Another week goes by in Seattle. We're now experiencing the kind of winter weather one would expect from a place that stays green year-round. The mountains of the Olympic Peninsula, which can be seen across Puget Sound from Ballard (our neighborhood in Seattle) are now snow-covered.

Our trip to Sonoma County last week was lovely. Pat's family - Victoria, Jordanne, Jenna, Brianna, and all those dogs - are doing great! We had great visits with them all (except Brianna, who was at her Dad's for the weekend), and with Jake and his son, Connor (Jake is Pat's shipmate from the USS Tarawa who we adopted long ago, now a CHP working out of Truckee and on the sergeant's promotional list).

Dorothy and I enjoyed the chance again to teach at the Chaplaincy academy. It gives us a chance to help the candidates for this program better understand the police officers, dispatchers and correctional officers of Sonoma County, and their lives. Both Patrick and Kate (our children) participated in the training, giving a "cops' kids" perspective. They've both grown into adults we are proud of, and a pleasure to spend time with.

This weekend we had a visit from our friend Dennis. I mentioned him in the last blog. We've always had a great time with Dennis who is the most knowledgeable person I know on all things mechanical / electrical having to do with boats. It was a pleasure to spend time with him. Besides catching up on the adventures of many friends in common, Dennis generously listened to my description of several mechanical issues I've been thinking about on DE, and with just a few words, or a simple drawing provided a simple, elegant solution.

Also, Dorothy, Dennis and I had dinner with Joel and Mary, who we met in early '06 when we first took classes at Seattle Maritime. Joel and Mary took off in spring '06 in their sailboat for Mexico and the South Pacific. They're now back in Seattle. Their blog is at: http://sailblogs.com/member/360/. Also at dinner were their friends Wendy and Garth, who we met very briefly in Hong Kong, in late 06 / early 07 at Hebe Haven Yacht Club. Wendy and Garth were cruising their own boat at that time, and are also now back in Seattle working, but looking forward to getting underway again, sometime in the future.

Dorothy and I survived our mid-term exams at SMA and we're looking forward to Thanksgiving when our granddaughter Jenna will spend the holiday with us.