Rich Turns 56

13 Tuesday May 2008

Cinco de Mayo is the only way I can remember Rich’s birthday, which is on May 6th. This year, he lamented how old he’s become and how his life has evolved from being a photographer and crime scene investigator for the Los Angeles Police Department, when he was 18, to an advisory engineer who oversees the implementation of Linux device drivers for all of IBM’s fiber channel interface adaptors (he dictated that last sentence to me).

Unfortunately, we were both up to our necks in work projects so Rich had to celebrate his birthday by eating left-overs and sharing his banana split cake with Jujube. Along with the cake, I got him a bottle of Chateau St. Michelle dry Riesling. The winery is a whooping two miles away and has replaced our favorite wine from Oregon, Sokol Blosser MullerThurgau. The wine will probably remain in our refrigerator for months before we get around to drinking it!

Meanwhile, for Rich’s birthday, the azaleas and rhododendrons started to bloom in Mount Vernon. We also enjoyed visiting our lot in Anacortes and planting three maple trees and admiring the three lilac bushes that I planted a month earlier. Spring is an exciting time in Washington!

Goldakevtch

28 Monday Apr 2008

Posted by rajalary in Cat Diaries

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My name is Goldakevtch. Julie named me after Golda Meir, a former prime minister of Israel, because I’m rather large with wild gray hair. Kevtch is Yiddish for crabby, which is my usual state-of-mind. Who can blame me?

When Julie was having her house built in Sherwood, Oregon, she saw me wandering across the weedy lot. Many months later, after her house had been built, she spotted me. Stupidly, I let her pick me up and drag me into her house. Being semi-feral, I bit, clawed, yeowled, kicked, and did everything possible to mutilate her.

I hated people. My previous owners allowed my fur to get matted. Underneath the mats were open sores. Julie immediately brought me to the vet to be shaved and given antibiotics.

Because my hair is very fine and thick, it tends to knot and mat very easily. Living in Texas made it worse. Well, I never got used to brushing. I still bite (hard) and claw whenever I see a brush. So periodically, Julie has to cut out the mats.

Happily, I’m back in the Pacific Northwest so I can keep my thick coat for most of the year. I need it for lounging on the deck and ocassionally venturing onto the grass to catch a bug or two.

Where Did April Go?

28 Monday Apr 2008

Posted by rajalary in Seattle

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I can’t believe that I haven’t written for over a month! My excuse, like everyone’s excuse, I was busy!

April was unusually hectic with the start of the final three months of Microsoft’s fiscal year and Rich and I throwing ourselves into finishing the flooring at our Kirkland house. First, a comment or two about my job. While I was thrilled to have been hired by Microsoft, the job description provided during the interviews bore no resemblance to the actual job. Instead of doing a three-year strategy, I’ve been doing content management for a 4,000-page website!

The silver lining (and it’s a huge lining) is that I work for Microsoft whose slogan is "Your potential. Our passion." Within a few months of starting on the job, I created a Powerpoint presentation that showcased how the website could be revised. This document became the starting point for the transformation of the site. I’ve seen written several other strategy documents and created numerous mock-ups of potential templates and navigation scheme.

In spite of my recognized strategic vision, I’m still stuck in the weeds. Not a problem. In late fall, I entered a contest and became a seed finalist for one of my ideas. This idea provided the groundwork for collaborating with an engineer. Together we wrote a Microsoft ThinkWeek paper, which a few weeks ago was reviewed by Bill Gates. Okay, he reviews about a quarter of the 400 or so papers.

The paper also provided an opportunity to pester the Microsoft Health Solutions Group, where I’d eventually like to work. For the past few months, I’ve been doing informational interviews with the group and feel optimistic that after I complete a year in my present job (July 2, 2008), I’ll be able to transition to a better role… possibly with the Health Solutions Group. Yeah!

The best news, however, is that two weeks ago, Rich finished putting bamboo flooring in our four bedrooms, hallway, living and dining rooms! That means that last weekend, we were able to bring most of our furniture down from Mount Vernon! We’re months (years) away from finishing everything we want to do, but at least, I get to unpack my collectible, lamps, pillows… pictures… and everything that’s been boxed up for nealry two years!!!!!

Check out the finishing of the floors:

Visitors and Visiting

26 Wednesday Mar 2008

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In February, Rich’s long-time friend – Mike Pomeranz — visited him from Jerusalem. Mike and Rich both graduated from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Academy in 1976 then joined the Glendale Police Department. Throughout the years, they’ve kept in touch and were finally able to reconnect in person after twenty or so years!

After picking Mike up at the SeaTac (Seattle Tacoma) Airport, they headed to Port Townsend to see Stacey on the Adventuress, a tall ship she’s been working on since October. They then took a ferry to Anacortes to see our lot and wandered through a local park, where Mike posed by a very large Native woman holding a Chinook (salmon).

After spending the night in Mount Vernon, they zipped down to Kirkland. That evening, all three of us went to a fabulous Indian restaurant and ate some very unusual vegetarian dishes. I had a yummy cheese curry. Both Mike and Rich had large divided trays of food with small servings of curry, yoghurt, vegetables, and dessert.

The owner of M. Pomeranz Bookseller, Israel’s premier English Judaic bookstore, Mike was interested in seeing the Elliot Bay Book Company. So after dinner, we headed to the historic Pioneer Square District in downtown Seattle where the Elliot Bay Book company is located. The store looks to have started as a small, hole-in-the-wall hippie bookstore with handmade cedar shelves set on bricks with posters to cover the holes, pipes, and electric cables in the exposed-brick walls. As neighboring stores closed, the bookstore expanded until today it takes up an entire block. It reminded me of Powell’s Bookstore in Portland, Oregon.

I scrambled up to the "sale book" section in a little loft and quickly found a book on Indian cooking, which Mike (thank you) purchased for me. I need to visit Uwajimaya or another local Asian food store to get the necessary spices and sauces like garam masala and asafoetilda to replicate the Matar Paneer (green peas and cheese curry) I had that night.

A few weeks after Mike’s visit, we flew to Bullhead City, Arizona to see Rich’s father, Ted. Also visiting Ted was his son Chris and his wife, Teri. Rich couldn’t remember the last time he saw Chris and only remembered that he was "nice."

Well, Ted has a very dry, quick sense of humor. Chris (sorry Ted) is three times funnier and can find humor and irony in the mundane and ordinary. Add a cupful of Ted, a healthy dose of Rich’s propensity for puns, insert Teri’s hysterical Italian wit and flamboyance and you have four days of hilarity. I laughed, giggled and chortled until my sides hurt!

The first day we were there, Rich and I had an afternoon to ourselves while Ted and Chris drove to Las Vegas to pick up Teri at the airport. We drove to Oatman, an old mining town, to pester the wild burros who are descendants of the burros brought by the miners in the late 1800’s. The burros all have attitude and will only pay attention if you whip out a dollar to buy them a bag of carrots. Over the years, they’ve developed super long ears to better hear the crinkle of money in tourists’ wallets!

Several new shops opened since we were last in Oatman. Behind one shop was a fenced in area with several huge tortoises. I think they were African Spurred Tortoises. Of course, I couldn’t resist petting them and thoroughly examining their scaly feet and long toenails. They’re kinda’ pigeon-toed and walk on their sharp claws.

In spite of the popular belief that the hare beat the tortoise, the tortoises in Oatman moved surprisingly fast and after a few minutes, I came to the conclusion that one of them was "chasing" me and not coincidentally walking the same direction. I can’t say whether he was territorial and simply determined to evict me from his fenced-in area or enjoying the attention since the scowl on his solemn faces never changed.

The following day, Saturday, we went to a flea market in the parking lot of the Mojave tribe Avi Casino on the Colorado River. It was fun wandering among the booths and talking to the people; Rich wasn’t impressed and thought most of the stuff was junk.

We then headed to Katherine’s Landing, a resort and nature area on the Colorado River and the site of Katherine Mine, an abandoned gold mine… one of the many in the area. I’m particularly fond of Katherine’s landing because the water is crystal clear and you can walk down the marina and feed giant carp. If you get on your hands-and-knees and toss out a couple of pieces of bread or other food, you can pet the carp with their huge, tooth-less gapping mouths and silly little whiskers. Most are light to dark gray. A few, like their koi cousins, are yellow, orange, white, and black.

They’re very friendly (or maybe just hungry) and swim up to the dock. When they swarm, they can lift a duck out of the water. It’s not unusual to see a duck walking across the backs of a group of carp.

That evening, Rich made his "famous" macaroni and cheese along with stewed tomatoes. My contribution was sampling (and sampling) the cheese along with making tossed green and fruit salads. While eating dinner, we watched the "Killing of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford." It was a rather strange movie.

The next day, we visited a few places then found ourselves sitting outside at Ted’s house, sipping libations and talking for hours before Rich and I dashed to the store to buy the "stuff" to make spaghetti with puttanesca sauce, garlic bread and a large salad.

It being our last night together with Chris, Terri and Ted, we talked until nearly 1 a.m. No one wanted to say "good-bye." Just when the conversation started to wane, another topic would be introduced and the laughter and sharing of stories would start all over again.

After a restful night, Rich and I packed up and headed to Hoover Dam, Boulder City and the surrounding area before driving down the Las Vegas strip on the way to the airport. The strip is surreal with so many large, flashy, themed high-rise hotels and casinos that seem to change every few years. Twenty year old casinos are now "so yesterday" and are being torn down to make way for higher priced and more luxurious establishments. Treasure Island and the Mirage now look shabby next to the Wynn Las Vegas, Bellagio and the Venetian.

Cool sculpture at Hoover Dam, commemorating the men who placed dynamite

Julie tormenting a tortoise in Oatman, Arizona

Why I’m Miserable

16 Sunday Mar 2008

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It’s been six months since Rich and I bought our Kirkland house. Why I wanted to buy a low-maintenance townhouse since we need to do extensive work on the Mount Vernon house, Rich wanted a house with a yard. We look at houses for about two hours then Rich’s attention span wanned and he decided to purchase our Kirkland fixer-upper. It’s been six months and look at the progress… below.

Yes sir. Much of my stuff has been packed for going on two years. Rich doesn’t care because he life revolves around having two pairs of jean, some tee- and sweat-shirts, working from home (his office is decked out with what he needs), going to Safeway to buy his lunch (he rarely buys anything for "us" since he only needs food for his immediate needs), purchasing music CDs and tools, and having a place to sleep. Nothing else is important to him. He could essentially live in a one-room hut and be happy.

Meanwhile, I long to be have a nice place to live and to be surrounded by my pictures, collectables and furniture.

Most of our rooms continue to bare light bulbs for lights, limited or no flooring, and boxes everywhere. Take a look.

Dinning rooom with no lights or flooring

Family room with boxes of flooring and other boxes

A Weekend in Tacoma

03 Monday Mar 2008

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Last weekend, we zipped down to Tacoma for some cultural enrichment and relaxation. Less than an hour south of Seattle, Tacoma is the second largest city in the Puget Sound with a recently renovated downtown, featuring the University of Washington, Tacoma, several museums, a beautiful waterfront, dramatic convention center, and the Tacoma Link, an electric light rail that whisks people to the Tacoma Dome and other destinations and transportation, including Amtrak, Greyhound and Sound Transit.

Opting to be tourist, we leisurely drove down to Tacoma, stopping at Shari’s for a large breakfast, complete with the Saturday paper and elderly waitresses with fluffed up hair who called us "Hon," and chatted among themselves about local events. It was a radical departure from our typical on-the-go breakfast of an Egg McMuffin and flavored coffee from am pm.

I’ve never given much thought to Tacoma. It’s simply another traffic jam to-and-from Seattle. It always appeared very industrial and bleak with the dull gray Tacoma Dome and lots of refinery and manufacturing-like complexes. I was pleasantly surprised, however, as we drove through downtown. I could hardly wait for Rich to park the car so I could get out.

In the late 90’s, the University of Washington (UW) opted to renovate some of Tacoma’s oldest remaining industrial structures for campus classrooms and offices. No doubt, the University architects received numerous accolades for their innovative approach to melding the old with the new. The campus is a brilliant and scintillating blend of old brick buildings, industrial pipes, new additions, plazas, and walkways that run along and cross railroad tracks that divide the campus.

The former Snoqualmie Falls Power Company’s transformer house became the campus library. The Mattress Factory and West Coast Grocery buildings, their names still painted on the rough brick exteriors, were gutted and made modern.

Looking towards the Glass Museum from the University of Washington

Dale Cuhuly sculpture at the University of Washington

The building of the University spurred additional improvements in the area, including turning other manufacturing buildings into trendy lofts, added pedestrian friendly parks and light rail, and cleaning up the waterway from decades of industrial waste and abuse.

Within walking distance is the Museum of Glass, Washington State History Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, Union Station, Tacoma Trade and Convention Center, Broadway Center for the Performing Arts (three historical theaters), and many restaurants, art galleries, and boutiques.

We wandered around the area for an hour before the opening of the Museum of Glass. In that time, I used up a camera battery taking pictures!

Chihuly Everywhere you Turn

If you know anything about glass, you know that Dale Chihuly is "the man." His work has ricocheted glass blowing from collections in art connoisseurs’ cabinets to public displays that can be enjoyed by everyone. His pieces are imaginative, gigantic, fragile, and seemingly impossible to create. If you’ve walked into the lobby of the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, you’ve seen one of his sculptures/chandeliers.

Having grown up and stayed in the Pacific Northwest, Chihuly pieces appear in buildings throughout the area from Lincoln Square in Bellevue, Washington to Benaroya Hall in Seattle. Walking around the UW campus in Tacoma, we looked up to see a dramatic sculpture of red glass in one of the buildings.

Tacoma Union Station, now a U.S. court house has many of his glass pieces. The large windows at the back of the station are dotted with large red, orange and yellow platters of glass, which resemble psychedelic jelly fish.

Hung from the rotunda is a jumble of curly glass forms in a multitude of colors. Many of his pieces take on this form and it’s a mystery how he holds them together. A similar piece is on another wall. This one has a circular structure on which the glass is wired.

Union Station by the Natural History Museum

Reflections in the front entrance of Union Square

Dale Cuhuly pieces in the windows of Union Station

A short walk from Union Station is the Chihuly Pedestrian Bridge, which spans six lanes of a freeway along with three sets of railroad tracks and a waterfront access route. Completed in 2002 at a cost of $3.9 million, the "bridge of glass" showcases more than $12 million worth of blown glass, created by Chihuly and his team.

Across the bridge is the Museum of Glass, which on the day we went, featured the work of Lino Tagliapietra, considered the world’s greatest living glassblower. At eleven, he started working full-time in the glassmaking industry in Murano, Italy. Sixty-three years later, he’s still creating art and exploring new techniques from large display pieces like those done by Chihuly to breathtaking, traditional venetian wine glasses, and large bowls and vases of varying colors and techniques. Unlike Chihuly, however, he seems to have changed his style every few years. What he produced in the 60’s is radically different from his later pieces. In a film we watched on him, they elaborated on his ability to constantly come up with new ideas.

The Tagliapietra exhibit comprised most of the museum’s galleries. The other half of the museum, the Hot Shop, is in a 90-foot, tilted steel cone. Inside is an amphitheater where you can watch glassmakers at work. Throughout the year, sometimes weekly, a visiting artist can be seen in the Hot Shop. The Saturday we were there, an artist from England (or maybe Scotland) was creating a black and white sculpture with the help of six of the resident glassblowing team. They were using three of the six available furnaces with one group making the base, another creating a vase and a third forming a strange stem that emerged from the side of the vase.

History Can Be Eye-Opening

Hungry after a morning of site- and glass-seeing, we hopped on the Tacoma Link and headed to the Tacoma Dome. Across the street, in old cargo warehouses, were numerous shops and small restaurants. An enthusiastic salesperson roped us into ordering from his Thai fish and chips establishment. Normally, we won’t eat fried fish, but his pitch was very convincing. And we weren’t disappointed.

Rich had a plate piled high with lightly battered fish filets with fries. I had two pieces of fish with a Caesar salad. It was very decadent and delicious!

Our hunger satiated, we took the Link back to downtown and the Washington State History Museum. I was anticipating zipping through the museum, but we barely saw everything before the doors closed. The more interesting exhibits were about "Hard Times and Homefront" and "Wageworker’s Frontier." The former showcased Seattle’s Hooverville shantytowns during the Depression, Japanese internment camps, and women having to join the work force, building airplanes for Boeing and other defense contractors during World War II.

"Wageworker’s Frontier" illustrated the challenges of utilizing Washington natural resources and related industries, including logging, shingle mills (very dangerous work), fishing and canning (primarily done by Chinese immigrants), farming (orchards and wheat), and mining in Roslyn, Washington.

The best part of the museum, however, was the traveling exhibit, "Art of the Stamp."It featured 100 small works of original art, which are used to create postal stamps. There were a couple of paintings by Norman Rockwell and other famous artists. The detail of some of the images was mind-boggling. Many took months (and several took years) to draw.

Our favorite stamps were done by Michael J. Deas and Mark Hess. They created miniature portraits that must have been painted with brushes, one or two bristles in size. Walter DuBois Richards has created 37 stamps and creates impossibly detailed drawings of buildings. Howard Koslow paintings are like photographs. It took great discipline for me to stop staring at his lighthouse paintings.

Our motel was south of Tacoma, near one of the many casinos that line the I-5 corridor. It took about 15 minutes for us to slip off our shoes, sip some cola then curl up on the bed and fall asleep! We woke an hour later then went out for Mexican food before calling it a day.

Zoo on a Point

The next morning, we drove to the 702-acre Point Defiance Park on the Puget Sound. Originally, a military reservation, the park was opened to the public in 1888. Along with containing the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, it has numerous formal gardens (Japanese, iris, Northwest native, fuchsia, rose, rhododendron, etc.), hiking and running trails, salt water beaches with a marina, pagoda and lodge that can rented for events, an old fort, logging museum, and much more.

We drove around the park until the zoo opened. We were one of the first to the gate and were greeted by an elegant peacock outside the gates. He was obviously very used to humans because he casually walked around even though I "chased" after him. The peahen was meeker and stayed in the bushes.

I was excited about visiting the zoo because it has two beluga whales that you can view from underwater. There are only four zoos in the United States that have beluga whales… and at one of those zoos, the beluga whales refused to swim where anyone could clearly see them! Let’s put it this way, we visited the whale enclosure twice!

Worse, the polar bear and penguin exhibits were closed. Half of the animals were in hiding and I only saw one large cats. Dumb zoo!

In fairness to the Point Disappointment [Defiance] Zoo, the previous zoo that I visited was the Fort Worth Zoo, which is huge, has many fabulous animals, birds, reptiles, and water creatures, and is rated one of the top zoos in the nation.

Next time I want to see animals, I’m going to the Vancouver Zoo in British Columbia, Canada! And if I want to really see beluga whales, I’m going to the Vancouver Aquarium.

Gonna’ be a Sailor

12 Tuesday Feb 2008

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Two weeks ago, Rich and I attended the Seattle Boat Show. Actually "show" is an understatement. It was more of a colossal collection of every type of vessel that floats. Held at the 67,000-seat Qwest Field (Safeco Field’s less attractive twin) and on South Lake Union, the 10-day event featured more than 380 exhibitors with 1,200 recreational watercraft, including multi-million dollar yachts, house and pontoon boats, aluminum and fiberglass fishing boats, sailboats, trawlers, ski boats, jet skis, rowboats, kayaks, and inflatable dinghies.

In "Rich style," we got to the show an hour (or two) before it opened so we walked around on the quiet streets. It was kinda’ fun peaking into an art gallery, its front doors flung wide open in spite of it being in the low 30’s. Inside, we could see a group of men in short-sleeves gathered around a fiery furnace, shaping and blowing glass.

At Pioneer Square, a cat-sized seagull pecked at a loaf of sour dough bread that it either stole or was given. A flock of pigeons nearby waited patiently. Across the street was a sculpture dedicated to fallen Seattle firefighters. It featured life-sized figures in full gear, ready to extinguish a fire.

A block away was a non-descript brick building. On the outside was a plaque, proclaiming it Waterfall Park. Curious, I rounded the corner and was taken aback by the site. Inside the alcove was a majestic waterfall, wisteria covered walkways with several tables and benches, raised planter boxes… an oasis in a grand and crowded city. The small park is maintained by the Annie E. Casey Foundation to mark the birthplace of the United Parcel Service.

Walking back to the convention center, we passed the Klondike Gold Rush Museum, operated by the National Park Service to commemorate how the gold rush helped shape Seattle. According to their website, various miners on their way up to Alaska decided to stay in Seattle to make their fortune in a warmer climate. An early miner who "stayed behind" was John W. Nordstrom, the founder of Nordstrom department stores.

After getting our hand stamped at the convention center, we boarded a bus to Lake Union to check out the boats in their native habitat, the water. We were most interested in the sailboats, which may be long, but not overly high below deck. Poor Rich clunked his head after going below on the second or third sailboat we visited. He still has a scab on this head.

At 5’2", I have no problem with every hitting my head and had fun climbing into the smallest sailboats. Rich promptly decided that if we invest in a sailboat or charter another sailboat, it would be over 30 feet and hence, tall enough for him to stand up inside.

At the far end of the dock were the luxury yachts. They don’t look overly impressive from dockside. In fact, they’re clunky compared to sleek sailboats with tall masts and stiff white sails. We chose to go on a seemingly plain, but large yacht. We stepped onto the swim deck, which was level with the dock. We were required to take off our shoes then entered through a sliding glass door.

I could barely get my feet to move once I got inside. At the far end of the galley was a upscale kitchen with a huge refrigerator and matching freezer, full-sized Wolf stove and oven, granite counter tops, elegant cupboards, exquisite flooring… plush upholstered sofa and chairs, in-laid wood tables, recessed flat-screen TV, stereo system, cushy carpeting, shelves, and ornate curtains. A circular staircase led down to the master suite, which featured a king-sized bed, large flat-screen TV, marble-floored bathroom, double vanity, glass shower and tub. The next room could comfortably accommodate two people. It may have been the crew quarters.

Circling to the left, we came to a cluster of four built-in washers and dryers (maybe one set is for the crew). Down a short hallway, the door to the engine room was open so we could wander inside! It was huge with banks of batteries, compressors, electrical panels… tons of equipment… and a little step down to an area with tool boxes and a small sink for washing up once you’ve worked on the equipment.

Just past the engine rooms were two more bedrooms, each with its own bathroom. Above the main galley was the pilot house with another bathroom and two small beds. There were also several decks outside. And of course, a small boat on the main deck that could be lowered to the water using an on-board crane.

For a mere $4.5 million this slightly used boat could be yours! The owner wants a bigger one!

Just for fun, I went onto the Nordhaven site and looked up what constitutes a 72-foot yacht. First, it holds 800 gallons of water (a necessity with five bathrooms) and 4,100 gallons of diesel (at $5 a gallons, a fill-up is $20,500 without tax). Yes, you can buy a new car for the price of a fill-up.

Standard features are products from Bose, Sony, Sub Zero (side-by-side refrigerator/freezer), Thermadore (stove/electric oven), GE (microwave, trash compactor), Bosch (dishwasher) along with granite counter tops, stone and ceramic flooring, handcrafted teak cabinets and tables, and high-quality carpeting.

Having a multi-million dollar yacht would be very surreal when much of the world has inadequate housing!

After touring the boats on the water, we headed back to the convention center. On the way, we stopped at FX McRory for cups of clam chowder and a bowl of steamed clams with tangy sour dough bread. The restaurant was made famous by LeRoy Neiman’s painting of F.X. McRory’s Whiskey Bar.

We spent a couple of hours looking at various boats at the convention center. It’s very overwhelming with hundreds of watercraft, accessories, and associated "stuff" in every nook and cranny of the center, including the football field, where there was a little trout pond and some service group was conducting a contest, whereby kids and adults who successfully kicked field goals could enter to win something wonderful.

I was in awe, standing on the same field where the Seahawks play. It must be very intimidating to be a player on the field and look up and see all the seats filled with screaming and hopefully not angry fans.

A few days after the boat show, Rich investigated classes through San Juan Sailing in Bellingham, Washington. Anxious to improve my sailing skills, and frustrated with trying to teach me, he signed me up for a week-long class on a woman’s only cruise in the Puget Sound in mid-July. Between sailing, I’ll be taking tests. By the time I’m done, I will have earned three American Sailing Association’s certifications… he hopes.

In the meantime, I’ll be reading sailing books and dealing with the idea of having to actually sail and not just take orders and mispronounce sailing terms. Drats. I prefer leaving the sailing to Rich.

In late September, Rich and I will be chartering a 34-foot boat from the same company and sailing through the Puget Sound and possibly into Canadian waters. I’m looking forward to this trip and having Rich do most of the work!!! It’s much easier to do what I’m told then to figure out which direction the wind is coming and adjusting the sails accordingly.

Lots of Snow

29 Tuesday Jan 2008

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Nearly every week for the past few months, frozen material falls from the sky in the form of snow, sleet, hail, or icy rain. Sunday evening, I woke in the middle of the night and thought the light reflecting from the window looked strange. Sure enough there was a blanket of snow on everything. It continued to snow and when we got up around 6 a.m. there was several inches on everything.

Not having my computer, I had no choice but to get dressed and trek to work. To determine the feasibility of my plan, Rich decided to test drive my Honda FIT in the snow. He carefully backed out of the garage and turned the wheel to head out of the driveway when the car start to slide sideways. Miraculous, he was able to stop the car from cascading down the hill,

After easing it partially onto the driveway, he placed a plywood board under the front wheels then shoved a pathway in front of the car so he could slowly drive it back into the safety of the garage.

Plan II.

Because I needed my computer in order to work, Rich had no choice but to drive me to Microsoft in his truck, which has 4-wheel drive. The scenary was spectacular and fortunately, traffic was light. Within an hour, I had my computer and was back home to spend the rest of the day working and enjoying a winter wonderland. Throughout the day, it snowed on-and-off. As evening approached, however, it started to warm up and by Tuesday morning, most of the snow was gone.

Receipts in the Pocket

07 Monday Jan 2008

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Rich and I are slowly moving boxes and furniture from our Mount Vernon house to our Kirkland house. Yesterday, Rich found his suede coat in a wardrobe box along with his summer clothes.

Before hanging up the coat, I reached in the pockets. Along with finding the obligatory toothpick and pen, I found a handful of receipts. They were all dated Friday, February 16, 2007. One was for Ross Dress for Less. The other two were for Lowe’s and U-Haul.

Seeing the receipts took my breath away.

On that day, I was getting ready to go home from HealthSouth after a week of rehabilitation for a fracture pelvis and broken ribs following a horrific car accident a week earlier. I had mixed feeling about leaving. On one hand, I was happy that Rich didn’t have to worry about taking care of me. I had gotten into a routine of getting up at 7 a.m., struggling into my wheelchair, finding a nurse to give me my pain medications, waiting until they kicked in before I changed into fresh pajamas (I refused to wear clothes) then wheeling myself into the common room for breakfast and the start of my physical therapy.

In the evenings, I enjoyed lying in bed, reading and seeing the lights of downtown Austin from my second story window, especially the stunning Frost Bank Tower.

On the other hand, I’d spent four days at the Brackenridge Trauma Center and five days at HealthSouth. I was anxious to go home and resume a more normal life with Rich and the cats. Getting poked and prodded by nurses and doctors wasn’t much fun. And I’d grown weary of having no privacy.

On that Friday, while I was blissfully doped up on Hydrocodone (codeine), Rich was anxiously driving around town, gathering what he needed to care for me. Because I’d have to stay downstairs, Rich scrambled to buy a bed. He found a queen-size set at Costco. However, it wouldn’t fit in his truck, so he rented a trailer from U-Haul.

Once he got it home, he realized that we had no queen-sized sheets so he zipped to Ross Dress for Less for a mattress cover, sheets, comforter, pillows, and blankets. He also bought a very cute Easter-themed decorative pillow with perky yellow chicks and pink tulips.

Having met with my social worker, he went to Lowe’s to get a shower chair, hand-held shower nozzle, and other necessities.

Seeing those receipts, reminded me how much Rich cares about my well-being. The next morning, Saturday, he nervously picked me up at HealthSouth. I clung to the seat the entire trip and winced every time he went over a bump. When we got home, I screamed as he awkwardly lifted and pulled the wheelchair, with me in it, over the ledge leading into the house.

Exhausted from the trip and in lots of pain from the car ride, I wanted to immediately go to bed so Rich wheeled me into the family where he’d set up the new bed. I cried seeing how much work he’d gone through. When I stood up and turned around to plunk my bottom on the bed, however, we realized that the bed was at least 6-8 inches too high. There was no way that I could get into it using only one leg and one arm. My other arm was okay, but using it aggravated my cracked ribs. Poor Rich had to remove the bed frame and place the mattress on the floor.

For the next 10 weeks, Rich not only worked from home, but ran up-and-down the stairs throughout the day and sometime at night to get me in-and-out of bed, remind me to take my pills, prepare my food, drive me to therapy and doctor appointments, and much more.

It’s amazing how many memories a few receipts can generate!

Boxes and More Boxes

07 Monday Jan 2008

Posted by rajalary in Seattle

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In spite of having owned our Kirkland house for over three months, we’ve moved very little furniture into the house and still have several hundred boxes to unpack. While that sounds like an outrageous number of boxes, it’s no exaggeration. Take a look at the picture below, which show the family room and garage of our Mount Vernon house.