Last Will and Testament

I grew up in a sweet little farming and orcharding community where were death was accepted as a regular part of life and no one seemed to get too worked up about it. Attending the local Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod), death was never presented as something to fear, so I developed what I believe to be a healthy outlook on life and death. As much as I love life, I’m not overly worried about ceasing to exist someday. My parents, too, are at peace with the eventuality of death. They keep a file containing ideas for their own funeral services, including favorite hymns and scriptures. The file is fairly regularly updated and is discussed openly by the family.

Yesterday I made a will; a first for me. I’ve always meant to make one, as it’s fairly well accepted that even if you have very little wealth to leave behind, it’s good to have a written document outlining any special bequests and your preferences regarding your remains. Of course, it’s mostly moot if my husband survives me. But on the off chance we die together (not a terribly unlikely scenario, given our propensity for adventure), this should make things pretty clear.

Wills are an interesting subject. It’s the only way, save ghosting and spooking, that the dead can affect the living, change behavior, make demands, or get a last word in. As you can imagine, there have been some pretty unusual bequests throughout history:

*Mark Gruenwald, executive editor of Captain American and Iron Man comics (Marvel), requested that his ashes be mixed with ink and then used to print coming books. He got his wish.

*Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, successfully requested that his ashes be rocketed into space to orbit the earth (the capsule has since burned in the atmosphere).

*Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island, had a friend who always felt cheated that her birthday coincided with Christmas. In his will, he willed her his own birthday to use for the remainder of her life.

*Painter JMW Turner left his paintings to the nation of England and his fortune ‘for the support of the poor and decayed artists born in England.’ His relatives fought this will in court and were able to keep the money for themselves.

*Jeremy Bentham, philosopher of utilitarianism, offered his body for use and study. It remains on display at the University College London.

As for my own will, it’s boring legalese for the most part. Although I did have a little fun with the disposal of my remains:

“In addition to the items granted above, I would like to specify disposition instructions for my remains. I would like my physical remains to be cremated. I would like my ashes to be scattered by my natural-born sisters, Jaima and Caitlin. The ashes are to be scattered as follows: 50% in Riga Latvia, 50% on the island of La Digue in the Seychelles. Feel free to skimp on the Memorial Service so there are more funds for ash-scattering. Feel free to skip having a service at all and just drink whiskey and tell stories and talk about how awesome it was to know me. Possibly around a campfire.”

I (heart) Words

I've recently become addicted to a language/grammar/style blog over at The Economist , called "Johnson" (after Samuel, beloved dictionary-maker). The blog has multiple writers and is a wonderful haven for wordnerds such as myself. Saw this there and had to share:

Get More: Movie Trailers, Movies Blog

Some other favorite posts are linked below, but I suggest just starting at the current post and reading on indefinitely. : )

Color-Naming

Changes in Meaning

Presidential Pronouns

Summer Update!

Hello Blogosphere! What a crazy-amazing-surprising summer I am having! Some updates....

*Work: I work for an educational travel organization and our students travel on six continents during June, July, and August. It's always a crazy-busy time at the office, but this year I applied for and got a temporary summer promotion to the position of Duty Officer. This means that I handle our most escalated incidents and am on hand during non-business hours in case any emergencies come up. Going into it, I was excited but also very nervous. In practice, however, it has been a blast! It's stressful, emotional work and there is lots of it, but there is a new challenge every day and never a dull moment. Also, my work schedule has been 4:30pm to 1:00am Tuesday through Saturday--totally awesome.



*Play: The summer work schedule has allowed me tons of free time for going to coffee with friends; playing badminton, ladder golf, bean bag toss, and bocce ball in the park; riding my bike; going to matinee movies (half-price!); brewing beer; reading my way through our local library; sewing aprons & quilts; and playing in weekly kickball games (my new favorite activity).

*Adventure: Through my work, I got some nearly-free airline tickets from Continental Airlines. It took weeks of staring at their flight map looking at all the possible destinations before deciding on Buenos Aires, Argentina for my next adventure! Buenos Aires, the Paris of the Southern Hemisphere, Tango capital of the world, and home to the best steakhouses on the planet! Looks like we are heading there in the Spring. Side trips to Uruguay and Iguazu Falls should round-out the itinerary nicely. Yay!

What Fun a Decade Can Hold

Ten years ago to the day, Captain Awesome and I met for the first time. The story is here, if you are interested. I just can't get over what an amazing, adventurous, decade it has been! Here are some of the highlights:

*Camping trip through Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Being in Yellowstone is like visiting another planet--too cool for words. But I especially remember waking early one morning in the Tetons to a scary-sounding rustling outside the tent. Gordon thought it was a bear. It was a bunny. On the 13-hour drive home, we played a marathon cribbage tournament, which I totally won. : )

*Kayaking the Alberton Gorge (class III/IV) on my first weekend on the river. Easily one of the highlights of my life thus far, partly because it was so beautiful, partly because it was so scary, but mostly because I have never done anything so awesome in my entire life. Full story here.

*Our first morning in Osaka, Japan. Gordon woke up well-rested and ready to go explore so before breakfast he and I went out for a walk around the neighborhood where our hotel was located, not knowing what to expect. Two blocks away we found ourselves standing in front of one of the most beautiful castles I have ever seen! It was one of those moments when we were both like--"wow, is this really my life?!"

*A million memories around our parents' kitchen tables. When we go home, whether to Havillah or Eatonville, it is always a treat. Family is so important and what better way to celebrate it than by getting together every now and then to tell the same hilarious tall tales and laugh yourselves silly?! We have both been blessed with the best in-laws you could imagine.

*Sleeping in the bed of the old Ford pick-up in the middle of the desert in Escalante National Monument in Southern Utah. We were there with friends and had spent the day hiking up a slot canyon to a wonderful little waterfall. At night, we camped in the middle of nowhere. Laying in the truck and looking up at the bright, bright stars I felt gratitude to the universe like I had never felt before.

*Gordon talks in his sleep which would be annoying except that his dreams are--without fail--Hollywood blockbusters in which he is the star and has to save the day. Sometimes he is a ninja, sometimes he's fighting off the zombie horde, sometimes he's diffusing the nuke at just the last minute, or is a spy behind enemy lines or a rock star. So imagine my delight when he woke me very early one morning by shouting (out of a deep sleep): "I am NOT burying any more corpses for you!"

*In London last month, while drinking monastic beer in the cloisters of the Church of St. Bartholomew the Great, our waitress offered us free tickets to a burlesque show that her friends were dancing in that night. How could you say no to that? We were nervous about what to expect, especially as we walked the wild streets of Soho looking for the venue, but ended up loving the whole thing. Yes, there were nearly-naked women dancing and singing, but it was also so cheeky and hilarious and just completely unexpected that we about fell out of our chairs laughing and--in fact--giggled the whole way home on the London Underground.

*Hot-air ballooning at the Winthrop Balloon Round-up. We've been twice to see the festival and to float through the sky in a wicker basket attached to a balloon full of fire. This is something that is on so many folks' life lists, I'm always amazed that I've done it. Riding in the balloon is certainly great fun, but the beauty of the snow-capped mountains and quiet Methow valley are what really strike me.

*College and career. These two don't really make the list of most memorable moments, but it is true that in the last decade Gordon and I both graduated with Bachelor's degrees and have steady, lucrative, meaningful employment.

*Swimming on the backside of Raspberry Island at Isle Royale National Park. Isle Royale is one of the least-visited National Parks in America. It's an archipelago waaaay out in the middle of Lake Superior. The park contains over 200 islands and takes 6 hours by boat from the mainland of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. We lived and worked at Rock Harbor Lodge for the summer and had the most amazing adventures. Since there are no roads or wheeled vehicles at Isle Royal, we spent the entire time in about an 8 mile radius from our dorm-style room. Nevertheless, amazing hidden getaways were not in short supply. One of the nearest islands from Rock Harbor was Raspberry Island. The backside of the island faced the wide open wilderness of Lake Superior. In the summer sunlight with the sunshine glinting off black rocks and green waves, it was paradise.

Coincidence? I Wonder....

Have you ever noticed that the towers around the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul look just like the Saturn V rocket that transported our early astronauts to the moon?

I think something's fishy there....


*My London update is coming, I promise. I'm just letting the whole experience marinate a little bit. Right after travel, the details are too fresh in your mind and it's harder to find the larger themes and lessons of the trip. (Or anyway, that's the excuse I'm going with, so pipe down)

Bubble and Squeak*

I'm having a bit of trouble containing myself today. I'm just a teensy bit excited. Tomorrow morning.......at 6am......I'm flying off to LONDON! This will be my fourth adventure to Europe, but my first in the United Kingdom. My traveling companions include mom, sister, and husband. We've rented an awesome flat on the River Thames (this flat, in fact!) and put together an itinerary so jam-packed with delight, it might just kill us dead. I can't even begin to think what I'm most looking forward to; whenever I look over the list of things we are going to do and see, I get woozy. : )

We'll be in London for about 10 days, coming back home about a week before the Royal Wedding. With Wills and Kate's upcoming nuptials on everyone's mind, I expect the atmosphere in London will be pretty celebratory.

I'll post updates as it goes.



*Bubble and Squeak is a traditional English dish made with the shallow-fried leftover vegetables from a roast dinner. Yum!

Garden Party

I don’t think of it much these days, but as a little girl, I did a LOT of gardening. Far more than most people I know, anyway. We lived on a small farm, the primary focus of which was raising beef cattle. We always had a large vegetable garden (one at our place and another at Grandma’s, a mile away) where we grew potatoes, peas, carrots, salad greens, raspberries, onions, cabbage, and beans. We’d eat fresh vegetables all summer and fall, then eat canned and frozen produce all winter and spring. It was so delicious! Since moving away from home, however, I haven’t had much opportunity to eat fresh-from-the-garden produce. In the summers, Gordon and I make bi-weekly trips to the local farmers market, and Mom & Grandma always send us home with fresh or canned garden items (not to mention COOKIES) after we visit, but we haven’t ever attempted to have a garden of our own.

The apartment where Captain Awesome and I have lived for the past 8 years is an adorable living space in the top floor of a house on Spokane’s scenic South Hill. Our door is at the back of the house (bad feng shui, but it does keep the door-to-door religious kooks and hyper-committed politicos at bay) and we have a cute square of lawn out back as well. About four years ago we put in a little garden where I planted some bulbs, but other than that, we’ve never made any attempt to improve the space or use it for gardening. This year, however, Gordon has decided to add to his already-extensive list of hobbies by including growing his own vegetables. We’ve put in two more gardens in the rented space and Gordon built a sun box, as well. In addition, along with our friends from the Fancy Paper Plate Club we’ve started a community garden in another friend’s backyard. We spent this last weekend building and improving raised beds, turning the soil, and generally getting the space ready for some serious veggie action. It looks great out there; I can’t wait until its warm enough to start planting!

Meanwhile, Gordon and I have started a number of plants inside the house, some of which we will transplant outside when the time is right. We planted a bunch of herbs first (parsley, oregano, sage, cilantro, rosemary, chives, dill, and basil) then started the vegetables.

So far we are trying green beans, spinach, butter crunch lettuce, broccoli, scallions, zucchini squash, cucumber, roma tomatoes, bell peppers, poblano peppers, and jalapenos. Nearly everything has sprouted and is looking good! It’s fun to check the plants each morning for new growth. Gordon also built some window boxes which we installed outside our second-story living-room windows (and painted a summery light blue). We plan to keep a fresh rotation of herbs and salad greens in the window boxes throughout the growing season. I’ll keep you updated on how it goes.