Welcome back to Seattle Gam! We are so glad you’re here. The first time we met was in 2012 at the Seattle Center. I was with a Michael, and the two of them had gotten to know each other just a bit when Michael was on P4 rotation at Khon Kaen University. So Gam had come as a pharmacist student on exchange to the UW Scool of Pharmacy for a few weeks. 

It’s good to reconnect now that so much has changed. There is a Lake! Lake has right away taken a strong liking to our bright young pharmacist friend from Thailand. 

We are honored to have her staying with us as our guest for the rest of the year. We feel so lucky to have her sweet energy blessing our home and family. It’s also a godsend to have an extra set of hands and another smiler for Lake! Today they spent their first full day together as Jo was off duty adventuring in Chicago for a long weekend, and Mummy and Daddy were at work. The day was a fantastic success. They were so happy, it was infectious… I was so happy! Also, I got to play tennis with my dear friend Lena, and take a shower. Icing on the cake! Thank you Gam, for your thoughtful support. Meanwhile, Lake and Gam, they had a right grand time.

Gam explains her caregiving philosophy to me with what I discern to be an endearing Buddhist sentiment. 

It’s simple really, you just love them, and the right care follows. You didn’t have to tell me to wash his hands before eating. It’s just when you love someone, you think, wouldn’t it be nice to have clean hands, and you help him to have that. 

Lake responds warmly to her gentle love. 

Gam states things very simply and eloquently,

When I first saw his pictures he was just born, and now he is a little boy standing there. 

We shared a nice dinner al fresca together this evening and chatted about life. The two of us have many similarities, having both developed sole proprietorships and run our businesses ourselves, from all aspects. Me with my naturopathic medicine practice, the SPAhT Homeopathic Medical Spa, and her teaching English at her school she launched, Frontline English Academy. Additionally, we both worked hard at two jobs for many years, her as a hospital pharmacist in Thailand and me at Pharmaca. Then we both saw practicing pharmacy in the US as a strong career move. I went back to pharmacy school, and Gam is here to engage with the profession and pursue her life’s dreams. 

Welcome Back to Seattle, Gam! We are so glad you’re here with us. Lake had a truly perfect day. 

Katie invited us blueberry picking so we met her and her theee girls at On We Grow Organic Farm in Deming out near Acme. 

Lake was in heaven. 

He was a natural. I’ve never seen a human being eat so many blueberries, especially not a human being so small. 

First he was picking them himself. 

Then the girls were feeding him, then he was eating straight out of my bucket.

Katie claimed I could pick them faster than he could eat them, but I’m not so sure. Somehow, though, in spite of Lake’s insatiable appetite for blueberries we still managed to bring home 10.5 pounds. 

And tomatoes from Katie’s garden! Thank you Katie! A perfect day… I’m glad I spent it with you. 

Due to some sudden changes of plans, Lake and I were home (mostly) alone for the weekend. 

Since we had some unexpected down time today, we spent it chillaxing. We worked hard at our leisure. I read that it’s more rewarding and we’re happier people if we do our relaxing the hard way. Either there’s something to that, or Lake’s just such a big sweetheart. It was delightful to spend a meandering day together with Lake.

We started out the morning by heading down to the U District Farmers Market where Lake toddled around free range having a grand time. He garnered the remark that he looked like the Mayor of the Market. He was happy to listen to the buskers’ music and dole out hugs and high fives to unsuspecting folks. We  did our shopping too and loaded up on the height of summer’s fresh produce, blueberries, and ginger beer. We stopped and ate delicious Indian food from Tandoozy three times, but hey, who’s counting? (Oh, yeah, the emailed reciepts are.) We also tried Sea Wolf bread for the first time, which apparently has quite a cult following in the area. We can see why! At home we picked blackberries in the vacant lot next door. Then Lake and I both enjoyed a nice long midday nap. 

In the afternoon we played in the garden. We daydreamed. We watered. 

We walked over to some friends house to help them out with their cat while they’re away. 

On the way home we visited our favorite bookstore: Ravenna Third Place Books. We spoiled ourselves with new books. We went home via Ravenna Park and when we got home we played in the garden some more. We enjoyed the fruits of our labor, a nice Tolle-dinner of smoked salmon from Westport on a bed of mixed greens from Wild Hare Organic Farm. To cap it off we had fun getting cleaned up and playing in the bath then back out into the garden while FaceTiming Nana. There was even a failed attempt to ride Mr. Cat that ended in a hug-face plant. 

We simply had a perfect day of chillaxing. I’m so glad I spent it with you, Lake!

Lake and I caught the tail end of our neighborhood Seattle “Night Out” Against Crime Block Party last night. We were on our typical post-work epic Tuesday Lindsin adventure and as I walked home from her place in Wallingford I passed through many blocked off streets with different iterations of the same thing: neighbors enjoying each other’s friendship, some delicious food, and quite a few kids playing scrappy ball in the streets. So nice having the streets free from vehicle traffic. Neighbors smiling and visiting. Kids could play football or chalk up the roads. When we arrived to our little party everyone was great about including Lake. He went right for it and got instantly absorbed into the festivities, eating chalk, chasing balls, and hugging the big kids. 

It was pretty startling when the street was opened back up, because as we were reluctant to leave each other’s company, we were still relaxing in the middle of the street post official part end. It’s true we felt so safe and free of crime. Two university police were at our block’s party on 17th Avenue. Lake petted their K-9 police dog Harley (no photo). She was a sweetheart, and very tolerant of Lake’s exploration… 

so what kind of cat with the very short hair and tail is this?

He is accustomed to cat world at home…

We love our home, our neighborhood and our friends and family! It’s always a perfect day when some combination of those involve a nice walk too!