Maryhill Winery, Emmylou Harris

Yesterday evening we went with some friends to Goldendale, Washington. "Why?", you ask. Well, Goldendale is on the east side of the Casacade Mountains. On the east side of Washington state the weather is drier and there are some very good wineries. One of them is Maryhill Winery. Someone got smart and build an outdoor amphiteatre there, and yesterday eveing we were treated to some wonderful blugrass from Sam Hill, followed by the legendary Emmylou Harris.

(FYI, the Sam Hill bluegrass band has had that name for 10 years, but this particular evening they happened to be playing music on Sam Hill. The hill on which we were sitting was named for the one and only Sam Hill.)

Well, I did take a couple of pictures of the view. It was a perfect evening: bring a picnic dinner, buy a bottle of wine from the winery that is right there, and kick back for a couple of hours of awesome music in an incredible setting, sharing it all with friends. Ah yes.

Feng Shui - part 4

Our latest addition to our Feng Shui adjustments can be seen here.  It is a mirror that we ordered to fit the wall area behind our stovetop.  Shirley picked up the mirror 2 days ago, we used mastic glue to fasten it to the wall and packing tape to hold it in place for a day and a half to let the glue set.  Today Shirley removed the tape and cleaned the mirror; I saw it when I got home this evening and we both love the look.

Feng Shui - part 3

We've added a few more adjustments to our home as we do our Feng Shui tune-up.  As we make changes, I'm updating our Feng Shui photo album, and including captions with the pictures to explain a little bit of the reason behind each thing we do.

You'll notice a few crystals in the pictures, and you might catch that each is hung using red thread or ribbon.  We are also using red ribbon when hanging any metal wind chimes.  Red is considered an auspicious color in Feng Shui, and 3 and 9 are considered auspicious numbers (9, of course, is 3 times 3).  So for any crystals or chimes that we hang, we use red ribbon or thread cut intially to a length that is a multiple of 9 (9, 18, 27, etc.).

Well that may all sound kind of strange.  That's OK.  We don't really mind.  We're having fun just following the suggestions from our Feng Shui consultation, and so far we really like the look and feel of the changes...and that's what matters most to us :-)

Gunshot - part 3

Well now, after less than a week, my nephew gets to go home from the hospital tomorrow!  He's already been taking walks with crutches and putting weight on the injured leg.  Amazing.  It turns out that - through some miracle - the gunshot did not damage the bone, nor any nerves, nor any major blood vessels.  This is still a nasty wound, however, as evidenced by a couple of pictures taken yesterday (WARNING: These pictures are a bit graphic; two pictures of the wound can be seen here)

He's still, of course, got plenty of healing to do, and will be going to the hospital each day for a while to get the wound's dressing changed.  To have such a bad injury, however, and to be healing so quickly is incredible!

Gunshot - followup

We went and visited my nephew in the hospital this evening.  Yesterday he was told that he would be in the hospital for at least several weeks.  After his 2nd surgery (first was yesterday evening; second was this morning), they said he's looking much better than they'd thought and may be going home in a few days.  He'll still have a long period of rehabilitation.