When my daughter Naomi refers to Josie, she says, “My good friend Josie” never just “Josie”. It goes like this. “My good friend Josie likes to build things just like I like to build things” or “Mom did you know that my good friend Josie likes to dance?” Does she ever!
Josie is pictured here and below doing a dance of “Spring.”
Sophie, Simone and Annabel
The girls cavort all over Wesola Polana. They are a nomadic tribe covering the 40 acres of Wesola Polana…showing up now and then with wagons or ropes or to report a bear sighting. Yes. It was a baby bear and it was rolling across the edge of the big field. Then it climbed the fence and walked the top beam till it tumbled off and just like our roving pack of kids…walked away to find something else to explore. We didn’t see its mother. The girls mother’s on the other hand, had a general sense of where the pack was by the rustling of tall grasses in the distance or yelps of excitement echoing off the mountains.
Behind the apartment in Antigua, Guatemala were the ruins of a church (above). The apartment ($16 per month) had a courtyard, an outdoor kitchen under a tin roof and an enclosed bedroom and bathroom. The back of the courtyard had a door into the space above. The door didn’t close and the remains of the church were so beautiful that eventually I took the entire door off and made it into a table using some of the broken pillars as the base. The church space became my dining room. The only other church entrance was this opening about 5 feet off the ground.
About a week after getting the apt, I added an oven and a fridge. Suddenly the neighbors with their flocks of children and their friends children came knocking to ask if they could use the oven and it seemed to always be cooking something. I had to buy a gas bombe (canister of gas) nearly every week but the breads and casseroles coming out of the oven were worth it. I also loved having all the kids around and started up an ad hoc dance school to entertain them and keep choreographing.
(more photos coming..)
Pioneer Square is a wonderful place to live and Annie Strain has been a huge positive force. She gathered a big group of the Pioneer community at her beautiful home to greet the incoming Mayor Mike McGinn. Here is a picture of William Justen, Mayor Mike McGinn and Simone. Simone asked Mike to please help her get a playground in Occidental Square for her little sister.
Earlier I oohed and aahed over Blaise’s 2007 TED talk about photosynth.
Would you believe there is more? Now we can merge our collective experiences live! Hold onto your seat.
In the morning, the girls pack their backpacks with school stuff (lunches, sweaters, sneakers) and after-school stuff (leotards, swim suits, snacks) and then head downstairs to say good morning to Kumar, Hamilton and/or Nelson running the building elevators and Michelle, Michael and Alex manning the security desk in the lobby.
Sometimes they stop at Starbucks to order a coffee for me.
Michelle moves into high gear when the girls arrive and a good ten minutes goes by between songs, chasing, updates. Simone and Naomi adore Michelle! Oh what heaven it is for me to watch this interplay each morning. The before school ritual is so much fun!
Naomi is playing hide and seek with Michelle Coleman, head of Tower security.
Usually we head to Evergreen School first. We got there a bit early on this particular day and Naomi and Simone decided to play in the mud a bit before school.
Simone’s Kindergarten teachers are Eve Ingraham and Christine Burnett and in the photo above the class is celebrating Valentine’s Day with a Disco dance party. Black lights, a mirrored ball and a break-dancing circle. Naomi in pink and Simone in orange whooping it up to the Bee Gees, “Stayin’ Alive.”
After dancing up a storm, Naomi and I headed to her school, Global Gardens, where she spends a few hours a couple days a week. She loves it and asks every morning, “Do I have Global Gardens today?”
After school and the many extracurricular activities…we sometimes can fit in a visit with Godfather William. His office is just down the street and he often works late.
Our neighbors, the Strains, live across Pioneer Square from us. We can wave or flashlight morse code from our windows. Annie Strain has a great blog about life in Pioneer Square.
Jackson Strain is the same age as Naomi. They are two. They had a great time riding around the kitchen while Jeff, Annie, David and I enjoyed a delicious lamb dinner. Jeff was one of the founders of ArenaNet in 2000 and in the Fall of 2009, he founded Undead Labs. Here is a speech of his about what it takes to create successful Massively Multiplayer Online Games.
Another fun link is the story of when Annie, having just moments before given birth to Madeline, looked up to see Jeff feverishly tapped away at his keyboard, “Are you working on that damn game during the birth of our daughter?” Jeff answered sheepishly, “It’s not ‘that damn game’ Annie, it’s Starcraft!”
Annie Strain is on the Pioneer Square Revitalization Committee and is making sure our beautiful neighborhood continues to thrive. In the 12 years that I have lived in the Smith Tower, Pioneer Square has had opportunities to create a much needed playground in Occidental Square, an ice skating rink by the Pergola, and a grand structure to (sort of an Arc de Triomphe) replace the “sinking ship” garage that would still provide parking below ground but on the street level it would be a great archway framing the entrance to Occidental. I love all of these visionary ideas, but the Arc de Triomphe, an idea that William Justen dreamed up, is my personal favorite as it would connect 2nd Avenue to the heart of Pioneer Square with a vista into Occidential’s green menagerie. Over Pioneer’s Square 150 plus years, many new additions have kept the nation’s best-preserved historical district authentic and relevant. The way I see it, a grand arch would become a new entrance to Seattle’s first – and liveliest – neighborhood.
Daniel Strain is 10 and introduced Simone and Naomi to his guinea pigs. Madeline Strain, who is 12, and quite a rider herself, became a human “filly” for Simone to ride on. The kids were on a roll. What amazing luck to have such a great urban family only a block away. I am in heaven.
Suffragist Parade in NYC on May 1912.
Founded by Tracy Newman, Linden Rhoads, Gemma Daggatt, Patricia Atkinson and a few others who were extremely tired of yelling at their TVs after watching the news. One day as Linden and Tracy set off on a morning walk, they didn’t spend the hour complaining about the state of the country, instead they decided to do something new. They came up with the idea of starting a Political Action Committee. The concept grew to become small political gatherings in the homes of Seattle women. We can promise the Senators $10K if they’ll fly out to talk with us. If we pool our money we could meet with 6 Senators a year. We could request that the Senators refrain from stump speeches and use the time to discuss the bills they are working on and our concerns. Perhaps we can change the direction of the country. At the very least, I think it would help us figure out who to endorse? A couple weeks later the group had their first gathering. Over the years WWFC (Washington Women for Choice) has grown into a smart organization. One of our members, Ann Kelly, developed diligence tools for us to determine where and when we wanted to use our money so that we could be bold and enter early on critical bellwether campaigns. We meet with Presidential candidates as well as Senators and occasionally Congressmen. A couple times a year we bring in guest speakers and host salons on political issues.
Just walking into the doors of a WWFC event feels good.
Suffragettes Celebrate the Ratification of the 19th Amendment on Aug 26th, 1920 granting women the right to vote.
Our holiday tradition is a feast with friends around the table that goes on late into the night. The dinner is usually a couple weeks into December. The food has been the same for the last 8 or so years. Paella brimming with everything that looks good at the Pike Place Market and a flaming Baked Alaska for dessert. Our Baked Alaska this year is pumpkin spice ice cream covered by a flourless chocolate cake with a dome of meringue peaked and browned. Finally we light the huge delicious dome on fire with rum and whisky and the kids squeal with delight.
The morning after dinner, we share family gifts and hang around the tree to enjoy one another.
Godfather William comes over to help open presents.
We took a walk downtown after opening presents and did a few loops on the Carousel.
Although I am non-religous, my mother’s side of the family is Jewish. I have taken the girls to Shabbat and Passover with friends, but I my character building comes from a heaping dose of rational thinking, frequent discussions of virtues, accountability and social mores. I love Valerie Tarico’s wisdom commons and Yaffa Maritz’ Character Corner and use many of those ideas with Simone and Naomi.
David’s side of the family is Christian, so sometimes the girls enjoy Christmas or Easter Mass with their Grandmother Elinor. Opera Diva, Frederica von Stade belongs to her Church and sometimes sings. The girls love the music.
Later in the day or the next day we fly to California to visit David’s family for their holiday festivities.
hee hee hee
Hanging out on the Schembre’s back porch before trick or treating on the top of Queen Anne. Annabelle (Princess), Sophie (Mermaid), Josie (Kitty cat), Simone (Good and Evil), Naomi (Smaller Good and Evil) and Lucy (Clown). The second photo shows Josie’s cat and the horrifying skeleton on the underside of Simone’s costume. Naomi has a bony creature under her hoop skirt too.
When Simone was trying to decide what to be this year, she sketched some costumes in her journal. One was a gruesome skeleton and one was a lusciously pretty goddess in a ball-gown. We merged both. She called it a two sided “good and evil” doll. Naomi and I followed suit and sewed similar costumes. At the time I had a cast on my leg so Simone was in charge of the sewing machine petal and cutting out of the many fabrics. The mad scientist inside the dress below only can be seen if the front of the skirt is pulled up. We created swirling dervish dance for “trick or treating” that included spinning around and then stopping right in front of our audience and lifting our skirts to reveal the monsters and then roaring and chasing them with the skeletons or mad scientist. It was so fun!
Naomi was afraid of these costumes when we were first assembling them. If she had to walk past the closet where they were hanging, she would walk along the edge of the opposite wall singing to herself a cheer-up song and keeping her eyes on the closet door the whole time. She would tell me, “Those are NOT real monsters,” but the way she said it you knew she was asking not telling. So I replied, “Those are pretend monsters Naomi. We created them to be super scary for Halloween. (pause) Did we do a good job?” “Oh yes! We made very scary monsters!”
Grandma Elinor and Naomi enjoying the day
Our summer sail included a brief reprieve at Rhoad’s End on Orcas Island. We were hoping to visit with Linden, Rhoads, and Celeste.
No one was home, but we found evidence that someone had been around recently. On the front step sat a cardboard house with carefully created net windows.
We could hear a slithering sound, so clearly there was a creature inside. But all four sides of the box were sealed shut.
Simone asked, “Do you think it is a present? Should we open it? Mom, Maybe it needs water.”
Simone got a bowl from the boat and we filled it from the sink in the Gazebo’s bathroom.
The bathroom is tucked into a nifty crawl space and plants have started to return and grow towards the bit of natural light seeping through the holes in the roof. It’s magical.
We carefully unwrapped the tape at a corner of the box and lowered the bowl in.
We could see that the resident was a garden snake and that it was fast asleep.
Before pushing off the dock to continue our journey north to Desolation Sound, we decided to make the washed-up timbers on the beach into a boat and then take a swim.
Simone drew a thank you note and placed it by the door. We headed down to the dock. What a crazy beautiful Northwest day.
Lifecoats bucked. Ropes untied. Bumpers back inside. And we are off!
“Mom” Simone says, about a mile out to sea, “You know, when that snake wakes up he is going to be mighty hungry. I wish I had caught him a little mouse. “
On this particular July day on Orcas Island, Rhoads’ captured four snakes.
Naomi and Celeste are waiting for us on the dock. We’re getting ready to go fishing.
Sweet Zepher.
McKinley and Naomi.
The recess Monkeys showed up.
All aboard! Kaya and Simone riding high on David’s shoulders.
We indulge in long days at the beach in the summer. Somehow we always stumble into friends and gatherings, on this day it was both…the recess monkeys arrived as well as friends from “Tribe Seattle.”
Melissa relaxing
Pictured below is Simone, Stella, Elizabeth (holding the clan together) Elias, Lola and Naomi.
We often visit the Vashon Island farmer’s market on the weekend. The food is scrumptious, the music terrific but the real reason we go is to visit our friends Kelly and Rob.
Family pile-up.
Our good friends Rob and Kelly live on Vashon. We LOVE them!
Sometimes we stumble upon the chivalrous Knights in Gasworks Park. They meet in the clearing on the left when you enter the park. Simone and Naomi are transfixed by the beautiful armor. They battle and they also share medieval stories with the girls.
“This sword is heavy!” – Simone
“What a warrior!”
“We welded these helmets to scare our opponents. They are meant to be intimidating.”
“I like your medieval battle. Here is a ticket to my climbing the tanks show.” – Simone
Fun visit. Therese and Dale were in town to install her artwork at Olive 8.
We have a few traditions. One of these is the annual sailing trip, another is the annual BIG DIG treasure hunt that happens every year for Simone’s birthday. We bury chests with treasure across the Global Gardens beach, pass out measuring tapes, shovels and maps and divide the kids into teams. It is mayhem and marvelous!
(pictures coming very soon!)
Naomi loves to paint. She does it nearly everyday.
The presents have been opened and the girls have left the scene for a few moments to pack up some toys for our afternoon plane ride to San Francisco where we will join in a second wave of Holiday festivities.