Lochlan Explains What's Outside

For a 2.5 year old, the kid has a pretty good sense of humor.

The Pencil Missile Attacks

Description from Liam: "The pencil missile from the bad base attacks the good ferry boat from the good base."

It is so Snowy in Seattle...

...that we went snowboarding down our street. Really. Here's a clip:



A couple of hours after this I wanted to do a few more "runs", so I headed up one block and rode down NW 48th from Market (the very top of the hill), across 3rd Ave NW, then all the way down to 6th Ave NW. I don't think I would have shot straight across 3rd Ave were it not for some benevolent neighbors who were sledding at the time and spotted me as I zipped across what is ordinarily a very busy arterial street.

I love snow!!

Wintry Weather, Santa, and Ye Olde Yule Tree

We have had exceptionally cold and snowy weather all week in Seattle. The boys have really enjoyed the snow, but school has been canceled every day this week (including yesterday when not a single flake of snow fell in the city) and everyone is going a bit crazy from being penned up in the house. This past weekend we played in the snow with the boys and helped our friend Jen (aka Antigen) decorate her first ever Xmas tree. That was great fun--lots of laughing, yummy treats, and a vigorous snowball fight in the backyard.

The previous weekend we took our annual pilgrimage on the Santa train to visit the jolly old elf. The Northwest Railway Museum puts this event on every year and they do a great job--they decorate the vintage passenger cars, lead carols on the train on the way to the depot, and upon arrival they serve hot chocolate and cookies on a WW I era kitchen car. The kitchen is amazing--it's got the most overbuilt stove I've ever seen, it is solid iron and coal-fired. I'd never seen actual coal being burned in a stove before, and it's pretty surreal. It literally looks like burning rocks! After the refreshments the boys had their turn with Santa. I think Lochlan was either a bit overwhelmed or freaked out because that is not a normal expression for him.

The day after the Santa train we drove up to Everett to dig out Xmas tree out of some lady's yard. This is actually not as random as it sounds; Amy found an ad on Craigslist.org for "you-dig" live Xmas trees. You see, another of our holiday traditions is to get a live tree, decorate it and use it for the duration of the season (doing our best to keep it alive) and then planting it in one of several ecological restoration sites around the city. However, live trees are expensive and this was a considerably better deal.

Just a few days left until the big day! The level of excitement in our house is approaching fever pitch.

Grandpa's Memorial

Grandpa's memorial was this past Saturday. It was held at St James, the church he (and Grandma) attended for decades. The ceremony was organized primarily by my Uncle Tom, and I feel very fortunate and honored that I was asked to do a reading from the Book of Wisdom, particularly since I am not religious. Aunt Joanne also did a reading, and the eulogy Uncle Tom wrote and delivered was extremely well done--I don't think there was a dry eye in the entire church by the time he was done.

Grandpa's condo is literally right around the corner from the Church, so we walked back to the clubhouse in his complex for the reception. My cousin Jesse put together a very cool slideshow featuring Grandpa, all of his kids, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. My uncle Denny put together a DVD of footage from the 40s and 50s (in color!) which was really mind-blowing, it felt like time traveling to see Grandpa and Grandma, my own mother, and all of my aunts and uncles as infants and toddlers.

The biggest surprise of the evening was the arrival of nearly all of Great Uncle Roland and Aunt Monnie's grandchildren. A little history first--my grandfather Ray Reiss and his brother Roland Reiss married two sisters, my grandmother Margaret Lenahan and her sister Monnie Lenahan. The four of them lived in the same house in Solana Beach for years, and although my family visited them many many times over the years we rarely saw any of Monnie & Roland's grandkids. So, I met four of these cousins for the first time on Saturday! We managed to get everyone in a group shot, probably the first and last time so many Reiss cousins will be together in one place. They were planning on attending both the memorial and the reception, but unfortunately San Diego's airport was completely fogged in so their flight was delayed 4 hours. I'm really glad they were able to make it to the reception, it was nice visiting with all of them.

I also enjoyed catching up with all of my 1st cousins, Aunts and Uncles. This was the first time I had seen my cousin Danny Fitzpatrick in something like 12 years, and the first time he and his sisters were all together in nine years! Many stories were exchanged and there was a lot of laughter as we remembered Grandpa.

There were also a LOT of photos taken, and in an effort to make it easier to share them, I set up a photo sharing group on Flickr. There are currently 7 members but so far it looks like I am the only one that has added photos to the pool. I invited all of the relatives for whom I have an address, so if you would like to add photos to the group but have not yet received an invitation please let me know and I'll send one to you. I can be reached at mattstevenson.geo ( at ) yahoo.

Farewell, Grandpa Reiss

Last Monday my grandfather Ray Reiss died. He was 96 years old, and although his health had been failing for the past several months, he was a remarkably healthy guy. He moved to Solana Beach with my grandmother, Margaret, about 33 years ago. My grandma passed away about 16 years ago and Grandpa continued to live independently in a condo just down the street from their old house.

He and Margaret had six children--Tom, Cathy, Joann, Nancy (my mom), Margie, and John; 17 grandkids; and 7 (I think) great grandchildren.

I have so many great memories of Grandpa. He was sharp as a tack, regulalry cleaning my clock at Scrabble, and was always learning new things. For example, in his late seventies he decided to learn how to use a computer and never looked back, designing custom birthday and holiday cards for all the grandkids, using email to stay in touch with everyone, and in his 90s making videos and slide shows with voice-over commentary that he would send to the family to keep everyone updated on his activities. He was a piano player (I remember asking him once if he knew Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2, and he of course just started playing it), an artist, and an excellent conversationalist. In fact, one of the things I liked best about talking with Grandpa is that he was far more interested in ideas--philosophy, politics, religion--than he was in gossip, celebrity, or any of the fleeting trends that seem to dominate our national discourse.

Grandpa Reiss was my last surviving grandparent. I grew up in Phoenix and my family would take several trips a year to San Diego, and consequently I spent more time with my G & G Reiss than any other relatives. I feel fortunate to have known all 4 of my grandparents; but I feel particularly fortunate to have known Grandpa as an adult, and to have spent so much time with him. A few years ago I was attending the ESRI conference in San Diego and I took the train up to Solana Beach to make dinner for Grandpa and hang out for a few hours. While dinner was in the oven, we sat on his patio, watched the sunset, and split a six pack of Moosehead (his favorite beer). It was great talking with him and just hanging out. I remember thinking at the time "Wow, how many guys get to drink a beer with their grandpa and have a conversation about foreign policy?"

He was a great guy and an awesome Grandpa. I will miss him.

(This picture was taken in early September, the last time we were in San Diego, and the last time I saw him)

Summery Summary Part III--First Triathlon and Spencer Spit

As I wrote about earlier my friend Chris talked me into doing the Heart of the Sound triathlon with him. I trained throughout the summer, and when the big day arrived in late August, I kinda sorta felt like I was ready. The event started with the swim, and the water was 62 degrees. I am very glad I rented a wetsuit from Speedy Reedy! The 'old folks' (40+) started their swim first, and two minutes later we 'youngsters' started our swim. The water was shockingly cold but I warmed up pretty quickly. Visibility was close to zero; I had an excellent view of the plankton and kelp and the swimmers in front of me right before I crashed into them. Every fifty meters or so I would pop my head up to look for the next buoy, adjust course accordingly, and soldier on. Eventually I stopped passing people, and was worried that maybe I missed a turn or something. It turns out that I actually did pretty well on the swim, finishing 11th over all and first in my age group (!).

However, after stripping off the wet suit, changing into my cycling/running gear and hopping on the bike, I discovered to my shock and dismay that my rear tire was completely flat. I have no idea how this happened, as I triple-checked everything before the race started. Fortunately there was an attentive race organizer there who helped me set the bike on a stand, and I sprinted to my gear, grabbed a spare tube and changed the tire. I'm not sure how long it all took; maybe 10-15 minutes? Anyway, after I changed the tire and got moving the ride was awesome--Vashon Island is really beautiful. I was riding pretty well, and passed maybe 15-20 people. My time was not great because of the flat, but I finished 61st overall on the bike and second to last in my age group. On the bright side, if I do this again next year--and all my equipment works--I am almost certain to improve my time!

The third and final stage, the run, was the most challenging for me. I don't particularly like running and I'm not very good at it, and I was really tired. But I was so psyched to finish that I just kept plodding on, and came in 39th overall, 6th in my age group.

My combined time for all three stages was 1:52:59, putting me 42 out of 81 finishers. I had a great time, and I consider my performance to be pretty decent.

In retrospect, the most challenging aspects of the whole event were the mechanics and logistics--what to bring, what to wear and when, how to arrange everything in the staging area, how to change quickly, and how to change a tube with hands still shaking from the swim. I'm glad I did it, and might even do it again next year.

Spencer Spit is a State Park on Lopez Island in San Juan County. We went camping there with our friends the Moores and the Mahoney-Schafers--the multi-family camping trip has become a bit of an annual tradition, and this was a great place for it. The islands are always beautiful, and although we experienced a fair bit of rain during our stay, there were enough dry spells that we were still able to enjoy the park, the beach, and some kayaking. We brought our double, and took each of the kids out to see the crabs, anemones, and sea stars through the amazingly clear water of the Sound. And of course we enjoyed all the usual camping stuff--roasting marshmallows over the fire, singing songs, ghost stories, etc.

On the way home while we were waiting for the ferry our boys met two awesome little girls named Kelsey and Aubrietta. They are a bit older than Liam and Lochlan, but the four of them had great fun playing together and became fast friends in the way that young children often do (you know, catching garter snakes, coaxing free sodas out of the vending machine, stuff like that). Liam actually invited the girls to his birthday party the next day! Unfortunately they were not able to make it, but their dad got in touch and it turns out their mom has an excellent blog detailing all of their adventures together. Hopefully they will all have a chance to hang out together again someday soon.

Summery Summary Part II--Liam is Five, and the Block Party

It is hard for me to believe, but Liam turned five this August. For the past several months he's become increasingly interested in insects (and invertebrates in general) so he chose 'bugs' as the theme for his birthday. After a quick survey of his friends, we decided to have the party on a Monday because the majority of them were available. Fortunately I was also able to attend--one of the best parts of being self-employed is the flexibility in my schedule.

So we had lots of kids, an awesome caterpillar cake that Amy made, a bug scavenger hunt, butterfly nets, and of course the wading pool. It was great fun.

The Block Party also happened in August, as part of the National Night Out. For the second year we (OK, actually Amy) organized and hosted the event, got the permit from the City to close our street to cars, etc. My contribution this year was to suggest we have some games and friendly competitions, and the favorite by far was the Push Lawnmower Uphill Sprint. The pictures pretty much say it all. We already have a pretty tight-knit community on our street, but it's always nice to catch up with neighbors we see less frequently and meet some of the recent arrivals.

Summery Summary Part I--The Garden

So it's been two months since my last post. That's hard to believe. There are many reasons for this; primary among them is the two week vacation we took at the very end of August/beginning of September and the subsequent never-quite-catching-up onslaught of delayed work. Oh, and there's this little election coming up, which has taken much of my time (I've been the appointed PCO for my precinct for the past two years, but after the primary election, I am now the officially elected PCO. It was exciting but kind of weird seeing my name on the ballot for the first time ever). The financial-world-going-to-hell phenomenon is also fairly concerning, but for the time being I'm going to ignore that suite of issues.

Anyway, I will now attempt to catch up a bit on all of the exciting things the Seattle Stevensons have gotten up to these past couple of months.

This summer we planted our most ambitious garden yet: we grew spinach, lettuce, carrots, peas, beans, corn, broccoli, zucchini, peppers, chives, pumpkins, tomatoes, basil, eggplant, blueberries, cherries, apples, and hops. We didn't grow a whole lot of anything--except tomatoes and zucchini--but it was pretty gratifying to have a bit of everything. Between the garden and the 1/2 CSA from Oxbow Farms we share with the Moores, we had plenty of fresh veggies this summer.

Here are a few shots of the produce.

Barclay Lake

Last Monday we hiked to Barclay Lake in the Cascades. The lake lies in the middle of a U-shaped glacial valley and Mount Baring looms above--the summit is 3,400 feet straight up from the surface of the lake. So we're sitting there, enjoying our picnic on the sunny sandy shore, when we hear this bizarre flapping noise. We look up and there's a guy parachuting down from the top of the mountain! He landed in the lake adjacent to the shore not too far from us, pulled his chute in, then craned his neck up to the summit. Couple minutes later, another guy jumps off the summit, chucks his chute open, and lands in the exact same spot. It was amazing. We chatted them up a bit and one of the guys said he has done the jump a couple dozen times, and that Mt Baring is probably the premier base jumping peak in N America. Who knew? Afterwards we prowled the wetlands along the lake and caught and released three red-legged frogs, that was good, muddy, slippery fun.

Tomatoes!

This is the best time of year for fresh tomatoes and our cherry tomatoes and a few of the full-size varieties we planted are just now starting to ripen. Mmmm!

Tall Ships

We went down to Tacoma to see the Tall Ships on Independence Day. It was awesome. I find it hard to describe how exciting it was being on these ships--some of them exact replicas of real ships like the Nina and the Lynx--and imagining what it must have been like for the people who sailed, fought, and immigrated on them. The ships were so beautiful as they headed up the Foss waterway for their cruises, and it redoubled my determination to learn how to sail. Just need to wait for the boys to get a bit older.

Chickens!

In May we bought three day-old chicks--two Buff Orpingtons and one Barred Plymouth Rock (named Sunshine, Nectar, and Starla by the boys). They lived inside our house for about a month and a half. During the Kaplans visit in June, Dan helped us build a coop for the 'girls'. This structure is super-duper strong and will undoubtedly outlive many generations of hens. We're looking forward to getting eggs from our chickens within a few months. The boys really like having the birds in our yard, and I think it will be beneficial for them to see where their eggs are coming from.

Seattle Streetcar Expansion

The City of Seattle recently completed construction on a streetcar that runs between Downtown and South Lake Union. I just learned that they are planning on dramatically scaling up the network, which is an excellent idea. I think we need to move to electrified mass transit ASAP if we are to have a decent chance of dealing with Peak Oil. I was especially psyched to learn that one of the new lines will pass just a few blocks from our house.

The only concern I have about the streetcar is the potential hazard it poses to cyclists--getting a wheel stuck in the tracks while pedaling through traffic is extremely dangerous. Seems like Portland has done a pretty good job dealing with this, but I'm looking forward to the public meeting on Tuesday night to hear how Seattle is going to address it.

The really ironic part about this whole proposal is that Seattle used to have a rockin' street car network, which (naturally) was completely ripped up after the advent of cheap cars and cheap gas. Now that gas is really expensive, we get to rebuild it!

Triathlon Training

My neighbor and friend Chris talked me into doing the Heart Of the Sound Triathlon with him this summer. I've never done a tri before, but I do a fair bit of biking and swimming so I thought "what the heck!"

Last week I started training in earnest. Here's what I've done so far:

Mon: Bike 10 miles
Tues: off
Wed: Run 3.6 miles (with 8:15 miles, not awesome, but not bad for me)
Thurs: Swim 1,600 yards
Fri: Kayak w/Amy (OK, maybe that doesn't technically count, but it's cross-training in my book!)
Sat: Bike 9.5 miles (towing Liam on the trail gator)
Sun: Bike 9.5 miles (towing Liam)
Mon: Swim 1,400 yards
Tues: Bike 19 miles

IMHO, pretty good so far. Liam is an excellent training buddy for biking, he is so incredibly excited and enthusiastic about being on the trail that his attitude is contagious. I'll probably be able to keep this up until the 4th, at which point I plan on doing no exercise whatsoever and drinking a bunch of beer. Mmm.

Simple Solutions to Traffic Congestion

This is a very powerful, short video produced by the Sightline Institute showing how easy it would be to address traffic congestion. I have done some mapping work for Sightline in the past, and they are a fun, smart organization with lots of good ideas.

Dosewallips

We sneaked out of Seattle mid-week for some camping at Dosewallips state park. The park is on the Olympic peninsula, right on Hood Canal and the Dosewallips river runs along the northern boundary, so there is water everywhere. It wasn't quite warm and sunny enough for swimming, but we did a fair bit of hiking and beach combing. The boys really enjoyed looking for crabs, oysters, and clams, but Liam's favorite find by far was the partial skeleton of a harbor seal. At least, we think it's a harbor seal, given its size and the fact that we found it wedged under a piece of driftwood out in the estuary (if there are any taxonomists out there who want to provide a more accurate ID I'd be happy to send additional photos of the bones).