Somerville to Seattle

We spent eight days in Seattle with our friends Steve and Kate. In addition to being excellent guides to the city, they took us on some pretty amazing hikes (like Mt. Rainier pictured above). I was also working remote during the week. We packed a lot in, hence the delay on blog posts. So buckle up because we've got a lot to catch up on. Steve and Kate live across the street from perhaps  the best arboretum  I've ever been to. Here they are with Tristan standing in a grove of non-native redwoods. Their roots all form one structure underground and the branches in the middle die off leaving a sacred space for practicing rituals of all kinds. This monkey puzzle tree might be my new favorite tree. We went for a walk in the arboretum many nights and got to see a few of the owls very close up. Pictured above is the momma showing her owlet in a nearby tree how to hunt and  here is a video of the owlet giving it a try . He was a bit more concerned about us than she was. We s...

  Got a little behind with keeping up with the blog. It turns out keeping up with a blog while exploring new cities with friends and working remotely was one thing too many. I'm writing this post about two weeks after our arrival in Portland. (But I'll back date it at some point just to confuse the historians.) Apologies for the delay to our fans following along at home. All 3 of you. The good news is I'm in the future now so I can assure you we've got some great content coming your way.  We got to explore Portland for three days with our friend Marilyn. There are three things you need to know about Marilyn. 1- She hates historical houses. 2- She loves having her photograph taken. 3- She loves the feeling of warm sun on her skin.  Case. In. Point. Here she is having a terrible time. About to enjoy some really awful Thai food. (Don't worry, that was the last photo of you, Marilyn. Thought I'd get those out of the way first for you.) There are also a few things y...