Doesn’t this sound like a blog title?

While walking in the park this afternoon, we saw this cargo ship (probably used for transporting grain) waiting out on Puget Sound.

Doesn’t this sound like a nifty title for a blog written by someone in her golden years?

Look! A Library Book!

I’ve been jealously eyeing people’s Instagram and Facebook posts showing off their book hauls from their library’s curbside pickup service. A lot of libraries opened for pickup while I’ve been not-so-patiently waiting for  announcements from both my city and county libraries. 

Now my county library has finally figured out how to handle pickup service. They’re offering only walkup or bikeup pickups at my location rather than curbside service because there’s not enough space on the street for cars to line up while still keeping two-way traffic open. Therefore, they’ve had to set up two pickup lines on the side of the facility, in a space between two buildings.

I was thrilled yesterday to pick up The Only Child by Mi-ae Seo, which I’ve had on request for six or seven months.

On a related note, I hadn’t driven in so long that I almost forgot how.

There’s still no word on when pickup will be available at city libraries, but I’ve always had more luck getting books I want from the county library anyway. 

Long live public libraries!

© 2020 by Mary Daniels Brown

Last Night’s Super Moon

Here’s my husband’s photo of last night’s super moon over Tacoma, WA, USA.

We often can’t see the full moon here because of cloud cover, but the last couple of nights have been super clear for the super moon.

Here’s a photo I took with my phone to give you an idea of how big the moon looked. Of course the resolution of the moon itself is horrible, but you can see the moon in context.

Full moon over building, Tacoma, WA, USA, April 7, 2020

Here’s an explanation of the super pink moon from The Seattle Times.

© 2020 by Mary Daniels Brown

Snow Day!

about 1/2 inch of snow, Tacoma, Washington, USA, January 14, 2020

Well, not really, but this is about as close as we usually come here in Tacoma, WA  USA to a snow day. Although snowfalls just a bit east of us, on the other side of the Cascade Mountains, can be epic, here at sea level we seldom get any more than this.

However, last year (I think it was in January) our area had something like 7 inches of snow all at once. We were traveling in the balmy Caribbean and missed it. In fact, we traveled in the early winter of both 2018 and 2019, so it’s been a while since we’ve seen snow of any amount—except on top of mountains way off in the distance.

We grew up in New England, so the sight of a real snow accumulation still warms my heart. One of the benefits of being retired is that, when risky weather strikes, we can just stay inside and admire it instead of having to brave it.

© 2020 by Mary Daniels Brown

More Holiday Trees

Here are some more of the many holiday trees around the campus here at Franke Tobey Jones.

I find the angel tree particularly gorgeous:

Christmas decorated with angel ornaments

The sports tree stands in a corner of the Wellness Center and encourages us to remember the importance of exercise. Notice the angel holding a barbell at the very top:

Christmas tree decorated with sports-related ornaments

Here’s a closer look at a couple of the ornaments on the sports tree:

close-up of sports tree decorations: basketball and karate

The plaid tree stands welcomingly in the entry lobby of our brand new Health Care Center:

The plaid Christmas tree

A closer look reveals red cardinal birds and blue ornaments nestled in among the plaid frames:

close-up of the plaid tree: red cardinal bird & plaid ornaments

© 2019 by Mary Daniels Brown

Oh Christmas Tree

We have about 20 holiday trees all around the campus here at Franke Tobey Jones retirement community. Our activities director and her staff have been busily and creatively decorating them all, and the are all different. Let me show you three of them.

Here’s the rose gold tree in the corner of the lobby in the main building:

Christmas tree decorated in rose gold

The snowman tree greets diners as they enter the dining room of the main building:

Christmas tree decorated with snowman ornaments

And in the corner of that dining room is the red tree:

Christmas decorated in red

© 2019 by Mary Daniels Brown

More Holiday Decorations

For the past two years we were traveling around holiday time and didn’t get to savor all the decorations around our home town. So this year I’m determined to focus on appreciating them. Please indulge me as I share some of them with you.

Here’s the tree outside the restaurant where we had lunch last week with Rudolph the Shark:

outdoor Christmas tree

Yesterday I had an appointment with the eye doctor and found this tree in the office waiting area:

Christmas tree

And the atrium lobby of the office building had room to present this big one:

Christmas tree

For a change of pace, here’s a candy sled we received from the staff:

Sled made from candy canes and other candy

I’m always amazed at how creative people can be. I never in a million years would have thought of using candy canes as sled runners, but of course they work absolutely perfectly. It’s almost as if candy canes were expressly created for this very purpose.

© 2019 by Mary Daniels Brown

Seahawks Holiday Tree

This tree inside the main building at Franke Tobey Jones Retirement Community features the Seahawks’ colors, blue and green. We take our football very seriously around here!

blue & green Seahawks holiday tree

Season’s Greetings!

Saint Nicholas stands just inside the entrance to the main building here at our retirement community, Franke Tobey Jones, to greet visitors.

St. Nicholas the Greeter
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