Autumn

Remember me? 

Hi There.

Been awhile.

Sorry.
I got a couple of nudges lately that I haven't been keeping my blog up and that I should do so.

Life was busy there for a moment. But here I am, writing to you from my own time and space. Same me, same house, same sweet husband. All is well with us. Life has just been really, really busy.

Some family stuff came up recently. Mostly I've been concerned about my brother-in-law, who suffered a stroke a few months back. That same week, my "little" sister-in-law had her baby entirely too early. We weren't sure what was going to happen with such a little micro-preemie and both my SIL and niecelet were sick, sick, sick.

But they are tough, tough, tough.

You know what? Everyone is fine.

It makes me a little happy-weepy to say that. Weeks in the hospital for everyone. ICU, NICU, FYI... And they're all home from the hospital.  My niece "Little G", is up to 5 pounds thanks to her very persistent mom and dad, a saint of a doctor, and (probably) a highly dedicated team of nurses.
When all this was going down, G thought he might pop on out to either Atlanta or Louisiana to help out. We just didn't know what to do. This is the price we pay for living so far from Gs family; there's  no easy way to head on over to the right coast. His dad went to my BILs side and his mom took my older niece while everyone was hospitalized.

If you're reading this and you're of the spiritual, religious, or praying sort, please send up a big "thank you". I know I am really glad, really grateful and really relieved.

So that's the big thing on my end. I guess it takes a lot of energy to hold your breath.

Work is good. I do love it. I've gotten to meet some interesting characters. Hopefully, someone somewhere says "She's an interesting character".  And I feel more "normal" in my job. I began the way anyone should: by listening to the administrative assistant. Our office has three secretarial types. They are fantastic and know what they're doing. You never, ever want to ignore your admin. And I knew this going in. She sometimes makes a gentle suggestion and I always take that advice.

Ok, enough updates. Let me throw in a few photos to catch you up, and I promise I'll write sooner rather than later.

Lucy is a snuggler. Her favorite snuggle time is 4 a.m. The rest of the time, she's a little spooky. 

Yes, we're at a RODEO! 

This is the "before" of one of the night stands I am rehabbing. 

Here is an "in progress" photo of the same night stands. The color isn't this dark. It's deep blue. 

My buddy Rich and I on "National Coming Out Day". My shirt says "Ally".

Today we went to our first powwow in Washington state. Met some really nice people! 

April Showers

I'm sure you remember how much I do not like the month of April. I sort of crouch down, hide behind the couch and wait for it to be over. April is always filled with disparate images of life and death and regeneration. It teaches me something though, a lesson I hold onto with all I've got. It's the crocuses. Even in the midst of loss and sadness, and a fear that nothing will ever get better, these tiny blue, purple, and yellow flowers push up past the old pine needles, hold aside the dead leaves from last fall, and declare themselves. They are not tall, nor flashy, nor even particularly spectacular. But they are a quiet spot of hope in a sea of decomposition.

In my early twenties- a lifetime ago it seems now- I lost my great aunt and cousin to a drunk driver the very same month as an ex-boyfriend committed suicide. I am loathe to think of those times and those sad, dark days. Let's just say it's more complicated than those few words. I didn't have a support network and did most of that healing on my own. I did it badly and it took a long time.

Anyway, April hasn't been a great month since then.

This last week has been particularly rough, and it doesn't help that I hold these things in. I'm trying to let them out. I promise. It's always been important that I compartmentalize and not feel things for awhile. So when I hear news such as this, I just sort of go on for the day or week. Then at a juncture which is quiet and in which I am alone, the feelings leap up and and the scream that's been sitting at the base of my throat will suddenly find its voice.  This week, in three days, I know three people who died. One from natural causes; two from suicide. All pretty devastating for their families.  As I type this, ever keystroke feels as though it's hitting a bruise. None of these men knew each other, but I knew each one.

There is always a crocus though.

Joy.

I have been very fortunate in my life, given my background and history. People sometimes ask me how my life turned out differently than those around me. I tell them this: I have amazing women friends.  I seek out positive women who exhibit kindness and generosity of their spirit and I befriend them. I mentor younger women. This is the difference between me now and me twenty years ago.

I tagged along with my friend Joy for a road trip to Yakima. No big deal, just a beautiful drive, lunch, time to talk and a bit of shopping. We listen to each other and we are vulnerable to one another and we plot revenge on our enemies and celebrate the good parts of our lives.  If Charlotte or Cathy or Patricia or any of my Oklahoma friends had been close by, I could have gone on this same road trip with them.

This is not to say that G isn't my biggest supporter. He is. He is who I run to when I have good news and bad, as my best friend through everything. And he has cheered me up this week and made me laugh and just sat on the couch and held me because believe me when I say that I crawled into my pajamas at 4:00 and didn't leave the house thereafter. That's love.

It's Joy who will scream obscenities out a car window with me. Maybe not a flashy friendship, but one which pushes aside the sadness and says that we will make it through another spring.

Kindness

Today I want to give credit where it is due- to my readers. Thanks for hanging in with me for these last four or five years. I was digging through old blog posts, trying to find a particular one- more on that in a minute- and it made me think about who reads this and just what the hell we all get out of the experience.

Hopefully, I'm showing a bit of my world. This morning, I'm in my heavy red bathrobe, sipping hot coffee and trying to come to life before I go do my weightlifting. I'm in the office portion of the house. The office is part of my dressing room, on the second floor, with no door and just my old dresser and a rack for hanging clothes. And make up, and hair stuff, and a mirror, and a rocking chair that my sister Patti gave me. The heater is on because it's 27 degrees outside. However, it's predicted to get up to about 60 today. First time we've seen 60 since October. If you've read my blog even once, you'll know that I'm not excited about Spring. Oh, it's a lovely season and it's neat to see the world wake up from a long slumber. Except that we didn't have any slumber this year. I'd say we had less than 3 inches of snow in total for the entire year. You might imagine that as someone whose favorite necklace is a snowflake pendant, I want more. We've even gone to visit snow in the mountains. The ski areas up here have had very few operational days, and ski tourism is out all over the state and in Idaho. Boo. *sips coffee*

Back to the world. Our old house is from the turn of the century, around 1900. The owners put in modern carpet and put in new drywall. The original doors are still up and the weird nooks and crannies that go with the architecture of a peaked roof are naturally still in place. Our bedroom has angled ceilings that slope such that we have few places where we can strategically place the bed without banging our heads every time we go to sleep. I love it. The only thing I don't love is the tiny kitchen. We have the upstairs and half of the down. The other half is walled off- along with (probably) the other half of the kitchen! The owners use their half of the bottom as an office. I think besides the drafts in the winter- you can stick fingers through the sliding windows- these are the only downside of the house. It's wonderfully located and the owners are quiet, only showing up a few days a week and never early. With a Starbucks, a pizza place, and a grocery store within 200 meters of the front door and an easy mile walk to work, I couldn't imagine a better place for us for now.

I get up earlier these days, 5, 5:30, 6 ish. Going to bed between 8 and 9 is better for me, even if it's not more fun. I'm more productive in the mornings. I get to go work out if I get up in time, and since I do most of my grading online, I can knock some of it out in the mornings. I like to have a little time alone too, to think and write and read. I do love reading for pleasure. Most of my life follows a routine: wake up, get around, work, teach, work, teach, teach, teach, volunteer hours, grading, home, dinner, sleep. I get the workouts in where I can. I often get a yoga class in once a week, though I try for twice.  Since G and I both work so much, we eat lunch as our big meal and usually just have something light for dinner. On the weekends, it's travel.

My life seems to be missing something, and indeed it is.  I miss my little kitty, Eleanor. I miss her about as much as I thought I would. Her presence was pervasive in my life for almost 19 years. I must have burst into tears a dozen times the first day she was gone. And the second day. On the third day it was less. Now the rawness is gone, but I feel as though I am missing something or someone important, like a low-grade fever. You can ignore it for awhile but eventually you have to get some rest. On Saturday the vet called to say her ashes were back. I hope by saying that here, I get up the guts to go get her.  Nobody has said to me: Eleanor was just a cat. Because DUH, I know that. Nobody has said "get over it". That might be because nobody would say such a thing to my face or even online.

Everyone has been kind. Like really kind. My veterinarian's office sent me a handwritten card. My in-laws sent me flowers and a sweet note. My former student came by with hugs and flowers too. It's just too much to list how many nice things people have said- in text message, Facebook messages, phone calls, and notes.

Thank you. So, so much. When we figure out how and where we will be, G and I will adopt another rescue pet. The Nevada SPCA is where Eleanor came from. I think shelter animals are often the best kind.

Now, if you're still reading this, I'm hoping you can help me out. GR asked a question about a blog where I talk about hunting, and a friend of mine who hunts, and how I reconciled his philosophy with my own. I can't find the damn thing anywhere. I looked at every post between the first one and the time I met G. Zilch. If you run across it, can you alert me in the comments or email me? That would be awesome. Thanks!

My quarter at school is coming to a close. Two more weeks, then a week of relaxation. Ok, planning. Then I'm teaching 4 classes. Two is considered a full load for tenured faculty; three for non tenured.  It's going to be busy. I'm looking forward to it though. I was invited to teach an honors course in academic research; just up my alley. I'm not sure how I'm going to pull this off and retain my sanity. I love to be busy, like really busy.  But my days are already full and I'm not willing to give up sleep or gym time. Sometimes I feel like a juggler with too many balls in the air; every week, some ball will get dropped and I will have to remember to be kind to myself about the whole mess. I will make it through, probably laughing with all the new stuff I learn from students. They think I'm the teacher. Little do they know they are the reason I'm here.

Have a good weekend.

2015

Friends, enemies, people I love and people who tolerate me in their lives...2015 is here. And with that comes my annual review of what the heck I've been doing with my life.  I like to use the time between quarters to take stock and decide what works and what doesn't and what needs to go. I think about my health, spiritual life, relationships, career, and life goals. I also like to pay attention to what I do for fun and relaxation. I'm a real type A personality, so it's also helpful for me to think of what I need to just let go of and what I need to give myself a break on. With that in mind, here are a few things I've come up with.

1. I need to practice more emotional self control. Last year, I decided to stop cussing people out when they drove improperly.  I switched instead to reminding myself that not everyone can pay attention all the time and perhaps that text message or phone call is really important. Instead of cussing out loud, I would say "I hope you make better choices!". Of course, nobody can hear you when you're in another car but it was good for me. My next chore to tackle is to pay attention to my attitude when others behave poorly in public.  I know there is a line and that it's easy to cross and hard to know when to speak up.  For example, I felt comfortable speaking up at the Musee D'Orsay in Paris- the signs clearly show that there is no photography of the art, but two people were repeatedly taking photos. It made other people uncomfortable and frankly, it made me mad. I wish I could have taken pictures of some of the most beautiful paintings I have ever seen. So did the other 300 people around us. Apparently the rules didn't apply to these two people so I did plainly say "there is no photography in the museum" loud enough to catch a docent's attention.

However, it was perhaps not nice of me to intentionally step on the back of a man's shoes at the Eiffel Tower. He did shove me out of the way in line, but perhaps that's no reason to let me temper get the better of me. It did feel good though, because those were nice shoes.

Clearly, I have some work to do here. And I need to be more patient in waiting at restaurants.

2. Cutting out junk. I love junk food. Not typical junk food like pizza or candy or soda. Junk food as in I don't eat very many regular meals. I'm a snacker. I think it would be better to eat a meal than to eat the pieces of a meal. I will just eat a few pieces of cheese, then later a tomato. Then later a piece of bread. Shouldn't I just make a sandwich in the first place?

Having said that, I am also cutting out all soda pop. That's an easy one for me. They are really, really bad for you. Soda often has carbonic acid, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, aspartame in the diet stuff, and all sorts of shit you just don't need to put into your body. Coke is great for cleaning your toilet, just not your insides. Pretty easy; I don't remember the last time I had a soda (like 6 months ago?) and am much more likely to reach for a Monster energy drink- which I will also stop drinking. I think I had three or four last year.

Then there is sugar and additives. I don't eat much sugar on purpose and I like cooking my own food instead of buying prepared stuff. Processed food just isn't good for me and I don't really like chocolate. Here's the real challenge, and try not to laugh: I like to take my daily multivitamins in gummy form.  Yes, I'm a gummy-aholic. If you want me to take medicine, make it something I like and I'm more likely to take it. I take a multivitamin, vitamin D, and a pro-biotic. That's 6 gummies a day. I'm less likely to take a pill, so if you all have suggestions, I'd love to hear them.  Now, those vitamins are in addition to not in place of eating a diet filled with as many vitamins and minerals as I can get.

My other addiction is cheese. I can't get enough of that stuff.  G and I buy three or four packages at Costco every month.

So, more greens, less cheese. And I think I'm going to try adding in more meat into my diet this year. It's kind of yucky to cook and it doesn't taste really good, but I'm going to try for more lean meats. Here's my problem though: I hate chicken, especially chicken legs and stuff with tendons and ligaments and stuff. Barf. May I'll try chicken breast sometime. I'll keep you posted and let you know if that pans out. My favorite local Mexican food place serves a good carnitas platter, which I get from time to time.

In case you just read that last paragraph and thought "I thought she was a vegetarian?!" Yes, I am. I'm a vegetarian because meat tastes yucky and factory farming is an awful, inhumane practice. Actually, we're pescetarians, though I think we eat fish maybe once a month.  There are two stores here in Ellensburg who sell locally grown, humanely treated animal bits. I'd feel ok trying that. No weird growth hormones, no crazy antibiotics shoved into a cow. Whenever possible, we get eggs from my friend Joy, who has lots of happy chicken-pets.

So that means no fast food, which is not a problem. I haven't ordered at a drive-through in a long, long time. No sodas, no pre-packaged stuff from the grocery.  I don't think I'm going to commit to getting away from buying bread. Seriously, I have to have a life. I'm not baking my own damn bread. I think I can do this.

3. Letting it go. G and I don't often disagree but I do like to keep track of what I can do better to listen in tense situations.  One thing I hear is "you need to let things go more".  Now, I am as tenacious as a bulldog. When I get my teeth into something, academically speaking, I see it through to the end. In this way, that's a character asset. In my personal life, I don't let many people close to me so I don't like secrets and I tend to not stuff slide- I get a little too confrontational at times. I know this; I'm working on it. I did a good job a couple of years ago in learning to cut my significant other some slack in relationships. To be clear, I don't think I'm horrible or a control freak (too much). I just think I could do better than I currently am. In practicing, I also give myself a break sometimes and try not to hold my own feet to the fire so much.

4. Sleep. Funny you should mention sleep. I've got insomnia, which I've developed in the last two years. It's stress related, and coffee related and age related. Right now, I can get to sleep just fine, but wake up about 3-4 hours in. Then I'm awake for 3-4 hours, then I sleep again for a bit if I can. There are a few things I absolutely lose sleep over and I plan to knock both of them out in the next few months. With less stress, hopefully I'll be able to be more productive, more happy, and more able to give it a rest (literally).

5. Miles.  This one is fairly easy for me. I want to make sure I get in 35 miles a week for 2015. That's about 1,800 miles for the year. I think I came in at about 1,400 this year. Two miles per day are just walking to and from work, so the rest is about intentionality. One thing that will help is my other resolution: to get a 10 minute mile at least once every month. I'd like to also get at least a couple 9:30 miles, but that depends a lot on air quality and my poor, failing lungs.  I have seen a huge decline in my lungs since I taught at an inner-city middle school which was remodeling while we were in session. They had posted mold and asbestos and I had bronchitis for 10 straight months. It was "not happy". But I'll do the best I can.

6. Speaking of my physical health, I'm going to find it in me to go to a massage therapist from time to time. I always think of this as a major luxury rather than a necessity. I broke down (metaphorically, not literally though it was close) and went to a chiropractor here in town. After 5 or so visits he said I don't really need him anymore but that I'd benefit from massage. I'm doing yoga twice a week right now and that helps, but maybe a massage a few times this year would be nice.

7. Relationships. I always think I have this dialed in, but relationships take effort and work. I'm hoping to do a little better at visiting friends this year, so if you want me to come visit, please invite me. I'll practice saying yes more than no, even though I'm a total homebody introvert lazy bum. I've done a better job of enforcing boundaries with loved ones and at school, but it's hard for me to say "no" when something is easy to say yes to. So, more authentic connections, less overcommitting, and more awesome conversations with people I care about.

Ok, that's it. Seven is a lucky number. I do welcome input, of course.  What are your goals for this year? Do you even make resolutions? I find them helpful but try not to become too attached. Let me know.....

The author in her natural, confused state

Giving Thanks

I'm not sure that I even have pictures to accompany this blog post. But anyway, we had Thanksgiving, camera or no. I think I can scrounge something up.

And it was lovely! Neither G nor I love traveling by car when the mountain passes in Washington are frozen. Usually, as was the case this year, they were frozen. So we just make plans to eat at home and have a quiet, four day weekend together.

I found a great sale on fresh, unfrozen Dungeness crab (less than 100 miles from here). G made mashed potatoes and a scrumptious cream cheese brownie from scratch.  I made candied sweet potatoes.  We feasted and held hands and talked about how lucky our lives are and all of the good things in them. Among those blessings are that my mother in law is home from the hospital and recovering from a recent illness.  We couldn't be happier.

We went for a walk in the cold fresh air. It was bright and chilly and we saw several others out doing the same.  I steered us towards the outlook with a  clear view of the Kittitas Valley.  Very fun.

The next day, we walked around in our downtown area and visited a small bookshop that a friend of mine owns.  The local food bank, FISH, unexpectedly caught fire that morning and the talk of the town is how people who needed it would get food. I think that Ellensburg is a pretty good community.  Fiscally and socially conservative, but they realize the great necessity of charity. And charity begins at home in the community.

Immediately a new command center was set up and volunteers were rerouted. The building was insured and recently inspected, thank goodness.  And even though the Thanksgiving food had been distributed, the Christmas stuff they were readying were a total loss.  The whole building is a 100% loss.

I had to grade papers today but asked G if he wouldn't mind running to the store. He made a list of what the food bank said they needed most and got some of everything, dropping it off at a local church. When I asked what was going on, he said there were so many donations pouring in that he was almost unnoticed.

Bought this tea pot at a local business. I love it!

And that warms my heart. Not just that but the number of businesses that immediately put up donation boxes. That a community would recognize that everyone is important, that food and shelter and a hot meal are basic human rights, and that they would also act on that.  I'm glad to be part of this community, if for only that reason alone.

G made me breakfast on Saturday. 

It was so pretty outside I opened the door

We are coming up on the great escape to Europe- just a few weeks out now.  I'm excited but it brings up a problem for Christmas. I'm sort of hoping nobody gives us gifts this year because we won't be able to receive them until we get back (I'm purposely being vague on dates because, you know, internet). And we're getting everything sent out hopefully by the end of next week. Is it bad to ask that instead of sending me a gift, a kind and thoughtful person would make a donation to charity in my name and let me know?  Because if you know me at all, you know that's the sweetest thing you could do for me.

Ah well. Tomorrow is back to the grind, until the end of the quarter. We'll get everything wrapped up and ready to go. Then it's time for final preparations, packing, and before we know it...whoosh!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ten Days of Gratitude

I know an amazing group of women in Norman, Oklahoma.  Several years ago, they did the hard work of helping me grow into a responsible, less neurotic, and more balanced person  that I am today.  I don't think it can be overstated the impact their friendship has had on me. Hopefully, I contributed to their lives as well in a small way.

Since we moved to Washington, I've mostly kept up with them on Facebook. I see their families grow up. I see them becoming parents and grandparents and going out into the world and doing good things.  They make me happy and I love keeping in touch even from afar.  One of these friends created a group called 21 Days of Gratitude. This is my first real chance to participate- ten days in.  Ah well, better late to the party than never.  Here are the prompts and my responses.

Day 1: What do you have enough of?
I have enough love. I am a well loved person. I have friends, family, people I care about. Pets. Friends pets. Friends kids and their pets. And students.  Yes, there's lots of love. The more you give away, the more you have.  Works for compassion too. 

Day 2: Who do you know that you could never repay?
I could never repay Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for his impact on my life.  Nor Michel Foucault, or Paulo Freire for their guidance through theory and practice. They all changed my world, made it bigger, and made it ok for me to make mistakes and learn from them. 

Day 3: What do you take for granted?
My safety. I live in a relatively safe place.  I never felt secure until I bought my own house, and even then my hypervigilance took a long time to go away. I'm still a light sleeper. I worry for people who do not live a life where they can exit their homes alone at night or who live in fear of a loved one. I try to create a space in my classroom, not just of physical safety, but where students can be comfortable and free from ridicule and bullying. 

Day 4: What inconvenience are you grateful for?
We made a decision a few years ago when we moved to Washington that we would walk to work and home every day. It's inconvenient, especially when I'm running late. But I'm grateful because this imposes discipline in me, and gets me out in the fresh air twice every single day. And we save gas and don't add more pollutants to the atmosphere. 

Day 5: What is your most precious memory?
I have a lot of them. They're not just memories about things that have happened to me- like getting my black belt or graduating with my Ph.D.  I have precious memories that revolve around people I love. Nieces and nephews graduating from high school, a first day of college, holding my great niece for the first time and watching her little smile. Spending summers at my grandparents house when I was a kid. Fishing with my grandpa. There was this one time I went out on my sister's boat with her, her husband, and their son.  Beautiful water, crab pots out, swimming off of the boat.  It was really magical. And, of course, the day that G and I got engaged. We were at Lake Hefner in Oklahoma City. I'll tell you about it sometime...

Day 6: Which artist lights up your world?
Picasso. Not just his cubist paintings, though those are mind-blowing. 

Want to see one I really like? 

http://imgarcade.com/1/picasso-line-drawings-and-prints/

I've been thinking about this as a tattoo for about 6 years now.  My friend Kat has it on her shoulder and said it would be ok if I did the same. I might do it. If I ever get around to it. I may settle for a framed print. 


Day 7: How have you changed for the better?
This is going to sound sad, but it's happy. I'm much better at accepting love than I used to be. 

Day 8: What do you know that you never want to forget?
That being a freshman in college is hard and that I don't know about other people's lives. That it's best to leave my assumptions at the door and listen to what they need rather than overlay what I want. 

Day 9: What's the best compliment you have ever received or given?
I've gotten some really nice compliments. G paid me the compliment of respect.  Ok, he still is respectful. And being loving when I don't really feel lovable. And he uprooted his whole life to come here to Washington.  He loves it here, which is a relief. It's a powerful thing to have someone not just say they believe in you, but to bet heavily on you. 

And the other day, I overheard my students talking about me. They were talking about how old they thought I was.  One said that I reminded her of a cool aunt and that she'd like to hang out with me when I wasn't her teacher. 

Maybe the real compliment is in the high number of students who take multiple English classes from me.  I'm not an easy grader, but I'm glad they still think it's worth their time. It makes me feel valued as I derive a bit of my self esteem from teaching. 

Day 10: What's the best advice you have ever received?
My husband gave me this one- it's from his mom (My favorite mother in law!): 

"Don't borrow sorrow from tomorrow"

And since my favorite MIL is currently in hospital and I tend to worry about her incessantly, I'm trying to remember this one as a mantra for today. 

That's it, peeps! All the stuff I'm grateful for today.  That and personal space heaters at work. And that my quarter is wrapping up nicely and that we're heading across the world in less than 4 weeks. 
I'm also grateful for soup and two legs that work and chiropractors. 

Have a great weekend!

Catch up!

Catching Up!

Life is moving fast, so I'm going to hit a few highlights and add lots of pictures. Sound ok?

 As it cools down outside, my tea love spouts again. Actually, I started drinking hot tea to help get me in the fall mood, even though it was over 80 outside then.  I love this mug, and if I'm honest, all things owl. My husband doesn't, so I keep all my cool owl stuff at work.

 My little kitty is certainly aware of how cute she is.  This is how she gets people to cuddle when they're running late.

 I snapped this on campus. The science building is lovely, and even mores with bright trees turning color out front.

 Eleanor is running out of fall days where it's warm enough to go outside. Almost every day she demands a few minutes out in the autumn air. On the porch, away from bugs and dirt.

 Saturday mornings are our sleep in days. I love to get up before G, make a strong pot of coffee, and whip up some breakfast in bed.  This is my favorite. His favorite is- always- blueberry pancakes.

 Yup. Still knows she's cute.

 This is the building where I work, taken from the south side.

 This little creek runs all over town and is part of my daily commute.  By "commute" I mean that both G and I walk to work.

 Hello Fall! This is right outside of city hall and half a block from home.

 This concoction is butternut squash and apple soup. It was delicious. We finally got a crock pot!

 Closer picture of my building. There is no bottom floor on the bottom. All this is just the middle joiners of two buildings- one on either side of the camera's view. My office is on that top floor on the right.

 Maybe not a GREAT view, but the window opens wide.

 Ready for fall, it just hasn't happened yet!

 As the faculty affiliate for women's softball, I go to as many games as I can. We had one two weekends ago- just exhibition games. G is gracious and goes with me.

 This is Barge, the oldest and most beautiful building on campus.

 Snuggle time.

 Fall means the roses are fewer and farther between, and also more dramatic.

 Yellow roses always remind me of my sister, Patti.

 Part of my commute.  One of my bloggy friends reminded me of how lucky I am to live in an absolutely beautiful part of the world. I couldn't agree more.

Speaking of beautiful, look at that cup of coffee!  Just kidding. The other thing I am so, so grateful for is the opportunity to work in the same place as my husband. We get to have lunch together several times a week too. Doesn't he look like Sam the Eagle from the Muppets?

Well, that's my catch up. Hope you are enjoying fall as much as I am. Fall is almost my favorite time of year. I can't WAIT for the snow to start falling. I'm hoping for a really cold, really snowy year. Wish us luck!

Fall Hikes #1

Some days, you just gotta get the hikes in where you can.
I'm so bummed that my last two hikes have been without G.

But there's a good reason:

F R I D A Y

I'm teaching four classes. Four is an overload. Three of the four are classes I haven't taught before and they're literature classes. Two are online. So I'm busy.

But I'm only IN class 4 days a week.

Don't get me wrong; I work about 55 hours a week right now. But I can squeeze in a hike on Fridays if I really bust my butt.

Two weeks ago I hiked Ingalls Pass to Ingalls Lake.

This may not seem like much; it's not called "Scary, Really Steep Pass". It sounds like a Little House on the Prairie episode. Maybe Half Pint twists her ankle and Manly has to come save her on a horse or something.

It's actually a pretty challenging hike.

For which I was mostly unprepared.

My friend Lisa teaches in the English department at our university.  She's awesome and is older than I am. She's an experienced hiker. I put myself in her capable hands when she suggested a day hike on Friday. She's in the same teaching boat as I am, except for the fact that she's also the coordinator for one of the programs.

So I took a backpack with a knife, a kerchief, three protein bars because it might be more than two hours of a hike, and a big bottle of water. Also, I had no idea where we were going.

Lisa brought a lunch. And hiking sticks. And two bottles of water. All of which I wished I had brought!

We drove almost an hour up the Teanaway, past Camp Wahoo, and parked the car.  Then we went up.  Thank goodness Lisa lent me one of her walking sticks. We went up, up, up, up, up and up some more. We hiked above the tree line. We could almost reach out and touch Mt. Stuart. I had to stop to take my inhaler. To breathe, to just catch up to this not-quite-a-fireball lady who was kicking my butt up and down a mountain.

We did a lot of what's called "scrambling".  That's where there are so many rocks and not really a clear trail so you scramble towards a pile of rocks, a cairn, and hope that it's leading you the right way.

We saw some hikers, some campers, and were passed by two men from Seattle who had ducked out of work to hike the pass.

We came upon a mountain goat who was not particularly impressed with us.  He reminded me of an old video game I used to play by Blizzard, where random animals lived in parts of the grid and never really left that territory. They didn't interact with the players but if you bothered them, they would damage you even if you were wearing armor. He or she was a pretty tough looking goat. This is not to say that she/he didn't pose for some pictures for us. I'll share them below.

Our final scramble was sort of surreal. It was over the lip of a small pass and on the other side was Ingalls lake. The lake was fed entirely by melted snow and rain water. There were no streams and it looks like something out of the Sound of Music. We rested, ate our treats and left for the hike back. It was about 12 miles round trip. I was way over my time, and had to cancel plans with G to go out that night.

That's one understanding man. I was like "I owe you". He said "No you don't. We're married. It'll even out."

MM Hmm.  I never forget these things.
Here are a few photos:

This way, said the spider to the fly.

Are we going up this, or around?

Up.

Well this isn't so bad.

Pretty little mountain meadow

That's Mt. Adams in the distance.  To the right, not pictured, is Mt. Rainier

The trail. By trail I mean "trail"

That's Mt. Stuart in the distance. See all the sweat?

Pristine and glassy.

Should I be singing "The Sound of Music"?

Love the larch trees

There's no delicate way to say this: mountain goat butt.

My amazing, super fit, fun, great conversationalist hiking buddy

Yes, that's the equivalent of 327 flights of stairs. 

This is my favorite picture of the day

See? He posed for a photo op.

Looking down on the tree line

That's Mt. Stuart in the distance

So that was hike #1. Pretty dramatic, right? With an expert to guide us and sandwiches. Like 5 hours of hiking up and down and a change of 2,500 feet in elevation.

In the next blog, I'll illustrate the second one.