Let it snow

Today 6° | 2°

Tuesday 5° | -1°

Wednesday 4° | -1°

Thursday 3° | -2°

Friday 3° | -1°

Shipley weather for this week from Google weather

Today -1° | -6°

Tuesday -3° | -6°

Wednesday 2° | 1°

Thursday 5° | 1°

Friday 6° | 2°

Gig Harbor, WA weather for the week from Google weather

Isn't it funny that we all get up in arms about snow.  I think it is our way of dealing with the cold weather.  Either people are fearing for the snow or waiting impatiently for it, snow seems on the mind of most people's from the beginning of November.  I suppose we maybe excited for it because it is the one true excuse to miss work, be late for appointments and the reason to not do anything but watch the weather and enjoy being at home.  It also seems to bring out the child in most of us (in a good and bad way).

As soon as I start hearing of snow in Washington, I start looking at the DOT cameras.  I get really excited for everyone.  I miss getting calls from D as soon as a flake hits the ground.  One year while the snow started in Bradford, I mistakenly called her to let her in on the news.  I had forgotten the 8 hour time difference, but she didn't seem to mind.  It was awesome on Saturday when I got a call from my brother asking me "guess who has snow?"

I am excited for the Sprout to be able to play in the snow.  Although there won't be much playing if he doesn't get to walking on his own soon.  We have a bit of a slope in our back yard that I am excited to try to sled down.

On the other hand, it is so early for it to snow.  Western Washington getting snow so early is strange, and a low blow after the storm they had last weekend.  If Google weather is right and we get snow soon, it will have come earlier than last year, which could mean the beginning of 5 months of snow if it goes the way of last year.  I have never been big on the "Global Warming" theory (yes everyone gasp in horror).  It isn't that I don't believe it, I just believe that weather isn't always as predictable as we would like it to be, and that upsets us.  People also seem to remember weather very differently every year (plus most things that happen as a child are romanticized in our memories).  When I was small we always had snow that would bring the towns to a halt.  Then we went through a period where we barely had snow.  Isn't it all just coming back around?  When our parents were small there was even more snow.  Why should we blame this on "Global Warming?"  Anyway, I don't feel like a debate, just something I always think about.  Why not just enjoy your day off from work or school and watch the kids enjoy the snow?

Last year's December snow with a baby Sprout on my tummy.

Autumn

The Sprout is at nursery and for the first time I feel like I have some time off (except for the half painted bathroom hanging over my head and all the boxes that still need to be unpacked but won't).  I can finally get a bit of writing done and I think I will ponder Autumn since I don't think any other season brings about such memories.

For some reason Autumn brings my most vivid childhood memories.  The other day we were graced with a Sky Sports Channel Open Day so I got to watch the Saints v. Colts game, and surprisingly, I watched it.  It was a good game.  But while I was watching the game I felt there were atmospherical elements missing such as the smell of chicken stock and the sound of a vacuum cleaner and my parents rumbling feat and loud shouts at the TV.  I told Richard this and he commented "wow, there must be some specific memory related to that."  Of course there is.  Football is usually on TV on a Sunday which seemed to be my mom's cleaning and cooking day when I was little.  So, besides the sounds of the crowd on the TV and my parents cheering, was the sound of the vacuum and smell of chicken stock on the stove.

For some reason the chill of Autumn brings me to light a cinnamon smelling candle and if I had a real fireplace I would light that too.  I also get whiffs of Purdy Elementary and school supplies.  I don't know why it is specifically Purdy Elementary and not Harbor Ridge or Tacoma Community College.

I also get a hankering to knit.

The other day I was perusing Gig Harbor's Facebook Page and found that the Fish Bowl had already taken place.  I was surprised it was so early in the year, of course true to form, the Tides won 17 to 14.  Glad to see something never changes.  I also saw that there is a Gig Harbor Chowder Cook Off...yummm chowder (Mallard's Landing took all 3 awards).  I need to learn to make Clam Chowder because they don't have it in a can here.

Of course the thing I get most excited about in the Fall is Halloween.  I need to get moving on my horror movie-a-thon.

And now a new thing to get excited about, the Sprout's birthday.  We are going to have his first birthday party on the 23rd of October.

Did you know I have been in Bradford for 5 years?  Pretty crazy.

The start of Autumn also brings the snowball of the holiday season.  People start to go crazy getting ready for Christmas and I start planning for my British Thanksgiving party.  This year I want to go to a lighting ceremony.

So even though the growing darkness and cold, rainy weather is a pain in the backside, Autumn is one of my favourite seasons and I am looking forward to it this year.

And the leaves that are green turn to brown

September aways makes me want to listen to Simon and Garfunkel and watch When Harry Met Sally.  I want to listen to Simon and Garfunkel because it reminds me of my '72 bright orange Volkswagen Squareback station wagon that I had when I was 17.  There was no radio in it, so I had to have a boom-box and tapes.  I only rode around with a couple of tapes, one of those was Simon and Garfunkel.  The others were Billy Holiday and Crosby, Stills and Nash and the Beastie Boys...what kind of a hippy teen was I?  In general September makes me think I should be buying school supplies and getting ready to go back to school.  I guess 23 years of going to school will do that.

Not my car (this is a '70), but is an example of my car.

I found a new blog that makes me homesick.  Ray Nash Images, this guy takes beautiful pictures of the Gig Harbor area and is a great reminder of why the Peninsula is a beautiful place to live.  My grandmother would have really loved this site (if she had been computer literate in any way).

I thought that the Sprout being able to crawl would be awesome, but it is not...at least not in a house that is in a tornado state because of the move.  I tell you, babies take every advantage to play with EVERYTHING and they are very persistent.  On the good side, as long as everything is safe, he can entertain himself for 10s of minutes roaming around the room pulling down papers and cords and anything else in reach.  But now I know for sure that I am not an overprotective mother.  E is happy that I have maintained my Jessikaness when she witnessed me give the Sprout something that was too hot and all I did was say, "oh that is too hot", blow on the item and then give it back.  I am not sure what other people do, but by the comment I suppose they would have either screamed in horror or not given the baby something hot in the first place.

Richard and I are such procrastinators when it comes to packing...we are pretty much unpacked.  This happened last time.  E came over to our house about a week before our last move and was surprised that the only things packed were the paintings from the walls.  To be fair, this time we can't move anything until we have carpet, which is coming on Friday.

The nursery is going to reopen.  They have fixed their problem, so I will have tomorrow and Friday to get stuff done on the house.

Nostalgia

Danny gave me this book to read while I was off in the desert this summer and I still haven't finished it. Not that I don't like it, I just have a hard time finding a good time to read. I can't read on the train and I fall asleep when reading at night. I really should try harder because I love to read.

Anyway, I wanted to share some thoughts that came about when I read a particular passage that spoke to me in a prefect way. This passage had to do with nostalgia. Now, I am 30 and I am still way immature for what I thought a 30 year old would be. I work at a coffee shop even though I have a Master's Diploma, all of my friends are under 27 (the average age being 23).

First I will share the passage, it is a bit long but you can skim through it if you want.

"The Tenth Day" (page 129-131)

There is a certain emotion we all have the potential to experience, and it is an emotion that can only be described as 'terrifying nostalgia.' I briefly felt it yesterday afternoon, but it smothered me in totality at 11:30 last night. I was watching a movie on the Sundance Channel called 'Security, Colorado,' which is a city I have never been to and which probably doesn't exist. It was cheap, rudimentary film (slow moving, shot on video, mostly improvised) that was clearly made by people in their very early 20's....The pacing of this movie was shockingly deliberate: In one scene, the woman just sat at her desk and wordlessly updated her resume: later we watched her drive to the post office and mail the resume to prospective employers. Within the reality of "Security, Colorado", this sequence constitutes 'action.' And I'm not sure if this was supposed to be entertaining or insightful, but it was certainly arresting.

Now, here's what is so terrifying about "security, Colorado:" The stark, pedestrian images used by the filmmakers...expressed nothing, symbolically or metaphorically. The only purpose they served was to remind me that a huge chunk of my life is completely over, even though I will probably live another 60 years. There are so many things that will never happen to me again, and I never even noticed when those things stopped occurring. And this doesn't mean that I wish I had my old life back, because I like my new life better; I was just shocked to discover how much of what used to be central to my existence doesn't even matter anymore..........

....When you start thinking about what your life was like 10 years ago-and not in general terms, but in highly specific details- it is disturbing to realize how certain elements of your being are completely dead. They die long before you do. It's astonishing to consider all the things from your past that used to happen all the time but a) never happen anymore, b) never even cross your mind. It's almost like those things didn't happen. Or maybe just happened to someone else.

-Killing Yourself To Live-85% a True Story by Chuck Klosterman excerpts taken from pp. 129-133

For some reason these couple of pages really got me pondering things about my past life, my late teens and early 20s. Thinking of the people I met during these times and weirdness that ensued. And I did ask, why did these bizzar occurrences stop? When I though about it, my trip to Nevada this summer was like a trip back in time. I met random people for no real reason, worked with random people who were quite wild and I got along with real well. However, none of these experiences can match the carelessness and unworriesome times of my late teens and early 20s, where weird situations happened all the time, and a second thought was made of it, it made life fun and interesting and life just seemed to flow.

One thing I have decided is that no matter how much you say you don't care what other people think about you, there comes a time that you start to care (at least this was a case for me), and I think this was my downfall into normality. To me normality is death, it is boring and I get anxious sometimes unreasonably panicky. I am good with people, I like listening to weird stories. I miss my friends from back home. Darby, Ben, Mark, Rusty, Andy, and especially Brad and Matt, John and Cathy, Sam...I miss all you guys, you really are a part of my family and I have kinda brushed you off because I live in another country.

Anyway, I got off track...I am sure most everyone can relate to what I am trying to say.

Why do we give into the normality...the droning life? Day after day, the same thing. I guess we all have to answer to the corporate machine eventually, pay credit card bills, mortgages, student loans...and I think this is the biggest part of the downfall of giving into normalcy.

These were just a few thoughts...you can add your own by reading the passage and posting a comment.