Another Saturday post is here and I’m staring at this interface thinking about what I should write about this week.
It’s been a huge week, again, for this family.
I mentioned last week that Lou was flying to Washington D.C. with SCAN, leaving me home with Liz and Ollie. I think we all managed to pull through, and Lou returned changed by her experience. She spoke highly of everyone she met and was thrilled to have had the opportunity expressing a desire to return soon.
Liz and I spent some time bonding and I enjoyed spending time with my daughter.
Sunday
Liz and I went downtown to do a bit of shopping, as it were. It was a lovely day to get a little fresh air and out and about.
We watched The Flash in the afternoon. My bar for DC films is fairly low at this point, so this was surprised me but being a bit better than I expected. There are aspects I found absolutely silly, the way they did wove the multiverse into the rest of the historic DC cinema worked pretty well and the entire film worked as a whole. I still do not enjoy Ben Affleck as the bat (sorry Ben, you’re cool). Michael Keaton and the classic ‘89 Batman bit was awesome, and I definitely loved the Eric Stolz Back to the Future reference. Nerd trivia is always appreciated in nerd material.
We had picked up Burger ASAP from The Game Wizard & Blue Sky Hobbies, so in the evening we tried it out, practiced you might say, somewhat less than competitively, and the mechanics seem pretty fun and we’re pretty eager to try it out with the family.
That night I read her the second chapter from The Hobbit as she’d requested that I start reading that book to her and I took it as my opportunity to order an updated edition of The Annotated Hobbit to replace my original copy. Liz seems to be enjoying the book so far, which is like, how could she not, it’s one of the greatest books ever written 😅
Monday & Tuesday
There isn’t a lot of Monday and Tuesday worth recounting in this forum. They were days. Liz and I did our respective things, hers being the school and mine the work thing. We managed pretty well despite Lou being on the other side of the country.
Tuesday night I went to SeaTac to pick Lou from her return flight. It was a late night all things considered but it was great to have her home again. 😊
Wednesday
Moar work and school for us all, respectively
I heard from the hospice folks that my father is doing well.
I had a chiropractic appointment.
In the evening I (and a record number of other people) attended the majority of the 4.5 hour Bremerton City Council meeting due to the impending vote to update the city’s camping ordinance after due to its unconstitutionality. Ultimately the vote passed, but I’m not sure they succeeded and that in its new form the ordinance still isn’t unconstitutional. It also, ultimately, doesn’t matter as there’s nothing that will change insofar as there remains no available shelter and there will not be enough available shelter when the Salvation Army opens on November 1st.
I have so many thoughts after hearing some of the truly ignorant and hateful things some of my neighbors had to say, but I will hold them for now. Perhaps another post for another time.
Meanwhile I’m hopeful that Mayor Wheeler will deliver on his, albeit vague and secretive, plan to create additional shelter sooner rather than later.
Thursday
Thursday was another beautiful day.
After work I spent the afternoon and evening at Evergreen Rotary Park for the Bremerton Farmer’s Markit with Lou at her American Red Cross table.
It was an incredibly lovely day for the market.
We had delicious lumpia.
It was a wonderful time!
Friday
Was a nice little day all things considered. In the morning I met Lou downtown for a little brunch date of breakfast burritos from Liv a Latte.
In the evening we ran a few errands
Liz and I watched the latest episodes (7 & 8) of Fionna & Cake.
Saturday
Lou spent the morning at the Stand Down event at the Sheridan Park Community Center.
Tonight Liz is at a hotel birthday party for her friend while Lou is chaperoning so I’m home alone with Ollie.
I spent some time today trying to connect with my network, checking in with folks, seeing how people are doing. Some are well while many more are not. Everyone is doing their best.
And that’s it… that’s an abbreviated run down of the week.
I was planning to be a little more active today since I was going to have this free time, but the weather wasn’t great and ultimately I seized on some opportunities to connect with folks instead- which I think had a lot of value.
I’ve got a lot of things I would love to share, love to get out of my head and heart, but this isn’t the time- I’m tired, I’m ready to wind down and prepare for bed.
I’m ready to get some rest in anticipation of starting Week 39 tomorrow. Just 14 more weeks of 2023 to go…