The many meanings of Islands

So not all of our winter was fun and games. We did do a little work on our little house.

An island (or ball) of green. Here is our transformed camelia shrub, which once was more of a hedge. Thanks to our neighbor I got it done a bit quicker with an electric trimmer. I thought about doing a bunny, but ...


And in place of a hard packed section of dirt, weeds, and an old stump, we now have grasses and a planting bed for the future. Like an island of landscaping. Thanks to our other neighbor for the plants! What great neighbors we have.


And in the house we continue to work on the kitchen island, which is now taking shape. Here is a recent picture with the cabinet in place, the counter top base attached, and the wood in process of being painted. We also are building a shelf in the back of the cabinet facing the living room. Fun stuff!


Okay, actually this is the fun stuff. A day of surfing in Westport with Josh and Corey. That's Josh shooting the curl there. I was dethawing and drinking chai because it was DAMN COLD! Not tropical island style...

Winter Catchup

Okay, so I'm not a daily blogger. But here are a few pictures to give you a taste of our winter so far. After spending November in India (see my Facebook page for photos - there are way too many) we found ourselves marooned in our own house in SNOW STORM '08...


It was actually really great. We went cross-country skiing from our front door, along Lake Washington, and around Seward Park. Liz and Sascha visited and made this great snowman with Tricia.


For Christmas we went up to Whidbey Island and gathered with the whole Vander Leest clan, which is constantly growing it seems. Driveway sledding is an awesome thing, especially when you're four.


And we even had our own Christmas tree (a living diadora cedar) that will one day be landscaping in our yard.