“Sometimes I sneeze when I get excited because it’s like blowing confetti out of my nose. ” – Mia

“I have a lot in common with Daphne from Scooby Doo. I’m pretty. I’m popular. I sometimes wear the same outfit 3 days in a row. I also wear a headband.” – Mark’s sister’s 8 year old neighbor

“I’m allergic to unicorns.” – Claudine

“Sometimes when I get excited I don’t show it. I just wiggle my toes instead.” – Mia

“Do you know Lady Gaga? What?!? You live in NY and you don’t know Lady Gaga??” – the same 8 year old neighbor to Mia

(rolls eyes) “I think everyone in the whole wide world knows by now that Mia was in the hospital.” – Claudine

There are all kinds of Fall signs here, in the mountains, in the city. Even further south in Portland we noticed clusters of dead, brown leaves on the sidewalk. In Seattle we’ve seen a few yellow and orange leaves on trees and it’s been cold enough that I’ve been wearing scarves, jackets and hoodies the last few days. I’ve gotten quite used to the cooler weather, but I see you, New York. I peeked at the forecast this week. I know it’s still raging summer out there and it’ll be a shock to go back to hotter temps back home when we’ve gotten used to dressing like it’s Fall.

On Friday, we went up North to the Cascade Mountains to find a hike that all the kids might like to do. We never did find that trail, but instead drove up a few miles to a road that lead to nowhere except a recently abandoned campfire littered with trash. We drove back down and played by a river, resting just enough so that Mark could recover from being carsick. Back in the nearby town of Granite Falls we found a little diner with funny artwork that had the best Yelp rating, which happened to be owned by an older Korean couple. As far as I could tell, the woman took orders and waitressed while the husband was the cook. It was just the 2 of them. It was a rather curious little discovery for your fairly typical rural American diner situated in a predominantly white populated town, nestled between the mountains and other ghost towns.

The fries were hot and crispy. You can always tell the quality of an establishment by the quality of the fries. True facts.

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Pike Place Market is crazy crowded, even on a weekday, but even though you think you might skip the visit, you just know that in the end, you have to end up going. We bought a whole bunch of clams, fish, mussels and corn from the market and cooked them in one pot for dinner that evening. Because we’re staying with friends and family, we’re not so much trying to play tourist as we are just trying to live as we would at home. I could easily imagine living here, I think, but it’s taken at least a few visits to come to this. Mark and I joked around that we could retire here when we are old and no longer working. Either that or Hawaii.

Aside from the bizarre day yesterday, we’ve been having so much fun in Seattle. I feel happy here. I think I may have figured out why. I need to be by the ocean and perhaps that’s why Portland never truly felt like home, even with a river that ran through the city. I like the network of lakes, inlets, bays, islands and ferries. New York and Long Island is laid out in a similar manner, though with an entirely different feel. The water is not even something that I need to see, it’s something that I feel or sense, I think. It’s something that is comforting, that feels like home.

Lecia’s house happens to have a view of the water. There is a small strip of beach close to the house. Finally…a dramatic sunset.

Thanks again for all the well wishes. Mia seems to be responding well to medication and she’s bounced back, almost good as new, but man…was she ever pissed about being in the hospital. She made sure to tell me how pissed she was, all day today.

We’ve been in Seattle since Monday (I’m a few days behind in the way of posts) and Wednesday turned out to be the kind of day we least expected.

First of all, I’d like to thank Lecia and Alexi for their incredible hospitality. We are staying with them this week and they couldn’t be more gracious and helpful, especially today.

We had plans to wake up early and ride the ferry to Bainbridge Island and drive to the Dungeness Spit. We made it on to the ferry and Alexi, who happens to be a doctor, suggested we stop by the medical clinic in town as soon as we got off the ferry to get Mia’s swollen knee checked out. I had noticed that her knee had been warm to the touch, and the warmth, redness and swelling seemed to have spread even during the time we were on the ferry. After an exam, we were advised to head straight back to the ferry and check Mia into the ER at the Seattle Children’s Hospital.

I suppose there’s a moment in every parent’s lives when your child is hurt or sick and you have to take them to the ER or hospital. I guess we’ve been lucky so far. This was our first visit with either kid. Mia wasn’t happy that she got stuck at the hospital while the other kids played. She wasn’t happy that she wasn’t allowed to eat or drink the entire 6 hrs we were there. She wasn’t happy with the needles and IV. She got to watch lots of TV though as we waited around to get blood drawn, lab tests and her knee x-rayed. There was a period where I was starting to really worry. There were all kinds of talks about septic arthritis, infection in the joints and possibly down in her bone, admittance to the hospital for a few days, and possibly missing our plane ride home next Tuesday if prolonged anti-biotic treatment through an IV was required.

In the end, the doctors consulted and decided that she had enough white blood cells to send her home and fight it with an oral antibiotic and a close watch on the knee. We have to go back on Monday for a followup to make sure the antibiotics are doing their job.

On the other side of town, Mark was dealing with a sudden flat tire that was discovered in the morning and a dead car battery that was discovered later that day as he was trying to make his way up to the hospital. It was real nutty.

When they gave Mia the green light to eat, she chose to have apples, gold fish, and a half size can of lemon lime soda. She was pretty happy to see Claudine when she got discharged. We drove to Mark’s sisters place for dinner and came back to Lecia’s with just 1 kid. Claudine wanted to have a sleepover with her aunt, but Mia wanted to stay with us because she was worried about her knee. As we left Claudine there and drove away, I realized that we had never been away from her before. The girls have never slept apart. Mia said she was going to miss her. Another first in a day of firsts.

…which has my heart.

Turning the corner towards the public access to the beach, with the first view of Haystack Rock, made my heart ache. Like I was waiting to feel this feeling all trip long.

It’s been a good 14 years since I’ve been back. Even before I made the Northwest my home I spent a few summer weeks on Cannon Beach with my then boyfriend’s family, who rented a house every year for the month of July. When I moved out west, I stayed with them again for a few weeks the next 2 summers. The Oregon Coast was a special place for them and when his parents finally retired, they made it their permanent home.

Walking the beach at dusk on that cloudy Saturday evening with the kids, I thought about that first summer here, 20 years ago. I remember the early morning walks, the fridge that was always full of berries and freshly washed lettuce, dried and stored in Tupperware containers, and I remember the spectacular sunsets. His parents were like family to me – we were close – and having had 5 boys of their own, I think they enjoyed having a girl around the house. Even after the boy and I split up after 3 years, I kept in touch with the parents through letters and holiday cards.

I haven’t been in touch with them in well over 12 years, but I thought about them hard that evening. The last I heard, the father had some health issues and they may have even taken an apartment in Portland to be closer to the hospital. Though I don’t know for sure, I had a strong sense that he wasn’t around anymore. It made me sad. It made me sadder still that I hadn’t kept in touch.

We may promise and have the best intentions to keep in touch with the people who are important in our lives, but sometimes it does not always work out to be. Sometimes, certain relationships run their course and in the end…you have to let go.

Oh Portland, you confuse me.

I’m not sure what it is, but when I’m back in town, the city seems so foreign, like I’ve never even lived here. I don’t know if it’s because it’s been 14 years already since we left and the city has changed in so many ways, but it doesn’t pull at my heart strings when we cross the Columbia River on the interstate bridge from Washington to Oregon. The lack of emotional connection is so confusing seeing as how I’m usually so super nostalgic about everything, especially the places where I have lived. I’ll reminisce about certain places that we pass by…a store, a restaurant, or a street corner…and there are a number of places that have stuck around with plenty of opportunities to feel those pangs of nostalgia, but I feel more like a tourist than someone who is visiting their old haunts. I don’t quite understand why.

We had a fantastic 2 days over the weekend. I was happy to show the girls Powell’s Books and the Rose Garden. The roses were still in bloom and we walked around the gardens, sticking our noses close to the flowers, trying to find the best smelling rose. It’s amazing how different they all smell. We walked around the Pearl District, a neighborhood that didn’t exist when we lived there and had lunch in North Portland the first day we pulled in (what’s with all the stationery food trucks?). Dim Sum for Sunday brunch and ramen for dinner, right before we headed back north.

What does capture my heart is seeing our college friend and Portland housemate, Jason. This is the main reason we make the trip down. This is what it’s all about, isn’t it? In the end, the most significant memories are about the people.

I think when we’re back home and looking back on this trip, our overnight stay at the family cabin right on Puget Sound will be a highlight. The cabin, built in the 20s and in the family since the 50s, is owned now by Mark’s mom’s cousins. We’ve had quite a few memorable celebrations here including various family reunions and our Washington wedding reception after we got married in Hawaii in 2002. This past Thursday and Friday, we celebrated Mark’s sister and mom’s birthdays.

We knew the girls would love the cabin. Much of it is intact since it was bought in the 50s, including the original “Persian rug” linoleum floors and mid-century furniture. There’s a fig tree in the front yard and access to the water down a tiered landscaped hill. On clear days, you can see Mt Rainier directly across the water. The girls were less interested in exploring the beach when the tide was out (we saw clams squirting water!) as they were playing hide and seek inside the house and picking blackberries around the property.

In the evening, we had a bonfire, something that I was really eager to do on this trip. We can attest that our marshmallows make excellent campfire treats, toasted alone or in s’mores. The kids were entranced by the whole marshmallow toasting ritual and Mia became an instant expert at getting them toasted evenly without getting them burnt (I like them burnt, though).

I’ve had a bit of jet lag the first few days. Since I can’t seem to sleep more than 6 hours, I’ve been getting up around 5am. It’s been a drag most mornings, but sometimes, especially when you wake up to a view like this, it can be nice to get bundled up with a cup of coffee in hand, go down to the water at low tide and watch the sun rise above Mt. Rainier.

I’ve missed this view.

For a town of this size, Olympia has a really excellent Farmer’s Market. We oogled at rainbow chard, dahlias, Mt. Rainier cherries, baby artichokes, and other fresh summer produce and fruit. We got there just as it opened so the market was just waking up, but it’s usually hopping with live music and people dining at food stands by lunchtime.

We just got back from the family cabin, photos of which I’ll post later. We’re headed into Portland tomorrow morning for the weekend. Hope yours is a good one too.

Pennies are worth something in Olympia. If you stick one in a meter, you get 15 minutes worth of parking. Some meters will even give you the first 16 minutes free. Not 15, but *16*. I thought it might feel weird to walk around downtown Olympia, but it wasn’t weird at all. I didn’t time trip or get stupidly nostalgic like I normally do. It was rather refreshing to just walk around without feeling sentimental, like I had just walked down that street last week. I wonder what this means.

So when we got off the plane yesterday early evening it was quite warm. We had caught the tail end of that heatwave and the weather felt just like it did coming from New York, which was a bit disorienting for some reason. We woke up this morning to 60 degree temps, though. I was freezing. I had long sleeves and a hoodie on and I was still freezing. I don’t think I’ve felt this cold in about 4 months. I lamented over the fact that I didn’t throw in that cashmere sweater that was in the “maybe” pile when packing. Gah.

We spent the day acclimating ourselves to the time change and making plans for the day. We made a visit to one of our old college music teacher’s house in the woods near campus. Peter teaches electronic music and audio engineering. His house is full of craziness: a mess of guitars, amps, cables, keyboards, mixers, and usually a poodle -this time a spunky poodle puppy. Mia remembered that he had a full drum kit up in the music studio so she headed up there as soon as she got in through the door (by the way, it’s so funny that the first thing the girls will do when entering any house is take off their shoes, even if the house is not shoe-free). The girls weren’t shy about banging away at the drums, like super loud. He also has really random things laying around his house, like slingshots (which he taught the girls how to use), weird stuffed animal toys that fart when you squeeze them, a 5 ft rubber snake, and this bucket air puff maker. It’s a total fun house for kids. In his yard are these wild, rambling alpine strawberry bushes. You pick the tiny berries right off the plants and pop them in your mouth. Among many things in his vegetable garden, the girls picked swiss chard leaves and asparagus. And just as we do at every visit, we talked about how old we’d gotten and how long ago it was when he was our teacher, showing us how to use Arps and Buchlas and sequence tracks.

Our first day in Washington ended with a walk in the port at dusk. The whole town, located right on Puget Sound, smells of saltwater. Seagulls overhead signal that you’re right on the water. Whether it is Pacific or Atlantic, it reminded me of how important it was that I live near water. I’ll always want to live near the ocean.