Outsourcing and catching up
Friday, December 30th, 2011 by HMLIs 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!























A Northanger Abbey-inspired journey would not be complete without a Gothic kidnapping of the incompetent heroine, and so it happened that when I found the MAX light rail station, I very stupidly got on the wrong train, which promptly whisked me away from downtown Portland and over the Willamette River. However, rather than scream or faint (although the inclination was there, as I watched downtown disappear into the distance at an alarming speed), I managed to ask a Local Young Person for directions, and she very kindly helped this Befuddled Older Person to the correct MAX station.
The 2010 AGM is almost here! JASNA’s annual meeting will be held in Portland, Oregon over Halloween weekend. The theme is 


