No songs about not raining in the PNW

Because, of course, it ALWAYS rains in Northwest Washington. But... at least it's not snow, and these days, any vista with more green than white looks pretty darn beautiful to me.

And this vista is pretty beautiful to me too- my sister Jacque, and my niece Tiffany. I've had a wonderful time, just relaxing and playing with them. We've been making bracelets (which I forgot to photograph- I'll do that today), and they've chauffeured me all over the place, which is handy. I'm a competent driver within my own territory, but the roads here... they have curves... and hills... and a lot of other cars... It's good to let someone else do the driving.

Here we are, getting ready to go into Snohomish, for my evening with the Snohomish Knitter's Guild. Of course, I wore the Dragonride Shawl. It does tend to be an attention-grabber (unlike me... heh).

We wandered up and down the streets of Snohomish's downtown for a bit before it was time to meet The SKG Board people for supper at The Cabbage Patch restaurant. That middle building used to be the movie theater. I spent a  major number of the Saturday afternoons of my youth in that theater. It's an antique/novelty store now. It happened to be open yesterday, so I stepped in, hoping to get a sense of the old theater, but nope- every trace is gone. That made me a little sad (not that the current store isn't perfectly nice- it is. It's just not anything like a dark and shabby theater-I was especially hoping to go down the spiral staircase to the girls' bathroom and see if it still smelled like stolen cigarettes, but that doorway was blocked off with an iron gate. sigh).

It may be raining and chilly, but Spring is a lot closer to Washington than it is to South Dakota. This tree is blooming- I don't know what it is, but it seems to be some sort of azalea/rhododendron relative. Whatever it is, it's beautiful.

The knitting guild met at the Waltz Building, a great historical edifice in town. As always, the knitting ladies were absolutely wonderful (is it the needles and yarn that makes them all so welcoming? Or is it that marvelous people are drawn to needlework? Chicken and egg, I guess). I had stage fright before my talk, as always, and (as always), once I started talking, I had a hard time stopping. The audience was lovely- they ignored my ums and aahs, and they laughed right when I hoped they would. It was a fantastic evening, and I hope I'm in Snohomish again when they meet, just so I can drop in and join the fun.

And Tina, here, is the reason I connected with the Guild in the first place. She's a regular blog reader, and when she realized that I was from Snohomish, she wrote and told me about the guild meetings. The rest is history.  Oh, and see that yarn she's holding? That's her own beautiful handspun BFL- about 200 yds of worsted weight. Guess who owns that yarn now????

I'll have to find exactly the right pattern to be worthy of such a fantastic gift. Thank you Tina, and the Snohomish Knitter's Guild for making me feel right back at home!