December in the PNW: Ordinary Times and Travels, post 1

December 18, 2016December 18, 2016 Shirleyjdietz5 Comments

I am preparing to leave in the morning for Christmas in the Pacific Northwest. I don’t have an aversion to spending holidays at home, really. Home is my favorite place to be, followed closely by any place where my family is located. Youngest daughter is in Seattle so that will be a good place to spend the last half of December. She and I can break in the “new to her” old Airstream that has recently joined her family and keep each other company over that time of year when no one wants to be alone.

I have a bit of trepidation, rather I should say my mom and the husband have a bit of trepidation, over what home will be like in my absence. They have both promised each other not to have to cook for anyone other than themselves and to eat when they want to eat. Even now they have gone off to Walmart and are probably abandoning my paleo diet regimen at McDonalds. Cooking is just too much work, but eating is simple, if you know what there is to eat. Anyway, for two weeks they are on their own.

I have not been to Seattle in winter that I can recall. Youngest daughter is sending me texts of the weather report and planning some yard work for me in between the rain and snow forecasts for the week – the whole week. I am getting out clothing that I have not worn since I lived in Wisconsin thirty years ago. I still have the stuff, yes I do. And the cool thing is that most of it is now back in style. Even though I have seen those temps in the 30’s and 40’s it’s still hard to sit here in 85 degree weather and think sweaters. I have snow boots. Oddly enough, I found them on sale here in Florida and couldn’t resist getting them because they fit me. I’m counting on them to keep my feet warm and dry when I tramp around in Schmitz Park, maybe with Charlie.

I say maybe, because I saw a picture of Charlie yesterday and he has no hair anymore. Some over-zealous groomer practically shaved him and now he will be shivering, unless Grandma gets him a doggie coat. Poor thing.

And the question in my mind that I can’t wait to have answered is how on earth does all that Seattle traffic work in snow? Youngest daughter told me she decided to ignore “road closed” barriers during the last snowfall and practically slid all the way to her house. Evidently a lot of roads need to be closed when it’s slippery because they are almost too steep to negotiate when it’s dry – and I know it to be so.

I need some accountability on this trip and will welcome it from anyone. Please make me feel really guilty if I don’t take my vitamins. Normally, they travel with me, and then they travel back home and I eventually eat them. But because I’ve recently had a respiratory virus and don’t want it to relapse, I need to be especially diligent and eat them while I’m there in Seattle. I will be in an airplane (think virus capsule), sharing air with way too many people and it will be cold and wet when I arrive. I’m one of those people who would rather get the flu than get a flu shot, but to be clear, I’d rather not have either one. Here’s hoping…

#atozchallenge: Somewhat Uncommon Q

April 20, 2016 Shirleyjdietz8 Comments

There is an ancient pseudo-cereal called quinoa that is very nutritious, high in protein and fiber, with vitamins and minerals a plenty. It’s not a true grain, not a grass plant, but a member of the amaranth family and although it cooks up much like rice it is a bit different. I wish I was practiced at using it and knew exactly how to make it a part of a meal. I don’t. But I’ve had some recently and the whole experience was so good, I was willing to try to reproduce it at home.

Location: high in the sky above Seattle. It you view the Seattle skyline you will see one dark building that rises above all the rest. At the top of the Columbia building there is an exclusive area for dining and communing and it is there that I found myself a guest, with my daughter. You would have to say that she has friends in high places, very high places. I could hardly breathe, looking out the full view glass windows over the harbor and Puget Sound. In order to calm down I had to purposely not think about where I was and what kind of structure was holding me up.

We were advised about the menu items and ordered vegetarian. The dishes came out looking perfectly cooked and presented in very attractive ways. Everything was delicious. It was a wonderful, relaxing evening in every way (as long as I kept my mind off being 80 stories high and on the same level as jets approaching SeaTac airport…).

The quinoa was light and fluffy in a creamy sauce – just wet enough to hold it together and make it easier to eat. The flavor was mild and slightly of salt, like a good comfort food. I wasn’t sure how to do this at home but a light cream/celery sauce with the quinoa did a pretty good job. The food was really great but it had a hard time competing with the view. Just sayin’…

The quinoa is in the upper left, accompanied by asparagus and what may have been garlic mashed potato or cauliflower – I don’t remember which.

Last Days of March

March 28, 2016March 28, 2016 ShirleyjdietzLeave a comment

With inner clocks that sense

Every additional minute

As it is added to hours of sun

And not because it makes them warm

But because it is all that they know to do

They bloom.

The way I always thought it should be…

March 27, 2016 Shirleyjdietz3 Comments

Rain on the window, gray in the sky, blossoms on the trees

Seattle in early spring is the way I imagined it before I had ever been here. Today was cool (50’s ) and rainy, clouds rolling through. Everything green is glowing, in contrast to the grays and browns of wet rocks and trees. I am usually here during the one week in summer when there is a heat wave, so this sweet chill is a treat for me. I am prepared for this visit with my sweatshirt hoodies and scarves, and of course my walking shoes.

I took my friend Charlie the dog for a walk on one of our favorite routes from last summer. I couldn’t stop looking at all the things that were visible through trees that hadn’t leafed out yet. Surprisingly, there are a lot of houses hanging precariously on the sides of the ravine above the park’s lower trail. I did not know they were so close. In spite of the cold, there are flowers coming out all over, and they are different from the ones in the summer or fall. And the lush moss grows everywhere.

We walked up to the top of the ridge over Alki Beach (what a workout, gasp..) and I was glad to be here, grateful to be seeing it all. I couldn’t help wishing that my friend Karyn who followed my stories last summer was still here to read again. I was grateful that it was a day when resurrection, physical resurrection, was on my mind. As unexplainable as it sounds to modern ears, a man came back to life never to die again. Because he did this miraculous thing, Karyn will too. This is not a hard thing for me to believe, because I see life coming out of what looks dead all around me. It’s right there in front of us, if we have eyes to see and hearts willing to consider.

Thanking Jesus for doing what he did – the first of many.

Another Seattle Adventure

July 16, 2015July 7, 2020 ShirleyjdietzLeave a comment

On the 4th of July this year, we (Mom #1 and Daughter #1) searched out a hike near Seattle just to get out of town and into nature. Some friends, another mother and daughter team, who lived in the area we visited went with us. We stopped to pick them up on the way. The destination was Twin Falls State Park. It is east of Seattle on I-90 and we probably did an hour of driving to get there, some of it through forests (beautiful!) and some of it on freeways through traffic (um… not so beautiful). There was not a lot of parking room at the trail head but we got there early enough to find a spot. My daughter had to buy a day pass with a tag for the car.

This is a forest, so there are a lot of trees, naturally.

And it's a mountain, so the direction is basically up.

We headed out along the trail up the river. Mom #2 was already ahead of us and had taken off her shoes to go wading, and it did look inviting. We continued up the trail and came across a beautiful pool which looked even more inviting, so Mom #2 decided to stay and swim. She had been up the trail before and was determined to spend time in the water.

Could you not have told us this before we got way up here...? Thank you for the exercise.

Switchbacks and rock outcroppings, old growth trees and ferns made the trail interesting enough, but when we finally got waaaaay up there we came across this fine sign. Oh great.

So down we trekked to the pool where Mom #2 was still swimming, and this time really swimming not just wading. What a beautiful spot! Daughter #1 was tempted to try wading but not really wanting to get her clothes wet. There were a couple dramatic moments there until she got safely in to a good wading spot. Others were climbing a large rock above the pool and doing some jumps – more drama there.

I’ve since learned there is an alternate trail to the falls and I’m thinking that calls for another trip. We drove to the closest town, a nice little village with several shops and eateries, and had lunch before heading back to Seattle.