A Love Affair

One of the things that has surprised me is how visceral my love for where we live now has been.  I've lived in a variety of places:  Kansas City, Sarasota, Lexington (KY), Madison County (KY), and Sewanee, TN.  There have been things and places that I love about all of them, but somehow Walla Walla trumps all of that.   When I am out riding, there is always something that takes my breath away (and I'm not talking about riding up the hills). 

I rode out of town (easy enough) and went toward Oregon.  As I rode down Cottonwood, I could see the mountains with their snowy summits and the green moving its way up from the valley through the foothills.  As the altitude decreases, the green becomes deeper and deeper.  Spring, with all of its promise, is here.  Everything is new and green (soon we'll have shades of gold and brown, with the deep blue sky looking over it all) and it's easy to see why some of the pioneering people stopped here instead of pushing to the coast and said, "This is home."

I agree:  This is home.  My home, and some days I am amazed that I have the privilege of living here.

December 09

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December 2009

We have had another busy few years.

Last year, The Collar accepted a call to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Walla Walla, Washington. In July, we moved from Richmond, Kentucky . We were able to visit Kate’s family in the Kansas City area on our way to Walla Walla. It was a long trip, and we learned a few things: the West is a beautiful place (even better than Kate remembered from a family vacation in 1976), the boys get along surp

risingly well in the car, travelling with a zoo is tricky, and Twin Falls, Idaho is a favorite place to visit.

Once we settled into our new home in Walla Walla, we began to explore our new home. Walla Walla may be small, but there is a lot to do. Between wineries and outdoor activities, we are constantly busy. When school started, our new lives began in earnest. Last year, Game Boy began middle school. He began to play the trumpet and made a lot of new friends. Wiz began second grade at his new school. Both did well, and are continuing

to do so. We also experienced an unusual winter for Walla Walla. There was a lot of snow. For the first time, the boys were in a snowfall that they remembered that was more than an inch deep!

This year has been one of beginnings and endings.We sold the old house in Kentucky. The Collar continued in his ministry at St. Paul’s. Kate has stopped teaching online and has begun a new job as manager of a food bank. Game Boy has started jazz band and played basketball (where did we go wrong? :D) and is a generally busy seventh grader. Wiz has begun to play piano and is enjoying third grade.

The Collar's Parents parents visited in June. We had a wonderful time. All of us went to the Olympic peninsula together (Sequim) and saw glaciers, Pacific beach, and Hoh Rainforest. We also saw a Mariner’s game, and Game Boy was able to see his favorite player play again (Ken Griffey, Jr.). It was an amazing trip. The boys want to go again.

In July, we went to Kansas City for Kate’s parents’ 40^th anniversary. We saw a lot of family that we don’t often see. It was wonderful. We stayed at Kate’s sister Maggie’s home and the boys had a wonderful time playing with the cousins. On our way back, we spent a day at Rocky Mountain National Park and went to Shoshone Falls in Idaho..

Wiz has been doing relatively well this year. He finally saw a neurologist due to his severe headaches. He has been diagnosed with migraines that we are trying to control. Because of his symptoms, he has had an MRI of his brain and spinal cord. We did find a problem, but it’s not serious at this point, and it has nothing to do with his migraines. In the new year, he has an appointment with a neurosurgeon to discuss treatment options (which could range from nothing to watchful waiting to surgery) and he will have his annual bone marrow biopsy. We are grateful that he hasn’t had any severe illnesses this year.

We hope that everyone has a blessed Christmas season and has a wonderful new year.

Love from The Collar, Kate, Game Boy, and Wiz

P.S. Maybe next year Kate will have a tripod so she can be in pictures too.

Good Bye, Summer Food

We've had a couple of freezes. Saturday I picked all the rest of the basil (about a gallon bag) and tonight's dinner featured basil. The tomatoes are the last from a friend's garden.
Dinner tonight:
Caprese Salad, Pesto and Pasta (corn/quinoa), and Italian sausage. So good, and so seasonal.

Beachcombing, PNW style

On Tuesday morning, we all trooped down to the beach at low tide. There is sand on the beach, but it's mostly rocky--which makes it perfect for tide pools. Game Boy ventured out into the water first.
The boys wandered around showing each other the things that they saw.The BBFs looked at mostly at birds, but also walked and wandered the beach too.And so did The Collar.There were really good birds around. Bald eagles were a pretty common presence while we were there.

We saw an amazing variety of life.
Frosted nudibranch.
Dungeness crabs. HUGE sea stars (that is a quarter on it).
A variety of snails.
And one very orange sea star.

Um, Yes

It's been almost a week, and I haven't blogged. I've been doing a lot, but nothing that is particularly interesting to anyone else. I'm knitting a Christmas Stocking to show my class that starts on June 9. I finished the body of my sweater, so all I have now is to pick up the stitches and knit the sleeves. I've been riding my bike (306 miles this month!), and that's mostly interesting to me. We had a great Memorial Day (slept* until 7:30, woohoo!) and drove to the Tri Cities so we could get some pots for tomato plants (yes, we have them here, but we wanted to get out of town a bit) and check out REI. There's an REI only 45 minutes from our house. We're just a bit pleased about that.

The boys have school for two more weeks, then they are out. The summer is looking very busy, but it should be nice.

Since I don't have much, here are some pictures of plant life around our house:
one of the roses we whacked back this yearone of the roses in the front flower bedanother one of the whacked roses (they were about 7 feet tall last year)and homegrown rhubarb, from our own back yard.

*slept meaning we laid in bed until 7:30. The sun comes up at 4:30, and Lulu thinks we should get up. But we did not.

Changes

From snow-covered berries to an amazing amount of flowers

From seeds to saladFrom a leafy shrub to glorious flowers (the view over the kitchen sink)a closer view of one of the flowersFrom non-rider to rider
This is serious business.

Views from a Ride

I took my camera with me on my ride today. (No worries--I was not riding when I took the pictures. It was pretty handy though as a way to let my asthma meds start working.)



I am enjoying riding out here. There are hills (oh, there are hills!) and flat, and beautiful views. So far, no dogs lying in wait at the top of climbs. This ride was especially challenging, because one of the hills is quite long. It was also *very* windy which made the climb tough. Halfway up, I hopped off, took a drink, and started walking to give my poor lungs a chance to absorb my meds. (I walked about 1/2 mile.) Then I hopped back on, rode down, and came back through some vineyards.

It's fantastic riding here.

Lazy Sunday?

Not usually.
Yesterday, we went to Mill Creek to hike again. A different weather pattern has come through (we had rain off and on all day). We went out any way.Some of us decided to chase the ducks. (They knew she had no chance to catch them.)
All of us walked. We saw all sorts of signs that summer is still sort of here, but fall's coming too. There are still blackberries ripening. The Wiz approves. I'm not sure how many more afternoons we'll be able to go out and do this, but we're going to enjoy it while we can.

Deprived

That's a word people use for me when they find out that I can't have gluten. I don't think so.

One thing that we're not used to is that blackberries here in Washington are now ripening. When we lived in Sewanee, we'd pick wild blackberries on the 4th of July, and make cobbler. It was our one celebratory thing that we'd do for the holiday. On Thursday, we went to Rook's Park and picked a lot of blackberries. Some of these aren't ripe, but they are fine when made into filling.
Here's my pie, before the top is put on. Pie filling is easy: water, corn starch, sugar and fruit. The important part is gluten free, any way. The pie crust had to be put together a bit more carefully.Gluten free pie crusts are fragile. But who cares?

It still looks like a pie. Who cares if it's a jigsaw puzzle?
It looks like blackberry pie ala mode to me. It tasted like it too!