Raise your hand if yesterday was the first time you heard that Britney Spears had a sister.

Raise your other hand if yesterday was the first time you had heard of Britney Spears.

Okay, get back to wrapping.

coming home

Father sun, my garden, sometime in 2006.

Tonight my brother and I are picking my parents up from the airport. It is unusual for even one of us to drive to the airport to pick them up. We're not bad people, its that my parents are pretty independent souls and they are used to either picking up a car that we have left them or getting a taxi.

However, tonight my parents are coming back to Seattle forever.

Growing up we were not particularly peripatetic people. The first few years after leaving Iran, we traveled where my father could get a better position as he moved up the ladder from intern to resident to fellow to faculty. My mother continued to do whatever was needed, making friends and connections as she could, keeping us amused and out of our father's way while he studied or slept between shifts. When he realized that at the ripe age of 41 that he had to move from the University to private practice to give his family everything that he never had, he made that shift.

Even when he made that jump, he went from the University to a hospital in West Seattle that desperately needed someone with his leadership, good nature and organizational skills to bring the hospital around. My father accomplished this and then moved on with his team he had amassed to a larger hospital. He flourished in a practice at a time when medicine was not about HMOs and PPOs and they just went to work and helped people. My father left his practice at the right time, he worked hard and had a good group of doctors around him to carry on.

He wanted to garden in the sun, enjoy his days off without rain gear, he wanted to see blue skies that stayed blue and to garden in short sleeves all year around. They moved to California where they built a house that few could dream of and enjoyed it with their friends. They later decided to downsize and remodeled a house that many would still consider to be palatial. During this time, my mother and father remained upbeat, even as they had to visit their things in storage while the contractors ripped out walls and installed granite counter tops.

Last year, when my brother was offered his dream position back in Seattle, my parents decided it was time to come home. They had different requirements than they did in 70s and 90's and 00's when they did major moves, but over time we managed to find something that would work for them. It still requires time and effort to get my mother's seal of approval, but for me its perfect. It brings them within five minutes of myself and my work, near a good grocery store, a pharmacy, hair salon and close to some of their long time friends.

The last few weeks have been very emotional for my mother and father. In the twelve years they have been associated San Diego and La Jolla they have made an amazing group of friends. My mom has been involved in several large charitable organizations and my father has kept himself busy educating himself at the Salk Institute. They are losing bond to my mother's nursing school friends who are known to fly down for a the weekend to have a bbq. These people gave them a sense of adventure and spontaneity that seems to lack here. I don't know why that is, but it just feels that way. In Seattle, they have twenty seven years of memories and an extended family that cannot wait to see them, yet, it all feels so bittersweet.

I cannot explain it, but the move that is permanent means that they are now rooted here, something that cannot be moved. I hope they do not lose their sense of adventure when they come home.

lesser of two evils

Marching into the new year, Ernest the puppy, January 2007.

TH and I have this routine after dinner. One of us walks the dog while the other does the dishes and puts away dinner makings and leftovers.

90% of the time I opt for dog walking.

Tonight, I got to do both as dinner clean up took too long and it was only fair to TH.

Next time we're going the long way home.

nm

Not to feel dead old or anything.

I wonder if Lawrence Welk is on the comeback?

Busy here, well, not really too busy. TH is at work (its 10 pm people), Ernest helped sample lemon poppy seed shortbread and I'm too tired to even consider the ten holiday cards that Ernest needs to send out tomorrow.

Tomorrow, that is it, I'll do them tomorrow before work.

nm who wishes she could be misty mountain hopping with the rest of them

Field of dreams

Somewhere in Colorado, September 2006.

Note I wrote this 11/30, last Friday, thank you for your patience.

It is cold here in Corvallis. It was very strange driving into campus today with TH and have her explain to me the passing landscape, she has a knack for describing things that makes it easy for me to imagine what it looked like in different seasons. TH did this drive for three years, transiting back and forth from Seattle to Corvallis by plane, train and automobile. She was lucky enough to have a home with our friends L&E kept her in divine food, clean clothes and coffee for those long quarters of classes, papers and commuting.

They gave her respite and a place to escape in a beautiful house in the middle of Christmas tree farms.

Over time, she found her perfect drive to and from campus. She would drive windy back roads through small family farm plots full of spinach, hazelnuts, blueberries and leeks. While, this morning it was sleeting and gray, I could picture what it must have been like for her in the early spring when the blueberries were starting to flower and the hazels were unfurling their first light green fuzzy leaves. In the early fall, when the hazels all turned yellow and the corn was ready to be cut, she could see yellow for a few acres. The drive was a good way to prepare before she was to present her work on Bayesian modeling in her informatics class or discuss how ideas in science diffused. We talked a lot on the drive down yesterday about learning, school and when you are ready to be done with school. Neither of us believe that you ever finish learning, there is so much out there. School, that may be another story.

Today, I can say that she knows more about the cutting edge of mapping, information sciences and visualization and how they can be applied to a slew of environmental issues. She has approached these ideas as a geographer, scientist and historian and made sense of them.

Good job TH, Dr. TH to the rest of you.

Trying to find the best present for my parents this year... a welcome home to Seattle basket? AAA membership? Gore-tex jackets? A dog bed for Ernest? A light box?

Attempting to not drive TH crazy by planning a trip to Drome and Haut Provence before she's done with the rest of her obligations including ten days of decompression after Christmas and really bugging her by suggesting she travel separately.

Motivating myself to haul ass to the Village to buy a new pair of jeans now. Mine are baggy in the butt and hopefully a size smaller will help, vanity sizing that is.

Wondering if I can leave the dog at home after this morning's consumption of yet another ornament.

Asking myself if I really am excited about 2008.

nm trying to forget that tomorrow is another work day

Some travel related stuff

Self reflection, Place Vendome, December 2005.

You can now use your Alaska Airlines miles for redemption on Air France. Those awards are dear, but to get to the airport at noon, board at one pm and be in Paris at 8 am just in time for the next transit strike, supreme!

We're booked for a week in March, Seattle-Marseille, pottering around Drome and Haut Provence and then to Paris to pick up some chocolate.

Mileage runners (you know who you are), post or read here and get some ideas. Trust me, when you are nearly there, you might as well make it, right Bueller?

Me, I'm done for the year, well, sort of. I have to go to Chicago this weekend, but that's just to make sure J gets her December race under her belt.

nm wishing and hoping that her upgrade to F clears

lost and found

Frickin futabulous, sometime this summer with Ernest.

I felt like I lost yesterday in all the prep and running around of our Christmas cookie party. I was toast at 7:30 and fell asleep reading a book while TH battled data and the forces of evil in prep for today's business trip.

Today, I found an hour when my trainer called and told me that she wasn't coming in. I used that time wisely chasing frosting bowls into the dishwasher and dragees with a broom. I managed to get to work early, bang out revisions to a proposal, do the other tasks I needed and get my errands done at lunch. I left early for the airport for my short trip to SD. I gave myself plenty of time that I didn't need. My typical airport ride was 20 minutes shorter since everyone seemed to abandon work early to deal with their basement flooding. The airport itself was mellow and my flight was delayed enough to make me rethink flying and waiting and making my parents drive after 10 pm.

They called me and told me to go home. I did.

My trip back from the airport took even less time.

I have all night by myself.

I am not good at relaxing, TH, the Js and everyone who knows me knows that I cannot chill for the sake of chilling. However, tonight I have a date with a great book, my lovely Christmas tree, the heater and a goat cheese pizza. If that does not wow me, I know where a guy who loves tater tots and has some cool moon boots lives, and I may just have to visit him.

Sweet!

nm

Maybe we should stop multitasking.

Lights at the hotel de ville, Paris, December 2005.

Taking a page from Kimberly McK's book, let us rejoice in the first day of December.

Snow fell today, not too much, but big fat flakes that frosted everything. It made for easy driving and a magical day if you weren't expecting to do any yard work. Kids dragged their friends out for a quick snowball fight and it made for some impromptu, if not micro snow people in our neighbor's front yards.

TH and I went Christmas tree shopping in the snow, not something that happens too often in the Emerald City. In our running of errands, we found parking downtown on the first go and everyone we had contact with was in a great mood. Why? because this snow will lead to rain and we'll be back to the Seattle damp, chill gray of December.

Right now, our house smells great --a fresh wreath is on the door and the tree is now covered in lights. Soon garland will festoon our porch and holly on our plate rail. Tomorrow afternoon, we'll see a covey of kids trying their hand at decorating sugar and gingerbread cookies. I'm sure the adults will also jump in do much the same. TH is relaxed and reading a book, something that has not happened in a while, she's also enjoying the first day of December with peace.

The holiday season has really started to kick in here chez f&f. Its not so much the shopping, the card writing, but the need to catch up with our friends who we see in spurts, some more than others, but miss dearly because life has been hectic. Sometimes, just the simple act of getting out of the house to visit sometimes seems monumental especially when you have deadlines looming and gardens to tend.

More importantly, for us, this year, its a time to be thankful that things are coming to a close in a positive way.

I hope the same for you.

nm

grace under pressure

TH, nuff said.

nm

deck the halls

The Koloa School tree, LIH airport, November 2007.

Things that can't be recycled, being made into ornaments, seen in my brief stay at the LIH airport last night. Nothing like smelling pine mixed in with some gentle tropical breezes. There were at least thirty Holiday trees decorated by different schools in the county. TH and I spent a time between flights (Shut up) admiring them all.

Wish I could have stayed, but I'm off today again.

nm

recovery

I can now walk down stairs like a normal human being.

I am down to two advil a day.

I am doing a normal workout.

I do not cringe when thinking about getting out of my chair.

I cannot believe that people who are not athletes feel like this every day.

I will try my hardest never to be in that situation.

Love your body, its the only one you have.

nm

Knackered, completely bone tired.

Anyone have any great ideas for a boy christmas present?

nm

To do

Alaska, June 2007.

• Freaking because I haven't sent out Ernest's holiday greeting and shameless plug for Presidency
• Turn in my FSA paperwork, realizing that I'm not quite sure what my taxable income really is
• Made my Holiday shopping list and actually stick to it
• Finish planting the bulbs (shut up)
• Wondering with my friend B, what are appropriate gifts for our service/trades people
  
• Figuring out if I really care about renewing my Admiral's Club membership for the following year, especially since there isn't one in Seattle and I am not flying that much
• Deciding when to stop making cookies for Sunday, are twelve batches of sugar cookie dough and six batches of gingerbread cookies enough?
• Trying to decide if my Italian SIM card still works and is it worth using it versus Tmobile roaming
• Figuring out if I can write some donation checks this year
• Gathering my taxable donations and getting them ready and out the door for this tax year
• Wishing she could make Ernest a deduction
  

nm who needs to let the bullets go

blister in the sun

What can I say, today's Seattle Half Marathon could not have had better conditions.

Sunny, calm, foggy in the right places and it is done.

I PRed it, but I can't tell you what my time is since the server is down. Next year, I'll be doing some serious hill work.

I missed J, but she was with me in spirit.

Shout out to TH and Ernest who met me in the Arboretum and provided moral support and an eggnog latte for the last six miles and for toughing it out and meeting me at mile 12.9. Ernest provided everyone a little joy at the end.

Shout out for the Team in Training angels who were at Madison and the Arboretum providing gummy bears, pretzels, peanut butter and jam sandwichlettes and oranges and bananas. You rock.

Ditto for Mr. kiss by the freeway.

On my way into Memorial Stadium, the Violent Femmes' 'Blister in the sun' was playing on the loudspeakers. I started singing along with them. I love that song, it brings me back to my college days and I cannot tell you how much it made me happy to run into the stadium and to my chocolate milk.

At mile two I realized that I every step I take is a blessing. My body hurts a bit, but I did it, I walked/ran 13.1 miles today and enjoyed most of it. It made me realize my body is something that I have taken for granted in my 20s and 30s and with the aches and pains of my early 40s I have learned to respect and listen to and realize that I can no longer abuse with poor nutrition.

I spent time today loving my body, all its lumps, bumps and small crows feet for the fact that it got me where I wanted to be -- the finish line.

nm

if I hadn't bought the finishers tshirt already

I would be in bed tomorrow morning instead of standing around in a corral wishing that I hadn't had any coffee.

Wish me luck, its a crap crap hilly course and if I break 3:40 I will be a rock star.

nm

Friday wrap up

Orangey goodness, June 2007.

The Dow stayed in the green, so did NASDAQ. A little miracle.

Three dinners down, one to go.

All shopping I did today was on etsy.com. No malls were pillaged by yours truly. Tomorrow we'll hit the University bookstore to look for some baby shower present books and then off to hit etsy.com and mighty goods again for some inspiration.

I'm a Secret Santa twice this year. One is easy because my recipient is female and I have a clue. The other is male and I haven't a clue, but I'm not going to succumb to a gift card to Starbucks Coffee quite yet.

Secret Santa gifts are really more fun to get than anything, you get a set price, some clues about the recipient and then you are off to create something interesting and fun that they'll remember all year.

Tomorrow, we're going to pop downtown to pick up my race packet. I'm so not ready for this race but I'll go and I'll finish and know that I met my goal this year of seven half marathons walked. I just got this month's Northwest runner and now plotting my race strategy for 2008. I'm looking for a few boutique races and maybe one new state! I know the J. has some long term plans for some long ass days, but I'm going to also start looking at running a half sometime in May!

off to bed

Thankful

For what I am thankful, November 2007.

I am thankful that I live in a place with clean water, clean air and relatively high standards of safety.

I am thankful for amazing and lovely shelter that we have.

I am thankful I live in a country that allows me the freedom to express my opinion and with citizenship allows me to chose who I vote for. I am also very grateful for the ability of free movement between countries thanks to citizenship.

I am thankful for my family and especially now that we are all together in the same zip code. I am especially thankful that my parents are healthy, active, irritating and still together and are resilient to change. I wish I were.

I am thankful for TH, and her patience and love for the last sixteen odd years. It hasn't always been sunshine and lollipops.

I am thankful for my friends, both local and worldwide who keep me sane and keep me laughing.

I am thankful for Ernest the puppy who keeps us all busy and reminds us daily that life is too short not to check out the neighborhood and stop and smell each hydrant. He is thankful that he lives in a country where a basset hound can dream of running for president and in some places, probably win.

I am thankful every time I walk a race that every step means I am alive, healthy and grateful that I can push myself to do this.

I am thankful that I have a career, which sometimes I bemoan, that is still an amazing one that exposes me to amazing technology and people.

I am thankful for the abundance of fresh, local and organic food that graces our table and the farmers that produce it.

I am sometimes embarrassed that the things that I worry about include petty trivial things such as will my upgrade clear to Chicago and why didn't my hotel stay post, when others work sixty hours a week to make sure they can pay their car insurance and keep their kids warm.

I am thankful for you all.

Dinner on the fly, November 2007.

For those of you utterly tired of recipes for swiss chard gratin, chipotle braised rutabagas seasoned with epazote and pumpkin sweet potato gratin served with a froth of nutmeg air, I bring you eating something else the night before Thanksgiving.

Originally, our thought was to go to the local really better than you would think Chinese place next to MM, but then life got the better of me. I looked in our nearly bare fridge and came up with a dinner that will be a keeper for a while.

I'm not a big fan of ready made food, nor am I a big fan of making foods that others make better than me that are available in the ready made format. One of these foods is gravy, but you can deal with that tomorrow. The other is alfredo sauce. I can't imagine having such ingredients on hand and honestly, we don't use tons of it. However, one local company, Cucina Fresca does a great job and we have been seen with the very lovely reusuable jars in our shopping basket. One leftover lug of saffron pasta from Wedgwood's La Pasta, some smoked halibut kindly gifted to us by MZ, fish smoker extraordinare and the some fresh parsely snipped from the garden and we had a dinner that made us both happy and used some awesome local ingredients.

For some the combination of the smoked fish and saffron may seem odd, but honestly, it worked, the woody, sweet flavor of the halibut played nicely off the sweetness of the saffron and the alfredo just held it together. If you can believe it, we're out of parmesan reggiano as well, but this dish didn't need it. The flavors stood on their own.

I can't really give you a recipe for this, I already did. It was a total throw together a meal meal and it worked. I can't wait to make it to the market on Saturday to buy more pasta and recreate it.

For those of you still looking for holiday recipes, remember, stick to the classics and it will all be okay.

Happy Thanksgiving eve.

nm