From the Trenches

The last 2 weeks have been full of the new server, the new workstations, the new laptops, the new software and my same old brain. Which in retrospect reminds me of a few lines from The Princess Bride...

"Have fun storming the castle, boys!"

"Think it'll work?"

"It'll take a miricle!"

"Bye Bye, boys!"

Well, I think we have the financial program working after more than a week of failures. I feel like I've stormed a castle!

In the meantime, company is coming tomorrow and I'll have to move my brain from computer gunk and geek speak to down time and blog speak.

The shot above is from Stirling Castle in Scotland. One of my favorites!

Cheers,

Asthmagirl!

ABC!

A- Baby Alice! K3 K1 brought Ben and Alice over last night for a visit. Ben is very busy. So busy he is pretty much a blur! Alice is a little more laid back! We had a snack and nice burp and poopy diaper!

The photo is pretty much out of the camera as I have not installed Photoshop yet. I did get my computer back after it went wacko with the lan drivers and had difficulty staying online. I have all my files, etc but need to reinstall software to bring it up to speed. I finally installed my email last night so if I've missed something vital, let me know!

B- Blog Fest West! Please head over to the BFW tab to veiw the potential itinerary of BFW. Your feedback now will be important for final plans. Please respond quickly, as I am leaving for Ireland soon and iMom will be the one worrying about the details until I get back!

C- Carryons and other essentials... I've resolved a multitude of issues regarding what to take and how since we'll pretty much be on the move the entire time we're in Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. Stay tuned for product reviews and solutions for being a traveling asthmatic!

AG out!

Are you a Blister?

Blog Sisters! We're looking for you!

Imom and I are trying to establish a head count for Blog Fest West. To lay claim to your little corner of the Northwest (Seattle) head on over to the BFW tab on this blog and leave a comment.

Imom and I have some great ideas percolating and can't wait to welcome everyone to our beautful city! August is definitely a spectacular month to visit Seattle!

Each of us have some availability at our respective houses to park visiting bloggers. There are also a variety of hotels in the area for those wishing for a little privacy!

Head on over and claim your spot now!

AG out!

And so it begins

If you've arrived from iMom's blog about a summer blog festival, you've come to the right place!

Two out of three Brute squad members agree that summer in Seattle is the place to be. And August is beautiful here! I've decided to give Blog Fest West it's own page so that it doesn't get lost in between posts about dogs, lungs and other topics!

For all things Blog Fest West, please look up at the blog header and click on "BFW". Here, you can see the latest news, make your plans and ask questions.

iMom and I can't wait to see everyone!

AG out!

Laissez les bons temps rouler (la deuxième partie)

Or... Let the Good Times Roll (part two)

There was no 500 point winner yesterday on the band. Although I forgot the Cars did a song with exactly that name! Good catch everyone. The band I was thinking of was Little Feat. Their release of the album Let it Roll in 1987 inspired the theme for their tour when TOG and I saw them in the mid 1990's. With their Cajun origins, it was hardly a surprise that 'Laissez les bons temps rouler' were the words they called out when they took the stage. Still, I enjoyed the comments enough that I'm going to make a donation to my local food bank anyway. I was just looking for a excuse! K3 currently does volunteer work there so 3 days per week so I'll have her do it for me!

Now, there were a few 5000 point winners. So... it is with great pride that iMom, The Baroness and yours truly would like to announce:

Blog Fest West

After discussion with the charming and lovely CBW, our Blog Fest host for the last two years in the beautiful state of Virginia, it was determined that with her book commitment, Blog Fest is going to be impossible very difficult for her to pull off this year. Thus followed discussion with other bloggers and finally a bit of chatter among the "locals': me, iMom and the Baroness. We hatched a plan and we're very pleased and excited to invite you to Blog Fest West! We can't wait to show you our great Northwest!

Things you'll see include:

Dinner at the Pub! (wine, ales, great Canadian cider, fabulous sustainable food)

Pike Place Market with iMom as a guide! She used to work there!

Our beautiful local marina!

Time at my dad's out on the island...

And of course beautiful views of Mt. Rainier...

Puget Sound....

And the Brute Squad!

Both iMom and I can sleep at least 4 people if not more at each of our houses. We live about 10 minutes from each other. If you choose to, you can also stay at this hidden gem of a hotel very close to our houses. We can each do airport pick ups and drop offs as we are very close to SeaTac.

Who should come? Anyone who wants to see our part of the country, is willing to hang out with a fun bunch of bloggers, wants to meet iMom's and my family, enjoy great food and aches to go home with a fabulous souvenir blog fest cup and a ton of groovy memories!

The only detail we are still dithering on is a date. It will either be late July or early August! We thought we had it decided this morning, but we just had another wrinkle. Stay tuned to this blog for further details!

Who's on board????

AG (and friends) can't wait to welcome you!

Stop the Car!

This was one of the last shots I took at Blogfest, taken when Lauren, Shelley and I were leaving Bud's beach. 

I had been trying to get the "perfect" sunset picture because I knew Bud's bay had it to give. Last year's sky was amazing. So when I looked out the car window and saw this sky, I likely scared Shelley to death by yelling "stop the car!" as I fumbled for my camera! But I was totally focused on getting this shot!

I love the color. Flat out. Period.

Love. The. Color.

When I look at shots like this, I always think about what's to come. Even as a beautiful sky whispers about the peace that comes at the end of the day, to me... it also murmurs about the possibilities of tomorrow. Skies like this fill me with contentment and hope.

And in this case, wistfull memories of a lovely day at the beach with friends...

AG out!

Conversations in Virginia

This shot was taken on a very hot day when I was out on Noe Noe and Cdub's boat with ,MPM, Bayman and AM.

On a sizzling hot day out on the water, these chairs were a luscious bit of whimsy. Inviting, unique... I could just see them full of "blisters" (blog sisters) with ice cold beverages and the conversations and laughter flowing!

Now that I'm back in Washington (state), I have a slightly different view of The Chairs. I can still visualize a fun Blister afternoon on the water, but the conversations we would have while sitting in those beautiful chairs were conversations we did have; navigating Virginia in SUVs, sitting in the sand, perched on beach chairs with gritty, sandy butts, across a table with bloody marys, bouncing across the water in boats, lolling on a shanty porch during a storm, floating in Bud's Bay and walking on lawn covered in goose poop.

In other words, we didn't need a perfect setting to do some of our best work; talking and laughing. We did it wherever we were. Although, to be honest, the beautiful scenery didn't hurt my eyes.

Conversely, one of the loveliest conversations I had in Virginia was a silent one... other than the clinking of ice in our water glasses. Sitting with a new blister in a lovely bistro, cooling off from a sweltering walk, the quietness was serene, graceful and communication unto itself.

And that, more than chairs on a dock, is the beauty of BlogFest. No matter which Blister you sit next to, there is no awkwardness, no right thing to say, no forced conversation. Just another opportunity to chat, laugh, hug, mug for the camera or sit and enjoy each other.

But I do love those chairs!

AG out!

The White Dog Inn

One of the highlights of our time in Mathews was the White Dog Inn. Calling itself a bisto/b&b/coffee house is a little misleading... What it is, is fabulous!

The ambiance is impeccable!

 (ship chandelier in main dining room)

Perhaps a little frivilous...

Zebra carpet on stairs? To die for!

Let's continue up, shall we? These are the upstairs rooms!

 The sitting room, an open shared area which can be used by either the King or Queen room. I love the quail painting!

The beautiful King room!

 The charming and airy Queen room....

...complete with stairs to ascend to your comfortable bed!

And now a quick trip downstairs to the dining room...

 Possibly the best chicken salad EVAH! I heard wonderful things about the fried green tomatoes but did not partake. There are no pictures of the macaroni and cheese (with ham shreadies) although I have dreamed about it twice since I came home. It was gone so fast, there was no time to get a picture... There is also no photographic evidence of the bananas foster or the chocolate bread pudding. Again, these dishes were with us for mere moments before they ceased to be!

I sincerely hope I make it back to Mathews, Virginia. This would be one of my first stops! Everything about the White Dog is so well done. They had a group of 40 seated before us for lunch and the service continued to be smooth and effortless, the food was still perfectly done, and the waiter (Hi Eric!) was still graceful and humorous with our energetic group of bloggers!

Thanks White Dog Inn, for such a lovely experience!

AG out!

Bookends

I did not edit any pictures last night or this morning. So I thought I would show you the very beginning and the very end of Blogfest, courtesy of United Airlines who, yes Binky, wanted an arm and a frickin leg to fly Madeline to Blogfest.

Anyway... the picture above is what woke me up as we flew east from Seattle to DC. After taking the pill that had me slipping into a coma, I neglected to close the blind on the window. Thus, in the AM, it wasn't just a sunrise, but seemingly a lake of molton lava outside the window that had my eyelids flying open in self defense so they didn't become welded to my corneas. I was not even awake 5 seconds before thinking "must grab camera". I belive my fumbling around was what woke Shelley up.

Now below... we have the sight flying home...

...which I have carefully labled for you. From left to right, Mt. Hood (in Oregon), Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier. (I knew these would be hard to see when I shrunk this picture down small enough for my blog. I may put the original on flickr and post a link to it...)

(due to Asthmagirl's angst at leaving Blogfest, she has also carefully labled the wing, the engine and the lovely 65 degree sky)

Yes, St. Helens is missing it's top.

I blame Gustov.... or Jill...

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming which currently includes snoring chihuahuas, cold legs and three very important grants that are due in a week. (Unfortunately, they carpeted some of the offices while I was gone so I am working remotely from the Den of Madness Brute Squad Central until the dang carpet quits off-gassing and I can return to the mothership.

Yours in not enough time in the day to do "This" and edit pictures...

AG out!

Journeys

I'm still processing images... still processing all the emotions that go with Blog Fest.

The amazing thing to me is that no matter why we decided/needed/wanted to start blogging, no one I spoke to had the intent of someday meeting the folks that commented on their blog and having a wonderful/hysterical/heartwarming getaway with them somewhere down the line.

And yet, that's exactly what we did.

And it was amazing...

 And heartfelt...

And stunningly beautiful...

But mostly...

 ...it's almost impossible to put into words.

AG out!