12/31/2013

If a person lives for a year, but doesn’t write anything down, has he really lived? At the risk of leaving 2013 undocumented, I think it’s time to put pen to paper, finger to keyboard, and make some mark of what this past year was all about.

In some ways 2013 was an unremarkable year. In other ways it was completely amazing.

The year began the way 2012 ended. Eric learning a new Executive Director role at the Gray Family Foundation, Elsa beginning a new semester of Graduate School for her MBA. In May we took a delicious and memorable vacation that began in Las Vegas, and took us hiking in the Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Bryce Canyon, and Zion National Park. For those who have seen these magnificent Earth-scapes, just mentioning their names brings back a flood of image. For those who haven’t yet made this pilgrimage of nature, your brain will thank you for filling your

visual cortex with some of the most luscious textures, colors, and contrasts on the planet. Our favorite part of this trip was the Narrows hike in Zion National Park, wading through a river for 3 miles to see the tallest slot canyon in the world. We also enjoyed an overnight in Las Vegas where we took in the Cirque de Solei show “O.”

The 7-mile hike of the Grand Canyon started a hiking obsession with Elsa and when we returned, she joined Nancy in a series of long hikes culminating in a heroic one-day 24-mile hike through Forest Park on Portland’s Northeast flank.

Over the summer Bernice and Larry came for a visit and gave us a chance to explore the Chinese and Japanese gardens.

In the middle of the summer we took a short trip to “the cabin,” a rustic A-frame ski shelter, owned by Elsa’s Parents, that sits on the north entrance to Mt Rainier National park. It has served as a family retreat for nearly 30 years and we try to get there at least a few times per year.

This year, Elsa made it up to the cabin 3 times. I made it up twice Elsa went up to for a "girls" weekend and to celebrate Jenn and Mike’s impending wedding as a sort of nerdy bachelorette /geocaching party.

Eric went up with a couple friends from college. Then Elsa and Eric went together.

The trip together was notable, mostly for the trip home when we returned to our house and discovered a disturbing and significant sag in our large front deck. A cursory investigation turned up a pile of sawdust that led to the discovery of some

very active wood ants who had managed to chew through a cross section of the 10 inch beam that was the main backbone of the deck. We had a project on our

hands! And there was urgency! Deck boards came up, the scope of the problem revealed itself in all it’s disintegrating glory and within in a day, we had taken out all the bad wood and begun the much longer task of rebuilding. Fortune smiled on us with the timing of a visit from my sister Monica and her husband Brian who helped strategize the installation of the 13-foot long 10 inch beam. Niece Tiana came too!

The old one had come out in pieces, the new one had to go in whole. And since the whole thing was built on an angle with the house, it needed to be cut just…so…. But it worked.

We reinstalled the deck boards, replacing the ones that had begun to show signs of decay and Elsa’s final paint job, the deck was new again….whew…just in time for our party!

Party! Party! This past August represented our 10 year anniversary and in our house, that means inviting people over to celebrate. Friends, relatives, countrymen, they all came and lent their beers to our celebration….a celebration that carried late into the evening around our firepit roasting marshmallows and eating chocolate. We even accidentally set a table on fire so you know it was crazy.

Thank you Jake, for your low-key announcement to the group, “um, I don’t want to alarm anyone, but that table is on fire…” Sure enough one of the candles had burned through to the tablecloth which served as a wick to the plastic table underneath….underwriter laboratories would not be pleased. But we dowsed it with lavender water and went back to our marshmallow revelries.

A few weeks later, we participated in the previously mentioned wedding of Jenn and Mike, a wedding set on the slope of a lake looking across to Mt Rainier. The wedding was a ridiculous good time in a setting that cooperated perfectly for stunning mountain views and a cold, glacier fed lake that inspired skinny-dipping on the part of the bride and groom.

Fall brought the routine of school and work and the hard decision to take the final trip to the vet with our 15-year old beagle. Leia, our willful, hilarious pup loved three things in life. She loved food. She loved Elsa. And she loved to lick her own body parts. In the end, with her sight and hearing failing,

she navigated the yard by smell, making the rounds daily to keep the critters in their place. When that daily routine suddenly became difficult on the day before Thanksgiving, we knew it was time. We’ve all lost loved pets and it’s never easy to say goodbye.

December followed hard upon and we took two trips to cap the year. One to Michigan for a 4-day stay at the Gregg and Tana bed and breakfast, where a

glorious snowstorm kept us indoors drinking coffee and eating delicious meals. The blustery weather led us to devour conversations with our hosts about the myriad problems faced by the world and our elegant solutions that would solve those problems if only we were in charge. The “enhanced” eggnog, I’m sure, contributed to our brilliance.

Returning home for a traditional Christmas Eve celebration with Elsa’s extended family, we then trundled off to Arizona for a quick, but lovely three day visit with Eric's parents,

Bernice, Larry and Larry’s daughter Gail. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. “Man, I really like hiking in the Arizona desert…in the winter… with enough water.”

For New Years Eve we went to the Crystal Ballroom and danced to Pink Martini (a band) with a guest appearance by the great grandchildren of the Von Trapp family. Yes, they did sing Edelweiss and it was awesome.

That’s it. 2013 in two pages. Now I’m going to write out 2014 so I can see how this year is going to play out. Stay posted.

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