Oh hello. It’s been way too long. I had full intentions to write and tell you about our recent adventures, but very horrible things happened in the world each time and it didn’t feel right at the time to carry on. I lost steam and before I knew it, the end of August arrived. So here we are.
How are you? Has this summer treated you well? We’ve just had quite a stretch of hot weather here that’s been a challenge. Our house does an exceptional job of holding in warmth, and of course because we’re here in the PNW we don’t have air conditioning. Some of you might scoff at our high temperatures in the 80s and think “that’s nothing!” Perhaps, but without A/C the room where I work also hovers in the 80s, frequently matching and exceeding the temperature outside. A fan helps, sort of. We’ve had noticeably muggy weather the last few hot days - I learned it’s the dew point to pay attention to, not the humidity!
I saw the dew point at 66-67 and can confirm it was uncomfortable. But enough about the weather!
One of the things I intended to tell you about was a day trip attempt to visit Saint Edward State Park in my old stomping grounds. The day we went was a rare nice day when the weather was still total crap, so of course the place was rammed with people. There was nowhere to park (without circling like a vulture) so I took this nice picture of trees while waiting for Michael to use the bathroom. It was lovely.
We drove back through Bothell, with a plan to eat lunch at the Ranch Drive-In.
Okay, maybe not. If you showed me this picture and asked me to identify the location, I would have been totally stumped and would not have guessed downtown Bothell. There are a couple of hints in there, but holy cow. Needless to say, I wasn’t going to try to navigate my way across several lanes of traffic and try to find the Ranch hidden amongst the apartments and cranes. The whole day was kind of odd, driving through places that felt familiar yet very foreign after years away. Houses in our first neighborhood are selling for close to a million dollars now. Yikes.
In June I took a week of vacation after a particularly intense and stressful time at work. We went to Seaside for three nights! It was wonderful. I think that trip is still worthy of it’s own newsletter, so I’ll just share this photo for now.
We have a cabin trip to Rasar State Park coming up in September, and are really looking forward to that! Same place we stayed last year (different cabin this time). I’m taking another full week off for a much needed rest.
I’ve been doing a lot of art, even trying out some new things! I FINALLY jumped into gel plate monoprinting and I LOVE IT. I’ve got a lot to learn yet, but it’s an easy entry art form - perfect for getting over perfectionism!
It’s a very process oriented art form. You can aim for certain results, but there’s a lot of unpredictability and that’s what makes it so fun!
If you’re interested you can see what else I’ve been up to on my Instagram account. Plenty of local weirdness too. That’s always a constant around here.
You’ll be disappointed to hear things have been pretty dull at the neighbor’s this summer - no swimming pool! So sad. The Mom-of-the-kids does have a new biker boyfriend, so there’s that.
As summer winds down I’m starting to get excited for the change of seasons to fall. Summer is pretty overrated as far as the seasons go around here. I’ll be sad to lose the longer days but happy to trade that for crisp temperatures and the impending arrival of Halloween decorations! How early will folks get going this year? Taking bets now…
I’d love to hear how you’ve been and what you’re up to.
Cheers!
Have you ever seen a quote online and thought “there’s no way that person actually said that!” Chances are you could be right, the internet has a way of spreading false information disguised as “inspiration.” It may have been done with good intention, but it’s still incorrect. Fortunately, there’s somebody out there doing the research to get to the bottom of things!
Quote Investigator: This website records the investigatory work of Garson O’Toole who diligently seeks the truth about quotations. Who really said what? This question often cannot be answered with complete finality, but approximate solutions can be iteratively improved over time.
I found the Quote Investigator website through happenstance - a friend shared this comic, then I clicked “random” to look at another example of a comic on that site. It brought up a comic with a quote originally attributed to Frida Kahlo, but definitely not originating with her. The update to that post included information the Quote Investigator had found for the comic creator when he asked for help.
There’s a little glimpse of how I sometimes find the information I share with you. Rabbit holes!
Great to hear from you Anne!
What a hot Summer it turned out to be. Thankful for the long spring rains now.
Chloe and I are having a fine summer. I’m working quite a bit. Having fun at it though I work for a dog daycare camp and it’s pretty much what you’d expect. Super busy but I can bring Chloe to work so that’s all I can ask for. No trips for me really I’m laying low in the Briar Patch. I peered out and didn’t like what I saw so I dove back in.
Miss you Mike and the dog!
Xoxoxo
i am so so SO excited you have a gelli plate now too! i've been taking the last couple weeks off instagram, but i was thinking of you last night while printing. i wondered "how is anne liking her plate?" and then i saw your kitchen table looking a lot like mine in this newsletter, and i knew the answer. i love not knowing what's going to work and what doesn't, and trying to work with my "mistakes." it's so easy it is to use, you can get into a rhythm and zone out and when you come to, there are all kinds of lovely papers to play with. the process is so fun i get out of my own brain's way!