I had a wonderful 40th birthday and I felt very spoiled for several days! The celebrations started the evening before my birthday. Jeremy, Lucy and I went to hear the Tallis Scholars concert at Saint James Cathedral. We dropped Sam and my MIL off downtown too, so they could attend the Paul McCartney concert that same night. (I was torn choosing between the Tallis Scholars and Sir Paul, but I decided to go to the Tallis Scholars since I have been lucky enough to hear Paul perform three times.) Of course I ran into Joy Sherman there, which was was a delightful birthday gift because she is one of the people I love and admire most in this world. Whenever I run into choir concerts, Jeremy jokes that he plans it as part of the celebration.
Lucy was kind of wiggly during the performance, but everyone in our family had a good evening!
Here I am with my fancy in-house soda drink. I can't remember the drink, but probably pomegranate-flavored. I'm very predictable in what I order.
What I didn't know is that while I was at work, Carrie and Rachael also were busy decorating my lawn. I came home from work in the afternoon and saw that they had left a yard sign, heart-attack designs and 40 tulips on my porch! These women know how to celebrate and I felt so loved that day!
I think that evening we had Thai food for takeout. Sam had a cello lesson that evening, so our birthday meal was a quick one. But the great part of that evening was that Violet jumped through a hoop for me, not just once but multiple times. I have been trying to train her for months to jump through a hoop and she finally acquiesced on my birthday!
The rest of our celebration continued that weekend, when J and I stayed at Treehouse Point for a night while my in-laws watched the kids. We ate a fancy dinner at the Snoqualmie Lodge and even won $100 that night! It was a lovely date and the treehouse was charming.
The next morning, Jeremy dropped me off at the Rachael's house and we headed out for a Girls' Day celebration. We first went to Value Village and found some sequiny and fancy outfits to wear rollerskating. Then we took a long walk along the the waterfront toward Alki Beach, and I remember we had a long chat about sharing opinions about abortion rights and the constitution because of the Roe vs. Wade leak. I love the variety and intellect of the conversations that we have together. Then we ate lunch at Salty's and went out for pedicures at Daily Nail & Spa on 35th Ave (they did a really good job for a good price!).
Probably the biggest surprise of all was that afterward, Rachael and Carrie took me to iFly for a surprise indoor skydiving adventure! I knew that they were taking me somewhere for a surprise, and my only clue was that I needed to bring something to hold my hair back. When they told me this (the day before), I had joked with them in a text thread that the hair tie was for a skydiving activity. They laughed and diverted the conversation elsewhere, but I did get a bit suspicious when I told Jeremy later about my skydiving joke and he got a stricken look on his face and then tried to laugh at my joke. But I still was surprised when they took us to iFly. I wasn't sure if I would be nervous, but it really was fun and a very memorable way to celebrate with friends. I knew this would be an especially dear memory, knowing that Rachael would be moving away in just a few months.
We had a little bit of time to kill before the last part of our marathon Girls' Day Out - which was the one thing that I had planned and requested. So we hung out at the Southcenter Mall for a little bit, wearing our matching iFly shirts while we shopped at Sephora and ate at the food court. Then we headed to the Southgate Roller Rink for disco skating. (Although there wasn't really a lot of disco music, but that's okay.) It was so fun to be back on skates again and revive a dormant part of me that I never get to do anymore!
This video makes me laugh because we clearly are trying to be all cool with our "raise the roof" dance skills and thrift store purchases, but we're kind of fumbling around even more nerdy when I stop and say, "I think we're blurry!" Ha! I also like that I'm chewing gum in this video (because I rarely do now, but I did it a lot when I was a teenager so it fits with throwback disco skating vibe that night).
These several days were really wonderful and I'll always remember them. I feel lucky to have such a great family and such great friends. The Bruno Mars song "Skate" has been reminding me of this birthday adventure since it happened, and now that Rachael has moved away I keep thinking of how the Bruno Mars song "Count on Me" also is a good one to encapsulate our special friendship. I know that, despite the geographic distance, that the lyrics of the song still pertain to our friendship: we will always "be there" for each other and we will "never say goodbye" to each other.
Well, we did it. After our brainstorming and a lot of costume prep, we had a Narnia-themed Halloween! It especially felt like I triumph because I wrestled with my sewing machine a lot on the day before Halloween, as I tried to get my dress ready. I had never sewn on a machine with the such different kinds of fabrics, ranging from a stretchy white dress, to a gauzy netting, to faux fur. And my sewing machine skills are pretty basic to begin with. I even enlisted Lucy as a helper to help lift up the foot of the machine so that fabric would not get caught in the needle or the bobbin thread. Later that night, I found a little piece of paper next to the sewing machine, where Lucy had been documenting our slow progress:
1. So far, so good
2. Keeps getting stuk :(
3. Haveing trouble
4. :( The dress is cout (caught)
5. Takeing a while :(
6. Good again!
My friend Katie had sent me some tips on what she did when she was the White Witch, and I followed some of those. I also found a webpage that explained how to make an icicle crown out of crystal clear hot glue gun sticks.
J made most excellent runes on the Stone Table
Here is the final product! I was the White Witch, S was the Stone Table, Violet was Aslan, L was Queen Lucy of Cair Paravel, and J was the Wardrobe.
We had a chili cook-off with our Dinner Group and went trick-or-treating around the Roses' neighborhood. It was the most delightful trick-or-treating experience that my kids have had, I think, because the whole neighborhood was filled with kids, and it was still light enough to see and appreciate the costumes of the kids. Normally we are some of the only costumed people out in the dark neighborhoods.
October is always a really difficult month for me, because I tend to teach more classes in the fall quarter and there always seems to be more going on. THis year was no different. I'm teaching four classes this quarter, helping out with two different art programs at Lucy's school, and serving on the national board of the WMS. So adding Halloween costume prep into the mix always seems untenable, especially because midterms happen the same week as Halloween. But somehow it all came together, after a lot of hard work and late nights, and it is always nice to finally say goodbye to October with a fun evening.
When we were driving home, Sam said, "What family costume theme should we be next year?" And J immediately replied, "Store-bought costumes. Our family theme is that we will all be wearing store-bought costumes next year." Ha!
I was following along with a yoga video this morning, and the instructor said something that stood out to me. She said that the body and mind and interrelated, and that mental health corresponds with physical health. I had heard this before, but she put it in terms of flexibility by saying something like this:
“A flexible body creates a flexible mind. A strong physical body creates strong mental health.”
This month has been full of stressors: positive stress with fun visits from family and events with friends, but a lot of negative stress with Grandma Judy’s poor health and death last week. The day she passed away was a ill-gotten confluence of both stressors, since her health declined rapidly at the Enchanted Forest, while the kids and I were there with my sister L and my local aunt, uncle, and cousins. We were in the best of places experiencing the worst of times. Lucy and I said goodbye to Grandma via FaceTime, while we were standing in line for the bobsled ride and cheery synthesizer music blared out of speakers nearby.
I’ve been anticipating a lot of upcoming stressors, too, especially as we travel for the funeral during the Covid pandemic. I got a massage yesterday (as part of Carrie’s birthday celebration) and I could feel a lot of physical tension in my body that needed to release. A lot of it did release, which really helped me to feel better. But I want to have a flexible and calm mind too, especially on this trip. I think I’ll do stretches and some yoga each day, especially while traveling, to try and work on my mental flexibility and health.
About two weeks ago, my grandma woke up and found that she didn't have the strength to stand up on her own. My extended family members - especially my two aunts - have been working hard to figure out solutions to help ensure that Grandma gets the care she needs (and also finding care that can fits within Grandma's financial means). These past two weeks have made me think a lot about caring for the elderly, those who are infirm, and also the things that I want to do to prepare for when I'm older. I hope I will be able to maintain my independence in the years to come, both physically and financially.
These paintings make it seem so lovely and peaceful to care for someone who is old or infirm. I don't think I'll spend much time outdoors when I see my grandma next, but I like these romanticized views nonetheless:
The kids are on Spring Break this week, and we visited the Tulip Festival as a mid-week activity. I'm so glad that the festival is happening this year. We have gone every year that we have lived here, except last year the festival was completely closed due to Covid. The closures happened just weeks before the festival was supposed to begin, and the farmers really suffered. I'm especially grateful that we could go this year.
I like to go earlier in the festival weeks, so that we can catch the beginnings of the tulips with the outgoing daffodils. There weren't as many tulips open as I hoped (although we did see plenty), but the daffodil fields were fabulous and full of color!
Every time I see fields of daffodils, I'm reminded of the song "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" that I sang when I was in my first sixth grade choir. This song, inspired by Wordsworth's famous poem, is fun because the music parts "dance" and interplay with each other to create text painting that mimics the dancing of the daffodils in the wind. I still remember my choral part, and Vivian told me recently that she still remembers her part too. I've been searching for weeks to figure out the composer. The song was stuck in my head this afternoon (due to this trip to see the daffodil fields), and I finally figured out the composer from an obscure YouTube video. The version that we sang was by Mary Lynn Lightfoot (and I've been discovering some of her other choral compositions today too, and I really like her work). I ordered the sheet music so I can have a copy. If only our director Mrs. Burke knew that I still remembered the song she taught me over twenty-five years ago!
We had a quieter-than-usual Thanksgiving this year, in an attempt to follow the local recommendations for social distancing. I didn't feel like cooking a huge Thanksgiving feast if it was only going to be the four of us, especially since Sam and Lucy don't like traditional Thanksgiving food that much. So we decided to order Din Tai Fung, which is a rare treat for us that we eat only once or twice per year. Everyone was happy and excited with the choice. And, as a result, we were able to go for an outing to Seward Park in the middle of the day, since we didn't have to stay home and prep food.
Lucy wasn't excited about walking around the park, but she was interested in a bike ride. So she rode her bike while I ran alongside her, and the boys and Violet had a leisurely walk at their own pace. I am grateful for this girl, since she motivates me to run faster and longer than I normally would if I were on my own. She would say, "Ready? Runnnnnn!" and then pedal away to get me started. And she even decided that we would go at a "speedy speed" race up a hill, so I definitely got a good workout before our feast with this little personal trainer!
As we were driving home from the park, we got a notification that our food was being delivered about ten minutes early. We rushed home and found the food waiting on our porch - we missed the driver by just one or two minutes. I quickly showered after my workout and everything was still warm when we ate. We had boba smoothies, soup dumplings, chicken dumplings, rice paddies salad, tempered green beans and pork buns. It was delicious!
Lucy is laughing in this picture because her chopstick is stuck in the middle of the bun. She was spearing it in an attempt to pick it up and eat it.
The chocolate dumplings were delicious and most of us said that eating these dumplings were our favorite thing of Thanksgiving. The molten chocolate is so delicious.
After eating our good, we went to RB for a socially-distanced, bring-your-own-dessert gathering with Bop, Gram, Susie and Dave. It was quiet and different, but I'm glad that we got to see some family on this holiday and express our gratitude to each other for all that we have and enjoy.
We hardly have any holiday events to do this year, due to the pandemic. However, the zoo is still open for outdoor events and it is hosting a "Zoo Lanterns" attraction this holiday season. I was a little apprehensive about going, but it sounded like all the right precautions were in place and I appreciated that masks were required for entry. We chose to go on a day that was slightly rainy, too, which helped to limit the crowd size. It was so nice to be on a family outing and to feel like we were doing something special! Here are some of my favorite pictures:
We liked this frog because his eyelids were both blinking, but at ever-so-slightly different times and speeds
We just got back from a very fun family camping trip up to North Cascades National Park. Our kids love camping, but they seemed exceptionally excited for this trip - I guess because we don't normally go anywhere during this coronavirus quarantine.
We planned this trip only about a week in advance, so we ended up getting the only site that was available in our time frame. But we loved it! We stayed at Newhalem Creek Campground, at site #129 off of Loop A. It was a walk-in site, but we loved it because we got away from the cars and most of the people. We felt pretty isolated, which was nice. J and I both said that we might want to keep staying at walk-in sites in the future, for that reason. When we go back, we think we'd also like to try site #121 off of Loop A too, because that one is right next to the Skagit River (and #124 seemed like a decent option by the river too). I think we might like this campsite better than the Colonial Creek campgrounds, because there aren't as many people.
There was a bird that must live in the trees near our campsite, because it kept singing for most of the mornings and evenings that we were there. We never could see it, but its song was very long and distinctive with a lot of trills, staccato notes, and ascending/descending scales. We kept trying to figure out what it was without success, and I finally downloaded an app on my phone to help with identification. It is a Pacific Wren, and its call is so pretty! You can listen to it here.
Violet found a cedar throne. Lucy also commandeered the cedar pile and would use the rotting wood pile to hold her stick staffs upright
We got to go on several hikes, and some of them were right in our campground area. On our first day we went to the Rock Shelter trail to see an ancient native shelter. This trail is also within walking distance of the Trail of the Cedars Nature Trail, and the signs were informative and interesting (although some were outdated). We liked seeing the power station, too. Here are some of the things we learned:
How to identify Oregon Grape, with its serrated leaves and waxy blue berries
Hemlock trees have droopy tops, their needles are irregularly spaced, and the pine cones are on the ends of the branches
Vine maples have smaller leaves and are more shrub-like than the big leaf maple trees. The vine maples provide a smaller tree canopy (maybe 20-30 feet high) over the big leaf maples that help to form a higher canopy for the forest
The heartwood of a cedar tree can rot, but the tree can stay alive because the sapwood core around the heartwood is resistant to rot (due to the acid in the sap). The phloem is one of the other rings around the sapwood. This diagram is similar to the one that we saw on the trail.
The Trail of the Cedars goes along the Skagit River and is right by a bridge that leads into Newhalem
Trail of the Cedars Hike
We also noticed these white, almost translucent-looking plants growing around our campsite. I actually had just seen them the day before when I took the kids on a hike up the Whittaker trail in our Issaquah (see picture below). The kids and I commented about how the plants looked like "ghost flowers," and it turns out that the plants are known as "ghost plants" (also called "corpse plants" or "Indian pipe"). Now that we have spotted them, I wonder if we will see them everywhere in the PNW. I learned that these plants do not need sunlight to grow (weird!), which makes them even more creepy.
We also visited Diablo Lake during our short trip. We took the Diablo Lake Trail only about two miles up, to an overlook of the lake, and then headed back down. But the hike was worth it, and I loved how the terrain was varied across different types of forests and rocks. trail. We took the trail only up about two mil
Diablo Lake overlook from the highway after our hike
Diablo Lake overlook from the highway after our hike
J took several fantastic photos of our trip too, which have been uploaded here.
On our final morning we packed up our campsite and then visited Ladder Creek Falls before heading home. It was neat to walk around one more power station too, and the kids were interested in hearing the electricity buzz from the wires. There were signs mentioning that a light show was held at the falls, but I couldn't figure out if that was still happening (some things in the park were closed due to the coronavirus). It would be fun to return here when the light shows is on in the evening!
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