Tom and Patti Saunders
Dog's Breath Acres 2018 Annual Report
Sorry to start our report with sad news. In April, Carol's husband Ken passed away, at age 79. We'll miss Ken for a long time.
Here are photos of our family and friends from 2018.
And our dearest friend Lydia passed away in June. We picked her up from the pound when she was 3 1/2, and she lived more than 10 delightful years with us. She was the sweetest, and a happy dog. Here's a bunch more pictures.
In March Patti and I took a trip down to Monterey Bay on the California coast.
Click Here for all the pictures.
Here's a drawing Andrew (age 11) did of a rhododendron in school, with his teacher's comments:
"We are exploring 2D composition by emphasizing not the positive (main object), but the negative space (the space that is left around and between the objects). It is like a puzzle, each and every part of the paper is an important piece and contributes to the whole, no “empty “ blank paper. Each student did two pieces. The first one was a detailed pencil drawing of a rhododendron. The other was a 30-second brush painting with quick, more expressionistic strokes. Each approach has a very different feel and shows how the medium influences the end product. The negative spaces were treated as objects on their own and colored. Andrew’s rhododendron is flower-like. This is a happy image with its bright colors. The smooth pink anchors the picture and keeps it from flying off the page. Nicely done."
Andrew also left a note on our message board about Neuma's (Patti) artwork:
"Hi Numa. I wanted to say hi in case we won't see you today. I love you and your chickens - Andrew"
Kiara is having a good time playing the flute in the Snohomish High School Band. Here she is marching down Main Street in Snohomish.
In June I went on a camping trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.
Patti and the Quails at art project day at Dog's Breath Acres:
In August I spent a week in New Hampshire for a memorial service for my Uncle Hank Folsom.
In October, Patti, with friend Sue, spent a few days in New York City. Here's her report:
"Girl trip. A long fall weekend in New York City."
"This fall, friend Sue and I had a long weekend in Manhattan. We spent most all of Thursday at MOMA and that evening at a concert in Saint Thomas church, next to MOMA. Then the night walk back to our hotel, past Rockefeller Center and the holiday scene with winter ice and ice skaters and the enchanting shop windows."
"Friday, Sue and I took a walking tour of SOHO, Chinatown and Little Italy. Who knew that many of those old SOHO building fronts were cast iron? Afterwards, dinner in Chinatown at Wo Hop. Oh, before the walking tour, I grabbed a slice of pizza from Famous Ben's. Just an accidental choice, but fortunately it seemed to be mostly staffed by humans, not creatures from the movie Men in Black. The pizza shop owner is a bit of a soup nazi but the vegetarian pizza is perfect."
"Saturday we took the subway to museum row. I visited the Neue Gallery and then the Neue Gallery Viennese Cafe for coffee and cake. The cafe fare was a reminder of another wonderful trip that I took with Barb. Sue, spent her day at the Guggenheim, I longed for the energy to do both, and Sue intelligently added the Neue Gallery Viennese Cafe for cake."
"Sunday, I walked the length of the Highline, as crowds joined in, I headed over to the even more bustling Chelsea market for snacks. Sunday night Sue and I walked over to the Carol King musical, " Beautiful". Great fun, as was our night walk to Times Square. I think between Sue and I, we covered a fair amount of NYC and Sue made it out to Ellis Island. A few years ago, Tom and I spent a day getting lost in Central Park, and wandering the museum of Natural History, Times Square, walking the Brooklyn Bridge, Greenich Village, and Wall Street. We must have walked a million miles. This trip, I was grateful for the NYC Subway."
More from Patti:
"We've had wonderful company this year. On their way to the Alaska ferry, Nance and John Siversen visited from Melbourne. Sara, from Oakland, was here in early December. Sara and I visited SAM for the Jodhpur, India, Peacock of the Desert exhibit. Both Sara and Nance are friends since childhood. For a few days, Beri, of our local art group, was back from Jacksonville. Beri, Sue, Judy and I gathered together again to dye paper and fabrics with botanicals. Tom's sisters, and Ger, visited for the Thanksgiving feast, mostly deliciously engineered by Tom. Cousins, Sarah and Mai Ly stopped by, from SF, and took us to dinner. And, of course, we've loved all of the kid visits! A very lucky year here in Snohomish."
One time on our daily walk in the woods I checked out the local mushrooms:
Here are more mushroom pictures.
I managed to do a descent number of hikes again this year, as my creaking bones would allow.
Here are some before (during construction, 32 years ago) and after Dog's Breath Acres photos:
Anchor got his first look at the train set, and was suitably excited.
Daphne has finally caught up with me - she hit 10 years old this year, and I reached (barely) 70.
Kate, Carol, and Ger made the trek up to Dog's Breath Acres for a gigantic Birthday/Thanksgiving feast. The photos below contrast the differences between Kate's and my cake-making techniques.
And finally, a few more of my favorite pictures from 2018.
