Blue Sky and Pink Pregnancy on Trickle Creek Boulevard
Bored by sunshine, Nazy and I decided to visit Bellingham, Washington during the rainy season.
“It’s always the rainy season,” Nazy interjects.
“Wel..”
“And we didn’t visit because of the rain, we visited to see Darius, Christiane and (the lovely) Leandra.”
Nazy was right. Exciting events were unfolding in Northwest Washington State and we wanted to be there. Since we were flying from LAX, an early departure via the 101 and the (dreaded) 405 freeways, was planned. To make things interesting, an errant ‘click’ generated an Apple operating system upgrade that didn’t finish overnight. So, for the first time in 40+ years of marriage, our departure was delayed because of ….. me.
“When will you be ready?” Nazy demanded.
“In progress, estimated time remaining…. 34 minutes,” replied the Mohave OS installer app.
“Pretty soon,” I replied. “It’s been saying 34 minutes for the last 34 minutes,” I thought.
“Can’t you just stop it and do it later?” Nazy asked, (un?)reasonably.
When it finally finished, I was convinced that there was nothing slower than an Apple Operating System installation — and then I hit the traffic on the Ventura Freeway and The 405. The flight (950 miles by air) took less time than it took me to drive 95 miles to LAX.
“It also took less time than it took us to drive the 103 miles from seatac airport to Bellingham,” I noted as we pulled into the city.”
“That’s because you booked the flights so that we’d be driving during rush hour on both ends,” Nazy noted helpfully.
“Yes, dear,” I said. “I did that because rush hour is a 24 by 7 occurrence in both locations,” I thought.
Several exciting things were on the docket for our visit. Darius and Christiane had made an offer on a house — their first house. And, there would be a big gender reveal.
Darius and Christiane’s offer (one of four offers) on the house was accepted while we were en route. Eager to see the new abode, we joined them to speak with the inspector.
“This inspection cost $410, Dad,” Darius explained as we were driving to the house. “Do you think..”
“I think he’ll find at least $410 worth of things that need to be fixed,” I replied. “Otherwise,” I thought, “you’ll wonder why you needed him.”
I was alert as we turned into Trickle Creek Blvd,
“Trickle Creek, Dar?” I asked. “I would have bought a house on Roaring Rapids Lane,”
“Dad..”
“Maybe you can get them to change the name.”
“Trickle Creek is the boundary of our lot, Dad. Let’s see the house.”
The house was beautiful and..
“… just about the best maintained house I’ve ever seen,” the inspector noted. “I’ve found a few minor things.”
“How much will it cost to repair?” Darius asked.
The inspector paused for a second. “Not much, probably less …”
“ … than $500,” I thought.
“ $500,” he said.
Darius consulted with his realtor who recommended that they ask the owners to fix the four (very minor) items. The response was…
“They have fixed two things, Dad and say they’ll give us a $200 credit at closing for the other two. What should we do?”
“You have, Darius, two options. You could stand firm by demanding $213.79 — not a penny less. Or, you could tell them that you’ve had estimates and you’d feel very bad about taking more than the $192.14 that the repairs will cost.”
“Thanks Dad. You are SO helpful. Do you know how old you’ll be when I pay this mortgage off?”
“No I don’t. But I suspect that I won’t be quite as spry.”
Trickle Creek challenges conquered, we headed to dinner at Fat Pie Pizza.
Back at their home, Christiane got the ‘gender reveal’ cake out. We connected relatives far and near via WhatsApp.
We also had time to see play with (the lovely) Leandra and see the area.
(The lovely) Leandra is a delightfully cheerful little girl. She is walking and talking. She knows several words and she is very good at repeating words that you say. Less that two years old, she understands multiple languages. And she likes books (Pat the Bunny and Goodnight Moon are her current favorites) jokes and peekaboo. She even…
“… recognizes herself in the mirror,” I explained to Darius. “I pointed to the cat on her shirt in the mirror and she looked in the mirror and then on her shirt. That self-awareness is a major step.”
Noting blue sky on Sunday, we knew that the weather forecast was less than accurate. We drove to Lummi Island for the …
“…. spectacular views of Mt. Baker,” Darius claimed.
“Didn’t we drive to see the ‘spectacular views of Mt. Baker’ yesterday?” I asked.
“It was raining yesterday, Dad. But we did see Mt. Shuksan. And you will be amazed by the view of Mt. Baker from Lummi Island.”
The sky was blue with puffy white clouds. But..
“Those puffy white clouds have accumulated right in front of Mt. Baker, Dad.” Darius noted. “This is where the view should be unbelievable.”
“Unbelievable is accurate,” I thought. “The clouds are lovely,” I said.
We saw two bald eagles and stopped at a wine-tasting facility hosted by a long-bearded semi-expert who “didn’t have labels” for the Malbec.
More next week… WORD OF THE WEEK: FLIP. (Vote!)
“It’s always the rainy season,” Nazy interjects.
“Wel..”
“And we didn’t visit because of the rain, we visited to see Darius, Christiane and (the lovely) Leandra.”
Nazy was right. Exciting events were unfolding in Northwest Washington State and we wanted to be there. Since we were flying from LAX, an early departure via the 101 and the (dreaded) 405 freeways, was planned. To make things interesting, an errant ‘click’ generated an Apple operating system upgrade that didn’t finish overnight. So, for the first time in 40+ years of marriage, our departure was delayed because of ….. me.
“When will you be ready?” Nazy demanded.
“In progress, estimated time remaining…. 34 minutes,” replied the Mohave OS installer app.
“Pretty soon,” I replied. “It’s been saying 34 minutes for the last 34 minutes,” I thought.
“Can’t you just stop it and do it later?” Nazy asked, (un?)reasonably.
When it finally finished, I was convinced that there was nothing slower than an Apple Operating System installation — and then I hit the traffic on the Ventura Freeway and The 405. The flight (950 miles by air) took less time than it took me to drive 95 miles to LAX.
“It also took less time than it took us to drive the 103 miles from seatac airport to Bellingham,” I noted as we pulled into the city.”
“That’s because you booked the flights so that we’d be driving during rush hour on both ends,” Nazy noted helpfully.
“Yes, dear,” I said. “I did that because rush hour is a 24 by 7 occurrence in both locations,” I thought.
Several exciting things were on the docket for our visit. Darius and Christiane had made an offer on a house — their first house. And, there would be a big gender reveal.
Darius and Christiane’s offer (one of four offers) on the house was accepted while we were en route. Eager to see the new abode, we joined them to speak with the inspector.
“This inspection cost $410, Dad,” Darius explained as we were driving to the house. “Do you think..”
“I think he’ll find at least $410 worth of things that need to be fixed,” I replied. “Otherwise,” I thought, “you’ll wonder why you needed him.”
I was alert as we turned into Trickle Creek Blvd,
“Trickle Creek, Dar?” I asked. “I would have bought a house on Roaring Rapids Lane,”
“Dad..”
“Maybe you can get them to change the name.”
“Trickle Creek is the boundary of our lot, Dad. Let’s see the house.”
The house was beautiful and..
“… just about the best maintained house I’ve ever seen,” the inspector noted. “I’ve found a few minor things.”
“How much will it cost to repair?” Darius asked.
The inspector paused for a second. “Not much, probably less …”
“ … than $500,” I thought.
“ $500,” he said.
Darius consulted with his realtor who recommended that they ask the owners to fix the four (very minor) items. The response was…
“They have fixed two things, Dad and say they’ll give us a $200 credit at closing for the other two. What should we do?”
“You have, Darius, two options. You could stand firm by demanding $213.79 — not a penny less. Or, you could tell them that you’ve had estimates and you’d feel very bad about taking more than the $192.14 that the repairs will cost.”
“Thanks Dad. You are SO helpful. Do you know how old you’ll be when I pay this mortgage off?”
“No I don’t. But I suspect that I won’t be quite as spry.”
Trickle Creek challenges conquered, we headed to dinner at Fat Pie Pizza.
Back at their home, Christiane got the ‘gender reveal’ cake out. We connected relatives far and near via WhatsApp.
Three WhatsApp phones (Melika and Family, Lebanon and Stefan) awaiting gender reveal:
Melika was upset because Monster the cat had escaped. “Don’t worry, I told her, he’ll come back.”
“I hope the mountain lions stay away,” I thought. “Monster might hurt them and I believe they’re endangered.”
The results would be revealed by cutting a specially prepared cake — pink inside for a girl, blue for a boy. It was thought to be anticlimactic because Darius and Christiane (and Nazy and me) had seen the sonogram; we ‘knew’ a boy was in the cards. Before cutting the cake, Dar and Christiane asked everyone to guess. Everybody thought ‘boy’ except Tom —-
“I’m saying ‘girl’,” Tom explained. “But you should know that I’ve been wrong every time. Every single time.”
Tom was right: Every time - except this time. The baby, due very late March, is a girl. It seems that a well-placed thumb can foil the interpretive skills of amateurs.
We also had time to see play with (the lovely) Leandra and see the area.
(The lovely) Leandra is a delightfully cheerful little girl. She is walking and talking. She knows several words and she is very good at repeating words that you say. Less that two years old, she understands multiple languages. And she likes books (Pat the Bunny and Goodnight Moon are her current favorites) jokes and peekaboo. She even…
“… recognizes herself in the mirror,” I explained to Darius. “I pointed to the cat on her shirt in the mirror and she looked in the mirror and then on her shirt. That self-awareness is a major step.”
Noting blue sky on Sunday, we knew that the weather forecast was less than accurate. We drove to Lummi Island for the …
“…. spectacular views of Mt. Baker,” Darius claimed.
“Didn’t we drive to see the ‘spectacular views of Mt. Baker’ yesterday?” I asked.
“It was raining yesterday, Dad. But we did see Mt. Shuksan. And you will be amazed by the view of Mt. Baker from Lummi Island.”
The sky was blue with puffy white clouds. But..
“Those puffy white clouds have accumulated right in front of Mt. Baker, Dad.” Darius noted. “This is where the view should be unbelievable.”
“Unbelievable is accurate,” I thought. “The clouds are lovely,” I said.
We saw two bald eagles and stopped at a wine-tasting facility hosted by a long-bearded semi-expert who “didn’t have labels” for the Malbec.
More next week… WORD OF THE WEEK: FLIP. (Vote!)
For last week's letter, please click here
For photos from the trip, please click here.
A few photos follow
The Lovely Leandra
View from Lummi Island
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