the great lake state

Michigan! There's only one thing better than visiting a friend who knows you like the back of their mitten. It's if that friend could just be right there so you wouldn't have to go so far to see them.

Despite the blizzard of the year, I was able to get to Michigan a couple weekends ago to visit. Kristen, DJ, Cora and Margot welcomed me into their warm house. Seriously, their house was 10 degrees warmer than mine ever gets, and it was freezing outside. Storm windows! They live up at the top of the mitten, near the ring finger in Traverse City. There is snow and there are bakeries and cross country skiing trails minutes from anyone's home. I was charmed.

I've been tense lately. Wedding planning and I don't get along very well. Either do design clients with unreasonably high expectations and I. I needed to go and be free, for a short time and commune with loved ones away from all my stuff. Kristen and I spent all the time we could, talking and drinking coffee (withdrawal when I got home wasn't as bad the second time). I met her newest baby, who was all smiles and faces and tiny kicking feet. Being there felt like taking a hot bath for 4 days.

We went out cross country skiing one night with Kristen's skiing group. 5 ladies that get some time away from their kids one evening a week to drink Hot Damn cinnamon schnapps, right from the bottle, and scoot around on ski trails. Luckily, one of the women loaned me her headlamp, since I've only skied a few times, and it was really dark. It was a blast! These women laugh and laugh! It was great medicine, and the schnapps were delicious also. Later in the week, we skied again in a different part of town, and we went across a frozen lake!

We drank and ate. Drove up to a lighthouse. I saw a cardinal out the front window! Made a snowman when it was warm one afternoon and spent a lot of energy knocking down icicles off the eaves. DJ resorted to hacking at the biggest icicle with a snowshovel on top of a ladder. Then the icicle almost fell on his head, and did knock him off the third rung from the top. Landed on his feet though! Cat-like, that DJ.

It was such a great time, and I was so pleased to see my friend so happy and doing well. I didn't want to leave again, but had to get back to the timesheet. Can't wait to go back though! To Michigan.
 

one for the little bitty baby

One of my best friends, Kristen and her husband DJ just had a perfect child on Wednesday at home in their living room. Cora is amazing. Melissa and I took Judy up over the pass to see them in Yakima on their 4th day. She slept on my stomach, legs sprawled out, head to the side and one arm around my arm. I almost ran out the door with her and drove away. We reluctantly left the little family with Grandpa and Grandma who had also just arrived and drove back over the snowy pass. I miss her.

it's official now, about summer

Sometimes the only way to get all the office off of my skin is to get really dirty. Until yesterday, I had not been up to the mountains since mid-February. No wonder I have been feeling so restless and ornery. Saturday, Melissa and I rolled out of our beds, had a leisurely morning, then loaded up Judy and drove to Cle Elum. We met Kristen and DJ at a rustic campground next to the Teanaway River, middle fork. I was jumping inside because I was so excited to make a fire, walk in the woods and sleep in my tent (which hasn't happened for a year and a half). The ephemerals were blooming, the trees leafing out, and across the river from our campsite was a wonderful stand of yellow and white Aspen trees against a backdrop of dark green conifers.

Our conversations were fun, the river sounded great and I was so excited to feel the chilly air on my face and the warmth of my sleeping bag, I almost forgot to sleep. I woke up to the sun, unzipped the back door and admired the water, trees and sky from my pillow and my cozy down bed. We ate, then decided to go for a drive. We headed farther upstream and found a bunch of beautiful campgrounds and snowy vistas. We also found the one patch of deeply rutted snow left on the roadway and got completely high centered and stuck on it.

We were driving in Kristen and DJ's twin Subaru Loyale (which they purchased after my loyale experiment went SO well). DJ instructed us to start digging out the snow from under the car with sticks, which we all performed half-heartedly knowing that it may take days to accomplish the task. I was cracking up the entire time because the road was totally dry everywhere else except this Subaru-sized patch that we landed in. We tried putting sticks under the tires, pushing forward and pushing back. Reverse, 4WD, 1st gear...nothing worked.

Our spirits had not even begun to fall when our rescue arrived. A LARGE red truck with a plate that read BGBEAR2 came around the corner and stopped in front of us. I spotted the winch on the front of the beastly rig and realized that not only was he going to make our day, but we were going to make his. After a few minutes of set-up, BGBEAR2 pulled and the little Loyale bounced out of the icy snow. It was only then that I realized how stuck the car really was. Mr. Truck was grinning ear to ear having had the opportunity to use his special truck toy and we zipped along on our way, laughing. Who gets stuck in the snow in May anyway?

presidents day = my day

The lure of a three day weekend and winter's first thaw took Judy and I away to Yakima for another really nice weekend visiting my friends Kristen and DJ. I greeted Flora and Clementine and admired the plans for spring's garden and home projects. We watched movies, played Settlers of Catan, swatted around at the tennis courts, ate yummy food and shopped for used furniture. I felt the usual pangs of marriage and house envy as a guest in their happy home.

We discussed the merits of lentils, which cilantro seeds are best and options for implementing Martha Stewart Living's latest crafty delight, ribbon embroidery. Being in their presence is so familiar and good. I wish that my best friends and I could all live on the same block someday.

Yakima was in its usual fine form. Cars on blocks and bingo halls packed on a Saturday night. What a strange town. Its location is great; close to wineries, mountains and orchards. The houses are cheap and the salaries decent. There are a few cute bakeries. Okay, one. It has all the makings of a great small town, but is a little off. The divide between the have and have-nots is very clear. It runs along an avenue, a language barrier and a race. That divide seems to sever any hope of character or common place. Yakima just can't rest. This is just speculation from a tourist. All I know for sure is that furniture is cheaper over there and I found myself a cute dresser.

i heart the mountains

Happy Birthday DJ! My good friend has turned 30. To celebrate, Kristen (his wife and my friend) threw him a cross country ski event up at Snoqualmie pass. A little herd of us drove up and enjoyed cake and lunch at the lodge before strapping on the ol’ Nordics and hitting the trails. I say that sounding like it was easy for me, which is was not. I felt like a fool with skis on my feet. I couldn’t go, I couldn’t stop and I tripped Melissa with my pole as we got off the ski lift. I was filled with fear as Kristen and DJ tried to convince us that the hill off to the right, which was a blue rated downhill run, was also good for cross country skiers. I couldn’t begin to move either direction and by the time I began to feel confident in my ability to direct myself, we realized that the Nordic trails were the other direction and headed away from certain death.

The rest of the afternoon we made loop trails, had races, videoed each other coming down black diamonds and threw snow chunks at each other. It was beautiful and clean and the air echoed with the crack of distant avalanches. We had a great time, especially when DJ stood under a snowy tree and dared us throw snowballs and dislodge the pack onto his head. It was hilarious. On the way back down, the hills became too steep to manage for most of us, so we popped our skis off and sledded down sitting on them. We laughed and screamed with delight as we slammed into snow banks and bounced around corners. As we were traversing a pleasant flat place, Whitney said in her delightfully sarcastic yet serious way, “I would say that we’re really making some great memories here.”

In addition to the fun, friend-filled snow day this weekend, I ventured up for my second snowboarding lesson last Thursday. I was pleased to have a different teacher this time, 23 year old Mike who teaches ESL in foreign lands during the summer months and speaks Spanish, Portuguese and Mandarin. He was a vast improvement to T from the week before who was clearly a few runs short of a resort, if you know what I mean. Example: when I asked T about a problem I was having turning, he said to relax and just learn how to feel it. When I asked Mike the same question he responded by correcting my imbalance issues and reminding me how to flex my board with my feet to turn, not to lean. Much more helpful. I improved greatly and spent the rest of the afternoon with Noah, my classmate, riding the lift and trying to not fall for the length of the bunny slope. Mike even took us on a blue square run, which did wonders for my self confidence. A success! One more fun lesson this Wednesday before succumbing to my laborious fate on Friday. All vacations must come to an end, even those that last 13 months.

winter

This past weekend I traveled to Yakima in my own car. Over the pass and through the plains with 4 doors, 3 wipers, 2 side mirrors, and 1 functioning heater. Luxury. I visited Kristen, DJ and Melissa and we all went cross-country skiing. The mountains looked and felt great under the weight of snow and cold. Skiing was fun in spite of my ungraceful movements and lack of experience. Check out the road that my car navigated like it was dry asphalt!

My car needs a name. I can't find anything that fits, so feel free to offer suggestions under the comments. It's blue. A Loyale. Tough yet comfy. 4WD. Refined yet ugly and old...

Catering continues to surprise me. I had a house party last night in Medina. I forgot how rich people can be. So wealthy. The home looked like a catalog and a pristine BMW sat in the garage. The guests were fancy and snooty. Even the 10 year old girl who was helping the hostess bragged about her dress purchased in NYC and smiled at me in a way that I swear was condescending. All the women greeted each other by complimenting how one another looked. It was a real eye roller. It is tempting to covet seeing how pleasant the house looked, how yummy the expensive food was and how couture the shoes looked. Being rich would be easier. But if it meant being shallow and devoid of character, then I'll leave it. I think I prefer people with a little scruff and edge lining their depth. And that isn't even considering the 1/3 of the world living on less than $2 a day.

Today's trip photo is from San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. This is the main plaza in this artsy desert town on the border with Bolivia. We sat and ate ice cream and watched the kids play soccer.