Somehow the stars lined up and Michael and I managed to spend some quality time together Tuesday after work. We started out for a run around 7pm and ended up at Warren G. Magnuson Park.  The Burke Gilman Trail took us there. Hello Seattle summer evening! Hello neighborhood! Hello Lake Washington!

Lake was really happy to go for an adventure in the jogging stroller. And especially to get out an explore. He was psyched to run around when we got to the shoreline, while the parents took a stretch break. It was an surprise destination and such a treat! The waves were big and the sun had set. The sky was a soft peach. Around us the dry fields of grass had such an aroma of summertime! 

Really fun. And then we had the homeward journey to test our mettle. There was some teamwork involved and some loud singing in the dark. We made it home, happily worn out, and celebrated our evenings’ accomplishment with banana-berry smoothies!

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Suffice it to say, we didn’t have Totality, but we did have a Totally awesome time! We had our own special eclipse experience. Michael was going to be working evening shift, so he and Gam were able to come pick me up from work to check out the celestial goings on together. I worked late then too, but it was sooo worth it! I couldn’t concentrate on anything but the eclipse from approximately 9:09 to 11:39. It was so festive. Inexplicably exciting. Eclipsiting!
Just after 9 o’clock a kind coworker shared his solar viewing glasses with me and I took my first peek out the building’s windows. Breathtaking! Then by some good fortune, when we were in the courtyard we scored a few more pairs of glasses. We were equipped! So we set out on out mid Monday morning adventure. Walking along the Burke Gilman toward Gasworks Park, I kept saying 

I need another hit!

And then I’d put the solar glasses on and gaze at the perfectly crossing moon over sun. 

When we arrived at the Park, just a few minutes prior to the peak (our modest 92%) we were presented with the scene, a sea of Wallingford eclipse viewers. At exactly 10:21 am the whole crowd sent up a cheer. 

I was ridiculously happy! A perfect day, quite special, and I’m so glad I spent it with you!

The solar eclipse is coming… are you feeling ready?

I don’t know… I don’t have the safety glasses. 

Me neither… Everywhere ran out. 

What do you think it will be like in Seattle? Dusk? No big deal? Like a cloudy day?

Well here’s the facts: The solar eclipse as viewed from Seattle will occur between 9:09-11:39 am with a peak of 91.7% at 10:21 am.

Yeah, but I hear the difference between 92% partial eclipse and 100% total eclipse is practically exponential. Like, they’ll be able to see stars in the Oregon desert. Like, they’ll be able to have spiritual awakenings and we won’t. 

Ahh, do you think it’s too late to fly down there?

We can wing it. 

Er, what are we going to do about our eyes? 

I read we can look with our back towards the sun, through a colander onto a white paper spread on the ground. 

Cool, why didn’t I think of that? Okay, let’s go!

Liz Doyle blew my mind yesterday. She did this once before several years ago, but then our paths didn’t cross again until now. Sometimes that happens with something that’s so outside the box. The mind can’t quite fit it into a preexisting box, so it “forgets”. And as my mind was in the process of being blown again, it all came back to me. A yoga class she taught at Sutra Yoga studio. She’s so gravity defying… and so much fun. 

This time I was her guest and I’ve come for a taste of her teaching style. I’m investigating my path to becoming a certified yoga instructor! The journey commences with this two hour Yoga Asana Intensive among her assorted collection of yogi devoteés. Many, I later discovered, are yoga teachers themselves. Right away it should be a signal that this is not your ordinary teacher or your ordinary class, when the other students are instructing you on how to set up your mats. It’s the signature Liz Doyle double crossing configuration. Is this the patented Liz Doyle Yoga Cross Mat practice setup? Yes, you will be using every bit of those mats as you twist and turn and pay homage to each direction. 

I felt like I walked into a Cirque du Soleil training as “Yumi” started warming up by lifting her downward dog into straddle handstands. Straddle handstands?!

Liz likes to go right into them,

she explains by way of justification. And straddle handstands we did go right into! For most classes a downward dog might be the refrain, the resting pose that we revisit again and again throughout class. Not for Liz, her refrain resting pose sings the tune of the straddle handstand. Then there was the moment for the pose:

Answer your foot-phone. 

Okay. What?! I give the sole of my foot a kiss hello. This was not your regular sun-salutation-based-vinyasa-flow-with-a-peak-pose thrown in there for the teacher to show off a bit and humble you a bit, just to  let you know you’ve got a long ways to go. Liz is fun and empowering. We laugh a lot. At one point while facing the North, she suggests letting your inner vision be bathed in cerulean blue. 

The class might have been called an arm stand workshop intensive. It was a veritable arm stand feast. If you were hungry for arm stands, this might have satiated you. For the moment. And then you’d be ready for more. And arm stands and inversions, for those who know me and my yoga practice, are not my particular strength. Yet?! Liz Doyle has a way of keeping them coming… until one clicks, and off you go?!

Astavakrasana: eight angle, or eight crooked limb, arm balance pose. 

This one surprised me when, practicing on the second side, I managed some hang-time. When I caught the air sensation I didn’t want to stop. We laughed. Then, I started to get the feel for the straddle handstand and get a little lift… a hint of an opening of possibility. Sometimes that’s all you need in life to keep engaged in the possibilities. A taste… 

Perfectly delicious. I’m glad I spent it with you. Thank you, Liz Doyle!

It’s Lake’s third haircut already. In some ways it’s getting easier and in some ways more challenging. I, as the hairdresser, I’m getting more skilled; he as the boy, he’s getting more active. Last night after every disciplined parent has their chidldren washed brushed and in bed, Lake is sitting on the bathroom counter playing with all my makeup and brushes. Maybe I was brushing my teeth, but I get the idea to seize the opportunity to cut his hair. It, like Lake, is growing so fast. So, I commit myself with the first snip to giving Lake a haircut.  He is perfectly absorbed in playing with my cosmetics. One by one he drops them in the sink. 

Then he gets the lid off the jar of coconut oil and starts dipping the brushes in there. Combined with the fine hairs of his haircut, the mess and feelings of chaos are quickly mounting. 

I want to finish what I’ve started though.  As long as he is distracted his head remains still and therefore beautifully and unwittingly posed for this haircut. Somehow we make it to a place where the ends and sides even enough by the 80/20 rule. Voila!

You know the saying, play together, stay together, and that’s what we are all about. Although all the photos feature us each separately, we went outside and played together. It was delightful. A perfect evening. The sunset went on and on for an eternity. We ran to Greenlake with Lake in the jogging stroller and ran around. We played hard! 5.3 mile run plus cool down. After dinner I fell fast asleep nursing Lake while sitting upright in the chair. A perfect day, I’m glad I spent it with you!



We did it! Mt. Pilchuck is a popular destination among the faculty and students of the University of Washington School of Pharmacy. I’m not sure why it is the pharmacy darling of dayhikes, but it does have a noteworthy fire lookout turned hikers shelter capping the summit. So, after hearing about this hike for many years, yesterday our friend John Riley finally made it happen. Michael was working this weekend, however he, of course had already hiked it in pharmacy school. So, Lake and I were the lucky beneficiaries to join John Riley! It was a great hike. A perfect day for it, the air had cooled and cleared of smoke and haze there were even some sprinkles of rain. 

Lake had a blast playing on the rest breaks. The summit is no place for a baby-turned-toddler to play. The breathtaking exposure! I had a good scare, first hearing about the various hikers falling to their deaths up here and then we arrived and whew! When Lake threw his apple over the edge, my reflexes jumped and I started sobbing. It was like Lake went over the edge in that split second and smashed on the rocks below. John actually had him safely in the backpack the whole time and everything was safe and sound. Thank you John Riley for carrying Lake the whole way up and down again too! Thank you for the perfect day!

Gam and I walked down to Greenlake to watch the sunset and have a cooling relaxing visit this evening. It was more of a sunsink, as we watched the bright reddish pink orb silently drop into an absorbent bed of charcoal. I went for a swim. The water looked so inviting as I am a hot mess, nursing a bit of a septic mastitis. So refreshing, indeed!

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.