I am simply numb. In the state where I live, the Dems are spinning wheels, doing the same old things, thinking things will work out because they always have, even though that is part of the mythology of this state. We've got some good young people and some seasoned old hands, and a bunch of people who just don't seem to pay attention. …
I am simply numb. In the state where I live, the Dems are spinning wheels, doing the same old things, thinking things will work out because they always have, even though that is part of the mythology of this state. We've got some good young people and some seasoned old hands, and a bunch of people who just don't seem to pay attention. The Progressives (here a separate party, not a branch of the Dems, though sometimes it's hard to tell) are attracting people with obstructionist tendencies. My local Dem committee does not meet. We lost a brilliant young communications director to another job: she was like a beacon, drawing people in. Damn, I'll miss her.
I write letters because that is what I can do. Today's was promoting a bright, capable challenger to an incumbant on our select board who is one of the aforementioned obstructionist Progs. And a misogynist.
And today I came across an article from the December Atlantic about the state I was born in: the eastern Oregon secession movement, as if they just discovered it. Holy cow. It's been around as long as Oregon has, and just now being exploited by rich men for their own purposes, and they are adding new myths to the old ones (now they want to go to the ocean). At least they got the part about it being really a way to keep the reactionary right from going off the deep end. And there's my irony: my folks left Idaho to get away from Idaho, and Idaho followed them there. So most of us ended up in Washington (the state), including me until I took a job in Vermont, and got stuck here. Guess I'm not as settled in as I thought. Still miss the NW, especially NW Washington. But here I am. So I will keep on doing what I can.
Maybe tomorrow I'll feel better. It stopped snowing, the sun came out for a day or so, and I have a new dog who is a beauty and delightful.
Most of all, a cherished friend in Oregon is back in the saddle, after a scary week in the hospital because of delayed treatment of a non-covid condition that could have ended up costing him his life. And we all know why that is happening.
Can you begin speaking? Creating a group that can speak and hold meetings? Be the light you described the other woman as being? You certainly are as a writer.
Gailee, thank you so much for such an affirming compliment. I love to speak and have spoken, many times. I attend as many public meetings that don't involve travel as I can. Travel wears me out- I am 79, and though relatively healthy now, I still have the aftereffects of long-term Lyme and more recently Covid. My stamina is simply not what I would like. I have been politically active most of my life, as well as a community volunteer, so I am compelled by nature to stay involved.
The woman I mentioned is 23 years old; she and others like her are what give me hope for the future. I am impressed with so many young people. The problem here in Vermont is getting past the way things are always done. The political structures are entrenched, and though much progress has been made in recent years, right now it is simply not enough to wait for the usual take-off points. There are many groups here doing the kind of reach-out you suggest. I support them, but I also recognize they are up against the same obstacles I observed. In some cases, more, as some of the most active are about indigenous and BIPOC issues.
I write. Every day, on various platforms. I speak out in SOOM gatherings. I still hope that I can be involved in this election cycle, beginning with the local offices that are so important for our future as a democracy. Then building as we approach the mid-terms and then 2024. We are wasting too much time talking about 2024 and not preparing the foundations for it. That is what I worry about.
It is actually painful to read posts here echoing things that some people have absorbed because they can't be bothered to expand their sources of information, or to think about what they are writing. After all that Heather has written and spoken to, and her urging to read widely and to use our own intelligence to sort fact from distortion, still people come on here with blather. I want to tell them- go back and read Heather's letters, watch her videos, and learn. This is not a random discussion group. It is a place to expand our minds, with Heather's teaching as a starting point. I don't see it as a place of debate (there are plenty of those out there), but a place to expand and share our own experience and observation.
So my take is this is a jumping off point for each of us to tie a line to as we go into the world to find those things we CAN do. To counter the attempt to pull us into negativity, toward authoritarian ways of thinking. Things we CAN do to ensure that democracy survives, and equity and fairness.
And I will keep writing. And speaking out on the occasions that come my way. Thank you for affirming that.
I am deeply moved by your question. I wish I could refer you to publications, but much of my writing is buried as background, or as white papers for policy makers, or as commentary here and there, or simply lost. Though periodically I sort through one box of papers or another, pulling together some of it, with the hope of publishing a book of personal essays. Thank you so much for asking: it might help spur me to get busy on this again.
Thank you so very much, Roland. Bless you. You are both sweet and kind. The past few months have certainly been a challenge, and it affected me more than I knew. Right now, I'd love a couple of weeks to just sit in front of my woodstove with a stack of genre mysteries and a few books by my favorite poets, and my new dog. She is a "brown" dalmation, maybe a mix but I think not. She has blue albinistic eyes, and so do I, so I am the perfect person for her. The staff at the HA thought she was leery of the snow, but I recognized right away that it wasn't the snow: it was the glare. (I got sunglasses for her, so we both wear sunglasses when we go out during the day.)
She was brought up from Texas, from a shelter being evacuated because of storm damage, so there is no history on her. She is doing a good job of training me to light the fire first thing in the morning: she sits right in front of the stove and stares at me with Snoopy eyes. That makes me laugh.
I’d love you to get those several weeks to read and recuperate. Please do what you have to do to make it happen.
Taking really good care of ourselves is the number one thing in our lives, often easier said than done. But exercising the discipline of bringing oneself back to a happy and healthy place is really critical.
Thank you again, my friend. I think you are right. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed right now. Part some personal stuff (minor auto crash, no injuries, but parts for my car are currently unavailable, and my concern about friends and family with health problems.
Other part is my disappointment about the sluggishness of the Dems in my town. The county committee is active, and I am included as a non-voting guest, so I get to speak, just not vote. Zoom meeting on Thurs, at which I am going to raise a question about the possibility of reorganizing the town meeting, and if that's possible under party rules, I will offer myself as chair. I was told that the current "official" chair is burnt out, and willing to step down. We will see.
Tonight I am going to reserve some mysteries online, and then pick them up tomorrow. I laid in a supply of N95s that actually fit me well (most are too big as I am a small person), and looking forward to the trip to town. I'll pick up a supply of choc decadence cookies (one must call the bakery and reserve some as they sell out rapidly).
Ah, see, now I am feeling better. I made some small decisions that will make it easier to take on things later. (Surer hope the bakery has the cookies tomorrow, they are not an every day item...)
Your kind and thoughful note cheered me up and helped me to remember that my first responsibility is taking care of myself when I need to. Thank you.
I started to answer this a while ago, then got distracted. I wondered if anyone would catch that irony. Doesn't surprise me that you did, Roland, with your sharp eyes for inconsistencies. But yes, indeed, this man is a misogynist and a bit of a gas-lighter. Fortunately, he's put it on display in a number of situations and it has backfired on him. He's also authoritarian, and I am baffled by his choosing to identify as a Progressive. I think it is social points and also opportunistic- he is an ambitious man. The Progressive Party is a growing thing here in Vermont, even in very rural places that most people wouldn't expect it to be. So though he gets nothing actually done on our select board, he "gets along" with the other guys. He began a campaign to run for a statewide office, but I haven't seen anything about it. Maybe he saw the field of female candidates and changed his mind.
Roland, I came back here to find this and add to it. Nobody is likely to read it but you. But I needed to finish out this story. For that matter, if somebody does read it, it might be a lesson on not giving up, to keep poking and poking until you find the thing that works.
I was terribly upset at the thought that nobody was running against this man. Then I learned that the Progs DO have a candidate who is really putting herself into her campaign. Great odds against her, because the good old boy network is swinging into action. I started talking to some county Dems about what is going on. Apparently, in many places in VT, Dem town committees don't meet except to select delegates to the county committee. I found that so odd, because definitely not what I've seen elsewhere, even the other towns where I've lived in VT.
I am (get this) the 3rd *alternate* delegate to the county committee from my town. But I usually get to vote as acting delegate, because only one of the actual delegates shows up.
I have been informed that I CAN request a reformation of the committee, since it is inactive. So that's a possibility. I could be chair, because apparently nobody else wants to be. But do I even? I have a feeling it's a brick wall.
Debating with myself. Because I talked to the Prog candidate for the select board, and learned some things. This guy is NOT a member of the Progressive Party. They got onto him and refuse to allow him to run as a Prog. He can call himself a little p progressive, but he is not allowed to identify himself as a member of the Party. Whoa. Also learned that Progs are starting to get that politics is about compromise that leaves open possibilities, rather than taking a stance that shuts off dialogue. There may be hope.
Talked to some other people, too. To a person, everyone I've spoken to who has had to work with him cannot stand him, especially women, not surprisingly, but men as well, outside the good old boys. One person used the term "creepy" to describe him; others used similar terms. That tallies with my experience with him, and the outcomes of his involvement with other groups. And yet... the old boys network is out in force. Interesting, that.
I can't work in a vacuum. And the Dems here are a vacuum, although I do enjoy the people a great deal (the ones at the county level, which are the only ones I get to interact with). But the town is what I am concerned about at this point. So I am thinking the best bet is for me to resign from the Dems, and rejoin the Progressive Party. That means more work, but less stress. And the possibility of actually removing someone from the select board who shouldn't be there. Sounds good to me.
Never did order those mysteries. Think I will tomorrow.
A homie! Where are you located? I still have relatives in Skagit County, a few in Snohomish. And a cluster on the other side of the mountains. These are the 1 to 3rd degree folks. I've got identifiable relatives probably in every county west of the Rockies.
Moving to PA from CA? Now I'm curious about what draws you, especially this year. Though I can readily understand some of the factors that could make a person want to leave CA. If you do end up in PA, let me know. I have an ancestral line that migrated there, to the Wycoming area early in the 1800s, and I'd like to locate their establishment and the graves. Almost have to go to PA to do research because of the way records were kept there. Be nice to be able to meet a friend while I'm at it.
Hi, neighbors to the north. Kinda the same story here in Oregon. I have 3 sets of friends actively campaigning to join Idaho. Others are clamoring for creating the "State of Jefferson" carved out from S. Oregon and (very)N. California.
Hi, back! I actually had to look up Woodinville, and realized I had a couple projects there when I was working (ages ago) for the State on watershed stuff. In my world, that is part of Seattle. When I say NW, I'm talking well north of Everett or northern Kitsap penninsula.
Now there is NW Washington! I like Bellingham, used to go there a lot when I worked for the state, and sometimes just because. (GREAT restaurants and B&Bs.) My brother lives not far from there, but like me, he is more a country kid.
Another of my favorite places. I've traveled all over the NW, and Port Townsend was always a place I felt at home in. Anacortes and LaConner too, though they are different both from each other and Port Townsend. Gosh, I'm feeling really homesick now.
I was conceived in Seattle and lived there from two months to almost 4, and again 7-8. The place is in my blood despite how crowded it's gotten these last 60 years. I have a friend on San Juan Island in a house he built all by himself over four years. He's a ranger. I get very nostalgic about that part of the world. But I like New England, although not so much in the winter.
Almost my entire family first moved to Lopez Island in the San Juans decades ago, then gradually (as the island culture changed character) moved to various parts of the mainland. I left first to take care of my mother when she was dying of cancer, and then went to Oly to go to grad school at TESC. Started working for the state my second term in, and began to travel all over the state. I've also traveled, both professionally and personally, in most of the US and large parts of Canada, also a little overseas. Hope to do a little more traveling before I tuck in. I've found beauty everyplace I've been, but still think that the PacNW is absolutely the most beautiful place I've been. And watching the Oregon legislature online this week gives me optimism that the state is working through some of the travails it has been saddled with in the last few years. The media has not covered the Northwest well: it falls back on too many outdated tropes.
BTW, my "brother by another mother", a friend from high school, was a ranger until he retired, then he became a college science teacher! He's in southern Oregon, and built the house he raised his family in on land that belonged to his Takelma grandfather.
The one thing I would like to have done was build my own mountain home. I came close, but didn't quite get there. Just as well: the property I owned was in the heart of the fire that burned a year or so ago in the Rocky Mountain National Park. It had to jump 3 highways to get there. I loved it there too, but not sure I'll ever go back to see what that fire did.
With his family of origin, my friend the ranger on San Juan built a cabin on Lopez, that was quite well done. But his house on San Juan Island is way beyond the cabin on Lopez.
I didn't realize any fires had come through Rocky Mountain NP. Or maybe I did. I've bicycled up to the pass on a week or so long trip in Colorado, back in '86, I think.
My biggest trip was Seattle to Boston bicycle after I graduated college. I'm hoping to drive to the west coast and back this spring or one of the next few. (At my current age, 68, too slow by bicycle.)
A lot of places beautiful to me. Some are equal to--often in very different ways--but none more beautiful than the outer Cape.
Oh, dear, guilty of using insider lingo! Oly is short for Olympia, the capitol of WA. AKA "OlyWa", which is actually recognized by the PO. TESC is The Evergreen State College. An excellent but unusual school. I loved it there, still friends with a bunch of folks now scattered around the country.
The fire that went through the RMNP was a doozy. I watched all the briefings from fire command. A Strange feeling to watch the ridge as the fire closed in on the park and know that that's where my property was. I'd sold it when Lyme took me down, and the buyer used my layout to build. That house suffered almost no damage The houses across the road were fried. Somebody is already building a new house where one of them were. The next road down is simply gone. I loved it there, but glad I left. There were dead spruce all over the place... big time fuel. I had aspen and ponderosa and had cleared an acre and a half for the house.
I kind of like OlyWa, and even more since the PO recognizes it. Sad about Rocky Mountain. I had such a wonderful time cycling up to the pass in '84 or '86--whenever it was. It was so beautiful, despite the difficulty. I was high as a kite when I got to the pass--a natural reaction from all the exertion, and it was a gorgeous ride. I also remember stopping there when I was eight, on our last x-country trip, from Seattle to Boston. I think it was Rocky Mountain where we saw the double rainbow. I never would have figured out Evergreen State from TESC. I had no idea they used definite article in the name.
A lot of people miss that. It's because it isn't "Evergreen State College" or "Evergreen State". Washington's state motto is "The Evergreen State". The proper name of the college is "The Evergreen State College", meaning the college of The Evergreen State, thus TESC. Alumni call ourselves "Greenies" or "Greeners". Our mascot is the geoduck (large clam with a small shell, pronounced "gooeyduck". We are proud of our mascot. ;-]
I was born in Portland, grew up in southern Oregon, went back to Portland for college. Loved the kind of place it was back then. Raised my kids there. But Portland changed, and became a place I hardly recognize, though I still have friends there, and 2 of my kids live there. I don't feel at home when I visit, though I do think it is one of the most beautiful and dynamic cities I have been in, still. I do love the fact that AmTrak allows me to travel right down to almost all the places that are meaningful to me, so I can spend a few days in Portland and be on my way, catch it again on the way back, and then back up to my brother in the foothills of the Washington Cascades. I would like to travel to Europe again, but I feel strongly that I have responsibilities here, to the land I come from (mixed indigenous, with a healthy admixture of mostly Gaelic), and to what I leave my grandchildren.
I am simply numb. In the state where I live, the Dems are spinning wheels, doing the same old things, thinking things will work out because they always have, even though that is part of the mythology of this state. We've got some good young people and some seasoned old hands, and a bunch of people who just don't seem to pay attention. The Progressives (here a separate party, not a branch of the Dems, though sometimes it's hard to tell) are attracting people with obstructionist tendencies. My local Dem committee does not meet. We lost a brilliant young communications director to another job: she was like a beacon, drawing people in. Damn, I'll miss her.
I write letters because that is what I can do. Today's was promoting a bright, capable challenger to an incumbant on our select board who is one of the aforementioned obstructionist Progs. And a misogynist.
And today I came across an article from the December Atlantic about the state I was born in: the eastern Oregon secession movement, as if they just discovered it. Holy cow. It's been around as long as Oregon has, and just now being exploited by rich men for their own purposes, and they are adding new myths to the old ones (now they want to go to the ocean). At least they got the part about it being really a way to keep the reactionary right from going off the deep end. And there's my irony: my folks left Idaho to get away from Idaho, and Idaho followed them there. So most of us ended up in Washington (the state), including me until I took a job in Vermont, and got stuck here. Guess I'm not as settled in as I thought. Still miss the NW, especially NW Washington. But here I am. So I will keep on doing what I can.
Maybe tomorrow I'll feel better. It stopped snowing, the sun came out for a day or so, and I have a new dog who is a beauty and delightful.
Most of all, a cherished friend in Oregon is back in the saddle, after a scary week in the hospital because of delayed treatment of a non-covid condition that could have ended up costing him his life. And we all know why that is happening.
Can you begin speaking? Creating a group that can speak and hold meetings? Be the light you described the other woman as being? You certainly are as a writer.
Gailee, thank you so much for such an affirming compliment. I love to speak and have spoken, many times. I attend as many public meetings that don't involve travel as I can. Travel wears me out- I am 79, and though relatively healthy now, I still have the aftereffects of long-term Lyme and more recently Covid. My stamina is simply not what I would like. I have been politically active most of my life, as well as a community volunteer, so I am compelled by nature to stay involved.
The woman I mentioned is 23 years old; she and others like her are what give me hope for the future. I am impressed with so many young people. The problem here in Vermont is getting past the way things are always done. The political structures are entrenched, and though much progress has been made in recent years, right now it is simply not enough to wait for the usual take-off points. There are many groups here doing the kind of reach-out you suggest. I support them, but I also recognize they are up against the same obstacles I observed. In some cases, more, as some of the most active are about indigenous and BIPOC issues.
I write. Every day, on various platforms. I speak out in SOOM gatherings. I still hope that I can be involved in this election cycle, beginning with the local offices that are so important for our future as a democracy. Then building as we approach the mid-terms and then 2024. We are wasting too much time talking about 2024 and not preparing the foundations for it. That is what I worry about.
It is actually painful to read posts here echoing things that some people have absorbed because they can't be bothered to expand their sources of information, or to think about what they are writing. After all that Heather has written and spoken to, and her urging to read widely and to use our own intelligence to sort fact from distortion, still people come on here with blather. I want to tell them- go back and read Heather's letters, watch her videos, and learn. This is not a random discussion group. It is a place to expand our minds, with Heather's teaching as a starting point. I don't see it as a place of debate (there are plenty of those out there), but a place to expand and share our own experience and observation.
So my take is this is a jumping off point for each of us to tie a line to as we go into the world to find those things we CAN do. To counter the attempt to pull us into negativity, toward authoritarian ways of thinking. Things we CAN do to ensure that democracy survives, and equity and fairness.
And I will keep writing. And speaking out on the occasions that come my way. Thank you for affirming that.
You are a marvel and an inspiration. Thank you.
Now I'm going to cry...! Bless you.
Where can I find some more of your writing?
I am deeply moved by your question. I wish I could refer you to publications, but much of my writing is buried as background, or as white papers for policy makers, or as commentary here and there, or simply lost. Though periodically I sort through one box of papers or another, pulling together some of it, with the hope of publishing a book of personal essays. Thank you so much for asking: it might help spur me to get busy on this again.
Anything to lift you out of despair. You are clearly a very sweet soul.
Thank you so very much, Roland. Bless you. You are both sweet and kind. The past few months have certainly been a challenge, and it affected me more than I knew. Right now, I'd love a couple of weeks to just sit in front of my woodstove with a stack of genre mysteries and a few books by my favorite poets, and my new dog. She is a "brown" dalmation, maybe a mix but I think not. She has blue albinistic eyes, and so do I, so I am the perfect person for her. The staff at the HA thought she was leery of the snow, but I recognized right away that it wasn't the snow: it was the glare. (I got sunglasses for her, so we both wear sunglasses when we go out during the day.)
She was brought up from Texas, from a shelter being evacuated because of storm damage, so there is no history on her. She is doing a good job of training me to light the fire first thing in the morning: she sits right in front of the stove and stares at me with Snoopy eyes. That makes me laugh.
You sound like you could really use some time in front of your stove with books and the new dog. I recommend that for you, and what Roland says.
Thank you, David. Amazing how meaningful a few words from a stranger can be. I truly appreciate that you took the time to do that for me.
You definitely deserve it!
I’d love you to get those several weeks to read and recuperate. Please do what you have to do to make it happen.
Taking really good care of ourselves is the number one thing in our lives, often easier said than done. But exercising the discipline of bringing oneself back to a happy and healthy place is really critical.
Thank you again, my friend. I think you are right. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed right now. Part some personal stuff (minor auto crash, no injuries, but parts for my car are currently unavailable, and my concern about friends and family with health problems.
Other part is my disappointment about the sluggishness of the Dems in my town. The county committee is active, and I am included as a non-voting guest, so I get to speak, just not vote. Zoom meeting on Thurs, at which I am going to raise a question about the possibility of reorganizing the town meeting, and if that's possible under party rules, I will offer myself as chair. I was told that the current "official" chair is burnt out, and willing to step down. We will see.
Tonight I am going to reserve some mysteries online, and then pick them up tomorrow. I laid in a supply of N95s that actually fit me well (most are too big as I am a small person), and looking forward to the trip to town. I'll pick up a supply of choc decadence cookies (one must call the bakery and reserve some as they sell out rapidly).
Ah, see, now I am feeling better. I made some small decisions that will make it easier to take on things later. (Surer hope the bakery has the cookies tomorrow, they are not an every day item...)
Your kind and thoughful note cheered me up and helped me to remember that my first responsibility is taking care of myself when I need to. Thank you.
A “Progressive“ who is a misogynist. Anyone else see a slight contradiction in terms here?
I started to answer this a while ago, then got distracted. I wondered if anyone would catch that irony. Doesn't surprise me that you did, Roland, with your sharp eyes for inconsistencies. But yes, indeed, this man is a misogynist and a bit of a gas-lighter. Fortunately, he's put it on display in a number of situations and it has backfired on him. He's also authoritarian, and I am baffled by his choosing to identify as a Progressive. I think it is social points and also opportunistic- he is an ambitious man. The Progressive Party is a growing thing here in Vermont, even in very rural places that most people wouldn't expect it to be. So though he gets nothing actually done on our select board, he "gets along" with the other guys. He began a campaign to run for a statewide office, but I haven't seen anything about it. Maybe he saw the field of female candidates and changed his mind.
Roland, I came back here to find this and add to it. Nobody is likely to read it but you. But I needed to finish out this story. For that matter, if somebody does read it, it might be a lesson on not giving up, to keep poking and poking until you find the thing that works.
I was terribly upset at the thought that nobody was running against this man. Then I learned that the Progs DO have a candidate who is really putting herself into her campaign. Great odds against her, because the good old boy network is swinging into action. I started talking to some county Dems about what is going on. Apparently, in many places in VT, Dem town committees don't meet except to select delegates to the county committee. I found that so odd, because definitely not what I've seen elsewhere, even the other towns where I've lived in VT.
I am (get this) the 3rd *alternate* delegate to the county committee from my town. But I usually get to vote as acting delegate, because only one of the actual delegates shows up.
I have been informed that I CAN request a reformation of the committee, since it is inactive. So that's a possibility. I could be chair, because apparently nobody else wants to be. But do I even? I have a feeling it's a brick wall.
Debating with myself. Because I talked to the Prog candidate for the select board, and learned some things. This guy is NOT a member of the Progressive Party. They got onto him and refuse to allow him to run as a Prog. He can call himself a little p progressive, but he is not allowed to identify himself as a member of the Party. Whoa. Also learned that Progs are starting to get that politics is about compromise that leaves open possibilities, rather than taking a stance that shuts off dialogue. There may be hope.
Talked to some other people, too. To a person, everyone I've spoken to who has had to work with him cannot stand him, especially women, not surprisingly, but men as well, outside the good old boys. One person used the term "creepy" to describe him; others used similar terms. That tallies with my experience with him, and the outcomes of his involvement with other groups. And yet... the old boys network is out in force. Interesting, that.
I can't work in a vacuum. And the Dems here are a vacuum, although I do enjoy the people a great deal (the ones at the county level, which are the only ones I get to interact with). But the town is what I am concerned about at this point. So I am thinking the best bet is for me to resign from the Dems, and rejoin the Progressive Party. That means more work, but less stress. And the possibility of actually removing someone from the select board who shouldn't be there. Sounds good to me.
Never did order those mysteries. Think I will tomorrow.
Hello from NW Washington.
A homie! Where are you located? I still have relatives in Skagit County, a few in Snohomish. And a cluster on the other side of the mountains. These are the 1 to 3rd degree folks. I've got identifiable relatives probably in every county west of the Rockies.
Likely moving to PA this year or next
Moving to PA from CA? Now I'm curious about what draws you, especially this year. Though I can readily understand some of the factors that could make a person want to leave CA. If you do end up in PA, let me know. I have an ancestral line that migrated there, to the Wycoming area early in the 1800s, and I'd like to locate their establishment and the graves. Almost have to go to PA to do research because of the way records were kept there. Be nice to be able to meet a friend while I'm at it.
Hi, neighbors to the north. Kinda the same story here in Oregon. I have 3 sets of friends actively campaigning to join Idaho. Others are clamoring for creating the "State of Jefferson" carved out from S. Oregon and (very)N. California.
Hi from Woodinville!
Molbaks 🌹🌼🌲🌿🌵
Hi, back! I actually had to look up Woodinville, and realized I had a couple projects there when I was working (ages ago) for the State on watershed stuff. In my world, that is part of Seattle. When I say NW, I'm talking well north of Everett or northern Kitsap penninsula.
A brother in Bellingham!
Now there is NW Washington! I like Bellingham, used to go there a lot when I worked for the state, and sometimes just because. (GREAT restaurants and B&Bs.) My brother lives not far from there, but like me, he is more a country kid.
Port Townsend!
Another of my favorite places. I've traveled all over the NW, and Port Townsend was always a place I felt at home in. Anacortes and LaConner too, though they are different both from each other and Port Townsend. Gosh, I'm feeling really homesick now.
I was conceived in Seattle and lived there from two months to almost 4, and again 7-8. The place is in my blood despite how crowded it's gotten these last 60 years. I have a friend on San Juan Island in a house he built all by himself over four years. He's a ranger. I get very nostalgic about that part of the world. But I like New England, although not so much in the winter.
Almost my entire family first moved to Lopez Island in the San Juans decades ago, then gradually (as the island culture changed character) moved to various parts of the mainland. I left first to take care of my mother when she was dying of cancer, and then went to Oly to go to grad school at TESC. Started working for the state my second term in, and began to travel all over the state. I've also traveled, both professionally and personally, in most of the US and large parts of Canada, also a little overseas. Hope to do a little more traveling before I tuck in. I've found beauty everyplace I've been, but still think that the PacNW is absolutely the most beautiful place I've been. And watching the Oregon legislature online this week gives me optimism that the state is working through some of the travails it has been saddled with in the last few years. The media has not covered the Northwest well: it falls back on too many outdated tropes.
BTW, my "brother by another mother", a friend from high school, was a ranger until he retired, then he became a college science teacher! He's in southern Oregon, and built the house he raised his family in on land that belonged to his Takelma grandfather.
The one thing I would like to have done was build my own mountain home. I came close, but didn't quite get there. Just as well: the property I owned was in the heart of the fire that burned a year or so ago in the Rocky Mountain National Park. It had to jump 3 highways to get there. I loved it there too, but not sure I'll ever go back to see what that fire did.
With his family of origin, my friend the ranger on San Juan built a cabin on Lopez, that was quite well done. But his house on San Juan Island is way beyond the cabin on Lopez.
I didn't realize any fires had come through Rocky Mountain NP. Or maybe I did. I've bicycled up to the pass on a week or so long trip in Colorado, back in '86, I think.
My biggest trip was Seattle to Boston bicycle after I graduated college. I'm hoping to drive to the west coast and back this spring or one of the next few. (At my current age, 68, too slow by bicycle.)
A lot of places beautiful to me. Some are equal to--often in very different ways--but none more beautiful than the outer Cape.
What are Oly and TESC?
Oh, dear, guilty of using insider lingo! Oly is short for Olympia, the capitol of WA. AKA "OlyWa", which is actually recognized by the PO. TESC is The Evergreen State College. An excellent but unusual school. I loved it there, still friends with a bunch of folks now scattered around the country.
The fire that went through the RMNP was a doozy. I watched all the briefings from fire command. A Strange feeling to watch the ridge as the fire closed in on the park and know that that's where my property was. I'd sold it when Lyme took me down, and the buyer used my layout to build. That house suffered almost no damage The houses across the road were fried. Somebody is already building a new house where one of them were. The next road down is simply gone. I loved it there, but glad I left. There were dead spruce all over the place... big time fuel. I had aspen and ponderosa and had cleared an acre and a half for the house.
I kind of like OlyWa, and even more since the PO recognizes it. Sad about Rocky Mountain. I had such a wonderful time cycling up to the pass in '84 or '86--whenever it was. It was so beautiful, despite the difficulty. I was high as a kite when I got to the pass--a natural reaction from all the exertion, and it was a gorgeous ride. I also remember stopping there when I was eight, on our last x-country trip, from Seattle to Boston. I think it was Rocky Mountain where we saw the double rainbow. I never would have figured out Evergreen State from TESC. I had no idea they used definite article in the name.
A lot of people miss that. It's because it isn't "Evergreen State College" or "Evergreen State". Washington's state motto is "The Evergreen State". The proper name of the college is "The Evergreen State College", meaning the college of The Evergreen State, thus TESC. Alumni call ourselves "Greenies" or "Greeners". Our mascot is the geoduck (large clam with a small shell, pronounced "gooeyduck". We are proud of our mascot. ;-]
disillusioned Portlandian here... (looking into options for retiring to Europe)
I was born in Portland, grew up in southern Oregon, went back to Portland for college. Loved the kind of place it was back then. Raised my kids there. But Portland changed, and became a place I hardly recognize, though I still have friends there, and 2 of my kids live there. I don't feel at home when I visit, though I do think it is one of the most beautiful and dynamic cities I have been in, still. I do love the fact that AmTrak allows me to travel right down to almost all the places that are meaningful to me, so I can spend a few days in Portland and be on my way, catch it again on the way back, and then back up to my brother in the foothills of the Washington Cascades. I would like to travel to Europe again, but I feel strongly that I have responsibilities here, to the land I come from (mixed indigenous, with a healthy admixture of mostly Gaelic), and to what I leave my grandchildren.