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2 Gazette 2013
Sending two ladies off to Seattle University filled this year of conclusion & commencement.
#SanJuanIsland #Travel
4 Gazette 2013
Snapchat - preserved
Sydney, Morgan Susan & James Thomas1316 SW Mitchell Lane
Portland, OR 97239-2826
Medical: www.voicedoctor.netArt: www.flybynightpro.com
Girls: www.twinsis.us
[email protected] (503) [email protected] (503) 341-0767
[email protected] (503) [email protected] (503) 867-0798
issue 33
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Newsby James
With two girls graduating from high school, some life decisions were made. I finally got them to join me on one of my meeting trips; this trip included stops with family and friends. I spoke about the vocal cords to young choristers at the Royal School of Church Music summer course in Newport, RI, though not before cracking Maryland Blue Crabs with family in Annapolis, MD; burning up on Rehobeth beach; sampling oysters & ceviche with Michael Texido in Wilmington, DE; a fragrant evening of 12
night blooming cereus with Frizzi, Calla & Rama (and participation in a Der Spie-gel article); a walk around Yale’s campus; and finally lobster in Newport, RI . Now the girls have experienced first hand why meeting travel is immensely rewarding.
As a family we found time for multiple summer trips - packing the days full. Visits were paid to the San Juan Islands, the Olympic Mountains,Washington coast, and Deschutes River rapids, just to name a few.
After high school graduation, it also seemed like a reasonable opportunity to introduce Morgan and Sydney to busi-ness - their initial declared major at Seattle University (SU). They became summer employees at James P. Thomas, MD, LLC. From scribing to managing my social presence online, from billing, to calling patients with appointment reminders, they learned the ropes.
After an intense summer of bonding they shipped off to SU where we visit frequently via FaceTime and occasionally in real time. It was a big transitional year.
Educational travel took me to Nice, France followed by Guadalajara, Mexico. Then an international meeting in Seoul,
Korea (with a stopover in Tokyo, Japan).Late summer meetings in Prague, Czech Republic and Vancouver, BC filled up the travel odometer. I later learned that the Oregon Medical Board cannot find any educational value in meetings outside the US, so they consider me quite uneducated.
When home, I found time for cycling, tennis, gardening and entertaining. Mi-graines started for the first time in my life, including lovely hours of total light avoid-ance, nausea and all that follows. I finally attributed it to wine, first avoiding cheap wines, then avoiding reds, then whites and finally even small glasses of beer humbled my head. So, after worshiping at the por-celin throne in one too many locations, I gave up all alcohol and have been headache free except for one dehydrated afternoon. I don’t know if it is dehydration from the alcohol or some change in metabolism, but Pavlov’s response associating 36 hours of headache with every glass of alcohol has made alcohol rather repulsive. Now I entertain and enjoy sparkling water.
I continue working my vineyard though, which looks ready to set bunches of grapes next year, so perhaps I will have Gruner Veltliner grape juice in 2014.
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Clouds locked in during a typhoon over the Pacific Northwest delivering record rainfall in September, while I cycled along the Vancouver, BC waterfront (below). A December drought and relative heatwave led to snowboarding in shorts on Mt. Hood (cover).
We deviated 30 minutes around a line of storms that later washed out much of the front range of Colorado. Storms can be beautiful from 36,000 feet.
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Friendly Skies
by James
Just another sunrise at the Thomas family home.
Bumped“Please stow your bags wheels first so that everyone is able to board with their carry-ons.” comes over the overhead
speakers as I board in Houston.Soothing purple light bathes the cabin. This is one of those new Boeing planes with the changeable LED lights to set
your mood. On it’s first flight, it doesn’t even have video monitors installed yet.“Mr. Thomas, would you be interested in a first-class upgrade?” The stewardess bends over to ask me as I’m getting
situated.“Certainly. Thank you for the offer.” I reply, getting up from my economy seat and carrying my somewhat large camera
and computer backpack stuffed with a change of clothing up to bulkhead seat 1A in first class.Bumped to the first row, with no floor space at the bulkhead, I open the overhead bin across from my seat when from
underneath my arms, “Don’t even think about it!” murmurs a Texan drawl.I look down and see an immaculate pair of alligator skin boots; bright bluejeans; crisply pressed white short-sleeve
dress shirt; rather large silver watch and a more massive silver belt buckle; weathered face and closely cropped white hair, eyes fixed straight forward. El Jefe might have spoken although there is no direct clue that his lips actually move, much less they could direct a comment to me. In fact, I’m not sure he can turn his neck with his gaze locked on the empty plastic desert of the screenless flat bulkhead.
I look up into the overhead bin. A solitary Stetson lies alone in the bin. I gently close the bin’s door.My backpack gets bumped further forward into the jacket closet during takeoff as I settle into my seat, in the company
of a very proud Texan, the apparent owner of an elegant cowboy hat. Better check that bin closely before you stow your carry-on luggage, even wheels first, over a Texan in first-class.
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The BahndTrinity Episcopal Cathedral
The Bahnd - Alternative Liturgies for the hungry.
10 Gazette 2013
525,600minutes
by SusanI think that this year is best captured by the lyrics of Seasons of Love from the musical Rent — How do you measure, a year in the life?
Girls Girls last months at home and off
to college.The months from January to
September were filled with a number of lasts, instead of firsts, as I realized that the girls would soon be heading off to college. #goingtomissthe girls
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Last Gymnastics Season
The girls competed in their last gymnastics season as level 9’s at the Multnomah Athletic Club. It was a pleasure to watch them compete their final season and share their success with their team.
I will miss sharing the travels and the meets with the girls, their teammates and their parents. It has been a wonderful journey and I am so proud of the girls accomplishments as gymnasts. #gymnastics
College Applications Submitted
While successfully completed, I’m not sure that my Canadian genes will allow me to embrace or certainly
understand t he pro -cess of ap-plying to college in the United States. The decisions as to where to go, what to study, how many t i me s to t a k e t h e
ACT’s and or SAT’s, the essays for the common apps and the additional essays for specific schools are some-times overwhelming for someone who has never been through the process. Despite my lack of understanding, the girls were successfully admitted to Se-attle University, a school that fits them well both academically and socially. #girlsacceptedtoSU
High School Graduation
As we prepared for high school graduation, I realized again that my heritage provided me a significant knowledge gap regarding all of the
12 Gazette 2013
things that should be completed before the actual ceremony. Senior photos, graduation announcements, and parties to both host and attend. Thanks to the girls and my parents ev-erything was successfully completed. We had two wonderful graduation parties celebrating with friends and family and then their teammates. We enjoyed the company of my parents and Jim’s mom Lillian to celebrate the girls accomplishments as they gradu-ated from high school. #highschoolover
Move In Day —Seattle U
Two car trips later, the girls and all of their stuff was delivered to their new home in the dorms at Seattle U. New roommates, different schedules and the lack of home cooked meals is now the new norm for the girls. They are both doing well, enjoying their new life away from home. Jim and I love that they are just far enough away
not to come home too often, but close enough to get home if they want or need to. We have also enjoyed the fact that we get to spend more time with our friend Kristie and her son Noah as they open the Bjornson B&B for us each time we want to come visit the girls. #morevisitstoseattle
Summer Vacations with Family and Friends
With the girls heading off to col-lege, the summer trips were focused around doing things with family and friends. June brought a van trip in the big white whale to the San Juan Islands and Victoria with the Polo family. July was our annual summer rafting trip, which is getting more difficult to coordinate with four of the
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six kids now in or going off to college. August took the girls and I to Toronto to spend time with my family and friends. It was fun to spend time ex-ploring the city, since my parents have moved back to Toronto, visit Stephens new cottage in Orillia, attending my high school reunion with Stephanie and Julia and reconnecting with old friends and teachers. September took us to Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho to visit the Oakleys at their lake house as we tried to fit in as many trips as pos-sible before the girls were off to school. #lovefamilyvacations
PhD Graduation Checklist✔ Dissertation proposal complete✔ Dissertation proposal approved by committee✔ Human Subjects Approval granted to start research✔ Dissertation surveys sent out
✔ Dissertation data collection com-plete✔ All data entered into excel and data analysis started✔ Application to graduate in winter term submitted❑ Data analysis complete❑ Three manuscripts completed and reviewed by committee❑ Seminar presentation of results❑ Final dissertation submitted to committee❑ Pre Defense❑ Final Defense
Well, although not complete, my PhD is now coming down to checking off the final requirements for gradua-tion. I realized that I am actually get-ting close when the University sent me my letter advancing me to candidacy and then my letter of the requirements and dates that I need to meet in or-der to graduate by the end of winter term. While the goal is to defend by February 14th, we will see how things progress. Regardless, I know the end is near and a graduation party is in the future. In the meantime, I keep plugging along and hope that I don’t have too many days with writers block.#cantwaittograduate
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Maybe once I’m done school I’ll have more time to dedicate to running and maybe I’ll get a little faster. At this point, I am just happy to say that I finished.#lovemyrunningbuddies
Knit NightAlthough I don’t have a lot of
finished projects to show, Cathleen, Kirsten, Lily, Rachel and I get together once a month to knit and socialize. I am hoping that soon I will be able to wear the new sweater that I am knit-ting myself and hopefully my family and friends will receive hand made gifts in the future, but it has been great getting together to talk and knit with a great group of women.#willfinishsweatersoon
TennisI continue to try and get better
at tennis, despite my lack of time to take lessons. Fortunately our club has a tennis University once a month that teaches new skills and Thursday night women’s open and our World Team Tennis team provide me oppor-tunities to play. My tennis did have a
Free TimeRunning
I continue to run and participate in 10k’s and ½ marathons. Thanks to my supportive running buddies, Kirsten, Valarie and Rachel, without them, running would not be as much
fun and I would never have anything to work toward, since they are always finding some new race to sign up for.
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temporary disruption when I tripped during a game, fell and broke my arm in three places. Fortunately, connec-tions to the orthopaedic community allowed me to get surgery the next day and I was on the road to recovery. I’m back to playing and hopefully will be signing up for lessons in the new year. #needtennislessons
CanningFortunately I have Amy and an
abundance of fruit trees in our yard to keep the canning tradition going. This year was exceptional for fruit, which kept Amy and I busy in the kitchen for two days, making 100’s of jars of chutney’s, butter, and brandied pears. Fortunately for our friends, there will be lots of homemade gifts for Christmas. #lotsofhomemadechristmasgifts
Despite my focus on finishing my PhD, it has been a fun-filled year. As the year comes to an end, I am eter-nally grateful to my family and friends who make my life fulfilled.#lovemyfamilyandfriends
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Staying in touch, creatively.I nsta g ra m, i Phone5 , Snapchat , FaceTi me , selfies, iPad mini, MacBook Air.
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Morgan's Memoriesby Morgan
Senior yearSenior year flew by. It was an easy
year. I took 4 AP classes and I was the business editor of the yearbook. I took AP photography and had some of my photos in a couple art shows. I gradu-ated in June. My grandparents from my mom’s side and my grandma from
my dad’s side came to visit and watch graduation. #classof2013
GymnasticsThis year I was a level 9. I went
to Seattle, Texas, Washington, and California along with Oregon for
g ymnastics meets. In Texas I qualified for the individual event finals on bars. At state the MAC level 9 team placed first. I made it to re-gional’s which were held in Washington. Regional ’s was my last meet ever, as I am not doing gymnastics in college. It is very
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weird to not go to the gym every day. After 12 years I got in a habit of doing gymnastics every day. This last sum-mer has been especially weird without gymnastics but my job, planning for college, hanging with friends, and traveling have been keeping me busy. Although I do miss it, gymnastics will always be a part of my life. I was ready to move on. I had mentally prepared myself and made the most out of my last season. I loved every minute of it. My teammates and coaches helped me accomplish my dreams and I cannot thank them enough. #missit
SummerSince I didn’t have gymnastics
every day during the summer, I worked for my dad. I worked in his office doing a variety of jobs, includ-ing scribing, and managing his social media. I learned a lot over the summer and enjoyed having a job. We went on a couple family trips. I went to Canada with my mom to visit her family. I saw my aunt and uncles, my cousin
and grandpar-ents. It was a fun trip once we got there. We had the worst plane luck. Our first plane from Port-land to Chicago never lef t due to mechanica l problems so we got rebooked. We made it to Toronto a couple hours late, which
made us miss the Blue Jays game we were planning on. Then on the way back we got on our first plane and sat on the runway for an hour while the airline staff tried to figure out something, which again caused us to miss our connecting flight. We got rebooked again and fi-nally made it back to Portland 3 flights later. It was a long day. But other than that the trip was great. It is always fun to spend time with family. I also went to New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode
Island with my dad. We did an east coast trip and visited his family and some friends out there. The weather was very nice, not humid at all, which is so unlike the east coast. We went shopping in New York and sight seeing
22 Gazette 2013
in Rhode Island. Then in Pennsylva-nia we visited all my dads family. It was good to see them. At the beginning of the summer we went on a family trip with the Polos to the San Juan Islands. We stayed on all the different islands sometimes camping and sometimes staying in hotels. We had some car problems but other than that the trip was very cool. It was great to see and hike around the different islands. We went on a rafting trip with the Shute and Polo family for 3 days. We went on the Deschutes River. The weather was perfect. #summer2013 #travel #working
CollegeFor those who don’t already know
I am going to Seattle University. The decision of choosing a college was one of the more stressful ones. And yes me and Sydney did decide to go to the same school. It is very different than high school, but that was expected. I live in the dorms with a roommate (not Sydney) although we do live on the same floor and she is in my room quite a bit. I love my roommate; we have a lot of fun together. Although my first quarter of college classes were not too hard; there were parts that were very stressful, finals being one of them. But it’s been very good so far. I love the school. I love living in Seattle. It is an amazing city. I also joined the Seattle University spirit squad which is a cheer and dance team. I am on the
Cheer portion of the squad. I enjoying still being able to tumble and be part of a team. The team aspect is very simi-lar to gymnastics, which I like a lot. Also cheerleading is all-new to me so there is a lot of new things to learn. We cheer at men and women’s basketball games. #seattleu #newbegining
PetsI have got a couple new fish this
past year, as I am not the best per-son on keeping fish alive, but I try hard. Milton passed away just before summer. During the summer I got a new fish and he is also a Beta and his name is Milton Junior or MJ. #fish #iwantadog
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Happy Holidays fromSusan, Sydney, Morgan & James
Happy Holidays fromSusan, Sydney, Snowy, Morgan & James
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19 Years by Sydney
This year was filled with many exciting adventures. With traveling to new places, meeting new people and creating new memoires, this year was one of the best.
GymnasticsThis year I competed as a level
nine. My team placed first at state and I also tied for first in the All-Around with my teammate Hollynd. I quali-fied for regional’s and from there I qualified for westerns which was in San Jose, California. Westerns was my last meet forever, which was a different experience, but I wouldn’t have traded the ending of my gymnastics career for anything. I ended up getting first place on bars and seventh in the all around. For our traveling meets we went to San Jose again and San Antonio, Texas. My grandparents came to the San Antonio meet, which was nice to travel around the city with them. Although ending gymnastics was sad, I had prepared myself the whole season and when the time came I was ready. #flip #teammates
Senior YearMy senior year in high school
finished out well. It was exciting to graduate, celebrating with all my friends and family. My senior year was filled with AP classes, deciding on a college, football games and hanging with friends. The last little bit of high school went by really fast, but it was overall a fun time. I was ready for the next step. #classof2013
CollegeDeciding on where I would go to
school this fall was a very hard experi-ence; it came down to University of Denver and Seattle University. This fall I started my freshman year at Seattle University. I went on a white water rafting immersion trip, which was a lot of fun and a great way to get to know people. This term I took
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business math, and two core classes, rhetoric to food sustainability and Urban Wastelands. I am currently a pre-business major. I also joined the Seattle University Cheer and Dance team. I never would have thought I would ever do cheer but it turned out to be a lot of fun and a new experience and challenge. We cheer at both men’s and women’s basketball games, but I go to most of the other sports games as well. It has allowed me to figure out other sports and it turns out that I really enjoy watching most of them. #seattleuniversity #classof2017
SummerThis summer was the first in a very
long time that I didn’t have gymnas-tics every day. I enjoyed doing a lot of things that I had not been able to do before. I worked for my dad at his of-fice this summer, which turned out to be a lot more fun and more interesting than I thought it would have been. I also got to go out to lunch every day with my dad. Another plus was I got to travel many places. I traveled with my dad to the east coast; to Pennsylva-nia, Delaware, New York and Rhode Island. When we were in Rhode Island my dad gave a talk, which was inter-esting to see him do. It was fun to go shopping, walk around the towns and
experience the east coast.We also went to Canada with my
mom to visit her family. It was nice to spend time with my cousin, Kendall and family and friends. We spent some time in Toronto and then some time at my uncle’s cottage. We also went rafting, this year we went on the Deschutes River. The last time we went on this river it was cold and rainy. This time was a lot better with nicer weather. It was fun to go rafting again, hiking and spending time with friends and family. Overall, this summer was a great summer and was extremely busy even without gymnastics. #freetime
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& Meetings
Fellow colleaguesstudying the human voice
S h a r i n g i d e a s w i t h S t e l l a n Hertegard from Sweden, Cesar Chavez from Guadalajara, Mexico. Jurjaan Snelleman visited with Luise Kimm from the Netherlands. Meeting up with former fellows & new young residents at the national ORL conference in Mexico. #fellows
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From Prague to Portland - a sampling of the
world. Cafe time with Monique Verguts in Nice,
France. Jurjaan & Luise crossing the Vltava
River.
& Meetings
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32 Gazette 2013
AsiaLiving each month to the fullest, I hopped on United Airlines for a few more glimpses of the world. Seoul and Tokyo provided a taste of the east. I dove into the food without understanding the menus, just pointing and tasting, making some notes and later, sometimes, finding out what I had eaten.
Gangnam Style
Spices in a back alley in Seoul
Ueno P ark in Tokyo
34 Gazette 2013
P ort of callby James
Seoul is my first Asian port of call in twenty years. I have nearly a week ashore here to sample Korean life.
I reside in Gangnam, of “Gangnam Style” repute. Daily I amble using the paradigm, “All who wander are not lost.” On Sunday’s exploration, a bike pathway suddenly appeared beneath a highway overpass and I followed it for an hour, discovering riders with full face mask camouflage outfits, girls in short shorts giggling and gaggles of lycra skin suits advertising something go zipping past me on race bikes. The path goes on and on along the Hang river and I cannot explore very much of it.
Large cities are not homogeneous, they are really a collection of neighbor-hoods of rather differing character, each often defined by any interruption, perhaps a 6 lane thoroughfare, or a small alley. A wanderer can sense the community in each neighborhood. These hoods makes up the essence of Seoul that I am discovering.
My impression so far is that Seoulites seem predominantly nighttime creatures, while I tend to favor the morning. The earliest cafes that I have found, open at 7 am and then maybe not until 7:30 if the Barista has overslept. They don’t begin to fill until 9 am. Journeymen might be on some construction projects, but in general the 5 am streets have seemed silent for a city of 26 million people.
On my last morning I rise early to enjoy two final hours exploring the city. I have already been east, west and north of my hotel. I have not yet ventured south of my hotel, so I cross Samseung-ro, a wide high rise street, lined with banks and com-
mercial interests that propose concepts such as, “Think Creative Steel” in their lobbies. Many elegant architectural high-rises have a public work of art out front, easy to miss during the quotidian shuffle.
With only occasional taxi drivers idling along this artery, and the rare store-keeper cleaning a glass entryway, I choose a dirt path in a 2-meter wide space between two glass and steel edifices. With pleasure I note this steep path uphill between two corporate towers has been outfitted with stone steps, set in a forest of Korean pines. For 50 meters, I seem to be climbing a winding rural mountain path. On the other side of the office towers at the top of a hill I feel like I have been teleported to another place and time.
The neighborhood behind the high-rise offices, unusual in my limited sam-pling of morning Seoul, is busy with people. A number of restaurants have patrons and a few 24-hour locations are filled with young people, seated around low tables, bulgogi on burners and plates of kimchi and condiments filling the table. I notice beer is the preferred morning beverage for this crowd. Dawn must be the twilight of their day; apparently not everyone is finished enjoying yesterday.
Seoul has no shortage of chain coffee shops. I spot “Gloria Jeans Coffee and Tea.” But while the emblem is remarkably similar in color and font to a US company, it is a different company here. I also enjoy the word play, such as “Mo Dest Coffee.” Still they are all closed at 6 am. In fact, I believe there must be a city ordinance that every third storefront must sell espresso and coffee drinks.
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In Seoul, most coffee shops seem to open at 10 am, occasionally 9, but here is Tom-n-Toms, a 24-hour cafe. Bright and clean with the requisite chalkboard delineating all the sizes and combinations available, with and without ice. If you can read a Starbucks menu on the wall, you can navigate an espresso menu in Korean script. A doppio and a cheesecake ordered, I take up an outdoor table in front of the cafe. I ponder a stainless steel Yin-Yang Sun and Moon sculpture. With my phone, I Instagram the reflections and watch early morning youth wander past in intervals.
A young woman in grey stretch pants, flowing brown hair held back with a pink
headband, crosses the patio. A blue top and a vertical stepladder of carefully placed rips along the front of her pants defines her casual yet intentional style as she ma-vigates between the cafe tables. I glance up at her eyes. Half Asian in her features she looks at me, abruptly raises her right hand, middle finger facing my way, and some unrecognizable word comes out of her mouth. But I believe I have some grasp
on international sign language. The nape of my neck tingles for a moment as a surge of adrenaline interrupts my reverie. Maybe I don’t belong in this neighborhood. I don’t think she will harm me, but I am rather alone in a strange place. I return to my phone (as all Koreans seem to do, even when seated communally round a dining table). The wifi signal is excellent.
With her take-away caffeine, she pulls out a chair at the table between the art and me. After a minute, she looks up from her Galaxy, and speaks to me in what could be fluent Korean.
I shrug.She turns away, face back toward her
phone. She rises, perhaps to leave,
but no, she turns toward me, pulling up a chair at my table. Now I am a bit uncomfortable again. Seated, patterned black nylons beneath the stepladder rips make the statement — I’m available.
I gaze up over my reading glasses.
She asks me, “OK?”My attention has now
been rather forcefully directed to the art of this business woman, the art of the ap-proach, the art of the sale. She is bold, not hostile.
Rising, I gently bow my head with the edges of my lips elevated into a hint of a smile. Everyone - unless they are behind the wheel of a car - is
courteous here in Seoul. I return my tray to the counter and exit the side door.
I turn left, down the hill of pines, reenter the sleeping Gangnam. I will allow her to explore other morning transactions. I have no desire for a last minute vicis-situde, other than the memory of my last walk in Seoul.
It is time for this sailor to head back to port. #gangnamstyle
36 Gazette 2013
An east coast trip reminded me of my farming days throughout high school and college, though it certainly is not as sweaty & dirty watching someone else bale hay. #hardwork
Above, my sister Lane and petite Chance go for a ride.
Sydney cooked herself on the sandy beach, declining the 30 Sun-block and worshiping the sun for a bit too long. #tanning #burning #youth
36 Gazette 2012
40 Gazette 2013
Washington,British Columbia &
OregonSeattle to Victoria
Islands, Mountains &
Beaches
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Disembarking Bainbridge Island
Ferry Friday night, day
1, the radiator blew, green
steam rising out of the
Chevy Van. Found a corner
garage on Yelp that was open
Saturday in Seattle - new
radiator $500. Disembarking
the ferry in Friday
Harbor, night 4, the A/C
compressor seizes, blue
smoke, fried belt. Found
a garage next day, parts
arrive on ferry following
day $1000. Keep going.
#breakdown
Olympic National Park #green
44 Gazette 2013
Idaho
Lake Pend Oreille
Lake Pend Oreille #water
Spent a weekend withRuss & AnneOakley
46 Gazette 201346
Garden
FruitOut in the garden in the winter to trim; in the spring to observe fruit set; in the summer to add water if needed; Then a flurry of activity in the fall to put it all away, since it is impossible to eat it all.