I landed in Seattle around noon on Friday, July 6th, spent the rest of the day in Federal Way with Mom and Aunt Sharon. We had lunch, went to Trader Joe's and bought chili & lime peanuts among other goodies. Went to Rite Aid for stockings, was asked by a friendly elderly woman in the checkout line where I have my hair done. I was amused, as was she. Dined on the patio by the pond behind Aunt Sharon & Uncle Jim's house, fell asleep in their guest room relatively early. Woke up at 3am Saturday morning to pack up the car so the four of us could get to the airport for our 6 o'clock flight to California for Cousin Dirk's wedding to the ever so lovely Liz at the Stanford Faculty Club. This included cramming seven tomato plants into the trunk of the car, in the dark, at 4am, and calming Mom's fears that someone might see us and think we were leaving a car-full of marijuana in the airport parking lot. Mom's just so cute sometimes.
It was great to spend this time, how ever brief, with these various and sundry branches of the Englund side of the family whom I don't very often get to see. Even dear Uncle Bob and I only got into the most abbreviated of political arguments. No tears were shed, at least outside the confines of the wedding, which was beautiful. Best of all, though, was seeing Dirk grin from ear to ear, looking happier, I think, than I have ever seen him before.
Mom and I then flew back up to Seattle Sunday morning to spend the day and night with Grandma Mac, Cat Lola, Auntie Ellen, Uncle Earl, Aunt Sue, and Cousins Kerri and Alexis. It was indeed a plethora of relatives, and though it was just wonderful to see all these beloved folk, it was even better to finally arrive in Anacortes Monday afternoon, after suffering through an unfortunate bout of what could only be food poisoning for the better part of the day.
The rest of my west coast time was much more relaxing, and mainly involved walking downtown to the bookstore to get the New York Times every day, stopping for lattes here and there, drinking wine or delicious, if odd, fruit concoctions out in the back yard, indulging in (shock of shocks) too much food and too much yarn. I am amazed every time I visit Mom and Paul during the summer at the abundance of their gardens. It is always shocking to me, and wonderful, that I can step out their back door and come in with my arms full of flowers, bowls of raspberries, lettuce, peas, cherries, apples, figs, pears (granted, not all at the same time). I spent an inordinate amount of my time there gathering up little bouquets for the table, or for the dresser next to my bed, full of sweetpeas, wild grasses, sprays of lavender, mint, rosemary, godetias, poppies, and other flowers I can't remember the names of.
One of the nicest things, I think, was spending such a lot of time with Evan and Brent on my own, without a brother or a boyfriend around. As Evan pointed out my last night there, this was the first time he and I have really had any one-on-one friendship time, and it was lovely. So Evan, if and when you get around to reading this, thanks for being such a great friend while I was home; I really enjoyed hanging out with you, and though I won't hold my breath waiting for an email or anything as silly as that, I'm already looking forward to seeing you again in December!
I arrived at the Seattle Tacoma Airport several hours early yesterday evening, had even more time to kill when our flight was delayed by almost an hour, and then felt my heart sink in dismay when I finally got to my seat only to discover a young woman and not one but two children sitting next to me. In a row of three seats, I might add. But luckily for me the baby, Mary, was absolutely adorable and wanted nothing more than to stare at me with her beautiful doe eyes, holding my fingers until she fell asleep on her mother's lap. And the boy, Benjamin, also rather promptly fell asleep. Perhaps this mother took to heart the story of another young mother and preemptively dosed up her kids on a healthy shot of Benadryl.
And it's back to work tomorrow.
It was great to spend this time, how ever brief, with these various and sundry branches of the Englund side of the family whom I don't very often get to see. Even dear Uncle Bob and I only got into the most abbreviated of political arguments. No tears were shed, at least outside the confines of the wedding, which was beautiful. Best of all, though, was seeing Dirk grin from ear to ear, looking happier, I think, than I have ever seen him before.
Mom and I then flew back up to Seattle Sunday morning to spend the day and night with Grandma Mac, Cat Lola, Auntie Ellen, Uncle Earl, Aunt Sue, and Cousins Kerri and Alexis. It was indeed a plethora of relatives, and though it was just wonderful to see all these beloved folk, it was even better to finally arrive in Anacortes Monday afternoon, after suffering through an unfortunate bout of what could only be food poisoning for the better part of the day.
The rest of my west coast time was much more relaxing, and mainly involved walking downtown to the bookstore to get the New York Times every day, stopping for lattes here and there, drinking wine or delicious, if odd, fruit concoctions out in the back yard, indulging in (shock of shocks) too much food and too much yarn. I am amazed every time I visit Mom and Paul during the summer at the abundance of their gardens. It is always shocking to me, and wonderful, that I can step out their back door and come in with my arms full of flowers, bowls of raspberries, lettuce, peas, cherries, apples, figs, pears (granted, not all at the same time). I spent an inordinate amount of my time there gathering up little bouquets for the table, or for the dresser next to my bed, full of sweetpeas, wild grasses, sprays of lavender, mint, rosemary, godetias, poppies, and other flowers I can't remember the names of.
One of the nicest things, I think, was spending such a lot of time with Evan and Brent on my own, without a brother or a boyfriend around. As Evan pointed out my last night there, this was the first time he and I have really had any one-on-one friendship time, and it was lovely. So Evan, if and when you get around to reading this, thanks for being such a great friend while I was home; I really enjoyed hanging out with you, and though I won't hold my breath waiting for an email or anything as silly as that, I'm already looking forward to seeing you again in December!
I arrived at the Seattle Tacoma Airport several hours early yesterday evening, had even more time to kill when our flight was delayed by almost an hour, and then felt my heart sink in dismay when I finally got to my seat only to discover a young woman and not one but two children sitting next to me. In a row of three seats, I might add. But luckily for me the baby, Mary, was absolutely adorable and wanted nothing more than to stare at me with her beautiful doe eyes, holding my fingers until she fell asleep on her mother's lap. And the boy, Benjamin, also rather promptly fell asleep. Perhaps this mother took to heart the story of another young mother and preemptively dosed up her kids on a healthy shot of Benadryl.
And it's back to work tomorrow.
2 comments:
love the snails!
Oh Emily, that was too nice! I too had a great time getting to hang out with you, sharing oysters, beers and laughs! Sorry I was so busy that I didn't get to spend more time with you. Even before you left, I had made it a point to keep in better contact with you, so don't you worry about that! See you December!
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