Mom and Dad's Wedding Announcement

In going through Nana's momentos, I found this. I am always amazing by what she still kept. She and I sat together while she ruthlessly parsed out old photos, giving them to children and nieces or nephews, or just straight to the bin. Before she moved to Bothell, she was feeling particularly unsentimental about objects, but this gem she kept. Or at least, she allowed me to "hold on to it for her" at my house.

Preecs-Warner Wed

Buried in other albums are choice photos from the wedding itself, including the remarkable pink tuxedo. I just think it's lovely that this treasured clipping still exists. Especially given Nana's fondness for newspaper clippings.

Eulogy I read for Nana 8/16

For those of you I haven’t met yet, Martha was my Nana. Nana was a role model in so many things: being a loving wife, mom, grandmother and great-grandmother, being an engaged political citizen and community member, aging gracefully, staying open minded and always learning. I learned a lot from her life and her stories. But perhaps the most important thing I’ve tried to learn from her is how to really listen to people with love. 

When I was in college, I would visit her and Papa, and they were so excited to listen to my dreams and plans. And what I noticed is that she was always listening in a way that reflected the best in me. I told her about my ambitions to study science, and work to discover new drug treatments- she told anyone who would listen I was going to cure Alzheimer’s Disease. When my husband Matt got a job at PACCAR doing sustaining engineering, she told her friends he was making a greener truck. Now, of course, she is my grandmother- it makes sense that she would hold me in high esteem. But since I have been able to spend time with her as an adult, I’ve realized :This is how she listened to everyone.

I am so fortunate that when Matt and I moved back to Washington from Pittsburgh, she decided to move closer to us. It was a huge adjustment for her, but she took it on with an enthusiasm for change that it uncommon for people her age- or frankly people my age. So, thank you to the friends in Spokane who let her leave, and thank you to her friends in Bothell for helping her to never regret the decision to move.

 

I was impressed by how considerate she was of new friends- she used to carry a little notepad to write down people’s names as she met them so she wouldn’t do them the injustice of forgetting their names. And she didn’t limit her circles. When she realized how many of the nursing staff at the Chateau were immigrants, she got a map, and would ask each of them to point out where they were from so she could really learn about them and their histories. Many of the servers in the Chateau dining room are young, and she gladly nourished their ambitions for school and careers and travel. Because she always made time, and paid attention to people in a really personal, compassionate way, she brought out the most patient, considerate side in others.

Since Martha’s passing, I have heard from so many people how sorely she will be missed. Thank you all for recounting your stories of how kind and generous Nana was with her time and attention. As you all know, She made friends quickly. She delighted to share and celebrate your fantastic stories with me-athletes who completed amazing feats swimming huge distances in open water, artists who were perfecting a craft shaped by years of practice and the thrill of travel, and even one guy single handedly restoring an amphibious landing craft in Portland Oregon. When Nana describes her friends to me, they always sound young, vital and full of a joy for life, which is something she just brought out in people. 

She just had a way of warmly acknowledging everyone to make them feel special.

When I defended my doctorate, she proudly traveled to Pittsburgh to listen to my seminar and defense. At the after party, she pulled out her camera and took pictures of every single person who came to wish me well- not just the faculty and my close friends, but the post-docs, the undergraduates and the techs. There were probably 100 people there. She was thrilled to celebrate with all these people who must have played an important role in my education; she knew they must be special because they turned out to support me. She chatted with every single person at the party, and for weeks afterwards, people told me how charming my grandmother the photographer was. 

A few years ago, we took a trip to Winthrop with Nana and my mother-in-law Betty. There were people who looked like me and my husband, who were returning from bike rides or hikes, people who looked like Betty or even Nana, who were perhaps gallery shopping or RVing.  Nana wanted a picture of us happily enjoying lunch at a brewery, so of all the available patrons, she of course turned to the table of surly-looking, leatherclad bikers pounding beers at the table next to us, and asks them for a photo. One of these tough guys hops up with a “Yes ma’am,” very happy to oblige. I was already bemused with the interaction, then she sincerely asks him about his shirt- he is wearing a Caribbean beer shirt, with bright colors and scantily clad ladies. And Surly McBikerGang lights up and tells her about the joy of lazing on the beach and partying in Belize. And she of course has heard such wonderful things about Central America from her dear friend who has a tree house in Costa Rica… the way they hit it off, I thought he was going to buy her a beer. But that was Nana: she always saw the best in people- these weren’t thug bikers, these were a few guys enjoying each other’s company just like us, and she brought out the best in people just by treating them like they truly are treasures. 

I hope to spend the rest of my life working to be as warm and loving to every human I encounter as she showed me how to be. To Nana, everyone was special, and everyone was worthy of her time and attention.  She will be sorely missed, and fondly remembered by everyone who had the great pleasure of knowing her.

Remembering Uncle Bob

Today we went to the memorial service for Uncle Bob. I can't say that Bob and I were close, but my personal feeling is that grief is easier when shared, so I wanted to be there to support the members of his (and my) family who were grieving. And you know what? You always learn about the deceased at a funeral, and chances are you see people you ought to see more often. If it weren't so dang sad, funerals would be really cool.

Here are some things I learned about Uncle Bob today:

• Uncle Bob was a union carpenter. 
• He worked on the Kingdome and Seattle Center.
• He built rigging to support shipments sent for the drilling efforts on the North slope.
• He loved Lifetime movies.
• He was a swimmer.
• He ate a lot of icecream. Like, a whole lot. Every day, by the sounds of it.

Because I had the privileged of going to the service with Nana (and Mom and Dad), we also go to swing by the address where she grew up- 510 9th Ave SE. (She says it surprising which things stick in your memory.) The house is gone, but the address is just a few blocks from Meridian, the main drag of Puyallup, and parking for the State Fairgrounds. She told us there used to be a Japanese internment camp on the corner there. That's a bit of local history that I've never really recognized so directly.

We got to see (and hug, and share memories with) some of the farther flung cousins, which was great. It made me really glad I was able to go. Maybe we shouldn't wait until the next funeral to do that again.

Nana Stories

In support of the blogging that is happening, I wanted to jump in with a post. The other evening, Shaoshu cooked a traditional Szechuan dinner for us and Nana, as an excuse to hang out with Nana. Shaoshu and his girl friend Mylinh (Vietnamese American) were impressed by Nana's willingness to try the new and different food, and her competence with chopsticks. We all have met people our own age who don't know how to use chopsticks, and refuse to try. Props to Nana. 

We got to talking about Nana's days living in a houseboat on Lake Union. She described on mirage they had in a fairly secluded area at the base of a hill. It was secluded enough that Nana would slip out in the morning wearing only a slip and a bra ("because we didn't wear pants in those days") to put a few laundry items on the line to dry. One morning, Papa's friend Dick's father was in town, and he dropped in on them at just that very moment- undressed, outside the boat. "I grabbed a dish towel and held it up in front of me life I was about to hang it, and gestured with the whole thing 'you just go right on in, right over there.' Then I ran to my neighbors house, undressed, and begged to borrow a dress. The only thing she had was a plaid thing with giant bubble sleeves. I put in on and went back to the boat and tried to act like nothing happened. He never raised an eyebrow and I never said a thing!"

Dinner to the Shelter

This week Nana agreed to help me take dinner to the shelter in Redmond. They have recently increased their bed count, so now we take dinner for 20-25 hungry young people, which is bordering on too much. Well, perhaps not too many people, but it requires a lot of planning, and careful choices about menu. And you know who I want on my team when there is a cooking project that requires planning and choices? Nana. This week I decided to go with pulled pork, which is crockpotted in 2 crockpots, baked potatoes and salad. My fatal error was to also deciding to cook an apple crisp.

I picked up Nana at 5, and we got back to my house to start with dinner around 5:30. We figured we'd assemble the crisp, cook it, and then do the potatoes (which I foil wrapped beforehand), so that the potatoes would still be warm at dinner. It's ok to laugh a little at this point- we need to deliver dinner at 8:30, and that stuff is simply not all going to happen in that three hour window. Nana and Matt started slicing apples while I made the top and preheated the oven. The crisp went in the oven around 6:30, and I was already starting to think better of my plan. Instead of turning the oven up (since a crisp can pretty much cook between 350 and 425), I just threw the potatoes in there as well. This will get us to the punchline in about an hour.

Next, we shredded 16 pounds of meat. I was feeling good about this- it was tasty, and for once seemed like plenty of food. At about 7, I nuked up some lasagna and the three of us had a simple dinner. Matt kept bragging to Nana that this was special, I usually forget to feed us on the nights I take dinner to the shelter.

At 7:30, I got up from the table, ready to start thinking about how we would move all this stuff, and wondering why we weren't overwhelmed with the luscious smells out of the oven. Picture this, I have a 15x11x4 foil pan brimming with apple crisp on the bottom rack, surrounded by foil wrapped potatoes on all sides, and above that is a tray of more foil wrapped potatoes, which is also surrounded by potatoes. (Dinner for 25, right?) The edges of the crisp seemed bubbly but the middle was... still crisp. Gulp. I figured, if the potatoes were done, I would just pull them out of the way and the heat would get more even in the oven. Worse news, the potatoes are also crisp. My eyes are getting bulgy now.

There is a moment, usually about 7:30, when we are planning to take dinner to the shelter and I think, "Nevermind. This won't work. Is it too late to cancel?" This was that moment.

Nana breezes in to the kitchen and says, "Hm, why don't you turn up the oven? And can you nuke those potatoes?" and then she goes on to cleaning up from all the dinner and cooking. Yes and Yes!  By this point Matt has looked up a real recipe for making baked potatoes (1hr at 425), and we crank up the heat. He starts pulling potatoes out of their foil jackets in pairs and throwing them in the microwave for a couple minutes at a time, then rewrapping them. Matt is watching the clock like a hawk, but I'm confident that dinner can be served eventually. I start loading up the car. Juice. Buns. BBQ sauce. Butter and sour cream. Lasagna pan full of pork. Salad. The longer the potatoes have been in the oven, the less nuking they need. The crisp is starting to soften and smell lovely. We get the last soft potato in the car and hurtle down to Redmond to serve.

I'm feeling grateful that I can afford to donate dinner, and that I have family to support me in the effort, but still a little bashful that we might be a couple minutes late and a fair bit frazzled. When we arrive, the shelter is dark. For one second, I wonder if I misread the calendar, but no, homeless shelters don't take days off. Turns out, we aren't the only ones feeling flustered tonight, the key has gone missing, and the staff are waiting for someone to let them in.

As we wait patiently, more people start hanging out in this dark parking lot, and I'm feeling really glad that we have a trunk full of tasty food to share. Once the door is open, we breeze in like this is no big deal, unpacking and delivering while the now flustered staff and trying to recover from their shortened prep time as well. By the time we left, it seemed like a huge crowd was waiting outside. Several of the guests thanked us for bringing dinner, and we slinked back to out nice warm homes. The next day I got an email that they had more people than beds that night, but they were able to offer dinner, even seconds, to everyone who was there that night.

Nana Stories

One of the neat things about having Nana nearby is that I get to hear stories from her. Not just the major, life changing stories, like how she met Papa, or what it was like to have kids in Juneau's early days, but normal stories.  I wanted to capture a few of them here for my siblings/ nephew and niece.

Last weekend over dinner I was talking about reading the Monuments Men (about the effort to save art, artifacts and monuments during WWII), and I confessed that I know embarrassingly little about world history. Did you know that Germany tried to invade Russia? Which is why Russia ended up in the war? And that we weren't exactly on the same side? Matt and I bemoaned that Juneau schools never seemed to take history very seriously, so now we are just ignorant adults. Nana said she also didn't get much world history. In high school she was on the annual commitee (yearbook), and she has this very sweet, very dull world history teacher. Should would just come in the class, flash him a smile and say, "I have to work on some things for the annual. Can I do the assignment next week?" and he would let her out of class. Pretty much all year. Seriously. I never pegged Nana for ditching class.

Earlier this week, we were talking about hot water heaters, and Nana reminisced about how when she was growing up, their hot water tank was basically uninsulated, so you could feel on the site how much and how hot the water was. (I assume Nana's Mom had impervious hands as well.) Nana said her mom always seemed to have infinite energy. I have heard he describe the garden that kept the family fed all year, especially when beans, fruits or other things were ready for canning. Because it was a large garden, there were huge spurts of urgency where Grandma Sandlin would have both Nana and Auntie Jeanne in the kitchen, canning for hours. Nana said she could see out the window that it was blue skies and sunny, but she was always caught in the sweltering kitchen heat. And at the end of a major canning effort, her every energetic mother would pat the hot water heater and say, "Come on girls, we still have enough hot water to do a load of laundry." I thought of how ambivalent I can feel about laundry when I'm tired, and then she told me how they DID laundry: manually. They would fill up two tubs, one with soap and a rinse that they would run it through a ringer, and they drop it into the second rinse, with "bluing" and then ring that out, and then hang it all out to dry in the sun. Just hearing that makes me want to flop into a frazzled domestic mess, but she said her mom never wanted her dad to see how much work it was. He liked to see her looking calm and relaxed when he came home from work, so she always made time to clean up from all these things, including scrubbing the floor, brushing her hair and changing her apron so that when her dad got home things were calm and quiet. I asked if she was ever able to achieve that standard with her own kids, and she just laughed.

We had planned to see her and Jerry this week to have dinner and go to the movie Saving Mr. Banks. Due to my poor planning (oh, the movie starts when?) and our general lack of urgency, we missed the movie, but it was nice to have dinner with Nana and Jerry. Just like "old times" before the folks moved here.

Oh, and I feel like bragging. As I mentioned we had a really great time at MOHAI a couple weeks ago, and when I mentioned this to Nana and Jerry, they thought it sounded cool, too. So cool, in fact, that they got one of the buses to take a load of people down there for the day. And they ALSO enjoyed it a lot.

Matt has been busy this week. He gave a talk on Friday, and is gearing up for the mountain bike race series. This means making changes and updates to the bike, that seemed to involved new wheels, and new cables, and many hours in the garage. He really enjoys that.

One More Box

Mom and Dad moved the last of their stuff into the Monroe house recently.  While I haven't seen how that is going on their end, the fall-out has been some mid-day deliveries of chairs (the green Papa chair) and rugs at my house.  So I picture it's going great.

Before they left town for Adventure Round 2, we celebrated Seattle's Restaurant week- Price Fixe at restaurants we normally don't have occasion to frequent.  It was a nice chance to catch up before they are gone for a month or something, and to trade a few things.  They brought Nana (to spend the night and convert my garden to a thing of weedless beauty), and "another box of things. Maybe from Nana's?" Now, I am happy to be the only one not downsizing a house, but there has been no small number of boxes of tchotckes that were never worth the effort to ship, and I really thought we had weeded all those out.

Nana and I sat down for a cup of tea last night to see if either of us could figure out if there was anything of value in the box.  Turns out- Bonanza!

This was the box with the last few missing things.  Nana's recipe box has been AWOL since the move.  It was in the box.(!!)  Papa's nearly exotic fleece barret.  In the box.  Classic children's books, a 1950s cookbook and some VHS labeled 1989 Preecs Children.  Papa's Right of Way Association Plaques. His Boy Scout (leader) award. Awesome.

But most of the box was pictures.  All manner of pictures.  Pictures from the last few decades of domestic and foreign travel.  Nana's high school graduation photo.  Her Kiwanis Award (for service). Grammie Jean's baby book (not aging as well as she did). Papa's 65th high school reunion photo.  There is no shortage of cool stuff and rainy afternoons in that box. Next time I make noise about "nothing to blog about" remind me to pull some stuff from the box and start collecting stories.

Before I really get started on it though, I wanted to share this little gem of a newspaper clipping. (Transcript follows for future search ability.) I would love if someone could fill in the ~30 year time gap between the estimated date of the clipping and the postmark.

[ To Talk of Many Things . . . . --By D.H.P.
I have been deeply moved by an act of innate honesty of my fellow man . . . . at all times of course, most of us are careful with out money for the needs it must supply . . . but at Christmas time with this business of gift exchanging, it becomes of particular importance . . . last week a lad of small fry age was entrusted with a sum of money . . . . and somehow lost a bill of large denomination from his pocket . . . . it was a tragic occurrence, so much so that he was plunged into deepest despair because he felt he had ruined Christmas for his family . . . the following evening a little ad appeared in the daily newspaper that "folding money" had been found . . . . On inquiry it was determined that from the spot it was found and being in the amount of the sum lost, it could be no other than the small fry's bill . . . every offer of recompense was refused . . . . the finder of the bill was glad it could be returned to its owner . . . . I think that is a wonderful thing . . . . that a man would find a piece of paper money in the snow and advertise to locate the rightful owner. . . . and at the holiday season time too, when everyone can use a little extra coin of the realm . . . . and truly Mr. William B. Preecs of Pacific Northern Airlines, who must be possessed of the pure meaning of the Christmas Spirit may enjoy his holiday knowing he has lightened a heavy burden from a little boy at Christmas time.]

[Enveloped post marked Baltimore MD 212 12 Nov 1986 from the Thunder Hill Rd House to the Everett House] 

Farmers Market Problems

Mom and Dad are here!  And they have a new house!  Since I am their closest child, it is clearly my responsibility to be sure that they have as much fun as possible so that they remember to move down here quickly.  I started their social calender with dinner at cousin Lisa's wine and cheese bar/restaurant super yumminess.  It's right down the street from Nana, which is handy.  It is crazy delicious, fresh source locavore food, which is stellar.  The social highlight of dinner was Lisa running out of the restaurant when her daughter's contractions progressed to "Having A Baby Time." (The food highlight was the fresh corn chowder, obviously.)  How exciting!

Since Mom and Dad are actually waiting for their stuff to arrive Monday, they've been not too busy running errands and getting to know their way around.  So I insisted they join us at the Redmond Farmer's Market for lunch and grocery shopping.  Lunch was a brilliant idea- how can you pick between tamales and crepes? And by then we were all sensitized to the fresh looking foods of the market.  Mom really wanted some heritage apples (Macintosh, Gravenstein etc.), so we had to peruse all the apple options.  And obviously, at farmer's market in Washington  EVERYONE has apples.  I ended up picking up some Italian plums and honeycrips and carrots and beans before Mom picked her apples.  The tipping point for our trip probably came when I was eyeing a basket of tiny-cute, sweet, homeless strawberries, and the guy (hoping to go home early), gave me a deal on a flat of the poor little orphan berries.  The little dears were within hours of peak juiciness, and would need to be used quick. We were supposed to join Nana for dinner, and in the back of my mind I thought 'I'll just bring dessert, no big.'  But then we bought a lump of fresh mozzerella (soft and sweet!), which we clearly had to pair with some of those beautiful Heirloom tomatoes we'd seen.  And of course, we found a pair of giant sunset hued tomatoes that were in the magical hour of peak perfection.  These magical fruits were not going to survive to be eaten another day... could I bring a salad to Nana's too?

Now that we had stocked up on WAY too much food that wouldn't survive the weekend, I insisted we have everyone over for dinner to help me eat my way through this produce.  Nana came to join us, and we talked about Jamie Oliver was plowing our way through roasted farm fresh veggies and didn't stop until we polished off half the flat of berries.

NW Adventures

When we left Nana's house on Sunday afternoon, she loaded us down with chocolate bars and homemade cupcakes.  Why? Presumably this is payment for spending the day being such good grandkids.  What did we do that was so special?  Well, we took Nana up to see Anne Cox's beautiful boat and go for a ride in the San Juan Islands.  Yeah, we take really good care of Nana.

It was a pretty perfect expedition, in fact.  We've had unseasonable clear October weather, so Matt and I feel like it's the summer that never ends.  Going to spend a few hours toodling around the San Juans is a pretty fantastic way to pass the day.  We had amazing view of Mount Baker, of the for rolling in around Anacortes and the islands themselves.  Couldn't have been a better day, really.

We paired this Sunday activity with a good Saturday as well.  Our friends wanted to hike up Mt Pilchuk, a well loved nearby peak.  The bulk of the hike is skree and epic granite, which makes for some truly stunning vistas.  The very peak is covered in a jumble granite boulders, as if the whole mountain is just a pile of oversized gravel.  There is a lookout tower strapped across some of these boulders.  On a clear day, you can probably see into Canada from there.  We managed to see mysterious views of the inside of a cloud.  This did make the hike seem quite dramatic though.  After a nice hike, we went to play 19 holes of disc golf in Lake Stevens. Have I mentioned I am terrible at disc golf?  Typically, a sport that requires eye-hand coordination, throwing and trees was not going to go well for me.  Fortunately, there were enough trees that we all had a good laugh at each other.  There is something really hysterical about watching some one hurl a frisbee at a million miles and hour into a tree 10 feet in front of them (pro tip: this is not a good technique to "win" at disc golf either).  Or maybe we were just worn out.  Anyway, we wrapped up the day by meeting Shaoshu for Taiwanese food.

Taiwanese food has become the new concession to my new eating habits, since Szechuan cuisine is right out.  As far as the eating goes, I'm back on most food groups, but still avoiding citrus, spicy and alcohol, since these all appear to be solvents for the lining of my stomach.  Ouch.  Back to taiwanese food, it turned out to be auspicious since the Moon Festival was starting over the weekend.  We got to have some fresh moon cakes for dessert in addition to the already delicious foods.

In other news, we are starting to think more seriously about the possibility of someday preparing to shop for a house, you know, as a preliminary exercise to owning one.  There still seem too many other unknowns up in the air to make any actual decisions (will we be able to afford much of a house? where might this house be? Are there things we need a house to do in the future?  This last one is a thinly veiled way of saying "three car garage?" which leads to a lot of other talking that isn't much about a house, but a lot about a budget).  This is fine with me.  It seems like a big decision that a person should not make while being as remarkably ignorant as I am about all things on the spectrum of mortgages and property taxes to home ownership and maintenance.  Lots of learning to do.  As I told Mom, we'll probably be financially ready to buy a house before we are emotionally ready, and both are in the future yet.

Things change

By now you've all heard that Nana had a little spill and will be wearing a brace until her back heals.  For a couple hours on Tuesday, this was really scary, and I am glad I got to be with her while we figured out what was going on.  Now though, now it seems like an inconvenience.  But that's Nana for you- no wallowing, just determined to do what she needs to get better.  If that is wearing a kind of inconvenient brace right now, so be it. I think she's gotten most of you on the phone, so you can hear that she isn't suffering unduly.

The rest of us are striving to take good care of her in anyway she will let us.  I say "the rest of us" because my Mom did that cool, retired person thing of just showing up where the action is.  She came in Tuesday night and is going to be staying with Nana for a bit.  (Someone has to remind her to use her walker, ahem.)  This is good, because someone is going to have to help manage the steady stream of visitors while Matt and I are working.  It sounds as if there is going to be quite a parade of visitors today and possibly through the weekend.  I mention this in case you try to call and she puts you off- Nothing personal, but Queen Martha (as we've taken to calling her with this princess perfect posture the brace forces) has many duties to attend to.

There are lots of reasons that this doesn't really seem like a major life changing event in the same way you might expect.  Partly, being close at hand makes it easy. Being at the Chateau has been awesome.  For one, they just trip over themselves to be accommodating (I imagine they are like this for everyone, but they all really like Nana). It's a huge relief to me, and everyone else I am sure.

In related news, I've been seeing my Mom everyday, which is cool.  It's been good to have a little help with some of my database questions.  And we've been starting to gel around some ideas for the holidays (spoiler: they will be awesome). One of these days, she is going to get me to help her with her Portuguese lessons.  Matt and I might be able to rope the two of them into judging our Waffle-Off, a completely objective comparison between our two waffle makers. 

Life is looking good!

What a lovely week!  Rae Ann was in town to visit, which means we had TWO excuses to get together with the family, and one of those times Rae Ann showered us with outlandishly delicious food.  Grilled Shrimp AND Steak!  Grilled Veggies AND Grilled Peaches & Apricots!  I remember there was more, but not what it was because it sent me into a food coma.  What a great way to start the week!  Rae Ann is in town for her annual association meeting, but has been hanging around doing fun stuff with Nana all week.  Running off to Ikea, or to Gig Harbor or just sitting around reading companionably are pretty much what I imagine a fulfilled retirement looks like. 

Of course, Tuesday Matt passed his CDL test, so we got to go and celebrate, and on Wednesday I went to an AWIS social.  Of course, all of this out-and-about-ness is a side effect of my current work.  I'm contracting from home which means, well, I am at home all day.  So when I am Done With Work, I prefer to leave the house a bit.  It puts a nice bit of a break in there, and prevents cabin fever.

But the work is really good.  I may have mentioned this new company is very organized, has given me a lot of guidance, and generally has their act together.  We are using SharePoint.  I get weekly team updates.  I have an editor who basically responds to me within minutes of my questions.  It's grand.  I'm helping with a career development class for high schoolers.  The work is the right kind of challenge for me as well.  It's hard to write good assessments for some of these abstract concepts, but it also feels good to include some basic mentoring advice in the coursework.  I'm still not sure how much more work they will have more for me (pretty sure I've got stuff next week, not sure about after that...), but I'd like to keep working with them.

This weekend will be filled up with the types of activities one must willfully avoid from the home office, and becomes quickly negligent of when you spend all their free time gaddying about.  Yes, it's time to clear the mountain of tea mugs.  And possibly attend the farmer's market. And visit Nana some more.

Stuff we've been up to lately

I totally neglected to mention how awesome our Memorial Day weekend was.  Matt and I both had Monday off, so we decided to spring for one of those "We should do that sometime" activities that sounds like fun, isn't that hard to pull off and we normally never get around to.  But first, we were compelled to do something fun and relaxing because we wanted to celebrate having been together for TEN YEARS. Traditionally, I think we usually manage to pull off a picnic in a park to catch up and enjoy eachother's company a bit.

This year, to get things started, I finally gave Matt the PhT gift I've been working on.  What I gave him was the balance on an account he didn't notice I'd opened.  I've been putting all my money form contracts in there since December, and I finally got paid from a couple contracts that pushed the balance up over the mark for a new bike part.  Not just any bike part, so I wanted to make the presentation special- I used two springs (Dual suspension) to FRAME the balance. ... Oh yes, I am this cheesy in my real life.  Matt is going to pick out the frame of his dreams and bike happily ever after.  Hooray.

Our weekend was also super fun.  We picked up Nana and took a different way up to Concrete, this time through Darrington.  It's more of that rural, farm-land-by-the-river-framed-with-abrupt-mountains type scenery that does good for the soul.  We hung out with Betty, taking in the FOUR hummingbirds feeders (seating for 23!) host a deafening parade of hummers.  When you see that many birds all at once, and as close as we can get to them, there is such a moment of humbling awe, just like when you see whales breaching or first catch the glimpse of an entire mountain pass.  I had that feeling a lot this weekend.

The main event, however, was to drive over the Hwy 20 pass to Winthrop.  I didn't know what to expect, but I was told there would be ice cream on the other side.  The views on Hwy 20 were spectacular.  And it's quite obvious why this pass closes from October to April every year- there was still FEET of snow packed high along the sides of the road.  At appropriate distances, there were hiking trails and camp sites that made we wish we had different gear with us.  We did get out to look at the view at lots of places, and otherwise Matt just guided us over the winding and wild road to the East side of the state.  We got out to see Mazama and Winthrop, both of which were overrun with people enjoying the sunny weather and the start of summer.  The four of us just jumped into the fray, doing a little shopping, and eating and loving the scenery and the weather.

Weird and great day!

Weird part first:  I had an "informational interview" today at a small biopharma place.  That's in quotes because I intended to find out more about this company, but ended up answering a tirade of really weird questions that started with "Tell me your life story." Moved to, "Are you smart?  How do you know, is it because things were always easy for you, or because you have done hard things?" well past, "Are you good in the lab?  Do you love it?  Did you love grad school?" and ended abruptly at, "Well, I wouldn't give you a job.  You don't have any experience.  But you've got something.  I like that."  Nifty.  A story perhaps best left for the other blog- but it is always nice to confirm that I have more personality than "the walking dead," as this CSO put it. However, I still have lots of questions about that company.

Great part: Nana's house sold!  And closed!  And it's done.  Nice!  We celebrated by going to Tandem- which would be my new favorite restaurant even if it weren't run by my cousins.  Seriously, that food is crazy good, and Nana's niece is the hostess.  It's technically a wine and cheese bar, but you'd be a fool not to eat the halibut or the crab cakes or cheesecake.  They get as much local and organic as possible, grow at lot at their own Bothell home(!), and send your to-go box home on a plate from the kitchen.  So you have to come back.  Like you'd protest. 

And by way of announcement, we are going to Concrete to visit Betty for the weekend.  We are taking Nana.  We are told that there are even MORE hummingbirds, if that is possible.  We are also going to try to drive across the pass to Winthrop, which was the home-base of the Froggy 5*, Nana's life long college and camping friends.  None of them live there now, but it's cool to visit old stomping grounds.  The trip is to celebrate Matt getting a day off from truck driving, and the approximate anniversary of our being together for TEN YEARS.  Or a VERY LONG TIME.  I think we must be old because our best idea for how to celebrate was to spend time with our family.  Heh.

*Nana story.  Heard it?

Happy Mother's Day!

Traditionally, we here at the blog mark every Mother's Day by having a blog.  Really, our primary audience is our Moms and Grandmothers.  So, for you dear ladies and all you do- Happy Mother's Day.

This year, Matt and I got to celebrate Mother's Day hole hog.  But before we get there- it's been kind another crazy week.  Matt's CDL class takes up so much of his time that we try to plan for fun things when he isn't working/driving.  Friday night he went for a ride and had a bonfire with his bestie Jeffrey, but we didn't stay too late because of the CDL class, which was EXTRA early on Saturday.  Like 6am leaving from Renton early.  Sometime later, when I woke up to go to the bank, I had a confused memory of Matt asking me for my pillow- the fluffy pink one, not the understated green one Matt sleeps on.  I asked him later if that really happened and why, he said "It was kinda a tough morning.  I was confused, and your pillow looked like the best." (It is.)  He said that morning all the guys looked like the were going to a slumber party.  (They can sleep in the sleeper part of the truck while they take turns driving)

After a long day of driving to Yakima, Matt and Nana and I jumped into the car and headed up to visit Betty (meta-Mother's Day!).  It was a beautiful day for a drive, the Cascades and Olympics were out, the Skagit River was high and the roads were clear.  Brilliant.  We went "in to town" to have omg-super-yummy-pizza at the local Pizza joint which was a nice start.  But come Sunday, we got serious about Mother's day.  Betty and I made a pretty wicked breakfast (if I do say so myself)- awesome spring hash with asparagus and salami, a cheesy veggie omelet and a fresh fruit salad.  While Matt and I cleaned up, Nana and Betty started on a garden tour, but quickly got way-laid with gardening projects.  All in all, we planted carrots, weeded many beds, strung up the peas, swept the roof, cleaned the gutters and re-potted some plants (which were for me to take home).  All this with the some hot sun and the constant buzzsaw background noise of hummingbirds at the feeders- Betty must have a cycle of no less than 15 regulars constantly taking turns and waiting in the wings for their turn.  They are amazing, and if I get the pictures of Matt's camera I'll share some here.  Matt topped off the day with a unicycling demonstration that wowed the crowd.  It was a a fantastic day, the kind of day that makes us really glad we get to live in the same state as our family. 

To all the Mom's we didn't get to see today, Happy Mother's Day to you too!

Agog is the word...

Thought this deserved wider distribution for the sake of our lurkers: From Nana's E-mail.... Not sure you all are agog about how this retiree is managing but I'm offering a sample: Seriously wake up at 11 a.m.(it's been a party-ing weekend remember) and half hearted efforts don't count. Gulp orange juice (thank you Sandlin) go for lunch and then join the every Monday 1:45 WALK IN THE PARK. THE van picks a different place to go each week , there are a lot of options. This week we four residents " democratically" decide to skip Edmonds (too cold & windy there) for Community park in Woodinville (I may have the name wrong).( Smallish but memorable because of man giving workout to his prize winning golden lab retriever using whistle and hand signals ala Scotland sheep dogs. Dog also on TV as show winner. There is also an inactivated rope landing gear climbing tower connected to rope-and-plank walkway about 25 feet long leading to another tower w/rope landing-gear exit. My imagination gallops along. speculating on the excitement on a warm summer day. Back at 3:10--start reading Seattle Times in lobby when LaVerne reminds me of once-a-month book club in library at 3:30. Join 10 residents for discussion of THE MAN WHO LOVED BOOKS TOO MUCH--led by a retired Chateau marketing manager- (bubbly vivacious-)-who will try to arrange coaching for three of us with Nooks, but don't really know how to check out public library books. Brisk discussion that runs a "little long"--then ascend to 3rd floor dining room . Book Club custom is to eat dinner together and wine drinkers have choice of white/red. Menu in Dining Room changes daily, always has LONG salad buffet and GREAT variety of desserts. Special of The Day is Repeated as Eating Light that skips rich sauces, Has always been delicious as far as I'm concerned but old hands cluck and are greatly pleased that a new chef starts this week. My strategy is to ask for half orders--"small" milk. Singing group practises on B1 level 4th Monday at 5:30 Frankly, I'm ready for bed. Needless to say I'm a happy camper. Blessings to all. MP

More reasons it's awesome Nana lives here

1) Since Nana lives here, sometimes Mom and Dad wanna 'just come by for the weekend.'  They never did this when I lived in Pittsburgh.
2) Since I get to see her all the time, I get to hear Nana stories.  It's refreshing to be reminded that I come from a long line of women who work really hard, and manage to be successful even while juggling many needs.  Last night Nana was telling me about how her Mom had made her and her sister a little play house, complete with furniture, at their home in Wyoming.  And that she always made all the cabinets, clothes and food for the house.  Yeah, my people are handy and industrious!
3) Nana provides great excuses to see other people I want to see.  Party with the family next weekend!
4) Nana does stuff I only imagine doing, so it's like a preview to adulthood.  She is selling her house.  "Buying/selling a home" is no no longer on the list of things I know nothing about.  I've been a privileged observer to the proceedings of offers, negotiation, financing factors etc.  I'm looking forward to seeing how the various inspection/assessments play out, but the theme seems to be "Lots of Paperwork."  Who knew?  (oh, and in case you didn't know, Nana has accepted an offer on her house from a young family, and everyone feels good about it.)

I expect to be adding to this list quite a lot in the near future.  In other news, I am spending the day catching up on PM homework.  I've got like a hundred pages of reading to do before Monday, but considering how... um,... not dense it is, this will be no big.  It's weird to go into a field that is meant to describe an abstraction, I keep skimming past the 'vague stuff' only to realize that's the entire discipline.  It makes me wish I were taking the class in combination with having some big project.  Perhaps I'll convert my job hunt to a Project- and then manage the heck out of it.

NON-STOP ACTION

I like to be busy.  Well, not busy, but I'd rather have my time accounted for then to have nothing to do- and that sometimes means I overfill by time, but I'm happier that way.  I may have gotten ahead of myself this week, but I'd rather hardly have time to sit down then to be stuck at home.

I got a project at my internship with an imminent deadline, which gave me something to work towards.  I've been trying to stay on top of the job hunt, and have had some more phone calls and meetings crammed in between other things.  I started taking a project management course at the community college, it probably won't be hard, but there is a lot of reading I ought to do to get my money's worth. 

And then I got sucked into some extra hours at the bank as a result of something we aren't supposed to talk about, but we are calling "the Russian mobster incident."  I used to think that there were some jobs where there was so little responsibility that you could NEVER have a bad day.  I take it back.  Also, I don't think banking is my calling.

And Nana got an offer on her house!  This is great news for her, and a sweet primer for me a on the paper-work involved in buying/selling a house.  (hint: a lot).  Someday, when we are DINKs, we'll get to put all this practical knowledge to use.  Actually, this was double awesome because having Nana over to talk about counter-offers provided me the motivation to actually cook something for the first time in ages. 

Both of the professional societies I am a board member for had meetings this week, and I got a new writing contract that will take a couple weeks.  Busy-ness is just part of my future.

Matt's CDL class is keeping him very busy, but hopefully this weekend they'll get to shift gears (literally, they've driven miles in the parking lot in first gear).  We are hoping to go see Tulips again this weekend, so I'm going to be mad productive until then so I can enjoy a few unhectic hours with my family.

If you are jealous, there is a solution...

I had breakfast with Mom and Nana in Nana's apartment this morning.

Clearly, this is an above average Tuesday.

Also, Nana lives here now!  Like, 100% official, all the time.  Woohoo!  I need to send around invites to the welcome home party, but if you can't come, you should probably plan to come to visit Nana.  Her place is pretty sweet, and my place is pretty sweet, and between the two of us there are good times to be had.

So,... when are you coming to visit?

The big update of AWESOME that happened today is Nana moved to Bothell.  Woohoo!  I pretty much live down the street from my own grandmother- my life is finally on track!

I'll give you the run down of how this went for me- but just to update, Bart and Matthew rocked out some major home repairs last weekend, and Mom and Dad have been doing more of the same, and Dave (Berry) and some other Spokane people loaded the truck.  We can presume this was a lot of work, since none of them have complained about it. 

On my end, I went to work this morning after a a text to say the truck was rolling out.  Toward the end of my VERY short shift, I got a text saying "We'll be there in an hour."  Dave had given me all kinds of warnings about the snow in the pass, and his "not taking our lives into our hands" driving mentality, I just figured they've be arriving after I'd gone home and spent the afternoon with my feet up.  Nope. I sent a hasty message to the team who assembled themselves like champions.  It occurred to me that while I could ask my cousins to do all the moving because they are cousins, I also have a fair amount of moving karma to cash in, so I asked Jeffrey and Shaoshu to swing by too.  By the time I showed up (as quick as I could- I swear!), Matt and those two were ready to grab the couch, while Dave was organizing the truck for return (because it was all but empty), and Nana was resting on her chair by the window of her new apartment looking delighted, if tired.  She directed the boys where to put the rest of the furniture as it came in, and we sent them away to get pizza and beer. 

Kate and Liz arrived a couple minutes after me, so to earn our pizza and beer, we tried to make a first attempt to unpack, or at least organize what was there to be unpacked.  In the couple minutes it took Nana and I to sign the lease, Kate and Liz had unloaded Nana's clothes, moved a lot of stuff into the bathroom and sewing areas.  We hung out for maybe an hour until we decided we were all hungry (or maybe just me- I'm a great consensus builder) and needed to clear out the TONS of empty boxes to make room for our exit.  Oh yes, my cousins rock at moving help.

We had some pizzas and beers to celebrate a job well done, and Jeffrey's family joined us.  Having a three year old around makes any party feel like a wild time, and it was nice to just call up a few armloads of people I really care about to hang otu.  Nana trundled off to a early bedtime, and the rest of us hung around swapping stories, enjoying the company and making plans for more fun times together. 

Tomorrow Matt will be drafted in for his two other types of expertise- setting up the computer, and assembling a desk, and we'll endeavor to get the basics set up- bed, bathroom, finding all the stuff we hid unpacked yesterday.  We can keep working on that all week, too, so we might break for some fun or relaxing as the mood strikes.  Or Skyping- anyone??

Anyway, the point is, everyone who is awesome lives in King County, and I am getting really good at throwing parties for everyone in the world I care about, so if you want an invite, just let me know.  You should come and visit.

Woo! Nana's moving!

Awesome news- Nana is moving to Bothell!! In April!  I am thrilled!

Let's all take a moment to brag on Mom for helping Nana manage her finances and negotiating a great entry price for her to move to Bothell.  Nana's big move is tied to a lot of big and small decisions, so it was really helpful that she and mom had been keeping a nice worksheet of all her expenditures for the last year, so it was pretty apparent what would work for Nana.  But the awesome part came as we were getting ready to finalize these things.  All three of us were sitting down the the gal at the Chateau, and Mom says very evenly, "I'm responsible for keeping Nana in good financial shape, and I just need to know that she is getting this apartment at the best price she can."  And the gal said, sure, I understand, would you rather pay $100 less for the apartment?  "...Yes. That will work for us."

I'm not sure how, but I've got to try this tactic soon.

The apartment Nana picked is a spacious studio that looks towards the slough with a view dominated by greenspace.  The Chateau Bothell Landing is a great community full of mostly active and interesting folks, which has a fun calender of activities and yummy menu.  They are also quickly accessible to her church AND reading room, to the senior center, to the Library (where Nana already has a library card and hopes to work with the Friends of the Library).  Although the Chateau would drive her to any of these places, she has walked back and forth between most of them plenty of times already.  The community isn't far off the highway, which makes it feel not distant for many of the regional cousins and friends who are looking forward to seeing her more often.  I'm pleased with her decision, since I think will open up a lot of great opportunities for Nana in her retirement (not the least of which is me getting to hang out with her).

Nana has a very busy month ahead of her, packing up her things in Spokane, and getting ready to head West.  We've got teams of cousins on both sides of the mountains poised to help pack, load the truck, unload the truck, toast the arriving matriach and generally enjoy having Nana living in the West.  In the meantime, Nana has plenty more small choices to make (what to pack, what to leave, what awesome activities to do first when she arrives....), and I am sure she would appreciate some encouraging phone calls over the next month as she tries to work through downsizing and getting ready to sell her house.

For those who might be around, we are planning a "Welcome Home" party in late April, which will include lots of family and smiles (although I'll be lobbying for cookies as well).  Let me know if you'd be interested to attend, so I can loop you into the emails.