Disappointment and Fear

The only thing sustaining me through these last few hellish weeks of work has been the thought of going on our summer road trip. I have been having dreams about sitting on the beach with my toes in the sand watching the sunset with a nice tall G&T in my hand. For me, that is a slice of heaven, but unfortunately there will be no heaven this week.

On Friday, the day before we were supposed to leave for our trip, the day we were supposed to be loading up our car to head out on the open road my husband began spitting up blood. This is how our 10 days stint in the hospital started last December, so we took it pretty seriously. It just so happened that he had an appointment at the anticoagulation clinic scheduled for Friday morning so we decided to take him there first before trying to get any other appointments or hitting the emergency room. It turned out that his Warfarin was way off, like almost 50% higher than it was supposed to be, and that was likely the cause of the bleeding. So with instructions on how to get his blood levels back to where they are supposed to be we headed home for a day of resting.

On Saturday morning I had high hopes that he would be feeling better and at least well enough to sit in the car while I drove us south. He said he wanted to go and wished to go and he was feeling better, but that he was too scared to be away. “What if something happens like last time?” I understood, but was still very, very disappointed. I went back to bed.

His lungs are not going to get any better and he knows it, but his lungs are not in nearly as bad of shape as some people in my life have been. Still when things like this happen I think he feels like the end is near and that death is knocking on his door and he get sad, depressed and mopey. I then find myself giving him the platitude pep talk; “Do you want to live what’s left of your life sad and depressed? If you do, why keep living?”, “You are so lucky and are in a lot better shape than many men your age and you better start appreciating it, because it’s not going to get any better than it is.“, “You have to stop wishing you were 25 again because you’re not.”, “Are you going to spend your remaining years sad and unhappy? Cause that’s no way to live!” He then responds, “I know.” “I’ll get out of my funk” and then he feels better and get’s out of his funk and we start to enjoy life again.

But I am still in a little funk, just bummed out that our trip didn’t happen and trying to make the best of it. I was thinking about just heading back into work this week and trying to save the vacation for another time, but I need a break from that place even if it is just at home. The weather is supposed to be sunny and hot here all week, so I think to get myself in a better state of mind I am going to try to learn something new and use a day to discover something new about home.

Do you have someone in your life that is dealing with health issues? How do you help them stay positive?

Road Tripping!

Some Maps from the Map Box

In anticipation of our impending road-trip I have been pulling up my rough itinerary on google maps, getting out the map box and checking to see if I have the maps I want to take and also plugged a few of the stops I know we want to make into the navigation on my phone. All of this is getting me so excited to hit the road, wondering about the new things I will get to see and do, salivating about the food I will be eating and makes me thing about wanting to try something new. Paddle boarding I think this time!

I ran across a fun article on one of my favorite blogs, Broadside, written by Caitlin Kelly called; “Why Maps Beat GPS Every Time” She talks about her love of maps, one of her favorite trips to Corsica, an island off the southern coast of France, and one of my favorite quotes from the article:

“I love the anticipation of reading a map and wondering how the landscape will resemble it contours.”

I love my maps too, because if there is anything I am, I am a planner. I love to plan trips, moves, purchases, events, parties, how to get something done ~ I love to plan. Sometimes I fear I love the planning part more than the actual event part, but I hope that is only marginally true. I love my maps for the memories that they bring back to me; they are just as important to me as the pictures I take or the journal entries I make and sometimes trigger memories better than anything else.

But I also love techie stuff too and one of the favorite phone apps I discovered on our last road trip was called Field Trip. It used your GPS on your phone to tell you about interesting things nearby and lets you customize what types of things it tells you about; like if you are interested in Historic Places and Events or looking for Zagat rated dining you can use a filter it to tell you about those things and not the amusement parks or museums or vis-a-versa if amusement parks and museums are your thing. Pretty cool.

My husband tends to be the driver and I am the navigator, we have become a pretty good team over the years, finding interesting places on purpose and well, yes, sometimes by accident. My favorite drives have been the ones on both coasts; California along highway 1 and in the Northeast from Boston to Cape Ann with breathtaking sunsets in the west and a beautiful reason to rise early and meet the sun in the east.

Here’s to a week of fun, adventure and beautiful sunsets!

Do you have a favorite road trip that you can do again and again? or

Do you have a favorite travel tool ~ high-tech or low-tech that you use?

Elephant Ears and Metal

One of my friends and fellow bloggers Todd Baker enjoying Olympia!! Check it out!

Todd Baker

I lived my motto last Thursday. In case you didn’t notice, my motto is up at the top of the page: Be who you are, like what you like, and do cool stuff. I understand having a motto is a bit pretentious, but so is having a blog and writing books. I appreciate your complicity.

On Thursday, being who I am included being a runner. Running is part of my daily routine as I run every day during the workweek. Spending 30 to 45 minutes of my lunch hour running away from work makes it much easier to go back and face an afternoon filled with email and meetings. The difference on this Thursday was that I was running around Capitol Lake in downtown Olympia. The lake is nowhere near my office, so I had to drive to get there. I also had to change into my running clothes in…

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Milestones and Bagel Brothers!

This week:

Hit 100 subscribers on Random and Rhyme ~ Thank you everyone!
Posted my 85th story
Missed Lakefair, but discovered Bagel Brothers ( More on them below)
Celebrated the 5 month anniversary of Random and Rhyme!
Releasing my 3rd book on BookCrossing.com – Bird by Bird by Ann Lamott sometime during my California road trip ~ be on the lookout!

A great week and it should get even better with our California road trip just a few days away.

Bagel Brothers

I have been driving by Bagel Brothers for 11 plus years, it’s right down the street from me near the liquor store and the post office, and yet I had never stopped in for a bagel. But this week I was on my own for lunch and trying to decide from 2 or 3 of my usual picks as I was driving by the strip mall where Bagel Brothers is located and in my quest to “Discover Home” I pulled my car in to give them a try.

In a word ~ Yummy! I had a sesame bagel with cream cheese, capers, and lox and it was delicious! The lox’s were perfect, the fresh bagel was toasted to perfection and had just the right about of cream cheese. The staff was very friendly and helpful, offering a first timer great service and excellent suggestions.

And my timing couldn’t have been better, because I found out that on Saturday they were having their 20 year anniversary and were offering plain and cheese bagels for $.20each and two for one espresso drinks. So I drug my husband down to give it a try and score some anniversary bagels. He loved it too!

Score another plus in the “try new places” column for “Discovering Home“! I now have a frequent visitor punch card with three punches, I see a free bagel in my future.

Do you have a business in your neighborhood that you have driven by a dozen times and still haven’t stopped?

Menehune

The little menehune that sit upon my shelf,

smiling up at me trying to remind me to laugh at my self.

They used to sit among the clowns,

always calling me to get them down.

Smiling big with a crinkle near their eyes,

They remind me of better days and always sunny skies.

Across the great Pacific to our tiny town,

so exotic I never wanted to put them down.

A tchotchke to some, but a memory I will always treasure.

You see they belonged to my grandmother and will forever bring me pleasure.

Walking for Make-A-Wish

The little boy in the picture is my good buddy Logan. He was diagnosed with Leigh’s disease about two years ago after years of diagnostic testing. Leigh’s is a Mitochondrial disease. You can read more about Leigh’s disease here and here. But the short explanation is:

“Leigh’s disease, genetic mutations in mitochondrial DNA interfere with the energy sources that run cells in an area of the brain that plays a role in motor movements. The primary function of mitochondria is to convert the energy in glucose and fatty acids into a substance called adenosine triphosphate (ATP). The energy in ATP drives virtually all of a cell’s metabolic functions. Genetic mutations in mitochondrial DNA, therefore, result in a chronic lack of energy in these cells, which in turn affects the central nervous system and causes progressive degeneration of motor functions.” There is no cure.

Logan is the sweetest, funniest, smartest and kindest boy I have ever met with the strongest spirit of anyone I know. He was granted a wish from Make-A-Wish foundation to go to Disneyland last year. It was an amazing time for the family to get to relax, be taken care of and enjoy their time together. They continue to talk about what a special experience it was and the outstanding team from Make-A-Wish.

So this year, as a way of giving back to an organization that gave them such a special memory and to help other children get that same chance, Brandy (Logan’s Mom), Logan and their family are participating in the Make-A-Wish walk in September. And lucky me, I was invited to join them at the walk and of course help them raise money for our participation.

So I have pledged to try to raise at least $100 prior to the September 14th walk and am hoping that some of my readers might want to help support my walk by pledging a donation to Make-A-Wish. Any donation, big or small would be greatly appreciated.

I promise to take lots of pictures and share the experience of the day with everyone.

Thank you for your consideration!

Destination Olympia ~ Compass Rose

The Compass Rose is always one of my favorite stops when I do visit downtown Olympia. They have such a fun, eclectic, hard to resist assortment of merchandise with everything from my favorite Moleskine notebooks, awesome cards, cookbooks, the best kids section anywhere, covetable kitchen gadgets and always interesting jewelry and art. As their slogan says; “Fresh, Local and Always in Season.”

I stopped in just to have a look around with no intention of purchasing anything, as I was on my “walkabout” to discover new things about Olympia, and of course as always happens I find this super cool hand-made shadowbox diorama from Christine Rodrigues Schukow.

It’s hard to see all the detail in my picture, it’s called “Leaving Home”.

I am a sucker for anything with a dog and “Leaving Home” has a girl with a white dog heading out on a long road. Christine is a New York based artist who loved to make dioramas as a kid. She creates the diorama’s and her husband builds all the frames.

My newly installed treasure is hanging on my “Family Wall” with pictures of my dogs, my family, my husband and me. So happy I stumbled upon this perfect little treasure.

I also scored a new Moleskine notebook, a cute card and in the bargain room a favorite set of notecards at half off.

They opened a second location in Tacoma as well and are getting ready to have their one year anniversary party on July 19th! Looks like it will be a fun party, if you are in the area you should go.

If you are in Olympia I highly recommend you stop by and check out Compass Rose! I know you’ll be glad you did!

Do you have a favorite store in your town? Or do you have another Olympia store that you know I should check out?

Octopus Bench

It’s a small world full of friends I haven’t met.

A smile and hello could lead to things I never dreamt.

I’ve gotta get out of the house and remove my shell.

Most people are friendly and won’t cast an evil spell.

I sit on my octopus bench and watch my little slice of the world go by.

Why did it take so long to stop, rest and wonder at the sky.

A mother and daughter stride around the light pole.

The red-haired girl takes her pink tailed pooch on a stroll.

A cheese puff from the Peddler and coffee in my hand.

Nothing could make this day better, but a visit with a new friend.

A light breeze blows in and the smell of indian food wafts past my nose.

Store front windows and doors open, including the Compass Rose.

My little village bustles with activity and basks in the sun.

I’ll enjoy this day, relax and smile at everyone.

A Little Bit of Home

In my quest to get to know my city a little bit better, I spent the morning wandering the streets checking out a few of my favorite spots and discovering a few new ones.

But first things first, had to have a little morning pit stop at The Bread Peddler!

Ordered a fresh Pain au Levain ~ Heavenly ~ to take home for dinner! Along with a little cheese puff and a coffee for my travels. The place was bustling. And to prove what a small world it is, one of my mom’s friends from the other side of the state in Walla Walla ended up in line behind me at the counter. She and her family were grabbing a little bakery treat before doing some thrift store shopping.

With my coffee and treat in hand I headed out for a little local people watching. I found this beautiful bench in the shade to take it all in.

Tourists and locals, girls with red hair walking dogs with pink tails, packs of kids on a summer camp outing and dogs walking two-by-two. It seemed like everyone was out to enjoy the sunny summer weather before it get’s too hot this afternoon.

The centerpiece of downtown Olympia, our beautiful capital, was a site to see on this perfect summer day. Runners and walkers were cruising around Capital Lake today and a few vendors were taking stalk of the area in preparation for next weekends Lake Fair festivities.

And there is nothing that the kids love better than splashing around the fountain at Capital Lake.

Such a lovely way to spend the morning! More stories and pictures to come during my discovering home tour.

No Refrain

Those unasked questions with answers never revealed.

Those questions haunt me and now with death forever sealed.

Why didn’t you ask a friend will say.

Because I always thought I’d have a chance another day.

I live with regret and not just a chosen few.

Those unasked questions stunt my life and dim my view.

A better daughter and more faithful friend,

what a different relationship it could have been.

Some chances lost, but other still remain.

So I’ll ask those questions now without refrain.

Random & Rhyme

Monthly Archives: July 2014