LaLa Land

We had two lovely days of snow last week! It just makes me want to snowboard...







Steve and I had a great week visiting his parents, Pat and Jay Perkins, in Green Valley, Arizona. Pat and Jay showed us a great time, taking us to play golf, hosting a fabulous dinner party, introducing us to their wonderful friends, feeding us constantly (Jay called us "The Hungries"), and celebrating our engagement with us! Pat's proposal to me made it official! Happy times!

Pat, Steve, and I visited the Sonoran Desert and saw a forest of saguaro cactus and visited the Sonoran Desert Mueseum where we saw a black bear, ocelot (how DO you titillate an ocelot, Steve?), javelina, and Harris hawks. Steve and I did some birding and took a short, breath-taking, high-elevation hike at nearby Madera Canyon. We also visited the Kitt Peak Observatory and saw galaxies, a nebula, and Uranus. What a great week!




















Steve and I spent Thanksigiving with his sister Jodi, her husband Pat, their two sassy-and-super-fun daughters Amber and Maura, Steve and Jodi's father Max, Pat's mother Margaret (who makes some mean rolls, cornbread dressing, turkey, etc.), and their friends Andy, Lisa, and their sweet dancing daughter Addie. At this home a serious Thanksgiving dinner was enjoyed by all. The next morning we went to Port Angeles to visit Steve's college friends, Erin and Brian with their daughter Isabella, where some more delicious food and a soccer game were ingested. Then onto Hood Canal to visit his grandmother Starcevich (a wonderful painter) and Uncle Al, where leftovers and a bowl of gravy were consumed.







































Steve and I took the ferry to Seattle and met up with the spicy-yet-sweet Bob Beer, who is visiting from Istanbul. I had the pleasure of crashing a saz party and also seeing Amelia and Emre who have married and moved to Seattle from Istanbul. Between taking the ferry, seeing these lovely faces from Istanbul, and hearing about 8 saz players play music for hours, I thought I'd been transported to Beyoğlu. It was sweet to hear Bob and Emre play together again -- I could listen for days. No photos --> dead batteries.