It’s June already, and I’m stuck wondering how it’s possible that has happened?
I’ve been thinking about our journey here so far and our lovely backstory, which is definitely a story worth telling, but for some other time. It’s definitely been on my mind lately, though. Truth told, it’s pretty often a topic bouncing around my head: how did we get here?
Tonight we’re watching Dungeon & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and it’s absolutely lovely. I’m particularly in love with the inclusion of Themberchaud. The cinematography and effects are stunning and you can feel the underlying campaign. It’s excellent.
Today we went hiking on the Olympic Peninsula. We took off this morning, stopping at the grocery store for something for lunch and a few pastries to enjoy for our breakfast and made our way across the Hood Canal Bridge. The family did some hiking at Dosewallips State Park with Ollie, who had a wonderful time but, for the first time walking with the family, seems to have a real feelings that he should: be first, and the family should say close together on the trail. It was a lovely hike around both the Steam Donkey Loop but instead of looping back on the Fire Road we cut around on the Maple Valley Loop back to the car. Then we went across 101 to have our picnic on the other side near the river. After lunch we checked out the North Tidal Area Trail.
From there we decided to also take a little trip to the top of Mt. Walker where, due to the beauty of our pre-Summer day, we have lovely views of Rainier and Seattle from the South Viewpoint while Mt. Jupiter, Buckhorn and peaks in Canada were clearly visible from the North Viewpoint. The previous link will tell you more about the views from the 4th largest peak in Washington state.
It was a beautiful way to spend a day filled with extra positive brain chemicals from being outside, exercising, doing something I love with the people that I love in the place that I love.
I have so many hikes in my list. I’m hoping to get over to do the Tubal Cain Mine Trail sooner rather than later. It’s hard considering one the biggest reasons for moving here was to hike all the hikes I couldn’t possibly hit while vacationing here. I need to make more time for hiking because that’s all I ever want to do.
For now, however, it’s time to recount the last week of 2023 for the us.
This has been another busy week for the family.
Sunday was a relatively productive day spent around the house. We took a long walk in the afternoon to try to visit one of the local Asian markets only to discover it was mysteriously closed in the afternoon, so instead we grabbed some milkshakes from another local store and headed home. It was a largely productive day of checking off TODOs.
We also started watching the first season of the show From which has been very entertaining. Being from the producers of Lost, it does an excellent job of pulling you into the story. It’s dark and brutal but has a real charm to it that’s hard to escape.
Monday was Memorial Day and we were lucky enough to spend much of it outside. While it was a cool and chilly in the morning but the afternoon sun burned off the cloud cover giving way to a lovely temperate afternoon. We had a traditional meal of (Impossible) brats, melon, asparagus, and “salads” (in quotes because salad shouldn’t contain mayonnaise as a primary ingredient). Moira came and we had a nice little time. We wound up watching Scream VI.
Scream VI is an amazingly meta franchise now. Kudos and well done for all that has been accomplished with this film. It’s been amazing journey since 1996 and I’m glad to have been along for the ride.
That’s all I have to say about that for now.
Meanwhile Tuesday happened. It was filled with Big Monday Energy all around. I survived especially by taking a lovely walk in the afternoon with Lou. It’s almost as if going outside is all I ever want to do. 🤔
Wednesday saw Lou attending a meeting related to a volunteer opportunity she’s found with Save the Children. It’s something for which she’s quite excited and looks like great opportunity. 😃
In the morning on Thursday Ozz wasn’t feeling well. I believed they weren’t well because the previous days they’d been doing testing at school had not seen them showing any symptoms and those days had featured testing which they’d definitely have been willing to skip. Ultimately, they actually felt pretty confident with their performance. But on Thursday they started the morning not feeling well, but fairly quickly it seemed to get better and they really bounced back so that by the afternoon when their friend came in the afternoon while her mother was doing work on the other side of the sound they seemed to feeling much better. It was a fine afternoon despite the rambunctious of kiddos at play.
I still managed to sneak out for a Thursday hike with Ollie at Illahee Preserve. It was a gorgeous afternoon for it. The more we take Ollie out of the house, the more fans he seems to develop. This time a fella took an interest in him saying that, of all the breeds, he thought maybe this was the best looking. Now, I’ll admit it probable that this person was being a bit hyperbolic, or even that he says that to all the puppies, but regardless, it’s still a darn nice thing to say😊
It makes me wonder if I don’t need to get a manager for my dog, though, and maybe he can make his own passive income just by being an awesome beast: Ollie AHT? 🤔This is perhaps an even better idea than my idea for a “Abandoned Clothes of Washington” IG account, right?
This has been thinking about the cutthroat world of “content creation” because I absolutely would love to be a “content creator” except that the competition is absurd and I, for good or ill, struggle to understand why anyone would want to consume my content. I’ve always wanted to try to get back to podcasting, having had such a darn good time doing it with friends in years long gone now, but I recently read or heard a statistic that made pretty clear just how much podcast content exists right now, that a single person couldn’t consume it all in multiple lifetimes, or something equally as shocking.
But still, I want to record my hikes. I want one of them fancy GoPros and their stabilization, or perhaps a fleet of autonomous follow drones. I want to record my various musings on whatever topics come to mind while I’m hiking. I want to share these things with others, but mostly I want to be able to come back at some point in the future and relive my experience and it’s been so much fun the few times I’ve made the effort record for posterity
But of course time and money are generally just finite resources.
And it smacks of effort.
And there’s already so much to do
to be done
always
Another wonderful thing that happened Thursday was that my lovely partner got me the book The Power of Trees: How Ancient Forests Can Save Us if We Let Them by Peter Wohlleben who is responsible for the lovely book The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World which I have not read but of which I am aware and very much would like to read eventually. Herr Wohlleben speaks about trees in much the way I feel about these beautiful lifeforms. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read so far and will likely eventually be able to provide a real book report.
Getting back to talking about our week: Friday was another lovely PNW day. We got Ollie for a few great walks and after work I thought a bit about some of my plans and goals and that led me to doing a little research about my desired to complete the NOLS Wilderness First Responder training, and maybe taking that course this year, if possible. In the evening we had a friendly fellow named Kelly come by and take some measurements to put together a quote for some fencing and a floating deck for our side yard.
And that, more or less, brings me back to today. I have had an absolutely lovely week this week and I’m reflecting keenly on my level of privilege at this point. I’ve journeyed through hell carrying the world on my back to make this life happen, and it’s going largely as I’ve desired. I’m so happy with progress that I’ve made in my life, so proud of the work Lou and I have done to get here. Every scar has a story, and I’m so glad that, at least lately, those scars are less prominent, and my tragic backstory is more “back” than “story” these days.
That’s it for now, though I’d like to circle back to update this article with some Instagram embeds - if I feel like it, or remember, or whatever
You, dear reader, even if you’re me, I wish you all the best