Category: update

Well, hello there. I wanted to share some photographs from the summer in an effort to liven things up here. We had a lovely summer. Two trips, one to California and one to the Oregon Coast, a lot of boating and crabbing, our garden (is still) productive and the girls are healthy and happy. Telfer and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. The shop was busy all summer and I would say we are more than 90% where I want it to be in terms of how it feels. It’s all very scientific.

That’s the macro version. The micro version: Cate was a potholder making machine. If you are related to us, you probably received a potholder. Jane was her helper and color coordinator and many evenings I had to shut it down. No more potholders!  But bedtime is fluid in the summer. We ate a whole lot of salad from our garden. Sometimes with fish, mostly with chickpeas. I don’t really cook in the summer. We went through a brief but intense fish taco moment. The girls watched every Star Wars movie approximately 14 times while Telfer and I watched absolutely no television. We were either working or sitting outside with a book in hand. It was a lovely summer.

More soon.

 We had such a good run of weather there for a bit. I know it will come back again but I am still enjoying these pictures of the girls I took one warm evening. I feel like the photos are very representative of the girls right now. Cate was telling me a story from her school day and Jane was just being Jane.

The girls and I went to Seattle one day during Cate’s spring break and we did our usual Top Pot / Aquarium run. When they walk ahead of me and hold hands it gets me every time.

On the last weekend of Spring Break, Cate was invited to a sleepover birthday party (her first). The invitation specified “fancy dress” which put Cate into a complete quandary. She has a few dress-up clothes but many she has grown out of and my suggestion of wearing her pirate costume was not popular (at all). She came up with the idea of maybe going to Costco to see if there were any fancy dresses? Both my girls have longed for Costco dresses their whole lives. Longed. I have never seen such complete excitement and love directed toward a $18.99 Costco dress. Most of the money for the dresses came from their piggy banks and picking out the actual dress seen in the photo above was very intense. Sizes and colors and matching vs. unique? Lovely little girl drama.

Today makes me believe that Spring might stick around. Yesterday was Easter and today the sun is shining. I can see the merits of starting the calendar year in early Spring rather than January 1 for sure. This afternoon I had time to take George on our long walking loop. The other walkers and I kept beaming as we passed each other – the sun, the sun! The girls came home from school and immediately turned on the hose (it’s 58 degrees). Classic.

March has been a bit of a blur. A lot going on and it’s been cold and gray and rainy.  More so than usual. There have been bright spots however. I went to Portland for a book meeting and had a wonderful dinner with RaChelle at Bollywood Theater. Nana turned 88 and Chris and Mendy had such a lovely party for her. Michael Scofield visited for a few hours on a couple of different days.

Easter was lovely. We had an egg hunt the day before at Grammy & Papa’s house with cousins. The girls had such a good time. Telfer worked most of the weekend and after the egg hunt, I hit a wall. I was so tired! I decided to read my novel instead of preparing for Easter brunch. It was a good decision. Brunch still happened, everything tasted delicious and the mood was warm and easy. We went to church and then had brunch at our house with the usual suspects (C&M, Nana, Duerre family, Liz & friend). Note: I have been making this fritatta recipe for ten years now. It’s very good.

Last weekend we took the girls whale watching in Port Townsend. Cate is doing a research project on whales which served as the the impetus to go. It was such a fun day! The four of us hadn’t spent a whole day together in too long. We watched a gray whale for about an hour – it was mesmerizing. He would break the surface a few times, spout water, his tail would come up and he would head down to eat at the bottom of the Sound. Repeat. I could have watched him all day. I think the girls secretly loved the hot chocolate on board the boat best of all.

The shop is looking wonderful. We replaced the back floors a couple of weeks ago which was such a big job. We moved all the books and shelves off the floor on Saturday night, Telfer and his friend Tony put down the new floors all day Sunday and an employee and I put everything back late Sunday night to open again on Monday. We took the opportunity to move around a bunch of shelves and sections and I have to say it has made a huge difference. Everything is looking cohesive and open and bright and welcoming. We are also making progress with our upstairs space. The table and chairs were delivered right before the floors were finished. We are hoping to have groups start using the space in the next couple of months. We will also host a Browsers-run book club as well – probably our first meeting will be sometime at the end of May. Any ideas for the first pick?

I am about 100 pages away from finishing A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. I have not been able to put this novel down and when I have, it’s impossible for me to stop thinking about it. I have actually had a Jude-infused dream. The novel is roughly about four college roommates making their way in New York after graduation. Jude is the central character and as the story progresses, it becomes clear he will never escape the trauma of his past. I have rarely been so moved or devastated by a novel. I am not sure if this is a convincing sell but if one of the reasons to read literary fiction is to develop a sense of empathy and compassion, this is a novel to read.

Today I finally faced the fact that Cate has conference week the rest of the week (she gets out at 11:45 – tell me, what is the point of this? Why not get conferences over with Tuesday and Wednesday and give everyone Thursday-Friday off?) and then Spring Break next week. Sigh. I think it will be easier next year when both girls are on the same schedule. Then I will plan to take the entire week off if possible. One more year of cobbling it all together. I meant to leave off on a less cranky note…