Sunday evening we capped Jean’s birthday with a trip to Pickled Fish, a bar/restaurant across the street from our condo. Dessert and drinks were our order because I already had made dinner at home. We settle into a table in front of the stage and listened to a set by Portland singer Ezza Rose. Her bluesy songs filled the room as we munched oatmeal cranberry cookie with vanilla ice cream (me) and chocolate pot a creme (Jean).

When not outdoors we did some art. I worked on drawings of ukulele players that will be part of the Ukestra Seattle logo. That is work in progress that will not be shared yet. However, I also completed a small pastel of the stormy seashore as we had experienced it that day.

Monday dawned bright and sunny, a complete reversal from Sunday. We donned our boots and headed for the beach. A very high tide had scoured the beach of most storm debris, but the birds were soaking up the heat and enjoying the drying out. Even our little pelagic friend from Sunday was cleaner while waiting for the tide to bring the ocean to him. Jean was in her glory as we hiked a couple of miles up the beach exploring sea life, the waves, and the dunes.

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Alas, the sun break was short-lived. Today we are back to grey skies and rain. The temperature also dropped about 10 degrees. We attempted to go out in early afternoon, but walking just wasn’t comfortable. There’s always tomorrow!

Paul