A Wonderful Christmas Time

Christmas 2019 was a good one.  I got a pretty decent chunk of time off from work, we were all together and healthy (except me -- I have a cold, but it's not awful or anything), and Christmas Eve and Christmas Day saw us getting together with friends, if not family. 

Also, there were presents.

Santa was generous (an instant camera for Elizabeth, a hair-styling mannequin head for Suzanne).  The family-bought gifts were well received. Our family back East were very thoughtful in what they sent (including, a few days before Christmas, the annual arrival of the wonderful cookies from Barb's Aunt Mary Ann.)

Christmas Eve dinner we shared with Pat Gaughan and his girlfriend, Karen. Christmas dinner was with Brian and Teresa and Riley, later joined by the Wheeler-Kays.  It was a really great time, but it's not all magic. Barb did a ton of work prepping, and cooking, and baking, and doing dishes. I contributed where I could, but it was mostly her.  She makes the magic happen.

If there was a downside, it was Suzanne's mannequin head, which attaches by a clamp to the edge of a table or counter. As Suzanne moved it about the house, we all were regularly startled to catch out of the corner of our eye this dark-haired stranger in our house. A little creepy, but we're already getting used to it.

The revelation this year for me was to reign in my impulse to go overboard with gifts. Although Barb and I had agreed we were done shopping, I had my typical anxiety that it wasn't enough. So I bought the girls each a simple remote control car. Elizabeth was clearly puzzled by the gift when she unwrapped it. It's too young for her. Suzanne was excited upon opening it, but upon playing with it, was less than thrilled.  I'll return Elizabeth's, which is still in the box.

As Barb has been telling me for years, it's not about the presents, it's about the experience.

Suzanne with her stocking, way too early in the morning.

Ibid.

Suzanne opening her big present -- a memory foam mattress topper. Suzanne is very into memory foam.

Elizabeth was thrilled to receive her t-shirt for the Muppet band "Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem." See below for a glimpse of the shirt.

More presents! And more presents!

This is the day after Christmas, but is notable for showing five kids playing the Xbox at one time. I didn't think that was possible. Suzanne is holding one of her gifts, which is a Minecraft-themed Xbox controller. She was thrilled to get it, as it sets her apart from the hoi-polloi.

And here is Barb enjoying a moment of peace in her beautiful house the day after Christmas.

Bagby Backpacking

A couple of years ago, Barb and I took the girls "backpacking" (it was backpacking, but I put it in quotes because it was barely backpacking) where we had to hike in maybe a mile on a flat trail next to a river. But! we all carried our own stuff (or, possibly, the parents carried most of the kids' stuff).

We met up with a couple of other families with similar-aged kids, and had a good time.  (Although, on the way in I remember walking along with Suzanne at a glacial pace while Barb and Elizabeth zoomed ahead.  That was kind of frustrating, especially when tiny Suzanne would pick up a piece of wood four times her size and decide to carry it the next 3/4 mile for "firewood.")

This summer, toward the end of our annual camping trip at Kingfisher, we decided to backpack with the kids at Bagby hot springs.  Bagby is a pretty choice destination spot, as there is a blazing hot spring there that decades ago folks built up to channel the water into wooden tubs.  In the 90s, when Barb and I first visited, it was a veritable Hippie Heaven, rife with naked people, unconcealed drug use, and a lot of love. Occasionally, I felt some sketchiness about drunk guys or dumb, intoxicated people (the buildings there have caught fire more than once due to loaded candle enthusiasts), but overall the vibe was Chaotic Good.

Some years ago, now, the National Park Service cleaned up Bagby -- banned nudity and alcohol; charged a modest ($5) fee for use; and, kept a couple of rangers stationed there full time (although, at the parking lot, a mile hike away from the tubs).

Anyway, beyond the springs are some great backpacking campsites. Since the kids were already accustomed to the hike (which is decidedly not flat), Barb and I decided it would be a good place to do a second backpacking trip.  (We love backpacking and would love to share that with our kids.)  At this point, we were the only family camping at Kingfisher, so we weren't missing out on socializing.

We did it, and it was pretty great.  There is something special about camping in the woods, where it's not a developed campground: collecting wood to build a fire (instead of buying a few bundles of plastic-wrapped cord wood from the campground host); finding or making a comfortable place to sit and to sleep; the profound lack of human noises; the isolation.

As we were hiking to the campsite, the kids alternated between enthusiastic and skeptical. Afterwards, I think they both found the effort worthwhile.  I'm looking forward to a lot more trips like these.

The Larrison family ready for our second backpacking trip.  Notice the great hiking boots worn by Suzanne and Elizabeth.

This spot is on the way to where we camped. It's hard to tell from the picture, but it's an incredible swimming hole -- very deep, very clear, and very cold.

Back country campfires are the best campfires.

Elizabeth bravely (in my opinion), asked to sleep solo in the hammock. Since the tent wasn't big enough to accommodate me, I decided to sleep near her (see the black sleeping bag on the ground? that's my spot). It was very uncomfortable, but I was glad to be near her. Sleep came eventually.

Reverse angle of Elizabeth reading her Kindle.  Having recently, unfortunately, inherited Grandma's Kindle, I can say that they are amazing for camping.

This was the stream next to which we camped. Upstream, where you can see that log slanted into the water, there was a wide spot that would be good for wading... if you were a toddler. No good swimming spots on this stretch.

Oregon is beautiful.

The next morning, when we got back to our campsite at Kingfisher, we learned that our neighbors -- total strangers -- had been concerned about our overnight absence.

People are good.

Grandma's Baby

Editor's note: I started writing this post in June, but didn't get around to publishing it until today.

It's been a little over a month since Sherry's death, and I wanted to give an update on one of the individuals hit hardest by her passing: her cat Baby. I'm not being facetious, or cute. Barb, the girls, and I all knew that Mom was dying. It happened faster than we expected, but it wasn't unexpected. We had time beforehand to prepare for the inevitability of the end that will come for us all.

I don't think Baby was prepared.

Baby was loyal to Sherry in a way that I've never seen in a cat, and I grew up with cats. He was dog-like in his devotion (no insult intended, Baby). When Mom would leave the property, he would follow her out to the car. When she returned from her appointment, he'd be waiting. He would vocalize his displeasure with her absence (or pleasure with her return?) the whole time she walked or rolled from the car back to her cottage.  He slept with her every night. He shared meals with her (gross to some, lovely to Mom and Baby).

He always slept with her, often burrowing under the blankets and sleeping completely covered -- another thing I've never seen a cat do. When Grandma was dying, he was always by her side, or lying on her. After she passed, Baby slept on her body the whole night. When the funeral home attendants wheeled her to their van, Baby followed her out as usual, watching as she was driven away.  I don't know if he expected her return.

He continued to live in the cottage for a while.  Eventually, we removed the cat door from Grandma's cottage and installed it in our back door. We started feeding the cats in our mud room, and then transitioned them to our kitchen. After a surprisingly short while, Baby started sleeping with us in our bed.

Two Rivers in Two Days

The girls and I found ourselves in the unusual situation of being without Barb this weekend. She and her girlfriend went backpacking (!) on Mt. Hood for two nights. As the weather was warm and sunny, we hit the water. On Saturday, we accepted an invite from Aaron and Wendy to go to the Sandy River.  The Sandy can be a very dangerous river -- two children drowned in it this Summer, and that's not unusual. But the stretch of river we went to was broad and shallow, with a firm but not dangerous current.  We had a great time exploring, swimming, and floating down the "rapids." The only downside was that Elizabeth lost a treasured pendant she had worn every day for more than a year. She was sad, but recovered quickly. There will be more jewelry.

Not the greatest photo, but gives you an idea of the scene. There were a good number of people and a few dogs enjoying the water alongside us.

This odd picture was taken with a clip-on fisheye lens of Aaron's. Kind of cool.

That night we did some grillin' and chillin' at the Larrison residence with our river rat friends and Brian and Riley, who joined us after their own day of adventure. (They are ex-husband and son, respectively, of Barb's backpacking partner, Teresa.)

The next day started slow: not having Barb around keeps a single dad busy! So the kids had their screen time while I did dishes and laundry and tidying and etc. After the morning we were at loose ends -- Suzanne wanted very badly to go to Oaks Amusement Park, but Elizabeth and I didn't. We settled on a swim in the Willamette River, which runs through downtown Portland. We were a bit upstream, but the water was busy with boats large and small. The best thing was every time a boat powered by, its wake sent waves surging onto the riverbank.  We bobbed around like corks. Suzanne was having so much fun that at one point as she was laughing a wave filled her mouth with river water, which wasn't much fun. At least the Willamette is cleaner than it used to be: our tax dollars at work!

 

After the river we met Pat and Karen at the house. The original plan was to go out to dinner, but we decided to order pizza and stay in. It was very nice, and by the end of the day, bed was very appealing.

Art Explosion

Elizabeth has really turned up the heat on her art-making lately. Here are some recent examples I was able to capture before they were disposed of (we just can't hang onto everything she and Suzanne make, as it's so much). 

I really love this one. I wish I'd drawn it.

Elizabeth did this picture of Hermione, Ron and Harry under the Invisibility Cloak. We were doing a drawing competition and she knocked this out in ten minutes. It's better than the one I submitted.

She's learning anatomy, I reckon.

This paper-craft piece is really striking, I think.

I'll leave this up to you to figure out.

Suzanne Turns 8!

This blog is on a weird timeline. Here we are in February, and I'm finally writing about Suzanne's eighth birthday, which occurred more than three months ago. There are reasons both human (I lack discipline/have other priorities) and technological (pictures take time to migrate from my phone or my camera to my laptop, from which they populate Elizabethtown) for the weird timeline, but it's something we'll all have to learn to live with.

Anyways, Suzanne had a great birthday party!

One of Suzanne's best traits is her generosity. If she gets a roll of Smarties from her teacher (her teacher uses candy to reward good behavior), she volunteers to share them with Elizabeth, and even will give the extra candy (Smarties are packaged in an odd-number) to her big sister. On her birthday, she received a packet of cards that are rainbow colored but covered in black wax. You get a wooden stylus and scrape off the wax to reveal the color beneath. In this way you can draw pictures or write words or whatever. After Suzanne unwrapped this gift, and all of her friends oohed and ahhed over the awesomeness, she just started handing them out and ended up giving away much of the gift she'd just received -- happily so. She's just that kind of person.

Suzanne frosts her cake as Barb supervises. This was the first time we home-made a round, multi-layer cake.

Suzanne about to blow out her candles, with typical facial hyperbole.

The pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey game went horribly awry. The first child to go did not have their vision obstructed enough (my fault), and thus nailed the tail. Every kid thereafter learned to braille the donkey until they found the first, accurate tail, to which they would affix their own.

Suzanne loves her gift!

Suzanne has a lot of friends.

The kids made Christmas ornaments at the party. These are some of the finished products, waiting for the paint to dry.

The Wheeler-Kay-Cohens came by after the party and helped make Christmas cards.

Suzanne wanted a rubber chicken. Suzanne got a rubber chicken. Suzanne loves her rubber chicken.

Snow Trip

I guess I had promised the girls a trip to the snow some years ago. Elizabeth and Suzanne started applying pressure on this issue 12 or 18 months ago and finally won the day. Barb planned a weekend trip that included driving up to a snow park on Mt. Hood, after which we would drive down the other side of the mountain to Hood River, where a hotel room awaited us.

Despite some conflict over our lack of snowsuits, we had a great time in the sunny, warm weather on the 48 inches of accumulation on the mountain. The girls, who have always been reluctant to actually sled down a slope, embraced sledding. It was great!

Elizabeth making a snowball. Weapon? Or Snowman part?

Suzanne enjoying a respite after a successful run on her sled.

Mount Hood.

Nice to see the girls working together.

That's me.

Barb and Suzanne.

Glam Suzanne.

Nice view.

Do you wanna build a snowman?

After we got our fill of snow, we drove to Hood River and got a hotel room at a Best Western. But this Best Western was amazing! It had an outdoor pool that was so well heated that you could comfortably swim in it despite the frigid air temperatures. Besides that, there was a huge hot tub that was delightful to step into after climbing out of the warm pool into the cold wind screaming off the river.

Christmas 2018

We had a really good Christmas this year. It was pretty mellow; the kids got presents they liked; it wasn't super-extravagant; Mom seemed to enjoy herself; we got to see Pat and Karen for the first time in ages.

Notable presents included outfits for the girls from Grandma, who buys high quality Hanna Andersson goods. These are garments built to last, made, it seems, for Viking children who might have to engage in hand to hand combat on a shale beach. Which is awesome for the person who receives them as hand-me-downs -- no way a kid is going to wear this stuff out before they grow out of it.

In years past, Grandma bought the girls matching dresses, which was super-cute. But Suzanne almost never wears a dress these days. She needs monkey-bar-ready clothes. So starting last year, Elizabeth gets a dress and Suzanne gets pants and a t-shirt. But Grandma outdid herself this year, getting Suzanne pants, shirt and a really nice hoodie. Elizabeth got a beautiful dress, tights, and a bow for her hair.

From Santa, Elizabeth got a 1955 Smith-Corona manual typewriter in like-new condition. Those elves are amazing! She loves it to death. Suzanne got a Kindle Paperwhite, which is the only thing besides a puppy she asked for. (She did not get a puppy.) The Kindle is an e-reader, not a tablet computer. But recently they became waterproof, so Suzanne can read in the bathtub.

More importantly, we enjoyed each other's company, ate a lot of good food (thanks, Barb!), and just had fun.

Grandma's Getting Glasses!

Grandma (Sherry) has been complaining for some time now about her failing vision. Me being me, I've put off dealing with it for three months. But now it's 2019, baby! New year, new me! I've resolved to stop procrastinating so much.  So on Friday I made an appointment for her to get an eye exam today (Saturday). And boy, does she need glasses. Her vision is not great. Mom also has cataracts, but the optometrist said they're not bad enough to warrant surgery.

I scheduled this appointment at Wal-Mart because it is close to the house and I figured it'd be cheap. It was! The exam was $99. The doctor said Mom needs bifocals, but encouraged us to get two pair of glasses: one for reading and one for seeing at a distance; her reasoning was that bifocals can cause older folks to trip and fall. So I was prepared for maybe $150 per pair. But the glasses were about $40 per pair. What a great deal! As evil as a mega-corporation such as Wal-Mart undoubtedly is, I'm glad there's somewhere local we can go to buy two pair of glasses for $80. A year or more ago I bought new glasses and they cost $500, but it was a buy one get one free deal. So for more than I wanted to spend I got more glasses than I wanted to buy.

I can't wait for her to get her glasses. I remember how magical it was when I first put on my specs. I think her life will be transformed!

Note: There used to be a picture of Sherry here, but she did not like it. I thought it was one of the better pictures of her. She disagreed. I want to honor her wishes, so I've taken the picture down. 

Update! We got the two pairs of glasses. It wasn't magical, as I expected. The pair for far-seeing don't do much, according to Mom. The reading glasses, however, are a big improvement over her drug store specs. I'll count that as a success.

New Year's Day Hike

It became a tradition some years ago that on New Year's Day we go for a hike or walk near water and think of something from the past year that we wish to discard. We pick up an object to represent the trait or behavior that we're leaving behind, and toss it into the water.

This year, we went to Lacamas Lake in Washington state where we met friends Dan and Vanessa and their kids, Charles and Ella. Barb and I enjoyed the hike, but I think we were in the minority, joined only by Vanessa and (maybe) Charles. Dan was cold, Suzanne said the air hurt to breathe (it was pretty cold), Ella's legs hurt, and Elizabeth's list of complaints would take too much time to type. I guess if you put Charles in the hike-positive group, it was fifty/fifty.

But we got it done. Then, after separating from our friends, we went to lunch at a burger place in beautiful Camas, WA. When we got home, we all got under the covers in Barb's and my bed, and read and rested and got cozy. It was a great kickoff to what I think is going to be a great year.

The light was low on the horizon, leading to some very pretty pictures.

The photo is imperfect: Suzanne looks like an unconscious person with a fragment of candy cane in her mouth; we are both out of focus. But look at that background!

(L-R) Dan, Charles (barely visible behind Dan), Vanessa, Suzanne, Barb, and Ella. Elizabeth is either with me, or sitting on a rock moping.

Frost on an oxidized bolt head on the bridge.

This is the spillway beyond the dam. A cool feature of this hike is that you get to walk over the dam, which was upgraded from timber and mud to concrete in 1923. It powers the Georgia-Pacific paper mill in Camas, WA.

About ten minutes into our hike we stopped for snacks and hot cocoa. Elizabeth was already flagging. Needless to say, it didn't get better from here.

Vanessa, Barb and Suzanne looking over the lake.

A mood.

Suzanne is a pretty cool dude.