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After Sandy's page 1 article in the FBI's law enforcement journal was published it garnered responses from agencies across the nation in states as far away as Connecticut. Fast forward about year, she finds this in her email inbox:

I would just like to say thanks for the article ( Read more... )

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Directly across the sound, Bainbridge Island awaited. But first it was onto the ferry, head out past Ivar's Acres of Clams to leave all of this behind.

The bed and breakfast we stayed at was actually a retired couple's home in Poulsbo, just the other side of Bainbridge on the Olympic Peninsula and right on the ( Read more... )

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That first night in downtown I booked us at the Hotel Max, a vintage establishment refurbished to artsy modern chic. In fact, the whole place is a paean to Seattle's vibrant local art scene.

The lobby is filled with light panels and wall sculpture. Every room's door is emblazoned with its own unique black and white ( Read more... )

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Day 2

Even the long stops aren't that long. You have just enough time to stretch your legs and check out the depots, some of which are straight out of a postcard. Alternatively, you can take an exterior tour of your ride. This diesel fellow would eventually tug us up over 7000 feet into the Cascade Mountains ( Read more... )

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I'm a bit backlogged on entries. Busy, busy, busy. We went to Seattle in September, ostensibly to check out neighborhoods for retirement. We decided to go by rail, which was an adventure in its own right...

Day 1

Union Station. I'd never been. It give it two thumbs up for the arts and crafts style of its ( Read more... )

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It grows in square footage (ok, inches), that's how. The English garden has expanded ( Read more... )

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[Editor's note: this update features garden accessories and a couple of new plantings. I wanted to spruce up my paths in the English garden and a patio for the manor. Well, what the Internet taketh in time, it giveth in goods. And so I found them, an authentic sack of red slips cut perfectly to scale from ( Read more... )

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My lilliputian gardners have been hard at work landscaping their village. Here's the latest update.

And on the eighth day, the lord layed sod. Behold, Manor Hill is upholsteredFor the cottages, I thought, an English garden would be nice for their shared front yard. So, off I went to the nurseries. Scoured I did for ( Read more... )

I wanna do this right, I said to myself. So, off to Sawtelle Blvd. in West L.A. I went ( Read more... )

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Phase I is complete.

Transplants were done to make room, leaving a few holes in the ground cover that was chosen for its appeal to scale, but...the village is inWe're going for a humble simulation of the Storybook ride at Disneyland with all the miniatures landscapes. Our own little piece of the park at ( Read more... )