The Prodigal Son

Travis came to visit from Hawaii in between all the holidays. It was his first time back since moving to the Islands. He did a bit of touristing but mostly hung out with us and Luna. It was particularly cold and he had me take this photo to send to his coworkers.  We cut our tree when he was here and the girls came along to get their small trees as well. It was just like the old days! I cooked family fav "Greek Chicken" (and Green Tofu) for dinner and we all hung out. 

All The Portland crew headed to a tree farm in Redland. 

I let the boys do all the infrastructure

 

Turkey day in Tacoma

View from Leah's home in Tacoma

 

For something different this year we traveled this year to see B's sister Leah in Tacoma for Thanksgiving. Nancy was there and Rose and Lizzie flew in from Salt Lake for the weekend.

B tries to not topple off the top of the Space Needle

We took the weekend to do touristy things; glass museum, Space Needle, and Museum of Pop Culture. It was a whirlwind but fun. Nancy planned an impromptu "wedding reception" -- one year after the fact -- for Lizzie and Rose in Leah's basement. It was everything the Dollar Store could provide and more!

Rose and Lizzie (and Luna)

 

An apple a day (or a bin a year)

Early in October it was my ostomy, not my abdomen, causing trouble and I had to miss the cider weekend in the Methow. B went alone (meeting up with his childhood buddy Dan and his sister up there and brought back a full bin of apples for us to press in Portland). 

We were blessed with lovely weather and had a good turnout, this year pressing golden delicious and winter bananas for the most part. 

Methow pressing and a whole lot of apples

 

Really?! I mean, what the...

I had a fun girlfriend's weekend in late September, which ended with the sudden onset of a virus (for me). Many negative COVID tests later, I was still coughing deep, wet coughs. My regular doc was out to town and her replacement was not worried. Got nuclear cough syrup and tried to tough it out at home. Weeks later I was finally sent in for a chest x-ray. Pneumonia. Sub doctor told me to go to ER, thinking I'd get antibiotics. Instead I got an express trip to the hospital, for a 6-day stay. Docs are worried liver abscesses are causing the lung issue and wanted to drain -- again. We were less convinced and engaged the docs in conversation -- all of them. Something like 2 pulmonologists, 3 infectious disease specialists, 3 liver specialists and the head internist of the entire medical center. No one can agree on what to do. Meanwhile I have a bronchoscopy that proves the same bacteria in lung as that in abscess. But no one know how this is happening. B works from my room and I get visitors (unlike when COVID was flaring). Eventually they discharge me, not any smarter than when we started. I scheduled another drainage for early December but during the procedure they say "no more abscesses." WTF? I no longer understand a thing. 

 

Warm summer breezes

By late summer Nancy came to Portland for another visit. We were able to throw together a croquet game  at Cathedral Park with Kristin and Stephen and later in the week I took Nancy out of town for a stroll on a dahlia farm, which was gorgeous. 

 

A little salt, a little spray...

The year was busy enough that we had very little time in PC this year. And what time we did have made us both think of Keith and we were really missing him. Keith had a second celebration of life in Pacific City and there was a good turnout milling around his "special place" (his shop and boat garage).

B had lot of fishing time, learning to captain his father's dory boat and trying to feel comfortable doing that without guidance. Our good friends Emily and Darlene got a puppy, an adorable St. Bernard named Turbo. They were considering buying a larger house in PC but eventually decided to remodel instead and bought a new place on Bainbridge Island. Jann got some good puppy time, sitting for the dog when everyone was fishing. 

Labor Day weekend the girls all came down to PC, with boyfriends in tow. It was a short visit but great, with one dory trip out to the river mouth and beach. Got. limit of crab too! Rained on us on the way back in but we survived!  

Turbo welcomed into the family

Keith's celebration of life

Readying the Amy M (smaller dory)

A good first season as Captain

Brian as Captain

Emily and Brad bring in the catch

Brian puzzles out the best way to bring the boat onto the beach

Brian with friends Darlene and Emily -- and their beloved boats

Sarah's castle

Bringing in the boat

The nation's capitol, a friendly incursion

Come early summer B had a work conference in Washington, DC and I decided to join. We haven't traveled much since COVID so it was my first big opportunuity to "tourist" since my hospitalization. We were lucky and had no humidity to deal with. Slightly less than a week and most of the days I was on my own. I discovered that I'm probably not going to be touring many museums in the future. They are too dark for my diminished vision and too much standing around for my foot neuroma. Sigh. I do like museums, however and will try to still do them in moderation (and with a buddy for the dark rooms)

B and I did some touring before his conference, in the evenings and the Saturday before we left. The rest of the time I had to do my own wandering, which was interesting with my new limitations. 

Found a great old cemetery right next to our Alexandria hotel. I still love a good graveyard stroll.

I enjoyed Alexandria quite a bit and all the monuments, some more than others. Some museums were closed for renovations, maybe a good thing since you can't possibly see them all. 

Both B and I left our cell phones in public places (and got them back!), a good lesson in paying attention when so many things are distracting you. We had a funny encounter with a nearly naked Alexandria homeowner and had two nice meals with B's niece Christina, who lives in DC. 

 

Farewell, good friend

Tough time in May, when we traveled to the Methow for the memorial for B's dad. All of our children made it (even Sarah, who missed the service because she was holed up in the motel to avoid infecteing anyone with suspected COVID -- which she didn't end up having) and plenty of Keith's extended family attended. It was a nice service and a good tribute to a good man. 

a bit of recreation for B, as he had a chance to try some fancy guns for target practice. 

 

Pomp and circumstance

Cousin Tara

Late spring  we headed to Yakima to see B's first-cousin-once-removed graduate from high school. Last time that will happen in awhile as all of that generation are done with school now. Lots of family and freakishly bad weather. 

New graduate Alexis, last of cousin-niece cohort to finish schooling

 In the heat of summer we traveled to the Medford area for B's aunt's 80th birthday celebration. 
S-mom Jann was there with friend/family Wanda and we had a chance to visit Uncle Don in the nursing home, as he'd recently broken a hip. 

Great hat, right?

No good deed goes unpunished

 God, nightmare began this spring. B's dad died suddenly just days before his 77th birthday. It really took the wind out of our sails and caused us to re-evaluate our move to Washington. While his dad was gone, the family ranch was still there and it now had one less adult to care for it. So we gave our renter 3 months notice to move out so we could remodel the house there and move in. She hadn't paid rent for several months already but we hoped for the best. 

Did we mention the chickens kept in the kitchen? 

In July, a week after she was to have moved out, we went to the Methow and checked out the house. It was a disaster, half empty of furniture but an unholy mess. Her temporary farm fencing was removed from its posts but laying on the ground, tangled in high grass and weeds. All animals had been moved except one lone chicken, forgtotten in the bug out. Turns out she wasn't moved out (she neglected tell us or our property manager). as she hadn't found a news place yet. 

So at this point, she's squatting. No rent and past her legal vacate date. Sigh. We wait and wait and miss our summer window for our contractor to finish work. We finally receive back rent for spring. But nothing in summer. She finally moves in the fall, in arrears several months for rent, leaving truckloads of junk in the house and taking items from the house/property that did not belong to her. I'll be damned if I can figure out why landlords consistently get such a bad rep, while tenants are angel.

So now the property is empty for winter and we cannot begin any work until the snow melts and we can book a contractor. The best laid plans, as they say...

The renter even packed up the galvanized stock water tanks we had on the property for flower landscaping. WTF?

 

Back in the saddle again

The photo above is the inappropriately cheerful curtain in the emergency room I found myself in after feeling unwell for weeks in spring 2022. I passed my one year anniversary of my 2021 hospitalization with a sigh of relief only to find myself back in a backless gown again. 

During fall 2021 I began having (seemingly) unrelatable symptoms -- cough, fatigue, and rib/shoulder pain. Finally over the winter my doctor diagnosed me with "encapsulated abcesses" in my abdomen, remainders from my bout with sepsis many months earlier. They drained the abcesses and gave me antibiotics but I developed a pleural effusion so I was admitted to the hospital for several days of IV antibiotics and a chest drain. Mom-Nancy came to help again and Brian returned from out of town. A real drag for everyone but hopefully it is behind us. 

 

San Diego

The Pirate House took most of our time but we did spend one afternoon at the beach in San Diego. Lovely -- wish it was more time. We also spend Dia de los Muertes in Old San Diego. Brian got his facepainted and we were shocked that he was able to go through airport security that way!