Such a pretty site--and so is Mt. Ranier!!!

Loralee Center at Middle of Lake Washington

Hubby surprised me with a romantic brunch cruise on Lake Washington and Lake Union. It was wonderful and we saw so many beautiful homes, floating homes, University of Washington, and the food was delicious and the company was pretty good too! Thanks hon.

Well, we almost did it.  We just about bought a house up here.  It was one of Bill Gates' 64 homes that he has around the world.  A fantastic home on beautiful Lake Washington about fifty miles from us.  We were satisfied with the 30 car garage, the $157 million asking price, and bringing Hawaiian sand in every week for his beach, but the total floor space is only 60,000 square foot--a little cramped for our needs!  (It took 7 years to build and because he knew there would be lots of construction noise, he paid off all the mortgages of any nearby home owners as a goodwill gesture!)

I learned some very interesting and surprising facts today about this area of the state.  For example, Seattle doesn't really get that much rain averaging only about 39 inches annually.  It does get a lot of light rain which combined with the ocean's winds causes cloudy, gloomy weather conditions.  It only has about 70 days of sun whereas Denver has about 300!

Now Mt. Ranier on the other hand, is the snowiest place in the entire world averaging 680' a year. It also holds the record for one 24-hour period—10 feet!!!

Sister Center used the neatest quote in her lesson today.  From Elder Neal Maxwell:  "Studying the Church...through the eyes of its defectors is like interviewing Judas to understand Jesus."

That rustling sound you hear is not autumn leaves falling but is the minutes of our mission dwindling away.  (We've been out seven months today.)

She's like Glinda--a good witch.  (We celebrate Halloween even in the mission field.)

As I've mentioned before, every other week or so our name tag (and "church" attire) "invites" someone to come up and talk to us--probably 2/3rds are members and the others just nice and/or curious folks.  However, today was a first.  We were having lunch in a diner and when we went to pay the waitress told us someone had already paid our bill.  We asked who and she nodded towards a table where two women were sitting.  We went over and thanked them, and as we talked it was obvious that they weren't members--just nice people who knew we were doing the Lord's work--don't even know if they knew what church we were representing.  Just another pleasant "serving a mission" memory.

I loved being a professor.  When I retired, I seemed to be just as busy as before I retired but still loved it.  Now on a mission, I'm busier than ever--and loving it even more.