Visitors from DC!

Last weekend, our good friends, Bonnie and Joe, came to visit from DC. Bonnie and I went to law school together and Joe and Ryan used to be part of an informal "Beer and Ideas" inventing group along with another friend, Byron. Bonnie and I also went to law school with Byron's wife, Amy.

Actually, this could get confusing, so I'll break it down.

Law School Pals: Amy, Bonnie, and me

Beer and Ideas Geeks: Joe, Ryan, and Byron

Byron and Amy are married and Joe and Bonnie are married.

OK, now that we've got that straight, check out this movie that I made of a hiking adventure on the Snoqualmie River. But before you do, let me just say that record companies are LAME for many reasons one of which is the fact that they are now blocking all audio from home movies uploaded to YouTube that include clips of songs they own. As you will see, music is essential to a story and to convey emotion on film. Ugh!

And now, a clip from the garden.

Last fall, a friend shared a bunch of plants from her garden with me for my new house. For a couple years, I've admired her evening primroses, which open every night at dusk and have blooms that last only one day.

I took a video of the flower blooming and tried to make a movie out of it. Soma has a cameo at the end. Enjoy!

John and Ellie's Big Day!

Congratulations to John and Ellie! I'm happy to have yet another sister-in-law from the great state of Wisconsin.

To see the captions in the slide show below, click on the text bubble in the lower left corner of the pictures. You should only have to click on it once to see the captions for the rest of the pictures.

Montana Road Trip

Ryan and I just got back from a trip to Montana for my little brother's wedding. I will post pictures from the nuptials asap. In the meantime, here are some photos from our road trip and an afternoon float on the Middle Fork of the Flathead River. We learned a few things from our trip: (1) Soma likes the car about as much as Ryan likes the Jonas brothers; (2) Soma likes rafting about as much as he likes the car; and (3) I've reached an age where wearing heels is about as fun as using a cheese grater as an exfoliant.

Soma losing his marbles after only a few hours in the car.
The drive from Seattle to Kalispell is about 9 hours including stops for the dog.

This is how Soma rolls.

The amazing color of a glacial-fed stream.

A beautiful view of the river.

More scenic beauty.
The Middle Fork of the Flathead meanders along the southern border of Glacier National Park.

Looking upstream toward Glacier Park.

Do you feel more relaxed just looking at this river?

As I said earlier, Soma didn't like the raft. He jumped out a couple of times. In this shot, I'm sure he's thinking about jumping again.

Soma may look relaxed but don't be fooled. He's ready to blow this popsicle stand.