An Existential Question

What do you do? 
I was asked this question twice this month and came up short on my answer both times.  The first was at a retirement party for a friend in Seattle.  Another Metroid (as we liked to call ourselves) in asking where I lived these days and trying to imagine me in the woods near Rosario Resort since this was his only experience with the San Juans was answered only with "Oh, I manage to keep busy".  And last week at an equinox bonfire, the same question was put to me by the daughter of a friend.  "I'm retired" is all I could manage to say.  She turned away.

As you can see from my blogs these last few years, I feel my life is full and meaningful.  Why is it I can only come up with lame replies such as "Anything I want to do" and "Everyday is Saturday"?  In part, I suppose it is hard to label such a life.  I volunteer, or I garden, or I weave baskets are all inadequate by themselves.  And I don't want to blab on and on when the casual question does not require it.

Gentle Readers, if any of you have experienced a similar self-identification situation, perhaps you could help me with a solution.  Meanwhile, here are a few of the things I have been in March:

Grandmother

Roger and I became grandparents once again early in the morning on March 13th when Corbin Olafr Ellison arrived in the world.  Met with the news of his arrival two weeks ahead of schedule, we raced to get our car out of bondage at the repair shop, make the 10:30 boat and pick up the grandtwins and return to the island with them.  We had a fun filled two days and then I brought them home to meet their new little brother.  Meanwhile their two year old sister Audrey went home with another grandma.

Lenora & Iliana meet Corbin



Nature Lover

March has been interesting weather-wise to say the least.  We've had snow and wind and rain and yesterday, a gorgeous gardening day.  The daffodils are blooming but we are cognizant of the possibility of another frost or two before the season is over.  Roger and I have been chipping up a year's worth of prunings and limbings and fellings.  But yesterday we switched gears and chose between building better fences in the chicken yard and the courtyard and harvesting willow for that project and the "crow's nest" (see last month), and weeding the raspberry patch and a bunch of other tasks equally important. 

early March snowfall

Committee Member
Last week alone and in part due to grandmothering from the week before, I squeezed in a nominating committee meeting and regular lunch meeing of SIFri, two membership meetings, a board meeting, and a monthly gathering of the Textile Guild,  plus my bi-weekly shift at the Food Coop.  Oh, and I took a day off for a yoga retreat as well. 

Social Butterfly
This month (so far) I've been to two birthday, one going away, one retirement (in Seattle) parties, an equinox celebration,  two neighborhood gatherings for games, a fund-raising dinner, and a play.  Still have a week to go.  When do I have time for anything else?

Creating Collages on Peggy Sue's birthday

Blogger
Next month I will show you the pictures from a three day workshop on Shaw for Tahitian Market Baskets that I will be attending this week.

May Daize

So many events this month, I'll have to get my calendar out to remember them all.  I guess the first would be another basket class--this time we used willow bark and wove with an obvious vertical twill so the baskets could be twisted into an interesting shape.  My friend Monique joined me again and it was a very fun class. 

Immediately following the class we went to Seattle to celebrate my friend Jay's 60th birthday at a restaurant in Madison Valley called Harvest Vine http://www.harvestvine.com/menus/default.php  I believe the meal consisted of everything on the menu.  It was a great celebration.

My birthday was the following week.  Rosalie "snapped" this shot of us before we went downtown to celebrate.  Although the month has been unseasonably cold and wet, Friday the 13th was warm and pleasant.

Roger's Dad, Al, was able to move from Auburn Regional Hospital to our local nursing home and on May 23rd, he moved into Village at the Harbour, an assisted living facility just six minutes away from our house.  We are so pleased to have him so close by (where we can keep an eye on him).  Here's a picture of his new room.  Roger and I brought a truck load of his things back from Auburn to make him feel at home.

I must also mention that throughout the month we have met good friends for lunches and dinners.  And we are celebrating the arrival of two new family members, our nieces Clare and Bina have new babies born in the last week (in California).  Welcome to the world, Rafael and Nala!

Then my cousins, Chris from Oregon and his sister Jan from Hawaii, took a road trip to see the Washington cousins.  Rosalie and I took them sightseeing and prepared a nice dinner with our local fare including venison meatballs  and our own homegrown veggies.

The month culminated in a visit by my twin granddaughters.  We had promised them pony rides in honor of their fifth birthday last month.  Fortunately, the day was fair and mild.  Lenora started out on Cowboy, and Iliana got Allie.  They learned to lead, turn, and rein in their mounts. 







Oh yes, we also went home with twelve new chicks:





12 out of 100 went home with us

And last but not least, we finally put the rebuilt scow into the pond.  The girls took a ride on its maiden voyage.

Feb, March and April Foolishness

I went to Hawaii, specifically Kihei on Maui, with my friend Lynn for a week.  It was very nice.  It was 83 degrees every day.  I got to snorkel and see humpback whales.  I ate a half of a papaya everyday for breakfast.  Lynn and her parents were excellent hosts. 



Anita and Lynn on a Dinner Cruise near Lahaina



Then I came home and it was still cold here.  But there were a few more daffodils and all of the grape hyacinths are in bloom.  Roger hung the bamboo gate and he repaired the pond boat (scow?) while I was gone.



Lenora showing off the Plumeria hairclip she got from Hawaii

The twins turned five on April 1st.  Roger, his dad, and I met up with the family at a Red Robin in Everett to celebrate.  We bid on and won pony rides for the twins at the Soroptimists' St Pat's Day Fundraising Dinner.  We anticipate a vist in May when they will be able to redeem their prize.



Audrey has two little plumeria clips in her hair.



Four days after my last blog entry in which I was pointing out all the evidence of Spring, it snowed four inches.  HaHa on me.  It seemed like nature was held in suspended animation after that.  There are signs of Spring, the peepers are peeping.  But it just feels way behind schedule.

On a rare unrainy day, I took a walk and watched the eagles.  Our own nesting pair had one fledgling this year.  I think I witnessed its maiden flight one afternoon when it took several slow circles around our pond, supervised by its very vocal mother

One nice adventure between snowfall and Maui was a trip to Orcas to celebrate Peggy Sue's birthday.  Four of us visited the spa at Rosario Resort, lunched in Olga, and went sightseeing at Moran State Park.  We tried to drive up to Mt. Constitution, but the road was still closed due to snow.

I usually organize chronologically, but this month's entry is a melange of events.  One last event to note is that Roger's father Al came to stay with us this past week.  Although the visit was planned, two days prior he had fallen from his bed and was not able to get himself up for many hours.  Therefore, we were very concerned and have had him under close observation these past few days.  For the time being, we will be subscribing to an emergency response system with a medical alert necklace.  But more hard decisions will be forthcoming.