now that the
years have begun zipping by at such an increased rate of speed, i find myself
putting fingers to keyboard to computer screen to printer to paper at an ever
decreasing rate of time (it was so much
easier in the good old days - “pen to paper”…)
twentythirteen
was a year of relaxing after the year of twentytwelve. one of my long held
dreams has been to cruise the inside passage from washington
state to alaska.
after much debate and many years of non-decision making, we finally settled on
a compromise of the smallest cruise ship we could find that would sail through
some of the narrower channels of the inside passage, and yet didn’t cost the
equivalent of a second mortgage on the house! may of 2012 found us on the road
heading to vancouver, bc, canada.
after visiting
bim’s niece and her family for a few days,
we boarded our
ship in mid-may along with another 600 people, and sailed off into the sunset
heading north to alaska. there were rumors of tall coastal mountains along the
west coast of canada and alaska, although we
never saw any through the low lying cloud cover that was our constant
companion.
we got close enough to the glaciers in glacier bay to see, hear, and
feel the tremendous force of the huge stacks of ancient blue ice crashing into the
bay.
the accompanying
sleet, rain and snow added to the mysterious power of such raw nature. the
photographer in the family has never seen so many different shades of grey.
a float plane flew
us out of ketchikan
to view the misty fiords national monument from the air. many of the lakes in
the fiords were still frozen, so finding a spot to land on the water was a bit
of a challenge and quite exciting. our return to vancouver
landed us in spring weather, which we relished and enjoyed, before heading to the
canadian rockies for a couple weeks of
camping and exploring jasper, columbia ice field, banff
and glacier national parks. eagles and elk and bears, oh my!
we never got
tired of bear sightings, our eyes always on the lookout for the next mama and
baby bear! the hot springs
we found along the way brought a warm respite from the chilly weather,
especially at 12,000 feet! after four weeks, we were happy to return to summer
in sebastopol, and the delights of the garden we had planted before our trip.
six months later
found us in maui, basking in the tropical waters, and soaking up the warmth and
sunshine for four weeks. yes…four weeks in hawaii!
with so many
days ahead of us, we were in no hurry to do anything, which translated into a
very relaxed attitude. within a couple of days, anyone we met assumed we were
locals and all wanted to know how long we had lived on maui!
we enjoyed some
fantastic local music concerts, went snorkeling almost daily, saw lots of green
sea turtles and humpback whales, savored beautiful sunsets every evening.
the photographer
in the family took some very colorful photos on this trip!
you can find
some of them here:
our return to california a few days
before christmas, landed us in the pouring rain with the battery in our car as
dead as could be. AAA was very busy, so it was midnight before we got in the
car for the long drive home. december of 2012 is infamous for having the most
rainfall during one month for at least 100 years!
the early months of 2013 found us sticking close to home.
the early months of 2013 found us sticking close to home.
our cat, sam,
was diagnosed with kidney failure, but responded well to hydration therapy, so
we had a drip bag hanging in our living room for few months. bim learned how to
insert the needle into sam’s back for subcutaneous fluid infusions, and i
managed to keep sam calm enough to actually go through this procedure 2-3 times
per week. it was quite a learning process for the three of us. we all cherished
this gift of time, knowing that it was not a solution, but a temporary
reprieve. his kidneys finally gave out in august, and our very compassionate
vet came to our house for the final needle stick. it was a sad day, made a
little easier knowing that he had a good life and we had done our best for him.
otherwise, 2013
seems a blur of the good life. bim flies his ultra-light as often as possible,
capturing the beauty of sonoma county and the
northern california
coastline with his gorgeous photographs.
patti stays
grounded with her continued study of taiji and qigong. i also have a new
creative hobby that i’m enjoying tremendously. i’ve always been interested in
mosaics, and this summer i took a class to get me started, and now i’m playing with
colorful glass and tile, making mosaic art for the garden.
patti is now officially eligible for senior
discounts, having commemorated her sixtieth birthday this year. we celebrated
by spending a few days at sea ranch, our favorite wild and wonderful section of
the coast about two hours north of sebastopol. later in the summer, we headed
south to the carmel region of the california coast.
patti was attending a taiji workshop, and bim
went along for the ride. the pebble beach "concours d’elegance" was happening the
same weekend. bim’s only comment was astonishment at having never seen so many Porsches
in his life, even in germany.
the only cars on the very crowded roads were Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini
- Porsche being somewhat mundane in that
kind of company! it was quite a show, while sitting in traffic!
at this cold and cozy time of year, thoughts and memories of friends, near and far, warm our hearts, and bring smiles into our lives. we wish you health, happiness, laughter shared with good friends, peace and contentment in the upcoming year.
footprints…
they tell you
where you’ve been,
but not where
you’re going to go
