Happy New Year!

I had a super busy New Year's Eve day, working on some deadlines at work. I did well, only 2 outstanding bugs plus one doozie of a conundrum that needs to be solved Monday. It was nice to blast through some totally doable bugs, including one I'd looked at before, not solved (but found the source of the problem), and then looked at with fresh eyes and was able to solve pretty quickly.

I left at 3 to pick G up from Winter Wonderland camp, as it didn't have aftercare that day. G really enjoyed the camp, including the field trip to Chabot Space & Science Center on Wednesday. He implored me to stop by home and we picked up his DS and let the dogs out to pee. He played DS while I finished up my bugs.

We went home to feed the dogs and let them out again, and then went to a drop-in NYE party I'd just been invited to on Tuesday. I grabbed a jar of peach jam for a hostess gift, didn't look for their address, and set out. I knew which street it was, but not sure which block, and was hoping I'd recognize it from our previous Freecycle exchanges. Turns out, big surprise, I didn't! G and I walked around for a bit and then saw some people chatting on a porch. I asked if it was S's house, and lo and behold!, it was.

What a great party! I met a really nice lesbian couple, one of whom is part of S's homeschooling group (with her 4 kids to match S's). The partner is one of Alameda's Finest and we had a really great conversation about policework, guns, and lots of other topics. I really enjoyed talking to each of them. It was a great group of people, quite varied, and the house was great for kid play, too. G got to play with his friend T, and they were upstairs, downstairs, and out front, playing with all sorts of things. S invited us to eat "a lot," and I definitely did my share. Thinking we'd leave at 8, we ended up leaving at 10, pretty dead tired.

When we got home, though, G wanted to watch a movie, with me thinking, "OK, part of a movie." At 12:08, Dodgeball was over, and I said "Happy New Year" and practically immediately went to sleep.

Had a lovely morning on New Year's Day, quite easy but productive, too. I cleared off half the dining room table and set out two knitting projects that needed some sewing to finish. I never did locate my sewing machine, though, so that didn't get done.

But the highlight of the day was going to a movie at our "new" movie theater. I decided to walk to more places, and had found that downtown is just 1 mile away, so I made plans for us to leave our house by 10:30 for an 11:35 movie. We left on time, walked down in about 35 minutes, and got matinee tickets to "The Blind Side," despite G's plaintive requests to see the latest Chipmunks movie ("the Squeakwel")--um, no way.

We went in to the theater and had our pick of seats. G with his book and me with my knitting, we settled in and waited patiently for the start.

I think we both enjoyed the movie, but I thought it would have more football in it. In retrospect: it's not about the football. It's about kids with potential who fall through the cracks, and the people who step up and save one. I got choked up about 4 times. Afterward, G asked why they called it "The Blind Side," so I went through a complex display on the sidewalk with the line of scrimmage, an invisible center, me as the guard (?), and he as quarterback, so he could see that when he turned to throw the ball, he was blind to my side. "But I can see you!" he says, pointing to the plate-glass windows. Agh!

That evening, we went to my friend Jean's Burning Bowl celebration. In it, we made 3 lists; what we're happy to say Good-bye to from 2009, what we look forward to in 2010, and what we are grateful for (the longest list, for most). We burned the "Good-bye" list and had some black-eyed peas and rice... and then G grew short on patience (tired, I think) and we left.

Saturday, we had a lovely sleep-in and then got ready pretty quickly, stuffing poppyseed muffins in our faces for a quick breakfast, to head out to a local school for blood donation. When we got there, a woman game blustering up to us, insisting that G stay in a specific corner that was already set up with crayons and coloring sheets. Points for the crayons and coloring sheets; but points off for being so weird about it... and for the guy who hovered at the snack bar/refreshment center who told people when they "could leave"... um, guy, I'm leaving when I damn well please. I did break my donating record, though--last time, I got it done in 6 minutes; this time, 5! Woo!

After that, we went to the library and had our usual lovely visit, with my getting out "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" in French and English, to give it another try. I also got "Tunnels," wanting to read over parts of it after we listened to it on our drive back from Thanksgiving and up and back at Christmas (unabridged, something like 13 hours). G had fallen asleep in parts, and wanted to read those parts, too. GREAT story.

On our way home, we just had to drop by Salvation Army, luckily on another 50%-off-everything day. I found some molds for juice pops, a pretty necklace, and a few books. I found a super-soft XL lambswool men's sweater that I almost bought, but then remembered I had 4 sweaters to unravel back at home. Came home to finish spinning the blue-faced Leicester a friend had given me, and plied it all up--more yarn than I've ever spun before, and it's SO soft!

It's a new year and I'm loving it already.

What we did today

Something I read quickly just now put a thought into my head of using Blogger as a diary of sorts for our family. So, here goes.

Today was Day 2 of Winter Wonderland daycamp for Graham. He made yet more art projects and really seemed to relish them--his snowman photo holder had come with two googly eyes but he lost one somehow, and decided to simply make it a cyclops, one googly eye centered in the forehead. When I went to get him at noon, he pulled me over to the table of drying crafts to show me. He also pointed out that he didn't want to write on it, so he cleverly wrote his name on a piece of paper, and shoved the paper into the photo-holding hands of the snowclops.

I put him in the car and drove to Park St., where we were meeting my high school BFF. We were a bit early (what a nice change!), and I glanced around the restaurant and thought we'd arrived first. Then there she was, waving like crazy. She is still slim and sincere and funny and likeable and we jabbered any time our mouths weren't full of food. Her husband stood back and let us catch up gracefully, helping with their now-5-year-old (I thought she'd be 3!) needed attention. We only had an hour, but we really caught up (oops, I needed to ask about her mom and sister!) and I just relished the time together. We'll meet up again when she's here in February.

I took Graham back to camp and returned to work, where I'd been struggling with a logical conundrum. I bounced it off a few coworkers, thought I'd discovered the sticking point, and called my "I'm on vacation, but don't wait for answers, just call me on my cell" boss. She called back within the hour and we hashed out a quite liveable solution. I was dismayed to review the day and find I'd only worked on that issue the entire day. The deadline's Thursday! I have lots to do.

I left work, picked up Graham, and we headed home to have dinner and feed and water the dogs. Dinner was just Campbell's Chicken Noodle (my stepmom can no longer tolerate MSG in any form, so we totally scored the Chicken Noodle soup!) and toast. Then we packed up my spinning stuff and books to return and headed to the library for a Spinning Night. I adore our spinning nights, and one regular brought a friend from the Peninsula who is actually attempting the Master Spinner program, and brought her binder of samples to show (bits of different types of wool, then tiny skeins of it spun up and tiny swatches of it knitted). Very cool.

My friend Maia came, too (but she knitted rather than spun, as transporting her wheel was too much). It was so good to see her! I'd forgotten that she'd offered to teach me how to spin Long Draw (I'd probably blocked it from memory, as the last time I was taught, I just could. not. do. it). Maia's a wonderful teacher and it really clicked this time. And she gave me homework! She brought 8 oz of BFL for me to spin up by next Spinning Night (next Tuesday!), and if I get it done, she'll dye it for me (yummy deep Madder or ooh, maybe Concord Grape?). This is going to take some work!

Stefani also came and brought her son for Graham to play with. Apparently, they were both very much looking forward to seeing each other again. I hope to borrow T for playdates some time soon. Stefani invited us to an open house on Thursday evening, which works out great, since we have nothing planned, as it happens.

We dashed from the library to Border's Books at South Shore, as Graham has gift cards burning a hole in his pocket. There, we ran into Jessie and her son, who I'd invited over for games Thursday. Turns out they're going out of town, which frees us up for the open house (and early bedtime! No way I'm making it to midnight this year). It was great to see them, though. I enjoy both of them very much.

Tomorrow, Graham goes to Chabot Space & Science Center on a field trip with his Winter Wonderland friends. He's very much looking forward to it, but is not willing to bring his brand-new copy of "The Last Olympian," for fear of losing it. I think that's wise, but can't believe he's willing to be away from it!

He asked me to wake him up when I get up so he gets more reading time in the morning. He is such a cutie.

Saluting the Sun

A link from a friend's blog sent me to a site that describes yoga poses, often with accompanying photographs. Perusing the website brought me to a step-by-step description and guide to doing the Sun Salutation. Which brought back a memory...

In 1990, I went to Vancouver, B.C. for the Gay Games. I was playing soccer at the time and my team was, as I like to call it, the dysfunctional Lesbian soccer team. Someone scored a place with plenty of bedroom space and a kitchen, right on English Bay. I ended up there with C, whom I didn't know very well. She taught me how to do the Sun Salutation, and we did it together. I loved it. I'd never done any yoga before and its flow appealed to me. It was a very special time, a good bonding moment between us.

Sweet C would eventually date, move in with, and then marry my ex, N. That trip was the beginning of a warm and sweet friendship between us that continues to this day.

Aaaand... she's back

I have a renewed desire to blog.

FB and tweeting are lovely, but not what I need, sometimes. So, here's an update...

Let's see. G took an airplane by himself up to Portland. He didn't take it well when I first introduced the idea--very upset. Finally, tearfully tells me I'll have to write down the steps to checking in, finding the baggage area, collecting bags.... I use two plates (airports), three spoons (me, him, my mom), and a big serving spoon (airplane) to show him how I'll take him right to the gate, he'll be on the plane alone, but Memah (my mom) will meet him right at the gate in Portland. He is relieved, and starts to get excited about the flight.

Fast-forward to the morning of. I wake at 5:30AM and answer the phone shortly thereafter. It's my sister; my mom has been trying to reach me since 4:15AM. (Sending up prayers of thanks for the bedside phone not working.)

There's been a big windstorm--gusts over 50MPH, one website says--and Mom's power is out. She points out that one time, the power was out for 4 days. Maybe G shouldn't come.

Huh?

I say, "Well, what do you do when the power's out? You heat your home with the wood stove, cook on it, and read by candlelight or lantern light. Sounds like an adventure to me!" I also point out that even though the power was out once in the past 10 yrs for 4 days, it likely won't be out for 4 days this time.

By now, we need to load up the car and leave for the airport. Southwest's website said to be there 2 hours before flight time, which puts us there at 7AM, ugh. I compromise by planning to leave for the airport at 7 (it's about a 15 min drive). I would have been there by 7:15AM if I hadn't missed the turn for short-term parking, necessitating another trip round.

I check him in, with the paper that lists my info, Mom's info, and the secondary pickup person's info (my sister's ex-SIL and our family friend, E). G gets a big blue plastic neck-hanger thingy for his info and boarding pass, which he likes. We get in line for security--it's short, thank God--and as we get up to the x-ray machine and send things through, a security guy asks G if the blue backpack is his. Yep. Well, it has a sealed bottle of water in it, leftover from Snack Time at school this past week. He thought it'd be handy for the trip, and I hadn't thought to coach him on acceptable things to bring. The guy has to keep it. G is bereft. The guy offers for us to exit security, drink it, and pass back on through. I smile and decline.

My cell rings. It's my mom. She can't actually get off the Peninsula (it's a 2.5 hr drive, so she's already trying to get on the road)--trees are down, blocking the road. She's panicking, wondering again if we should cancel. A guy at the blockage thought the road would be blocked for 2 hours. I point out that it's just a guy, not a road-service crew. I encourage her to call the Washington version of CalTrans, to see if there's an official estimate.

I call Southwest, to see if I can get G on a later flight. The only later flight is at 12:45, there is one seat, and it'll cost me more than twice what I paid for his flight to get G on it. Ridiculous.

I call Erin, hating that I'm calling anyone at 7:30AM on a Sunday morning. Thankfully, she is up and ready for action. We talk about the specifics (flight time) and possibilities (what if Mom can't pick him up until tomorrow? She has a super-early Monday meeting... maybe her mom, G's third grandmother, can take him). She says she'll pop into the shower and get ready to head out to the airport. I call back to let her know the flight is due in 15 mins later than I'd thought, which gives her a bit more wiggle room.

We've exited security (and retrieved the water bottle from Mr. Nice Security Guy, to drink while outside) during all this, so now have to get back in line. Predictably, the line is WAY longer than it had been. We get through without incident, but by the time we get to the gate, they're actually preboarding his flight, 30 minutes early, wow. I talk to the gate agent about G being an Unaccompanied Minor, and point out that I need to get some breakfast for him. She suggests that she board him and then bring his Burger King breakfast to him. I ask if we couldn't go to get the breakfast together and THEN board him. She relents. We RUN to BK and the guy gets the order out in lightspeed time (seriously, I have no idea how they did it that fast). We run back. I separate our breakfasts so he has his own bag. He bursts into tears. The reality has hit him. I'm doing my best to have an encouraging, loving face and hide my tears. We hug and hug and hug once more. The gate agent takes him down herself. My poor lamb is openly wailing now.

When she returns, she lets me know that by the time she got him seated, he was talking a bit and the tears just dribbling down his face. I move to a window where I can see the plane, and wave just in case he can see me. I wait and wait and wait for it to board, close up, and pull back from the gate. I cry and watch and cry and watch. Finally, it pulls back, I wave once more, and then it's out of sight.

I sit in the airport for a bit, gathering myself. I call my sister, my support. She listens and is kind.

I head home and wait for the flight to arrive. I consider going to church but can't bring myself to, knowing that with the offering of support and love, that I'd be a blubbering mass.

Finally, my cell rings. It isn't E--it's G himself! "Hi, Mom." I find out later that E arrived just as the plane pulls up, and they get to the baggage carousel just as G spots his bags going around. I'm glad E didn't have to wait forever. It is such a huge favor she's doing me.

I'm very glad of my sister's suggestion--I tell G that "Auntie E" has Playstation, Wii, and an air hockey table. He is instantly reassured: "I'm so glad you told me that, Mom." He chats with them and is at ease until 1PM, when my mom arrives to collect him, not even stopping for a cup of coffee with E, as I'd predicted. ("She didn't even want to sit down for a second!" Yep, that's my mom.)

They get the electricity back on that evening, and have a good 4 days together. But on Wednesday, as we're supposed to be leaving my sister's house in her van with 4 humans and 3 dogs, he calls, asking "Are you close?", having not realized that he's calling Ashland, OR, a 7.5-hour drive away. And unfortunately, due to awful traffic north of Eugene, the trip takes about 10.5 hours.

It is great to arrive, though.

Another Idiot Tax payment

I was sick last weekend--maybe flu; who knows?--and I wanted something sweet to eat. I spied our container of cinnamon graham crackers from TJ's, but knew they were stale.

So I loaded up our toaster oven with them, and set them to toast. Next thing I knew, I was looking across at the toaster oven that had a lovely little fire going in it. Not huge, but not small. I unplugged it and left it closed, but it just had too much fuel, and kept burning. I opened it and tried to blow out the flames; no dice.

The 'handles' on the sides of the oven were way too hot to pick up, so I finally grabbed a dishtowel and used it as two potholders (taking care not to drape it over the top of the oven.) Took it outside to the back (concrete) porch and stared at it dumbly. Finally went and got the kitchen fire extinguisher. Pulled the tab, looked at it again, and realized there was a small piece left after pulling the tab (perhaps it needs replacing earlier), pulled that out, and then opened the door and let fly.

Did you know that stuff is a powder? I think I got a lungful. Great.

But it put out the fire instantly. I mean, like magic.

(and it JUST NOW occurs to me that I could have then used my spray bottle to put the fire out, now that it was outside and on a draining surface. Sheesh. As I said, Idiot Tax.)

But the fire had burned long enough to totally warp the door, so buh-bye toaster oven.

And now, welcome new toaster oven. One that actually DINGS (I still can't believe this is optional on any toaster oven!) when the toast is done.

Full weekend

Much wildness last weekend. Very, very busy but we really enjoyed it.

Friday
We had been all set to go to the Starlight Movie in the Park, and then I found out that our Faithful Families group from church (parents with kids on the younger side, as in, not in Youth Group) were planning to go. (Not sure how I missed that before.) So I RSVPd to bring a side salad and dessert. Then I was chatting with a friend who has done lots of care for G through the church, and she was going to have a crazy end-of-week preparing for out-of-town houseguests. So I offered to take her son to the movie. Very enthused.

Then the evening approaches and we get home in time to let the dog out and pack up quickly, and there's a message on my answering machine, shifting the event to our church instead. It had been a chilly, breezy day, and was getting chillier and breezier. I thought it was a great idea, but had forgotten about the transition thing that G sometimes gets caught in: he was bereft. Insisted we had to go to the outdoor one (they do do fun activities for the kids before the events), didn't care that it was all set up to go to the church, sad sad sad.

Fortunately, he adjusted quickly enough, we picked up N and made our way to the church. The nice thing was that since we were setting our own timetable, we could (and did) start the movie at 7 instead of the 8:15PM that the outdoor movie has to stick to (and it's barely dark enough to see the movie at that time), so it worked out better especially for the younger kids. There was plenty of pizza, and my side salad (thanks to Papa Murphy's) and cookies (thanks to frozen cookie dough!) were well accepted.

A friend from my Single Mothers by Choice group had also responded to my broadcast of the movie, and was able to join us with her son. Next time, I'll make an effort to get her into the pot luck loop so they don't have to bring their own food.

After the movie, we went back to our house and G and N played Wii for about an hour, until N asked to go home, about 10PM.

Saturday
We were well on our way to having a lazy Saturday, when I noticed an Evite from a friend in the South Bay. She had inadvertantly left me off of the original invitation to a BBQ at their house, and the party was that day. I had pretty much decided we couldn't go, but mentioned it to G in case he was interested, as I like this friend and knew several other hockey players on the invite list. G was enthusiastic, and the invitation was open-house style, and also encouraged folks to bring something for the potluck that they hadn't tried before. I went through my saved recipes and found one for a pasta salad that (a) I hadn't tried before, and (b) I had most of the ingredients (and could sub the ones I didn't have). It called for multicolor rotini and I had regular and whole-wheat, so used those (but slightly undercooked the WW ones, darnit); it called for bacon and I remembered that I'd bought some red-pepper-and-corn Aldell's at Costco recently (smoky enough); and it called for chopped scallions, for which I subbed chopped sweet white onion, sauteed in butter. I also added sliced black olives, because, well, yum. It worked out well in the end. It was a recipe from "Death By Chocolate," as I recall, a book-club book that was OK but whose recipes sounded great.

The party was fun, and it was great to see my friends. G did really well with Val, but not well with a younger child who was a bit overzealous but still 4ish. He honestly doesn't seem to have a concept that younger kids will act their age, and tends to call them "babies" and say other nasty things. I call him on it, but am still baffled as to why he tends to go there. He can be a kind person elsewhere; why so unkind to a certain few? We ended up leaving after yet another unkind eruption, but it was time to leave anyway. Urgh.

Sunday
I really wanted to go to church, so I managed to get us both up and dressed and to church only a little late. I finished the shawl I'd been working on while at the beach, and took it to church, weaving the ends in while in the service. I got lots of warm fuzzies from my knitting friends over it. It really is lovely. Sadly, G thinks it's neat, too, but wants to play with it all the time, which makes me nuts, as his play starts off gentle and quickly accelerates to rough. Which makes me nuts, as I've been working on it since 2006 and the yarn alone cost about $60. Agh. It was a pretty challenging weekend behavior-wise, so much so that I kept looking for possible links. His behavior lately has been SO great. Was it candy/sugar? I think I'll eliminate candy and sugar next time his behavior peaks in an ugly way.

After church, we went home and futzed around until there was barely time to go to the Alameda Art & Wine Faire for just an hour before a friend's surprise birthday party. We actually both enjoyed it, after I pointed out to G that there would be things he'd want to see that I wouldn't, so he needed to stop dragging me away from things I was looking at. We ended up buying nearly nothing (G, four flavored honey sticks; me, scented salt crystals for the car and home), except for a local bookstore I'd seen but not visited. We'll be going back there for sure! We ended up selecting 4 VHS videos for under $2 each from their sidewalk display, including MIB and ID4, as we are both fans of Will Smith. (The other two were "I've Heard the Mermaids Singing," which I'd just been thinking about, and "Flubber.")

G looked at the climbing wall, but decided against spending $5 of his allowance on it ($5, folks, really? That seems really spendy). We made it back to the pickup corner just moments before a wheeled Trolley car showed up to take us back to Grand St. We made it to the birthday party just a few minutes late (close enough to the allotted time as to be on time; they'd left a 45-minute window)--and then found out the birthday girl had been told! Her father is in poor health and they had to make sure she would actually be in town for her own party. It was a full party, with several friends from church but many more whom I hadn't met; quite a varied group! G grazed for a bit, then claimed one of the chairs on the front porch and read his book to the end while I chatted happily inside. We left three times, returning for forgotten items... but it was a good day.

Then I showed M.I.B. to G and scared the pants off him, poor thing, till he finally asked me to stop the movie. Then crawled into my bed at midnight, from nightmares, and couldn't fall asleep until I put my arm around him, poor lamb. He can be so brave about movies that I never really know which ones will scare him. (Now I do.)

Well, overall it was a good weekend.

Beach vacation: one week later

Monday

I am not sure what we did, but probably, it was the first day we went to Marsh's Free Museum. I know we didn't go to the library yet, as it wasn't open until the next day. Mom didn't go with us to the "museum," as she'd rather do pretty much anything than go. G looked around at the shells for a long time, trying to decide what to buy with his money (which was more like banked money, as I never did pay him his allowance in cash, which afforded me the ability, this vacation, to refuse to buy him various things I deemed unsuitable). He settled on a small menagerie of shells, which were packed carefully into a cotton-lined box, and were given with a generous helping of their free shells (small shells glued onto cards, given with every purchase), as G asked, "Do you still give those free shells?" That's my boy.

We noticed that the bag had all the "exhibits" listed on it, so made sure to make the rounds of the "museum" to see the two-headed calf, the eight-legged lamb, and various other stuffed entities in various conditions. Then I opted to buy 3/4 of a pound of salt water taffy, whose flavors we tried in vain to remember during the ensuing days. I did remember which ones were cranberry, and ironically (given that the Peninsula is a huge producer of cranberries, largely for Ocean Spray), they were the least flavorful!

Tuesday

I think this was the day I insisted on unwrapping Mom's new printer, as I'd wanted to make a copy of a page from a book I'd found at the library. She'd gotten the same AOI I'd gotten from her, my dad and stepmom, and my sister, but had never set it up. We cleared out her old HP and cleared even more room for the AOI--it needing a place where the cover could be lifted in order to place items to be copied on the platen. Amusingly enough, she taught me that you can actually put a stack of paper in a lower drawer of the printer from which to print--I had not yet noticed it in mine! I guess I should go back to reading manuals cover to cover.

We had made it to the library that day--they had a summer reading program, so G signed up for his fourth (so far) and got a bag of materials, which included a bookmark, suggested reading list, and a form on which to fill out his books. He read several that visit in the library, and we got out the fourth Lemony Snicket book, he being perilously close to finishing the third, which we'd brought along from our library. (He has already, as of this writing, finished the fourth as well.) I managed to find a copy of Alice Starmore's Fair Isle Knitting, which I carefully and breathlessly brought up to the librarian's desk, nearly insisting they keep it as a reference book and never, ever lend it out. (It is worth $100-300 on eBay, and I hear copies get stolen all the time for this value alone.)

Earlier that day, Mom's spinning group met at the house. It was so fun having a houseful of spinners, chatting and making yarn, of all sorts of levels and experiences, including another Jennie, who had just bought her wheel the day before!

Wednesday

We returned to the library at 10 the next morning for a "Wacky Art" project (rubbings of various interesting items, including several coins glued to one of the cards), followed by a magic show in a side room. G sat in front and was a little obnoxious (shouting "That's not funny!" at times), ugh, but other kids were doing similar things... the magician increased the pace and really got the kids interested, and even asked G to help him with a very funny and avowedly disgusting card trick (the card ended up folded up in the magician's mouth--he offered the card to G and G happily declined).

Thursday

This was Mom's birthday! I stayed up late the night before, finishing the tea cozy I'd started last fall and that my sister had encouraged me to give to Mom for her birthday. My mom's teapot, unlike the usual ones, has an arching bamboo handle over the top and I was sure glad I'd made the steeks accidentally high. I cut them down and sewed them open, and attached the buttons I'd bought Wednesday at the local yarn store in order to secure the flaps to each other. She was very pleased with it, the nightlight we'd found for her at the local has-everything store, Jack's Country Store, within her specifications: not LED nor fluorescent (not bright enough), not automatic (didn't want it to go off at dawn), and with an on-off switch. Bingo! I had also remembered some Sharpie pens (always a hit with Mom) and a steno notebook (ditto). I did realize later that I'd totally forgotten the English toffee I'd gotten for her at Disneyland, and the penuche fudge I'd gotten in Monterey. I did get some replacement fudge later in Long Beach at a candy store.

I asked her what she wanted us to do on her birthday, and we ended up newspapering and then mulching her entire side walkway, not a small feat, especially as the mulch had been dumped next to her driveway a year ago, and the trees had put out copious roots to soak up the nutrients in the piles. G also took the loppers (!) and cleared out tons of elderberry and blackberry that was hanging over her driveway. I cut up the blackberry so it could fit in her trashcan (she doesn't have greens pickup and doesn't want this stuff in her compost pile, and I don't blame her). The walkway looks great. G also insisted on showing me his "secret path," on the Bay side of Mom's house, which was indeed secret looking, but what I hadn't guessed was how steep it would be: we both ended up crawling up and down it, unable to walk it. Afterward, I showed him how to pick huckleberries, and we picked some ripe raspberries from Mom's raspberry canes (and both decided we didn't really care that much for berries with so many seeds, although they do taste wonderful, which is more than one can say for the ample bushes of salmonberries, which are a lovely peachy yellow but taste, honestly, like nothing at all. Good in a pinch, like if you were braving the wilds, we always say).

That evening, we went to an inn in Seaview where folks gather on Thursday nights at 5 to spin. There was an "art walk" in a nearby city, but I really wanted to spin with the spinning folks again (having packed an extra suitcase with nothing but my spinning wheel and a bunch of padding). We did manage to leave the house in time to visit the heritage museum in nearby Ilwaco, where they had a really fun train exhibit that included tracks running through the cities as they used to exist (including one that doesn't exist at all any more), which would start for a quarter. There was also a Lewis and Clark exhibit (of course; this is L&C country) that included simulated (or real!) elk poop, plus a map of the Graveyard of the Pacific, the mouth of the Columbia, where many ships have been lost, due to its many and shifting sand bars.

From the inn, we went back to Ilwaco to dinner at a lovely restaurant owned by people Mom knew (of course!) and really had a delicious meal. (I happened to notice a mom & boy who were dining there, and spotted them at a cafe near Mom's house 2 days later; small country out there!) I had the duck salad (pretty amazing), followed by the halibut, which was even more terrific. They were able to make some tasty buttered, cheesy noodles for G, and added some corn and green beans by my insistance. Mom had the salad also and the salmon. It really was a great dinner, and great to finally be here to celebrate her birthday with her, which I haven't been able to do in years.

Friday

No idea what we did Friday.

Saturday

We went to the Ilwaco market on Saturday, mostly wondering what it would be like. Mom decided to bring her wonderful fox-red Lab, Jesse. We all thought he might've done better with a long walk ahead of time--there were tons of dogs also there, on leash but still somewhat-to-quite aggressive. We walked all the way to one end, stopping at a wildlife booth where a man did very well to keep kids and adults alike fascinated by his talk of the various skulls he had brought along. I found out that G knows the terms omnivore, herbivore, and carnivore already. I was proud of him for what he contributed, but dismayed when he kept calling the interactive talk "boring" and wanting to leave--even after he'd happily participated. I know the distraction was partly the candy booth we'd passed. We walked down to the other end and I bought a beautiful pair of mother-of-pearl earrings that I just couldn't leave behind. Then we went into a bookstore and I bought G a Star Trek novel for $1 (I like!) but didn't find anything for me except a set of refills for my portable notebook. Then I held Jesse while Mom browsed. (I did point out the "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" book on the front table. Pretty funny.)

Sunday

There was another Market on Sunday, this time in Astoria, but the weather was much worse--pretty cold and drizzly--and by the time we got there, we were all out of sorts due to hunger. In retrospect, I wish we'd sat down at the near end and just gotten lunch, as the choices were much more varied, including Greek, Indian, and other interesting food. As it was, we got some hot dogs at a booth at the far end and walked back to the front to use the tables. G had said he wanted some scrambled eggs (one booth proclaimed "farm fresh eggs" but they were, as I'd feared, just selling raw eggs in the shell), so I asked at a stall that had an "Astoria omelette." The man said Yes, it was an omelette, and proceeded to ignore me for several minutes, enough so that I walked away. "Aren't you interested in the omelette?" he called after me. Uh, no, not if you're rude, buddy. Sheesh.

I can't remember buying anything but food, except for half a loaf of wheat bread the gal had been cutting samples off of. She offered it to me for less than half price, and since G and I had really enjoyed the samples, I readily accepted.

What was funny was that we hadn't realized how many booths in Astoria would be the same vendors we'd seen the previous day. Maybe half of them were new--too bad!