Central Oregon

After the wedding, we ventured over to Central Oregon to spend a week at Grandma Chisholm's house with her, Grandpa Henry, Amy, David, and Hayden.  It was a week of hanging out in the yard watching the kids play (kicking a ball, racing, climbing trees), reading old favorite books, rock climbing at Smith Rocks, a windy/cool day of swimming at Elk Lake, visiting family, a trip to McMenamins pub, and Legos.  It is so awesome for the kids to have time with family and exposure to the high dessert where Joshua grew up. 

Uncle Scott's Wedding

Alma's Godfather Scott (a.k.a. Joshua's roommate throughout college and best man from our wedding) married his partner, Josh, last weekend in the Portland area.  It was a beautiful event and we are so blessed to be able to attend.  Alma was the ring bearer and decided to wear the traditional sari dress that Scott gifted her from India.  It was James's first wedding and he was a beast on the dance floor.  It was SUCH a fun event.

 

July 2014

Notable events in July included Bernie Fritz Night at the local park (face painting (puppy and butterfly), music and dancing, playing at the park); swim days at the local pool; a weekend visit from Grandma Chisholm and Aunt Kathy; and re-celebrating James 2.5 birthday on St. James's Feast Day. 

 

While Grandma Chisholm and Aunt Kathy were in town, they went on the Lehigh Scenic Gorge Railroad, which the kids were thrilled to do.  It was great to have some time with these awesome best friends.

James is at the birthday-loving age and kept asking me why he hasn't had one.  So Alma and I decided to give him a day of feeling very special with homemade cookies, singing Happy 1/2 Birthday and even small presents (a Superman shirt and a Hungry Caterpillar bag).  James loved it and it was wonderful to see that Alma was beyond excited to celebrate her brother all day. 

 

Throwback: Chautauqua the sailboat

This boat -- a Catalina 22 -- was my primary residence from the time I moved to Seattle (summer 2003) until when I moved in the Pink Palace (a nickname for a house) with some friends (fall 2005). 

My clothes lived in the v-berth, I slept in the aft berth (or in the cockpit during nice weather), the port berth was for food storage and the starboard berth was used as a couch.  Shoes were stored behind the short ladder down below.  The table folded out, I cooked using my feather-weigh camping stove (or the grill on the back of the boat), the head didn't work (I lived at the marina shown below which had bathrooms available and showers for $0.25 for 2 minutes), the running water worked with a foot pump but I always washed my dishes on the dock (the seagulls were constantly stealing my silverware from my dirty dishes bin, which was often kept in the cockpit).  I had a tiny black and white television, DVD player and a subscription to Netflix through the mail.  I also had a laptop and the marina had wireless internet, which was a novelty back then even though you couldn't do much beyond emailing, if I remember correctly.  The blue velour shades attached with Velcro.

I often took the boat out on calm mornings by myself to see the seals who lived on the other side of the breakwater.  But mostly I would sail with friends after work.  This is how Joshua learned to sail -- along with being happily thrown onto Center for Wooden Boat's vessels for events and races.

 

The boat constantly leaked from the windows until I gave up caulking them and used regular ol' duck tape.  I ended up paying less for my boat home than my used little Toyota Honda ($5000) and only invested in hauling it out for a few days to paint the bottom, a roll of duck tape and some varnish for the hatch boards.  I still ended up selling it for slightly more than I paid for it, which is a complete rarity in the sailing world.  Rent at the marina was a slight $300 per month plus $5 in electricity.  No wonder I always felt richer than all the other AmeriCorps*VISTAs.  With my view of the Olympic Mountains, it was one of the best places I ever lived.  Even better once I figured out how to get my space heater to work.