Creature Bug

[Originally posted July 4, 2005. As I re-read through this post, I was struck by two things. First, of the similarities between Sydney--photographed below at 13 months old--and Julianne (yes, indeed, they are sisters). Second, that I'm sure I never would have imagined the last few paragraphs would still be applicable four years after I had written it.] *** In doing the genealogy for Jason's...

My brother's good friend and former teammate from Willamette University, Nick Symmonds, is going to the Olympics! Nick--who didn't even start running competitively until he joined Willamette's team--won tonight's 800m at Hayward Field in Eugene with a personal record time of 1:44.10. I saw Nick run many times over the years that I was going to my brother's cross country and track meets, and I can...

Jason told me that yesterday morning he woke up thinking, "Now what do I have to do in the backyard today?" And then he remembered. The backyard is finished. Of course, as any home owner will tell you, the outside is never really finished because there are always weeds to pick, grass to mow, cobwebs to shake down. But in the grand scheme of Projects for The Backyard, we are done. To know me is...

Our realtor gave us some ideas of where to declutter the house so that potential buyers aren't distracted by small things...like that huge stack of crayons on top of the china cabinet. Utilitarian? Yes. A bit of an eye-sore? Also yes. However, Jason and I are a bit conflicted on areas that need decluttering... Him: We should take all the books off the [built-in] book shelf in the living...

Drum roll, please... We FINISHED our backyard. It's done. I have yet to take pictures, but seriously. Done. We put our house up for sale TODAY. I think there might be a bit of irony that these two things happened on the same day, but I'm not troubling myself over that. Other highlights of the day... We spent almost the whole day outside, playing in the sun, splashing in the water, planting...

For many years now, a friend and colleague of mine have had the same discussion over and over again regarding the idea of traveling to a place made immortal by great literature and/or great writers. She doesn't understand why anyone would find such places important or inspiring. "It's just a place," she reminds me when I once told her how much I enjoyed seeing where Charles Dickens lived. She...

Left last Saturday or rather early early Sunday morning. Took with me unread books, not enough sweatshirts or socks. Plenty of Excedrin (thank goodness). Left behind Jules with a fever and the flu wishing that I could stay with her (and would have in other circumstances), as well as a laptop leaving me blessedly unconnected for seven whole days. Gathered along the trip memories of Boston of...