The amusing moment on the ski lift was when they had the national wireless emergency alert. Of course on the mountaintop is where all the cell towers are located so everyone on the lift and on top of the mountain had their cell phones going off at the same time. We all laughed about the concept of getting away from it all.

Yesterday I drove up to Blaine, i.e. practically to the Canadian border, for an interview for Global Entry status. (These are also available much closer to home at Sea-Tac, but I wouldn't have been able to schedule one until several months from now, and the goal was to get this done before my October and November travel.)

Anyway, I'd driven an hour and a half to spend less than ten minutes from check-in till my interview was completed, so rather than drive straight home I decided to look for someplace more scenic to stretch my legs than the rather dire strip mall hosting the Global Entry center. I looked for parks or trails on my map app and found this place: [link]

It was too cloudy for the spectacular mountain views pictured on the website...but for all that I live in Seattle it'd been far too long since I'd been close enough to the sea to smell the salt tang of it, to breathe in the glory, the edge-of-the-world immensity of it all. That unplanned half hour of walking the narrow, rocky beach, watching birds, and just being in the beauty of the world was one of the best moments I've had in a long, long time.

That unplanned half hour of walking the narrow, rocky beach, watching birds, and just being in the beauty of the world was one of the best moments I've had in a long, long time.

To be in the beauty of the world. To give yourself that opportunity. To open your eyes again. It's tonic.

Maybe 52 is just the age for bad teeth to completely collapse.

(Raises hand.) At 52, my molar that had a root canal cracked in half when I bit into an almond. A very pricy, year-long process (about 30% was covered by supplemental insurance over) means I have an implant there now.

In short: Procrastination is your friend.

I KNEW IT!!!

Hello. I've been slightly less online because my 10-year old laptop is fading fast. Say hello to new laptop.

That unplanned half hour of walking the narrow, rocky beach, watching birds, and just being in the beauty of the world was one of the best moments I've had in a long, long time.

That sounds absolutely renewing to the soul.

Say hello to new laptop.

Yay! And hi, Sue!

Love a new laptop! Love seeing Sue even more!

Procrastination FTW!

We rode on the ski lift to check out the glorious colors from the mountain top. Super beautiful.

Oh that sounds amazing. I should talk the family into a Catskills day trip to do this.

Amid all the news about bad things happening and nasty people, it's good to know that good people still exist and are doing good things. Yay David.

Agreed!!

So, in the ongoing battle of David Vs. the Paperwork, I scored a double win today by Not Being Prompt.

Excellent!

We rode on the ski lift to check out the glorious colors from the mountain top. Super beautiful. I talked myself into actually riding the thing. I kept my eyes open maybe half the time going up, mostly looking to the side rather than up or down. On the way down I kept them open most of the time.

You should be proud of yourself!! Nice!

It was too cloudy for the spectacular mountain views pictured on the website...but for all that I live in Seattle it'd been far too long since I'd been close enough to the sea to smell the salt tang of it, to breathe in the glory, the edge-of-the-world immensity of it all. That unplanned half hour of walking the narrow, rocky beach, watching birds, and just being in the beauty of the world was one of the best moments I've had in a long, long time.

Ooh, that sounds great.

Hi Sue!

As for me, I have four young men staying with me for the music festival this weekend. They seem nice, but I was surprised they were arriving today, including two on the red-eye this morning. Luckily, I was basically ready so all I had to do last night was make up the bed and clean the toilet. And I woke up this morning right as they were arriving.

Oops Jesse, glad it got figured out before they rocked up early in the morning!! (Though now I’m like “ooh four young men eh?” And then realizing we are old and that young might mean a looooot younger in an ick way. When did we get so old??)