Good Omen Indeed
We checked out of the Hyatt on Thursday afternoon, around 1:30. We drove home, really hoping that our power would be back on. When we turned onto our street and saw our porch light on, we were so happy!


Here's a City Light worker finishing things up at the end of our block. Hallelujah.

Thursday, December 21st

Morning view from the Hyatt:
(I was thrilled to see the rainbow and hoped that it was a good omen.)

Wednesday, December 20th

Still no electricity at home. So we went back to the Hyatt. Here are some night views from our room:

More Neighborhood Casualties

Part of this big tree blew onto a neighbor's roof. Here are the tree service guys cutting the rest of it down on Tuesday, December 19th. Still no power at our house, but now we have a little less obstructed view of the Olympics. We went to visit Mike and Juliet that night where we had dinner, sat in a warm house with our warm friends and watched TiVo. Luxury of luxuries!

Monday Night, December 18th

We decided that we shouldn't have to stay at our cold, powerless house two days in a row, so we got a room at the Hyatt in downtown. (The opposite of "roughing it.")


View of Bon Christmas star from our room:









View of Dave's reflection enjoying the view of the Space Needle:















Dave and I went to Serious Pie for dinner that night. While we were enjoying our dinner, part of Batali clan came in and sat right behind us. I was really tempted to rush their table, totally ignore Mario and start gushing over Armandino (his dad and much more importantly, proprietor of Salumi), but I did not. I sat and ate my delicious pizza in peace and let them do the same.

Monday, January 18th

I was supposed to have Monday off, so that I could bake cookies and wrap presents and listen to Christmas music and just generally get in the spirit of the season. But, since I had no electricity, the warm office seemed like a better choice. The sunrise was just a thin strip of light, underneath all the fog and clouds...

Brrr...

Sunday afternoon, after returning home with new flashlights, headlamps and firewood, the thermostat (battery powered) in the living room read a not-so-balmy 45 degrees. We built a fire, lit candles and tried to pretend that it wasn't so bad. But really, it was.

Neighborhood Destruction:

These pictures were taken Friday afternoon, December 15th. The rain and windstorm blew through the night before. We lost power, but other than that, we had no damage. Some of our neighbors were not so lucky.


Fence blown down in the alley:











Trees blown down at the end of our block. This was the reason we had no electricity for a week:

Friday
The neighbors poured their new concrete driveway. That meant that for a few hours, there was a cement mixer parked in front of our house.

Mixer through the living room window:










Mixer through the glass block front door surround:

Thursday Morning
This was the view of the sunrise from my office on Thursday morning. (Definitely worth stopping work for a minute to grab my camera and run over to the window!) It's the visual equivalent of "stopping to smell the roses."

Last Week's Snow
I took these last Wednesday afternoon. Just to remind myself that it was that cold. And it did snow. Even here at the beach.

 

Turkey Time
Sunday night I had my own private turkey dinner. I roasted a turkey thigh and breast, made gravy, dressing and mashed potatoes.

Close up of dressing: (Ciabatta bread cubes, pancetta, onion, celery, garlic, parsley, apple, dried cherries, butter, chicken broth, parmesan cheese and eggs.) Delicious!


My plateful--believe me, I'm grateful!

Monday Night Snow
Brrr...
It's supposed to snow some more tonight, but then warm up and change to rain. (It'll be nice for the temperature to be above freezing again.)

 

More Sweets
Here are some more pictures of Eve. Taken Saturday morning.

















Check out Eve's luxe lashes: 

Thanksgiving's Sweetest Treat:
(By far!) Eve, Eve, Eve and more Eve! She provided hours of entertainment and amusement. Thanks to Mark and Cory for sharing her with the rest of us!


 

Thanksgiving (The Day After):
We went on a tour of the Theo Chocolate factory. The only organic bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturer in the United States. And it just so happens to be located Fremont.

Big burlap bag o' beans:















Close-up of cocoa nibs:











Trays of naked confections in the kitchen, waiting to be dressed in chocolate:















The enrobing machine. Sweet mother of God. What a great invention. Move over wheel, automobile and computer. The enrobing machine is where it's at!