Slavko and Nada

Best wishes for a happy, fulfilling, fabulous life together! Congratulations from John, Julia, Eliot and Kyra (and Spencer).

Ermis Writes from Turkey

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

It's cold here in Izmir now, it was about time for winter to show its
true face. But it's still very nice, clear and sunny, and I'd rather
spend all day outside with Senada, then stay at home and work.

Work is fine, although demanding. I can surely say that I learned
nothing at school (well, maybe just the basics of basics) that I can
put to full use in my work.  :)  I don't think I ever explained anything
- my job's title is systems administrator. The company I work for has hundreds of servers (database, video, web pages,
e-mail) that need to be constantly monitored and kept alive.

I work up to 12 hours a day. Although I work from home, it's not very
fun sitting at the computer for 5 straight hours. But I like what I
do, and I'm learning so much, so time passes by fairly quickly. My
boss expects me to participate as much as possible, since I need to
pick things up as fast as I can. Some of the guys that I work with,
who have been working together for over 5-6 years, stay online and
work for up to 15 hours. Don't want to ask about their social life.  :) 

Anyway, things are going pretty good. Me and my girlfriend Senada are
moving to a place of our own (still renting, but apartment should be
much nicer) right after New Year's. We're really looking forward to
it.

Snowman!

Vanity Photos: Artist, Studio, Snow (Bellingham Art)

Got a white-out happening here, near Bellingham . . . 12" of snow so far . . .

First snow

Slavko says "Zadar in December!"

Hi John

I'm so sorry for not answering in a while, but have a good excuse -
I'm getting married soon!!!

We have decided to do it on Dec 27th in Zadar, small ceremony in local
church, and dinner in restaurant.

So I've been running back and forth to Zadar making all the
preparations, and trying to finish work in Milna for this year.

Nada's quitting her job next week so I' ll have to spend more time
with her.

My brother told me how I'm acting like someone else but hey! I'm
getting married. . .

Fantastic! Sam's NEA Honor

Sam Green - our Washington State Poet Laureate, as you will recall - was just awarded a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Literature Fellowship for 2009!!

The NEA says "Literature Fellowships are the Arts Endowment's most direct investment in American creativity, encouraging the production of new work and allowing writers the time and means to write." This is a grant of $25,000.

Sam says," No strings attached. . . we are dreaming of how to use it . . ."

A solstice toast to Sam and Sally and their lifelong commitment to poetry and the literary life.

Croatia: City of Labyrinths . . . Love it!

"The meaning of the city of labyrinths is global, planetary. Yes, it is true it has been built in a small village located in a small county, in a small and seemingly unimportant country. However, on the level on which the labyrinths work this is not important at all!"

Follow the link: here
and
here

Updated Eliot and Paul Woodworking

Here's the table in situ . . . kinda a shame the new owners are going to stain it brown...




And here's a shot of the Country Club house they've been working on this summer...besides handmade stairs and railing, notice the wood ceiling and the post in the background....all vertical grain fir...gonna be golden, golden, golden ...

Eliot and Paul Deliver Their Big Custom Table

Eliot says,'It took twice as long and cost twice as much as we thought. We kept refining our concepts as we went along. The table will seat 24, is variously configurable, and is made of cherry wood with ebony inlays. We made the plywood for the top ourselves. Oh, yeah, and each of the two sections weighs 450 pounds.'

Seattle from Spencer's Roof

Spencer plays with his new Nikon Digital SLR. (When he should be doing his laundry. Oops.)

Lynne's Work: Beautiful Quilts

Here are Lynne's lonestar quilt, pine burr quilt, and dogwood coverlet . . .you can see that her years of studying and working on quilts have really paid off in these beauties. Wow!

Sunny Day on Skagit Dike with Tim

Lori's Blacksmithing Skills

Lori puts her skills to advantage making horseshoe fixtures for her newly renovated bathroom, and using an old horseshoe file to attach the new deck stairs at Mt. Vernon.

Alger Autumn

Sitting at my computer, looking out my window. (Artfully processed in GIMP, an open source alternative to Photoshop.)

Julia's Apartment in Sarajevo

Saturday it's a hike with Zana and this other guy that speaks some English.
Sunday it's Visegrad with Mersiha and her cousin will drive - hooray! And
Peter will go - then Peter and I will go to Gorazde for the day on Monday.
Tuesday I have dinner with Amir - there's a veg restaurant somewhere. Then
Wed I get ready to go to Belgrade for the weekend, then Monday and Tues
nights before I leave I'll stay in Zagreb, as I mentioned.  Whew.

Oh - tonight it's dinner with Hatidiza's mom and sister and afterwards I'll
meet 'Irvan' - Almir's counsin that stayed in our place.

Julia Reports on Milna

Well, considering all, Brizak’s End looks pretty good. For the most part, the place is clean – or clean enough. The plants are overgrown, so I’ll cut some of them. The lavender has a few blooms on it and it is HUGE – and wow – it cannot begin to compare to our lavender – it is soooo fragrant!

The bathroom is a bit gross. I can’t find any cleanser in town – So I’ll make do and scrub it down. The mattress covers need washing, so I’ll do that, and a few other things. Just a few cob webs here and there.

Immediately ran into Ivo and Ljiljana – Ivo unlocked the gate right away – saved me looking all over for the combination even though I had written it down.

Slavko picked me up and helped me with the luggage up the steps. Told me about his girlfriend. He's making his balcony into another room just in case things go well! Ran into Zore’s mother in town – she recognized me first. Things look pretty much the same at first glance. But it’s busier than I thought it would be – lots of boats in the harbor and cars on the riva. Slavko said it was really busy this summer and he thinks it will continue that way. Ivo and Ljiljana’s cousins from Argentina were just arriving for the first time, too, just after I arrived. They always have distant relatives visiting! Oh – and the place next door actually looks and feels okay – not so close as we were worried about. Of course there is no one there now. There’s a courtyard in front and big stone wall, but there’s no gate on it yet. They kept the original stone stairs. It’s two floors and is higher than our place.

PAhurds Say "Hi!"

FLASHY, FLASHY: Byron's new "cop magnet."












Hard work at home:



lots and lots of renovation, including newly stained wood floors. (All that old carpet GONE.) Looking good.

Julia Says: Bosnia

Time is passing quickly. The difference between this trip and others is the amount of moving I’ve been doing – a couple nights here, a few nights there…I’m too old for this stuff! It’s been interesting, though.

I’ve been wanting a hand-made rug from Bosnia for a long time – and finally made a purchase when I visited a non-profit and saw the women (mostly from around Srebrenica) weaving and we had coffee, etc. – you cannot go anywhere and not have kafa with whoever your visiting! There are local elections throughout Bosnia on Sunday, so there are lots of posters and I’ve seen a couple political rallys, etc.

Succor Creek, Oregon

Back from a week camping solo in the rhyolite canyon at Succor Creek in Eastern Oregon. Timed it perfectly between a rockhound group the weekend previous and the opening of hunting season, the following week. Lots of hiking, rock collecting, and sitting in the sun. Found geodes, agates, petrified wood, and more. Stark, gorgeous country. (Wow, I had forgotten all that wonderful, wonderful open space in Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon.)

John's Art

Started an online portfolio with some of my paintings from this year, a few earlier ones. Will try to expand it as I document earlier artwork. It's right here.

Kayakking on Ross Lake

Spent a 4 day weekend with Eliot and the Lints men on Ross Lake in the Cascades. 3 canoes and 1 kayak (me). Stole the images from the internet. The panorama shows the penisula that we camped on, the other shows the narrows canyon at Devils Creek that we paddled up. Other than a lightning strike and high winds/ white caps, we had a beautiful wilderness experience.

Mr. Big Shot Follows Heart

Back to his roots, Chaz finds man following heart on driveway and builds it back up on his canvas. Lots of paint. . .

Lori's Wedding: July 26, 2008 (John W. too!)

Croatian Dream

As I stepped from the roof of my cottage one morning I saw my neighbors with packs on their backs and staffs in their hands hurrying off as if to some great adventure. Wait I cried, remember that one place is - more or less - as good as another.

Later that day a few villagers returned.
Was it worth it, I asked?

Yes, each replied, it is.

Spencer Says: At Last!!! My BIG Day!

Spencer graduates from Western Washington University with a B.A. in Graphic Design and a great graphic portfolio and resume. Notice his proud parents. Check out his work at http://designhurd.com/

Slavko Says: Paradise in Trogir

Man-o-man, you're reading my mind. Two main themes are contained in your and mine picture, paradise and yellow.

On the way back from Zadar (just got home) I've found the fields of brnistra near by Trogir.

When old Greeks came first to settle area they must have seen the same scene (it must have been May), and they exclaimed: "Aspalathos...", referring to the yellow flowers.

The rest is simple, first settlement was called Aspalathos, then came Spalato, and then Split...

Wild in Winthrop

A special trip over the North Cascades to catch the wildflowers in bloom...and we hit it just right! Whole hillsides of lupin and arrowleaf basalm root shining, shining, shining in the sun. Scent of lupin and sage on the breeze.

Another Roadside Attraction?

Melanie's friends alongside I-5 coming into the Valley.

Work work

We drop by the Graphic Design room late Sunday night and find Spencer there all alone with only a box of crackers to eat. Good thing we'd brought him some Viet Namese noodle soup!

Croatia Fest -- Anacortes

The annual Croatia festival was the inaugural event in the new Croatian community center in Anacortes. Yummy salmon. Great music, enthusiastic dancing. And I won a six pack of Karlovacko in the raffle!

God et al

I think some of the world's religions make altogether too much of the Creation .. . I favor some of the Native American and African myths that feature a little bit of mud brought up from the bottom of the great sea of non-being . . . but even that, I think, is too active a role to assign to the divinity...it's the Trickster that pulls off that creation. . .a minor supernatural being given to foolishness and urges . . .the creation to me is like a fragment of divine DNA - - a strand of hair, a patch of skin, a piece of spittle -- unconsciously left behind at the scene of an accident or crime . . .

Perspective in WInthrop

See that little black dot in the middle of the grassy meadow, center bottom? C'est moi.
(Click on photo to enlarge.)