Winter in the Northwest

hangin' out with the drift wood



Who could resist?

rnrB sure couldn't!

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Puget Sound 'log rolling'

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-- bear sighting --


An 'ursaien' experience while hunting letterboxes at Priest Point Park in Olympia. We saw two of 'em this afternoon.

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Extreme Tide!

Usually there are several meters of sandy and rocky beach here. RnrB's trying her hardest to avoid the waves (that aren't so apparent in this photo). Her footprints kept washing away right behind her as she sprinted down the little bit of sandy beach we could find that day.

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4:30 pm, 10 Dec 05

4:32 pm, 10 Dec 05

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Life in the Northwest is different. Especially Winter! We have to squeeze in every possible opportunity to spend time outdoors in a few short hours of sunlight just to keep our sanity. It's not uncommon for folks who go to work early in the morning and return home late in the afternoon/early evening to never see the sun from November to February!!!

Here we took a stroll down to the beach around 3:00pm. Upon returning home around 4:30pm, the sun had set and the moon was already shining brightly. This sequence of photos shows how quickly the sun sets on a Winter afternoon. Can you imagine what life in Northern Alaska would be like right now??? Interesting, I bet...

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"Mama always said, "Don't touch the jellyfish!"."

Mama's not always right. We just had to touch this moon jelly. ;)

OW!!! ;)

Just joking! These guys don't sting!

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As for 'what to do?' during the longer evenings, this is how we've spent our time:

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We're catching up on our long 'missed' movie queue this week.

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Goodbye! Lenin

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Mr. 3000

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Polar Express

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A Very Long Engagement

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Spanglish

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Lost in Translation

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Wow, all very excellent movies!!!

As usual, I'm a year or two behind...

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Goodbye! Lenin hits close to home as I used to live in the city before the Wall came down. The entire movie brought back some incredibly fond memories of our lives there albeit a bit 'contorted' through the bizarre lens of this movie. I found it personally quite amusing but it's because the underlying nuanced humor makes sense to me. Not sure if that will translate with folks who aren't familiar with life as it was in East Germany before 1989. At times in this movie, I was laughing hysterically--the things such as the wallpaper, the clothing and the labels on the pickle jars would send me into fits of laughter. I wonder if this translates to folks who weren't there in that area during that era?

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Mr 3000 was just one of those 'feel good' laugh movies I needed at the time. Cliched, though!

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Polar Express harkened back to my childhood and the wishful longing for Santa's visit.

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A Very Long Engagement was beautiful! I'd rarely say that for a 'war movie' but the story that accompanies the vivid combat scenes is interesting and refreshing. There exist some unique twists and turns along the way which I enjoy in a movie. I'm tired of 'cliches' in entertainment and this movie truly avoided the 'typical' Hollywood lens. I also adore Audrey Tautoo--there's just something so comfortingly innocent about her! I'm on a personal journey to see every movie she's made.

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Spanglish is another movie I thoroughly enjoyed! It just rang so true. I absolutely loved Paz Vega. She's adorable and gifted. I never thought I'd really enjoy an 'Adam Spangler' movie but I really did. I loved the slant of the movie captured through the lens of the daughter. I've lived along the southern US border off and on over my life and it really rekindled some memories I figured I'd suppressed over the years (it's been 5 years since we left West Texas).

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I LOVED Lost in Translation!!! Again it brought home many memories I have from Asia. I don't have much experience in Japan (beyond a couple 12-hour stints stuck at Narita) but it definitely triggered that memory of many visits to Asia (Korea & China) where I often felt like an outsider sort of 'feeling my way' through a new and very different culture. Loved the sense of 'smallness' the characters felt in the big city. Sort of felt the same way in Beijing. It really is a humbling experience, certain to forever change a person. It's not typical to occur when I travel through the US--it's something about being dumped into another culture and it's either 'sink or swim' to survive.

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Anyways, it seems I've been on a roll regarding my movie picks. I hope it continues. I've got a few left in the queue and then it's back to my not-so-self-imposed entertainment abstension.

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Am I crazy in that I've watched many of these movies with French subtitles running? It was really interesting for Spanglish and Lost in Translation. Funny, though, for LiT it actually helped me better read the letters/faxes highlighted in the movie. I couldn't read the handwriting because of the lighting situation but I could read the subtitles. Just had to mentally translate them before they disappeared. ;)

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Next up in the queue include: March of the Penguins, Ladies in Lavender, Napoleon Dynamite, Cinderella Man, Master and Commander & Catch Me If You Can...whaddya think? Will my streak continue?All in all--refreshing entertainment!