I would never have dreamed I would visit Washington state a few times a year, but I have compelling reasons these days: family. It is also an incredibly beautiful place. This is my sister Betty, 84, and I in front of Hearthstone restaurant at Budd Inlet on Puget Sound. She lives in Tumwater. Yesterday the ladies lunched, visited the Capitol Historical Museum in Olympia, and dropped into the Olympia Farmers Market. My sis loves to watch DVDs, too, so we watched four the 2 1/2 days I was there: Margot at the Wedding (unusual), an old movie called Murphy's Romance, August Rush (loved it) and Jessie James. It will be one year next month that my brother-in-law died and Betty is doing mostly OK. She remains one of my role models for aging gracefully in spite of a lot of adversity.
This afternoon I made the 120 mile trip to Port Angeles and below you will see one of three reasons why.
This is my grandson Zachary who will be two on Monday; he loves to help prepare meals. The other two reasons for coming to the Olympic Peninsula are my son Joe and daughter-in-law Laura. It rained all the way on the drive north, by the way, but the drive adjacent to the Hood Canal is very beautiful. I have not seen Zachary since last August and it was hard not to cry when I saw the baby was no longer a baby but a little boy. He is gregarious, good-natured, and is talking a lot now. He will have a little brother come July, and I'll be back in August to see the new addition. I mentioned my DIL is on bed rest, but I was delighted to see she is basically feeling well.
As for grandma and Zachary, we read, played Play Doh, blocks and animals. Snow is still on the ground and it was raining earlier with more expected tomorrow. But--Zach and I will find a lot of things to do indoors, I'm sure. The downside? I miss my Cookie although a friend is living in while I am gone.
