Christmas Lights

Last night we drove around the area to look at the Christmas lights, something we do every year.  These were some of the best where I could get a picture.

Merry Christmas!

A Puzzle & Tillie

Susan and I were working on a puzzle last night when Tillie decided she was being ignored. Tillie is not the type of dog to be ignored so she jumped up on the chair next to Susan and climbed up on her back.















She is so funny. She wraps her paws around Susan's neck and lays her head right on top of Susan's face. She would stay there forever if she could. The only problem is that Susan can't breathe.

All the Dogs

My first idea was to get a picture of just the dogs with the Christmas dog. Well, that idea did not last very long. It was warm enough today - almost 40 degrees - to be outside for awhile and the dogs were just going crazy running around the backyard. I could barely keep both of them in one place long enough for Julie to snap this picture.

What a gorgeous day!

Winter Solstice

Today is the Winter Solstice and if you are like Julie and Susan this is a day to celebrate.

















The winter solstice occurs exactly when the axial tilt of a planet's polar hemisphere is farthest away from the star that it orbits. Earth's maximum axial tilt to our star, the Sun, during a solstice is 23° 26', occurring at some moment in time today.

From high latitudes, a hemisphere's winter solstice occurs on the shortest day and longest night of the year, which is why Susan and Julie get so excited. Susan made cookies last night to celebrate that fact that the days will get longer now resulting in more light each day, which she really misses in the winter.

The plate came from Susan's secret Santa at North Star Lodge. It is so cute!

Yakima Valley Museum Shoe Collection

Today my friend Julie and I went to check out David Childs shoe collection on exhibit at the Yakima Valley Museum.

David's ties to Yakima began in 1969 when he moved here from Waterloo, Iowa and began working in the shoe department at the local Nordstrom store.

This picture includes a little over half of the shoes in the collection.

These two shoes are examples of some of the heel shapes on display.
The shoes in the background make the gold heel a little difficult to see, so I added little pink arrows to outline the heel.

How about this Cantilever design?

















This design by Christian Louboutin is a four-colored patent leather platform with an extra high heel worn on Sex and the City.

The oldest shoes on display are from the 1920's. We could not get over how small these shoes are.

This shoe by Stuart Weitzman from 1998 is a Black peau de soie and crystal Seattle Skyline shoe made expressly for the downtown Seattle Nordstrom's grand opening.

Not only did some of the shoes have interesting heel shapes, several of the heels were highly decorated like this pair of Toe Pump from the late 1950's Saks Fifth Avenue. Multicolored strips of fabric are stitched together, with ornate teardrop and Rhinestones creating a Paisley effect.

In addition to the shoes, some very nostalgic ads are on display.

The exhibit remains at the museum through the end of December.

Baby Shower Rattles

Susan and I made cupcakes last night for a baby shower I am attending today for my friend, Katina. I provided her with four different designs and one of her favorites was the baby rattle. The cupcakes are lemon with lemon filling, topped with butter cream frosting. We thought they turned out very cute. You can click on the image for a larger view and then close the image window to return to the blog.

Even though we made 56 cupcakes we tried to decorate each of them differently. The only thing that would have made them perfect was gum drops in colors that matched our frosting.