CeLinda's Chatter: Beginnings and Endings Which Comes First

All boarded up

Our Corner of Rose Hill:

No more tent campers
or people living in their cars.

Check out the crop of maple
trees on the roof.

One more Boarded up House

I was anxious about coming home from my recent travels because I thought there would be big machines in the driveway posed to start the big destruction but much to my surprise we have a temporary reprieve. All the neighbors are gone now, Rich and Chris were the last to leave and this week they came by to pull the garbage cans out for final pickup and cancel service. They told us that they had not received their 30 day notice yet and had heard that there might be a delay. No matter they are all moved to their new home in the San Juan’s overlooking the water. All the houses are boarded up, all but one of the old cars are gone, and you can see that all the houses are in disrepair. So the end of the forest is near but the beginning of a whole new neighborhood is near also.

The New 520 Floating Bridge

Events and Happenings:

On Saturday April 2, Bill and I meet our friend Bill in the middle of the brand new 520 bridge, it was the opening day grand celebration for the new floating bridge and according to the Guinness experts this is the longest floating bridge in the entire world. There were booths to visit that explained; Bridge Operations, Ecology and Environment, Construction and Materials and STEM and Careers and Engineering and Design. There were several stations for children to see what was going on also including a Lego model of the bridge, bird ramps, fish highways, and how science, engineering and math all played an important part in the construction of the new bridge. We were there early and heard the Governor give his opening speech and then the leader of the Muckelshoot tribe made a speech also.

Bird ramp
Added after construction to help birds
get out of holes.

Our Governor, Jay Inslee

Wine and food-lovers enjoyed Taste Washington, the nation’s largest single-region wine and food event. Taste Washington brings together over 225 wineries, 70 restaurants and 60 culinary exhibitors (Food Trucks) from across the region for the ultimate four-day experience. So many thousands of people turned out — that WSDOT declared the event "at capacity" and halted buses that had been expected to shuttle additional people to the structure and the food trucks ran out of food. We heard about that when we got home and were really glad we had gone early. Bill and I walked all the way across the bridge, meeting up with our friend Bill M about midway. We walked with him across to the Light Rail Station at Husky Stadium that just opened recently and took the light rail to the International District where we got off and then got on a bus to Mercer Island where Bill M had left his car. We meet up with his wife, Colleen and all had lunch then Bill M took us back to our car at the original bus stop.

Husky Light Rail Station

The old SR 520 floating bridge is expected to be taken apart and removed from the lake by the end of this year. Its pontoons will be towed away and reused for other marine purposes, another ending and a new beginning.

When I got home from Texas on Tuesday, Bill had purchased tickets to see A Night with Janis Joplin at the 5^th Ave Theater in Seattle. It is a live stage production chronicling the life of the iconic and psychedelic rock musician and social activist Janis Joplin who grew up listening to gospel and folk music in Port Arthur Texas. Janis Joplin fronted Big Brother and the Holding Company, and she was well known for putting on fantastic live performances. A Night with Janis Joplin is a real look into the life of one of the most influential figures in music in the 1960’s. The evening included so many great songs that I have loved; Me and Bobby McGee, Cry Baby, Piece of My Heart, Try (Just a Little Bit Harder), Summertime and the last song Mercedes Benz was said to be the last song Janis ever sung before she died of an overdose n 1970. What a perfect date nite for my first night home from travelling.

at A Night with Janis Joplin

In The Kitchen:

Cloud Bread & Paleo Biscuits

Very Delicious BLT
on Cloud Bread

This week I tried a recipe for Cloud Bread. This is the ‘cream puff’ alternative to bread if you are trying to cut simple carbs. I am diabetic and trying to manage with diet exercise and drugs but not insulin, so far I am pleased with how I am doing. You can find recipes for Cloud Bread on the internet; it is seasoned whipped eggs spread on a jelly roll sheet. I used a ‘half-sheet’ and after it is cooked I sliced the sheet into half and then in thirds, essentially this made the equivalent of 6 slices of bread and I made a BLT to celebrate. The ‘bread’ held together well and the sandwich was delicious. The next sandwich I made was a cream cheese and wild salmon spread that I love and it was delicious. I have missed a good sandwich…… Thank you Donna for the great suggestion. If anyone wants the recipe I used just let me know.

For Knitters, Mostly

I have had the pleasure of doing a test knit for a new-to-me designer, Andree Beddoe, she is KnitAndLive on Ravelry. I met her at my LYS (local yarn shop) recently during a trunk show for Black Trillium Fibers. http://blacktrilliumfibres.com/ She was showing several of her designs that day but I totally fell for her ‘Sunrise’ shawl. It is striking and so beautiful. I finished the knit in under a week and I was visiting in Texas at the time. I met with her this week and she gave me something new to use in the blocking process. This shawl would be the perfect mystery knit along; knit in 7 very fun sections. I knit each section in about 1 day except the last lace section that took a couple of days. I want to do it again and again; there are so many colors of sunrises……. This pattern should be on Ravelry soon, look for it there if you are a Ravelry member. http://www.ravelry.com/projects/KnitAndLive

Sunrise in the Forest

Back to the blocking: I used blocking wires, T-pins, my new blocking pins by Knitter’s Pride and Andree even gave me some nylon cord for the scalloped edges. The nylon cord came from a weed eater refill; it is the perfect weight, strong but flexible and very handy for this project. My blocking squares came from Harbor Freight and the surface I turned up has a texture to it that air gets under to help whatever is drying. There is a smooth surface on the other side but I didn’t think that would be as good a choice.