This winter Lake and Lady Kitty were blessed to spend all the school holidays together with NanaBaba. Baba is loving and kind and chief of the cozy fires and morning toast parties. Nana is creative and energetic and up for all the kinds of fun Lake and Lady Kitty are up for.

One day at the end of last year as I was working back at home, Baba emailed me to say he was holding down the fort with Lady Kitty:

“The big kids (Nana and Lake) went to the South Shore Mall to look for excitement. Kitty was asleep in her stroller in the basement when they left. When she wakes she comes up the stairs by herself. We have a nice fire going and have read two books so far. Love you very much, Lady Kitty and Baba”

The excitement the Big Kids found was the all electric Kart Racing track at the Extreme Fun Center. What could be more fun for a 7.5 year old and a 75 year old than the Extreme Fun Center? Lake loved it! When he discovered we were going back for MLKJ Day holiday weekend, he immediately inquired if he could go back to the race track. Now, he was an experienced race car driver and proudly raced 16 laps without any trouble or crashing !! Nana said after one race that she had had enough extreme fun for one lifetime and was content to henceforth watch Lake gleefully race in his Kart.

Now that’s a Perfect Day!

Christmas morning Lady Kitty woke up when it was still dark and went in to Lake’s room to wake him up. Together they went downstairs to discover what the night had brought.

“I think Santa has been here,” Lady Kitty said to Lake. I was eavesdropping from under my downy covers, still in bed, but I imagined I could hear her eyes widen as she and Lake took in the bulging stockings and the replenishment of gifts “from Santa.”

The Christmas magic is alive and well with our skeptical and pragmatic children, helped a bit this year by a rewatch of The Polar Express and Nana’s late night energy. Lake had already decided that in our house, in our family, Santa only fills the stockings, because as he explained he observed the gifts are from friends that drop by and family we visit so they can’t be from Santa. But this year, after opening gifts on Christmas Eve as is the European tradition, more presents appeared Christmas morning!

What delightful magic and the reindeer’s bells’ twinkling could be heard by all— loud and clear this year!

Nana and Baba graciously invited us out to their cozy home near the coast for a lovely feast and convivial time with family Thanksgiving this year. Meanwhile Michael held down the urban fort with the cats, the Airbnb guests and the first-line work at the inpatient hospital. Whilst he worked, we played.

We played hard! We visited Bowerman, Westport Lighthouse, Kalaloch, Olympic National Park, admired the resident wild deer, and spent loads of time by Nana’s bountiful table and Baba’s warm hearth. The weather was crisp and cold with sunny blue skies during the day and thick frost during the night, magically transforming our surroundings into a sparkling white world.

Thursday was a lovely Thanksgiving prepared by Nana including a handsome organic free-range turkey. All was delicious! We were joyous to be able to share the American tradition with Theresa from Innsbruck, Austria. We bowed our heads in thanks and reflected on our lives full of blessings and challenges. Much discussion turned toward climate change, climate action, and what we could contribute towards steering our planet in the direction of the healthiest, most stable present and future.

On Friday, we all abstained from shopping, instead heading out to the ocean. During the drive out to Kalaloch and the wild Pacific coast my dad and I were able to have a long and meandering conversation. He was so kind to ask me about my favorite hikes, which inspired me to finalize the edits on my next post, the bulk of which had been written in 2020 or earlier. In return, I got to hear the stories of him hiking alone, which included once hiking solo out to Hoh Head, hearing a critter rustling with his backpack in the night, which resulted in him impulsively throwing his hiking boot in that direction only to discover it was unfortunately a skunk. The resulting stench was unbearable, and he had to move camp for the next night.

Baba’s favorite event was Lady Kitty waking up at 5 am on Saturday and coming downstairs to be with him.

The kids have a longstanding morning tradition they share with Baba whenever they visit— whilst Nana famously sleeps later— whereby they join him in eating toast and call it a toast party. During this particular Thanksgiving visit Lake remarked, “Baba is the gem— diamond— at the center of the toast party. Without Baba it’s not a party it’s just eating toast.”

Later on Saturday I took the kids out to Westport so NanaBaba could have a small reprieve, and we could take some photographs and have a roll in the sand. I just love the grass-tufted dunes there near the edge of the sea.

As a holdover from the days when Lake was three and four, and immersed in marmots, where he was The Marmot General, and had a marmot army, he and Nana Baba would migrate on these dunes. So we went migrating and even rolled, crawled and played a bit in the sand. The kids say jubilantly, “it’s not a trip to the beach if we don’t roll in the sand!”

Sunday included some time in Nana Baba‘s wheelbarrow. Some of us had a giggle and a trip to the Christmas tree farm. We brought home a Nordman tree that Lake had proudly selected.

What a wonderful Thanksgiving 2023, with much gratitude to Nana Baba for hosting us!

A perfect holiday. I’m glad I spent it with you.

We are so thankful for our wonderful friends and readers as well, and hope you all truly enjoyed your holiday.

Remember there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing!

Summer has predictably flown by. Earlier this summer Lady Kitty was playing in my bed making me laugh with her unique and charming personality, tossing around gems like “tummy button” right and left.

Most of these precious moments slipped by savored but unrecorded. A recent Lady Kittyism preserved in time long enough to transcribe and to share:

“‘Every eyebrow is in a line of mine’… It rhymes!’” she declared with a laugh and a twinkle in her eye.

Then came unexpected house troubles…

Cat 3 took on a whole new meaning at the end of June when we discovered the wax ring from our upstairs toilet had failed. As much as we’d like cat 3 to mean we got a third (very cute) cat, this meant we were dealing with a Catagory 3 Loss- read raw sewage inside the walls subsequently destroyed by water, mold, and stripped down to the studs.

As if that wouldn’t have been quite enough of a challenge for one season, a wayward dehumidifier hose drained onto the countertop instead of into the sink one night and half the kitchen floor was damaged by water.

You really don’t want to see pictures from this phase, but it explains why the blogger went on hiatus.

Life entered a time warp.

Blessedly the kids took turns having ~three week summer camp style holidays with the ever-generous Nana and Baba at Newman Lake.

First Lady Kitty was there on her own whilst Lake took four weeks of Summer School, and then she came down with a high fever. So instead of joining her, Lake gave her a big hug at the airport.

Then he took a turn at enjoying the lake lifestyle whilst Lady Kitty came home to convalesce and so we could try to figure out what was ailing her.

“You have two children, but one of them is at Newman Lake. It’s not me! Puz I’m sick. But I’m not really sick.”

Since the beginning of August the stalwart dear has had a relapsing remitting fever of unknown origin and a constellation of non-specific symptoms fatigue, malaise, chills all preceded by some arthropod assaults, swims in the lake, and a trip to the County Fair. She’s stoic enough but nonetheless it’s painfully clear how hard her body is working to fight off whatever foreign assailant gained access to her strong self.

Today I asked her, “Do you know what comes after 99?”

“Ninety-ten?” she ventured.

Life has skewed so sideways it does feel like what next? Pretty soon ninety-ten will come after 99. Well, and Lady Kitty will be prepared and unfazed!

I’m going to have to call this an imperfect summer. Nevertheless I’m evermore so especially glad I spent it with you.

Vivi is back for a visit to Seattle! The kids are overjoyed. We all are. It’s always wonderful to reconnect with our au pair family— like no time has passed. Except the kids keep growing up! Vivi was here when Lady Kitty was born and brought Lake to the hospital to meet her. She was also with us when Covid-19 emerged. We went through a lot together during the 11 month year she lived with us!

So it’s wonderful to have her visiting and so fun to re-visit all the favorite places.

Vivi is visiting and she took the kids to the Pride Festival on Capitol Hill Saturday. Linnéa was in Disneyland, so she asked Lady Kitty to tell her all about it while they we’re having breakfast together this morning.

“I don’t know *all* about it, but I know *some* of it,” Lady Kitty said.

Then she proceeded to show off her new “eye glasses. “

“Cool-ing!” Linnéa said when Lady Kitty put on her sunnies.

The sunset just kept going and going on the ferry ride home from a long and lovely day visiting Grandma Julie and Auntie Kendra and the Ketchikan cousins on Bainbridge Island. In response to the sunset that just wouldn’t quit, Lady kitty asked, “why is there more sunset?”

Then she answered her own question: “Oh, maybe puz it knows you like sunsets so it just keeps going more and more and more and more every time.”

A perfect end to a perfect day. I’m glad I spent it with you!

It’s always special when Daddy is the principal point person for the kids all day. They love it and have action packed adventures.

This one was fit to bursting with Spring sunshine!

I believe there were parks visited, high school track meets attended, and films (cartoons) screened at a local independent theater.

A perfect day, I’m glad I spent it with Daddy!