Return to Seattle

Last week I repeated last year’s solo pilgrimage to Seattle, this time on somewhat different terms. Where last year I was overwhelmed with the emotion of returning home, this year I felt gratitude for the past without the longing. Where last year I crammed it all in, this year I hung out in the slow lane, allowing myself to soak up energies lingering from ten years of life experience.

The hours I spent riding the bus took me past the sites of many of our Seattle experiences, big and small. There was the house I lived in on the outskirts of Capitol Hill, the LDS Institute building where Chad and I met, the roadside stand where we bought berries every summer. Also the library where we attended Gavin’s toddler story time, the beautiful chapel where we went to church as a family, and Green Lake and the Burke Gilman trail – sites of favorite walks and talks.

Walking through a beautiful West Seattle neighborhood the first afternoon I spotted the city's new food and yard waste receptacles. Waste management may sound boring elsewhere, but it’s not in Seattle. Everyone raved about the new mandatory composting that now accepts meat and dairy and how even plastic lids (greater than 3” diameter) can be recycled. As a result, more and more people are using the “micro” cans for trash. I was enamored enough with the new system to follow a garbage truck around one morning in hopes of a good photo.

This trip, leisurely time with families of good friends won out more often than not over intimate dinners at favorite restaurants. The barely two-year-old son of one friend surprised me with “quinse, dieciseis, diecisiete”, while the three-year-old daughter of another who hadn’t seen me for nearly a year cuddled right up in my lap. It was gratifying to be with people who nudged Chad’s and my early relationship along, sat next to us through our wedding, helped us through the births of our children, camped with us for six straight summers, and taught me so many of life’s lessons just by being themselves.

To everyone I missed – I would have loved to see you!

Signs of Spring: Part II

In the weeks following our first Signs of Spring post, the frequency of my treasured morning walks slowly increased, and I got the kids join me on some nature expeditions as well. We were delighted to watch the continual unfolding of life, from the opening of magnificent magnolias, to cheery daffodils, to all manner of flowering trees. The grass began to grow, then was suddenly studded with millions of tiny white violets in our back yard, convincing us to put off mowing for a couple extra weeks. Then on to the bright tulips, the graceful dogwoods that line our street, and finally the luscious lilacs (though I haven’t seen any to rival those from our back yard in Seattle).

As early as we could, we bought our now-traditional flat of pansies for the front yard flower pots. Not long after that we tried our hand at peas and lettuce for the first time. Then, just a few days before my parents arrived, came the shocking two-day transition from no leaves to full shade. As we ambled past Alice Acres we caught sight of a new baby lamb. All of a sudden we couldn’t believe spring hadn’t been here forever.

Spring in New England is truly intoxicating. Even now that we’re into the mow-every-week-or-else era, I love every minute of it.

Mother's Day 2009

Growing up spending Mother’s Day surrounded by middle aged ladies sporting pastel corsages and listening to treatises to the illusive woman who never raises her voice at her kids was not necessarily good for my expectations of Mother’s Day (or motherhood, for that matter). But somehow over the past six years I’ve managed to adjust my outlook and have to say I thoroughly enjoyed Mother’s Day this year.

It didn’t hurt that food was a part of the commemoration. Our very wise church leadership chose to cancel morning meetings, leaving Chad home to set out the bowls and pull the cereal containers from the shelf. Lunch leftovers were likewise prepared without motherly assistance. And the crowning event – Chad had made a special trip to the store for buckwheat pancake mix, which he prepared with the kids’ “help” (which involved shoveling large quantities of sugar directly onto the kitchen floor) along with bacon and scrambled eggs. What a treat!

Even more enjoyable was the time we spent together as a family in the afternoon. Chad gave me underdogs on our giant swing that left me soaring through the air. Gavin’s antics had him hanging from as often as hanging out in the hammock. We all soaked up some sun test driving our recently reclaimed Adirondack chairs. Then we were off to Glacier Park where we ambled through the woods scaling boulders and admiring the newly sprung foliage.

I managed to trade in the corsage (saw only one at church, in fact) for a beautiful bouquet of Stargazer lilies. Gavin and Arwen presented me with projects they’d made in school, both of which incorporated their own thoughts and artistry. And best of all, I got my own personal rendition of the song the children performed as part of our worship service earlier in the day. What a cute piece! The glimmer in Gavin's eye as he sang "A person bright and lovely is my mother dear" told me he really means it. What could matter more?

Grammy & Grandpa Visit IV

The best part of having Grammy and Grandpa here is catching up on all the things we don’t get around to discussing on the phone, watching them have fun with the kids, and taking care of each other.

Grandpa purchased a coveted bag of jelly beans at the aquarium gift shop, which he used as leverage to get the kids up and heckling him early in the morning – “You come in and tickle me on the feet when you wake up, and I’ll give you some jelly beans!” He returned with Gavin and Arwen the Mystic drawbridge and Mystical Toys (which they visited while Mom and I scoured Pennywise for some designer bargains) with a wiffle bat and ball and orange juice and milk cups for Giraffe. My personal favorite – Dad returned from his Thursday morning run with a dozen from Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. (Takes me back to the days when we’d return from a summer trip without him to find 7-Up cans and doughnut boxes in the kitchen . . .)

In addition to being a world-class early-morning snuggler, Grammy’s fun moments with the kids included reading A Symphony of Whales, the story of nearly 3,000 beluga whales trapped in the Senyavina Strait of Siberia who were saved by the bravery and persistence of villagers and the crew of a passing icebreaker. She also spent hours on the floor with Arwen putting together puzzles and helping Gavin with his homework.

Grammy and Grandpa managed to show their love for us boring adults, too, and not just at Cows & Cones. Dad’s hours in the garage and workshop produced the compost bin I’ve been yearning for ever since leaving behind Seattle’s excellent mandatory food and yard waste collection service. He also continued work on our basement storage, adding rolling shelves to help us rotate our canned food storage. In odd moments he managed to repair a languishing blind in our living room and the nonfunctioning light bulb in our garage door opener. Meanwhile, Mom was a great help in the kitchen and around the house and provided valuable insights and moral support on my unending yard improvement musings.

Our last evening together we had a visit from Mom’s sister Sharon and her friend Carol, who had spent the day at Mystic Seaport as part of a university tour of New England. We had a great time showing off our place to extended family, getting updates on the Utah relatives, and hearing about all the other great local sites they’d visited.

Thanks, Grammy and Grandpa, for a great visit and for all the support and love you give us!

Grammy & Grandpa Visit III

Tuesday as Grandpa continued work on the compost bin, Grammy joined Arwen and me for the last session of Arwen’s story time. In addition to the usual reading and activities, the kids snuck away for some art time sans moms – and came up with the lovely handprint poem you see here. They also celebrated the last day with a wide array of sweets (yes, just before lunch . . . )

Next we got Grandpa to join us for the first grade Cinco de Mayo luncheon at Gavin’s school. Kids stood in line in the gym waiting to pile tortillas, taco shells, and chips on their plates, topped with beans, tomatoes, lettuce, and cheese. And for dessert – chocolate cupcakes sporting Mexican flags.

After lunch we kidnapped Gavin from school for a special Grammy and Grandpa outing. Enroute to the Mystic Aquarium we made a stop at The Funny Farm, a gorgeous place I’ve wanted to drop into ever since first sighting it a year and a half ago. At the street is a self-service produce stand where vegetables and flowers are packaged in one-dollar bunches. The kids skipped across the bridge where they spotted toads hanging out in the pond below. Nearby I caught my first-ever sight of asparagus growing out of the ground. (While I’ve always known it had to originate that way, it was still a surprise after years of seeing it only in the grocery store.) The kids had a blast feeding carrots to the donkeys while Mom checked out the perennials.

At the aquarium we introduced Grammy and Grandpa to the beluga whales, checked out teeth from a mammoth prehistoric shark, and visited the loggerhead turtles. Outside we spied on the penguin colony and were entertained by Kodiak the sea lion. The kids got the usual kick out of luring the stingrays their direction and weaving in and out of the formations near the beluga pool. And a first for this visit – a video of the birth of a baby beluga whale. Gavin loved it – Arwen inexplicably did not.

After a quick dinner we caught Gavin’s T-ball game in the field next to his school. He’s come a long way since last year, watching for the ball and being quick to throw it to first base. Like last year, there are no outs and the kids tend to dogpile the ball (not at all hard with 15 players on the team). Gavin still enjoys socializing with runners from the opposing team but is developing a good swing and is a strong runner. It was fun to have Grammy and Grandpa there to cheer him on!

Grammy & Grandpa Visit II

Ever since I realized just when Mom and Dad’s visit would fall on the Spring timeline, I’d been looking forward to introducing them to the arboretum’s wildflower garden. This beautiful oasis is at peak only a couple of weeks out of the year, and their stay with us not only coincided with that but with the long-awaited appearance of leaves And the peak of the flowering trees.

Sunday afternoon we dodged the raindrops along the gravel path to the enclosed garden (gotta protect those tasty little flowers from deer!). Gavin and Arwen skipped gleefully through the woods, scouting out “secret ways” between the paths. Meanwhile we adults examined various species of flora. On the way home we stopped in at the greenhouse to admire our deve- loping garden plants and the resident orchids.

Back home we celebrated Mother’s Day a week early with Grammy. Dinner consisted of ham, twice-baked potatoes, and broccoli with a special chocolate-drizzled cheesecake for dessert. Yum!

Monday while Dad started on the compost bin Mom, Arwen, and I took a walk around the block to visit my neighbor Val after whose bin ours is modeled. Queries into the plants and flowers in her yard yielded a bit of family history, based on cuttings and transplants from various family members over time. Arwen got lots of kisses from her Irish setters, and Mom was particularly devoted to the purple phlox dotting her beds.

On and off during Mom and Dad’s visit we watched a small bird constructing what must have been a state-of-the-art nest in the birdhouse hanging outside our dining room window. We watched him fly off and return with long twigs, which he carefully maneuvered through the small opening.

Grammy & Grandpa Visit I

We kicked off Grammy and Grandpa’s visit with a trip to Home Depot where the kids jumped into this month's project – building mini wheelbarrows bearing flower pots for Mother’s Day. After picking up a few things we were home for a pizza party in the violets.

Then an outing my parents had been anxiously anticipating – a walk to Cows & Cones where we took in the amazing potted plants, checked out the new little piggies, and gobbled up some delicious ice cream. On the way home Arwen spotted a little turtle on the road. The poor thing got a lot of play until Gavin and Arwen were convinced to let him wander back into the wilderness of our yard.

Chad had come home from setting up a greenhouse experiment with the truck full of extra sand. The kids pulled out all the sand toys and had so much fun playing in their new sandbox we considered trading in our day jobs for a mobile sandbox business catering to all those poor kids who live too far from the beach.