Opening Day of Baseball - a mini-vacation

Matthew 11:28-30

 "Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, 

and I will give you rest. 

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, 

for I am gentle and humble in heart, 

and you will find rest for your souls. 

For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

So Heidi finally got a week off, thus I finally got a week off.   Well most of a week, as I told Heidi I'd take Emily one day, so she could really have a day off.  And when Riley realized that I got a week off, he got a week off.  So right a way we got tickets to the opening day of baseball in Seattle, which was Monday March 31st.  And then we knew that we'd need someplace to stay, but it's always so hard as I hate hotels.  But on Friday our friends Chuck and Lynn Goodwin from Seattle were coming to Portland for the weekend and we knew we would see them a bunch.  This made it awkward seeing if we might be able to stay at their house on Monday evening, but they were very forthcoming at inviting us.  They themselves were staying at the Benson Hotel in Portland, though we would have gladly let them stay at our house.  Trouble is our daughters keep taking the double bed.  I need to find out where that bed is now.

We had originally planned to go out to dinner with them on Friday night, but I had had a rather rough week and by Friday I had no clothes to wear that didn't need to go into the wash.  In the morning I managed to get them into the wash, but by early evening they were still all in the wash.  My biggest problem was that the tranquilizer and sleeping pill that the doctor had me taking, for two weeks because of how stressed I've been feeling because of our oldest daughter's divorce situation, had finally got to a permanent state of sleepiness.  All day Friday all I could think about was that I wanted to take a nap - desperately.  I had e-mailed Riley saying that I really needed a nap, and then I called him, but because he was taking the next week off he had too much work to finish to come home.  

In desperation I took Emily to the Lloyd Center and let her do whatever she wanted.  She watched the ice skaters, then twirled all the racks she could in the jewelry department of Macy's.  Then looked at purses and back to the jewelery.  Then we head town the concourse to the pet store and looked at the puppies and rabbits and fish and kitties, etc.  Emily then headed on down the concourse and wanted to go into the men's suit store and when I said no she fell on the floor crying.  Now this is not her usual style and we were at the far end of the mall so I knew I was in trouble.  It was a bit of a struggle getting her back on track and heading back to the car, especially when we hit Barnes and Noble.  She knew right where the children's book department was an had every intention of checking out everything.  I found Marie Claire Idees and wanted to buy it and I knew that having to stand in line with Emily would be quite a feet.  Amazingly when we did I found a little book about puppies and told her to sit down and look at it, she did.  And when she was done she put it back on the shelf where it came from.  I finally made my purchase and picked Emily up.  Now she had been standing for quite some time, over an hour, and her diaper had efficiently collected everything.  But when I picked her up it began to squeeze out on I got all wet.  So now I really had no clothes to wear and I was really tired and I still was desperately in need of a nap. So when Riley got home he suggested that we call off our get-together with our friends until Saturday.  I usually don't like to back out on something but I did remember that our friends had called just before I went out with Emily and they said that the drive was very difficult because of the weather.  So when Riley called them at their hotel they were fine about the change of plans.  We all went out to dinner the next evening and had a wonderful time. We don't see Chuck and Lynn all that often but we always enjoy being with them. And we went to lunch with them at Kenny and Zuke's, a really good Jewish delicatessen with terrific corned beef and pastrami, the next day and all got so much to eat that we all took home leftovers. The Goodwins ate their leftovers on their way back home to Seattle and Riley and I ate ours the next day on our way up to Seattle.

As usual I didn't get ready ahead of time for our trip to Seattle.  When will I ever learn?!  I need to pack my bag the night before and get the extra things I like to take on a trip all ready to go.  I did start my bread the night before.  But the next day I did not hit the ground running, but started out rather slowly. At some point I realized that I need to get going, especially since I needed the bread.

We knew that after the baseball game we would need to eat, and we always find it hard finding a place to eat in Seattle - I don't know why. So after thinking a bit on the problem I decided that I would bring a picnic lunch. After I got the bread going on the second raising on Monday morning I knew I was falling behind schedule. I didn't want to be late for the game, which was to start at 3:40. I had decided to make tuna fish filling and eggs and ham filling.

Tuna Fish Filling

2 cans of albacore tuna, drained
sweet pickle relish
finely diced red onion
mayonaise, thinned with buttermilk

These are the basic ingredients and I think that how much of everything you put into the mixture is up to your taste. I love lots of pickle relish and diced onion, and I make the mayonaise about the consistancy of cream. The ingredients other than the tuna are your basic elements of tartar sauce or remoulade.. I should try mixing them up sometime without the tuna and see what I get. If nothing else it could be a mix ready for the tuna, thus less fuss..

Eggs and Ham Filling

hard boiled eggs, peeled and diced using an egg slicer
ham, very finely diced
some red onion, very finely diced
salt and pepper

mayonnaise, thinned with buttermilk to the consistency of cream
mustard of your choice, I like Dijon

To dice up the eggs I place an egg in the egg slicer and slice it. Then, carefully lifting up the egg and opening the slicer, I carefully turn the sliced egg 90 degrees and then reslice the egg. When you've got you eggs diced up add the ham and onions and stir with a fork. Thin the mayonnaise with the buttermilk and then stir in the mustard. Add to the egg mixture and stir up gently. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper as needed.



By the time I got the fillings made the bread was just about ready to be put into the pan to rise. I know that Julia Child says to let them be free on the table, but I like the pan.  Then I dashed to the basement to find a picnic basket.  I love picnic baskets and I have found some real gems at Goodwill.  I think that my love of picnic baskets started with "Mickey Mouse's Picnic". The one I came up with is in the shape of a partial circle and has really good dishes in it and was never used before when I bought it.  I added to it a tablecloth, a couple tea towels, bread board, and a straw mat for sitting on.  And as to food items I put in a baggie of sugar and a few Wittards tea bagsLater Riley brought up the small cooler, added ice in baggies to it, and I put the sandwich fillings, the Pellegrino and a can of ginger ale into it. .  This ready I dashed up stairs to pack, telling Riley to remember that we were fast running out of time.  He was doing I don't know what, but he was in a very good mood.

Eventually everything was ready and we headed out of town (after getting a cup of coffee) at noon.  It wasn't long before I noticed Riley was driving really fast, but after I pointed it out he slowed down.  However, it was about Chehalis that he had me drive.  That's maybe half way, and I think in the end this was good, as it was me driving into Seattle to park and I took a very different approach to this than Riley would have.  I found an absolutely terrific place to park right off of Pioneer Square that leads directly to Safeco Field.   The temperature was 53 degrees and the sky was sunny, so I put on my sweater and neck scarf and left my red hooded wool coat. We hadn't walked too far when I noticed that a lot of people were dressed in decidedly winter clothing. I figured that they knew something I didn't know. In hind sight I should have gone right back and got my winter coat out of the car, but what did I know. Instead, we spotted a Mariner's gear shop with a 50% off sign. Riley was wanting a Mariner hoody, so in we went. Nothing in his size was on sale, but I found a hoody in my size for 50% off. We also found an absolutely adorable pink Mariner baseball hat for Emily. She's always putting on people's baseball hats and I had decided I must find one in her size. I put on the hoody right away and I was very glad that I had it, as Seattle can and did get very cold. I also put on a second pair of socks and my ankle-warmers. In my bag I also had with me a plaid shawl from Scotland which I wrapped around myself as the evening progressed.

In no time we were in our seats and the game was just about to start. It was already quite obvious that the evening was going to be cold. As I mentioned above I had to bundle up with everything I had. I had a great seat and I really enjoyed the game so I was sufficiently distracted from being miserable in the cold. They won, which was the first time they had won when we were in the stadium. We had been starting to feel like a curse or something. The pitcher was a new guy who came from the Baltimore Orioles . They trade five men for him. Bedard started off really well, but soon it was looking a bit iffy. He pitched over a hundred pitches by the middle of the game. But it seems that he's a pitcher with stick-to-itiveness. Once outside with the crowd heading back to the car it seemed reasonable to stop and have dinner in one of the many restaurants along the route, but in actuality all I wanted was to get warm by sitting on my heated seat in my car that would eventually heat up. We headed straight for the Goodwins house, where we took our picnic inside and ate our dinner while chatting with Chuck and Lynn. We tried not to keep them up too late because Lynn has to leave for work at 7:30 in the morning.



Lynn was long gone by the time I woke up. I got up and got dress and headed down stairs, where Chuck and Riley were having coffee. They got a cup of coffee for me and we sat down and ate a bran blueberry muffin. Afterwards we went and looked a Chuck's pictures of Paris. They have been twice taken to Paris for a Thanksgiving holiday with Chuck's mother. Quelle chance!! He had some very nice pictures, but they weren't organized. I told him that he needed to organize, though there is an irony there, as the Goodwins are excessively organized and tidy people. Unfortunately the Goodwins keep their house very cold, and after being so cold at the game, all I could think about was sitting somewhere in the sun. We tidied up our stuff and the room we slept in, loaded the car and headed out - after taking a look at Chucks 26 ft sail boat that sleeps four.

We headed to Woodinville and found the Starbuks and a a seat in the sun. Yes! We had coffee and a breakfast sandwich. We sat in the sun and did a crossword puzzle. I finally got warm, and it was lovely. Then we left and went to the Lacanche store to see what was up and say hi. They gave us a bottle of wine, and Riley bought a bottle of wine. After chatting for for a while with Stan we headed for the Mukeleto Ferry. It was a pleasant country drive. As we got close the terrain headed steeply down towards the water. We zipped up to the pay station, got our ticket and headed straight to the ferry, where they were just closing the bar. Seeing us the stopped closing the bar, leaving just enought room for us to drive under the bar and get onto the ferry, which immediately left the dock, heading for Whidbey Island.

Whidbey Island was to be the next leg of our trip. Our ferry came is somewhere around Clinton. The ride was hardly 20 minutes. We then headed on down the road. I was clueless as to where we were going, but Riley seemed confident. At some point along the road we spotted a sign to Langley and decided to go there. It's a charming little down, very trendy in its own way, but it was Tuesday and the majority of the shops were closed. But that meant that the streets weren't crowded with tourists, though it was Washington's spring break. We eventually decided that we should stop and have some of our picnic lunch. There was a tiny park in the middle of town, but I felt like I would be on display eating lunch there, and we headed out of town. But at the edge of town we spotted a very cute little park where we ate lunch. It was very pleasant.

After lunch we headed out for our main destination. I had absolutely no idea where we were going or how to get there, but Riley seemed fairly confident about it all. I suppose I should explain how it is we were going there. Riley's assistant at work had told him that she had an aunt who lived on Whidbey Island who loved to have visitors and that we should go stay with her a night while on our mini-vacation. Riley told me about this, but only as an amusement, as he could not imagine our visiting a complete stranger. But I thought it sounded like a terrific opportunity to me, and I told him I thought we should do it. He did not think I really meant it at first, but eventually I convinced him. I'm guessing that eventually Riley contacted via email the woman we would be visiting - Tammy Tasker. So here we were, finding our way to Aunt Tammy's place.

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." 

Robert Kennedy

Riley's Birthdays

Psalm 37:37

Consider the blameless, observe the upright; 


there is a future for the man of peace.

This year Riley managed to get two days of birthday celebration. That's good because he turned 60 and that needs to be a big deal. For days I tried to figure out how to have a birthday celebration on his birthday proper, which was a Tuesday, but I never came up with a solution for that dilemma. I finally came up with the idea of just the two of us going out to dinner at whatever restaurant Riley chose. He thought that was a great idea, and after a few days of thinking about what restaurant he'd like to go to he realized that he really didn't want to go to any restaurant where anyone is wearing a suit. That pretty much excluded almost all steakhouses except the mediocre ones. He selected Ken's Artisan Pizza - an excellent choice in my opinion. We always have a good time there.


Riley took his birthday and the day before off, so that gave him a four day weekend. He took time to work on straightening up the third floor. Now I could put pictures of the mess on my web, but that would be embarrassing. It will be better if I put it on after it's all cleaned up, should that happen. Riley loves accomplishing things, so that made for a very good birthday weekend for him. He really did make progress. Of course everyone keeps telling me that I must throw more things out. Now that is true, but I have to take this task on slowly. You have to think about it.

Emily was with us on his birthday, so the three of us went out to breakfast at Fat City Cafe, a cafe in Multnomah village that is very funky and has been there at least since the fifties. The walls are completely covered with old license plates and road signs and there's booths and tables and a counter and it isn't that big of a place. Emily and I had hash-browns and a fried egg and a grapefruit half, and Riley had a ham and cheese omelet with toast. And of course we had the coffee, which isn't that good, but it's part of the experience. If I were to change anything at Fat City it would be to bring my own silverware. Theirs is really bad. Afterwards we went down the street to the candy store, but it wasn't open yet. Later in the day, after Christian got home from school, the four of us went to Mio Gelatto, because Christian is always asking to go there and a birthday seemed like a good excuse.

Now I still needed to settle on what to do about the family and a party for Riley. It was decided that we would have a dinner on the following weekend, but I was continually confused on which day was the best. I decided I would make the daring baker cake for this months project, and Riley wanted to have my meatballs in spicy sauce for dinner. I was having trouble getting totally behind all of this, because I was tired and confused. In the end it turned out that some thought the party was Saturday and some thought it was Sunday, and some couldn't come on Saturday couldn't come on Sunday. Then at some point I decided that what we should do is have a great big English breakfast on Sunday. This idea was well received by all. At last! I had a hard time sleeping the night before (worrying about my children) so I decided to get up, get the kitchen all cleaned up, and set the table for the birthday breakfast. Corey was still up, but she didn't help. At 2:00 we both went to bed. Even though I didn't get enough sleep I was very glad to be more ready.

After church we started in on getting the breakfast ready.

Menu for an English Breakfast

flakey scones
blueberry muffins
scrambled eggs
bacon
sausages
fried mushrooms
fried tomatoes
orange juice
grapefruit juice
tea and coffee

I turned the Lacanche electric oven to 350, lined a small rectangular baking dish with foil, put the sausages into the dish and into the oven, to be ignored until time for breakfast. Next, Riley started in on his famous blueberry muffins, to be put into the Miele oven. And Emily and I started making the flakey scones. She caught on right away. The sight of Emily making scones pleased everyone. When Marilyn arrived she took over the bacon for me. I still haven't really figured out how to make bacon for a crowd. Annie and Sarah did the mushrooms and tomatoes, and finally it was all ready.

We finally sat down to breakfast at 11:34. I know this because I took a picture and then it has time on it. The breakfast was greatly enjoyed by all, and not a bit of food was left. that's always so nice. Of course then I was worried that they didn't get enough eat. But I was assured that they did. Then when we were done, Riley opened his presents. Sarah and Zac gave him a dvd of a football movie. Annie, Corey, and Heidi gave him a great big basket filled with terrific Italian food items, and he really enjoyed that.

"We make a living by what we get, 

but we make a life by what we give." Winston Churchill

Two Days Off

Esther 2:12 

"Before a girl's turn came to go in to King Xerxes,

 she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments 

prescribed for the women, 

six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics."

I was informed this weekend that I would not be baby-sitting on Tuesday and Wednesday, so I promptly made an appointment at the spa for a facial and a pedicure. I scheduled the facial for 10 o'clock and the pedicure for 12 o'clock so that I would have enough time in between for a nice long shower and time to get my hair dried properly. I was really looking forward to this. But on Monday morning my daughter tells me that Tom said he would have the kids on Wednesday and Thursday. She knew I'd made the appointment so she told Tom that he could call and tell me. She told me not to worry, that he wouldn't want to do that. And sure enough, he changed his schedule to have Tuesday off.

Well I had a lovely time at the spa. It is a very good thing to have a facial and pedicure because as you get older your face and feet do too. I don't think that enough young women realize that if you take good care of your body when you're young and on towards getting older then things turn out better. I should have started when I was younger. But I have had one advantage - because I'm a redhead I have always been careful about being in the sun too much. Also, I don't wear make-up, which I think is very bad for your skin. And because my mother had trouble with poor shoes as a child she always made sure we had well made well fitting shoes and this helps ones feet a lot. But I was always fond of going barefoot - actually I don't remember getting shoes in the summer as a child - so my feet are a bit tough. I read once in a magazine article about French women that they often start their daughters getting facials when they are around 12 years old. This is a wonderful thing to do and I should have done that. One of my daughters has a bad complexion and I am very worried about her and tend to feel guilty about it.

After the pedicure I gingerly hike up the hill to my care wearing those silly flip-flops and went to have a late lunch with Riley. Then I went through a Starbucks drive-through for a "12 ounce Americano with 1 1/2 inches of foam" and their new tiny vanilla scone. Before the clerk handed me the scone he said "You know they're very small." I assured him that I knew and that I thought it was a great idea to have small ones because the others have way too many calories. With coffee in hand I headed for Marshals, because I hadn't been there in quite a while. I bought two birthday presents for daughters with birthdays in September. Now I just need to remember that I bought them and where I've put them. I must get them wrapped.

When I got home daughter number three had cleaned the kitchen, which is fabulous, but she was in a very grumpy mood. I think she's discouraged about being in her late twenties and not having a "boy friend." It's amazing how many perfectly nice young women I know who are in their twenties and don't have boy friends. And then you see slobby young women with a boy friend or husband in tow! But anyway I went into the living room because she seemed to want to be grumpy all by herself. But then I turned on the TV to watch my favorite show - Jakers - and that made her mad because she said I had the TV on too loud. Sometimes you just can't win.


But not long after that Riley showed up, and then Sarah showed up. Riley had picked up her car at the auto repair shop and she was returning his car and retrieving hers. She stayed for a while and we had a lovely chat. During the course of the conversation she invited me to join her on Wednesday when she went to the hospital for a sonogram. And we also decided that we would go to Bob's Red Mill for shopping and lunch, and to Target to look at baby things. I had never seen a sonogram being done as they were only done in cases of emergency when I was having babies.



I began Wednesday by taking Corey to Fred Meyer's at 9 o'clock. We started by going into Starbucks for a cup-a. Then we putzed around, looking at this and at that. We bought soup and fruit and hair brushes and the like. Then it was about 10:20 when we headed home. We weren't home long when Sarah called to say she was ready to meet me at Target.

I met Sarah in the Target parking lot at 11:30 (after getting lost for only about five minutes) and we went in for a while to look at baby things. Sarah and I agreed that too many things were not simple enough. Sarah was drawn to blue items, as she is expecting her baby to be a boy. I told her that I thought the best clothing item for basics for a baby is onesies. The packages called them body suits, which I think is a little intense for a newborn. And then I recommended socks with nice long cuffs. Emily just promptly pulls off socks with the short little "athletic" cuff. I tried to explain about carseats and strollers to Sarah, but she just didn't quite get it. I liked the looks of the umbrollers with nicely ample compartments underneath, but I never tried to collapse them, which is where the rubber meets the road. The stroller I use for Emily is sooooo obnoxious to open and shut that I never do. But I'm fortunate enough to have a car that can easily hold an uncollapsed stroller. When Sarah was a baby I carried her on my front in a baby carrier. This was because I had two other babies, each in an umbroller, often one pushed by me and the other pushed by my seven year old daughter. This was in Hong Kong. Heidi was a real pro at pushing a stroller and at getting it on and off the Star Ferry or in and out of a taxi. I don't think we did the bus without Dad along, as the bus drivers would take off as soon as you got on the bus and sitting down could be a real challenge. I have some great photos of Sarah and I in the streets of Hong Kong. I need to get my slides onto my computer. I owned a Chinese baby carrier but it was for having the baby on your back and I found that much too awkward. You had to remain standing at all times, unless you found a backless bench to sit on. Actually, in Hong Kong there was almost no public seating. You sat in a restaurant, a taxi, a bus, or a ferry. In those days this wasn't hard to manage - the bus was 10 cents, the ferry 3 cents, and the taxi from our flat to Central was maybe $1.50 or less. Oh, I forgot the MTR (subway), it was maybe 25 cents. In those days Hong Kong's subway was brand new and absolutely fabulous.

Then we went to Bob's Red Mill and went straight to having lunch as Sarah is hungry all the time. After a lot of hemming and hawing we both realized that we both wanted the same sandwich (we were going to share something), but we both thought the other would think it odd. We shared and egg salad sandwich, which was very nice. Then we poked around the bulk items for quite a bit. I bought kidney beans and black beans and 10 grain pancake mix, which Emily likes very much. Sarah bought some also, because she had recently bought a big bag of Krustees pancake mix and realized that it was lacking in nutritional value. She's going to combine the two.

We headed for the hospital at 1:30, figuring we'd get there in plenty of time. We did get a bit lost on the way, and the hospital complex is huge. We finally got the car parked, but realized we didn't know where to go. So we asked the parking attendant and he quickly indicated for us to get onto a mini bus that was just stopped at where we were standing. He told the bus driver what we wanted, and we were there in a short while. Like I said, that hospital complex is huge. It wasn't long before we were in the sonogram room. I have to say that it must take a great deal of practice to be able to recognize much in those pictures. The spine was easy, and the head wasn't too hard to recognize, but the rest of it was a mystery to me. There seemed to be some indication that the baby is a boy, but you could fool me. Sarah is really excited to be imagining her little boy. She has his personality all figured out. She already thinks the world of him, and is certain that he will be a wonderful older brother to his siblings.

By the time we left Sarah was hungry again. She was pretty sure she would fine a power bar in her car. I drove to Target and dropped her off and headed home. Heidi had called while I was in the sonogram room and Tom wanted to know if I was home because Emily was asleep. I really couldn't figure out what she was on about, so I thought it would be best if I went home before going to the chiropractors at 4 o'clock. When I got there poor Christian sitting on the bench on the porch doing his homework. His Dad hadn't come to pick him up!!! It turns out that Emily was sleeping and he didn't want to wake her. A noble thought, but there was his son with no idea what was going on. I told Christian to go inside and get something to eat. He wanted me to leave him in the house when I left to go to the doctor, but I explained to him that I really couldn't get the house key off my key ring. He was very good about it. I also told him to get a book to read and he dashed into the house and came right back with a spy novel or something like that. At least it was very sunny on the porch and he was fed and entertained. He is often such a good boy in the face of inconveniences.

Well I made it to the chiropractors in the nick of time. I was really keen to see him because my left shoulder had been killing me. It felt for all the world like it had come unstuck like my right shoulder had. I really didn't want that to be the case because one rotator cuff operation is quite enough thank-you. Well he gave it a good look and said that it seemed that my arm was jammed up into it's socket. Well that seemed a much better explanation than that a tendon was torn off. As I thought about this it seemed a reasonable explanation. When I set in the living room doing stuff, like blogging or knitting or reading, I tend to put my left arm up on the arm of whatever chair I'm in and they are all a bit too high for such thing. So now I'm careful not to put the arm up and my shoulder is definitely getting better. Also, the doctor gave me some exercises to help. I HATE getting older!


So that was my two days off. They were actually very busy, but I did do things that I couldn't do with Emily in tow. I do take her lots of places, but some just won't work, like the spa and the sonogram room. I always miss her when I don't have her. This is a little worrisome, because I'm only the grandmother, not the mother. But I'm glad for all the time that I have her.

“Grandchildren are God's way of compensating us for growing old.”

 Mary H. Waldrip