Love story for the ages

Lucy and John

It is one of my favorite things: to find an unforgettable memoir that just grabs me and gives me a lot to think about. And yesterday, I finished one that I can recommend without reservation: The Bright Hour by Nina Riggs. I not only enjoy all memoirs, but especially those that are written in extremis. Nina was a gifted writer and had the easiest way of talking about everything, with humor, as well as dying of breast cancer at 39. So, of course, I went online to find out more about Nina. I learned about her husband and children, and how much love was present in them all and for each other.

A couple of years ago, I read When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, which is along the same lines: Paul was only 37 when he died of lung cancer, never smoked, and was a renowned neurosurgical resident at Stanford. I have read his book twice now and will, I'm sure, read it again. He and his wife decided to visit a sperm bank in order to help his wife get pregnant before he died. He was very ill when his daughter, Cady, was born, but he lived long enough to be there. It's a tremendously inspiring book, too. I also recommend it highly.

But the love story: Nina was so worried about how John would be able to deal with her death that she asked him to get ahold of Lucy Kalanithi, who had been through the same experience that he was facing, and could possibly help him. Nina and Lucy were already friends because of an essay Nina had published in The Washington Post. Lucy had written her a fan letter and wrote a glowing blurb for the unpublished book, and sent Nina a private email two days before Nina died in a hospice. John read the email to her, and Nina begged him to get ahold of her afterward.

John did, and over the period of several months of intense emails, they decided to meet. Lucy was scheduled to come to a conference less than an hour away from John's home. That was the beginning of this part of the love story. The Washington Post wrote a wonderful article about it, which you can read in its entirety here. (Note: I subscribe to the Post, so I don't have a limit on what I can see. Please let me know if you have a problem reading it, and I'll try to find another way.)

For me, it was a Valentine's Day reward, a wonderful book and a real-life love story all at once. (P.S. I found, after some more digging, that the couple broke it off last summer, so the love story might not be still happening. Too soon?)
:-)

Melanie and me

Today's Senior Trailblazers

Both Senior Trailblazer hikes were canceled today, and Melanie and I decided, after offering everybody the chance to join us, to take a nice stroll down the Boulevard Park 2.5-mile walk from downtown Bellingham to Fairhaven. It was not difficult terrain, since there's no hills to speak of, but we did finally strap on our Microspikes so we wouldn't keep slipping. Neither of us had any problem at all, but we didn't have any additional snow or rain while we were out.

Big and little snowman and me

The clouds were threatening during the hours we were walking, but nothing came out of them. It is expected that later today the rain should start, and the temperature rose from around freezing all the way up to 40°F (4.5°C) while we were out.

Buffleheads again

I captured that same group of buffleheads (I assume) that were there last time I was here. The snow in the foreground has definitely begun to melt, but we have so much more snow than we are accustomed to. Piles line the major streets after snowplows have come through.

Distant mountains

In the distance, we could see mountains in Canada just below the gray skies. It was beautiful, to me at least, to gaze out at the darkness, the gray-green water, and the snow. We covered around five miles total, and there were plenty of other people out enjoying the fresh air. I'm hoping that by next week we can return to more normal activities. But in any event, it was a lovely way to spend a few hours with a super friend.
:-)

Snow, yoga, and closed stores

Nice hat

This statue is on a bench near the Village Bookstore in Fairhaven, a local bookstore I frequent often. This morning I woke to yet more snow overnight, making our total somewhere around five to six inches. Since I've not made my usual 10,000 steps for three long days, today I decided to walk to the bus and make my way to town. Yesterday my friend John picked me up and took me to the coffee shop, but today I really wanted to walk.

It has been colder and snowier than I remember in years. Every night when I snuggle into my warm down comforter in our unheated bedroom, it's usually frigid and I need to shiver a little bit to get it all warmed up, but eventually I'm happily ensconced underneath and fall asleep easily. Last night was the first time in days that I didn't wear my socks to bed.

Yesterday, I remembered that stashed in the back of my closet are a pair of Sorel snow boots that I haven't needed or worn in years. Since I was taken by surprise by the amount of snow we've been dealing with, I pulled them out and have been wearing them to help with the deep snow. They work great! Here's a picture:

Same Sorel style that I have

This morning before dawn, after bundling up against the snow and wind, I walked the three-quarters of a mile to the bus stop. I was very comfortable waiting, and once the bus came, I almost made it to the coffee shop before John got there. On line, I learned that the Y would not be opening until 8:30am, so I sauntered over to be one of the first ones there. Lo and behold, I was not only early, but all the classes had been cancelled as well! So I decided to take off on a bus to Fairhaven (where my yoga classes are held, as well as the bookstore with the statue).

My class was to begin at 11:00am, but the door was locked and no signs on the door. I headed over to the bookstore, but it was also closed, with no sign as to when they might open. Fortunately there is a grocery store nearby, and I got online on their wifi and found that the yoga studio would be opening late, but that my class was on! I walked back and found the teacher and a couple other students had arrived. It was a wonderful class, if on the small side. I took this picture from inside:

Snow-covered trees through the studio window

And then afterwards I caught the bus back downtown, and a final bus before my short walk home. Walking in deep snow is similar to walking barefoot in sand, I think. And then I was home, where I probably won't stir from my easy chair much more today. My step count accomplished, nicely worked out from the class, and I'm feeling ever so much better than the past few days.

But the snow can stop any time now. I've had my fill of wintertime.
:-)

Family members to Florida

Fia, Bob, Markee, Norma Jean

Most of you know that I visit my sister Norma Jean in Florida once every winter to get some sunshine and reconnect in person. Well, it turns out that my sister Markee and her husband Bob have just bought a home in Apollo Beach, Florida, about an hour's drive south of my sister's home in Zephyrhills.

Markee and Bob bought the home very recently, and Norma Jean drove down a day before they arrived  in order to open the house to accommodate the arrival of their new furniture. I took this picture using FaceTime when they had all arrived last Wednesday. Fia and Markee are close, sort of like Norma Jean and I are. Fia lives in Texas and flew to Tampa to join them for the grand unveiling.

Since I didn't know about all this in time for my trip to Florida last month, I'll need to wait until next February to join them for a family reunion. Bob and Markee live in Canada and will enjoy having a place to warm up after a cold spell in Alberta, where they live. They will be "snowbirds." Fia says she wants to hurry up and retire so she can move to Florida, too. It's cold right now in Texas, where she lives, but nothing like what Bob and Markee were experiencing in Canada: it was –44°C when they boarded the plane. What a difference it must be for them now!

Anyway, at the moment I'm listening to the windstorm roaring outside. We were supposed to get snow last night, and we did get a little, but nothing like south of us, where more than a foot was dumped! Instead we got this awful windstorm, which has given us gusts up to 60 mph (96 kmh). Since it was okay to drive, I went to meet the ladies for a windy walk, but once I got there, we decided to forget the walk and enjoy some coffee together instead. We've had 15–20 women most Saturdays, and even today 7 of us braved the weather. I was glad we skipped it though: our temperature right now is cold enough, with the windchill, to take it down to single digits. Next week will be soon enough!

Speaking of cold, I found this online and had to share it:

Minus 4 degrees

:-)

Enjoyable snow and ice day

Eleven adventurers (me behind the camera)

Today eleven Senior Trailblazers decided to check out the Chuckanut trails to Fragrance Lake and beyond. We were supposed to do a longer hike than we ended up doing, but conditions made us cautious about possibly hiking too far up the trails. It was icy and slippery going uphill to Fragrance Lake, partly because the trail gets plenty of use. It was cold but without even a breath of wind for the first part of the hike.

Snow-laden branches

The higher we climbed, the more snow we encountered. Filtered sunshine helped to make the hike delightful as we headed up to Burnout Point. (This was instead of trying to make it up the Rock Trail, since it was icy even where foot traffic was negligible.)

Samish Bay

Our progress was slow, because we needed to be very careful with every step, since the recent cold weather and strong winds had created possible pitfalls, with fresh snow hiding icy spots and disguising treacherous terrain. So we proceeded slowly, still enjoying the day and the company. Nobody was in a hurry.

Thank you, Melanie, for this picture

I like to make sure that I get a shot of myself for the blog when I'm not in the group photo, and Mel took this one, showing me in one of my favorite places: on a hike with some great friends.

Mt. Baker and the Sisters

We walked another half-mile to this view of Mt. Baker. We weren't sure if there would be a view, but the high clouds didn't mar the magnificence of the mountain. It was a little early, so we discussed whether to go further or just stop for lunch. For some of us, there was no question: let's stop.

Melanie choosing her lunch spot

As you can see, there was plenty of snow at our lookout point. Frank said that his GPS showed us at 1,800 feet (550 meters), and after we put on more clothes, we settled in for a rather leisurely lunch. By that I mean we spent maybe a half-hour here, and Melanie brought another one of her wonderful cakes. She even had napkins and forks this time, making it hard to pass up one or two servings.

Icicles

We decided to come back the way we had gone up, but once we got to the Fragrance Lake road, we took the road instead of going back on the trail, figuring it would be easier to navigate the slippery spots. For the most part, we were right, but there were several very icy places that made me extremely happy to use my poles to keep me upright. Most of the time, anyway; I did take one fall.

Waterfall and ice

When we got to the waterfall, which is usually rather unremarkable, we saw plenty of icicles and snow from the recent cold. In the middle of the picture you can see a hole made by the ice, surrounded by an abundance of beauty as we snapped lots of pictures.

At this point on the road, it became even more icy and slippery, so we took our time making it back to the cars. We covered right around eight miles, give or take a bit, depending on whose device you preferred, and 2,000 feet up and down. Another good day of exercise, with friends who make any outing more enjoyable.
:-)

Winter, finally

Boulevard Park on Superbowl Sunday

Sunday brought us the first snow of the season here in Bellingham, and then the winds started, coming down from the Fraser Valley in Canada, and the temperature dropped precipitously. I stayed inside on Sunday (after my usual trip to the coffee shop, that is, and my hour-long private session with my yoga teacher). I tried to watch the Superbowl, but it didn't hold my interest, and then the team I wanted to win lost. I watched a little TV and then went to bed, listening to the roar of the wind outside.

Monday morning it was still blowing, and the snow had pretty much stopped. Not knowing how bad the roads would be, I walked to the bus stop a half mile away, bundled up with plenty of down, long underwear, and mittens to keep me warm. I made it just fine, but the wind was brutal. Bellingham didn't get nearly as much snow as Seattle did, and what there was on Monday was made worse by the unrelenting wind.

The schools were all closed yesterday and today, and I pondered calling Monday afternoon to cancel my appointments to help people write their Advance Directives. But happily for me, the office closed for the day, and I didn't venture out again until this morning. Still cold, but the sun came out and it's actually rather nice when you're properly clothed. The wind died down to practically nothing. Now it seems almost normal outside. I'm glad I lived in Colorado before moving here: it toughened me up.
:-)

Beavers and groundhogs

Recent beaver work

Today is Groundhog Day, and I learned that Punxsutawney Phil, the famous groundhog who supposedly predicts whether or not we'll have an early spring didn't see his shadow today, which is supposed to mean that, yes, it WILL be early. Well, we haven't had much of a winter here in the Pacific Northwest, and the trees have been seduced into putting out buds already. We'll see what the cold weather we are predicted to have beginning tomorrow will do to those nascent buds. At least the day is the halfway mark to the first day of spring!

I took the picture last Thursday of the tree felled by beavers at Lizard Lake. Those guys are busy as, well, beavers. Did you know that they must gnaw on trees or their teeth just keep growing and then they cannot even eat properly? All rodents, apparently, have teeth that continue to grow during their lifetimes. But beavers are special: beaver teeth have really extreme growth, up to 4 feet a year! Because they're not worried about wearing their teeth down, beavers are free to chew on as many hard objects as they can. Learn more about them here.

I watched the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild awards, and I decided to check out a couple of shows that interested me: The Kominsky Method on Netflix (I really loved it) and Killing Eve on BBC America. Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin star in the comedy series about getting old, and it's just been renewed for a second season. Sandra Oh stars in Killing Eve, and I guess I should have realized it would be bloody and suspenseful, but I got hooked anyway and watched all eight episodes. It's also been renewed for a second season.

And I've seen all the performances and movies nominated for the Oscars, except for Glenn Close in The Wife. I'll try to see that one beforehand, since she has garnered accolades from those two events as well. It's an amazing eclectic mix of shows this year; we are really lucky to have such talent working today.
:-)