Seattle, Washington, trip

First, I have to post my brag picture. I finished my sweater! Ta-daa! Knitted in the round, "without no seams or needlework".

It barely dried from the blocking before I packed it for our trip. The 24 hours in the air, Copenhagen, Washington DC, and in the shuttle to Tacoma was adventureful. Is that a word? The suitcase did not accompany us. The TSA in Dulles made Ed get out of the wheelchair and WALK through the metal detector. He fell, and they picked him up in such a way that he was screaming, and the following five hour flight was spent in pain. I tell you. Welcome back to the good ole US of A.

Leon had set up a wonderful 2 bedroom apartment with wheelchair ramps for us. He allowed us the run of the living room and kitchen to have all our friends over for the whole week. He is the best friend ever.

The next morning, Ed felt okay again. Our carefully choreographed visits with friends and family could begin. First was my sister Debbie, fresh from her TRAPEZE LESSON, with her sweetie Steve and our cousin Carla.

Check out Leon's house in the background. It is a masterpiece of fixing up and remodeling. Friday was the PNNA coin show, the REAL reason for our trip to Seattle. Ed and his coin buddies, Doug and Dan, had an absolute blast.

They came over Saturday after the show for even more fun looking at coins. Doug's wife Dana, and Dan's son Logan came too. Dana is the artist friend from Sweden who paints, say, trolls or other traditional themes. She and I had a great evening while the guys played.

Leon and Ed's friend Nancy came over. I haven't spent much small-group time with her, and Ed truly wanted us to meet. It was a pleasure indeed.

My former Boeing friends and their spouses came: Michael and Janet, Anastasia and Steve. Anastasia brought Burmese noodle soup, home-made. What a treat!

Here she is in Leon's fancy new kitchen, putting together the finishing touches. Another day, I got to catch up with Anastasia one-on-one. She took the ferry from Vashon, got me, back to Vashon, visiting all the way, then back to Leon's. Thank you for thinking of offering that, Anastasia. It was a beautiful sunny day to admire Mt. Rainier from the ferry Rhododendron, too.

I am chagrined to say that the camera was forgotten when Terry came over. That was Ed's chance to catch up on baseball, and the fantasy league that he was in for 20 years. They just had their 27th annual draft! That is longer than loads of marriages. These guys really care for each other.

Will and Jeanette came over on the way to their hotel. The next day, they were to teach a bunch of OSHA people, and it worked out that they could stop in. They are our oldest Washington friends. Our kids grew up together, and we alternated houses for Thanksgiving dinner for all those years. We got to swap stories about kids. Will regaled us with tales of planning for their son's wedding.

We hired Sam's Ambulette Service to get us up to our old Renton condo and visit the whole gang. Sam is the same man who got us to the PNNA. He's a very good wheelchair van owner/driver, if anyone needs one in Puget Sound.



What fun it was to see everyone again! The lobby there has been the scene of many memorable pot-lucks. A few folks are absent, but mostly, all the neighbors are still together.