Oh to be 2....

For the past few months I've spent my mornings with my 2-year-old friend, Emmett. Yesterday was my last day with him (sniff). Emmett is very verbal and has delighted me with excellent words of wisdom. He said a cute thing the other day. I was enjoying our time eating lunch on my rooftop patio and I said to him "Emmett, you're such a fun kid!" His response to me was "I'm so proud of you!" Precious. He was saying to me what people say to him that makes him feel good.

For my last day, his mom gave me this charming picture of him and his big brother. I love it!

Sticking Around

I'm starting to get used to Seattle. We are going to be here for awhile longer before moving to Portland, at least through the summer. It's just the way the ball is rolling!

What's Yer Name Again? Oh.

A few months back I went to a party where my friend made these little name pins for all of the attendees. When she arrived with this stimulating hurrah, my camera smothered her with great excitement. It was like a tray of fresh cookies out of the oven, but even better.

Aren't they succulent and juicy? And it made the party way more fun. Everyone is more relaxed at a party when we all have a name tag on. AND everyone left with a souvenier.

The clever crafter is the lovely Jeanne of Denver, CO. She used little wood pieces from Michael's, a metallic marker, little cheapy pins, and a hot glue gun. I won't give away her secret for giving them color, but I will tell you that they are way easier to make than they look.

Now, I would bet that these are awfully fun to make. I'm going to a similar, well-planned music party next weekend and I'm itching to see Jeanne Pins on people again. I think I am going to rally for this, even though I hear there will be 200 people there.

Darol Anger is my Hero

...well, at least one of them. :) We went to two Yonder Mountain String Band shows this weekend, one in Seattle and one in Portland. The lovely Darol Anger played fiddle with them, as he does for the special shows. We've become friends, since he now lives in Portland. He's a super nice guy and with an endless abundance of inspiration for any fiddle player.

In the past week, I've seen a lot of awesome fiddle players. Not only Darol, but also Tania from The Duhks and a guy who plays a rockin electric violin in a pop band from Ireland called The Frames. The more I see, the more I realize it's totally okay for me to have my own Ellie style of playing.

Although last night was a really late night, I have extra zest today. I think it's cause I'm still on the Yonder high. I absolutely love a Yonder show! The people, the music, the friends, the dancing... Their shows are so happy.

How's THIS for Cheerful?

Everyday when Ziegy comes home from work, he tears off his stuffy work clothes and puts on something more relaxing. Today, he pulled out the butterfly t-shirt! I hardly ever see the butterfly. In fact, I forgot about it. How fun! It's a special day here. It's pretty hard not to love a guy who is wearing that.

Totally Pictureless

So, with the recent sadness that has unfolded on my blog, I've been feeling some pressure to quickly post something cheerful. Ah screw it. I have nothing cheerful to share at the moment. But that sourness is not related to my sad week. It's related to something else that I'll tell you about in a moment.

First of all, thanks to everyone for their kind thoughts related to the sad news about my friend. Luckily, I was able to spend some time with them over the weekend. I played some pretty violin music for them at Owen's small memorial service by the river near their house. It was a really beautiful. A happy-sad day. I care about them so much and it helped to be a part of his memorial.

Second of all, I have no picture for you tonight because of a ridiculous discovery that keeps me from posting the picture I had in mind. Ziegy and I had a really fun, leisurely bikeride on Friday to Seattle's brand new Olympic Sculpture Park. Since it's brand spanking new, it's all futuristic and new-agey looking. Cutting edge environmental design, really. While I was there I was thinking "This is awesome!! Why didn't I bring the camera?" It was one of those moments. But then, it was okay because I have a fancy new "camera phone." Ziegy took the coolest picture of me and my bike inside a sculpture. How can I explain it... well, it's basically made up of several massive-sized oozy-looking metal walls that you can walk through. The scale of it is simply fascinating and the picture showed it well.

I was going to upload the picture to my computer like I've done in the past. But guess what. Now, you have to buy the pictures off the Sprint site to do anything with them. What's up with that? Some camera phone. There's no way to do anything with the pictures without putting them in a "cart". I often snatch pictures off the internet by doing a fancy trick, but they've even blocked me from doing that. So try to imagine a cheerful picture of me with this sculpture, cause I have no picture.

A camera phone is really nothing more than a toy for when you're drunk with your friends and need simple amusement. It leaves me wondering if before we ever count on something do we always need to ask "does this cost any money?" Gosh I hope not!

Well, that post was a little cheerful I guess. Well, not really. HHMMMPPPPHHHH.

Baby Owen

I'm so sad to say that the story below doesn't have a happy ending. My friend Sarette's baby, Owen, died shortly after his birth from an umbilical chord accident. I've been dealing with this for the past 3 days and having it on my mind nonstop.

Ziegy and I have been trying to understand why this happened to our wonderful friends, John and Sarette. I guess there is no answer to that. Thankfully, they had a few hours to be alone with Owen, hold him, and bond with him. Their supportive families have flown in to be with them. I'm sure that is what is getting them through this. There is a beautiful picture of Owen on their blog. I'm amazed at how content he looks and at how he looked just like his parents.

We love you, little Owen!

Sarette is About to Burst

My most lovely friend Sarette is going have her baby any day now! In fact, I think today might even be her due date. She and her partner John are waiting and waiting and I know Sarette is eager to get this guy (or girl) outta there. They're doing a home birth and have a big 'ol tub in the living room right now. If you're interested, they have a blog that they wisely set up beforehand to share their story with us.

A woman who is about to give birth is just so powerful, don't you think? Sarette is so beautiful. I love looking at her big belly and thinking about how a big baby is curled up in there. Awesome! A few months ago, I took this picture of her at her shower, looking like the goddess that she is.

I can only image! I've had countless dreams about pregnancy and childbirth, but that's as far as my experience goes. Most the time I wake up disappointed that I was dreaming, so I guess you could you say I'm kind-of-a-little excited for it to happen to me at some point.

Sarette, my girl, you are on my mind! You are a full-on, glorious, life-giving woman right now. I have no idea how you feel, but happy birthing, Sister!!

Hangin' on the Roof

Last night, Kelly and Jason invited themselves over (well done, guys!) for a fun dinner on the rooftop patio of our apartment. They brought over some salmon and another mysterious fish that Kelly got from her Uncle Tom who got it from her Uncle Bob. And Ziegy, the master of all BBQ masters, cooked it up. He did a mighty fine job making it taste yummy. Also eaten were grilled portabello mushrooms and pasta salad. Magaritas went down nicely. A good time!

Ziegy made a great panorama "movie" of our nearly full-circle view from up on our roof. But I don't know how to post a movie, so I'll save that for another day.

You see, it's totally georgeous in Seattle right now, like 65 and sunny for the past 3 days. Is it like that where you live too? I got my bike tuned up just in time. Everyone is outside and really happy. We have been waiting and waiting to use our roof again and the time has come! Happy Spring everybody!

Introducing.....Needletune!

Here is my new blog, folks! I have spent way too much time putting it together before launching it into the world, but some things are just so hard to decide! Like the name of the blog and the service that is best for me and my life. A lot of time was spent tinkering in the pre-stages. I really wanted to call my blog Glisten, but that name is taken. Aw, poo. Of course the person who owns that blog hasn't posted since 2003 and he is just a big stinker blog hog. Then I realized I could call my blog Glisten if I used Typepad, but then decided what business do I have paying for a Typepad blog when I can have a Blogger blog for free? I don't think I'll post all that often, just when I have something totally awesome to share and Ziegy is probably tired of hearing about it.

So here is Needletune! Being someone who is often found playing a fiddle tune and someone who is often found with knitting needles in my hands, I think it fits well. It will take me a bit to get the whole layout thing down and make it just how I want it. So far, I think it's all a little clunky and hard to manage, (hence the 2-font look) but hopefully I can figure it out.

Here is a little picture of me saying "hello" to you!