GimletBlog

Is it really the end of the year already?  To paraphrase another blogger, 2011 has been a year never to be forgotten and we hope never repeated.

Since we last posted in mid-October, the Gimlet and his employer parted ways just before Halloween, and the Things’ great-grandmother (whose 90th birthday was celebrated in grand fashion) passed away Thanksgiving Day, exactly six months to the day after Bopa died.   With so much sorrow and uncertainty occurring in a short space of time it’s been challenging to think positively and move forward, and we’re so grateful for the support of family, friends and our church community during this difficult year.  We’ve especially taken to heart some advice given to the Gimlet to focus on the abundance in our lives:  not just the good things we currently enjoy, but the great potential for future success:

• “The Liturgy of Abundance” by Dr. Walter Brueggemann (from religion-online.org)
• “Living the Abundant Life” by President Thomas S. Monson, January 2012 Ensign

We’ve had a genuinely happy holiday season, with plenty of delicious food, lively conversation, and continuation of the traditions from years past as we remember our loved ones who are no longer with us.  We agree it has been the sort of season they would have wanted us to have.  While we dropped the ball on blogging, our newest family blogger, Hå, has been busily recording all of the past months’ events in great detail.  (That is why she is the unofficial family historian!)  Just remember: it’s not shamelessly harvesting all of her hard-written content if we call it outsourcing.  Visit her blog and read all about our November and December there:

• We love Yulefest at the Nordic Heritage Museum
• Remembering great-grandma
• Thanksgiving 2011
• A day trip to Lynden, WA would not be complete without watusi cattle, caramel apple pie from the Dutch bakery, and a sedated angry cat in the back seat of the car.  Well, we could do just fine without the cat next time.
• Santa’s annual visit
• Christmas Eve dinner party

To provide our readers with a little original content, here are a few photos from a Christmas shopping visit to the Pike Place Market.

We had fresh Dungeness crab for Christmas Eve, but we buy ours at a neighborhood fish market much closer to home.

Seattle-native uncles will find it heartwarming to learn that Thing One discovered one of their favorite Market haunts (and a must-stop for any geek tourist):  Golden Age Collectibles.   Meanwhile, Thing Two keeps an eye out for more Daleks.

Several adventures are already in store for the coming year and will be revealed in good time … until then, best wishes to you and your families for an abundant 2012!

Related posts:

One of our friends coordinates a visit to a local fire station to bring them holiday treats and thank them for their service in the community.  This year, Thing Two and Your Humble Narrator were able to go.

When we arrived the fire engine was away assisting with a traffic accident, but we didn’t have to wait long before they arrived, followed by the ladder truck!  The ladder truck is based at a different station but it was driving around the neighborhood today so its new crew could get used to operating the truck.

The firemen put on a wonderful presentation for the children.  We saw how the infrared camera works to help the firemen see in smoke filled buildings, and one fireman put on his gear, explaining to the children how each piece protected firefighters or helped them do their work.

Then, they were invited to climb aboard the fire engine and explore it.

Thing Two and the other children (and their parents) had a wonderful time!  It was a fun morning.

Team Gimlet has two firemen in their family history:  Great-Grandpa Gimlet was a fire chief in the town of Logan, Utah, and one of the Things’ great-great grandfathers was one of the early firefighters in Seattle’s history.  When we returned home, a call to Hå was in order, and she soon found and emailed some pictures.

Based on what we know about this great-great grandfather’s careers in both the fire and police departments, we believe these photos were taken around 1900, and judging from what can be seen of the building we think this is probably Fire Station #3.  Great-Great Grandpa is fourth from the left in the back row, the clean-shaven gentleman wearing a vest.  Love the dog!  It looks like the dog owned by these great-great grandparents; perhaps theirs was a puppy or grandpuppy from the firehouse dog?  We don’t know, but it’s fun to wonder.

Isn’t this a great action shot?  Look at those horses go!

And here are the great-great grandparents; Great-great grandpa is wearing his fireman uniform.

One of our neighborhood firemen suggested that we visit the Fire Department Museum downtown.  We would like to get a better look at the apparatus the horses are pulling (a hose carriage?), hopefully identify some of the other men in our group picture, and learn more about what it was like to be a fireman over one hundred years ago.  Sounds like a good field trip for the upcoming school holiday break!

Related posts:

Christmas came and went so fast this year, as did the rest of the holiday vacation. Now Thing One’s Court of Honor is fast approaching (as are the houseguests), so we’d better bring the blog up to date before we are hopelessly behind.

At Santa’s annual pre-Christmas visit, Thing Two walked up to Santa and announced, “I used to be afraid of you but I’m not any more!” followed by:

“Santa is big … “

“Santa is very big … “

“I’m going to stay with Mommy.”

We did manage to get him to sit on Santa’s lap.  His time with St. Nick is best described as  “cautious”.

After Santa left and he was describing his visit to the grandGimlets, he told them Santa was eleven feet tall.

Christmas Eve festivities were held chez Gimlet, with the traditional holiday crustacean (Dungeness crab).  There were also a few hjortebakkels left, although since it has been several years since we last made any, their numbers had decreased considerably over the course of the month.

Just before Christmas we were able to pick up Thing One’s Eagle certificate and awards. (One of the advantages to living in the city is that the scout office is a relatively quick trip from home.)  While we were at the Scout Shop looking over all the goodies in the Eagle aisle, another mother nudged her new Boy Scout and Cub Scout sons and pointed out Thing One.  (“Look at that boy.  He’s a brand new Eagle Scout!”)  The younger boys watched him from an awed distance as we made our purchases.  Not so long ago we were the ones watching the soon-to-be and new Eagle Scouts, wondering what Thing One’s trail to Eagle would be like, and how he would reach that goal.

After Christmas preparations for the Court of Honor shifted into high gear.  We had found an online card design shop which we had hoped to use to make the invitations, but discovered that they were closed for the holidays and wouldn’t take new orders in time for our mailing deadline.  However, Costco was luckily offering a sale on photo cards, with a blank template option among their choices, so Your Humble Narrator dusted off her armchair graphic design skills and put together an invitation that looks as good as the online shop’s products, if she dares say so herself.  With the savings from that part of the project we splurged on Eagle Scout stamps from Zazzle.  Not necessary, but a fun extra touch.

The Court of Honor slide show has been a lot of fun to make, and we hope family and friends enjoy it too.  Sorting through pictures brought up many memories of campouts, hikes, and other activities with Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts.  But to harp on a familiar theme, our children grow up so quickly!  There are events for which we wish we had taken more pictures, but we’re thankful for all the pictures that we have, and we’re especially glad that somebody (was it Uncle C?  We can’t remember.) had the presence of mind to record a little something which will appear at the beginning of the slide show.  (How’s that for a teaser?)

We hope to see many of you at the Court of Honor, and a report on the party and family reunion will follow once we’ve recovered.

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts:

Related posts: