A newcomer to Seattle arrives on a rainy day. He gets up the next day and it's raining. It also rains the day after that, and the day after that. He goes out to lunch and sees a young kid and asks out of despair, "Hey kid, does it ever stop raining around here?" 

The kid says, "How do I know? I'm only 6."