What are you doing for yourself this Wednesday evening? Divya Krishnan offers a Beginners mind yoga practice. Ananda Yoga. Wednesday’s from 7-8pm at the Ballard Community Center. You are invited and all are welcome! It’s drop in/donation, or sign up online for a month of Wednesday’s classes for a mere $20 activity fee. https://apm.activecommunities.com/seattle/Activity_Search/yoga-18-and-older/6612

I highly recommend it! Divya’s the loveliest person and such a skillful poetic and comedic yoga teacher!

A perfect day, any day spent with Divya!

February 2019 has been the month of snow for most of us in Washington State, and one of snow, sea and sheep for Lake! We started out the month with a visit to Nora and Ed’s Farm our near Port Townsend for Groundhog’s Day. On February 2nd we confirmed the groundhog indeed saw his shadow, and what ensued was more winter with a vengeance! Snow arrived that very same day, and hasn’t left us yet! It came down thick and in flurries and “stuck” making a beautiful magical snowscape… the sheep didn’t mind a bit. They had full access to the barn the whole time but often were huddled bravely outside in their wool coats grazing peacefully. Lake loves the sheep but primarily the “baby sheep” (actually grandmother sheep, Beauty, who is smaller in the stature due to her age and breed) as the others of the flock are “too big” and intimidating.

Mostly he loves the sea, the Salish Sea and the Pacific Ocean. No matter how freezing it is, he’s happy playing in the cold wet sand with his bare hands. He likes making houses with doors out of driftwood, sticks and shells and sand. Lake got heaps of winter beach time in This month first here in Port Townsend with Nora and Ed, and later in Grays Harbor with NanaBaba. Lots of snow, sea, and sheep!

Thank you Nora and Ed for the great groundhogs day visit! What a February adventure it sparked! Will we get even more snow? Will the snowy weather last through Friday, the heralding of March? As the saying goes for the month of March… in like a Lion, out like a lamb!

“NanaBaba, you take care of me,” Lake stated. I like how this picture from Damon Point has a literal representation of this. Here Nana is holding Lake up and he’s leaning into her embrace. Meanwhile the Pacific Ocean tides crash and lap at their (bare) feet. And they’re both smiling so joyfully! You know Baba is full of peace and joy too, looking at them.

Joyce Carol Oates’ Proust Questionnaire Vanity Fair Holiday 2018/2019 issue, she wrote: “Amid so much blatant cruelty in our political situation, such shocking indifference to the lives & welfare of those living in the margins of an affluent society, I think [the trait I most deplore in others] must be this institutionalized cruelty, & the hypocrisy that surrounds it. ‘Making America great again’–for whom? Wealthy white people?”

Oates makes an eloquent assessment of the current challenges in our national affairs, and meanwhile Lake makes an effortless statement of our interdependence. A moving book I recommend on this topic is The Nordic Theory Of Everything: in search of a better life (2016) by Anu Partanen.

“No Man is an Island” and so… we take care of each other.

Lake loves to talk about Free Solo. Last month when he was on grandparent-holiday Lake went with his NanaBaba to see Free Solo in the movie theatre in Olympia (ironically and unknowingly Michael and I saw Free Solo at the Crest that same day). Free Solo (2018) is the story of Alex Honnold’s preparation and flawless execution of free climbing El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. That means rock climbing ~3,000′ up a granite monolith without any ropes. Ever since watching this film co-directed by Jimmy Chin (Meru 2015), Lake talks about Alex, the “boy on the rock”. He thought it was very cool!

Well, Lake is back on grandparent-holiday again this week. They’re having a blast of course. Today Lake went to Damon Point at Ocean Shores with NanaBaba and did some rock climbing of his own (sandy) El Capitan.

The boy on the rock. My boy on the rock! A perfect day, I’m glad you spent it at the ocean free climbing in the sunshine with NanaBaba, sweetheart!

How many sea lions do you see? More than one hundred and one? Not exactly what you expect when you visit Westport Marina, “Washington’s largest fish landing port”, or is it? These lovely and talkative (eg loud) sea lions have taken up residence on Dock 7 at the Westport Marina with a vengeance! We cautiously went up really quite close and took in the free show. It was intense! They are sunbathing, cuddling, vying for space, pooping, diving in the water, swimming around and crawling out, and generally making a lot of noise. At one point we watched open-mouthed as one brave, popular or foolhardy young sea lion waddled down the length of the pier on the backs of his mates, mosh-pit-style! It was exciting to be right out there on the pier with them amidst all the action! Lake was enthralled witnessing the large sea mammals up close, as long as he could hug onto NanaBaba or me, and I was just fine with that! A perfect day, I’m glad I spent it with you!

Lake liked to go out into the water. There was a nice low tide conducive to running and testing the limits of the waters edge. He had the safety and courage of Nana to spring from for the intertidal games of hide and seek with the waves. It was a perfect day for sunset explorations at the Pacific Ocean’s wide open Westport Light State Park. I’m glad I spent it with you ~Lake, NanaBaba and Mama!

It started with a few flakes and a few tracks,

And has just kept on accumulating! It seemed like a total of about 8- 10″ had fallen at our home near Ravenna Park in Seattle by this morning. And now tonight, maybe another six more inches just came down in a flurry this evening between 4-8pm. So exciting! Michael was inspired and went out for a run in the thick of it after being at work all day. Lake and Langley and I opted out having already been for a big snowy adventure in the middle of the day. Needless to say, we’re all enjoying it to the maximum: Such beauty! Such exhilaration!

We’re ready for more! A perfect day, I’m glad I spent it with you!!!

Snooped, is how Lake calls it when Langley comes up to him pushing against him with his wet nose and big tongue and sniffing and licking, or just breathing (but big Langley face breathing). “I got snooped!”

Or, more typically as in I don’t want to get snooped! And now it’s a verb. And these days it can be wet and snowy!

And it can apply to other situations. “I don’t like that big sheep. He’s gonna snoop me!”

And then sometimes we like to play at “snooping” each other and the cats. *Big lick* I snooped you! I snooped you, Mr. Cat!

A perfectly humorous perfectly cozy perfectly human toddler day. I’m glad I spent it with you and Langley and the rest of the family getting snooped!

We’re enjoying our snowpocalypse of 2019, aka Winter Storm Maya! A total of several weeks of snow slated for Seattle with expected accumulations of 4-6 more inches tonight for a total of 8 inches thus far. Wir wirden sehen. The area almost is having a full melt-down. Winter storm warning is in effect through tomorrow at 4 pm. Today at noon at the first falling of the snowflakes there was a mass exodus from Harborview and other places of work thus achieving immediate and sustained gridlock from noon to about 3:30 pm. Lake braved the trip to Harborview with Luisa for Aloha Friday with Clarence. The surely delicious plate lunches were not so fortunate or stalwart in their travels and delivery failed to complete.

Nonetheless we had a great time. Thank you Clarence! We ate berries and watched the snow fall. Lake and Luisa elegantly took the underground Link train back to our neighborhood, avoiding the traffic mess.

We’ve managed one snowball so far and maybe a snowman is on the horizon for the snow-filled weekend! Meanwhile Lake can’t get enough of piloting his “helitopters” airplanes, and trains, usually made out of a nest of pillows and usually bound for Ketchikan with Jamma Julie or “my baby Mr. Cat”. All aboard! This storm train has left the station. Hang on and enjoy the ride! A perfect day, I’m glad I spent it with you!!!

Enjoying the sunshine and the snow! Happy Chinese New Year! Photo credits and toddler good humor credits to Luisa Jehle. A perfect day, I’m glad I spent it with you in the snowshine!