A quiet month for writing...

of course that doesn't mean I don't have anything to say as I generally have an opinion about everything - whether or not you want to know about it. Lately my late nights have been filled with derby doings and conversations about other things - enough that they haven't made their way to my blog. But that will change soon enough...

I can keep that promise.

A whirlwind tour home, a p-patch and helmet panties...

I went home on Friday, April 13th for the peanuts' 2nd birthday! I arrived at my brother's house around midnight - just in time to play wii bowling with brother-in-laws and stay up until 5 a.m. engrossed in conversation about a lot of nothing-important but important just the same. Saturday was running errands and actually throwing a party for two very fabulous tw0-year olds. With utter bias, they have to be two of the most well behaved toddlers I know... when you tell them they have to open their presents later, they actually listen... Sunday evening I zoomed up to Cleveland to meet some friends out for dinner and later some more friends for drinks. Everyone on Monday, was seriously, scheduled for two-hour visits starting at 10 a.m. It was kind of crazy, kind of fun and the easiest way to see a gazillion people. Tuesday morning I was zooming back down to Cinci to catch my 1 p.m. plane back to Seattle - 8 hours of driving for 20 hours of Cleveland... totally worth it.

This Sunday I was introduced to my P-Patch. We were having a P-Patch meeting and it was very easy to tell which one was mine - the one growing very robust dandelions and grass. A fellow p-patcher helped me weed it down to a reasonable brown dirt as I volunteer to figure out a way to properly get the water barrel system set up. This weekend are plans for mint, cilantro, basil, carrots and other delicious starters to find their way into my patch.

But tonight I am sewing helmet panties for my team. Yes, they're called helmet panties - which might be the funniest word to say - even. They're the covers used in roller derby to denote who is the pivot (with a stripe) and who is the jammer (with a star). I made a bunch for our league for scrimmaging but now we need them in team colors, etc. I'm making them for my team and the Honeys. (The photo indicates that JoJo Stiletto's helmet is the jammer - photo by Jules from this past weekend's RCRG bout.) The thing about sewing it that it taps into that incredible creative energy. I could easily stay up the entire night and sew - without ever getting tired. I love it.

The Pho Revolution

I have finally joined the pho revolution - the phase where people decide that they are completely in love with soup containing beef and noodles originally from Vietnam. My friends tell me at work how they were addicted to it at first - or that's all they ate in college - or they know the 5 top pho places in Seattle. The first time I tried pho was at #1 Pho in Cleveland's "Chinatown". And I couldn't stand it. I am barely a meat eater and ordering one of the most popular dishes meant raw meat. I looked at it in my soup, poked at it and decided I couldn't eat it. I tried to drink the broth and in the end, decided this was not the food for me. No thanks. I barely like soup (my dislike of salt is at the root of this problem.) Pho is not for me.

Fast forward 4 years or so and I find myself in Seattle, where like lots of west coast cities I can find more pho varieties than I imagined possible (but I'll be damned if I can find a good Lebanese deli!) I wasn't interested. If we went to a pho place for a meeting, I had anything but pho. Not raw beef, gross noodle soup for me. A friend convinced me to try Pho Cycle in Capitol Hill and I tried a non-soup dish and tried some of hers. She told me the point to the raw meat was to let it cook in the steaming hot soup (oh!). Finally, early in December, at the beginning of my getting sick, I decided I would drink up some soup to avert my illness and tired pho - veggie pho and it was fantastic! I created my own special designs with the hot sauce and oyster sauce (I makes stars in my soup with each one.) I'm sure to add the lime and lots of basil and now I rather enjoy it - the veggie one that is.

Friday night, that beautiful evening, I had pho. I had it again on Sunday when it was cold and rainy and last night (starting to feel under the weather again.) Three times in one week. I've joined the pho revolution!

Easter...

Happy Easter! Or happy sunny Sunday (morning at least) or if you're sittin' miserable in the Midwest, brrrrrr. I heard on Friday that the Cleveland Indian's Home Opener was snowed out. The double header then scheduled for Saturday was snowed into a triple header for Sunday when in the end, Cleveland just has to invite the Seattle Mariners back another day. So while I was enjoying an 80 degree Friday worth going home for, people where going home early to avoid snarled traffic.

A couple of my friends and I were talking about Easter and their rituals around it. A lot of hidden eggs and candy - mostly outside. This picture reminds me maybe of an Easter or two in my childhood where there was snow, but our candy was hidden throughout the house and not outside so we were never scrounging around in snow, or wet grass. One of the best Easters ever was when we were driving home from visiting our grandparents in Denver to West Virgina over Easter. My brothers and I fell asleep in the car (it's like a 2 day drive so that happened often) and when we awoke the Easter Bunny had been to see us - in the car! We were shocked and amazed to see the candy he had left. When I asked my dad what happened, he said he saw the Easter Bunny hitchhiking on the side of the road so he gave him a lift. I couldn't believe it! And I couldn't believe he didn't wake any of us up for it.

Sunshine - we're all drunk.

Today was the third day of sunshine and the warmest by far. Today was a day that people left work early or were dismissed by their bosses because it was so beautiful out. Today was a day that native Seattleites said to transplants "this is the reason you're here - right?" Those same native Pacific Northwesterns say things like "You'd think after 46 years (his whole life) I would get use to never seeing the sun. But I just feel so much better. Don't you feel better?"

Today was a day, after leaving work early because my boss told me too (plus I'm working tomorrow), I skated at Myrtle Edwards Park (on the Sound - beautiful!) and skated and skated. I would have skated for hours looping up hills, around bikers and other wheeled people - if I wasn't completely starving after an hour (forgot snacks.) I couldn't get enough sun. I went and washed my car (amazingly popular Friday evening activity when it's 70 degrees.) I had a snack and on such a day, couldn't find a way to want to do laundry - just yet. I walked to my P-Patch. Kids were out playing, people were walking around everywhere. I ran into my friends Dani and Derika. I wanted to dig in the dirt (but I didn't know which patch was mine.) It was a beautiful day and became a beautiful evening... and for once I had nothing planned - except for enjoy the sunshine.