December 2006 Archives

We made it through another Christmas. It was fun but exhausting. Every year, even before the big day arrives, I start ruminating on how I want things to be different the next year and start spewing pronouncements like these: "I'm never making cookies again!" "We should open presents over several days so everyone can really appreciate and enjoy each gift." "Maybe eating PBJs for dinner would work better than this delicious roast." And so on. Somehow, the excitement and wonder get mangled and become something to get through and manage and tweak... And then it's over and I realize I missed it. Where was I? Off in some future ideal Christmas that doesn't exist but that I'm worried we're missing out on? This year I realized, a few times, I was doing this. And so a few times, too few, I came back to this Christmas, the real one that was actually happening. This is what I saw. Charlie laughing with sparkling eyes as he tossed wrapping paper and ribbons in the air. Henry, body all gangly angles, unable to contain his spirit, dancing, racing, shouting "Yeah!," giving sloppy kisses. Brad smiling at me after dinner, taking time to talk and pour me more wine, not freaking out as Charlie and Henry both careened off into cranky overtiredness. Moments worth being here for. (Even the cranky overtiredness.) Wonder how many others I may have missed?

Anyway, to more moments here, now.

Right here, right now. Huh. Like that Fatboy Slim song. He's cool. I'll look up those song lyrics on the net. Oh, yeah. There's that Van Halen album, too. Oh, and there's a PBS show. Wait, what was I looking for? Oh, yeah, these.

And so it goes. Here, now. Right here, right now, I hear our furnace fan running. I think I am the only one awake in the house, but have heard Charlie stirring. There are too many lights on for only one person. Judgement. So quick to go there. Why can't you be more forgiving of yourself, Whalen? Hah, judging the judgemental judger. Here, now. I am tired. I think maybe that Fatboy Slim song has got it right. Right here, right now. Right here, right now. Here here herehereherehereherehere...

I think this book is having an effect on me.

For those wondering why I don't post here more often, I will now admit that I spent almost 30 minutes editing the above entry. So, after getting the ideas and the acutal words down, I spent an additional half hour editing for punctuation (does the comma go inside the quotation marks or outside?), grammar, and such. (How long will I spend doing same on this paragraph?) If you ever get an email message from me, chances are good I've done this same thing. (What's truly comical is that you'll still probably find errors...) Plus spent another half hour fretting that the wording I chose could potentially offend. Sigh. (So, should I have written out the word "thirty" or is using the number 30 okay? ) And now you're all wishing this uptick in my posting frequency would subside.

Merry Christmas!

Charlie has been talking in sentences, some of which have evolved into little stories he repeats regularly. Here are some favorites:

Moon. Ball. Throw. (Makes throwing motion with hand.)
Bat. Spin. Gone! (The bat that used to spin as it hung from our porch ceiling is gone!)
Char. Eat. Keiner.
Hem. Gone. School. (Henry's at school.)
Char. Tuba. Pay. (I want to play the tuba.)

I guess you have to be his parent to get excited about this. It's a little peek into his mind, which is cool. What does he notice? What does he remember day after day? We're starting to get some hints.

Seattle weather certainly has been interesting lately. First, we had one of the driest summers on record, followed by the wettest November on record. Throw in a nice ice and snow storm that closed school for two and a half days, add in a wind storm that cancelled school for another day this past Wednesday (no electricity!) and we've got plenty of casual conversation fodder for the rest of the winter. But it didn't end there. Oh, no. Late Thursday night and early Friday morning, we were hit by the worst wind storm in years. Worse, they say, than the 1993 Election Day Storm, though thankfully not nearly as bad as the Columbus Day Storm of 1962. C'mon, it wasn't even on a holiday! What are we supposed to call it? Metroblogging Seattle is going with Windpocalypse 2006, which has such a perfect over-the-top quality that I'm surprised none of the local news stations thought of it first.

As for us, we got off easy. Our power went out amid howling winds shortly after midnight and we were prepared to be without power for a while. I figured 12-18 hours minimum. Surprisingly, the power came back on just before dawn. Cool. A quick look around the yard and up and down our street revealed no major damage, so I thought maybe it wasn't as bad as the predictions (keeping in mind that by the time I went to bed, there were already three known fatalities in the Seattle area). I decided to go out to Cafe Javasti for coffee and scones. On the way, I saw lots of small downed branches and other debris, but nothing too serious. Javasti had no power, though, so I headed down toward the Wedgwood Torus District. Starbucks was as crowded as I've seen it, with a line out the door. As I'd soon find out, this was because it was one of the few coffee places in Northeast Seattle with power. Just a few blocks south, Top Pot and Grateful Bread were dark. So, the power was out north of 85th and south of 77th. We were in a little island of electricity.

Just down the street from Grateful Bread, I spotted the first of what would be many downed trees. This one was leaning precariously against some power lines. Soon after, I spotted some downed power lines. Then some more. I drove up Lake City Way, which was dark the whole way, too. I decided to turn around and head home near Kathy's gym, but the road was blocked by a downed tree. Heading home along tree-lined 35th Ave, I saw tree after tree downed by the storm. Damaged cars, damaged houses, downed power lines. Wow. At 89th Street, about 20 blocks north of us, the road was blocked by four downed trees. I spotted more downed trees and more downed power lines on the side streets as I detoured around the blockage. Still, right near home, there was little damage.

It was only when I went out again a couple hours later to take some pictures (map) that I discovered that a huge tree had taken out the power to the middle school less than 500 feet from our house. We were lucky.