when the sun shines

when you have a weeks worth of rain in the forecast, it is imperitive that you get out when the sun is shining.

monday afternoon was sunny!

i dropped francis off at tennis lessons, and picked up greg from work; we now had an hour to kill together, which had a 2-part requirement: caffeine and sun.

many of you know: seattle has turned me into a sun-craver. at any time of the day, if it is out, i want to be where it is. this involves moving. following it around. where it is in the morning isn't necessarily where it is in the afternoon. i have learned that if you are on lake washington when the sun is shining, by 4 o'clock you will be in shade, as the sun slips behind beacon hill.

and if a restaurant is on the wrong (ie: shady) side of the street, i won't go there.

i want to be where the sun is. period.

so, off we go for coffee and our sunshine; we knew where to find it. at 4:30 in the afternoon, it is pouring onto rainier ave. south, on the east side of the street. we go to tutta bella, in columbia city. our initial plan to sit outside in the sun was halted when we saw there were no outdoor tables set out. oh yeah! it's only march! but there was a table for two inside, a little nook of an alcove, full of beaming sun. no one else wanted that table; it was waiting for us. the waiter went to draw the blinds for us (something else i've noticed in seattle: that when the sun shines, it's too bright, apparently!) and we said: no! no! we want the sunshine! this is why we're here.

so we sat, and talked, and enjoyed our coffees. a lovely little date. it was roasting in that corner. i was blinded by the sunshine and had to wear greg's hat. it was wonderful! now here's hoping it's sunny next monday...and we'll do it again.

easter weekend

this photo was taken as francis and i walked towards our church for the good friday night service. it was 7 o'clock and the sky was hinting with sunset; the tree blossoms were radiant. not that you can really capture that with a cell-phone, but, still, i aim and click the buttons.

saturday arrived gorgeously bright and sunny. francis had a school dance performance downtown at mccaw hall.



it was a school assignment, basically. many seattle schools participated, and for the past few months, his school's 4th grade classes have had a dancer from PNB come every friday and teach them some basic dance steps, and then the kids in each class worked on a dance of their own to perform. each class picked their own song and theme. it was quite a production, and the kids had a really great time. francis said it was really fun to be on stage, and not as scary as he thought it would be. in between each school's performances, we were treated to real ballet performances from PNB dancers. and to end out the program, was a hip-hop number from REACH! Student Dance Group. after the show, when i collected francis, he excitedly told me: did you see that last dance? that was awesome! greg was very sad to have to miss it, and my sneaky cell-phone pictures (no photos allowed!) did no justice at all. i had to be content with pictures after the show.



after that, we wandered seattle center, got an elephant ear and chai teas, and enjoyed the sunshine. i had enough change for francis to enjoy a round of mini-golf, and i enjoyed people watching. and taking more pictures with my cell-phone. (more on my flickr page)











we took the monorail again (2 times in 2 weekends! and front row this time)



and then we hopped on the bus home. we had just enough time for a quick supper before we headed out again to see our friend chris bowden and his band: other desert cities, play a show at Q Cafe. francis cracked me up. he was very excited to see all his (grown-up) friends at the show, and wanted to stand by them. and talk with them. like one of them. fresh off his looney tunes kick, he's been saying: "what's up, doc?" to everyone. afterwords, karen and kevin came back to our place, to "watch" francis so i could go get greg at the airport at 11pm. rounding out a very busy day, francis went to bed (at 10:30pm mind you) entirely disappointed to be reminded that he was a child and needed to go to bed!

easter sunday arrived with pouring rain. such a departure from the day before! but the service was good, and i got tears in my eyes when i could hear francis deciding to sing along, his little chirpy voice scooping along, trying to follow the notes to songs he didn't know. there's just something about children singing whole-heartedly that just chokes me up. they are still so innocent.

we enjoyed a wonderful easter brunch with friends, hosted at the many's. and then, it stopped raining. the sun came out! the kids had in indoor egg hunt, and then we decided to head (quick! before the sun goes away!) to the university of washington campus, where the cherry blossoms were in full bloom.(if you haven't already, go check them out! they won't last much longer!) the bright sun was deceiving; it was bitterly cold with a whipping wind, but we lasted for about an hour. just long enough to get red noses and not feel guilty to go home and veg out for the remainder of the day.

good friday

so this week has been wet. and rainy. and gray.

i haven't felt much like blogging, even tho i have pictures to post from last weekend and many varied thoughts swirling in my mind. i haven't been able to summon up any creative energy to do easter crafts with francis, even tho a week ago i really wanted to (envious of jennifer and ann-krestene!) and the best i can do is get down from the cupboard the eggs we made a few years ago. (don't worry, they're empty, not hardboiled!)
today is a no-school day, so i thought while francis was happily battling away on lego star wars, i would try to do an update. greg is gone for the weekend, to california, for his annual guys reunion that he's been doing since before we got married. i think it's pretty special that they still meet, once a year, here or there, even tho it's an effort to get away, with job, wives, kids... it doesn't usually happen the weekend of easter, tho, so this year they're cutting it a bit short, so the men can be home for sunday. my grand plans for easter projects with francis have been gradually losing its oomph this week, so we'll see what i can come up with. i still have a few days.



last saturday, it was raining (surprise, surprise!) and we had a planned excursion north, to the fairbanks residence, for the dinner party they were having to celebrate their soon-to-be adoption of two babies from ethiopia. it got sunny as we were preparing to leave, and i got excited for the bonfire. but then it started raining again on the drive there. and then it poured. and then it hailed. we had august and hazel with us for the evening; i hoped the weather would clear for them to get to explore outside, for the fairbanks have lots of woods, and the fairbanks have 5 kids! it did eventually stop raining, and the kids did indeed play outside all evening, and even into the night, with flashlights. forts in the trees, forts under the porch...it was kid heaven. sonora cooked up an amazing ethiopian feast for all of us, which was delicious, and it was a wonderful evening of celebration, with good food and good friends. ( more pics on flickr)







on sunday, greg went on a long bike ride with some friends, so francis and i caught the bus downtown to check out the irish festival, and see the irish dancers, for st. patrick's day. i think it was good for him, to hear music from another culture, to see even the littlest of girls dancing such intricate steps. he asked: why is it always the girls that dance? i said that's a good question. i don't know. maybe the men were out working. maybe the men were playing the instruments that supplied the music. (i'm not ready to say: because the men like to watch women dance?) but i did say, that back in the olden days, before tv and movies, people provided their own entertainment, by coming together, playing music, dancing, singing, telling stories... something you don't see too much of these days.

how interesting that a holiday to celebrate the life and deeds, of a missionary to an ancient God-less ireland, is celebrated now by wearing green, attending parades, and drinking beer. and how challenging it is to parent, to teach a child to question, that the world's ways aren't the only ways. or even the right ways, alot of the time. apparently, i was a child who questioned everything, wouldn't believe something until i researched it myself. i hear i drove my mother nuts. and now i have a kid who believes everything he sees, hears, or reads. even something another kid tells him is the gospel truth. and now, he drives ME nuts. i try to instruct him to not believe everything he hears, to come home and look it up for himself, or ask questions, ask us. but somehow, it still comes out like: "because i said so." it's the parent telling him to do something, and he doesn't want to do it. he doesn't want to question. because he thinks he knows. he just wants to believe. which is good when it's the right things. and not good when it's the wrong things. how do you teach discernment, without them disbelieving everything?

and this is the face i get alot of the time.



so here i am, approaching easter. i tell him, remind him: you know it's more than easter baskets and chocolate bunnies, right? we talk about jesus, the passover, the cross. (but he's got one eye on the clock. how do i talk to him, without talking AT him?) it's a fine line, a struggle. and even tho the commercialism bothers me, since it is here: i have to admit nostalgia exists. i love these things too. i can't wholly deny the culture i grew up with, and the excitement i remember as a child, dressing up extra special for church on easter sunday, the baskets with plastic grass, hunting for eggs, gifts of chocolate. they make easter sunday different from any other sunday. the preparation, the decorations, the gifts, (much like christmas) help a child recognize the specialness of the day, something to look forward to, and the symbolism, we hope, is not altogether lost on them. we hope that the words we teach them (love the Lord your God with all your heart), the stories we tell them (love your neighbor as yourself), will someday snag on their heart, and become life inside of them. that someday they will do these things on their own. and not because i said so.

this is the day, this is the day...

today is one of those days, that i remember every year, and will probably remember forever, because i learned it in childhood, and it became part of my subconscious. it is maybe not as well-known as valentine's day or st. patrick's day, but the date is definitely more remembered than president's day or mlk,jr. day...
today is the Ides of March. and if you don't remember what it is: go look it up, i'm not gonna tell you.

but besides that, it is wet and gray out, and has been for the past three days. my boys are off at baseball practice, which has taken over a significant part of the month. baseball season has begun, with greg coaching, practices 2 nights a week, and on saturday afternoons. and after that, let the games begin! greg is a very good coach, (and that's not just my opinion); he loves the game, he loves being with the kids, he's a good teacher. and: i enjoy watching him coach. there's something in him that comes alive on the field...i remember crushing on him severely when we first met, in 1995: when i began to notice that i was watching him (and not the ball, incidently, haha), when our friends played baseball for fun, on these very same greenlake fields, so many years ago. his joy of the game was evident then, and is still evident now. he's just born in the wrong era. he's an old-fashioned baseball lover, of the kind of baseball that doesn't exist anymore...

our breakfast this morning: coffee, chocolate croissants, and scrambled eggs. when i was at trader joe's this week, i remembered that melissa mentioned getting these croissants in the frozen food section, so i decided to try it. i even remembered to put them out to rise last night, so this morning, we had hot croissants right out of the oven. you can't get much better than that.







on thursday, we had a "first" for francis. we dropped him off at the boys and girls club in wallingford. he has been asking to go to boys and girls club, oh, probably since the very first time he heard it mentioned, in kindergarten. i suppose he thought it was this fantastic thing that he was always denied. it was such a mystery. it's a CLUB! it's for BOYS! and GIRLS! it must be so much fun! you throw the word "club" onto anything, and kids want to be involved. and of course, we explained it to him, that it was really just hanging out afterschool, for the kids whose parents worked and couldn't come get them at 3. but i don't think he really believed us. and honestly, the boys and girls club at our school, is just a small portable, where the kids color or read, or play on the playground, until their parents come get them. not that big of a deal. BUT. when we had his birthday at the boys and girls club in wallingford (all completely random, and driven by necessity) he got to see what was happening HERE: ping-pong! basketball! air hockey! fussball! pool! joys above joys! when we dropped by to make our reservation and payment (for his birthday), we saw his eyes big as saucers; we saw him longing. so we asked the desk: what's the deal to go here? we took the membership packet home and read all the fine print, because it just couldn't be as good as it sounded. $15 a school-year? that's it? to drop your kid off after-school, every day if you wanted? yup! so francis' dream finally came true on thursday, and on wednesday night, after he was asleep, we noticed that he had already laid his clothes out for the morning. he was sooo excited. and when i dropped him off at school, he reminded me: "don't forget, mama, i've got boys and girls club afterschool." oh, i won't forget. greg and i had our own worries. he has a hard enough time at school, making friends, losing recess often for goofing in class, kids picking on him for not being good enough at football, etc etc...that the idea of throwing him to a very chaotic roomful of kids, all-ages, supervised by a few young 20-somethings, wasn't too enticing. but, we've realized we need to start letting go, letting him do things his own way, the way he wants to do them. so, this was one thing we felt we could accomodate. well, at least once a week, or so..



francis wanted me to drop him off at the street, but i said i had to sign him in for the first few times, til they're familiar with him. while there, i hear an adult yelling: NO HUNTING EACHOTHER WITH THE POOL STICKS!--as two teen-agers run past me. (sigh) i decided to hang out for a bit, and see if francis needed me, but he quickly joined a kid playing pool, and i could hear him chattering away. i waved goodbye, and he waved back; he was happy. the night before, in his bedtimes prayers, he had prayed that he would have fun at boys and girls club, and that he would make some new friends, and i almost cried right there and then.



so what did we do while our boy was at play? we realized we would have time to catch a matinee, so for the first time, (in a really long time) i met greg downtown, and we caught a movie together. hmmm... now why didn't we think of this before???

growing pains

i am ready for winter to be over. if we're not going to get any more snow, then i am ready for sunshine and the shedding of coats. already the trees are budding, and crocuses are blooming. did the warm week we had a few weeks ago fool them? or is it really time for blooms? i learned: april showers bring may flowers, when i was a girl in school, but maybe that's not true in the northwest? also, since when did easter fall the weekend after st. patrick's day?? there was always one holiday a month (in school) and march was always a frenzy of green and four leaf clovers. now we're trying to cram in easter as well? when did that happen? and we also completely missed daylight savings, i had no clue, which meant we completely missed church. so, we had a very lazy sunday, which was nice: coffee, staying in pajamas all afternoon, vegging on the couch watching sunday matinee tv movies and reruns...we haven't had a lazy, do nothing day, in a really long time.

our fishes have survived the week, and our frog too, which means, somehow, when i'm not looking, he actually does find food. he still doesn't look keen on his new neighbors, and stays under his rock almost all the time. i'm not sure that's healthy, but not sure what to do on that front.

i am feeling a bit eccentric-hermit-lady lately, because i also bought francis a venus flytrap a little while ago, (and also one of these which i can't pronounce)and have so far succeeded in not killing them, and they have both produced a flower! yay! however, we are still stuck on the feeding-them-bugs part, as we have no bugs flying around in our apartment. (apparently, you don't normally need to feed them anything, because in the wild, bugs naturally get caught. however, we are indoor city folk,) so we'll see, i suppose...



speaking of growing things, my friend lynne has started a little blog-journal about her recent project: growing chicks! from eggs! it is very fascinating, check it out, and start with day 1 and work your way up. i wish we lived nearby to pop in and visit her eggs, and it got me a bit nostalgic, wishing francis could have a baby chick too. i know, i know, where would we put it? but i'm a sucker for cute, cuddly things, and besides, when they grow up, they can give you eggs! i've had random, crazy thoughts before, about owning a chicken or two, just to give francis some sense of responsibility, something to take care of, and also a dose of: "the olden days", if you know what i mean: taking a slower pace to life, and working to achieve a goal, working to eat, etc. i know that sounds a bit lofty or archaic, but, i think the kinda-country-girl in me, is sometimes at odds with our city-living, and the city-boy we have produced, who doesn't climb trees, play in ponds, and hunt for little living creatures in the fields. and that's sad to me.

this got me thinking on things i have wished for francis that i never followed thru on. things that are definitely more natural and easy to do, if you live in the country, but take lots of time and energy if you live in the city, and consequently, often do not get done. like going hiking, or at least exploring in the woods, on a semi-regular basis. learning to swim and liking it. going to camp. whittling things with pocket knives. all that rugged, woodsy, boy stuff. he's 10, so i guess i still have time. but i feel like i've missed alot of time already...

so, in a fit of wanting to actually DO something this spring, i started looking things up. i found this farm, that has a children's animal farm, but got completely sidetracked by this: learning to ride a pony! how fun would that be! and then i was looking up egg-hunts, since easter is just around the corner, but wondered if francis would be too old, until i found this: an evening family flashlight hunt!?? i have never heard of such a thing, but francis i know would got absolutely nuts, he would love it.
boys + night + flashlight + hunting things = delight!!

i really do want to give him more, in the department of: the joys of childhood. joys that don't include videogames or movies, joys that get him outside and excited about nature, animals, excercise. he really does enjoy these things, all it takes is the effort to get him outside, and he is immediately having fun, learning and discovering. and that is a joy to see...

all things bright and beautiful

while cleaning out the frog tank on saturday, i broke the filter, or more accurately, the filter just crumbled in my hand. so, off we bundled to the pet store for a new one. two hours later, we came home with much more than a filter. (i am indeed a sucker, for most things that live and breathe...)

first, we looked at ALL the animals. (pet stores are almost as good as going to the zoo.) and then, francis begged me for a ferret, then a canary, then a lizard. (no. no. and no.) i said we came for a filter. but then we started looking at fishes. so cute. their wide eyes, their little lips. now francis wanted a fish. so i aksed: is there any kind of fish that can live in a small tank, with an aquatic frog? turns out there was only one kind of fish there that could live in an unheated tank, that didn't grow big, and that the frog wouldn't eat: a white cloud fish. they were only $1.29, (such a bargain!)so we got two. francis named them batman and robin. not my first choice. i was all worried that the frog might eat them, but as it turns out, i should've been more worried for the frog. we've had him for about a year now, and he's managed to not die yet, a very amazing feat. but now i've introduced these new excited beings to his home, and i'm not sure he likes it. they are flashes of color and they never sit still. they inspect every inch of the tank continually. and they greedily go for all the food. while they are stuffing their faces, i have to try to sneak the frog food past them, and i wonder if he's getting enough. he just sits under his rock, and he looks very grumpy. i don't know if frogs can get grumpy, but, if they do, i'm sure he is. unfortunately, i don't have the heart to take the fish out, because that would mean their death, and i can't do that. so hoppy(or is it floppy?) is just gonna have to deal with the cards that have been dealt him, and buck up. i did buy him a real live aquatic plant, and took out the plastic one. he does like to sit under it, but i think he's waiting for those annoying fish to swim away, and unfortunately, they never do. (that's the problem with tanks; i don't know if he's realized it yet. i'd hate to break it to him; he seems hopeful.)



we also got a beta fish. it's been a few years and we are trying again. francis named him rainbow. (?again with the names?) but i just call him beta. or sometimes fishy-fishy. he is currently sitting on the kitchen table, and i'm hoping he'll last longer than a bouquet of flowers. he hasn't taken to his food that the pet store clerk convinced me to buy: freeze dried blood worms (-which just get bloated and float on top of the water; gross.) beta comes up to the surface, sniffs them, and swims away. he's also very grumpy, with an underbite like a bulldog. he's like an old man. i spend far more time than one would think reasonable just watching him. i got him an aquatic plant as well, and he swims thru the leaves, in the sad little circle that is his life. if only he knew, he brings joy to a little boy...