Here are some recent shots from around the house:




From my front lawn; The Olympics jumped out at me this morning! This is helped by a telephoto lens, but the mountains are extra prominent because of the clear air, the bright sun , the fresh dusting of snow, and an atmospheric condition that seemed to magnify the mountains. Did anyone else notice this?



Cathy is warming up inside the house, while I'm out doors taking this picture. (It's a direct shot of her and a reflection of me.) I'm standing at the same spot where I shot the picture of the mountains (above)



Nothing quite like a fuzzy mustang in the snow with back-lighting






Whew! Dolly (our newfoundland) is exhausted!



She's so pretty

The maples which tower over my home looked almost on fire when I arrived home today. The colors are so beautiful right now.

We're seeing some very creative and elaborate costumes this year. I've run into many friends in the new "Everything Party" down at the Landing. Between this new party outlet and our tremendous specialty store "Great Costumes", Renton is a significant supplier of King County Halloween party attire.

Of course, the new Target, our other drug stores, our craft stores, and our various second hand stores have many great costumes and ideas as well.

Here are some shots from our annual party last night.






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One last summer blast...

I just got back from California, where Cathy and I were visiting many relatives.

The weather was great, and our extended family is doing fine.

I shot this cute photo of my wife sitting with her brothers and sister, with her Mom and Dad standing behind them.

You can see where Cathy gets her beauty.



My father-in-law's shirt gives the picture a political touch. (California is a blue state in this election)

If you have not gotten lost in a corn maze yet, be sure to try it this year.

It can be pretty disorienting! Here are some shots of my family this past weekend (down in Kent/Auburn, off of 277th exit).

Our family has enjoyed owning and renting out one one of the duplexes in the Highlands. While it sounds strange to say we've enjoyed being landlords, it's because this building has attracted the nicest tenants for all the years that we have owned it.

Most of our renters have lived with us for many years, and then gone on to purchase homes of their own.

The last renters from the unit we're working on in the picture below leased from us for fourteen years, and then went on to purchase a home.

In the other unit, we had a tenant that had been with us five years, and previous tenants had resided in that unit for seven years, and another for three. One couple left many years ago, but they remain cherished friends and they are doing a wonderful job fixing up a beautiful home they purchased in Everett.

In addition to long term tenancies, we've never had a day of vacancy in these units. This is something that the building's previous owner, former Renton Mayor Don Custer, told us was true for him as well. Don Custer's remodeling skills are a great part of why the units have been fun and popular....Don did a first class job updated the building, all the way down to the wall studs, in 1980.

We've now entered a new chapter of our lives, as we've moved our own grown children into these units. To prepare for my son's move in, I finally took out the once-stunning orange counter top that Don Custer had installed. Don's craftsmanship was great, and the material held up very well over the years, but the color was no longer working. Long-time readers may remember me discussing this before in a highlands blog here





Cathy, Andy, and I work on the counters. Cathy irons on the Formica edge piece, while I install the new faucet. (Councilman King Parker might recognize the nice Whirlpool appliances under the counter, which came directly from his little red store!)

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My family has learrned a secret about September....this is the month when we find the very nicest conditions at Coulon Park.

It's beautiful year round, but this is the month when you can park your car easily, find plenty of empty tables and barbecues all day long, and it's still warm enough to splash around in the water.















Some shots from this afternoon.

We visited our in-laws' cabin this weekend, and I got some beautiful Northwest photos. Here are a few of them. In addition to family and friends, there are two cute dogs in the pictures. Our in-laws' young cute and playful labradoodle; and our 9-year-old Newfoundland, a big, sweet dog that reminds me of Nana from Peter Pan.




My daughter Katie cuddles a labradoodle in Anacortes.



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I've been reconnecting with my high school and grade school friends lately, on Renton-grown Classmates.com and other social networking sites.

Two of the people I've been chatting with are shown, along with me, in this fourth grade picture. Can you find me?

Click to enlarge it:

Today was a beautiful day for picnicking!

Wow, what a warm, pretty Saturday today. August is turning out to be a great month for outdoor activities.










My son and daughter in law are having fun with balloons. (My wife and I are in the backround in the bottom picture.)

While I'm not a Seahawks season ticket holder, I've felt very welcoming of the team and the players in part because my wife has a first cousin named Donnie Nickey who is in his fifth season with the Tennessee Titans. He was an Ohio Buckeye hero before that. He grew up in Columbus in a home on five acres, with a full size football field for a back yard.

Like other NFL players, Donnie gets compensated very well, but he works EXTREMELY hard to stay in shape, and keep his weight exactly on target all year round. He also has a very competitive tryout every year to re qualify for the team, and he risks a career-ending injury every time he steps on the field.

Like nearly all NFL football players, Donnie is really smart and has a solid college education. The college education is something pro-baseball players often do not have because of the way the recruiting systems work. And ladies, he is as charming as he appears, and last I heard I think he is still single.

We are all super proud of him. The only way we could be happier is if he came to play for the Seahawks!


Donnie Nickey making another tackle






Donnie with Titans quarterback Vince Young






Donnie in center, my wife Cathy is on the far right



Donnie and his brother Jonathon



I shot this photo a couple years ago. That handsome, distinguished looking man next to the television is the grandfather that my wife and Donnie have in common...good looks and youthfulness run in my wife's family. Donnie is also shown, along with his father Don, a man who has given him love, advice, and encouragement throughout his career.




Plain City Ohio (a suburb of Columbus) celebrated "Donnie Nickey Day" after the hometown hero lead the Buckeyes to an undefeated season and a national championship



This is an older picture of my wife Cathy on the left, with her beautiful aunt Cynthia, who would give birth to Donnie a few years later. Cathy's and Donnie Nickey's grandmother, and Cathy's sister Laura are also pictured.

When a family member decided recently that she wanted to get parakeets, everyone decided they wanted to help pick them out. My son had given us the hot tip that Pet Smart had some beautiful birds, so we all piled into the van for the outing.




Here we are in the van...In additon to those pictured, son Andy is driving, and I'm the front passenger taking the picture



Danny decides that Pet Smart is well supplied



Kenny, Anastasia, and Lubov make the initial selections



they call for backup to confirm their choices



Rebecca gets distracted by really cute big ears (on a fuzzy chinchilla)



Satisfied with her choice, Anastasia peeks through an air hole to make sure the birds are confortable for the ride home



Not shown is the skilled and entertaining job the clerks did catching the specific birds we chose. A lot of smart moves, and a lot of laughs. It was a fun outing.

For those of you who wondered why I have not updated my blog in a while, here is your answer. I have been totally busy helping my son with wedding preparations, including hosting out-of-town guests and the reception in our home.

The wedding on Sunday was beautiful, and the weather cooperated for perfect outdoor party conditions.

My son Ken could not possibly be happier, and his wife Anastasia is a warm and welcome addition to our family. Her mother Lubov and my wife Cathy lit the candles for the ceremony (as you can see in one of the pictures below).

Pastor Kirby Unti performed the ceremony at our church, St Matthew's Lutheran Church on Edmonds Avenue NE.

Even the Mayor was able to slip away from River Days to help us celebrate.

I've now got two of my five married off!....40 % of the way there! My oldest daughter was married two and half years ago. And here are some shots from when Cathy and I got hitched 25 years ago.














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Christian Jones, my son-in-law's brother, walks through my front door late yesterday afternoon. I happened to have my camera at hand when I spotted his artistic-looking silhouette.

My middle-son Kenny was celebrating his eighteenth birthday. Yep, a new Renton voter!

Much of my family and several friends attended the first showing of the new Indiana Jones movie at East Valley 13 last night. The movie was really fun. Harrison Ford did a great job of reprising his role... he was as fun as always. Wise-cracking Indiana Jones, "making it up as he goes along."

My kids have convinced me that you have to go in costume to these big movie openings, and sure-enough, others were there in costume as well. Here are a few pictures of the event.




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I think this picture came out pretty well. It's my middle son Kenny in back, with his little sister Susie, his girlfriend Anastasia, and his younger brother Danny in front.

Dean Radford at the Renton Reporter invited me to write a guest column about my experience in Nishiwaki. It was published in today's Renton Reporter, and is available online as well. See the article here!

The photos from the story can be seen in a large format by clicking on the thumbnail below:

My son Kenny and his girlfriend Anastasia put together a fun slideshow for my 46th birthday party (which was today.) They did a really nice job digging through many old photos, without letting me have a clue that they were working on this.

If you are going to look at it, It has a nice soundtrack, so be sure you adjust your speakers before clicking the link.

Click here for the Slide Show for my birthday party

My lovely bride is celebrating her birthday today, so I have to keep my stories short. I need to get back to eating cake with her and other celebrating! :-)





Cathy with flowers from the other Mom's at school



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My beautiful wife is sometimes a nervous flier, so she has learned a technique for getting more comfortable when she must take a long flight. As we board the plane, she asks to greet the flight crew, which the airline will almost always arrange for her. Then she chats a little with the pilots, so that she feels more comfortable with the people at the plane's controls. I usually go straight back to my seat, so I don't participate in the visits.

I noticed she was very relaxed on our trip to Japan, following her pre-flight stop in the cockpit of the 777. A day after we arrived, one of the crew members sent her this photo to remember her visit.



Yep, that's Cathy in the captain's seat.

We arrived home from Japan yesterday, and this is my last trip entry.

I had such a wonderful time on this trip that I am dreaming about Japan every time I close my eyes.  I will be thinking about my trip, and all the sights I took in, for a long while.

While the sights were fascinating and educational, what I will surly miss the most are the sincere, warm and generous people that we visited with on every step of our journey.  Our friends in Japan, new and old, were all soooo kind to us that I felt like we were completely cared for.  (For those of you reading this in Japan, my sincerest thanks to all of you for this kindness.  Please come visit us in Renton so that we may attempt to host you in a similar way.)

We completed our Tokyo Disney visit at Disney Sea, a Disney park that is unique to Japan.  The park is themed around waterfronts from all over the world, including a century-old New England Coast from the US.  There are some Jules Verne type rides, including an undersea voyage and "Journey to the Center of the Earth", which provides a fantasy trip deep below an active volcano.

If any of you ever have just one day to take in a Disney Park in Japan, I recommend Disney Sea because it is great fun, while being much different from the standard "Magic Kingdom" park that is also available in California, Florida, and Paris.

They also have Sinbad's voyage, a terrific roller-coaster with a loop-the-loop, an Indiana Jones ride similar to the one in California, a uniquely themed "Tower of Terror", gondola rides, and many other attractions.  We also saw some great shows, including a "Little Mermaid" aerial ballet, in which the dancers flew around on cables as if swimming all around us.

In the Arabian village, following a Genie show based on Disney's Aladin, we were walking through a square when a troop of traveling musicians/dancers pulled me and other guests into their act.


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We wrapped up our Japan visit back in Tokyo, meeting with friends, and enjoying the Tokyo Disney resort as it kicks off it's 25 anniversary.

I've finally had a chance to upload some pictures from Tokyo Disneyland.

This park is really nice. It is similar to Disneyland in California, but with some Asian theming and color schemes. There really are not any language issues for English speakers familiar with Disney. And the park is even more impecably clean than those in the United states (the street sweepers used soap spray bottles to clean spills of the street and sidewalks, and there is no gum-chewing allowed). We also got lucky on the timing of our visit, and experienced no crowding at all. Every ride was available in five minutes or less at both Disnyland and Disney Sea, a real plus for any Disney visit. The service and hospitality are top-notch at the park.

In addition, our Hilton Hotel adjacent to the park (and at a Disneyland Monorail stop) was nicer, newer, more accessible, and gave much more personal attention than the famous Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, and it was also less expensive. I suspect it is not a match for Disney's newest luxery hotels, like the Grand Californian (where I have not stayed), but it was very, very nice. I would recommend it. (We paid about $190 per night for a large, comfortable room at the Hilton)



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We left Nishiwaki on a bus this morning, and Cathy and Susie and I spent the day enjoying Osaka with Kishyo, a good friend (and former exchange student) of ours.

Kishiyo showed us some of the busiest shopping areas in Osaka. We also visited Universal Studios to take Susie on some rides.

The pictures are in reverse order because of a mistake I made, which I don't have time to correct right now!






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As anyone who has participated in a successful exchange program can tell you, the parting is not easy. Even in a short time, our host's homes have become our homes, and their families have become our families. So there is a definite sense of loss when saying goodbye.

But our Renton/Nishiwaki enduring sister-city relationship, which has been in place since 1969, gives us all certainty that it won't be long before we meet again.

Nishiwaki threw a grand good-bye party for us, and I have many photos to post detailing the event. However, it's too late at night to upload them all now.

So I will just provide this preview, with a promise that the rest will be loaded within a couple days.

The warmth of the citizens of Nishiwaki has deeply touched me, and I will miss them all very much when we leave tomorrow morning. I expect to see some tears on the bus when we pull out of town.













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Today we went to Himeji, and climbed to the top of their beautiful and historic castle. We had a guided tour, in English, so we could take in all the details of this Historic National treasure of Japan.

The Castle was built in the 16th century by the rulers of the district. It changed ownership several times, and was once home to Princess Sen, the eldest daughter of the second Shogun in the Takugawa Government. Princess Sen had a dramatic, sometimes romantic, but mostly tragic life.

There were lots of defense systems built into the castle, such as slots for aiming arrows and muskets, openings for throwing stones on climbers, and provisions for dumping boiling water on attacking armies. Also moats, heavy rock walls, and iron reinforced doors all over.

As is the case everywhere in Japan right now, the Cherry Blossoms made the sight stunning.

Everyone climbed all the way to the top, which was no easy feat given the steep and sometimes uneven steps, and the fact that much of the climb had to be accomplished in slippers (indoors).

Our guide told us that the castle has been a popular movie site, and was used by Hollywood in the James Bond picture "You only Live Twice", and in the mini-series/movie "Shogun".












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Late this morning we stopped by a greenhouse, and ate strawberries we cut right off the plants. They were the sweetest, juiciest strawberries I've ever tasted, and most of us had to cut ourselves off...as when presented with too many deserts.

Just when I thought I could not eat one more strawberry, our hosts produced honey that was made by bees which occupy the strawberry greenhouse. I can only say that fresh honey made from the blossoms of the sweetest strawberries I ever tasted was just too delicious to describe. Maybe later I will try to compose a Haiku to describe it!

Our delegation looked more like a pack of bears than a delegation of states-persons under such temptation...but boy the strawberries and honey were good.

Here is my first cut at it:

Strawberry greenhouse
must stop before I explode
but now I taste honey

Many of us will be bringing honey and strawberry jam when we return to Renton.