Thursday, August 31, 2006
What We Wear! Or Do We Care??
The Sunday Seattle Times had yet another article in the magazine section about.....guess what.....ourselves. But you know, I love to read about our local culture and I must not be the only one. The Pacific Northwest Magazine reported on Seattle Style in "Casual Chic" by Pamela Sitt.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw08272006/2003223662_pacificpnewduds27.html
I actually went shopping this week for clothes for me. I hate to shop which has caused some issues between my daughter and me. She was born in Seattle and true to her heritage, she is a "Nordy" and I gave her that nickname when she was only three. "Nordy" is our word for all of the little Seattle divas who grew up shopping at Nordstrom. She enjoys fashion and being stylish but also true to her heritage, she bargain shops and likes to be comfortable.
You cannot live here without jeans. Kaley has tons of jeans which all look similar to me but each pair is appropriate for particular occasions. I have two pairs of ragged jeans I wear gardening so now that I have time to spend on me, I went shopping for a nicer pair that I could wear to parties and out to dinner. It took me ten pairs to try on and three stores before I came up with just the right fit.
Evidently, my family is typical. For me, finding the perfect pair of jeans is like an East Coaster looking for the perfect little black dress. Kaley's style is very hip but it is simply a consequence of her artistic expression rather than an overt attempt to be cool. Lucas does not care at all and wears T-shirts that reflect his travels and passions. My husband buys clothes at Costco and all of his shirts and pants are exactly the same color. If he wore anything nice, like a suit or sports jacket at the University, people would probably think he was a little crazy.
Do we care about our clothes? I think we care about our bodies and whether we are healthy and if so, we look good no matter what we have on. I am very happy with how I look and feel in my new jeans. Definitely, we are not caught up in the East Coast or California angst to be on the cutting edge and wearing the latest trend. Being a part of all of that is simply too stressful, expensive, and ridiculously shallow. So we are how we are!
And now for some quotes from the article:
"We have our own feeling up here in the Pacific Northwest, and fashion is about feeling," says John Fluevog, the Vancouver-based shoe maven who opened his first U.S. store on Pine Street in 1986. "I would say there is a freedom to be able to do what you want. I sense that Seattleites, in general, are not dictated to. Some people would say it's non-fashion. I say, no, it's liberating."
Right. That's maybe the nicest way to say that we simply don't seem to care. In theory, our free-spirited, independent-thinking town should be teeming with personal style. Like the hipsters in the music scene, or the fashionistas who shop the boutiques downtown, or those girls on Broadway. But for most of us, fashion is too fussy to be a priority. We'd rather be comfortable. We'd rather be smart. We'd rather spend our money on something else. Like a cute little kayak, maybe.
.......
Still, Seattle continues to be a place where natives will wear a rain jacket, an ugly one, when it's raining. We're sensible like that. Seattle may be home to Nordstrom, but it's also the birthplace of Eddie Bauer, and with good reason. No self-respecting native would carry an umbrella, and rain gear can go anywhere without discrimination.
"It would never occur to me to walk into a shop in Italy dressing how I would dress here," says Susan Gaylard, an assistant professor of Italian studies at the University of Washington. "I had the experience of wandering into an expensive Seattle boutique wearing shorts and ancient Birkenstocks and being treated very well. It's astonishing. That's never happened to me anywhere else."
In a city ranked among the nation's most literate — where a library is a tourist destination — Seattle has a reputation to maintain: We're smart, so we don't have to be pretty.
"It's a place where people who are very liberal and very socially conscious go to feel they're around their own kind," says Sarah Caples, owner of Impeccable, a local image-consulting company. "It shows an assertion that we're not going to care about this sort of thing."
This is, after all, Microsoft country, where the smartest man of all favors khakis and navy-blue sweaters. And it's not because he can't afford a designer suit.
.........
"I thought Seattle was very cosmopolitan before I moved here. Since then, I've been slightly re-educated," he says. "Everyone dresses like they're going to climb Mount Rainier once they've finished lunch."
Lin, the owner of Betty Blue, had been to the REI in San Francisco, where she used to live. The experience did not prepare her for a recent visit to the REI sale in Seattle.
"It was a Sunday morning at 10 a.m., and the store is jam-packed. There was a wait to get into the parking lot," Lin recalls. "I was literally flabbergasted. I thought, 'Only in Seattle . . .' "
There's a simple explanation: Our love of the outdoors translates to our streetwear. What we wear to walk Green Lake is what we wear to dinner at the Green Lake Bar and Grill. That magazine-bred concept of "daytime" and "nighttime" wardrobes? Not so much.
"When I think of style, I think of form and function. In Seattle, it's all function with no form," says Caples, the personal stylist. "People wear outerwear clothes and yoga athletic wear as if it were appropriate to every situation, whereas people in other regions might only wear it for the particular task — camping clothes for camping, that sort of thing."
The article began with what is appropriate to wear to the opera and the answer is "Whatever...this is Seattle!" Jeans or designer dress and nobody will notice or care. Curiously, however, more folks here watch Heidi Klum's "Project Runway" on TV than anywhere else in the country. I laughed because my family watches "Project Runway", too. So what's up with that? Hubby says it is Heidi but I say Seattleites like to laugh at the complete outrageousness of cutting edge fashion.
Nope, give me my jeans, please!
The Sunday Seattle Times had yet another article in the magazine section about.....guess what.....ourselves. But you know, I love to read about our local culture and I must not be the only one. The Pacific Northwest Magazine reported on Seattle Style in "Casual Chic" by Pamela Sitt.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw08272006/2003223662_pacificpnewduds27.html
I actually went shopping this week for clothes for me. I hate to shop which has caused some issues between my daughter and me. She was born in Seattle and true to her heritage, she is a "Nordy" and I gave her that nickname when she was only three. "Nordy" is our word for all of the little Seattle divas who grew up shopping at Nordstrom. She enjoys fashion and being stylish but also true to her heritage, she bargain shops and likes to be comfortable.
You cannot live here without jeans. Kaley has tons of jeans which all look similar to me but each pair is appropriate for particular occasions. I have two pairs of ragged jeans I wear gardening so now that I have time to spend on me, I went shopping for a nicer pair that I could wear to parties and out to dinner. It took me ten pairs to try on and three stores before I came up with just the right fit.
Evidently, my family is typical. For me, finding the perfect pair of jeans is like an East Coaster looking for the perfect little black dress. Kaley's style is very hip but it is simply a consequence of her artistic expression rather than an overt attempt to be cool. Lucas does not care at all and wears T-shirts that reflect his travels and passions. My husband buys clothes at Costco and all of his shirts and pants are exactly the same color. If he wore anything nice, like a suit or sports jacket at the University, people would probably think he was a little crazy.
Do we care about our clothes? I think we care about our bodies and whether we are healthy and if so, we look good no matter what we have on. I am very happy with how I look and feel in my new jeans. Definitely, we are not caught up in the East Coast or California angst to be on the cutting edge and wearing the latest trend. Being a part of all of that is simply too stressful, expensive, and ridiculously shallow. So we are how we are!
And now for some quotes from the article:
"We have our own feeling up here in the Pacific Northwest, and fashion is about feeling," says John Fluevog, the Vancouver-based shoe maven who opened his first U.S. store on Pine Street in 1986. "I would say there is a freedom to be able to do what you want. I sense that Seattleites, in general, are not dictated to. Some people would say it's non-fashion. I say, no, it's liberating."
Right. That's maybe the nicest way to say that we simply don't seem to care. In theory, our free-spirited, independent-thinking town should be teeming with personal style. Like the hipsters in the music scene, or the fashionistas who shop the boutiques downtown, or those girls on Broadway. But for most of us, fashion is too fussy to be a priority. We'd rather be comfortable. We'd rather be smart. We'd rather spend our money on something else. Like a cute little kayak, maybe.
.......
Still, Seattle continues to be a place where natives will wear a rain jacket, an ugly one, when it's raining. We're sensible like that. Seattle may be home to Nordstrom, but it's also the birthplace of Eddie Bauer, and with good reason. No self-respecting native would carry an umbrella, and rain gear can go anywhere without discrimination.
"It would never occur to me to walk into a shop in Italy dressing how I would dress here," says Susan Gaylard, an assistant professor of Italian studies at the University of Washington. "I had the experience of wandering into an expensive Seattle boutique wearing shorts and ancient Birkenstocks and being treated very well. It's astonishing. That's never happened to me anywhere else."
In a city ranked among the nation's most literate — where a library is a tourist destination — Seattle has a reputation to maintain: We're smart, so we don't have to be pretty.
"It's a place where people who are very liberal and very socially conscious go to feel they're around their own kind," says Sarah Caples, owner of Impeccable, a local image-consulting company. "It shows an assertion that we're not going to care about this sort of thing."
This is, after all, Microsoft country, where the smartest man of all favors khakis and navy-blue sweaters. And it's not because he can't afford a designer suit.
.........
"I thought Seattle was very cosmopolitan before I moved here. Since then, I've been slightly re-educated," he says. "Everyone dresses like they're going to climb Mount Rainier once they've finished lunch."
Lin, the owner of Betty Blue, had been to the REI in San Francisco, where she used to live. The experience did not prepare her for a recent visit to the REI sale in Seattle.
"It was a Sunday morning at 10 a.m., and the store is jam-packed. There was a wait to get into the parking lot," Lin recalls. "I was literally flabbergasted. I thought, 'Only in Seattle . . .' "
There's a simple explanation: Our love of the outdoors translates to our streetwear. What we wear to walk Green Lake is what we wear to dinner at the Green Lake Bar and Grill. That magazine-bred concept of "daytime" and "nighttime" wardrobes? Not so much.
"When I think of style, I think of form and function. In Seattle, it's all function with no form," says Caples, the personal stylist. "People wear outerwear clothes and yoga athletic wear as if it were appropriate to every situation, whereas people in other regions might only wear it for the particular task — camping clothes for camping, that sort of thing."
The article began with what is appropriate to wear to the opera and the answer is "Whatever...this is Seattle!" Jeans or designer dress and nobody will notice or care. Curiously, however, more folks here watch Heidi Klum's "Project Runway" on TV than anywhere else in the country. I laughed because my family watches "Project Runway", too. So what's up with that? Hubby says it is Heidi but I say Seattleites like to laugh at the complete outrageousness of cutting edge fashion.
Nope, give me my jeans, please!
// posted by Janet @ 9:09 AM
0 comments
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
The Great Loop
We left last Wednesday to take our children to college. Kaley's belongings filled up our Honda Pilot with no room left for anything but Dave and me. Lucas's stuff filled up his 1987 Jeep Cherokee with room left only for him and Kaley. Kaley chose to ride with her brother rather than with one of her parents even though the Jeep is not air-conditioned and the handle to roll down the window is missing. It seems she wanted to arrive at her college in the vehicle with the bumper sticker, "Who Would Jesus Bomb?", driven by a cool and handsome 21 year old. Gosh, we have had that Jeep since Lucas was two years old and before Kaley was even born. It just keeps going and going. We brought Kaley home from the hospital in that Jeep when she was born and now the Jeep has delivered her to college.
The Jeep doesn't have much power when it comes to mountain passes---unlike our Honda. But we stayed together for the five hour drive from Mukilteo to Walla Walla and then the six hours from Walla Walla to Missoula on Friday. We left Kaley in Walla Walla. When we arrived in Missoula, we moved Lucas into his apartment and left Dave with the Jeep to attend a meeting at the University of Montana. Lucas and I then drove another 100 plus miles to Helena to see my Mom, my sister-in-law, my nephew, his wife and their two darling little children.
On Saturday, Lucas and I drove back to Missoula. Dave and I left him there with his Jeep and his new apartment and we drove five more hours to Post Falls, Idaho to see Dave's sister. After a short stop, we drove another 20 minutes into Spokane to have a celebratory empty nester dinner with Dave's brother and wife. Dave and I are the youngest so we are the last to become empty nesters in both families.
Finally, on Sunday, the final leg of our trip was Spokane to Seattle and another five hours of sitting. The only day without at least five or six hours of driving was Thursday in Walla Walla at the Parent Orientation. I do not even want to think about the amount of money we spent on gas.
I am always amazed at the incredible hundreds and hundreds of miles of emptiness and wilderness in our great northwest. After we drive over Snoqualmie Pass and out of the Seattle metropolitan area, we left the urban world behind. The drive from Walla Walla to Missoula was particularly wonderful and remote. Outside of Walla Walla were forest fires causing such thick smoke that we needed our headlights and we had to share the two lane road with water tanker trucks and fire fighters.
The two lane highway took us to Lewiston, Idaho and from there we followed the Selway River through the Selway-Bitteroot Wilderness Area. We had no traffic and no RV's to pass. We stopped to fill up our half empty gas tanks not far outside of Lewiston because virtually no human civilization exists over this stretch of wilderness until almost to Missoula. The rivers were crystal clear with only an occasional fly fisherman in hip boots. Lewis and Clark followed these rivers and I dare say it hasn't changed much in two hundred years.
Walla Walla is located near the Oregon border where it says Snake River
Kaley's dorm at Whitman College
Hall of Music where Kaley will spend most of her time.
Kaley is excited and phone calls so far have made me happy. The first dance caused a little drama between her and her room mate over a boy but that seems to have passed. The last time I talked to her she had been "jamming" with a boy on African drums, a boy on guitar, and Kaley on guitar doing vocals. They were out on the grass with their makeshift ensemble and evidently drew a little crowd. That is my daughter--always performing.
Lukie's apartment
University of Montana
Lucas is staying in University housing although it is a new three bedroom apartment. Upper classmen with good grades are allowed to stay in these facilities. Two of his friends are his room mates and none of them are able to cook. Lucas has gone to bed after only eating cereal or the brownies his Grandma sent with him. He is shoved out of the nest. He figured everything out in Europe. Certainly, he'll figure it out in Missoula.
We left last Wednesday to take our children to college. Kaley's belongings filled up our Honda Pilot with no room left for anything but Dave and me. Lucas's stuff filled up his 1987 Jeep Cherokee with room left only for him and Kaley. Kaley chose to ride with her brother rather than with one of her parents even though the Jeep is not air-conditioned and the handle to roll down the window is missing. It seems she wanted to arrive at her college in the vehicle with the bumper sticker, "Who Would Jesus Bomb?", driven by a cool and handsome 21 year old. Gosh, we have had that Jeep since Lucas was two years old and before Kaley was even born. It just keeps going and going. We brought Kaley home from the hospital in that Jeep when she was born and now the Jeep has delivered her to college.
The Jeep doesn't have much power when it comes to mountain passes---unlike our Honda. But we stayed together for the five hour drive from Mukilteo to Walla Walla and then the six hours from Walla Walla to Missoula on Friday. We left Kaley in Walla Walla. When we arrived in Missoula, we moved Lucas into his apartment and left Dave with the Jeep to attend a meeting at the University of Montana. Lucas and I then drove another 100 plus miles to Helena to see my Mom, my sister-in-law, my nephew, his wife and their two darling little children.
On Saturday, Lucas and I drove back to Missoula. Dave and I left him there with his Jeep and his new apartment and we drove five more hours to Post Falls, Idaho to see Dave's sister. After a short stop, we drove another 20 minutes into Spokane to have a celebratory empty nester dinner with Dave's brother and wife. Dave and I are the youngest so we are the last to become empty nesters in both families.
Finally, on Sunday, the final leg of our trip was Spokane to Seattle and another five hours of sitting. The only day without at least five or six hours of driving was Thursday in Walla Walla at the Parent Orientation. I do not even want to think about the amount of money we spent on gas.
I am always amazed at the incredible hundreds and hundreds of miles of emptiness and wilderness in our great northwest. After we drive over Snoqualmie Pass and out of the Seattle metropolitan area, we left the urban world behind. The drive from Walla Walla to Missoula was particularly wonderful and remote. Outside of Walla Walla were forest fires causing such thick smoke that we needed our headlights and we had to share the two lane road with water tanker trucks and fire fighters.
The two lane highway took us to Lewiston, Idaho and from there we followed the Selway River through the Selway-Bitteroot Wilderness Area. We had no traffic and no RV's to pass. We stopped to fill up our half empty gas tanks not far outside of Lewiston because virtually no human civilization exists over this stretch of wilderness until almost to Missoula. The rivers were crystal clear with only an occasional fly fisherman in hip boots. Lewis and Clark followed these rivers and I dare say it hasn't changed much in two hundred years.
Walla Walla is located near the Oregon border where it says Snake River
Kaley's dorm at Whitman College
Hall of Music where Kaley will spend most of her time.
Kaley is excited and phone calls so far have made me happy. The first dance caused a little drama between her and her room mate over a boy but that seems to have passed. The last time I talked to her she had been "jamming" with a boy on African drums, a boy on guitar, and Kaley on guitar doing vocals. They were out on the grass with their makeshift ensemble and evidently drew a little crowd. That is my daughter--always performing.
Lukie's apartment
University of Montana
Lucas is staying in University housing although it is a new three bedroom apartment. Upper classmen with good grades are allowed to stay in these facilities. Two of his friends are his room mates and none of them are able to cook. Lucas has gone to bed after only eating cereal or the brownies his Grandma sent with him. He is shoved out of the nest. He figured everything out in Europe. Certainly, he'll figure it out in Missoula.
// posted by Janet @ 8:03 AM
0 comments
Monday, August 21, 2006
Our Very Own Phallic Symbol
At least that is what I called it when I took this picture a few minutes ago. You can clearly see the "What now, Mom (or Janet)??!!" look on their faces. It looks phallic to me!
Yep, we bought a ....oh yes,....a rock today. It is strange to go to this place in Everett that pretty much only sells rocks. And they get a lot of their rocks from Montana. I cannot believe seeing shelves of sample rocks for sale including Montana river rocks and shale--the kind my Dad would splash in the water to get me wet on purpose. Outside on the property are bins and bins of every type of rock you can imagine to use as a part of your yard landscaping. None of this is for inside. You can build walls or paths or have gigantic monoliths just for decoration.
The latest rage is having a water feature. Lucas keeps asking me why I call it a water feature instead of a fountain. "Fountain" is too narrow of a definition because it conjures up frilly fancy things like you'd see in Rome. Besides, all of the landscaping business trucks in the neighborhood advertise "water features".
When I was a kid, my Dad built a fish pond with a water fall in the front of our house in Helena. We had goldfish, trout, turtles and water lilies. It was about three feet deep and I thought it was beautiful. So I have always wanted a water feature. Around here, we have too many raccoons, otters, and blue herons (which I call Pteridactyls and three of them flew right over our backyard last night) to have a pond. These creatures steal the fish as fast as you stock your pond.
Most of our neighbors have a water feature so we decided to get with it. Rather than hire someone to do it, we figured out what we wanted and where to put it. Hubby loves projects and he is bored with our landslide. He wanted to take advantage of Lukie's muscle power before he left for college so we picked out our rock today. Dave and Lucas are building it!
The "rock" is basalt and it has a hole drilled up the center for tubing. A pump will gush the water through it into a small pond of more rocks. The idea is for it to get mossy and looking like something you might see in the woods. From our kitchen and bedroom, we will hear the sound of a waterfall. All around it we will plant small flowering bushes.
Well, what do you think the Washington Monument is?
Update
Just one hour later, here it is. Wow! That wasn't hard at all.
At least that is what I called it when I took this picture a few minutes ago. You can clearly see the "What now, Mom (or Janet)??!!" look on their faces. It looks phallic to me!
Yep, we bought a ....oh yes,....a rock today. It is strange to go to this place in Everett that pretty much only sells rocks. And they get a lot of their rocks from Montana. I cannot believe seeing shelves of sample rocks for sale including Montana river rocks and shale--the kind my Dad would splash in the water to get me wet on purpose. Outside on the property are bins and bins of every type of rock you can imagine to use as a part of your yard landscaping. None of this is for inside. You can build walls or paths or have gigantic monoliths just for decoration.
The latest rage is having a water feature. Lucas keeps asking me why I call it a water feature instead of a fountain. "Fountain" is too narrow of a definition because it conjures up frilly fancy things like you'd see in Rome. Besides, all of the landscaping business trucks in the neighborhood advertise "water features".
When I was a kid, my Dad built a fish pond with a water fall in the front of our house in Helena. We had goldfish, trout, turtles and water lilies. It was about three feet deep and I thought it was beautiful. So I have always wanted a water feature. Around here, we have too many raccoons, otters, and blue herons (which I call Pteridactyls and three of them flew right over our backyard last night) to have a pond. These creatures steal the fish as fast as you stock your pond.
Most of our neighbors have a water feature so we decided to get with it. Rather than hire someone to do it, we figured out what we wanted and where to put it. Hubby loves projects and he is bored with our landslide. He wanted to take advantage of Lukie's muscle power before he left for college so we picked out our rock today. Dave and Lucas are building it!
The "rock" is basalt and it has a hole drilled up the center for tubing. A pump will gush the water through it into a small pond of more rocks. The idea is for it to get mossy and looking like something you might see in the woods. From our kitchen and bedroom, we will hear the sound of a waterfall. All around it we will plant small flowering bushes.
Well, what do you think the Washington Monument is?
Update
Just one hour later, here it is. Wow! That wasn't hard at all.
// posted by Janet @ 7:53 PM
0 comments
I Feel Weird
My days of being a full-time Mom are numbered. I had a little taste of it this past weekend and I didn't like it much. First of all, my son went backpacking across the entire Olympic Mountain range--about fifty miles. They did it in four days and thankfully were not bothered by bears. Of course, they know about hanging packs and all of that. But, I kind of worried the entire time because there is no cell phone availability. I was so relieved to get the phone call from him saying they were on their way back and were on the Edmonds ferry. He called from the ferry and we looked out our window and waved. Naturally, we couldn't see anything but the lit up ferry in the distance in the dark....but still.
Secondly, on Friday, my daughter drove on the ferry to Whidbey for the first time by herself on Friday night. Thankfully, we had a rockin' wine tasting party at our house and it kept my mind off of Kaley. There is an instinct to ferry procedure that only the locals understand. But she knew what to do. Lucas reported about the guy who cut in the Edmonds ferry line. A person approached the car and knocked on the window and told him to please go to the back of the line--you just don't cut in a ferry line. After the car pulled out and turned around without incident, everyone in line opened their windows and gave a thumbs up to the brave soul.
On Saturday, my daughter drove to Snohomish for the first time. The drive requires a little freeway and open highway. But she managed. Evidently, there is a coffee house there where bands and musicians play unplugged---raw, new Seattle music. A 19 year old piano player and singer has caught her attention. I guess he is good; she would know. I couldn't breathe until she pulled in the driveway, walked in the house and announced she didn't die. My kids know me and they know how I worry.
But, the day after tomorrow, both of my children leave for college. My work is done. My worry will never stop. The weekend proved it to me.
And now for some photos of what it looks like around here:
Olympic Mountains from our house (file photo)
Photo by Lucas--Olympics when you are in them!
Lucas hiking off the past year's worth of French pastries.
Now I begin a new phase of my life.
My days of being a full-time Mom are numbered. I had a little taste of it this past weekend and I didn't like it much. First of all, my son went backpacking across the entire Olympic Mountain range--about fifty miles. They did it in four days and thankfully were not bothered by bears. Of course, they know about hanging packs and all of that. But, I kind of worried the entire time because there is no cell phone availability. I was so relieved to get the phone call from him saying they were on their way back and were on the Edmonds ferry. He called from the ferry and we looked out our window and waved. Naturally, we couldn't see anything but the lit up ferry in the distance in the dark....but still.
Secondly, on Friday, my daughter drove on the ferry to Whidbey for the first time by herself on Friday night. Thankfully, we had a rockin' wine tasting party at our house and it kept my mind off of Kaley. There is an instinct to ferry procedure that only the locals understand. But she knew what to do. Lucas reported about the guy who cut in the Edmonds ferry line. A person approached the car and knocked on the window and told him to please go to the back of the line--you just don't cut in a ferry line. After the car pulled out and turned around without incident, everyone in line opened their windows and gave a thumbs up to the brave soul.
On Saturday, my daughter drove to Snohomish for the first time. The drive requires a little freeway and open highway. But she managed. Evidently, there is a coffee house there where bands and musicians play unplugged---raw, new Seattle music. A 19 year old piano player and singer has caught her attention. I guess he is good; she would know. I couldn't breathe until she pulled in the driveway, walked in the house and announced she didn't die. My kids know me and they know how I worry.
But, the day after tomorrow, both of my children leave for college. My work is done. My worry will never stop. The weekend proved it to me.
And now for some photos of what it looks like around here:
Olympic Mountains from our house (file photo)
Photo by Lucas--Olympics when you are in them!
Lucas hiking off the past year's worth of French pastries.
Now I begin a new phase of my life.
// posted by Janet @ 10:44 AM
0 comments
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Bobby Update
Bobby is called Rob now but to me he will always be Bobby. I told him that after he returned from Iraq the first time. It seems that his story struck a little nerve. To the huge group of us of a certain age, Bobby represents all of our children, I guess.
I want to thank Chuck Sigars, a friend of mine and an honest to goodness published author, for posting Bobby's plight on his blog. He went further and devoted his column in this week's Mukilteo Beacon to the story.
Chuck's Blog--The World According to Chuck
http://blogs.salon.com/0002813/2006/08/12.html
And his column in the Mukilteo Beacon
http://www.mukilteobeacon.com/columnistschucksigars.html
With some quotes:
".......I also read the news coverage and the interviews, and something smells bad. It smells like scapegoats. It smells like roulette-wheel justice, arbitrary justice. Public relations justice. But, again, I don’t know.
I just know there was once a little boy. Lots of them, and little girls, too, and I wonder what we have done.......
.....I just keep thinking about the little boy. The one who loved video games and dogs. The one who grew up on us while we weren’t watching. The one who holds his niece with a smile on his face, in the picture taken before he went for his third tour. The one who saw the twin towers come down and wanted to do something about it – to sacrifice for his country, to make a difference.
The one I just want to come home."
People I do not know also picked up the story. Both liberal and conservative blogs wrote about Mukilteo's young 22 year old Marine. I do not see this as a partisan issue. It is a human issue and an American issue. So thank you to the following blogs who sent Bobby a little further into cyberspace:
The Democratic Daily
http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=3872
The Katrinacat Blog
http://thekatrinacrat.blogspot.com/2006/08/defending-bobby-marine-in-trouble.html
The Tanker Brothers (August 15th post)
http://mikegulf.blogspot.com/
Bobby, Lucas, opening birthday presents with "Jed" right in the middle.
Update
Bobby's Mom and Dad, who read my post, sent me the following photo of Bobby, Lucas, and Kayla (Bobby's sister) in their fort in the woods which was actually right across the street from our houses. They didn't know it but we could see and hear pretty much their every move, though they pretended they were deep in the wilderness!
Bobby is called Rob now but to me he will always be Bobby. I told him that after he returned from Iraq the first time. It seems that his story struck a little nerve. To the huge group of us of a certain age, Bobby represents all of our children, I guess.
I want to thank Chuck Sigars, a friend of mine and an honest to goodness published author, for posting Bobby's plight on his blog. He went further and devoted his column in this week's Mukilteo Beacon to the story.
Chuck's Blog--The World According to Chuck
http://blogs.salon.com/0002813/2006/08/12.html
And his column in the Mukilteo Beacon
http://www.mukilteobeacon.com/columnistschucksigars.html
With some quotes:
".......I also read the news coverage and the interviews, and something smells bad. It smells like scapegoats. It smells like roulette-wheel justice, arbitrary justice. Public relations justice. But, again, I don’t know.
I just know there was once a little boy. Lots of them, and little girls, too, and I wonder what we have done.......
.....I just keep thinking about the little boy. The one who loved video games and dogs. The one who grew up on us while we weren’t watching. The one who holds his niece with a smile on his face, in the picture taken before he went for his third tour. The one who saw the twin towers come down and wanted to do something about it – to sacrifice for his country, to make a difference.
The one I just want to come home."
People I do not know also picked up the story. Both liberal and conservative blogs wrote about Mukilteo's young 22 year old Marine. I do not see this as a partisan issue. It is a human issue and an American issue. So thank you to the following blogs who sent Bobby a little further into cyberspace:
The Democratic Daily
http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=3872
The Katrinacat Blog
http://thekatrinacrat.blogspot.com/2006/08/defending-bobby-marine-in-trouble.html
The Tanker Brothers (August 15th post)
http://mikegulf.blogspot.com/
Bobby, Lucas, opening birthday presents with "Jed" right in the middle.
Update
Bobby's Mom and Dad, who read my post, sent me the following photo of Bobby, Lucas, and Kayla (Bobby's sister) in their fort in the woods which was actually right across the street from our houses. They didn't know it but we could see and hear pretty much their every move, though they pretended they were deep in the wilderness!
// posted by Janet @ 8:03 AM
0 comments
Monday, August 14, 2006
Lost Innocence
My post below about Bobby sent me to the closet to look for photograph albums. Remember those? Anyway, the following photos seem like a couple of months ago to me. But, actually, they are half of my kids' lives ago.
Lucas 11, Seth ? 11, Bobby 12, Kaley 8, Halloween 1996
Best Birthday Party Ever! 1995 (Lucas in light blue in middle of the back; Bobby in first row, bottom far left in red plaid)
Lucas and his friends still talk about the famous "pie throwing" party. Lucas was turning 10 and Bobby was almost 11. All we did was buy some paper plates and cans of whipped cream at Costco and turned them loose in our backyard. I must admit, it took a while to get the "cheese" smell out of the back yard and Lucas's hair.
My post below about Bobby sent me to the closet to look for photograph albums. Remember those? Anyway, the following photos seem like a couple of months ago to me. But, actually, they are half of my kids' lives ago.
Lucas 11, Seth ? 11, Bobby 12, Kaley 8, Halloween 1996
Best Birthday Party Ever! 1995 (Lucas in light blue in middle of the back; Bobby in first row, bottom far left in red plaid)
Lucas and his friends still talk about the famous "pie throwing" party. Lucas was turning 10 and Bobby was almost 11. All we did was buy some paper plates and cans of whipped cream at Costco and turned them loose in our backyard. I must admit, it took a while to get the "cheese" smell out of the back yard and Lucas's hair.
// posted by Janet @ 2:22 PM
0 comments
Friday, August 11, 2006
The Iraq War is Tearing Lives Apart
I have written on this blog before about my son's childhood buddy, Bobby. Lucas and Bobby were playmates from the age of five. Bobby lived in the house next door to ours until 3 years ago when we moved. Bobby's parents have now moved away, too, but we keep in touch by e-mail. Bobby is a year older than Lucas. They spent winter holidays playing video games in their house or ours. They spent summers together playing Super Soaker, building forts in the woods, and doing the Slip n' Slide in our very slopey back yard. They went to each others' birthday parties--Lucas in June and Bobby near the 4th of July.
Bobby and Lucas were on the same Little League teams together and both of them spent a lot of time on the bench because they were not the greatest players--but they had fun. One of our Golden Retrievers stole Bobby's brand new Nike shoe while he and Lucas played video games. Jebbie ran outside with it and buried it under our Japanese maple tree. It took us all afternoon to find it and Bobby was very forgiving because Bobby loved our dogs. He never had a dog of his own so he adopted ours. When we brought Apolo home on Mother's Day in 2002, Bobby was in our back yard within minutes to cuddle our new puppy.
Bobby joined the Marines while a senior in high school after September 11. He wanted to serve his country and defend it from the threat of terrorism. Bobby is extremely bright--one of the smartest of all of Lucas's friends, but he was willing to delay college to serve his country.
After Bobby's first deployment to Iraq, he came back a hero. He was in great shape--all buff and handsome. No longer was he the smallish kid on the baseball team. I had never seen his prominent dimples so happy. He had not seen or done anything terrible that first time. He had proven to all of the kids in high school who made fun of him, that he was cool; he was a war veteran after all. If only.....if only when Bush landed on the U.S.S. Lincoln and declared the war to be over, he was being truthful. If only the war could have ended then! This was three years ago.
But, as I feared, Pandora's Box was opened and the war in Iraq continues to destroy lives in unimaginable ways. And we have only created more terrorists willing to destroy themselves to destroy us. Leveling cities like Fallujah in Iraq has done little to slow down the growing terrorism threat being hatched in dens on computers in suburbs of cities all over the world. It is beyond ridiculous to think that all of these young people born in London or Paris and willing to be martyrs are heading to Iraq to fight us. No, they are going to Pakistan for training and then back to London to carry out their horrors against us.
Bobby was injured in Fallujah his second time in Iraq. He fell off of a bombed-out building from the second story. He saw his best friend in the Marines get blown up right next to him. He was in some vicious combat but he survived and came home in one piece. His Mom had to start taking medications to handle all of the worry but her relief was huge when he got home.
Bush had other plans and sent Bobby to Iraq for time number three. Although we did not see eye to eye with Bobby's parents on politics in the past, we agree now on more than we don't. We all agree that Bush is responsible for the complete failure of the Iraq war to accomplish anything but death, ruined lives, and more terrorists.
Bobby is now at extreme risk for having his life ruined. This intelligent gentle soul who should be helping out our government to solve the terrorism problem with his computer skills is instead charged with murder. He was pulled out of Iraq after the death of an Iraqi civilian and thrown in confinement at Camp Pendleton along with seven others. Shackled and given no medical care, his parents now worry about post traumatic stress syndrome. They worry about Bobby's future if he is found guilty of murder. "Death penalty" has been thrown around freely.
We knew about Bobby's situation before charges were filed. His parents have the support of their friends--like us. We learned about the actual charges on CNN International in Venice, Italy. I started to weep in our hotel room---my darling little Bobby who as of three years ago had grown into a self-assured young man with a fabulous future. I do not know what happened in Iraq but I do know that our troops are stressed beyond imagination and are operating in an altered sense of reality.
Bobby says he is innocent. He is presumed innocent until proven otherwise. I know him; I believe him; his parents believe him; Lucas believes him; and his lawyer believes him. Something is wrong here. I fear that in an attempt to prove to the world that we are the good guys and civilized in the way we go to war, we are sacrificing some of our best and brightest. It is tragic. The unprovoked murder of Iraqi civilians is tragic but so is charging Bobby with murder and conspiracy.
Bobby's story has been in all three of my newspapers and on TV--locally and nationally. From what I have heard, Bobby is not accused of pulling any triggers. The story recently was included in our own Mukilteo Beacon:
http://www.mukilteobeacon.com/8906warcrime.html
This much is known, said Terry Pendleton sic [Bobby's father, Terry Pennington]: “Some Iraqi civilian ended up dead. Several days later, his family alleged he was murdered. I don’t think they named names.”
Yet, according to the Associated Press, investigators from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service claim that, without provocation, the accused troops nabbed the victim, Hashim Ibrahim Awad, tied him up, put him in a hole and shot him.
The troops then allegedly placed an AK-47 in Awad’s hands and put a shovel in the hole to make it appear he had been planting explosives....
...Anyone who can is encouraged to help.
“Obviously, the commander-in-chief or secretary of defense doesn’t take my calls,” Terry Pennington said.
“If there’s anybody who’s politically connected, we need their help. Find us somebody in a position of power.”
We feel so helpless. Our church is praying for Bobby as we have been since he first was sent to Iraq. Obviously, we are giving Bobby and his family our total support and belief in Bobby's innocence. The least I can do is broadcast his plight a little further via this blog. Bobby's family has a webiste now devoted to the cause. It is not right for this life to be torn apart. It's not right.
http://defendrob.com/
Bobby and his niece before his third trip to Iraq.
I have written on this blog before about my son's childhood buddy, Bobby. Lucas and Bobby were playmates from the age of five. Bobby lived in the house next door to ours until 3 years ago when we moved. Bobby's parents have now moved away, too, but we keep in touch by e-mail. Bobby is a year older than Lucas. They spent winter holidays playing video games in their house or ours. They spent summers together playing Super Soaker, building forts in the woods, and doing the Slip n' Slide in our very slopey back yard. They went to each others' birthday parties--Lucas in June and Bobby near the 4th of July.
Bobby and Lucas were on the same Little League teams together and both of them spent a lot of time on the bench because they were not the greatest players--but they had fun. One of our Golden Retrievers stole Bobby's brand new Nike shoe while he and Lucas played video games. Jebbie ran outside with it and buried it under our Japanese maple tree. It took us all afternoon to find it and Bobby was very forgiving because Bobby loved our dogs. He never had a dog of his own so he adopted ours. When we brought Apolo home on Mother's Day in 2002, Bobby was in our back yard within minutes to cuddle our new puppy.
Bobby joined the Marines while a senior in high school after September 11. He wanted to serve his country and defend it from the threat of terrorism. Bobby is extremely bright--one of the smartest of all of Lucas's friends, but he was willing to delay college to serve his country.
After Bobby's first deployment to Iraq, he came back a hero. He was in great shape--all buff and handsome. No longer was he the smallish kid on the baseball team. I had never seen his prominent dimples so happy. He had not seen or done anything terrible that first time. He had proven to all of the kids in high school who made fun of him, that he was cool; he was a war veteran after all. If only.....if only when Bush landed on the U.S.S. Lincoln and declared the war to be over, he was being truthful. If only the war could have ended then! This was three years ago.
But, as I feared, Pandora's Box was opened and the war in Iraq continues to destroy lives in unimaginable ways. And we have only created more terrorists willing to destroy themselves to destroy us. Leveling cities like Fallujah in Iraq has done little to slow down the growing terrorism threat being hatched in dens on computers in suburbs of cities all over the world. It is beyond ridiculous to think that all of these young people born in London or Paris and willing to be martyrs are heading to Iraq to fight us. No, they are going to Pakistan for training and then back to London to carry out their horrors against us.
Bobby was injured in Fallujah his second time in Iraq. He fell off of a bombed-out building from the second story. He saw his best friend in the Marines get blown up right next to him. He was in some vicious combat but he survived and came home in one piece. His Mom had to start taking medications to handle all of the worry but her relief was huge when he got home.
Bush had other plans and sent Bobby to Iraq for time number three. Although we did not see eye to eye with Bobby's parents on politics in the past, we agree now on more than we don't. We all agree that Bush is responsible for the complete failure of the Iraq war to accomplish anything but death, ruined lives, and more terrorists.
Bobby is now at extreme risk for having his life ruined. This intelligent gentle soul who should be helping out our government to solve the terrorism problem with his computer skills is instead charged with murder. He was pulled out of Iraq after the death of an Iraqi civilian and thrown in confinement at Camp Pendleton along with seven others. Shackled and given no medical care, his parents now worry about post traumatic stress syndrome. They worry about Bobby's future if he is found guilty of murder. "Death penalty" has been thrown around freely.
We knew about Bobby's situation before charges were filed. His parents have the support of their friends--like us. We learned about the actual charges on CNN International in Venice, Italy. I started to weep in our hotel room---my darling little Bobby who as of three years ago had grown into a self-assured young man with a fabulous future. I do not know what happened in Iraq but I do know that our troops are stressed beyond imagination and are operating in an altered sense of reality.
Bobby says he is innocent. He is presumed innocent until proven otherwise. I know him; I believe him; his parents believe him; Lucas believes him; and his lawyer believes him. Something is wrong here. I fear that in an attempt to prove to the world that we are the good guys and civilized in the way we go to war, we are sacrificing some of our best and brightest. It is tragic. The unprovoked murder of Iraqi civilians is tragic but so is charging Bobby with murder and conspiracy.
Bobby's story has been in all three of my newspapers and on TV--locally and nationally. From what I have heard, Bobby is not accused of pulling any triggers. The story recently was included in our own Mukilteo Beacon:
http://www.mukilteobeacon.com/8906warcrime.html
This much is known, said Terry Pendleton sic [Bobby's father, Terry Pennington]: “Some Iraqi civilian ended up dead. Several days later, his family alleged he was murdered. I don’t think they named names.”
Yet, according to the Associated Press, investigators from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service claim that, without provocation, the accused troops nabbed the victim, Hashim Ibrahim Awad, tied him up, put him in a hole and shot him.
The troops then allegedly placed an AK-47 in Awad’s hands and put a shovel in the hole to make it appear he had been planting explosives....
...Anyone who can is encouraged to help.
“Obviously, the commander-in-chief or secretary of defense doesn’t take my calls,” Terry Pennington said.
“If there’s anybody who’s politically connected, we need their help. Find us somebody in a position of power.”
We feel so helpless. Our church is praying for Bobby as we have been since he first was sent to Iraq. Obviously, we are giving Bobby and his family our total support and belief in Bobby's innocence. The least I can do is broadcast his plight a little further via this blog. Bobby's family has a webiste now devoted to the cause. It is not right for this life to be torn apart. It's not right.
http://defendrob.com/
Bobby and his niece before his third trip to Iraq.
// posted by Janet @ 8:36 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
I Asked My Husband for a Divorce
Well, in this state it is called dissolution but yes I did. Shock of the world to those of you who know me and read this blog. Last weekend, on Saturday, we were invited to a wedding on Whidbey Island.
Dave took our old fishing boat out in the Sound on Saturday to fish for Coho and he left me with the assignment of picking up a wedding present. The invitation came by e-mail. I had no idea who these people were. The information I had was that they were about our age and this was not the first marriage for either of them. Both the bride and groom work at the UW and in fact the groom is a chair of a department---so, you know--right up there. Also, the groom orginally came from Scotland and Dave rides the bus with the both of them to work everyday.
If my dear friend Patti O. were still alive and living here, this would have been one of those numerous occasions where our husbands give us very little to go on. This situtaion had happened a number of times over the years with different parties and events connected with the University. Patti and I would call each other. "Do you know anything about these people? What should we wear? Should we go together on a gift? How about we take one car on the ferry?" Dave said Curt and Patti would have been invited to this wedding. So I was really feeling on Saturday that big hole in my life that Patti O. filled.
Kaley and I went shopping while Dave fished. He caught up with us by cell phone while we were at Pottery Barn. Evidently, he had caught three salmon and we joked that perhaps bringing a fish and a bottle of wine would be appropriate. But I wanted to bring a real gift so I bought these cool snack plates that I have wanted myself for a couple of years.
The wedding was one of the most beautiful and ridiculously fun events I have ever attended. I only knew two people there---my husband and one of his colleagues who is in our wine group. But it did not matter. My husband knew absolutely everyone except for the immediate family members. He knew scientists who flew here from California and from back East. Weirdly, people seemed delighted to meet me and knew that for example, my purse had been stolen.
One of the scientists who had flown in from D.C. (though he works at the U--he is only in D.C. temporarily) loves to fish, too. His brother is a fisherman by trade and they had been up in Alaska in June for the Chinook run. He supplied this gorgeous King salmon for the wedding and Dave helped him cook it. People gobbled it up as fast as they could barbeque. Yes, it would not have hurt if we had brought a couple of Coho.
The wedding was on the property the bridal couple had recently purchased. It was unbelievable. The house was normal northwest style and kind of old with a lot of issues like a leaky roof that Dave had heard about on the bus but who cares? They have a big rare flat yard with a view of the Olympics and the Sound; they have their very own forest with huge doug firs and cedars. The weather was perfect for a wedding--sunny but not too hot and not even a breeze. Nobody went in the house except to use the bathroom. For some reason this year we are not plagued by mosquitoes or yellow jackets so there was not even a bug.
The bride and groom were so incredibly handsome. As I said, he is orginally from Scotland so he was dressed in a kilt. His two teen age sons, the groomsmen, were dressed in kilts and so was the darling ring boy. The bride wore a fabulous ivory dress with sequins and it was warm enough the entire evening that she did not need a shawl to cover her bare shoulders. Her attendants were her daughters and they wore black gowns with silver sequins.
Not that I am a big fan of bagpipe music but....WOW! One bagpipe being played overlooking Puget Sound while two people promise to love and cherish one another for as long as they both shall live...WOW! And that is when it happened. I whispered into my husband's ear at that moment, "I want a divorce. We should get divorced so we can get married again. It is not fair. I want to have a party like this. This is so seriously cool!" Actually, he agreed but then he said that in two years it will be our 35th anniversary so maybe we could celebrate with a special party.
We danced, we ate salmon. We laughed. We ate cake. Dave and his friends told stories about fun times at scientific meetings. Somebody passed around a bottle of Scottish whiskey called "Sheep Dip" which was completely hysterical to a bunch of medicinal chemists and toxicologists. I did not see one person who could handle more than a tiny sip--except for maybe the groom. The groom danced with me. (Men are so hot in kilts!) Dave danced with the bride. Dave and I danced with each other and we were so glad our kids did not see us. They would have thrown up.
And all of us watched the sun set over the Olympic Mountains. I felt sad and happy at the same time. Happy for the new married couple. Sad that Patti missed it. Happy to enter part of my husband's world. It is strange to not know all of his friends.
But we really aren't getting a divorce. The next day, we ate freshly caught Coho for dinner and bought an umbrella for our deck. We watched the sun set over Whidbey Island.
And this was fun, too!
Well, in this state it is called dissolution but yes I did. Shock of the world to those of you who know me and read this blog. Last weekend, on Saturday, we were invited to a wedding on Whidbey Island.
Dave took our old fishing boat out in the Sound on Saturday to fish for Coho and he left me with the assignment of picking up a wedding present. The invitation came by e-mail. I had no idea who these people were. The information I had was that they were about our age and this was not the first marriage for either of them. Both the bride and groom work at the UW and in fact the groom is a chair of a department---so, you know--right up there. Also, the groom orginally came from Scotland and Dave rides the bus with the both of them to work everyday.
If my dear friend Patti O. were still alive and living here, this would have been one of those numerous occasions where our husbands give us very little to go on. This situtaion had happened a number of times over the years with different parties and events connected with the University. Patti and I would call each other. "Do you know anything about these people? What should we wear? Should we go together on a gift? How about we take one car on the ferry?" Dave said Curt and Patti would have been invited to this wedding. So I was really feeling on Saturday that big hole in my life that Patti O. filled.
Kaley and I went shopping while Dave fished. He caught up with us by cell phone while we were at Pottery Barn. Evidently, he had caught three salmon and we joked that perhaps bringing a fish and a bottle of wine would be appropriate. But I wanted to bring a real gift so I bought these cool snack plates that I have wanted myself for a couple of years.
The wedding was one of the most beautiful and ridiculously fun events I have ever attended. I only knew two people there---my husband and one of his colleagues who is in our wine group. But it did not matter. My husband knew absolutely everyone except for the immediate family members. He knew scientists who flew here from California and from back East. Weirdly, people seemed delighted to meet me and knew that for example, my purse had been stolen.
One of the scientists who had flown in from D.C. (though he works at the U--he is only in D.C. temporarily) loves to fish, too. His brother is a fisherman by trade and they had been up in Alaska in June for the Chinook run. He supplied this gorgeous King salmon for the wedding and Dave helped him cook it. People gobbled it up as fast as they could barbeque. Yes, it would not have hurt if we had brought a couple of Coho.
The wedding was on the property the bridal couple had recently purchased. It was unbelievable. The house was normal northwest style and kind of old with a lot of issues like a leaky roof that Dave had heard about on the bus but who cares? They have a big rare flat yard with a view of the Olympics and the Sound; they have their very own forest with huge doug firs and cedars. The weather was perfect for a wedding--sunny but not too hot and not even a breeze. Nobody went in the house except to use the bathroom. For some reason this year we are not plagued by mosquitoes or yellow jackets so there was not even a bug.
The bride and groom were so incredibly handsome. As I said, he is orginally from Scotland so he was dressed in a kilt. His two teen age sons, the groomsmen, were dressed in kilts and so was the darling ring boy. The bride wore a fabulous ivory dress with sequins and it was warm enough the entire evening that she did not need a shawl to cover her bare shoulders. Her attendants were her daughters and they wore black gowns with silver sequins.
Not that I am a big fan of bagpipe music but....WOW! One bagpipe being played overlooking Puget Sound while two people promise to love and cherish one another for as long as they both shall live...WOW! And that is when it happened. I whispered into my husband's ear at that moment, "I want a divorce. We should get divorced so we can get married again. It is not fair. I want to have a party like this. This is so seriously cool!" Actually, he agreed but then he said that in two years it will be our 35th anniversary so maybe we could celebrate with a special party.
We danced, we ate salmon. We laughed. We ate cake. Dave and his friends told stories about fun times at scientific meetings. Somebody passed around a bottle of Scottish whiskey called "Sheep Dip" which was completely hysterical to a bunch of medicinal chemists and toxicologists. I did not see one person who could handle more than a tiny sip--except for maybe the groom. The groom danced with me. (Men are so hot in kilts!) Dave danced with the bride. Dave and I danced with each other and we were so glad our kids did not see us. They would have thrown up.
And all of us watched the sun set over the Olympic Mountains. I felt sad and happy at the same time. Happy for the new married couple. Sad that Patti missed it. Happy to enter part of my husband's world. It is strange to not know all of his friends.
But we really aren't getting a divorce. The next day, we ate freshly caught Coho for dinner and bought an umbrella for our deck. We watched the sun set over Whidbey Island.
And this was fun, too!
// posted by Janet @ 7:59 AM
0 comments
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Only In Seattle
Yes, indeed! I have a couple of items for my unique and exclusive "Only In Seattle" blog posts.
1. Only in Seattle is the weather gorgeous, cool, and loved by all. After that week of horrible 90 degrees, we have settled down to our normal highs of 70 or 75 and down to 50 at night.
Picture taken yesterday in my backyard.
2. Only in Seattle do the new people who are moving here this summer rave about the place. My advice---you may want to wait through a winter or two. Get used to it; get used to the people; understand that one week in the winter you may feel like committing suicide but then the next week, the sun comes out, the mountains come out and you realize you'd live no where else. But give it some time.
This was the editorial in the Seattle Times today written by a new citizen.
The first discrepancy in matching our image to our new reality is the people! They are friendly, helpful, kind and welcoming. Not at all the profile of busy, unconcerned urban-ites! What gives, Seattle?
Next: What happened to the gloomy and cold weather we heard was common here? It's perfect and perfectly not gloomy!
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2003176247_satrdr05.html
3. Only in Seattle when terrible things happen like the shooting at the Jewish Federation, does the true Seattle spirit come through. This story brought tears to my eyes this morning. I realize this happens all over our country but this made me proud that I share this area with some really good people. The article in the Everett Herald today told how one young woman, a shooting victim lost all of her blood and died but she has miraculously recovered. Only 10% of people who lose all of their blood can live to tell about it. The young woman, age 29, worked in Seattle but she lives in Everett. Her mother talked to the newspaper and this is what she said about the Muslim man who forced his way into her daughter's office and opened fire:
She said she'll never forget what happened, but harbors no hate for the man who shot her daughter.
"We're all God's people, no matter what, even the man who did this," Rexroad's mother said. "I feel bad for him and his family."
She's just glad her daughter is still alive.
http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/08/05/100loc_a1rexroad001.cfm
I cried because just yesterday when discussing hiking options with my son given the still unsolved hiking trail murders, I told him I would have no trouble shooting and killing someone who attacked my children---in the heat of the moment. I mean, I wouldn't plan something and go hunt them down later or anything. But it makes you wonder if this woman's forgiving heart had something to do with why her daughter survived against all odds.
4. And finally only in Seattle do we perhaps take political correctness to extremes?! I don't know. I am very sensitive to using the right words and not saying things to offend groups of people. I was one of the first back in the 70's to refer to adult females as women instead of girls and I would correct people. I consider myself poltically correct and I am proud of it.
But this month's Washington Bar News---the magazine that all Washington lawyers receive, had a great article about people with disabilities and the laws we now have. Seriously--a great article. Seattleites have a sense of humor so I thought this page was a joke:
p.24, Washington State Bar News, August 2006
But after having a good laugh to the point that my Seattle freshly ground French pressed coffee came out of my nose, I realized I am going to hell. This page is not a joke and I guess it is a bad thing to call the blue parking spaces at the grocery store "handicapped parking". We are now to refer to it as "accessible parking". And when I introduce my husband who has very strong lenses in his glasses, I am not to refer to him as "visually impaired" but I guess I should just say he is "blind".
"Hi! My name is Janet and I am not "normal" because I cannot do cartwheels so I guess I am a "person with a disability".
Sorry! Maybe I am wrong but.......isn't this just so Seattle!
Yes, indeed! I have a couple of items for my unique and exclusive "Only In Seattle" blog posts.
1. Only in Seattle is the weather gorgeous, cool, and loved by all. After that week of horrible 90 degrees, we have settled down to our normal highs of 70 or 75 and down to 50 at night.
Picture taken yesterday in my backyard.
2. Only in Seattle do the new people who are moving here this summer rave about the place. My advice---you may want to wait through a winter or two. Get used to it; get used to the people; understand that one week in the winter you may feel like committing suicide but then the next week, the sun comes out, the mountains come out and you realize you'd live no where else. But give it some time.
This was the editorial in the Seattle Times today written by a new citizen.
The first discrepancy in matching our image to our new reality is the people! They are friendly, helpful, kind and welcoming. Not at all the profile of busy, unconcerned urban-ites! What gives, Seattle?
Next: What happened to the gloomy and cold weather we heard was common here? It's perfect and perfectly not gloomy!
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2003176247_satrdr05.html
3. Only in Seattle when terrible things happen like the shooting at the Jewish Federation, does the true Seattle spirit come through. This story brought tears to my eyes this morning. I realize this happens all over our country but this made me proud that I share this area with some really good people. The article in the Everett Herald today told how one young woman, a shooting victim lost all of her blood and died but she has miraculously recovered. Only 10% of people who lose all of their blood can live to tell about it. The young woman, age 29, worked in Seattle but she lives in Everett. Her mother talked to the newspaper and this is what she said about the Muslim man who forced his way into her daughter's office and opened fire:
She said she'll never forget what happened, but harbors no hate for the man who shot her daughter.
"We're all God's people, no matter what, even the man who did this," Rexroad's mother said. "I feel bad for him and his family."
She's just glad her daughter is still alive.
http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/08/05/100loc_a1rexroad001.cfm
I cried because just yesterday when discussing hiking options with my son given the still unsolved hiking trail murders, I told him I would have no trouble shooting and killing someone who attacked my children---in the heat of the moment. I mean, I wouldn't plan something and go hunt them down later or anything. But it makes you wonder if this woman's forgiving heart had something to do with why her daughter survived against all odds.
4. And finally only in Seattle do we perhaps take political correctness to extremes?! I don't know. I am very sensitive to using the right words and not saying things to offend groups of people. I was one of the first back in the 70's to refer to adult females as women instead of girls and I would correct people. I consider myself poltically correct and I am proud of it.
But this month's Washington Bar News---the magazine that all Washington lawyers receive, had a great article about people with disabilities and the laws we now have. Seriously--a great article. Seattleites have a sense of humor so I thought this page was a joke:
p.24, Washington State Bar News, August 2006
But after having a good laugh to the point that my Seattle freshly ground French pressed coffee came out of my nose, I realized I am going to hell. This page is not a joke and I guess it is a bad thing to call the blue parking spaces at the grocery store "handicapped parking". We are now to refer to it as "accessible parking". And when I introduce my husband who has very strong lenses in his glasses, I am not to refer to him as "visually impaired" but I guess I should just say he is "blind".
"Hi! My name is Janet and I am not "normal" because I cannot do cartwheels so I guess I am a "person with a disability".
Sorry! Maybe I am wrong but.......isn't this just so Seattle!
// posted by Janet @ 8:49 AM
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