2012 Vision Walk - Walk Comments

Collage By Ada Hoag



When I was a young boy the idea of being blind was the scariest thing I thought about. I couldn’t imagine how one could overcome the adversity of blindness.


I’m not sure why this was (maybe still is) such a hurdle to me. I grew up around people who were living with and overcoming adversity in their lives. Both my paternal grandparents were deaf from childhood due to scarlet fever; it didn’t stop my grandfather from having a successful career with IBM and being a constant champion for people with disabilities. My father was a deaf educator and the deaf community was a second home for me. I grew up with and watched kids and adults living with deafness and still leading full lives.

Seven years ago I learned that my boys have RP; it tore me apart to think about the impact on them. I was haunted again by my childhood fears. To help deal with my grief I turned to the Foundation where I found kindred spirits, started getting educated and found out what I can do to help. This has grown into a relationship of being engaged with foundation and a commitment to support the Foundation’s work through Vision Walk.

So ... I Vision Walk to build awareness and in that I try to build community; Vision Walking fills me with hope, hope that my sons and others living with and dealing with retinal degenerative diseases will overcome this adversity in their lives and achieve their aspirations and dreams. I walk to do my part to help find cures to these diseases.

2012 Election - Four More Years

My election blog ... also posted on FB.
This is my musings on why I choose Obama and in general why I choose the Democratic party.

1) Diversity – When I see an Obama crowd I see all the colors and nuances of our human rainbow. I know they select who we see in the filmed footage, but I also know the diversity is real. I fundamentally believe this diversity is key to the future of our country; engaging all people in the dialog is what Forward is all about for me. The policy choices in the next 4 years are limited; it is crucial that everybody be at the table, to provide their input and to understand and support the tough choices we have to make. Failure to work together, to listen to and consider all points of view and to be open to compromise and we will go backward; I don’t want to go back.

2) Leadership – Obama inherited a fiscal train wreck. Only one time in our national history did we have a more challenging economic situation – the Great Depression. In fact the Great Recession may have turned out much worse had our leaders not taken the actions they took. I credit Obama for being a steady hand on the tiller through these challenging seas of fiscal uncertainty. I also am aware that we cannot declare victory in our efforts to overcome the Great Recession, but I am certain that we cannot return to the policies of the past and be successful as a nation. I vote for four more years to continue to steady this nation’s economy.

3) Intolerance - Carl Rove, Rush Limbaugh, Grover Norquist, Mitch McConnell, the Koch brothers, Fox News and other persons and entities who seem to believe so totally in themselves and their ideas that they will not compromise. What are we to think when the minority leader of the US Senate, Mitch McConnell announces two years before the election that his number #1 legislative priority is to keep Obama a one term president? For the next two years our Congress was in gridlock and I primarily blame Republican leadership. The only compromise I remember was on taxes and only when “everyone” got what they wanted in the way of tax relief – extension of the Bush Tax cuts and extension of the Payroll Tax cuts. We can’t keep compromising like that and pushing off the tough decisions on our fiscal problems until tomorrow.

4) Humility - We need to share our ideas, listen to the ideas of others and work together; we owe this to our children. Inflexibility and intolerance are destructive and undermine the principles our country was founded on. I look at the increasing diversity of our great nation with hope and excitement.

If you haven’t voted please do.

 On Saturday, May 19, 2012, Mary and I joined in with the Interfaith Habitat build on Ainsworth in East Tacoma. For me and like all Habitat builds for me, it was a chance to learn some new building skills. In this case it was the hard work of taking down concrete forms and laying foundation and roof drainage. I followed this with some work on sheathing another home. My hip started aching and after a great lunch provided by another St. Leo volunteer, I was so uncomfortable that I had to call it quits. Mary work on cleaning floors and then cleaning the concrete form pieces so they could be used on yet another new foundation. She also did some wall sheathing work, so we had a chance to work together for awhile before lunch.

It was a beautiful day, the sun was out, the Olympic Mountains were visible in the distance and we were with 7 other St. Leo friends and Donna who prepared lunch for us. Habitat builds are always a chance for me to feel like I am contributing and definitely learning new skills.  Thanks to Martha Scoville for making this happen.

Mike - May 19, 2012

2009 - An Eventful Year

This is a look back on our 2009 - Happy New Year!

January – We welcomed in the New Year with the Taylors and Dan and Kathy Hanson at their home in Hood Canal. We made an outing to the Robinhood bar and grill where Kathy got most of us dancing and this lit a fire under all the patrons before we exited back to the house for games and to celebrate the coming of the New Year.

February – Mike and Mary (Anniversary 30) went to the Big Island for R&R. This included a trip to the East side of the island where we found lots of intriquing tidepools, ghost trees, a visit to Kilauea volcano and on our way back a kayak outing to the Captain Cook memorial where the snorkeling was fabulous.

March – The Zags made it through the first rounds of the NCAA tournament only to lose to Davidson in the round of sixteen. This loss was avenged at December’s Battle in Seattle.

April – Early in the month we were at Pacific City with Russ and Carol for the Birding and Blues Festival and volunteered to help with birding at the whale lookout. Late in the month we celebrated James’ birthday (26th) with a wine tasting weekend in the Yakima Valley. Saturday we met Mike Hogue who is famous in Washington wine lore for his connection to Hogue Cellars; Sunday Mike dropped the birthday cake, making a mess.


May – We met James and Ada at Snoqualmie Falls for a Mother’s day brunch. Memorial Day weekend we flew to Spokane to check-out wedding venues, and settled on Shenanigans for the rehearsal dinner. We stayed at the Davenport and spent time with Matt and Cara who were in Spokane doing wedding prep stuff too.

June – A predominant memory of June was our prodigious strawberry patch. I think we picked a million strawberries – clearly the best year ever in both size and volume. We are still eating them and will be well into the New Year. Mary had knee surgery and still picked strawberries. Our friends from Gaithersburg, the Gores visited. On Father’s Day we went to see the Mariners with James and Ada.

July – This was a busy month that started with a 2 night trip to Vancouver Island. We kayaked, drove to Port Renfrew and visited Butchart gardens; home July 3rd and then off to Hood Canal with James and Ada for Independence Day at the Hanson’s. Mid-month Mary travelled east to visit with her friends Ann Loveland and Jane Poston. Later, Mike flew to Knoxville and drove with Matt and Cara to meet Mary in Atlanta to celebrate Nancy Newman’s 80th, and Cara got to meet the Newman clan. We all returned to Knoxville and then Mike and Mary travelled to northern Michigan (not U.P.) to visit Ned and Nancy at their house on Little Traverse Bay. A day trip to Mackinac Island for bicycling and fudge provided a big water view of the Great Lakes.

August – Mike started yet another new role at Weyerhaeuser; the Technology group was reorganized. Mike continues to support Weyerhaeuser’s manufacturing operations. Late in the month Jay and Ada moved from Ellensburg to Redmond and James started school at Digipen.

September – Over the Labor Day weekend we visited Russ and Carol in Pacific City, recharging our PC batteries before getting into the fall routine. To that tune, Mary is back at school and Mike is travelling to Boise 2 times a month in his new job. On the way to PC we stopped at Apolloni to pick up some of the wine for the upcoming wedding.

October – The event of the year was Matt and Cara’s wedding celebration. Many fond memories including time spent with Cara’s family, breakfasts at Madeline’s, meeting Father Bruno, all the events and mostly having family and dear friends to share it all. The only regret was we did not find enough time to visit with everybody. Early in the month we met James and Ada to do the Brian Carter Wine Stomp.


November –A late summer/fall remodel project – new flooring, doors and some painting was wrapped up. We added new furnishings to the project including a new dining room table. The old table was gone before the new one arrived. On Thanksgiving our neighbors Fran, Jim and Maggie joined us for dinner at our make-shift tables. Fran and Jim are living in Richland but still own their house next door. Maggie is living there.

December – Parties and dinners with friends, a long-awaited wedding of two Faith-Sharing friends, a get away weekend in Seattle, early Christmas with James and Ada before they travelled to Peru, and Christmas with Matt and Cara.

Happy New Year 2010!

2009 Favorites:
Books: The Whistling Season Ivan Doig and The Guernsey Literary- Society by Mary Ann Schaffer (sp?)
Movies: Up, Gran Torino (we finally saw it), Brothers
Walks: Redondo Boardwalk
Bike Rides – The Foothills Trail – Orting to South Prairie

Why haven't you posted a blog

It's Thanksgiving Day and last evening my daughter-in-law, Ada asked me why I haven't posted a blog recently. First I asked her if she had posted anything recently (no I don't have a blog) and then I promised to post one today. It's today.

I had some ideas for today that I would go to St. Leo's for the Thanksgiving Hospitality coffee and treats, but I did not articulate it beyond the thought and so I slept in instead. It was 8:45 before I got out of bed. Mary made an early morning trip downstairs, but was back in bed when I woke up. I noted the time as I knew she had some prep work to get the turkey in the oven. She was up in an instant and we both trundeled downstairs; me to make coffe and Mary to start the prep. The first pot of coffee was called weak and when I tasted it I agreed (I must have missed the scoop count?). I made a second pot and announced it as sturdier than the first, a little something to chew on.

A significant facet of this Thanksgiving is the dinner table. In September/October we had a new floor installed on the main level of the house - the family living area. This project expanded into new molding and doors throughout and then new furniture and new carpets. Sometime in late October we said goodbye to our old red plaid couch (acquired in Gaithersburg almost 20 years ago) and our long lived dining room table (acquired in Moncks corner more than 30 years ago). Both, table and couch went to St. Vincent dePaul for someone else to use. As of today we have all our new furniture except for a dining room table., which I ordered in late October. If we are lucky it will be here before Christmas. This is what it looks like.

So we are having Thanksgiving dinner without a dinner table ... and James and Ada are here and the Pearson's are coming and we are without a dinner table ...
The turkey is in the oven - 10:30 AM so out of the oven around 4 and dinner at 4:30 plus or minus. I have been sitting around doing mostly nothing and Mary has been doing everything including coming downstairs while I was doing my back excercises to give me a kiss ... she is amazing. Last night we agreed that I would do some cleaning, but she is doing most of that too ... I am just sitting around doing my exercises and blogging. I guess somebody has to due it. Oh yeah I looked up a scripture reading and our dinner prayer as we ponder those people and events in our lives that we are especially thankful for this day. For me that is:

Matt and Cara's wedding and welcoming Cara into the family. The wedding was wonderful, getting to know Cara's parents, good friends and family, Father Bruno, Madeline's and all the wonderful events.

I am thankful for Matt's new job at Sacramento State aka Cal State Sacramento. It's still awhile before the new job starts, thankfully ... he has some dissertation work that he can now focus on without the regular disruption of another job interview. Congrats to Matt, I know he will be a great addition to the Cal State faculty.

I am thankful for family with special note today to James and Ada. It is so wonderful to have the two of them nearby in Redmond. I pray for gifts of work for them so that they can continue to pursue their dreams. And pray for safe travel to Peru for the holidays ... I know it will be wonderful to see her parents, sister and brothers, other family and friends. The last time Ada was home was just before their wedding in 2007.

I am thankful for my job at Weyerhaeuser and the new Manufacturing Support role I started in August. I think I may be meant to do something else in this life, but Weyerhaeuser has provided for much and given me plenty of growth opportunities.

I am particularly thankful for Mary who right this minute is downstairs talking to the turkey - two and a half hours into the baking. I have been blessed to have her in my life these 30+ years. There is so much more that I am thankful for, but I will leave that unspoken (or at least unblogged) and close with a ...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!

BTW - the alternative to a dinner table worked

Woodstock - I Wish I Had My Camera

Forty years ago this weekend my friend David and I hitchhiked from Rochester, NY to the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival. We were both 17, soon to be starting our senior year in high school at McQuaid Jesuit. We had been planning all summer to go to the concert and had seriously considered pre-purchasing 3 day passes which I seem to recall were $25. We procrastinated and never did buy the passes, which famously were not needed for what became a free concert. Of course our parents didn’t approve of the hitchhiking, but they wouldn’t let us drive the family cars and they had no intention of driving us the 200+ miles to the festival site. My mother did however drive us to the entrance of the NY State Thruway where we found the first of our two rides that took us to this once in a lifetime event.

As I recall the first ride we got was in a VW microbus, I think I saw my first dreadlocks. Given the age of the folks already in the van when they picked us up, I expected they would be going all the way to Woodstock, but they dropped us off near Syracuse. The second ride was two college co-eds who were going to the concert, we were as good as there.

When we arrived, I presume it was Thursday afternoon/evening, August 14, I believe, we parked about a mile from the concert site and set up camp in the parking lot. We had brought a tent and basic food supplies for the weekend, and we had cash for food and tickets. We started the partying in the tent and by evening moved outside to watch the steady and endless line of traffic flowing into the festival area. Clearly the crowd had exceeded the capacity of the highways and planned for parking. You might expect people to be grumping, but everyone took it in stride. The incoming traffic became a slow winding pot party on wheels. Concert goers walked along side traffic and would jump in and out of cars for a toke or to share a toke well into the evening.

Saturday morning we woke in expectation of a day of music. Early on that morning, we heard the concert organizers had decided to forego tickets and make it free for all comers. Around lunch time we made our way to the concert stage. I seem to recall there was still a little bit of traffic, but it was really at a standstill. There were a few state troopers on hand, but their role was diminished by the size of the crowd, they stood and watched on. Pot, drugs and nudity were all accepted in the new town of Woodstock, already be proclaimed as the largest event of its kind ever. News was viral flowing mostly on rumors, but a consistent message that dominated the weekend was “this is a peaceful gathering”.

At the concert site, something of a natural amphitheatre which was a transformed cornfield on Yasgur’s farm. At 5:07 p.m. on Aug. 15, 1969, Richie Havens stepped onstage, played the opening cords of “High Flyin’ Bird,” and the Woodstock Music and Arts Fair was under way. I really do not recall the order of music, it would have been great to have had a digital camera. Events I recall following Richie Havens were Joan Baez singing about the governor of California Ronald “Ray Guns”, Jon Sebastian, Ravi Shankar. There may have been more, but they are dumped into the Saturday bucket in my memory. After the concert we found our way back to our parking lot tent through the meandering and still peaceful crowd.

After breakfast on Saturday we joined a large group headed off to find a place to swim. Some people were talking about people getting sick, but these seemed more rumor than fact. People would walk off into cornfields and liberate a few ears of corn (cattle feed corn) and eat it on the spot. We finally found the pond and joined in a swim. Perhaps needless to say with this crowd, but clothing was optional and not many were clothed. I really don’t remember if I was skinny dipping or not .. oh for that camera. After the swim David and I headed kind off on our own (if you can be on your own in that kind of crowd) and eventually approached the concert stage from what seemed like a stand of trees. Santana was playing at the time and the music sound tribal as if we were coming on a village in the jungle. We found a place in the crowd and sat down to enjoy one fabulous day of music. Shows I remember for Saturday included Country Joe McDonald and the Fish – he had us all singing a version of 1-2-3-4 what are we fighting for in a peaceful but vocal protest to the Vietnam War. Following throughout the day were Joe Cocker, Edgar Winter, Jefferson Airplane, Canned Heat, Sly and the Family Stone – with a Gonna Take You Higher sing along and probably more.

By Sunday we were exhausted along with a whole lot of folks. There was some rain so we stayed close to our tent or other cover. It may have been that the concert was postponed for the rain. We did not make it to the concert site until the evening. Through the night the crowd slowly started trickling away and still sleepy I found myself dozing as the music played through the night. I recall Paul Butterfield (Dave Sanborn was playing with the group at that time) and Crosby Stills Nash and Young. I know there were other performances that night, but I they are only in my dreams. And in the early morning hours of Monday, August 18, Jimi Hendrix and his newly formed Band of Gypsies made it to the stage, the closing act for the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival.

When the music ended we were a weary and diminished crowd, more survivors than celebrants, passive, perhaps stunned, in small groups in the muddy fields and hills overlooking the stage. It was as if I had lived a dream where a city of a half a million people had come together with a common purpose and a message of peace and celebration, and we got the attention of the world. Woodstock was three days in the garden and I am proud to have been a part of it.

As I recall David was barefoot and shirtless at the end of the concert. The tent was gone, perhaps a conscious decision to not go back and get it. As we strategized on how we would get home we ran into a school friend who unbeknownst to us had driven to the festival and had room in his car. Go figure.
When we got back to school from summer vacation our first assignment was to write on what we had done that summer. I know I wrote about Woodstock … I sure wish I had that essay along with a few digital pictures. My only Woodstock memento is the Woodstock bird which my mother embroidery on a Levi’s pant pocket. The jeans are long gone, but the embroidered bird sits in a box on my dresser, a treasured memento of a younger day when I learned how to make a dream come true. My Woodstock trip was a dream come ture.

“We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon, And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.” CS&N

Bubba Strawberry

Strawberry Hill is a 40' by 6' patch of strawberrys on the rise between our yard and our neighbor's (the Pearson's) yard. The strawberry's were in the hill before we moved in, so before 1995 and have produced a crop every year.

The strawberry crop comes on in June and has been reliable for some summer beverages, smoothies, oatmeal and freezer bags for the winter months. About 3 years ago we removed a hedge that sat between the two yards at the top of Strawberry Hill and since then the strawberries really took off. This year's crop after a good dose of fertilizer after we finished picking last year's berries has been the best ever. We are eating over a quart of strawberries each day between Mary and me with smoothies or in oatmeal, Friday we had strawberry daiquris with our neighbors and this afternoon a strawberry milk shake. On top of this we probably have put 4 gallons in the freezer.

Picking strawberries for a snack is really pretty quick and easy, but start picking by the gallons and it is a chore. As you might expect they aren't all readily visible, you need to get down on the ground and push the leaves out of the way or turn them over to reveal the ripe berries. Early in the season you are competing with the slugs and the squirrels, but as the pace picks up there is way more than these critters can keep up with and the buckets start filling up. And then after you pick them you need to cap them and clean them befor eating. Cleaning and capping is not hard, but it does take some time ... no different than if you buy them at the grocery store, but remember we are working in gallons.

More than half of the fresh berries (and probably 80% of the frozen berries) go into smoothies, which are a pretty regular breakfast for the two of us. I also like to put them in the bottom of the bowl before I add some hot oatmeal (Mike's Macdamia Blueberry Oatmeal).

Last week Mary was inspired to make a strawberry cream cheese pie which always reminds me of our visit with Anne and David Jones when they lived in Steam Boat Springs, we visited just days before their first daughter was born.

Picking last for 3-4 weeks and there are plenty of berries for our friends and family. And as the season winds down the freezer is loaded with fresh frozen berries for smoothies through the winter. The 2008 frozen strawberries lasted until early May 2009 so we don't go long without strawberries here.

And not too long after the strawberries are gone for the season our blueberries start to ripen and this year's crop looks to be a doozy too!

Mike

Red, White and Rose

A wine tasting weekend in the Yakima Valley

April 25 and 26 was Jame's birthday weekend, as well as the NFL draft weekend. The latter was not particularly important to me, but it was to the former and shaping the weekend around the former was to me, important. So on Saturday while James attended to the NFL draft Mary, Ada and I went wine tasting in the Southern Yakima Valley, in the vicinity of Prosser. James stayed home with his friend John Rainier to watch the draft activities and have some beers.


We visited 6 (or 7) wineries on Saturday - Kestrel, Mercer, Hogue, Dessert Wind, Snoqualmie and Hinzerling. If there was a 7th it certainly wasn't memorable. The big name in this area and indeed one of the big guys in Washington State is Hogue Cellars; they have been around for a long time and their operation is as big as the name. Across the street from Hogue is Mercer Estates, a new comer with some of the same folks who supported Hogue Cellars early on.

The visit to Mercer Estates was a guided tour through a good sized up and coming operation, but the high point was when I was introduced to Mike Hogue by his son in law (who was our tour guide). Mike Hogue grows much (maybe all) of the fruit for Mercer Estates and still grows around 40% of the fruit for Hogue Cellars where he used to be more involved along with his brother who is still there (I think I got that right). Like my name Hoag, the name Hogue is also Scottish and as Mary watched us talking she said she saw lots of similarities in our features and mannerisms. Here we are in the reception area of Mercer estates - Mike and Mike.

The most interesting winery of the trip was one of the valley’s oldest, Hinzerling. We got there at closing time, after driving a couple of miles past it and then turning around, but they welcomed us in to there 3 stages of tasting - 14 total tastes. These included tasting some library Cabs as old as 1979. We picked up a 1983 for James (his birth year) and the 1994 (it was the best of the lot and very good). They also did a sherry, several ports and some other desert wines all commendable. The presentation in a beat up old building that look like a 1950’s garage/gas station was unique and well done with some good food pairings (tastes) with the desert wines. Keep your ear to the ground for special events or call ahead, Hinzerling is worth the trip.

Here we are arriving at James (goofy look on the left) and Ada's Saturday morning:

We got back to Ellensburg about 7:30 Saturday evening and found a sleepy James - he worked the doughnut shift a Safeway that morning so it was bedtime. Mary and I left him and Ada and we went and check-in to our hotel and then found some dinner at the Dakota Cafe. The fare was very good.

On Sunday we met James and Ada for a hardy breakfast at the Palace. They make a great breakfast that will get you started for just about any activity including wine tasting. We then headed south to Zillah, I82 exit 52. Stops for the day included Claar (tasting 14 wines not counting the barrels), 2 Mountains, Hyatt (They had some great music and a great view so we had lunch here and literally broke out James' birthday cake). Heading into the hills we found Porteus where we found a very good Zinfandel and then headed via the hillsides (or Steppes) to find Steppe Cellars. We enjoyed some great conversation at Steppe and look forward to a future trip or at least finding Steppe wines locally.

Here we are at 2 Mountains winery on Sunday. I really liked their label design:

Here are some shots from Hyatt where we had birthday cake. I won't tell you the story about dropping the cooler and having the cake plop out on the grass. Hyatt has a great view of Mt. Adams and Mount Rainier!

Home in Federal Way with the bounty:

We had a great time celebrating James' 26th birthday and meeting lots of new people who love wine like we do.

Cheers!

Easter at St. Leo

Easter Sunday

This was our first Easter Vigil Mass at St. Leo Cahtholic Church in Tacoma. We were parishoners last year, but we did not attend the Easter mass because we joined with our Faith Sharing group to witness our friend's baptism at St. Theresa's, our old parish. This year I (we) participated in the Triduum at St. Leo's. The Triduum is the three days of services that culminate in the Easter Vigil where the new members are welcomed into the church.

On Thursday Mary and I attended Holy Thursday mass, the parking lot was quite full when we arrived. The gospel reading was from John and is from the Last Supper when Jesus washes the feet of his disciples. The Homilist explained that at the Council of Trent washing of the feet was seriously considered as a sacrament, but was voted down if you will because they wanted to keep it to seven sacraments. Nonetheless it is a powerful sacramental event when one washes the feet of their loved one. For Jesus that was everyone of us. Holy Thursday mass ends with the Eucharist (Christ) being taken from the sanctuary.

Friday I made the late afternoon commute to St. Leo by myself. The traffic was bumper-to-bumper and several times I thought about getting off the freeway and heading home instead of arriving late as I could see I would. I am glad I did not do this, but stayed true to my initial plan to participate in the Good Friday service. I arrived late and the parking lot was overflowing, I had to park on G Street below the church and walked up the hill to arrive in the middle of the first reading. The Good Friday service was in collaboration with another (non-Catholic) faith community, Urban Grace. Members of this community participated in the readings and the Urban Grace pastor delivered the homily. The Gospel was the Passion reading from John. The theme for the homily was the words Jesus spoke when the Roman soldiers came to arrest him. When they asked if he as Jessus of Nazareth he simply said "I am". These words have deep roots in old testament scripture, suggesting God's name is so holy, so sacred ... not to be spoken ... and the solidiers themselves fell back.

The most powerful part of the Good Friday service was the presentation of the cross. St. Leo has a simple wooden cross which has been in the entry area of the church all during lent. On Good Friday the cross is walked through the streets of Tacoma in a reinactment of the Stations of the Cross. At the Good Friday service the cross is carried into the church in a sacred ceremony. At St. Leo part of this ceremony includes passing the cross through the pews, overhead hand-to-outreached-hand so all parishoners/worshipers participate in this silent tearful procession of the cross. The ceremony comes to an end when the cross is placed against the baptismal font. The celebrants then venerate the cross before inviting all to come venerate the cross.

The third event in the Triduum is the Easter Vigil. The mass begins with a bonfire which and from the fire the Easter Candle is lit, light is again in the world. The mass includes Baptism of the new members of the church, those who have elected to enter the church after some period of education and discernment. It also includes Confirmation of these newly baptized as well as others who are previously baptized, but for some reason have not become full members of the Catholic church (other Christian denominations or for some reason not confirmed with their peer group). These folks too go through a period of discernment before choosing/asking to become full members of the Church. There were 10 new members welcomed into the church last night.

The entire service is filled with drama, literally and figuratively. Many of the readings (and there are many) are sung or acted out. Allehluia is dramatically returned to the church after being taken away for Lent. The celebrants sang the entire Eucharistic Prayer, it was beautiful. Perhaps the most dramatic is the Baptism when the celebrant (Father Steve) stands in the Baptismal font and invites all of the elect, one-by-one to join him and be Baptized. The mass is a powerful symbol of community for St. Leo with many ... many parishoners coming together and being involved in every aspect of the event.

The Vigil service is long, over two and a half hours, but truly a community celebration. Next year I expect we may be more involved in some way (probably not on the drama side). For this year, Mary and I got home close to midnight and welocmed Easter, continuing the celebration by dancing to a few tunes before heading to bed.

Happy Easter!!

Birding and Blues and Grays

One more fantastic trip to Pacific City and the 2009 Birding and Blues festival. Pacific City is on the Pacific at Cape Kiwanda which is postcard noteworthy for its massive hay stack which sits about 1/2 mile off shore (my guess on the distance). The haystack is the hard rock headland remanant of a much more majestic cape most of which remains is a much softer (sandstone) geology that has been worn away by the pounding ocean, winter rains and the winds. The weekend was highlighted by bird and whale (the Gray Whales heading north) watching during the day Saturday followed in the evening with this years rollicking concert of Lloyd Jones blues sounds .... very nice all the way around.
We drove over to the Coast on Friday morning with a first stop at Apollini Vineyards in Hillsboro, to pick up our wine club selection. Conveniently we met Russ and Carol there, tasted their day's offerings and eventually walked out with a mixed case of Apollini wines. From there we followed Russ and Carol to Pacific City, about 75 miles away.
Arriving in Pacific City we went to the Senior Center (the B&B festival world headquarters) and registered for the weekend activities. Russ was to signed up to lead 2 whale watching trips (a hike up Cape Kiwanda to the observation post) and he had arranged for me to go along on those 2 trips and lead the birding portion of the trip. This was the first year for the whale watching as a scheduled B&B event and the air was tense with anticipation ... just how many people would show up. It is probably worth noting here that this years festival took place April 3-5; in past years it has always been the last weekend in February, but for some reason still unkown to me the event was changed to April this year. It may have been the crappy winter weather this year, where snow and ice storms frequently shutdown traffic in various and random locations throughout the Northwest. The Oregon Coast was particularly hard hit, but this is just speculation.
Registered for the weekend events, we headed back to the hacienda where we unpacked the cars, settled a little bit and then prepared for our first beach walk of the weekend. Settling in after the walk, Carol began dinner prep while Russ opened a bottle of wine started pouring. First up was a fabulous Syrah from a Sonoma winery that is still unknown to me. I was just enjoying the wine. The bottle was a bit cold so after a small glass each we opened a Bourdeax blend, another California offering. As we sipped Carol assembled and baked 2 serving trays of crab enchiladas (way more than enough for all of us) that were simply awesome, along with trimmings of coleslaw and a fried corn. A pleasant Rose from our stop at Apollini was a good compliment and rounded out the feast. By the time we finished dinner we were pretty well done in and sat and watched a little TV before bed.
Saturday morning events kicked off at 8:00 and Russ and I were supposed to be at the event center by 7:30. We had a group of about 12 people and we all piled into our various vehicles and drove the mile to the base of the cape, which is the end of the Pacific City beach. The beach starts about 3 miles south at the mouth of the Little Nestucca river. It is a substantial beach with a high dune running nearly its entire length until right at the Cape. Here, at the base of the Cape is the Pelican Brewery/Pub, some seaside condominiums built into the side of the cape and across the street the Cape Kiwanda Inn along with a few other shops. Surfers have found PC and the ocean is seldom without a small group of surfers looking to catch a wave. Let it be known the water is darn cold and wet suits are standard surfing garb.
Arriving at the base of the Cape we regathered the group and then set out for the Cape hike. For this event the hike is down the boat/car ramp that provides beach access for vehicles and then a 200 yard+ hike north on the beach before coming to the climb, a steep sand(dune) hillrising about 25-30 feet in its lowest part. This is truly 2 steps forward and 1 back climbing. Getting to the top of the climb a much more gradual slope on generally firmer ground took us out to the viewing station. We set up camp, identified about 6-7 different (species of) birds and saw a little Gray Whale activity. The gray whales migrate from the Bering Sea to the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California) each year where they have their calves before returning to the Bering Sea. In April the whale migration is heading north to their Bering Sea feeding grounds. The Gray Whale migration is the longest migration route of all mammals. While we were on the hill Mary and Carol made our day and joined us.
The session was supposed to last from 8:00 to 10:40, but by 9:45 it was only the 4 of us so we headed back to the house. Mary and Carol took off for one of the class room sessions and Russ and I hung out at the house, which was my time to do my back exercises for the day. The climb up the dune was a bit strenuous though no apparent negative effect on my back. About 11:30 Russ got out the Land Cruiser and we drove up to pick up some beer for lunch and then went and picked up the ladies from their class on Crows. We headed home and had sandwiches and beer sitting on the patio in the sun ... splendid.
The afternoon session started about 1:30 and was pretty much a repeat of the morning. There were no new birds to see, but the group was different and helped reinforce some of the morning spotttings. And the whale activity was similar ... 1 or 2 confirmed spottings. Again the crowd thinned out early and we all headed home where Russ opened up a "Pra", a white wine from northeast Italy and we sat on the porch again, and enjoyed the late afternoon sun. Mary was on tap for dinner and had pre-prepared a Zitti which we planned to pair with 2 Barberas from Walla Walla. The Zitti along with a salad and bread was fabulous and a good portion came home with us. The wines were a different matter, one of the Barberas had a strong "barnyard" nose and taste ... not something we were ready for, though Russ was confident that some time in the decanter would help ... it did improve some, but even the next day it was still a rugged one to sip on. Thankfully we had a second Barbera, this one from Woodward Canyon, and it complemented Mary's Zitti very well.
That evening we walked, hopped fences and dodged dog pooh to get to the community center for the Lloyd Jones dance/concert. Lloyd and his band have been a regular as long as I have been going to the Birding and Blues ... if you didn't figure it out Lloyd and his band are the Blues portion of the weekend. The music was loud and the crowd was ready to dance and dance we did. The crowd was really eclectic with young kids (7/8 range) on up and included program participants, presenters, guides and more. This is one chance I have "each year" to dance and without Lloyd Jones my dance opportunities would be reduced by approximately 50%. We stayed for a set and a half, as long as our ears could stand it and then walk back to the hacienda.
The return trip in the dark was interesting, but we all got home with clean shoes. Sunday morning was quiet we took one last beach walk and spied a few more whales between the beach and the Pacific City haystack ... that's pretty close. After another lunch on the patio with a growler of Pelican Kiwanda Cream Ale, Mary and I packed the car and headed home.
Once again we had a great time in Pacific City and at the Birding and Blues (and Gray Whales) festival. It is so nice to spend these times with good friends.

Here are some pictures from the Birding and Blues weekend.

Sunday Afternoon Musings

Sunday, March 29, and believe it or not today we woke up to a wet snow on the ground. It's as if this winter just won't let go. A couple of winters like this and I expect the din surrounding global warming will subside and may even be replaced with the threat of next Ice Age.

This afternoon the sun is out, appropriate for Sunday, and Mary and I did a long walk - 4 miles - which is the longest walk for me since November when my back flared up on me. It felt good and came home to find that Michigan State beat Louisville to advance to the Final Four and left me with none of my selected teams making it to the Final Four - BTW I was rooting for Michigan State, not wanting to see 3 Big East teams in the final 4. And now my hope rests for the finals - either Michigan State or Villanova.

It was a productive weekend. I finished my taxes yesterday and we have a few dollars coming back which is always nicer (at least to me) than having to send another check - just so it's not too much. I also bought a new lawn mower, the deck on the old one was dangerously corroded. I looked longingly at some Honda lawnmowers with their composite deck, but ended up opting for another Toro, but this time one that is self-propelled. At the end of the day I just could not justify the added cost of the Honda. I probably should be outside testing the new mower on the lawn, which if I don't do today, I may not get back to it for a couple of weeks. Next cut is the official first cut of the new season.

Next weekend we are off to Pacific City, Oregon to visit our friends Russ and Carol Paine. It is Birding and Blues weekend, and we will take in a few events but the real fun is spending time with Russ and Carol. They are our #1 wine buddies and we usually get in some games and often a movie along with the B&B activities which are capped by a dance band on Saturday night. I think this will be our 4th B&B. Click here for some Pacific City images from past trips.

Hawaii 2009 - 30th Anniversary

Aloha!
Mary and I have just returned from our 30th anniversary trip to Hawaii, 10 days on the Big Island. This was a best trip ever type of experience which ended with a sunset visit to AA beach followed by one more great dinner, this one a Roy's Kahuna Grill at Waikoloa Beach.
The trip started with three nights at Kona Village. This is an "American Plan" resort that gave me just a hint of being on a cruise ... mostly because of the nearly constant feeding that was going on. Kona Village has tons of repeat customers who have been coming for years and clearly lots of new young families either carrying on or starting new family traditions. Although we rented a car for the trip it was not used for our 3 days here. We soaked in the sun, snorkeled in the quiet bay and just Relaxed with a capital R. Our last night here was Valentine's Day and we took in the best Lua on the islands, at Kona Village. The overall experience here was A+, from the quiet and private palm roofed Hale's, the great food selections, great staff and the best lua.
Leaving Kona Village we headed to the east side of the island to mostly to explore Kilauea Volcano. The drive took us through Waimea, the Big Island cowboy town on the slopes of Mauna Kea (a 13,700+ dormant volcano) and in the heart of the huge Parker Ranch cattle ranch noted for its great beef. We made a quick stop in Hilo the second biggest city in Hawaii and worked our way up to Kilauea Lodge where we stayed nights 5 & 6 of the trip. Kilauea National Park visitor center sits across the road from the Kilauea cauldera with one crater in a crater that is currently venting lots of SO2 which limits access somewhat in the park. (Mark Twain on Kilauea Volcano from 1866). Still lots to see, mostly down the Chain of Craters road to the ocean. If you go to Hawaii and want to really see Kilauea plan for at least one and a half days and plan to get a work out. We opted to explore the Southeast corner of the island on our second day and found some great spots which will just have to be future snorkeling adventures. We also got around to see where the lava from the current eruption of Pu'0 O'o, is entering the ocean.
From here we travelled to Captain Cook for a night in the Manago Hotel to provide early morniong access to Kealakekua Bay and the Captain Cook monument. We rented a kayak and did this with some last minute plans that just worked ... poor planning on my part ... and had a fantastic snorkeling adventure. We had hoped to also see Spinner Dolphins that are regulars in the bay, during our kayak adventure to the monument, but not to be on that day. After the snorkeling and returning the kayak (a story in itself) we headed to Mauna Lani resort for night 7-9 and 3 fabulous days of R&R in the sun and great sunset dinners. The Mauni Lani staff was great, we arrived on our anniversary and they welcomed us with a bottle of bubbly which we had before dinner. We thought we would explore more beaches, but found ourselves mostly content with the quiet little cove just outside our 6th (top) floor room. And from our room we watched a continuos spectacle of contented Humpback whales (momma and calves) and on our last day we finally saw the Spinner Dolphins we missed at Captain Cook.
We closed our trip with a final sunset visit to A'a beach at Waikola, a beach we visted with our friends Russ and Carol on our first trip to the Big Island some 7 years ago. The sunset was fabulous followed by one more great dinner before heading to the airport.
We always look forward to the Mai Tai when we are in Hawaii and this year was no exception. The best Mai Tai this year .... probably at Mauni Lani. Here are a few Mai Tai recipes in case you are interested.
And now back in Federal Way, rested and rejuvenated and back in long pants and fleece .... here is a link to a selection of our Hawaii pictures.

Aloha!

Epiphany

The ride to St. Leo from Federal Way cuts across the Tide Flats where the Puyallup River and Hylebos Creek and maybe some other waters enter Commencement Bay. The Flats are the glacial silt deposits as well as historical volcanic mud flows from Mt. Rainier which can be seen looking east from the mud flats, rising 14,400 feet to Columbia Crest, the highest point on the Mountain.
Mt. Rainier is covered with glaciers that keep it "snow capped" year round and runoff from these glaciers flows into at least three major rivers - the Puyallup, the Green and the Nisqually - which enter Puget Sound from the Duwamish mudflats and Elliott bay in Seattle (North End) to Commencement Bay in Tacoma to the Nisqually flats just north of Olympia (South End). If you look west from the Tacoma Mud Flats the Olympic Mountains can be seen rising over the waters of Puget Sound and the Kitsap Peninsula. The Kitsap is an interesting piece of land intertwined by the waters of Puget Sound and lying just to the east of the Olympic Peninsula, where the Olympic Mountains are being pushed up by a teutonic plate.
Today as we drove to mass the sky was pink with the newly rising sun. The high clouds overhead were so high that you could see the entire rise of Mt. Rainier as well as the expanse of the Cascade range running north. The gap between the Cascade mountain tops and the clouds in the sky at this eastern horizon, was like a window that let the sun pour across the earth. And the light created a brilliant scene with golden highlights across the tops of the Cascades to the east and to the west the Olympics, fresh with snow, seemed close enough to touch; the shadow of the Cascades cast softly on their flanks. Tacoma on the south side of the bay looked like the Shining City on the Hill.
Later in the day, after mass, we took our walk at Redondo. The sky was steely gray and the sun, now well into the sky was above and behind the clouds, almost indistinuishable as to where it was along its path for this day. This along with the cool moist air at Redondo created a sense of closeness as if the clouds and the sky were much lower at this time. Something of an illusion or harbinger of the incoming weather, as looking west across the water, the Olympics were visible and still majestic, but seemed to have lost the crispness they displayed in early morning sun on our way to church.
Today we celebrated epiphany, the day the Magi found and recognized Christ. My wish is that every day is an epiphany experience in which we discover and reveal Christ in our lives.

Happy New Year - 2009!

Cold Weather Blues - Zags Lose

Oh no ... the Zags lose!

First a close one with Conneticut here on the West side in Seattle which they had ever chance to win, but then they turn around a few days later at home with Portland State and blow really it. All of this in the midst of some real winter in Seattle and especially in Spokane with what appears to be a record breaker for total December snowfall. It's as if the whole world has come to a stand still in disbelief ... the Zags lose.

There is good that intermingles with this bad Zag news and that is Cara and Matt arrived safely on Friday December 19 (actually slightly after midnight so Saturday December 20) and Carla and Denny Gish made up here for the Battle in Seattle on Saturday which gave us all a chance to meet when they stopped here to pick up Matt and Cara for the Battle in Seattle. Then on Sunday it was redux when all Denny, Carla, Matt and Cara all came back through Federal Way for another cup of coffee and to pick up some more Matt and Cara bags before heading to Battle Ground and the Gish and Sarvella homes. See some shots of Uncle Matt at Megs blog.

It is now Friday December 26, Christmas day is behind, but remember Christmas day is only the first day of 40 days of Christmas. May the light born on Christmas shine those 40 days and then everyday for all of us.

And now Saturday, December 27. Matt is off to James and Ada's with some of James' friends and then back home to FW for a few days. Cara is back to Battle Ground to spend time with her family.

There were lots of pics of the winter weather and Christmas, but for some reason that continues to frustrate me my camera cannot be read directly be my computer. So I sit here with the camera attached. The computer knows the camera is there, I can find it in the hardware, but none of the software can find the camera - Picassa, Photoworks even Canon. I have uninstalled and installed ad infinitum and still nothing. So to get pictures I have to download on another machine and then load then transfer them with a thumb drive or some such to my machine. Some times computers just irritate the heck out of me. And no it has not always done this, I am convinced that one of the camera reading softwares I used somewhere disabled them all and I can't figure it out.

That's it.

Cribbage, Thanksgiving, Grappa and Not Medically Necessary

On Thanksgiving day Mary and I drove to Ellensburg to have Thanksgiving dinner with James and Ada. They couldn't be here on the west side because of James work schedule so we went over there for the big meal. Mary drove because my leg was (is) still aching. We spent a few hours with them and then left to let James get off to sleep so he would be ready for the early shift on Friday morning.

On Saturday James and Ada drove to Federal Way, a chance to get away from E-burg and do some shopping. First thing we did was our annual trip to Bees and Trees for our Christmas tree. We got that home and in the stand and through the afternoon Ada with a little help from James got the decorating started. James and Ada found some time to go shoping and then we all watched Oregon State tank their once in 44 year opportunity to go to the rose bowl by losing to the Ducks. Vey humiliating and humbling.

After the game Fran and Jim Pearson came over and we proceeded to celebrate with beverages and dinner. Jim had to return to Italy early Sunday morning and he had some grappa he was sharing with friends. Thank goodness there was only a "small" amount of the grappa left when he came over. Jim also brought along some Italian field wine (2008 vintage - very rugged). As you can see from the pic, Mary is something of a grappa fan ...

It became an evening of too many different beverages for me. Although the grappa was very good ... or so Jim said, and most seemed to enjoy including me, but in combination with everthing else it was too much for me and I paid for it through the night. Needless to say Sunday was pretty quiet, we didn't even make it to church and I am not a grappa fan, even though I am confident that this was very good grappa.

On Sunday morning we got moving slowly, had some breakfast, easy does it for me and eased into the day. We watched a little football and later in the day decided to play some cribbage before James and Ada left. We couldn't find our cribbage board so we dredged up our crib golf board and our book of Hoyle Cribbage rules and plowed forward. James and Ada proved to be the masters of the afternoon winning handily before heading up and over the hill back home to Ellensburg. During the crib game I found out that James played regularly when he was in Junior High and it was clear he had not lost his touch. And after playing it dawned on me that everybody seems to have crib boards on their Christmas lists this year ... hmmm!

Here it is a week later and Mary and I wanted to play some cribbage. We still couldn't find the crib board so I conjured up a crib template, left and we played a quick round. I think we will be ready for a rematch with James and Ada and ready to take on Matt and Cara when they visit at Christmas.

Just a little bit more ... an update on my hip leg. I have continued to live with want is sometimes rather acute pain in my left hip and leg. What I describe as chronic pain. Where it has eased of from early on it is still pretty persistent. I did see the doctor on 11/21 and he took xrays which convinced him I needed an MRI, this had to be submitted for approval. This past Friday I heard back from my doctor that the insurance review board had determined that an MRI is not medically necessary. I will follow-up this week on next steps, in the meantime I have been doing massage (including some agressive work on my piriformis in my left butt cheek) stretching and hot/cold treatments. It is getting better, but I sure would like to get some additional data which for now is Not Medically Necessary.

Hope all is well with all of you.

DaddyHoag

Bursitis? ... Not!

Last week I shared the story about my leg pains and the preliminary assessment that I was dealing with bursitis, in this case an inflamation of the bursor on my hip. The chiropractor gave it that label and with some online searching it seemed to fit. The hip busor is where all of the various muscles in the upper leg and butt come together at the outside of the hip bone or pelvis. But as the pain hung around we decided to take it to another level, get another truly diagnostic opinion. On Friday I went to see the Orthopedic surgeon. He took pictures (xrays) of the hip and then examined me and said he didn't think it was bursitis, and thought it might be the sciatic nerve, and that he want to get an MRI, including a look at the lower spine. After asking me if I was claustrophobic he told me he would make arangements for the MRI and that it would be a week or so before they got the approvals to go ahead ... all of that is in process now.

I was initially disheartened by the sciatic nerve preliminary diagnosis. It seemed like one more strike against this old body. Anyway, on Saturday morning I headed to the chiropractor for another adjustment, having decided to keep getting regular adjustments to see if they would help, at least until the MRI. I also decided I would pursue some Massage Therapy which I hope to get started this week. And in the meantime, after working through a serious case of shared "getting old" blues with Mary, she started digging into the web information to learn more about sciatica and she is now betting on my hip and leg issues being problems with my puriformis.

Let me explain. The number 1 cause of sciatic problemns is Puriformis Syndrome. This occurs much more frequently than disk problems. The puriformis is a muscle in the butt and it just so happens that the sciatic nerve passes under (86% of people) or through and/or around (14% of people). And reading the details, lots of the info seemed to fit. I jumped right on some new puriformis stretches along with my regular stretching routine and felt almost imediate relief. Hope abounds. Now as I wait for the MRI to find out what is so irritated, I plan to pursue a course of stretching including the new puriformis strecthes, applying hot and cold therapy (I am currently trying some heat), chiropractic adjustments and finally massage. I would love to go back in and tell the orthopedic doctor I am feeling much better and then learn from him and the MRI what I can about my lower back and left hip.

All of this is of interest for obvious reasons, it is hard to have much fun lying on my back or having to stand up all of the time. Yes these were the only two postions where I was consistently pretty comfortable. Sitting was the worst and I found it difficult to hold still, expect for a few chairs that seemed to work. Car seats were bad, especially the Volvo with its plush seats. And my new R&D job involves some travel . Frankly I am scared at the prospect of a cross country plane flight if my leg is acting up sitting down. With these motivations and Mary wanting to see me out of pain I am delighted to have found what looks like a plan to improve.

The learning for me is when they say stretch they mean stretch ... no short cuts. So I expect this is one more reminder to me that I am getting older and that I need to take care of myself. The scars and problems I inflicted as a younger man cannot be fixed, but I need to be disciplined and do the things necessary to preserve and maximize what remains and persevere. It doesn't get easier, but it sure is nice when you find some answers with more to come.

Thats all for now ...

Work, wine, bursitis and Football

In an earlier blog I talked about being on notice for layoff at Weyerhaeuser. Last Friday I received a job offer to join the Lumber and Wood Science group, which I have accepted. This job takes me back to a scientist role, which is similar to the role when I started with the company and it will now extend my tenure with Weyerhaeuser beyond the end of this year ... Hooray! I spent some time this week haggling over the offer and transitioning from my corporate headquarters (CH) office to the Weyerhaeuser Technology Center (WTC). I officially start on Monday, November 17. Which brings us to wine.
For those who may not know Mary and I do enjoy wine. On Tuesday we got our quarterly shipment from our Elk Cove (Oregon) wine club - 2 excellent bottles of Pinot Noir. One of the two bottles 2007 Richmond Hills Pinot, filled out a flight (3 years of the same vineyard and wine maker) which we will look forward to sharing with friend some years from now. We have done that one other time and it is a lot of fun tasting the year to year differences in the fruit because of all the factors that affect the crop from year to year as well as the wine making itself - very interesting or maybe I should say "berry interesting". Anyway with work starting Monday and not much more I could do there until I am electronically transferred (in this case re-instituted as an active employee in People Soft) into my new team, Mary and I decided to take an outing. Our default idea was to go to Poulsbo for the day, but I couldn't get too excited about it and countered with a suggestion to go to Seattle for the day. This didnt stick either, no real plan just kind of kick around and explore some sites we havent seen and old sites too. Then Mary suggested wine tasting ... she had seen an article on some up and coming wineries and one of them was in Woodinville. After mulling it awhile I latched on and while Mary was at Book Club I found 4 wineries to visit. Mary liked the research so we planned for Woodinville and starting to get to know more of the "local" wineries.
So it is time to go, I write this as Mary preps to leave. We will spend the night up there too so we dont have to fight Friday evening traffic. Early this morning the wine trip seemed like it could be in jeopardy. Since Tuesday night I have been dealing with an ache in my left hip. Friday morning I went to the chiroprator hopeful that he would do a simple adjustment and magic the pain would subside. No such luck. After a few simple tests he says you are having a bursitis flare up and the answer is rest and ibuprofen. Seems my workout on Tuesday, running side-by-side with Mary had flared up the bursor in my hip and it is still alive and well 4 days later. It significantly distracts my ability to think of much else. With the diagnosis in hand Mary and I decided to carry out the wine tasting as it would not require much walking. The most painful part of the trip was the car ride. It is very difficult for me to get comfortable in the seat of a car. The result is constant squirming. Mary drove to Woodinville, about 40 miles, with the first stop at Januik/Novelty Hill wineries; these two operations share a warehouse factility where they have their wineries, common tasting room and the same wine maker, Januik. From there we had lunch at the Barking Frog which is at the Willows Inn if you are looking for a nice ($$$) place to stay. The food was great, Mary had sauteed scallops and I had a very good chicken club sandwich. After lunch it was back to wining with Brian Carter which was written up in the local newspaper magazine last week, then a first stop at Delille to pick up a pre-ordered bottle of wine (more on that later), on to Bookwalter (an add suggested by the host at Brian Carter (Ken), and then to Matthews, a total of 6 wineries. We ended the day at Delille Cellars where our pre-purchase wine was the ticket to an evening of hors d'ouevers with a tasting of their fall release wines. Summing it up for the day - some great wines, interesting conversation with people who make and sell wine and some very nice time together with Mary. Damages at the end of the day was 17 bottles of very good wine and a busted budget for the month.

Finally, Saturday is football day. This evening we plan to watch two (2) 2008 "never ran" teams - Washington Huskies and UCLA Bruins - battle it out at Husky stadium. The real novelty is likely to be watching Rick Neuhiesel coaching at Husky Stadium after being asked to leave in a gambling scandal several years ago. Neuhiesel is now coach of the UCLA Bruins which is also his Alma Mater. The Washington coach Ty Willingham is also something of a pariah at UW as the Huskies have gone 0-11 in 2008 with 2 games still to play. It has already been announced that Ty will not be back to coach next year.
Well this is more than enough blogging for one time ... the bursitis is still bugging me, the trunk is full of wine, we will head home soon to get ready for the football game and Monday I start my new job. I wish and hope all is well with everybody reading this and Cheers!

Mike

The Edison Angels

This post is from my archives, something I wrote several years ago that I want to share ... at least the season is timely as it recalls a November road trip along the north Washington coast.


Long Live The Edison Angels

This story is about a trip to explore Washington’s Chuck A Nut highway and one of the surprises we found along the way. Winding between the Chuck A Nut Mountains and Puget Sound, along the north Washington Coast, the Chuck A Nut is a gateway to adventure and discovery. Late summer outings provide sunshine, fresh Dungess crab and oysters, beach parks trails, Bellingham shopping and more. Every turn of the road offers views of the San Juan Islands, which speak of more adventures for another day.

The trip from Federal Way north, late on a Sunday morning, was a hum drum zip up I-5. Leaving the interstate behind at exit 231, we entered the Chuck A Nut region from the south. Coming into to Bow, we were keeping our eyes open for a morning latte. The two store fronts we did see were too modest and got only passing attention, until we were five miles up the road. At that point we decided to turn around and take another look to see what we missed in Bow.

As we headed back to Bow a check of the map revealed another town, Edison, west of Bow toward the Samish Bay. We decided to check it out, finding Edison to be a larger, though still small, farming community, consisting of mostly agriculture buildings, quite a few houses and two bars. Tucked in among these structures was a small little house with a sign out front that identified it as a bakery. With plenty of cars in the parking lot and customers sitting on the porch, we decided to check it out and at least get some coffee.

Little did we know that we had just stumbled into the secret hiding place of the Edison Angels – Girl Bakers. Inside this little house we discovered two women whipping up latte’s and conjuring up pastries to the obvious delight of a steady stream of customers. The glass counter displayed an array of marvelous monstrous cookies and cinnamon rolls and something new to me, called Galettes. Behind the counter one of the two women was carefully preparing a new batch of these Galettes, while the second woman took orders, prepared coffee drinks and managed the cash register.

The Edison Galettes are a rectangular pastry, formed by softly folding the four corners of the flattened pastry dough inward, to the center of the pastry. This forms something of a cup to hold a large dollop of colorful fruit filling, which is spooned onto the waiting dough. The filling is a rich mixture of blueberries, raspberries and honey, which could be seen simmering away on the stove. The sights, smells and tastes were all simply divine.

Contented, because we had fulfilled our first quest, we sat and enjoyed our coffee and these new found treats. Wishing to capture and hold the moment, we decided to buy two more Galettes, for the next morning, and two marvelous, monstrous cookies for later that same day. Snacks in hand we headed back to Bow where we turned north up the Chuck A Nut highway to our next adventure. The day continued to offer delights, but none as special as our encounter with the Edison Angels and their baked delights.

3 November 2002
MLHoag

Acute Angles and Election Day

It is early November here in the Northwest, the sun is on its march to its winter solstice. The days are short and last weekend they seemed to get a little shorter with the return to Standard Time. Do you like that extra hour that we get back each fall, the one they take away each spring? Anyway, the arc of the sun this time of the year is so short, the sunshine comes at us at acute angles, like dawn and dusk even at mid-day. If you are driving in the direction of the sun, (and it is clear) the sun will be in your eyes. I heard once that Seattle has the highest per capita purchase of sun glasses of any city in the US which seemed a bit of a paradox given the reputation for rain, but when the sun is out you need the sun glasses. Especially those times you may be driving down the highway in the rain and the road spray is all around and then all of a sudden you have a sun break, you will wish you had your sun glasses ready at those times.

Today's color is BLUE or probably more appropriately Red, White and Blue! It was with great pleasure and hope that I watched Barack Obama make his acceptance speech tonight. I think he is a person who is well aware of and admits to his own faults, who listens to and understands all sides of an argument, who has demonstrated a great skill in managing an election and building a team of advisers that represent many of this nations best minds. He has pulled himself up from modest beginnings with his insatiable desire to achieve the American Dream, and he recognizes this as a dream to be shared with and for every man, woman and child in this country.

I was also gratified listening to Barack Obama and John McCain speak to a spirit of cooperation. This is sorely needed after such a long and hard campaign. It is just amazing to me that this (young) man, has ascended this political mountain. The path ahead is full of huge obstacles, unimaginable complexity and risks that will challenge us all. In leading us, our new president is key to setting the tone, we all share in the responsibility to find and create the solutions we need to succeed.

May God Bless Barack Obama and his family, and may God Bless the United States of America.

Mike

All Souls Day

The end of a quiet weekend. I think the main event was going to the movie The Changeling on Friday. This was a very good movie about the corrupt LA Police Department in the late 1920's, supposedly based on a true story. Christine Collins (played by Angelina Jolie) is an up and coming manager at the phone company. She comes home from work one evening to find her 8 year old son missing. She engages the police department to help find her son and they, in need of some good PR deliver a boy (not her son) and notify the community that they have found and returned her son. Of course the plot thickens further, if you are looking for some good drama this met that bill for me.

After the movie Mary and I went for a bite to eat. Our goal was to avoid being home for the trick-or-treat crowd. Mary said she had enough of kids for the week - it was conference week and she had worked about 70 hours counting the previous weekend. So the plan was a movie and "dinner", through the trick-or-treat hours. So after the movie we went to the Zephyr Grill (in Kent, WA) where we started to sit down to dinner and then I asked about the bar menu - 1/2 price bar menu until 6 PM and happy hour drink specials - and we went and found an empty stool at the bar. We had some great bacon wrapped meatloaf sliders and onion rings and some good conversation. I was wearing my Obama T-shirt, which started the conversation. I must say you find a lot of Obama supporters in this part of the world. We got home about 8:30, I know we are quite the party animals. And we did have 1 set of trick-or-treaters who came by who I dispatched quickly with some snack sized candy bars.

In the end, not much of a Halloween celebration at our House this year. It sure was nice to see some of the events from Ellensburg - James and Ada - and from Knoxville - Matt and Cara. It was our taste of Halloween - some great pumpkin carving by all. Here are some pictures from Jaybo and Ada I particularly like the flying pig.

I am now in my preparation run up for a colonoscopy on Wednesday. This will be my 3rd one, I am on a 5 year cycle because of a family history for colon cancer. A friend in town sent me Dave Barry's colonoscopy journal, it is a great read if you have a colonoscopy coming up. This is the big event for the week and if I am lucky I may hear about next steps for a job I am pursuing.

For now this is DaddyHoag signing off ... Peace!