Holiday Hangover

January 4, 2013 ~ Crystle ~ 6 Comments

Anyone else feeling a little drained from the Holiday season? I am.

Our anniversary was December 23rd; we spent it in nearby Gig Harbor at a bed and breakfast on the water. Then we spent Christmas Eve with friends and had a mellow Christmas Day at home. I made a pot roast for Isaac and even gave some to the dogs because I happen to be an overindulging dog owner. It all seemed much more labor intensive at the time than in retrospect.

Now that the Holidays are behind us, we’re watching the days tick by until baby joins us. Margot is due in 9 weeks and I really can’t believe it. If any of you experienced mothers have any birthing or newborn advice, please share. I sure could use it! In the meantime, I’ll be sleeping as much as possible, while I still can.

Snow Lust

December 20, 2012December 20, 2012 ~ Crystle ~ 10 Comments

I don’t care that it only snowed two inches, and that the snow has already melted away. My upbringing in Bakersfield, CA has left me eternally deprived of this wintry white stuff; that’s probably why anytime it sleets or snows, I clap with glee while repeatedly asking anyone around me if they’ve noticed it’s snowing. Needless to say, I was outside taking photos from the moment the puffy, sluggish flakes fell from the sky over our neighborhood in the suburbs of Olympia, WA to the moment it all melted away.

Now that this beautiful scenery has returned to it’s normal, wet, evergreen status, I’m back inside, tapping my fingers in anticipation of another brief snow storm (which is tentatively scheduled in our 10-day forecast). If snow doesn’t show around Puget Sound again this year, then that’s fine too. This is all I need to sate my snow-lust until next year when the Army sends us to Alaska for a three year assignment.

Please remind me of this day of snow-day-giddiness when I’m stuck indoors in Fairbanks, Alaska for four months while the extreme winter weather rages on outside. Future me will need the perspective, I’m sure.

Patterns and Predictability

November 6, 2012December 9, 2012 ~ Crystle ~ 61 Comments

Growing up in Bakersfield, CA means I’m well conditioned to brutally hot summers and cool foggy winters: those are pretty much the only two seasons we saw down there, and they were painfully redundant.

Two hour fog delays were common anytime visibility dropped in the valley from the phenomena, which made it a welcome happenstance for city kids, and probably a nuisance for adults who didn’t get to share in the weather delay. This was our weather ‘thing’ and we were all used to it.

Nowadays, I realize that I can no longer be comfortable in weather patterns like I was in California. And gone are the days where I could mark the passage of time by distinct periods of fall, winter, spring and summer like I did while living in Oklahoma.

My one surety is knowing I’ll be nomadic for the foreseeable future while my husband serves our country. Did I mention we’re heading to Alaska next October? We are, and that assignment has me both excited and terrified at the prospect of extreme Alaskan weather patterns as we build a life for our young family on the Last Frontier.

Those thoughts have been heavy on my mind lately, so to be greeted by that old familiar Bakersfield-type fog over our new neighborhood was comforting. After filling out my absentee ballot and handing it off to my diligent husband to fax off, I took a stroll on the William B. Ives trail just a few hundred yards from our front door.

I wanted to walk in the foggy woods because I wasn’t sure when I’d have the chance to do so again. Bakersfield fog hangs around awhile, but Puget Sound Fog? I have no idea. During my stroll, low fog hugged the tall evergreens as I walked slowly below. I caught glimpses of mushroom clusters and thick hanging moss that made me wonder what life will bring in Alaska, and beyond.

No matter what, one more year in Washington means I’ll have plenty of time to travel to the nooks and crannies that I’ve yet to visit around here, and I’ll have ample time to plan and dream about our future three year stint in Alaska with our upcoming bundle of joy, Margot.