We're house training Magnolia - so every time she potties outside, she gets a treat (and a lot of excited puppy-love-talk).  It's amazing how quickly you can see her getting conditioned by this sort of reward. 

I think I did the same thing to myself by accident. :/

Every time I go to Lowes or Home Depot, I get an ice cream cone. EVERY TIME. If John is going to one, I often ask to come along.  This is because I love flowers and plants and anything pretty to put in our garden. Or is it? 

Because Krispy Kreme told me last summer that they'd decided to keep their ice cream machine running all year this time - and then I showed up one day and it was gone.  They asked if I'd like a hot chocolate instead.  I KID YOU NOT.  Who thinks that hot chocolate is actually a great replacement for a person who wants an ice cream cone!?!? Sure, they're essentially the same thing, except one is frozen people, and I sit there licking it the whole way home, tail wagging and proud of the good girl I am for going to Home Depot. Hot chocolate? No thank you, donut man. 

I haven't been to Home Depot/Lowes much this winter.  And sure, that's because it's just not gardening season... but it is also because it's not Krispy Kreme ice cream season.  I know it's not Krispy Kreme ice cream season, because I insisted they tell me what day their machine starts up again and that day has been marked on my calendar for months - in all caps - highlighted.  Some people call that day Memorial Day- I call it "Krispy Kreme Ice Cream Day!" 

I still plan to drive by regularly and ask if they've started up the machine early - and if they haven't - refuse to take any replacement (I need them to know how I feel) and drive out of the drive-thru empty-handed. I did this last spring at least 6 times. And I've done it a couple times this winter too if I'm being honest.  One of my greatest strengths and flaws is an undying hope.  It has tortured my heart on many occasions (and now has tortured my husband a time or too as well) - for better or worse, sometimes I just can't make it stop!  And my heart hopes for ice cream!! (always.)  

To me, molly moons has got nothing on Krispy Kreme soft serve swirl.  

So Monday morning, May 30th you'll know where to find me and Magnolia! They give us the day off, because it's ice cream day!! Only 66 days to wait!!

5 Reasons I Love Living in Maple Leaf

Having known a number of friends toying with the idea of moving toward the city, I've been considering my favorite things about living where we do.  Below are five reasons I love living in Maple Leaf. They aren't mind-blowing, in fact, they're mostly very obvious, and I think these pertain to all our little neighborhoods on our edge of town:

1. Tiny Libraries - I know these are making their way out to the burbs, but tiny libraries was one of many reasons I loved living in Fremont. When they started popping up on my own street and the surrounding areas in Maple Leaf, my heart lept! I always keep books in the back of my car (books for unexpected park days, books I need to return to friends, books I'm ready to donate).  Several times now I have hopped out and traded a book in the back for something appealing in the little lending library on the sidewalk.

2. Parks - My mom took us girls to a lot of parks growing up.  I have such strong, happy memories when I pass by the one with all the flags halfway between Bothell and Edmonds. That's where most often we'd end up with Elise - I remember us setting our sodas in the sand so they wouldn't fall over while we enjoyed the swings.  Sure enough, our teeth met a nice amount of grainy soda when we returned. We always drove to the parks though. And as a kid, I had no complaint about this, as an adult I don't either really. I love driving to a favorite park.  But you know what's even better?  WALKING to the park! I love that living in one of the outskirt neighborhoods of Seattle essentially means you have a park within walking distance.  For us, we have two or three, but one of them is so great it's the only one we even think to go to! Maple Leaf is made by it's incredible Maple Leaf Reservoir Park!

3. Local Businesses - For us, the local businesses starts with coffee and ends with either Ace Hardware or The Maple Bar.  Not because there aren't other awesome businesses (like a Vet I can't wait to visit someday soon! When have you ever heard those words before, right?), but because we LOVE these local haunts and something about buying goods from the guy who literally lives on your street is awesome! But in our little Maple Leaf town center strip, we also have accountants, a florist, a mechanic, a cake/bakery shop, two salons, until a month ago a drug store, midwives, a naturopath, a chiropractor and a dozen other shops.

4. Short(er) Commute - I decided yesterday that the only thing that sucks about Seattle, is the traffic.  It seriously is ALL the time now.  And it's awful; no denying it. Everything else about our green city is awesome. That being said, living on the edge of the city is a pretty nice situation. It shortens your commute into the city for work each day, while also allowing you to avoid the nasty traffic on your off days. I really like not having to sit on 45th or 50th for close to an hour any time I want to hit I-5, or go visit my parents. Where we live now, we are essentially 15 minutes to everything! (Except Bellevue and Kirkland.) And by "shorter commute" to work, I also mean we get to commute in on a bus! Sitting on a bus, instead of behind a wheel means you're spending less money and you're probably enjoying a good book. You're also walking from your bus stop to work, which is healthier for you. Of course, this is also healthier for the environment, and for the nasty Seattle traffic so everybody please get on a bus! And now that you're on a bus, read a book.  Look, I am literally solving so many major US problems right now - we're all on buses and we're reading, so there's no traffic, less exhaust, and an educated, empathetic population! I'm getting t-shirts made!

5. Community - we're still figuring this one out.  But I visited our Community Council Executive Board meeting this past month, and I'm happy to know there are wonderful people who have been members of this community for 30 years.  Like every part of Seattle (and Washington), the neighborhood is undergoing massive changes, amidst that, it is wonderful to have long-term, committed neighbors who can hopefully help us hold on to the very best parts of who Maple Leaf has always been, while wisely adapting to how the city needs to change. Living in tight quarters with neighbors can be frustrating - it's hard to not be all up in one another's business, but it also leads to conversations and hellos and goodbyes and "Great day to work in the yard, isn't it?" across the street. When Heidi lived here, she made friends with other moms at the coffee shop. I love that (as did she). As I said, we're still figuring this one out, but I think these specific neighborhoods have a lot of promise for community and I treasure that.

Grass and Other Things

We planted grass on Fathers day.  My mom prepped the lawn with truck loads of top soil while John and I were in Boston and when we returned, she came over on Sunday to help me spread the seed and peat moss. Now there are little green sprouts popping up all over the yard, making our home more like a little green paradise - at least to us.

When we bought the house, it had deep green lawns all over. We didn't realize of course that, that was because the contractor had just rolled out sod on top of crummy dirt.  Once we realized our danger, we did our best to make it stay - fertilizer, root booster, water.  And for a while, it worked.  But by this spring, nearly no grass remained... and much of what did, I removed through efforts to landscape and level our tumultuous little yard. The girls didn't help.  Craving their greens, they moved up what remained of the lawn each day, killing it further and further. So after many, many months of brown and dust - the girls are in their new coop and our dirt ground is transforming all at once into soft green threads.

Prodigal Hen Returns

Oh hey guys - Mo is home. FYI.  She just came back one day like nothing ever happened.  After weeks of being gone, with one appearance somewhere in the middle, she suddenly was standing at the watering hole chattering with the other ladies. We locked her in her coop and gave her food and water. We weren't risking her running off again for another week.  The next morning, when we let her out with the other girls - all was as it had always been. She's back to just being our girl Mo, laying light brown eggs in the nesting box, slipping out of the yard to visit the neighbors while we're away, and returning each night to fly on top of the coop and fall asleep, waiting for John and I to pick her up and tuck her into her safe coop for the night.

A Very Serious Chicken Post

Guys, check out the new coop John built me!  Okay, he built it for the four littler ladies in his life, but essentially, he made it this pretty just for me.  I love it so stinking much and while it will be bitter sweet to lock our liberated ladies inside for a couple months, it's going to be so fantastic to grow our grass back (hopefully), spray my roses and actually watch all my dahlias bloom rather than become expensive chicken lettuce. 

We decided to build a bigger coop for a few reasons.  The first is that the original one we bought, marketed as a coop for 2-6 hens, really shouldn't be used for more than 3 (MAX).  The hen house had one perch and only three of those fluffy bums could fit across it.  One girl was always the odd one out and had to sleep in a nesting box. We weren't just worried about her feelings, sleeping on the ground makes the hens more susceptible to pests and illness. Lately, they've begun picking at one another's feathers too, most likely due to the cramped quarters at night.  The size of the run is far too small as well, which is what led us to let them free-range every day. 

It's one of the sweetest things to watch them run around the yard, or be greeted by them at the front gate, but they take a lot of liberties.  Namely, all of our neighbors know them.  That's because every day while we are at work, they slip through the hedge (around all the chicken wire attempting to keep them in), or they jump our 5 foot fence, and they make their rounds through several neighbors lawns. They typically return before we do (but not always) and eventually they fly onto the top of their hen house where they prefer to perch for the night.  This means John or I have to pick each of them up one by one and place them inside their hen house before locking it up safely for the night.  Yes, each night we have to put our girls to bed. 

We don't mind too much.  But it is a bit limiting on vacation and travel.  Finding a person willing to let them out each morning and put them away each night can be asking a lot!  Thus the bigger coop.  We're hoping to take our grand honeymoon this fall and we're hoping to have the girls so well situated that all we have to ask is for a little check in once a week. Refill the water and food, perhaps give them a fun treat and que, sera sera. 

Being so large though, in such a tiny yard, we had to be sure to make the new coop pretty.  And easy to use, access and clean. John designed it in such a way that we can build a little chicken door/tunnel to a second optional run behind the shed later if we like. He also assures me he's figured out how he's going to use the rainwater off the roof to refill the girls water.  In his words, "easy".  We'll see. ;) 

We still need to attach the hardware cloth and door to the run, a chicken ladder, and other final finishes before we can backfill and landscape.  THEN, it's grass time!  The idealist in me is saying we'll get to seed the lawn this weekend. It might be a stretch.

Life is Good

Life is good, and I am grateful.

I seem to be hearing the same sentiment all around me lately.  Life is not perfect.  It isn't exactly "comfortable" most of the time.  And it could never get mistaken as "easy" - but, life is good.  And I think if we can learn to feel comfortable in ourselves amidst all of its surprises, irritants and discomforts, we'll be able to see and enjoy all of its pleasures, joys and gifts.

One of our favorite things lately is making our first cup of morning coffee and sitting out on the lawn with our "girls" - letting them wander around exploring and pecking.  I also have this constant hankering to sit on the front porch in the evenings.  We don't really even have a front porch.  We have front steps, and a concrete landing just big enough for us to fit two old ikea dining chairs beside the door. And I love it.  We leave the front door wide open despite the flies and bees it kindly invites into the main house, we crank up my dad's old record player we had repaired and we sip on something strong.

Work is crazy.  My body seems to have some old grudge against me. The house has a few dozen projects that need attention (not to mention flies).  We're planning a wedding on the fast track. And we're working on growing together. It's stressful and demanding. But it's also fun, when I take the time to remember.

Life is good. And inside these moments, I find comfort.

I am currently scheming as how to never have to grocery shop.  Once a quarter at best.

If all goes well, we'll have fresh produce and dairy delivered to the front door.  We'll have fresh eggs in a few months just outside the kitchen door, thanks to Moe, Maxene, Munk and Mabel. And I'm hoping we'll buy half a cow and freeze it.  With that, all we need to buy is dried goods and we could stock up on those quarterly at Costco.  Oh yeah, we have a Costco card.  Our "other, married half" put us on their membership.  We're basically adults.

Goodbye 5am and 9pm shopping trips. Hello fresh, local food and laziness.

I imagine in this wonderful dream world, I sometimes get up on a Saturday and stroll through the local farmers market for some delicious vegetables, raised with love by the community garden down the street.  But no more lines, no more florescent lights and 90's hit music at ungodly hours.

So far... my plan is not going as well as I intended.  Smith Brothers delivers to "almost all of the Western Washington" - almost, means not Ballard, Fremont, Wallingford, Laurel Heights, Northgate, or Maple Leaf.  And "Blake the Milkman" who is their independent supplier to these snuffed neighborhoods, only delivers to orphanages and families that apparently consume copious amounts of milk each week.  :/

I will not be defeated. Commence emailing request for "special exceptions" to Milkman Blake. Follow with second personalized phone call.  If needed, make additional promises. I will have my milk delivery.

I felt a bit like a single mom this morning. To four baby chicks. Change their clothes (water), pack their lunch (pick the poop out of their food dish and replenish for the day), make sure the temperature in their coop is right. Bring the trash bins all up to the front of the drive (all four of them, Good Lord!). Water the plants sitting on my front porch (okay, I didn't because I ran out of time, but I should have and meant to). Get myself dressed and make myself a cup of coffee to go. Catch the bus. Catch up on email on my commute. Start work day.

Meanwhile, think of the laundry I need to finish when I get home, dishwasher I need to run, and other various errands to be accomplished before sleep. Including changing said water, food, and coop wood chips multiple times before sleep. And maybe cuddling my fluffy little babies and posting numerous photos of them to Instagram for Morgan. ;)

Did I mention I looked at puppies on Craigslist yesterday?

A Tribute

It's only been a few years since my dad plopped an old 33 on his turn table and we sipped coffees to the melodies of Peter, Paul and Mary.  I fell in love.  That same vinyl spun around and around and around for months.  When I was cleaning.  When I was reading.  Always.  I started treating myself to album after album - though I think my dad had their best from the start.  Last weekend we took my dad's old turntable to Hawthorne Stereo for a diagnosis.  Within the hour we were back at John's, the voice of Karen Carpenter streaming through the living room speakers.  The Carpenters were a feature in both of our childhoods - my parents played "We've Only Just Begun" at their wedding, us girls selected it for the renewal of their vows 25 years later.  John's family danced to their Christmas albums each December.  It seemed only fitting to be our first album on this record player that had now become "ours" - one of the many things we've taken from the lives of our parents.

But the second album?  It had to be Peter, Paul and Mary.  Because while I love the Carpenters, because it is "theirs" - well, Peter, Paul and Mary - they are mine.  And after Saturday, I think perhaps they could be "ours".  Grateful to have the man I do, one who'd fiddle for hours with wires and cords and nobs, just to make voices that have been singing worthwhile words for 50 years, a little clearer.  

The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll called Peter, Paul and Mary "the most popular acoustic folk music group of the 1960's." During that decade they produced 11 albums, 5 of which became million sellers. And they scored 12 hit singles, including the classic children's song, "Puff, the Magic Dragon" and "Leaving on a Jet Plane," a ballad written by John Denver. The group brought folk music to a new prominence in the post-McCarthy era, putting songs about politics and morality on the radio amid the syrupy boy-girl love songs that dominated when they began playing together in the early 1960s. 

 Peter Yarrow, Noel Paul Stookey and Mary Travers made their debut in 1961 at the Bitter End in Greenwich Village. On the strength of this performance, they were signed to a recording contract with Warner Brothers. Released in May 1962, their first eponymously titled album included their rendition of Pete Seeger's song, "If I Had a Hammer," a hit that was the first record to bring protest music to a mainstream audience. Eighteen months later their version of "Blowin' in the Wind" became a hit, and the first commercially successful recording of a song written by Bob Dylan.

As their fame grew, Peter, Paul and Mary mixed music with political and social activism. In 1963 the trio marched with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Ala., and Washington, D.C. The three participated in countless demonstrations against the war in Vietnam. And they sang at the 1969 March on Washington, which Mr. Yarrow helped to organize. 

Exhausted by nearly 10 years of nonstop touring and recording, Mr. Yarrow, Mr. Stookey and Ms. Travers disbanded in 1970. But it proved to be only an intermission. They reunited on a part-time basis in 1978, and continued to perform together for decades. They have five Grammy Awards and a handful of gold and platinum albums. Ms. Travers died on Sept. 16, 2009, at 72. 

The New York Times.