Saturday, January 16, 2010

Hear that sound

Yeah, the whooshing sound? That was the sound of December passing me by.

December is usually a pretty busy month for me, and this one was no exception. With the holiday coming at the end of the month, there is a sudden urgency for getting things finished before the holiday, and before the end of the year. This year December started with the beautiful but cold weather I mentioned the last time I actually posted. We never did get snow here in the city, but that was ok because the weather was so beautiful.


One of the reasons I was so busy during December was because I was raising baby salmon.

Those are sockeye parr (after they loose the yolk sac and get those stripes that is what they are called). Much cuter than Fundulus. But I have to say, not any cleaner. For being so cute, they are still little poo machines, and a good portion of my days was spent feeding them and then vacuuming their tanks. Between Christmas and New Years we carried out our science on them, so my fish care duty has now been discharged.

This was the first year that Russell and I didn't travel at Christmas, and let me tell you, while we love seeing our families at the holidays, not traveling....A Godsend (especially in the wake of the underpants bomber). The side benefit to not traveling was that we got to have our first ever Christmas tree. I was very excited. Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, and putting up the tree is perhaps my favorite part. We got a little 4' noble fir, bought some lights on sale, and scavenged what Christmas ornaments we had. We don't have a tree topper, but we didn't let that stop us. I even dug up some Christmas fabric to use as a tree skirt.

(Our house isn't yellow, I just took the photo without the flash). We saw both our families as usual, on on Christmas eve, and one on Christmas day and had a lovely time.

Oh, and one more fun thing. This year for Christmas, Russell and I went out to a very nice dinner together. We have been getting to know two guys who work for Sea Breeze Farm. We buy sustainably raised milk and meat from them, and chat about charcuterie at the farmers market. This farm also has a restaurant on Vashon Island. They were doing a Christmas fete, (involving spit roasting a whole leg of beef amongst other tasties) so as a gift to ourselves, we went. The food and group were excellent, and I highly recommend a trip to Vashon, it will be worth your time.

So there they are, the highlights of December in a nutshell. Now on to a New Year, where hopefully I will be more productive at posting.

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