Chez Kreider Sunderland

Bill and I are successfully moved in to our new home at 4114 Dayton Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103! We were fortunate to find something that was so close to both of our apartments, so "carload after carload" was the moving company we used. Kara had just arrived the day after we got the keys, so she got to help with the beginning of the move. She likened our sidewalk leading up to the house to a "3 story walk-up" in NYC... and Bill and I are already plotting to get a clinometer (used for trail layout) so that we can adequately determine the elevation gain from the "trail head" up to our front door. And, of course, trail head signage will be necessary. Other interesting details - it has (supposedly) an 150 year-old apricot tree out back from (supposedly) one of Seattle's first orchards. It also has a koi pond, which as far as Bill and I can tell, consists of one giant koi that lurks at the bottom and a bunch of little goldfish that a great blue heron was seen feasting on the other day (but, since the great blue is Bill's spiritual guide, it was a good sign!). It was built in 1922, and although it has seen major upgrades, it doesn't appear that anyone particularly handy has ever lived in the house, which means Bill will have plenty of little projects/upgrades to keep him busy, since he is quite handy.

From the dining room, looking to the front of the house:
The kitchen has french doors that opens to the back yard.
Bill bringing home some groceries up the sorta steep sidewalk:
Back of the house, with friend Heidi. We were enjoying some sun!
And, a little game of Settlers with friends. This is looking from the living room to the back of the house. Dining room is through the large opening, and Bill's office is through that back door. The floor in his office slopes 4 inches, due to settling when they added on many years ago. He is detemined to get that fixed:
We certainly hope that you will come visit - we even have room for multiple guests at one time!

Wind on Water, Peconic Bay

Big Pine Key, Florida

Normally we'd fly fish every day, but this trip was different.   There were howling winds out of the northeast at 25 - 30 knots and frequent rainstorms night and day.   With the chance of lightning one doesn't want to be on the water anyway.  We did lots of cooking, went to Key West one day to the Apple store, saw a movie and ate Chinese.  Never once picked up a rod.  The water temperature was a chilly 69 degrees so no fish were hanging about on the flats.  They'd gone to warmer deeper water. 

 We did get one day of calm with intermittent tropical sunlight that turned the water a warm turquoise from time to time.  Amy's dad, Gordy, said let's go.  He took us to the "outback country" 6 or 7 miles into the Gulf of Mexico to a group of mangrove keys known as the East and West Content Keys, a great place to fish on white sand flats. The fish are very hard to see but on a sunny day one can see their shadows and figure where to cast.  It's also a great place to see wildlife.  We got few good photos due to the motion of the boat and the long zoom distances but we had a lot of fun trying.

Gordy & Amy

Great White Heron

Osprey Dining on Fish

Threading Through A Mangrove

Alligator in Fresh Water Blue Hole

Effect of the Sun on White Sand Flat

Common Terns on a Wreck

Ibis

Hurricane Damage

Pelican

Pelican Rookery

Mennonite Chickens

Stongs is our local grocery store, where we do most of our shopping. I could make a snarky remark about the sign, but the Kreider brothers are quite able to make their own such remark!

Cutchogue Weekend

This weekend is my first post to the blog (thanks to a patient tutoring session with Mark) and marks the fifth annual visit of Kara and me with Mark and Amy in February. These visits always fall on President's Day weekend at the beginning of Kara's winter term break. This is also the time of Mark's birthday! I went to the DeWitt Clinton high school with Kara on Friday in the Bronx, reconnecting with the teachers I've been seeing there each year in the English Department's faculty lounge. It was two weeks into the second semester at a time when Kara was adapting to all-new students, but she already had them well in hand (i.e., very disciplined and meeting her expectations of decorum and participation in the class room) and we had a great time discussing literary devices and themes with them before and after I read aloud a DeMaupassant short story. We were exhausted at the end of the day and took naps before I went with Kara to the local gym before we had late dinner with her boyfriend Nick Demopoulos.

The restaurant where we met Nick was located around the corner from the apartment building in the East Village where Kay and I had lived during 1969-1972 when I was in I-W alternative service and Kay taught elementary school at PS 188 on Houston Street--at the lower end of East Village. Nick, who has previously visited Mark and Amy in Cutchogue--a prerequisite for gaining necessary approval to meet me, has lived in the City for 12 years, and works with his own band as a musician. While I have not personally heard him play, I enjoyed meeting him for the first time and finding areas of common interest. For example, he plays Bach violin partitas on his guitar! I also enjoyed hearing of his six week trip to the Middle East last year where his group performed and conducted workshops in several countries (U.A.E., Dubai, Yemen) in a solidly booked schedule under sponsorship of the US State Department.

Saturday morning Kara and I caught the Long Island Railroad train at 8:19am at Penn Station and arrived at Bayside to be greeted by Amy. We thus began our wonderful weekend together with Mark and Amy, heading to Cutchogue via a Starbucks-fueled road trip in the Jeep. After a relaxing afternoon of some napping and bread making, we dined on two of Mark's home made soups (corned beef and cabbage, and tomato) accompanied by various cheeses, breads, fruits, and the wonderful Blackberry wine from the famed wine region of Kansas. Sunday breakfast began with espresso made from an ancient Italian manual machine that involves an inversion and drip through process which works amazingly well. It followed with sparkling cider, "eggs Florentine" (pictured here) which is a most wonderful combination of home made toasted bread topped with spinach greens, lox, poached eggs, and hollindaise sauce, and, sectioned citrus with pecans, apples, and dried cranberries. This has been a perfectly sunny weekend and we took advantage of that to get in some walks around the Laurel Lake Preserve near Mattituck as well as the Little Peconic Bay beach at the end of Pequash Ave. Mark and I both spoke with Grandpa Kreider afterwards and were delighted to find him bright and alert, so we had a very satisfying conversation with him.

I also have to mention that last night Mark showed me the process he uses to play internet poker games with various participants including Bruce, which was quite fascinating to watch. I understand Bruce is easily able to participate in and win two games, simultaneously, while instant messaging Mark and spending quality time with Kristin who I understand often sits at his side for the sessions. I am amazed at how rapidly his mind must be capable of working.

Tonight, Amy prepared a wonderful dinner of Peconic Bay Scallops and shrimp, accompanied by a fresh green salad, young red potatos, toasted bread topped with her special roasted garlic spread and a nice North Fork white wine. While having after-dinner coffee during a game of Super Scrabble Deluxe (which involves a much larger board than regular Scrabble) Amy brought out a Red Velvet birthday cake topped with cream cheese frosting and accompanied with ice creams. It was nice to see Mark win with a score of 468! Scoring can be quite high in that game format.