Yes it's icy in Seattle today. The National Weather Service has issued an ice storm warning. It's 28 degrees and there are little ice balls falling from the sky, I can hear them hitting the kitchen window. I have a fire going downstairs, where the insert is, just in case the power goes out. My lap top is fully charged, as is my phone and DS. Bring it on!
I hope all my NW friends are staying warm and off the roads!
Today we are getting some rare Seattle snow. The weather gods kept predicting it, but we don't usually pay attention to all the hype. Because of the water and mountains surrounding the area it's always hard to predict snow and many times the threat of snow is just a threat. Recently a new high tech satellite system was installed to track incoming weather and apparently, this time, it helped predict the snow accurately.
Yesterday at 4 pm this is what my back courtyard looked like.
And the front of my house.
This is how the courtyard and the front of the house looked at 9:30 this morning.
This is the hill in front of our house.
And our vehicles, which are staying put today!
How's your Wednesday going?
The waiting drove me mad... I'm finally here and I'm so glad! A couple months ago I made this post about how difficult it was to get tickets to this PJ gig. That was the hardest part of the whole trip. Once we were there it was smooth sailing.
We stayed at the Abbey Resort on Lake Geneva in Wisconsin.
The hotel was old, but well kept and really beautiful.
It was about 30 minutes to the venue from the hotel. Our travel package included transportation to and from the show. We met up with our great friends Mark and Chris, who were staying at the same hotel, and caught the bus to Alpine Valley.
From the bus we could see lightning in the distance and hoped that we would make it into the venue before it started raining.
We had arrived!
Thankfully we did make it in right as the rain started.
And it rained most of the day. There was a little break in the middle of the day and we ventured out to see Glen Hansard perform, always a treat!
The ticket package we purchased from the fan club included all kinds of goodies, including admittance into the "VIP" section. It was roomy, had clean bathrooms with no lines and free food!
At the top right of this photo you can see the VIP sign with stairs leading up to where we hung out most of the day.
We all had a great time talking music, telling stories and drinking beer!
Some of the best times I've had have been spent with my Pearl Jam friends. They are all so cool!
We had great seats and were pretty darn excited when the music started on the main stage! First up was a Seattle band called Mudhoney. They have been around longer than PJ and they rocked the house.
Next came Queens of the Stone Age, who also proved what an amazing rockin' band they are!
The surprise for me was The Strokes. I'm a super casual fan, only familiar with the radio hits. I loved their set and the lead singer reminded me of my son! Unfortunately the lighting for their set was really dark so I only got blurry pictures.
When The Strokes finished their set the anticipation of the crowd was incredible. We were all waiting for our favorite band.
Finally it was time for Pearl Jam. To say I had an emotional moment during the opening song, Release, would be an understatement. It's the first time I've almost cried at a concert. Not to get all mushy, but seriously the love and admiration coming from the crowd to their favorite band was palatable.
It was definitely a show for the fans. They played obscure favorites that a casual fan might have never heard before. I was in heaven.
What happened next would have been a shock if I hadn't already heard that these songs were soundchecked. Eddie introduced Chris Cornell to the stage. This meant there was going to be a Temple of the Dog reunion. Temple of the Dog was a one time band, who put out one album in honor of Andy Wood. Andy was the singer of Mother Love Bone and just as they were about to hit it big he died of a heroin overdose. This left Jeff and Stone looking to form a new band, which is how Pearl Jam was born. Eddie had just come to Seattle to start recording music with Jeff and Stone and walked right in to the studio where Temple of the Dog was recording. He sang back up on a few songs and did a duet with Chris Cornell called Hunger Strike. Here is what Hunger Strike sounded like on September 3, 2011!!
It was a day/night to remember and we still had another day/night to go!
Today's view of my window:
and through my window:
It's been a wet day, I'm glad to be getting away!
Are there places, other than Seattle, that make a total news day out of the possibility of snow?
Are there radio talk shows, other than in Seattle, that take "snow watch" calls from listeners?
Are there people where you work, other than Seattle, who head home at the first sight of a snowflake?
Do buses, in places other than Seattle, chain up when the roads are bare and dry then drive 35mph on the freeway?
The snow that was supposed to start yesterday around 4 am in Seattle was pushed back to mid-day.
This is what it looked like out my window around 3:30 pm...
I could see patches of blue!
The mid-day snow was pushed back to the evening commute.
The evening commute snow was pushed back to 7ish.
It did snow up north and down south, in fact some places really got dumped on but in my little corner it was business as usual.
The snow on the houses down south taunted me...
The snow that was expected around 7ish made an appearance. It continued to snow for a few hours. This is what it looked like out my window this morning...
I'm off to scrape snow off the big rig and head in to work.
On a side note this is the 3rd morning in a row that I've been awake at 3 am without being able to go back to sleep. It's going to be a long day!
It has been freezing in the corner of my world called the Pacific Northwest. Really, really freezing! As I type this I'm sitting in the office at the computer wearing two shirts, a fleece coat and fingerless gloves. Oh yeah, I'm wearing pants, socks and shoes too. We've had a few days of this weather and will have a couple more.
On Saturday morning I saw this out my window.
It's the roof of my car!
Everything was covered in a heavy frost. I braved the cold to take a few pictures.
It's dried out and we aren't getting the frost anymore, but now my hair is standing on end and I get shocked every time I touch metal or another person. My lips are chapped. My hands are dry and scratchy. But it's my hair giving me the most trouble, the static electricity is making it stick to everything, including my face. I want it gone along with all the gray! I'm sick of looking at myself. I had plans to delusions of leaving work early yesterday to treat myself to a haircut and color. But the office had other ideas! I was swamped and couldn't sneak out. It's probably for the best, I guess...
(blurry picture courtesy of Star Wars Son)
Since I've been growing it out to give it away I should probably do more planning for a haircut than a spur of the moment, I'm sick of my hair and cutting it all off impulse. *Sigh*
What's going on in your corner of the world?!
You can see my Wordless Wednesday post here.
| Our endless sunny days are over... Here comes the rain! |
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