There is a small free-holding farm (or a large garden) across the lane from our house. Today I was thrilled to see that a rack had been set out with quite a few vegetables and an honesty box. I’m so happy to be able to get fresh veg just a few feet down the lane. Hurrah!
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Tonight, while I should have been writing contracts for my project at work, I procrastinated by plotting the pubs we’ve visited in our area on a Live Map.
The map shows pubs that we have visited for either a pint or a meal. It also shows closed pubs that appear on the Ordinance Survey map, in case you are trying to plan a three pub walk. There is nothing worse than pub #2 on your journey being closed. I still have several to put on, but I really must get that contract started:-)
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Now that most of our daily interaction is with people who don’t live in Seattle, we get quite a few questions about good things to do in Seattle. So, I’m starting a page on Seattle recommendations. This post is a first set of items, I’ll put up a post each time I update the main page.
Bloedel Reserve: A fabulous garden on Bainbridge island. Note that you are required to book your visit in advance. http://www.bloedelreserve.org/
Ride the ferry: A good, relatively inexpensive activity is to ride the Washington State Ferry. On foot to Bainbridge and back is nice for a few hours. If you want to take your car and make a loop for a day trip that is also nice. http://www.swdot.wa.gov/ferries/
*Note: Steve and I have some seafood allergies, so this is not our best subject. Seattle has a very large east Asian (Oriental) population so those cuisines are generally very strong.
Elliot’s on the Seattle waterfront is excellent. On weekday afternoons they have an oyster happy hour where they start really cheap about 3pm and go up in price until dinner time. If you like oysters it is a must do. Also good dinner menu. On the pricey side. http://www.elliotsoysterhouse.com/
Nishino is a very highly regarded Japanese seafood restaurant. http://www.nishinorestaurant.com/
Our church in Bellevue http://www.cbccross.net/
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I have noticed in my holiday photos that there was some gunk showing up on the images, but before paying to have the sensor cleaned I wanted to figure out if it was on the lens or on the sensor.
So, I took some test shots of bright blue sky, with two different lenses, and I think the results are pretty obvious.
17-85
70-300
Gross. Off to get that sensor cleaned. I have been recommended to a place in London that does the cleaning on a walk-in basis. I’ll let you know how it goes, and will post a link if I’m happy with the service.
Now to find a photoshop wiz to fix the photos from Greece and Italy:-)
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* This is hopefully the first in a series of reviews of our local pubs*
On Saturday Steve and I took a three-pub-walk in a beautiful part of the Chiltern hills. One of the pubs, The Prince Albert, was a real gem. It is small, well run but not slickly refurbished, just how we like it.
On tap they had Hobgoblin, one of Steve’s favourite ales, and for some reason not often on tap at the many Brakspear pubs in our area.
There are miles of fabulous walking paths criss-crossing this area, so you have many opprotunites to make your own walk and a stop at The Price Albert. We will certainly be returning sometime soon to have a meal.
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For my demanding readers, a photo of the boots I bought in Rome.
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Thurdsay morning I was putting on my makeup, getting ready for work, and saw this out the window.
We live on a dead end lane, so we knew he’d have to double back. Steve grabbed a camera so we could have a shot of the Google Earth periscope-mobile.
People here are oddly upset about Google Earth posting pictures of their streets, neighborhoods and homes. There are so many surveillance cameras here, way more than in the US, but oddly people are very upset about these pictures being an invasion of privacy. The fact that homes are much closer to the street might be a part of it – I sure hope there is not a Google Earth picture of me at my bathroom sink standing in my bathrobe.
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After all our moving these past two years we have a few boxes of stuff that we don’t need here in England, but I don’t want to get rid of. So the stuff is sort of stranded…
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The occurrence of St. Patrick’s Day reminded me of the St. Patrick sights that we visited on our trip to Ireland last year.
Patrick grew up in Roman Britian, was taken to Ireland as a slave, escaped, and then returned to Ireland as a missionary. He received permission from the Irish king to preach Christianity.
Hill of Tara – This was the seat of the King. Apparently when a pagan festival fire was burning there, no one else could light a fire that would be visible from the hill.
Hill of Slane – This is supposedly where Patrick lit the fire in defiance of the King’s edict. That got him an audience with the king where he must have been very persuasive.
If you want to learn more about St. Patrick, I highly recommend a book that a friend gave to me: How the Irish Saved Civilization. It provides an interesting take on the “dark ages” of continental Europe: The dark ages only lasted between the fall of Rome and its culture and the return of literacy and literature as it was reintroduced by Irish and English missionaries from the spiritual line of St. Patrick a few centuries later.
The Schrockinator
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On a Saturday in Salisbury town centre…a cool old man was selling onions from his bike. I think he ran into this health food store to sell some of his garlic.
(this post in honor of my cool new station bike)
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