laBoucherie- Vashon Island

We splurged and went to laBoucherie on Moroccan Sausages a couple of weeks ago.
They gave us suggestions on how to cook them.
They were AMAZING!  We did not share them with the children. We selfishly hoarded them.

So flipping good.
If money were no object....this is what I would be doing on Easter:  A farm tour and 9 course meal!

Their website is worth a perusal if you are interested in this restaurant and farm etc.

Washington State Ferry- photos

I am kind of obsessed with taking pictures (choose your preposition) of, around, from the ferry.
It is either because this is a time when I usually have my phone and some free time.

Or, perhaps, it is because their are endless interesting, visually engaging and beautiful things to take pictures of from, on, or around ferry life.

Here are some of my favorites....

I know I might be partial but I do think this is the cutest kid ever (or cutest picture of a cute kid).

Beach walk- Fern Cove

There are days you forget that you live on an island.
Or days that you forget that the benefits of living on an Island is taking a beautiful day that the universe is offering you and going on a low tide walk.
Sometimes that mud is sticky, and if you are 2 years old it can be scary.
But that stream that pours into the water is fun even if cold and even if you are a grown up.

And it makes you want to pick up that perfectly round rock,
or climb over some driftwood.

This is the wonder of a beach walk.

More on the Commute details...

REVISION: As of April 2015 there is a new larger capacity Water Taxi.  The information regarding capacity is incorrect. For my updated post look HERE

I got a received several questions about some of the details of our daily commute to/from Vashon by way of the Water Taxi.   I figured I would offer the answers here...

 I'm a bit worried to hear that the 5:30 fills up.....do they often turn people away?  

     So it is true that the 5:30pm boat does sometimes fill up, but not often!  Because of that people line up a tad bit earlier, but in general this is now pretty rare.   Just over 2 years ago the Melissa Anne (the name of the PO boat) got approved to take on more passengers which apparently helped significantly. I think that the story that the 5:30pm boat fills up a lot is a leftover from that.  Again, it does happen but not all the time.

     Apparently, there is another boat being built that will hold more people.  . Often I arrive at the line at 5:25 and am fine. In two years time I can count on one hand the number of times I have seen people get turned away.  The 4:30 does sometimes also get filled up, but again not very often.   In fact, that is the one time I have been turned away and granted I was rushing down the pier at 4:29...

     Keep in mind that major events can impact this.  If there is an early Seahawks game on TV people want to get home and watch it- they also want to get out of the city earlier.  Also, my impression is that Tuesdays and Wednesdays there are more commuters to/from Vashon. I think that a lot of Islanders have jobs that have flexible work days- but most people who work in Seattle go in on one of the those days.  I also once heard one of the Water Taxi Workers jokingly say, "I am not sure that anyone who lives on Vashon works on Fridays."

how early folks assemble for the morning ride....any insight or tips would be greatly appreciated!"

People don't line up for the 8:15am boat.  It's a pretty chill affair at 8:15am.  I just get off the bus and walk onto the boat usually.  So there is no early assembly.

The 7:10 and 6:10 are a tad bit different of a story...These boats do not regularly fill up now that the boat capacity is larger, but people line up and wait to get on the boat.  From what I've been told (thanks Stephanie!) you can run down the dock at 7:09am and be just fine...

Any insight or tips would be greatly appreciated

Finally, the most important thing is to go onto the KingCounty Water Taxi Webpage and sign up to get text alerts if anything is weird about the boats.    Thus, if a boat is cancelled, delayed, broken down etc you get an alert beforehand so then you can troubleshoot. You can call work, work from home, catch a ferry, try to drive to work etc.

This is really important! This past winter we had weeks and weeks of cancellations, or delays. These texts saved our sanity.


Life on an Island with boats and water is wild! We had one day where the boat filled up, went to the Island and then the waters were too rough to land, so everyone hauled it back to Seattle....things like that are just part of the flexibility you must have!  Our childcare provider is flexible, we are flexible...life must retain a sense of welcoming the parts you cannot control.

Island Quilter...Vashon Island Fabric store

Update: This store has closed. The space was needed for another business.  I gotta say this is serious loss to the VI business community. 

I am not a quilter.

I've only made a handful to quilts in my life and they were all child size.  I think they are beautiful but I don't think I have the eye for it, and the other issue is that quilts just aren't my house aesthetic so even if I made one what would I do with it?

On the other hand, I love fabric. I might even love fabric more than I like white sugar or more than I like gluten, more than I like sunny July days in the PNW....no that last one feels like too much of a stretch... But the options for fabric are addictive at Island Quilter.

Yup right in downtown Vashon is a fabric/quilting store.

There is so much stock.
I repeat.
There is so much stock.
So much of it is beautiful.
It's almost all accessible.

I love love love it.

Mostly I go there for thread, a couple yards of this, a couple yards of that...I am not the reason they are still in business sadly.  But I wish  I could be!