When we moved here from Seattle, we were excited about moving to a better climate.

This picture is actually in Snoqualmie, Washington, about 45 miles due east of here, and is courtesy of the Seattle Post Intelligencer. There isn’t significant flooding in Poulsbo – yet – because we 1) live on the side of a fjord and 2) have no rivers to contend with. Still, throughout the Puget Sound, interstates are closed, towns are being evacuated, property is underwater and intrepid residents are stacking sandbags.

I realize my Alaskan friends and colleagues have been suffering through a nasty cold snap. At least it’s a dry cold. ::snicker::

*Dr. Horrible reference. Moist has been feeling neglected since the new Dr. Horrible DVD and the new Evil League of Evil applicant videos were released.

The youngest took his camera out for a walk through our winter wonderland.

Click to enlarge – and email if you’d like a print sized version. Thanks, Zach, for allowing me to share these.

Based on a suggestion from Nathan, I decided to wander around my yard with a camera and look for signs of fall’s changing colors. Poulsbo has a mild marine climate, we have not had any frost yet, so the changes are subtle but noticeable.

The water lilies in our pond are turning gold.

The heavenly bamboo shows touches of crimson.

A solo leaf turns brilliant magenta long before its companions.

Couldn’t it at least *pretend* to be summer? It’s warmer in North Pole, Alaska (hi Tania!) and Siberia than it is in Seattle so far this summer.

This picture, courtesy of the Seattle Times, was taken in relatively low elevation Snoqualmie pass yesterday. That would be June 10th. Note the text on the road sign (summer projects have begun) – sometimes irony can be pretty ironic.

It’s not snowing here, thank goodness, but a quick check of our handy digital thermometer shows 52.2 degrees. And it’s raining. Again.

At this rate, my tomatoes might be red by Thanksgiving.

We had a spectacularly beautiful weekend in the Puget Sound area. The mercury hovered around 85, the sun was out and everything was green. I love spring days like this – or Indian summer days – because I get to enjoy the outdoors without my usual summer allergies.

Saturday was break-my-back-in-the-yard day. We finished our new rhododendron (and camellia) bed, planted tomatoes and perennials, weeded and cleaned up the pond a little. Then, as a reward for our hard work… Ironman. Great movie, in spite of my (yes, again) migraine.

Ben’s computer (a Mac Powerbook G4 titanium) died an ugly death on Saturday, distracting Zach from his yard-slave duties. The impact of the computer malfunction is bad – he uses it for school and has his papers saved without backup on the hard drive. The OS is flashing all sorts of odd error messages like “There is not enough memory to launch the operating system.” Powerbooks are little workhorses, it should have a few years left in once we get it fixed; I have to get it into a repair shop later in the week. We all use laptop computers, and have no spare or desktop machine, so we’ll be juggling all week to get him computer time for homework.

Sunday we took the SS Hummingbird out for her first voyage of the year. She ran really well, considering she hasn’t had her spring tune-up yet. (I made sure to renew our Boat US towing membership before going out.) The water was like glass, the breeze took the edge off the warm day, and it was a great cruise. The destination? Dockside Boatworks, where she’ll be hauled out, prop, outdrive and bottom cleaned, and bottom paint re-applied.

I also got to drive Maggie the MINI several times this weekend – perfect convertible weather! I’ve resigned myself to having bad hair. Unlike Eric, I’m obsessive-compulsive about my SPF-70 sunscreen, so my fish-belly white skin, gift of some Irish ancestor, remained unburned.

Monday has come all too soon – and I’m about to board a flight to Anchorage. Again. My only consolation is that it’s predicted to cloud over and rain in the Seattle area this week.

Update: I just got off the above-referenced flight. Apparently the Seattle airport uses a paid wi-fi provider, and I’m too cheap to pay $7.99 for 45 minutes of Internet access. I should have stopped in the board room instead, where the wi-fi AND the coffee latte (decaf) are both free.