Fisherman friend Gene

No, that's not him in the picture

Most of you who have followed my blog for awhile recognize Gene, my fisherman friend who brings me wonderful Alaskan salmon, which he just gives away to friends. I saw this picture in our local coffee shop (Avellino's, where we meet most mornings) and asked Gene if I could take a picture of him standing in front of it. The portrait is gone now, so I'm glad I got this shot.

Lily in Gene's ancient truck

Last weekend Gene came to the coffee shop in his old truck. He asked Lily if she wanted to sit in it; she did. This is not the sort of truck (made in 1952) that most people could even drive. You need to double-clutch it to change gears, and the steering wheel is HUGE. He said vehicles like these don't even allow you to drink a cup of coffee while driving. You need all your wits about you, and all hands on deck! Makes for a fun picture, though.
:-)

Leo has turned eight

Ready, set... blow! 

Sunday was my friend Leo's eighth birthday. The weekend before, he had a party for others in his age group, but this past Sunday, his actual birthday, was reserved for the grownups who love Leo and have been coming to his parties since he was, well, an infant.

Do you remember your eighth birthday? I don't, and even though I asked all of us who were there on Sunday if they remembered theirs, nobody did. It was an awfully long time ago, but still. You only have one. The earliest that I remember was when I turned ten. But that's another story.

Sitting on Santa's knee

My friend Gene was one of the other adults, and he arrived in his Santa hat. He has an actual Santa suit, but with his totally cool beard, I asked for a picture and this is what I got. He said I had to sit on his knee, so I did. He didn't ask me what I want for Christmas, but that's because I've got absolutely everything I ever wanted already: wonderful friends of all ages, health, and loving family members both near and far. Who could ask for anything more?
:-)

Bellingham family and friends

Gene with his tablet and me

Yesterday, I asked a fellow coffee shop person to take this picture of me with Gene, but he really didn't want to cooperate. This is the best of three shots. Usually Gene doesn't use his tablet in the coffee shop and gives the rest of us grief for sitting and staring at the screen, just like he's doing here, instead of visiting with each other. My iPad is taking this picture, or you'd see me doing much the same as him.

Robert and Leo

Before I walked out the door on my way to the gym, I saw Leo having breakfast with his dad, Robert. Leo obliged by letting me take this picture without making a face. And then this morning, I saw Leo with his mom, Nana, at the Farmers' Market and got this one to go along with the previous picture.

Leo and Nana

Again, I had to ask nice to keep Leo from geeking the camera. I was surprised when Nana picked him up (he's almost too big) for the picture. It was a wonderful day out there this morning, and when I went to the market after the walk with the ladies, I kept running into people I know. It makes me realize how much Bellingham has become my home, my family. There was even one woman from the yoga class with her entire family. I would never have recognized her dressed in street clothes, but she recognized me.

In Whatcom Falls Park

The day started out sunny and bright, but before long clouds built up and a strong wind lowered the temperature. Usually at this time of year we are in the low sixties (15-16C) but yesterday it was much warmer (28C) than normal. I am quite ready for a return to normal Pacific Northwest temperatures. Everything is two to three weeks ahead of schedule. Even a few strawberries in my garden are beginning to ripen!

:-)

Opening doors

Robert and Gene replacing the doorknob at Avellino's

When I got to the coffeeshop this morning, Gene was puzzling over the new doorknob he had just purchased to replace the one that broke at Avellino's this morning. The real problem was getting the old one off first. After trying various unsuccessful methods, another customer walked up and told Gene where the likely spot to press might be, and before long it was off. Then the only problem was putting in the new one, which was pretty straightforward.

Except that he managed to replace the outside knob and the latch first, and when he pushed the inside knob onto the correct place, the outside knob fell right off onto the pavement. Ooops! We were locked in. It took quite a bit of help from other customers before it was all finished. Fortunately he got help from an arriving customer who pushed the outside knob back on so she could come inside and get some coffee. The phrase "it takes a village" went through my mind as I watched. I was the holder of the flashlight as they worked away.

William at Yoga Northwest

Then I was off to open another kind of door at my Tuesday yoga class. I am now taking a class on Tuesdays as well as Wednesdays, and I am enjoying them both very much. William's class is easier and less challenging then the one Denise teaches, but both are helping to strengthen my back and to regain some lost flexibility. I always prided myself on how flexible I was, but as I've aged that has changed. Both of these yoga classes are designed to be gentle for people with knee and back issues. No shoulder- or headstands. And it's another place where I feel right at home.
:-)

Our smoky skies

The sun from my front porch this morning

When I woke and saw that it was still dark in the living room after the sun had come up, I took a look outside and this is what I saw: sunlight filtered through the smoke from the British Columbia forest fires. Our heatwave has broken early, because we are getting sunlight through thick haze, and the temperatures have dropped precipitously. Right now, at noon, it's only 65 degrees F (18 C), and although it's supposed to get almost to 80 today, I don't think it will.

Precipitation % of normal for last 30 days (National Weather Service)

This fascinating graphic is from a website I found this morning while looking for more information about the BC wildfires that are causing such a degradation in the air around here. It's called Wildfire Today, and the guy behind it, Bill Gabbert, seems to be posting really interesting stuff daily about (you guessed it) wildfires. He's got plenty of them to choose from, unfortunately, but he must be scouring the web because he's got some great pictures and graphics. It doesn't look like it will get better around here until the end of the week when we've got a cool front headed our way.

From Gene's page on Facebook

And guess what? I finally saw a picture of my pal Gene, who is on his boat Hobo up in Alaska for his annual salmon catch. He left in early June. That's his crew with him. I sure will be glad when he's home; it's just not the same around the coffee shop without him.
:-)

A month into summer and all is well

Gene and Paula at Avellino's

I met Gene six years ago at this coffee shop, and now I feel he's part of my family. Here he is with his girlfriend Paula yesterday morning. I was so pleased to see them, as Gene has been salmon fishing in Bristol Bay for the past six weeks. Seems like a different town when he's not around. And Paula doesn't come to the coffee shop by herself. So welcome back!

I have got lots of stuff out of my garden, and the sugar snap peas have finished, so I need to spend some time in the garden getting rid of things that have already been harvested. I pulled up a six-and-a-half-pound red cabbage (that's almost 3kg) and we're still eating it. It's pretty wonderful. And I planted a new vegetable a few weeks back that is almost ready to harvest. Do you know what it is?

My little alien

It's a kohlrabi! I've never had one before, but I sure do like the way it looks, a bit like something from another planet. You can't make this stuff up, and why would I bother? I'm having fun in the garden, that's for sure. I wandered around the rest of the garden before coming back in to write this post, and I must say Nate has some of the most interesting things around (other than my alien, that is).

Nate's artichokes

Look at those pretty artichokes that are coming into being. I've never seen them grown in a garden before, so I wasn't exactly sure what the plant looked like. And he's got a massive crop of sunflowers that are all beginning to flower. They are going to be huge.

Nate's first sunflower

I was standing in the garden looking up at his plants, which are already way, way over my head. Considering that I'm more than five feet tall, these must already be seven and on their way up even more, don't you think?

By the way, Trish made it back to Seattle just fine, and it makes me very happy to have Facebook so I can keep up with all the happenings in her life, as well as the rest of my extended family. I didn't get to skydive this past weekend because of weather, so we're going to try again this coming weekend, which looks really good in the long-range forecast. So, life is good here, and I've got many happy hours ahead to tend my garden, read books, and just plain enjoy summer. Hope yours is going well, too.
:-)

Anniversaries and new beginnings

Gene is lifting up his beard so we can read the t-shirt

This picture was taken yesterday morning when Gene came to the coffee shop before heading to the airport. Every June and July he fishes for salmon with his crew in Alaska. His shirt is from a saloon called the Salty Dawg in Homer Spit, Alaska. We all gave him hugs and lots of wishes for a good season and a safe return. We will all miss him until he comes home, especially Paula, since they have spent the last year or so together, either at his place or hers. This means we won't see her until he comes back, since she's not an early riser on her own.

Leo and his dad on the bus

Last week on my way to get a massage, I saw these two get on the bus, and the seat in front of me had just been vacated, so guess who came to mug my camera? Leo said they were on their way to a different coffee shop than the one we frequent, so he could have a biscotti. And his dad Robert could have an espresso, I suspect. I had a wonderful massage and then caught the bus home.

Roses outside the public library

Yesterday as I was returning a very interesting book to the library, I saw these pretty roses and after sniffing and appreciating them, I snapped their portrait. The book is Pandora's Lunchbox: How Processed Foods Took Over the American Meal. I saw the author, Melanie Warner, interviewed on some talk show not long ago and mentioned the book to Norma Jean. She of course got on the list at her library and read it when it became available, and I forgot to. She was reading it during our last video chat and I immediately snagged it from my library. The link above will take you to an interview on Grist with Melanie, where she is asked some questions about what she discovered during her 18 months researching the fast food industry.

I was not learning much that I didn't already know, until I discovered where my vitamins are processed, and how. Did you know that Vitamin D3, essential for those of us who live so far north, is processed in China from Australian wool? Yes! The lanolin is shipped there and irradiated to create the vitamin. I checked my own brand of D3, and it says it is processed from wool oil. Eeewww! But once I got over the initial shock, I also learned that very few of the vitamins I consume are processed in this country, because of the environmental damage to land and air. China doesn't have those same regulations, so there you are. How revolting.

I also learned about GRAS (generally recognized as safe). From that article linked above, here's a quote from Melanie:

In a glaring regulatory loophole that dates back to 1958, the GRAS system also happens to be voluntary. It’s perfectly legal for companies to keep the FDA in the dark about new additives, and consequently there are some 1,000 ingredients the FDA has no knowledge of whatsoever, according to an estimate done by the Pew Research Center.

 The closer one can get to eating food that has not become processed Frankenfood, the better. I think I've eaten my last bit of brand-name foods that I thought, once upon a time, were GRAS. And reading labels has become my thing. Not that I didn't read them before, but I wonder when I ate my last French fry? They will never pass my lips again.

I wondered why today's date kept nagging at me. Not only is it my grand-niece's birthday (she's three), it's the thirteenth anniversary of my terrible skydiving accident. And I'm still doing it (skydiving, that is). Sunday I made four wonderful skydives with my friends, and we were gifted with a fantastic day where everything worked just as it should. I had even forgotten the upcoming anniversary, until today's post needed to be written and I pondered the date.

We have a few days of rain in our forecast, and unfortunately one of them looks like Thursday, so the next post is likely to be soggy. Until then, however, I'll be enjoying the afterglow of Sunday and obsessively reading food labels.
:-)

Requiem for a bird

Five years ago, and last month

My fisherman friend Gene has lost his companion of more than two decades, his parrot Poopstain. On Friday I was sitting the coffee shop having my morning latte when Gene came in, obviously upset. I looked up at him and saw that the bird wasn't with him. I asked if he was okay, and he teared up and said the bird had died. He found him in the cage that morning and wasn't sure when he had finally passed away during the night.

We all knew that the bird wasn't well. He had a stroke or something similar about a year ago, when he stopped squawking constantly and stopped growing new feathers. I refer to the bird as "he" because Gene does, but a few years ago "he" laid and egg and Gene realized that the bird was female, but it was too late for Gene to make the transition in his own mind. The bird's behavior had also changed pretty drastically lately, with him sleeping more often and crawling under Gene's beard, where he obviously felt safe, instead of perched on his shoulder. Gene also got in the habit of wearing a shirt so that the bird could nestle under it, and he spent more and more time when outside huddled in the safety of Gene's beard and shirt. He made little noises like baby birds do, and we speculated that he had reverted in his old age to becoming a nestling again.

Gene said he thought it would be a relief when Poopers finally died, but you just don't lose a companion of more than twenty years without suffering a real loss. He said that he should just go home and clean everything up and bury him, but I reminded Gene that his girlfriend Paula has a relationship with the bird, too, and would need to have some closure. I sent Gene off to Paula's house and will find out on Monday what they finally did to lay the bird to rest.

I went looking for a card to give to Gene, but after perusing all the sympathy cards, nothing was appropriate, so here is my gift to the bird he loved: a blog post. Goodbye, little bird! May you fly free and squawk to your heart's content. You gave my friend Gene an awful lot of love.
:-}

Opening Day for Market 2013

Rabbit Fields Farm veggies

The first Saturday in April marks the beginning of the Farmers' Market in Bellingham, held every Saturday until the last one before Christmas. We see the wares vary with the seasons, and today I saw the annual "Tossing of the Cabbage." The tradition has been for the mayor of the town to throw a cabbage to a child, and if it is caught successfully, it portends a very good season. So the pressure was on for all involved.

Mayor Linville with the cabbage

Last year we had a little parade, since it marked twenty years of the Farmers' Market at this location, with a large rather impressive cabbage presented on a velvet pillow. This year, Linville said this is the largest LOCAL cabbage ever grown by this time of the year. And here is the person selected to receive the cabbage.

I didn't find out her name, but I learned her parents have a booth at the market. You can see all the photographers getting ready for the big event. But Linville didn't want to take any chances, so she stood only a short distance away from the girl, tossing it gently up into the air. I wasn't successful in showing it in mid-flight, but here you can see the successful catch!

I suspect that I will be in quite a few pictures of the toss, as I can see plenty of cameras pointed in my direction. Maybe one of them was more successful at capturing the cabbage in mid-flight, but I was pleased nevertheless. And then the bell rang, opening the market for the season. Although it isn't a very nice day, it wasn't raining at that moment, the wind cooperated for awhile, the toss was successful, so everyone was happy.

Does anything say spring better than pussy willows?

I wandered around the market for a short while, although I was beginning to get a little cold, since I had just finished a brisk six-mile walk with the Fairhaven walkers. The organizer, Cindy, started the walk from this location today, so that we could be back in time to shop, and for me to get pictures of the toss. I got this picture of my fisherman friend Gene with his parrot Poopstain, or Poopers for short.

He didn't really want me to take this picture, because Poopers is beginning to get really old (somewhere around 23 or 24) and doesn't have any new feathers growing in. We speculate that the bird had a stroke about a year ago, when the squawking stopped and it started spending most of its time on his shoulder hiding out under the beard. For years he thought the bird was male, but then it laid an egg. Gene still calls it a "he," while his girlfriend calls it a "she."

Now I am home and getting ready to fix myself a nice lunch. It was a good morning, and I'm warm and cozy, with my camera all primed for the season, too! I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
:-)

News from my neck of the woods

From Cheryl's home page

I just finished a wonderful book. I first learned about it last week when one of my Senior Trailblazers, Peggy, told me she was reading the book and was enjoying it immensely. Although she offered me a chance to borrow it from her once she was finished, I was too impatient to wait and went online and ordered it from Amazon for my iPad. Although I first went to my local library, I learned that it already had 150 holds ahead of me! That meant it would be sometime next year before I had a chance to read it. For $13 I could have it right away. Amazon makes it awfully easy to order these things: in less than a minute it was downloaded onto my iPad.

However, it was a good move. The New York Times reviewer Dwight Garner had written a piece that made me even more impatient to read it, not to mention that I'm not exactly a patient person to begin with. Yesterday I finished it and will continue to think about it and read other things by the author.

Cheryl spent three months on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) in 1995, and the book is about her experiences. She was lost in many ways, since her beloved mother had died at the age of 45 from lung cancer a few years before and her marriage had fallen apart. She decided to hike the trail alone, although she had never even spent a night backpacking prior to this. Her writing style just kept me on the edge of my seat, wondering what would happen next. Although I'm not sure why it took her so many years to finally write this book, I'm so glad she did. If you decide to spring for it, I don't think you'll be sorry, although it's only available in hardback and it's a bit pricey, unless you go the electronic route.

Yesterday here in Bellingham we had a weather record of our own. I've been watching the awful scorching and dry weather that most of the rest of the country has been going through, and I'm grateful for the cooler weather here in the Pacific Northwest. However, yesterday in Bellingham we had the lowest high temperature for the date, by two degrees. It only made it to 61 degrees F (16 C) and was downright cold. We are already a month into the summer season and have had below-normal temperatures for most of it. That said, it's still a better summer than last year. Who knows if this is because of climate change or just normal variation? Hopefully at least some of what we are all going through is not permanent.

And finally, the other news from my neck of the woods is that my fisherman friend Gene has returned from Alaska. He goes up there for around two months every summer to fish on his boat. We not only don't see him at the coffee shop, but his lady friend Paula and his twenty-year-old parrot don't visit us either. Now everybody is back. I sure enjoyed taking this picture.

Paula with Poop-Stain

Gene says that the bird has the best summer of his life, since Gene used to take him to a bird sitter's home and he didn't get a lot of attention. Paula put a cage for him in her place, and he grew quite attached to her, as you can see. Since they don't live together (Paula and Gene), the bird now has two homes and gets plenty of tender loving care. He's also getting on in years and sleeps much more than he did even a year ago. Both of them speculate that he might have had a small stroke, since he has rather abruptly lost his squawk and is much more docile. I don't know, but I am enjoying seeing the three of them reunited at the coffee shop.

Well, as they say, that's the news from Bellingham, the City of Subdued Excitement, my neck of the woods.

:-)

Santa's visit

Yesterday my friend Gene dressed up as Santa and came to the coffee shop. When I walked in, he had had all the kids sitting on his lap, taking pictures with his own camera held at arm's length. I had to get this one (he's behind the counter here) showing that under those spats he's wearing his usual Birkenstocks. Gene is a fisherman who generously gave us our Thanksgiving salmon for the past two years. He left his usual companion at home, a 20-year-old parrot he calls Poopstain (for obvious reasons).  The small coffee shop is locally owned; Gene says Starbucks doesn't let him bring the parrot in.

I've seen the parrot get his attention by pulling on his beard to make him turn toward him. Poopers also drinks water and takes nuts from Gene's mouth. I talked Gene into taking the bird to a vet not long ago, and it turns out he's still a very healthy bird with maybe another five years of life. I thought you might enjoy seeing some of our local color.

My birdbath is getting more popular with the regulars. Yesterday I saw this scene on the front porch, and just while I was writing this, some jays flew up to partake. I've learned that when it's cold the squirrels use their tails to keep warm, which is why the one eating has it wrapped up over his spine. I've learned so much from my blogging friends!

In a few minutes I'll be heading down to the Farmers' Market, which is only open today and next Saturday, and then it will close for the season and re-open in April with the mayor tossing out the first cabbage, just like last year. I'll be there hoping for good weather. The gorgeous sunny weather is now behind us, and we've got snow coming tomorrow, and then rain for the rest of the week. When the rain returns, it will bring more moderate temperatures. That Rex block was sure nice while it lasted, but I actually look forward to the return of the usual situation here in this part of the world: rain, mist, temperatures above freezing.
:-)