Happy birthday, Daddy!

Today is my dad's 96th birthday. He told me all my life that my job was to keep him young in his old age. I have been claiming success for a long time now, and this year is no exception. I’m very proud of my accomplishment!

Today is also the day my dad is saying goodbye to his sister, Ethel. Her funeral is this afternoon. She was 93 years old.

My very earliest memory involves my Aunt Ethel. Here’s how I “remember” it – and if anyone else has a clearer memory of the occasion, chime right in.

We were at my Grandma and Grandpa Hansen’s house, in the living room. My “toy” was going to be Aunt Ethel’s purse. (I was an explorer back then. Had to rummage through everything. Famous for overturning wastebaskets. My dog-faced children take after me.) I was a toddler – meaning, not so steady on my feet. Aunt Ethel’s purse outbalanced me and I sat down flat on my butt. Everyone looked at me, probably to see if I’d cry – and instead I came out with my mother’s favorite expression, “Oh happy day!” They all laughed. I was delighted.

A star is born.

So, here we are. Instead of this post being about Daddy, it’s all about me.

Books and food.

I like reading about food almost as much as I like eating. I’ve been talking about a book I finished last week to just about anyone who’ll listen, so I thought I’d recommend it here.

It’s Heat by Bill Buford, a memoir from a guy in his forties who’s been writing for the New Yorker and decides to learn how to cook by apprenticing himself to a famous New York chef (who’s originally from Seattle, by the way). The subtitle is An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany.

I read books by listening to them – so this one will forever remind me of learning how to ride the bus in Seattle, my new way of commuting. The author has a wonderful, self-deprecating sense of humor that tickled me. I tried hard not to laugh out loud while riding public transportation. He writes like he’s a joke, but he must have taken this very seriously, because he was taken very seriously by the people around him. (Apparently, once you cut up a carrot or chop an onion a thousand times, you get pretty good at it.) He ends up going to Italy several times to get more training – including training as a butcher, which seems like it may be going a little too far, if you ask me.

So if you like cooking, eating, reading and laughing, I can recommend this book. Especially the audio version thereof.

Have you read any good books lately?

Agreement signed.

The realtor just left and we have signed some kind of pre-agreement. So we really are seriously going to sell.

Yikes!

The adventure ahead is just so enticing that I can't be sad for the things we'll be leaving behind. But the people we'll miss is a whole different story. Which is why we're making plans for how we'll come back to Seattle and the rest of the country on a regular basis.

My daydreaming is now about the RV as much as it is about Casa Gecko. I hope that's not a sign that I'm never satisfied . . .

Cookies!

Ross worked very hard today . . . he cut down a tree in our front yard and cleaned up all the dead plants up on our roof deck.

I made dog cookies.

He and I also brought five big bags of stuff to Goodwill. I must be 200 pounds lighter.

Nephew Rick expressed skepticism about us fitting our Seattle house into a motor home. And all I want to say is . . . but you should see my closet!

I understand the question, though. One answer is that we both have electronic books. Plus, we had a LOT of bookshelves put into Casa Gecko. So whatever books we don't give away, we'll bring south and leave there. The piano (and piano books) will go to Mexico, too. Furniture will be sold or given away. Except desks and the futon will be moved to Mexico. Oh, and the big TV and the DVDs go to Mexico.

Yup. That's going to be one big moving van, isn't it?

Downsizing

We've talked to a realtor. So I guess this means we're serious. And we're seriously considering getting a motor home.

Huh?

Maybe this is our way of tapering off from having two houses. We'll have one in Mexico and one on wheels.

Couple of reasons. One, we had a great time on our road trips to Mexico and back. The dogs seemed to have as much fun as we did -- and we didn't have to worry about them being left behind, wondering where we were. Two, we're going to want to come back to the States a lot. We talked about renting apartments for a month or two at a time -- but then you have to plan way ahead and find one that will take dogs. This way we'll be able to be much more flexible.

Last weekend we went to the RV show and looked through dozens of motor homes. I talked Ross into considering a bigger one than he was thinking about. It wasn't that much more expensive, and it has a lot more to offer. We won't be able to buy it until we sell this house because we don't want to go into debt -- so that gives us a few more months to think about it.

I finally finished unpacking. I had packed nearly everything I have (clothes and bathroom things) in boxes so Todd and Linda wouldn't have to work around my stuff. I've been living on what we brought back from Mexico for the last month. While I unpacked, I took the opportunity to throw things away and set clothes aside for Goodwill. I have two large Hefty bags ready to go.

I see that Ross has a large box of books to get rid of, too.

It looks like 2009 will be a very different year for us!

Celebrate Life!

I took this picture at Saturday's Celebrate Life! Dragon Boat Festival. (By the way, did you know you can click on these photos to make them bigger?) Ross and I paddled in three races with the Steele Dragons. It was a gorgeous day. And our team barely came in second to last in our division. Oh well!

I was so sure we'd do great this year, since I spent all winter practicing and I was so obviously the worst paddler last year. But -- surprise! -- I guess it's not all about me after all! Go figure.

The cool thing is that Ross has decided to try going out with my regular team, Vintage Sake.

Summer's over.

Yup. Those three nice weeks of Seattle summer have come to an end. I was out on the water tonight with the Steele Dragons (Anita's volunteer team for the Celebrate Life! Festival) -- and it was cold and dark and threatening to drizzle. But it was good to paddle. (The photo is from Flickr -- not mine.)

Ross left today for Sacramento. He's back on Wednesday. Maybe that accounts for the dreariness.

Da boyz managed on their own till I got home at 8:15.

I haven't been keeping up with this blog because work has been cRAzY! I'm so far behind I can't imagine catching up. It's clear that out of sight is out of mind. Now that they can see me, I'm late with all the projects they have for me. The best thing for me now is to go to bed and rest up, because tomorrow is another wacky day.