North by Northwest

I am only mad north-by-north-west: when then wind is southerly, I know the difference between a hawk and a handsaw.    Hamlet

Perhaps the wind was blowing north by northwest yesterday in Seattle when some crazoid gunned down 4 people in a bar and then himself. The name of the bar seemed familiar, Cafe Racer? Ah yes! we were  there killing time on Christmas a year and a half ago. We flew in to surprise Steve's sister on her 50th birthday but we arrived earlier than his brother and wife so we had to find places to hang out on X-mas, not easy as almost everything is closed but Cafe Racer wasn't. It is a funky, friendly place with eclectic art. I am not sure if this madman was a regular. He killed a group of regulars. Too bad, this place was so cool.

The wind was blowing north by northwest yesterday here but I got my bike ride in before it became too strong. No craziness beyond the usual that I could tell but perhaps I couldn't given the wind.

As for the quote above, it was an underlying theme of North by Northwest by Hitchcock. Craziness, mistaken identities... As for being able to tell the difference between a hawk and a handsaw, some think the handsaw is some kind of heron. Still it should be easy to tell the difference between a heron and a hawk.

Who knows the way the wind is blowing in a certain someone's mind?

Pool and Flower Days

My red mullein finally bloomed. The plant is out of scale for my rock garden but I love the flowers. I soon will have edelweiss too, rabbits willing.

One advantage of the condo we bought is the use of a beautiful pool. It is even nicer and closer than our neighborhood pool that we used to belong to. Yesterday Naomi, Maya and I had the place to ourselves. The hot Memorial Day crowds had gone away. Maya is learning to propel herself by kicking. What I should be doing is swimming laps. I haven't seriously swam since I was pregnant with Naomi swimming a mile on the morning that my water broke. But with me running and now biking, I don't think I can fit it in.

I am way behind in my gardening. Today is the Farmer's Market so I got up early while the parking is available and free to start to fill in my bleak patio. So far, 3 baskets, some herbs and impatiens for my 3 bags. I found some of my carnations sprouting in my yard, since transplanted and my zinnia seeds just germinated. A big mystery, who would steal my bromeliad attached to the fence? Maybe the robbing robins. It does look like nesting material.

Josh came over last night to at least close the window of his car that we now have (a 3 person operation) so that I am not stranded here. Julia now wants to see if the marriage could be saved. No one knows what is going on, most of all Josh.

Boys in a Truck

The boys love trucks! To actually be inside of one: pure heaven!

A Nation of Movers

Nobody moves as often as Americans. Perhaps its genetic. Most of us descended from people willing (or maybe not so willing) to make that big leap and cross the over the ocean while others stayed put. According to a recent WSJ article, we move once every 5 years. By contrast, Italians live in their parents' home until they marry (late) and then move just down the street. With the job market such as it is, moving will become even a bigger part of our culture.

The higher our education level, the more likely we are to move out of state. Minimum wage jobs rarely pay relocation (even professional jobs are cutting back on this). 45% of people with college degrees leave the state they were born in vs 17% with no college. Of Josh's friends, the number probably is closer to 80%. Both Steve and I were born in NY (different parts) and moved to MI before we were 30. My brother's path: NY-MI-KS-NY-NC-MI-CA-MA-NJ-CA. Maybe with a PhD, one moves more.

One of my amusements is searching for potential homes for the movers. I love looking at houses. When my friend was a real estate agent, I would go to her open houses just to look. Shanna's family had several potential places that they might have moved to over the last 6 months. I amused myself  exploring potential houses on the internet. Now that she is here and I know the area, I can even have more fun. Not too far from here, I found a very cute, affordable house that I thought everyone would love. Alas, Steve and I drove by it yesterday and it was sold.

I decided to do my double workout yesterday on the day we had record highs. And to make things even more uncomfortable, we had high humidity. The afternoon was spent in my lower level chilling with my phone and junk TV.

Back in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota, Josh battled hypothermia. He and his buddies took a 5 day canoe trip in the wilderness. Unfortunately, a lot of it was during torrential rains and thunderstorms. Especially scary was lightning hitting the open water they were in the middle of. The canoes were these expensive high carbon fiber ones so it wasn't as dangerous as being in an aluminum one. They had to catch their own protein, an especially large pike fed them for 2 meals. They didn't see any large mammals but saw plenty of bald eagles and loons. I picked him up at the airport last night. He was not amused to find out we were unsuccessful in having his car fixed. I can't fix everything of my children's but some how I am the one left with a car whose window won't shut.

Pretzel croissants

I had to buy these last week. How can something be both a pretzel and a croissant? The outside crust tasted and looked like a pretzel but the inside was buttery flakes. Yum. They fueled my trip to Boston.

Steve and I went for a rare meal out this morning. I had bought one of those groupon clones for a fancy brunch that included 2 fancy drinks. But Steve no longer drinks. So I had two before noon..
and could barely walk.
One was a heady mix of champagne, bourbon and peach bitters; the other calvados and cognac.

We later bought pretzel rolls, also tasty.
Then a visit from Shanna's family; so nice having them here.

Maya loves artichokes...

and her police car.

This is how we spent part of the afternoon. Up and down the sidewalk. She is supposed to power it Fred Flintstone style but it is so much fun to have grandma push her. She used her hand signals to indicate stop and go.
Earlier Naomi was here to have an artichoke, a favorite here in our family. Maya did not want to be left out. She likes to dip things. Soon she learned to scrape off the good part of each leaf with her teeth. And she loved the heart.
Josh had left his car for us to deal with. Among the many things that were to be fixed was his window, which is stuck open. All we had to do is pick this thing up and pay for it, difficult as Steve work long hours now (this part time job has turned into a full time ordeal due to someone over-promising deliverables). I dropped off Steve at the dealer and left as I had Maya. The window is still stuck open so no driving in the rain or leaving it any where except our garage. And unless Steve starts biking or walking to work (doable: I used to do it), I am stuck here. Ugh.

From the day before. Yeah I need the roots dealt with and I hadn't time to put on make-up. Maya is very suspicious of little Tess. Maya is almost 2 years old and Tessa is 2 months. The grandboys' picture is behind me.

The Fragility of Love

This is the favorite picture of my DIL on her wedding day. She looks so happy and hopeful. I recently made a photo book for her 30th birthday full of photos since she met Josh 13 years ago. Prom, senior, engagement, wedding, honeymoon, family gatherings, and pictures of her at my other children's weddings were included. I put this photo on the cover. Less than 36 hours after I sent away for this book, Josh gave me the shocking news that this marriage is over. He gave her this book the other day. She probably just threw it in the trash along with the marriage.

How do these things happen?How can you promise to love each other one moment and forget these vows later? It makes me sad.

Years ago I saw Scenes from a Marriage. One moment a couple is getting some kind of award for having a good marriage (?); the next moment the marriage is dissolving before our eyes for reasons I could not fathom. The whole movie did not make sense. One of the few married friends I had was with me. She said one had to be married to understand the movie. My unmarried friend that was with us was equally puzzled.

Josh is currently on a 5 day canoe trip in the boundary waters of Minnesota with some of his buddies. I know the first day was all rain. I hope he will be able to have fun.

All toasty here. I got up early for my run. In the shade, I can be comfortable. This afternoon will be spent with Ms. Maya. If I were a good grandma, I'd be at her class now to spare her the stranger anxiety she'll have when she is separated from her mom. But I do need some time for myself.