How Does This Happen?

Somehow, today, I find myself the mother of a 9 month old.  Who is quickly morphing from a baby into a toddler.  She's not technically toddling yet, but she looks less and less like a baby with every passing day.

7 MONTHS

9 MONTHS

I don't know if the difference is as obvious to you as it is to me, but my baby is disappearing before my eyes.  She's a funny little duck, too.  She's got four teeth now, and they are so sharp it's unreasonable.  She loves to eat food, and is eating more and more of it every day.  She will take only a tiny bite of any new food that she doesn't recognize in order to check it out before she commits.  She never spits it out, but if she doesn't like it, she won't eat anymore.  The one food that she never, ever likes is cheese.  It's so bizarre to me, as a dedicated lover of cheese, that we have a child who does not like cheese.

And this child fights sleep as if her survival depends on staying awake.  The acrobatics that she engages in when I'm nursing her at night are impressive.  She has, on more than one occasion, nursed while maintaining an excellent Downward Facing Dog in order to avoid laying down and possibly falling asleep.

Her stranger danger is activated, as well as a new, more intense attachment to me.  Today, for the first time, she cried when I told her goodbye and left for work.  She has been much more attached to me and won't even go to Margo half the time.

She is intensely physically active, and has the lean physique to show for it.  She never stops moving when she is awake, and has been more and more frustrated by diaper changes because they require her to stay still for more than ten seconds.  She is now crawling primarily as a way to get from one place to stand and furniture surf to another.  She's standing on her own for a few seconds at a time when she isn't paying attention. 

We went on a road trip to Montana for a couple of weeks recently, and she was a total champ.  She continues to be a remarkably adaptable, good-natured child, and we are so appreciative of that.  She was, however, absolutely delighted to be home again and see my mom.  She giggled for the first hour and a half solid after we got home. 

She also experiences her emotions intensely.  Her delight and joy are irrepressible and uncontainable.  She sometimes becomes so overwhelmed with excitement that her entire body just vibrates and she is rendered momentarily speechless.  She frequently experiences and expresses frustration in a very similar way.  She is so curious and intensely determined.  Watching her unfold continues to be a privilege that brings us so much joy and wonder.

The Fastest Four Months of My Life

It blows my mind to think that this little lady is four months old already.

It's amazing to think back to where I was a year ago.  A year ago, I had only known that I was pregnant for twenty days.  My only symptoms were some slight queasiness and breast tenderness.  It didn't seem real at all that parenthood was coming around the corner.  Now I can barely remember what it was like before she was born, before I was a mother.  It's easy to think of these milestones as just hers, but this also marks four months of being a mother, and four months of parenting with my amazing wife.  I like to think that I've gotten better at it and it's getting easier in many ways.

 This kid has so much personality and she's learned so many new things in just the past few weeks.  She's rolling over like a champ, any which way she likes.  She's grabbing everything she can reach and putting it in her mouth.  She's trying desperately to scoot, and she can move herself a few inches backwards.  When she's at home with her people, she hardly ever stops babbling or moving.  When we're out in the world, in new settings and with new people, she gets very quiet and watches everything with wide, thoughtful eyes.

 She's got a smile that will just melt you.  I'm working two days a week these days, and as hard as it is to leave her on those two days, the smile I get when I come home is the best thing in the world.  She has just figured out how to suck her thumb in the last four days.  It's the funniest thing because she puts her thumb in her mouth and the rest of her fingers are just splayed out over her face rather than in a fist.  She's also just starting to laugh.  She'd done it a couple of isolated times before today, but today she did it over and over again with Margo tonight.

 She had her first real trip last week, when we went to Chicago so that Margo could present at a conference sponsored by her agency.  I was so nervous about the air travel and staying in a hotel with a  baby, but she was amazing.  This in spite of having a terrible cold and fever for the first couple of days we were there.  She is so great at rolling with the punches, waking up somewhere different from where she went to sleep, and meeting new people.  She's so funny too, because when a new person holds her, she looks at Margo or I to make sure that it's okay, and if we smile at her, she's totally cool.  I don't know yet what she'd do if she didn't get that smile from one of us, but I suspect it wouldn't be pretty.

 We've also been going to story time at our local library on Friday mornings.  She's the youngest kid there by at least four months, but she loves watching the other kids and all of the games and songs.  One of her favorite things in the world is to be sung to by Margo or Grandma or me.  When she's fussy and nothing else will calm her down, singing to her almost always works.  We try to listen to a lot of music with her.

She's the coolest kid, and I'm so excited to see what she's got in store for us.  It's the most amazing thing in the world to have created this little person and watch her unfold into herself right in front of us.  I like to think that her happy, chill demeanor means that we're doing something right, although I think it's also just her natural temperament.

Sometimes Things Look Worse on Paper (or how my worst birth nightmare was actually an awesome experience)

You might have heard that I had a baby a couple of months ago (I can't believe it's already been a couple of months!!!!!!!!!!).  I've been meaning to write something about my pregnancy and birth experiences but just keep never getting around to it.  Looks like I'm finally getting around to it.

For many, many reason, our original plan was to have an out-of-hospital birth at our awesome midwife's office.  Among those reasons were my desire to avoid any unnecessary interventions and to avoid a Cesarean birth.  Things were going along swimmingly with that plan until I was seven months pregnant, when my midwife did a routine consultation with an OB at my HMO.  In spite of the fact that I did not have gestational diabetes or any other high risk conditions and my blood pressure had been awesome, my HMO decided that I was too high risk to have an out-of-hospital birth based solely on my BMI.  I was told that I would have to transfer to the care of an OB at my HMO and have the baby at their hospital.  After two visits with an absolutely terrible OB who clearly did not have any interest in anything I had to say, they decided that I was too high risk to give birth at their hospital, again solely because of my BMI.  The OB actually told me that the toilets might not be able to hold me!  Which is ridiculous.  I've never had a toilet collapse under me in any setting.  My HMO transferred my care to the university hospital here when I was 35 weeks pregnant.  35 weeks!  Essentially giving me 5 weeks to establish care with the people who would then be responsible for helping me give birth!

Ultimately, I was very pleased with the OB to whose care I happened to be assigned.  She was great and was largely unconcerned with my weight.  The monitoring that I received for the rest of my pregnancy was more intensive than I would have preferred, but I never felt that I was being pushed into something I wasn't comfortable with.

My due date was November 9, and that date came and went with no indication of labor.  Right before my due date, my OB and I discussed what to do if I went past my due date and how long she felt comfortable with me continuing past that date.  We agreed that if I had not gone into labor by November 20, I would be scheduled for an induction that day.

I started having relatively painful contractions at around 5AM on November 19.  Since I had an appointment scheduled that day anyway, we went to the hospital and I got checked out.  Since my contractions weren't progressing and I was only 2cm dilated, they sent me home.  My contractions continued to be painful and regular, but without increasing in frequency or intensity for the rest of the day.  That night, they started to increase somewhat in frequency and intensity, and neither Margo nor I got any sleep.  I was scheduled to go into the hospital for an induction at around noon on November 20.  When I checked into the hospital, my contractions were five minutes apart and I was already 5cm dilated.  They proceeded to give me pitocin as planned, although it was now considered augmentation rather than induction, as my labor had clearly already started and no longer needed to be induced.

We had put together a birth plan ahead of time, key elements of which included the desire to avoid the induction or augmentation of labor, the desire to avoid the use of pain medications or anesthesia, the desire not to have my membranes ruptured and the desire to birth my baby vaginally.  Each of the nurses that was assigned to us (we had four shifts of nurses over the course of my labor) had clearly read our birth plan and was extraordinarily supportive and advocated with the doctors on our behalf when necessary.  I labored until well after midnight, walking around the unit, getting in and out of the tub, dancing and having my head rubbed for hours.  I had been at 8-9cm for several hours when I allowed them to rupture my membranes in the hopes that that would help me dilate completely.

By around 5AM on November 21, I had finally dilated all the way to 10cm.  At 5:30AM, they let me start pushing.  I pushed for three hours in varying positions, including squatting.  Of note, the epidural rate in this hospital is more than 90%, so the nurses had to scramble to accommodate my mobility.  At one point, I was pushing while squatting next to the bed, and my fantastic nurse was under the bed, holding the fetal heart rate monitor in position on my belly while I pushed.  I got the baby far enough down the birth canal that the other people in the room could see hair when I was pushing.  After three hours of pushing, however, the baby was not moving any further down the birth canal and the baby's heart rate was starting to drop.  The doctors came in to talk to me and suggested that it might be time to consider a Cesarean birth.  After talking it over with Margo, my mom and my younger sister, we all agreed that a Cesarean birth was the best decision at that point.

The next 30 minutes were absolutely the worst part of the entire experience, as I was experiencing the literally irresistible urge to push but was being asked not to push.  It was so unbearable to be fighting my body's chemically enhanced and overwhelming urge while I waited for them to get the OR ready and all of the staff in place.  In the months leading up to giving birth, I stated numerous times that I could not imagine pain that would be bad enough for me to allow someone to stick a needle in my spinal column.  I have never been as physically happy as I was when they gave me the spinal anesthetic for the Cesarean and the urge to push disappeared.

I was so delirious from not having slept in two days and the narcotic in the spinal that I do not recall much of the Cesarean procedure.  The most bizarre part of that procedure was that, while I felt no pain, I could still feel pressure.  As a result, I could feel them cutting and pulling and moving my internal organs around while they got the baby out.  I could similarly feel them putting things back and stitching things up.  I think that, if I had not been delirious, it would have freaked me out more than I could tolerate.  So at 9:35AM on November 21, 2013, Adelaide Marie made a dramatic entrance into the world, weighing 9 pounds, 7 ounces and measuring 20.5 inches long.

While the bare facts of my labor and birth sound terrible (in labor for two days, pushed for three hours, then wound up having a c-section), and exactly what I would have told you was my worst nightmare beforehand, I actually had an amazing experience.  One of the questions that I had about myself before I gave birth was whether I was strong enough to endure labor, particularly without pain medication.  This was something that was both very important to me, and something I was very unsure about.  I answered that question, and I amazed myself with what my body was capable of doing, and with what I was capable of coping on very little sleep and food.  My mom told me later that she didn't know I had that in me, and to be frank, I didn't know I had it in me either.  I also got such incredible care from the labor and delivery nurses that were assigned to us.  They were unbelievably supportive, helpful, encouraging and protective of us.  Having worked professionally with some really terrible nurses, I had been really worried about how I would cope with possibly being assigned to a nurse that was not a good fit.  I needn't have worried.  In reality, we got such wonderful and affirming care from everyone at the hospital, and I felt very strongly that everyone who worked with us did everything in their power to help us have the birth experience that we wanted.  And ultimately, although the facts of the situation would lead you to believe otherwise, I had an amazing birth experience.  And we've got this amazing baby.  But more on that later...  I promise.

No, We're Not Finding Out the Baby's Sex and Why We Can't Find Out the Baby's Gender

My current pregnancy-related pet peeve is the unreasonable amount of investment that so many people, including complete strangers, seem to have in us (and by extension them) knowing the sex of our baby prior to its birth.  Now, I understand that in a world filled with gendered clothing and toys and other baby-related supplies, well-meaning loved ones want to know in part so that they can buy "correctly" gendered gifts for our unborn baby.  This is, in fact, one of the things that we are trying to avoid for as long as possible, and certainly don't want to start before birth.  We've even joked about not telling anyone the baby's sex or name following birth unless they change a diaper and find out that way.

There is evidence that knowing the sex of a baby changes the way that people interact with the baby and the language that they use when talking to and about the baby.  We want our baby to have the fullest range of experiences and opportunities.  We certainly don't want the limitations to start prior to birth.  As cute as all of those frilly pink dresses and blue bow ties are, we want our baby to have other options.

All of this brings me to the second part of this frustration: when people ask what the baby's gender is.  I know that they are really asking about the baby's biological sex, but the two are not the same thing.  Gender and sex are two different things.  It may be 2 or 10 or 25 years before we know the baby's gender.  It's certainly not something an ultrasound or any other medical tests can show.  The odds are pretty good that the baby's gender will be congruent with it's biological sex, but we can't and won't assume that to be the case.  And it's possible that our child's eventual gender expression may vary from both it's gender identity and it's biological sex.  Which makes our attempts to limit the gendered behavior toward and belongings of our child even more important.  Again, I emphasize our desire to provide our child with the fullest possible range of experiences and choices.

That being said, we still find ourselves making choices for our unborn child that are obviously gendered.  We have not chosen any unisex names, and the name we give our child will be totally dependent on the child's apparent biological sex at birth.  We have bought a number of baby clothes that could be considered pretty boyish which we will dress the baby in regardless of it's sex, but we have not bought any girly clothes with the same intentions.  It's interesting to consider our willingness to dress a female baby in "boy clothes" alongside our unwillingness to dress a male baby in "girl clothes", a relic of both internalized sexism and internalized homophobia/transphobia, I suspect.

I hope that we continue to be this thoughtful about gender norms after the baby is born, and as we continue in our parenting journey.

Edited to add the following addendum:
This post is in no way meant to be a reprimand to anyone we know or love.  We tend to give folks the benefit of the doubt.  This post is really meant as a commentary on the gender obsession and limitations of our society and a way of sparking some critical thought on the matter in general.

Amended a second time to add:
My issue is not really with people asking if we know the baby's sex.  My issues is with the amount of investment that other people appear to have in us finding out the baby's sex.  I have had complete strangers express dismay that we have chosen not to find out, not to mention the occasional friend or family expressing frustration that we have opted to keep the baby's sex a surprise.  I think it is a reasonable question to ask, and a way of expressing interest in someone's pregnancy, it is the varying levels of irritation, dismay, disappointment and frustration that people express when we tell them we are not finding out the baby's sex that I find frustrating.

So Many Changes

Since I last posted, so many things have changed in my life.  I got married twice (had an awesome wedding in August and then made it legal in January).  I quit my job at the VA and am working part-time in Auburn.  I got a haircut.  My baby sister moved to a goat farm in Everett.  We decided to have my mom move in with us this coming summer.  I've been trying to get pregnant, without success so far.  I've turned into a kombucha drinker and now a kombucha grower.  I'm obsessed with the food production system, which will likely be the topic of future blog posts.  We build awesome bookcases on one entire wall of our living room (I promise to post pictures at some time in the near future).  Margo and my mom built a window seat in our dining room.  Did I mention I'm working part-time now?  I'm reading so many books, all of which I want to tell you about.    So, it clearly hasn't been for lack of content that I haven't been blogging.  It's been largely due to lack of time, energy and motivation.  I'm hoping that is going to be less of an issue now that I'm working part-time.  I have more time to do so many of the other things I want to do now, but there's still more I want to do than I have time to do in a day.  I'm setting a goal of blogging at least once a week.  I know my mom will do her best to hold me to it.  :o)

My prolonged absence

It's entirely possible that no one is reading this anymore.  Who could blame you?  There's been a lot going on in my life since my last post, some of which I have been torn about whether to blog about, so rather than make a decision, I've just been avoiding my blog.  Further evidence that indecision is, in fact, a decision.

So, what's been going on?  Well, we got excited about the marriage equality bill being signed into law in Washington and decided to get married in August.  Then we learned that the actual implementation of marriage equality was likely going to be delayed until after the fine citizens of the great state of Washington have an opportunity to vote on the issue.  But we decided to have a wedding anyway, because we deserve to have a celebration of our relationship and our commitment to each other regardless of the legal status of our relationship.  So there's been a lot of wedding planning going on.  Which is both fun and stressful, but definitely time and energy consuming.

Choir also took up way more time than I had anticipated.  It was a wonderful experience, but I'm also glad to have a summer break from rehearsals.  I'm likely going to be re-joining them again in the fall, and am looking forward to that.  We're going to be doing our concert with Cris Williamson, and the focus of the program will be on equality for women.

The other big time, energy and emotion-consuming change that's going on in our lives is that I am trying to get pregnant.  This is what I've really debated about blogging about at all, but have decided that it is important for me to have an outlet to talk about some of the issues that are coming up for me around this.  Trying to get pregnant sounds like great fun, but in reality it's quite stressful.  Far more stressful than I ever anticipated.  This is one goal I'm extremely stressed about accomplishing.

Another goal that I've accomplished is going to check out the Unitarian Universalist congregation in my town.  I went over the Memorial Day weekend, and it was lovely.  Apparently the tradition at this church is to talk about a famous Unitarian Universalist on Memorial Day weekend, and the minister talked about Rod Serling.  I learned a lot, and have a renewed interest in watching the old Twilight Zone series.

So that's what's up in my life.  There will likely be more updates to follow.

Choir Update and Other Miscellaneous Things

So, I have a choir audition for the Seattle Peace Chorus in two days!  It's mostly a formality (probably to help filter out the truly terrible), but I'm still a little nervous about it.  Singing a song for the audition is optional, and I'm still debating about whether to do that or not.  Then, rehearsals start on Monday!  The only drawback, really, is that rehearsals are from 7:00-9:30PM on Monday nights.  You may or may not know this, but I've turned into the sort of person who is typically in bed by 9:00 on weekday nights.  Not necessarily asleep by 9:00, but definitely in bed.  In addition, the rehearsal site is a good 30+ minute drive from where we live.  So it's going to be a challenging adjustment, but I think it will be well worth it in the long run.  I'll keep you posted.

I've also been wanting to write a post about some chemical-free cleansing routines I've been trying.  I read about folks stopping shampoo use entirely several years ago.  If you want more information about the how and the why, you might check this out.  The premise is that shampoo is a detergent that contains all kinds of scary chemicals and encourages your hair to produce more oil by stripping the natural oils from your hair, thereby solidifying your dependence on the shampoo.  A lot of folks have stopped using shampoo and just use a little baking soda and water to clean their hair, and a little apple cider vinegar and water to condition it.  I tried this for a solid two months.  Unfortunately, my hair never really slowed down the oil production and I just couldn't stand it anymore.  I'm not using shampoo, though.  I'm using liquid castile soap, which is an olive oil based soap that is much gentler than any shampoo, and I only use it every 2-3 days.  My hair is still a little oilier than it was when I shampooed more frequently, but not enough to send me back.  Ultimately, I still feel better about using something that's a little gentler on my body and the water supply.

My new skin care routine, however, is glorious.  Funnily enough, my little sister saw that I had pinned it, and started using it long before I did.  The routine that we are using is the oil cleansing method.  Essentially, the idea is that oil is much better at cleansing your skin (oil dissolves oil) without stripping it of its natural oils than any other cleanser is.  In addition, you can use your cleanser as a moisturizer, if you find your skin needs it.  Essentially, you massage an oil blend into your face for several minutes, then wet a wash cloth with the hottest water you can stand and hold it over your face until it reaches room temperature.  Then you repeat the wash cloth step once more, and at the end, wipe off any remaining oil.  Sounds totally counter-intuitive to everything that we've been taught about skin care, but it's amazing.  Truly, my skin has never felt better.  I've also had fewer breakouts, and the breakouts I have had are much shorter in duration.  In addition, my skin is so soft and none of it is dry.  It's been totally revolutionary.  I'm using a mix of organic extra virgin olive oil, tea tree oil, emu oil and castor oil.  In addition to the skin benefits, it's also a really lovely and relaxing routine at the end of every day.

These are all changes that I've made relatively recently that I'm really pleased about.  Maybe they'll inspire you to try something new as well.  Hope you're having a happy new year.

Musings on Music

I've had a couple of musical experiences recently that have really heightened my desire to join a choir, which is one of my 101 goals.

On December 16, Margo and I went to see the Northwest Boychoir perform at a church in West Seattle.  It was unbelievable.  Words cannot really express what a powerful experience ti was for me.  I even cried a little bit.  One of the coolest things about their annual Christmas season show (A Festival of Lessons & Carols) is that the audience has multiple opportunities to sing during the performance.  This was particularly glorious because we were singing with the amazing choir AND we were singing in a church with fantastic acoustics.

Watching that choir perform, and being able to sing with them intermittently during their performance, really heightened my awareness of how much I am missing singing in my life.  I was in choir from 4th grade to 12th grade(edited from the previously incorrect 4th grade to 12th grade), and my family also led church music on a regular basis all through my high school years.  I also helped my friend Jenny lead the music at her church's vacation bible school every summer.  I didn't join choir in college because it was too many days per week and I really did not like the choir director.  It's been years since I was singing with any regularity, and I miss it so very, very much.

The other experience this month that also contributed to my awareness of this hole in my life was singing at my mom's church for Christmas Eve mass.  My mom goes to the most amazing Catholic church in Spokane.  If that church were here, I would be there every week, in spite of all of my issues with the Catholic church and my own spiritual uncertainty.  My mother and my younger brother and my sisters and my sister-in-law and I worked on a three-part version of O Holy Night that we sang together at church prior to the start of Mass.  In addition, the church choir director was gracious enough to allow me to attend rehearsal before mass and sing with the church choir for Christmas Eve mass.  It was really wonderful to be singing and to be a part of that.

This all adds up to my realization that not singing regularly has been a neglect, an abandonment, of an important part of myself.  In many ways, I think I have been able to access my spiritual side most easily through music.  Regardless of what I do or do not believe, singing connects me to something greater than myself, and provides me with a kind of joy that nothing else can quite replace.

So the hunt for a choir to join is on.  One of the challenges is that there are just so many community choirs in Seattle.  I'm also intimidated by having to audition, after being out of practice for so long.  Fortunately, singing for Christmas Eve mass helped to remind me that I am still capable of sight reading and picking up a part pretty quickly.  After having just sung for church or school before, I have also been surprised by the costs associated with joining a community choir.  I will be sure to keep you all posted, however.

Hope you all had a happy holiday season and are anticipating a joyous new year.

16 Days (and counting) Without a Phone

And guess what?  I'm still alive!  Which is not to say that it hasn't been an adjustment, because it certainly has.  It's been more than eight years since I got my first cell phone, and I've had one within arms reach nearly 24 hours a day since then.  That's roughly 72,000 hours with a cell phone.  In spite of all my big talk about getting rid of my phone, I have to admit that I was a little nervous.

There have certainly been some inconveniences involved.  Perhaps the saddest thing so far was that I didn't get to talk to any of my family on my birthday.  I left home extra early that day and then didn't get home until after 9 that night.  If I'd had my phone, I would have spoken to most of them that day.  The other thing that I find myself missing is texting Margo throughout the day. 

The benefits have definitely outweighed the inconveniences, though.  One of my motivations for getting rid of my phone was that I felt that I was using the phone as a way to distance myself from the people I care about most.  Texting can be an efficient way of getting or communicating information, but it bypasses all of the relationship-maintaining small talk that happens when you are actually talking to someone.  I have definitely been talking to the people I love more.  I've spent somewhere upwards of five hours on the phone (or skype) this week, and that was all during the week. 

The other thing that I've noticed is that I used my phone a lot to keep me occupied while waiting for things (like the microwave, the train, the commercials to be over) and not having the phone has forced me to be more present wherever I am.  I've also made it my goal to spend my time waiting for the microwave at work doing squats and lunges.  Seems like a healthier alternative.

The next thing to tackle is my computer use.  I think that I've replaced much of my phone use with the laptop.  It's been especially bad since Margo has been out of town.  My goal starting tomorrow is to spend 30 minutes or less on the computer in the evenings after work.  The only exception being if I am cooking from a recipe on the computer or am following directions for a craft project on the computer.  Hopefully by putting it out there to you all, I will be more accountable for that commitment.

The Miserable Seahawks Game (or Why I Prefer Watching Football at Home)

So, Margo and I went to the Seattle Seahawks game on October 30, in part because it was one of my goals and in part because I've turned into a major football fan, apparently.  It was a cool, cloudy day, with a chance of rain.  Probably the best part of the day was the van/train ride there and back, because we got to ride the train to the game with our friend Mike and his daughter Mia.  We also got a ride to the light rail station from Mia's mom, Heather, and her three week old baby sister Paige.  We didn't get to sit with them, because they had really good tickets and we had not such great tickets.  Because NFL tickets are very expensive.

We apparently also sat on the wrong side of the field.  This happened primarily because we did not really know, having never been to a pro football game before, that there might be a wrong side of the field.  But the wrong side of the field was filled with drunk and obnoxious Cincinnati Bengals fans.  Who got progressively drunker and more obnoxious as they continued drinking and the Bengals killed the Seahawks.  It was sad.  And it was cold.  50 degrees doesn't sound that cold, especially when you're from as cold a place as Eastern Montana can be, but when you're just sitting in it for five hours, it's COLD.   Here we are, being cold together, huddled together for warmth.  And inner strength to keep me from kicking the ass of the obnoxious Bengals fans down the row.

Also, the stairs up to our seats were so steep, and our seats were up so high, that I purposely drank as few fluids as possible so that I did not have to go to the bathroom for the duration of the game, because I was not going to walk up and down those stairs again.

Here is the view from our seats:

One of the best things about going to the actual game was the Seahawks band, Blue Thunder.  They were interesting and enthusiastic.  One of the most disturbing things about the game was how little the Sea Gals (what a ridiculous damned name) were wearing, especially given the temperature and potential for rain. 
Case in point:

I think football games are similar to concerts for me.  I love football, and I love watching football, much as I love certain bands and listening to their music.  But putting up with the other incredibly obnoxious and intoxicated people who also love football, and love some of the bands that I love (Def Leppard, Nickelback, etc.) is not worth the benefit of enjoying these things live.

So I think I'll be watching my football on the television from now on.  There are no drunk and obnoxious people in my home, nor is it 50 degrees in my home.  In addition, I can actually understand what the announcers are saying and follow what's happening in the game.  Certainly, if I were to be given free tickets, I would probably go again.  But I'm certainly not going to shell out the kind of cash required to buy football tickets again.  We could have purchased one and a half round trip train tickets to Portland, OR or Vancouver, BC for that.

I am glad that I went, though, even if it wasn't super fun.  I also have realized that I need more football buddies.  I find that I really want to talk about the games when I back to work on Mondays, but I don't really have anyone at work to talk about football with.  I guess that's one of the drawbacks of working on an inpatient psychiatry unit.  This sort of work doesn't necessarily tend to attract the sort of people who watch football, apparently.  Which I know is a bit of a generalization, but it seems to be holding up.  So I'll keep asking around, to find out if anyone else watched the really good Chargers-Packers game, or the exciting Ravens-Steelers game, or the riveting Bears-Eagles game.  Wish me luck.

I'm Keeping My Phone for Two More Weeks (or, Why I Hate My Cell Carrier)

I hope you'll give me credit for trying.  We hopped into the Boost Mobile store last night to pick up a phone for Margo and port her number over from BS&S (a nickname, if you will), which was successful.  We decided to go with Boost because they don't have contracts and the longer you stay with them the lower your bill goes.  That way, if I decide I really can't live without a cell phone, I can always jump over to Boost Mobile without having to change plans and extend an already ridiculous contract.

Speaking of ridiculous contracts, I called my cell carrier, which is earning it's nickname from me of BS&S.  I spoke with a pleasant lady who clearly thought I was lying when I said that I was not changing to another carrier, and just wanted to terminate my service.  To that end, she informed me that if I wanted to keep my phone number (which I am a little sad to lose, having had this number for 8+ years), I would have to have an active line to transfer it to/from.  I confirmed that I was aware of this fact.  She then offered to reduce the price of my plan, and also offered me a $30 credit for 3 months to stay.  She asked if I was leaving because my service was too expensive, and I reiterated that I just did not want to have a cell phone any longer.  To which she said, and I quote, "Everybody has a cell phone."  She went on to acknowledge that it would be quieter not to have a cell phone.

She told me that my service would end on 11/11/11 (kind of fun, in spite of my irritation) and it didn't really sink in right away that that was more than two weeks away.  She went on to inform me that I could transfer my plan to someone else before that date if there was anyone else who wanted to take over my plan (which I suppose might be attractive because I still have the no-longer-available $30 unlimited data plan).  I assured her that I did not have anyone who wanted to take over the plan.  I then asked her if it was possible to turn off my service prior to the end of the billing cycle.  She assured me that it was, but then told me that THEY DON'T PRO-RATE YOUR BILL so I may as well keep it on until 11/11/11 anyway because I'd be paying for it either way.  Which I guess means that we are paying for Margo's service as well through 11/11/11.  Bastards.

I don't remember this being the way that other cell carriers I've used have worked.  In my memory, when you terminate your service, you also terminate your financial obligation related to your service, regardless of where in the billing cycle that termination might fall.  So, even if I were not already convinced to ditch my cell, this would have pushed me over the edge.  I can't imagine a circumstance in the future in which I would use this cell carrier again for this sole reason, not to mention the outrageous cost and the dropped calls.  So, good work, BS&S.

The upshot, however, is that I still have a cell phone until 11/11/11.  I could have shut it off today, but I'm not willing to pay them for something I'm not using.  Also, I've got 4000 rollover minutes to use between now and 11/11/11, so if you want to chat on my dime (or their dime), let me know.  Or if you want to take over my contract, let me know that too.

On a side note, I'm making parsley-walnut pesto tonight with the ridiculous amount of parsley we got from our CSA this week.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

I've almost ditched my phone and other almost-updates

1.  My home phone was hooked up last week, and I purchased a phone (two, actually) and an answering machine.  The plan now is to get Margo a new cell phone tomorrow and end my service with AT&T on Wednesday.  Keep me honest, dear readers.

2.  We saw our dear friend Lisa George and her son and two step-children at the end of August.  It was wonderful, and made me want to hang out with her more.  Sadly, at least in terms of her proximity (which we were not taking any advantage of at all), things in her life changed significantly earlier this month, and she moved back to Montana.  Which has inspired my own nostalgia for Montana (or Iowa, or wherever I could live in a small town, quite frankly).  More on that later, perhaps.

3.  Hiking has been a bust this year.  We were so busy this summer that we hardly got any hiking in at all.  We had a couple of nice hikes (Little Si, which nearly killed us; Squak Mountain), but hiking largely fell by the wayside.

4.  Playing the Wii every week has also fallen by the wayside.  Unless, of course, watching Doctor Who on Netflix Streaming counts as playing the Wii.  (and can I tell you how much I love Doctor Who?  I have a new board on Pinterest devoted to Dr. Who geekery)

5.  Trying new recipes every week.  I've tried a bunch of new recipes.  Whether I've tried one every week is debatable.  Maybe on average.  We bought a new programmable slow cooker, and I have made some nasty shit in that thing.  Recipes that look good on first blush, but result in the wasting of enormous quantities of food and the eating of cold cereal for dinner.  One recent positive standout, however, were the batch of snickerdoodle pumpkin cream cheese sandwich cookies that Margo and I recently collaborated on.  Those were an unmitigated success.  Also, Margo has been cooking more, which is great, but reduces my opportunities to use new recipes.

6.  I have no update on the countertops, much to Margo's chagrin.  We keep spending the money in the home improvements/fun savings account on fun and travel rather than on home improvements. 

7.  We are heading to the Seahawks-Bengals game on Sunday!!!  I'm pretty stoked.  Also trying not to think about the miserable fantasy football season I'm having this year.  I'm 1-6 and have had the low score in the league in two weeks.  Quite a fall from last season, where I actually did pretty well.  Apparently that beginner's luck only lasts a year, regardless of the degree of your naivete.

8.  I haven't gotten a pedicure in months.  My pedicure buddy has two small children and has had a hard time getting away for a pedicure.  And I haven't had the impetus to go on my own.  And Margo hates to have her feet touched, so I'm on my own.

9.  We are trying out the Tahoma Farms CSA through Terra Organics.  I'm really liking Terra Organics and the Tahoma Farms CSA.  The CSA will end this week or next, and then we have the option of a number of other organic produce boxes.  Two appealing options are the Pacific Northwest box and a build-your-own option as well.  Another nice feature is that they deliver.  We come home on Tuesday evenings to a box of organic produce. 

10.  No dinner parties as of yet, but we are hosting a brunch potluck this weekend.  I'm thinking that might count.

11.  We actually went to Zoo Tunes twice this summer.  Once to see Lucinda Williams (who was significantly less drunk than the other time I saw her) and once to see Brandi Carlile, who totally rocked.  Things I learned:  we need some of those low chairs for outside concerts and I really don't like being out on weeknights.

Sports Fan?

Any of you who have known me for any length of time prior to last fall know that I have never been an athlete.  Nor have I ever been particularly interested in sports.  The possible exception being the season that I spent as a manager for girls basketball in middle school for what was arguably the best team in the tri-state region.  I also enjoyed attending the occasional high school basketball game while I was still in high school.  Then I spent a brief period of time trying really hard to enjoy baseball when I first fell in love with Margo (she was a Seattle Mariners fan before we ever moved to Seattle).

Whether you knew this about me or not, you may have noticed that I have a couple of sports-related goals on my list of goals.  One of my goals is to attend a Seattle Storm game at least once a season, and the other is to attend a Seattle Seahawks game.

Fortunately, I remembered that I needed to attend a Storm game this year about a week and a half before the end of the regular season.  Margo and I went to a game on 9/9/11, where the Storm played the Phoenix Mercury in the last game of the regular season.  I had been to a game once before, back when I was in grad school, but Margo had never been to a game.  I knew what a treat we were in for, but Margo had no idea.  The game was really, really awesome.  The Storm are the defending WNBA champions and the Phoenix Mercury is a really excellent team as well.  And Storm fans are extremely enthusiastic and quite loud.  One of the game-unrelated sources of entertainment for me was watching the little baby dykes cruising each other in the cheap seats.  It reminded me of the purely social-sexual function of attending high school football games as an adolescent.

One of the funny things about the Storm game is that Margo didn't really want to go in the first place.  Before the game started, she turned to me and said something to the effect of, "I don't really even like basketball."  She had a wonderful time in spite of herself (as did I).  In fact, she had such a good time that we are discussing the possibility of buying season tickets for next year (or going in on them with another couple we are friends with).  Not to mention the fact that she has asked me to buy her a Katie Smith jersey approximately 78 times since we went to the game.

I am also, as much as I am loathe to admit it, a recent football fan.  I blame my younger brother (Hi Matt!).  He invited Margo and I to join his Fantasy Football league last year, which we did.  I did quite well in the beginning, in spite of having a strange draft strategy.  I figured that I didn't know enough about football to try to have a football-related strategy, so I drafted only players from places I had been that didn't have objectionable criminal records.  I wound up with a pretty solid team and watched a lot of football in the process.  I was actually sad when the football season ended. 

I'm in the same league again this year, and used a similar draft strategy.  It's the second week of the season, and so far so good.  Now, I'm trying to actually learn more about the game.  I've been reading more game analysis and Margo just bought me a book about football.  And, believe it or not, I just asked for Madden for the Wii for my birthday.  So it follows that I should attend at least one NFL game, and since we live in Seattle, it will be a Seahawks game.  In spite of the fact that they were brutally slaughtered by the Steelers today.   Anyway, we have tickets for 10/30/11, and I'm looking forward to going.

Better Off?

I recently read Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology (Beth, I think you'd really like it and thought about you frequently while reading it).  As you may know, one of my goals is to ditch my iPhone, which I'm getting quite close to doing (the contract is up this month).  The primary reason that I decided that I wanted to get rid of the thing is because my attachment to/dependence on it has been making me uncomfortable for some time.  I spend way too much time on it, all too frequently to the exclusion of engaging in actual life activities or connecting with the people most important to me.  Ironically, I have much less deep and meaningful contact with my family and friends since acquiring the iPhone and much more superficial contact with a wider variety of people. 

Reading Better Off has led me to an even broader evaluation of the relationship that I have with technology and whether it is actually improving my life.  In that evaluation, I have begun to question whether I need to have a cell phone at all.  I lived quite happily and successfully without one well into adulthood.  I talked with my friends and family members on the phone with great regularity.  If I wasn't home, people just didn't get to talk to me.  I didn't have the immediate gratification of getting information I needed from people without engaging in the social niceties that may, in fact, have been solidifying and cementing our relationships.  As some of you know, I posted something on Facebook asking for people's feedback on my potentially getting rid of my cellphone.  Many people appeared horrified, some even comparing the idea to cutting off a limb.  And it was, in part, the ferocity of the opposition that has helped me move towards getting rid of my cell phone altogether.

My plan is to ditch my cell phone in favor of a landline of some kind.  Margo will keep her cell phone.  Although she has come around to the idea of not having a smart phone, she's not quite on board with not having a cell phone at all.  And it could come in handy in case of an emergency, I suppose.

I'm not sure what else will get the boot in my re-evaluation of my life.  Facebook is on the table, although I really value the re-connections I've made with some people, particularly people from my hometown.  I may just do a major downsizing on Facebook again.  Google+ might go as well.  It hasn't blown me away so far, but we'll see what happens.

One of the major points the author makes in Better Off is that manual labor can be more efficient and more enjoyable than using modern technology.  I'm going to be looking around my home and seeing what I can do manually in lieu of relying on machines.  I'd love to hear from you all if there are things you've started doing for yourself that you used to relegate to machines.  And I'll keep you posted on my progress.

I'm Back. Hopefully it sticks this time.

Obviously, I should have written goal #40 a little more specifically, as in "Start a blog and update it consistently."  I got a talking to from my little brother earlier this week while on a family camping trip (Hi, Matt!), so anyone who is still optimistic enough to be checking for updates has him to think.  He said some very flattering things about the blog, and then castigated me for neglecting it for so long.  And he's right, at least about my utter neglect of the blog.  And it's not that I don't think about writing blog entries.  In fact, I'm frequently composing them in my head.  It's just that, at the end of the day, I can't bring myself to do it.

I think I can attribute some of my inactivity to a brief upsurge in depressive symptoms.  Which is something that I have been having all kinds of internal debate about whether or not to post to my blog.  Most of the people who are the very closest to me know that I've struggled with depression for most of my life.  But this isn't something I've previously shared with the rest of the world.  There are a lot of complicated reasons why that is the case, but the biggest reason is the stigma that is still attached to admitting that you have something as terrible and shameful as depression.  As a mental health professional, I recognize the inanity of bowing to that stigma in my own personal life, but the fact remains.  And as a mental health professional whose co-workers occasionally read my blog, I've been a little worried about putting it out there on the internet.  But there it is.  I have depression.  To be more specific, Major Depressive Disorder, Recurrent. 

The last year has actually been pretty good.  I've worked really hard to find the right combination of medications and activities to help me keep things under control.  I've had a lot of help and support in finding the right tools and doing the work I need to do.  But, unfortunately, that doesn't mean that I'm not subject to the occasional relapse in symptoms.   And, oddly enough, when I start feeling bad, I stop doing a lot of the things that bring me satisfaction.  Apparently blogging is among those things that goes when I'm feeling worse.  But along with trying to get a couple of miles of walking in at least three or four times a week, I'm trying to get back in the saddle of working on the blog.

Jenny's Visit

As I mentioned previously, my friend Jenny came to visit in May.  Jenny is one of my oldest friends.  I realized recently that she and I have been friends for 20 years this summer.  Somehow we've managed to stay friends through some pretty rough times and over great distances (she lives in Tennessee).  She flew in on a Wednesday night (which quickly turned into Thursday morning) and stayed until Monday morning.  I took both Thursday and Friday off and did my best to give her a nice overview of Seattle while she was here.  We did a number of fun and touristy things, some of which I had not done before.

On the first day, we slept in a bit and then had lunch at Two Tartes because I had a Living Social deal there.  We both had sandwiches and split a pastry, all of which was quite tasty.  Then we made our way to Fremont for the Theo Chocolate factory tour.  For those of you who do not know, Theo Chocolate makes some of the best chocolate on the planet.  And their factory tour is quite educational and opened my eyes to the variety of flavors that can be found in chocolate the first time I took it.  You also get to eat quite a bit of chocolate while you're there, which is an added bonus.  After the factory tour, we met Margo and another of our high school friends, Cate, for dinner at Tutta Bella in Columbia City.  It was fun to see Cate and eat delicious pizza.  Here's a picture of the three of us together in front of Tutta Bella.

That's Cate in the middle and Jenny on the right.  After dinner, we also hit Saltwater State Park and did a little birdwatching.  Mostly we saw Surf Scoters and Buffleheads while I talked excitedly about birds to Jenny.  I do a lot of excited talking about birds these days.  Here's an action shot of me talking about birds while Jenny listens patiently:

On to day two.  On day two, we started out at Pike Place Market.  I took Jenny to Piroshky Piroshky for lunch.  This is always one of my favorite places for lunch or a snack.  We also went to the original Starbucks store (Jenny has a friend who is obsessed with Starbucks) and got a monster cookie at Cinnamon Works.  Here is a picture of the special official golden column in the Starbucks store that tells you that it is, in fact, the first Starbucks store. 

We had to wait in line a ridiculously long time to get into the darned Starbucks store.  I don't really understand the attraction myself, but I try to accommodate.  Then it was on to the Space Needle, which I have not visited before.  That also required a lot of waiting in line, as well as a number of terrible attempts at self-portraits on the way there, this being the worst:

The Space Needle was kind of cool, but really expensive.  I don't know that I would do it again, unless I had an out-of-town guest that felt really strongly about going.  It was almost 20 bucks.  Luckily we went on a really clear day (one of depressingly few that we've had this year), and the views were pretty incredible:

After the Space Needle, we met Margo for an early dinner and drinks at Lunchbox Laboratory.  It was pretty delicious, and they serve mixed drinks with Tang as an ingredient.  Then it was home to recover from the day.

On day 3, we met another high school friend, Morgan, and his girlfriend Ryan for the Underground Tour, which I had always wanted to do.  It was pretty awesome, and a great lesson in Seattle history to boot.
The tour guide was fun, and I always love hanging out with Morgan.  Here's a picture of our little party in front of the totem pole and the pergola in Pioneer Square (minus Margo, who is behind the camera):

After the Underground Tour and lunch at Tat's, we rode the lightrail back to Tukwila and then went to Kubota Garden.  Kubota is one of my favorite places in Seattle, and it was fun to show it off to Jenny.  One of the best things about it is that it's free.  It also has so many little nooks and crannies and bridges and ponds.  Here's a picture of Jenny and Margo on one of my favorite bridges there:

That was pretty much the end of the third day.  On day four, we took the ferry over the Bainbridge Island to have lunch with another friend from high school, Brandi.  Neither of us had seen Brandi in 16 years, which is a long time.  It was really lovely to see her and catch up.  She's just as sweet as she ever was.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures from that day, which was Jenny's last day.  Then we headed home and lazed in the living room and watched The Invention of Lying.  Jenny left the next morning and life went back to it's usual routine.

It was fun to see Jenny and to be able to do some fun things that I had been wanting to do for a while.  It was also fun to have the impetus to see the other folks from high school that live in the area.  I didn't even know Brandi lived in the area until Jenny was getting ready for the trip.

Just today, I got the sweetest thank you gift in the mail from Jenny.  It was a beautiful picture book from Shutterfly with pictures of her trip and narration about the trip.  It's fun to have such a tangible reminder of the trip, and to be able to look back at it and be reminded of all of the fun things we did.  Thanks, Jenny!

Fishing in the Dark

I am so close to actually fishing.  I've had a fishing license for at least two months now.  I bought a fishing pole a couple of weeks ago.  I bought a book about fishing.  I started reading the Washington State fishing regulations, and that's where things got a little bit overwhelming.

When I added all of these bits about fishing to my list of goals, I did it with memories of fishing in a pond or a lake with my dad as a kid.  It seemed like it could be a great way to spend some time outdoors and also provide us with an occasional meal of fresh fish.  I had no idea it was so complicated.  For those of you who are not familiar with the vagaries of fishing regulations, let me just give you a taste.  I just have a freshwater license.  I cannot fish in any rivers or streams that enter into Puget Sound or the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  Statewide, there are only certain fish that I can catch, in varying numbers and with varying size regulations.  Then, virtually every single body of water has it's own set of regulations regarding fish that may be caught that may differ from the statewide regulations in a variety of ways.  In addition, I'm not sure that I could positively identify any freshwater fish aside from a Northern Pike.

We went camping this weekend and were going to be staying near a lake in which it is possible to fish.  I took my fishing pole.  If it had just been Margo and I, I might have gone fishing, but the thought of trying to go fishing with an additional audience was just more than I can handle.  I'm confident that fishing will happen soon, however.  I just need a little more information and a little more time to work up to it.

It's Been Too Long, and There Are So Many Reasons

I can't believe it's been more than a month and a half since my last post.  I started with such good intentions and have gotten incredibly far behind.  The last month and a half has been busier than it had a right to be, and the blog (and you, gentle reader) has suffered as a result.  I have much to update you about, and you will note that the list of birds seen and identified has grown substantially.  I guess the bright side of not blogging is that it has largely been because of the fact that I have been busy living, and doing all of the things I wanted to do when I started this adventure.  In addition to all of the fun things we've been doing around here, my baby sister graduated from college and Margo's grandfather died, both of which warranted road trips.

Several goals have been achieved since my last post, each of which will receive a post of their own.  I bought a fishing pole (and a net, and almost went fishing).  We went to the Arboretum while everything was in glorious bloom.  My friend Jenny came to visit.  I went to the Northwest Folklife Festival.  We went camping AND visited Mt. St. Helens in the same weekend (this weekend, in fact).  We have tickets to two different Zoo Tunes concerts (the first one is coming up on Wednesday).

So stay tuned, and updates should be headed your way, if you haven't given up already!

And Finally, The Herbfarm

Well, we finally went to The Herbfarm last Friday.  And it was fantastic.  It wasn't necessarily that the food was the best I've ever eaten.  It was quite good, don't get me wrong.  I think I've had better food, though.  It really is the food in combination with the unbelievable service, the educational component and the beverages that justifies the cost.  And, of course, part of what made the experience so wonderful was the company.  We went with our good friends Angus and Meredith, and that was an excellent choice on our part.

To give you some context, the theme of the menu was "A Menu for a Spring Forager's Dinner," or, as explained in the beautiful multi-paged menu, "Exploring the Foraged & Indigenous Foods of 'Salmon Nation.'"  All of my tablemates were served wine, but I opted for the "Alcohol-Free Beverages" option, which I was absolutely thrilled with.  The beverages were my favorite part, quite honestly.  The table setting was quite stunning, and here are a few pictures to show you:

This is the little frog who was holding the name card:

Here is one view of the glasses we started out with.  They were used from right to left, and each one was taken away after it had been used.  On the plate, folded in the napkin, is the menu and some plant material. We each had a different plant, which was fun.  Also, if you got up to go to the bathroom (or out to feed the pigs), you would come back to a fresh napkin with the original plant material lovingly placed atop it.

Here is another view of the glasses.

I'm now  going to regale you with the details of each course in succession.  And each course has a title.

First course was "From the Edge of the Sea."  On your left you will see Kombu-Cured Albacore Tuna on a Seaweed Cracker with Oregon Wasabi Root.  In the middle you will find some Puget Sound Geoduck Sashimi on Nori Seaweed Sauce with a piece of Pickled Bull Kelp Stalk on top.  And on your right, you see a little sipping cup filled with Local Spot Prawn Soup with Smoked Quinault River Steelhead Roe and a little Chive Creme Fraiche.  I have to say that this was not my favorite course.While I don't mind the taste of raw fish (which the tuna and geoduck were), I really don't care for the texture.  Particularly of the tuna.  The Geoduck actually didn't bother me and was maybe my favorite of the three.  The soup was fine, although the steelhead roe were a little too salty for my taste.  But darn it was pretty.

The alcoholic beverage accompanying this course was a Japanese-Prickly-Ash-&Kafir-Lime-Leaf Infused Sake Sparkling Wine Spritzer.  I had "Champagne", which was Ariel Brut Cuvee with kaffir essence.  Light and refreshing.

Second Course was "Hen 'n' Nettle" which consisted of Pan-Roasted Eastern Washington Spring Chicken and Its Crispy Confit with Poached Hama Hama Oysters, Radish, Stinging Nettle Sauce and Lovage Oil.  This was pretty tasty.  The chicken was tender but largely unremarkable.  The oyster was fine, although I'm not the biggest oyster fan, and the crispy confit was deeeeeeeelicious.  I had no idea that I was a crispy confit fan, but let the record show that I am.

The wine accompanying this course was a 2009 Reustle Prayer Rock Gruner Veltliner from Dundee Hills, Oregon.  I had a Northwest Douglas Fir and Cucumber Soda, which I think was my favorite beverage of the evening.

Between courses we also got bread.  The bread was Rustic Chestnut Bread and Alaskan Birch Syrup Pretzels, and they were served with House-Churned Jersey Cow Butter.  Delicious.  And they just kept giving you more.

Third Course was "Morel Support."  This was Spring Morel Mushrooms and Line-Caught Wild Halibut, Savory Morel Jus, Wild Watercress, Asparagus and Caraway.  They did some funky(and tasty) thing with the caraway so that it was like fried rye breadcrumbs, which you see under the halibut.  The morels were incredible.  We were all in agreement that we would be happy to sit under the table with a large bowl of the morels for the rest of the evening.  The halibut was incredibly tender and moist.

The alcoholic beverage served with this course was a 2008 Chehalem Chardonnay, "Inox," Willamette Valley, Oregon.  My tablemates didn't love this wine.  I got "Elder Bliss," which was an Herbfarm North Cascade elderflower spritzer.  Like all other beverages I consumed, extremely tasty.

Fourth Course was "Alexanders Piglet."  This was Housemade Suckling Pig Porchetta with Alexanders Seeds, Homemade Mustard-Artisan Cider Sauce, Miner's Lettuce and Gathered Forest Wildlings (another term for greens picked in the woods somewhere).  I've never had porchetta before, so don't have much to compare it with.  The flavor was very succulent and essentially porky, in the best possible way.  The texture was not my favorite, however.  It was pretty chewy and fatty.  But you better believe that the flavor won that battle, and I ate it all up, like a good little piggy.  ;o)

Oh, and they don't mention the carrots in the description.  But those two tiny carrots were the most delicious carrots I've ever eaten.  The alcoholic beverage served with this course was a 2007 Boedecker Cellars Pinot Noir, Athena, Willamette Valley, Oregon.  I drank "Candied Rose", which consisted of Pinot Noir juice, rose petals and Candy Cap mushroom.  This was really delicious (I'm running out of words here) but exotic.  It had almost a mustiness to it (Meredith thought the smell reminded her a bit of pipe tobacco) that I'm guessing was from the mushroom.  This was the strangest of the drinks, but still quite good.

Fifth Course was "Oxalic Interlude."  The whole point of this course, as explained by the adorable chef (he seriously looks like he's twelve years old.  he's apparently the youngest head chef of a five diamond restaurant in North America), was to recreate an intense lemon flavor using absolutely no citrus or vinegar.  As described in the menu, it was a Wood-Sorrel Sorbet with Lemon Geranium Gel and Lemony Leaves.  It was quite successful.  Incredibly tart and lemony and just a touch grassy, in a really refreshing way.  The perfect palate cleanser, truly.  The picture below really only shows you the crisp on top (and for the life of me I can't remember what it was).

Sixth Course was "Young Milk Lamb."  This was Whole Roasted Suckling Lamb (lamb that has only been fed on it's mother's milk) and Medallions of Pastured Lamb, Spring Onion Roasted in the Coals, New Shallot Greened Mashed Potatoes, Foraged Fern Fiddleheads and Lamb Rotisserie Drippings Sauce.  I personally preferred the slightly stronger taste and firmer texture of the pastured lamb.  The spring onion was perfectly sweet and smoky and the mashed potatoes were delicious.  Fiddleheads were fine, though a little too vegetal and firm for my taste (look at me, opining on the merits of fiddleheads, la-dee-dah).  This might have been the prettiest plate, however, and the chef personally poured the drippings sauce on each person's plate.

The alcoholic beverage served with this course was a 2007 Gramercy Cellars Tempranillo, "Inigo Montoya" (Princess Bride, anyone?), Walla Walla.  I got to drink "Tree Tea," Black Cherry, Sparkling Apple Cider, Hibiscus and Chai Tea.

Course Seven, and the beginning of dessert, was "Alpine Sheep," Ancient Heritage "Adelle" Sheep Cheese, Herbfarm Sping Farn Honey, Alpine Lakes Sheep's Milk Crisps, Alpine Heather Buds, Wild Western Juniper Berry Dust and Douglas Fir.   So, the Douglas Fir was mixed in to the honey, which was then topped with the heather buds.  The crisps (which we would like to buy by the bag), were sprinkled with the juniper berry dust.  All in all, a fine cheese course.

Course Eight, my favorite, was "Native Trees."  This was a Madrone Tree Bark-Caramel Bavarian, Whipped Big-Leaf Maple Syrup, Fresh Sage, and Crunchy Black Currants and Its Powder.  What they neglect to mention is the maple blossom fritter, which was both bitter and sweet and crunchy and delightful.  This course was so delicious I could have eaten three plates of it, though to be clear I am a total dessert fiend.  The only unfortunate thing was that I dropped a piece of the chocolate shell of the bavarian and later found it melted into my skirt.  Luckily it all came out in the wash.

Also, I declined to eat the fresh sage leaves.  The alcoholic beverage served with this course was a 2000 High Pass Huxelrebe, Willamette Valley, Oregon.  I got to drink a Gewurztraminer Juice and Rhubarb Cordial.  Both of these drinks were basically one gulp.  But a delicious gulp.

Ninth (and final) Course was "Coffees, Teas & Local Beverages and Wild Nibbles."  We got our choice of various coffees, coffee alternatives and teas, each served in and poured from individual french presses by our servers.  I chose to drink the Madrone Tree bark tea.  I love Madrone trees.  They're really beautiful, and apparently they've been used by indigenous folks in teas for a very long time.  With our beverages were Puffed Wild Rice Crispies, Sea Buckthorn Pate de Fruit, Licorice Fern Root Truffle and Rhubarb-Oxeye Daisy Tarts.  They were tiny little bites, and for some reason our table got a double serving of this course.  No complaints here.  It was all quite tasty.

Margo's favorite was the wild rice crispies, which were quite nutty in flavor.  I really liked the sea buckthorn (I assume in place of gelatin) fruit de pate.  It was intensely fruity and tart and sweet all at once.

As we walked out the door to return home, we were also handed Japanese Knotwood Cookies for the road.  I ate mine the next morning, and it was so buttery and crumbly and decadent.

Most interesting fact:  tulip petals are edible, the flavor varies by color and they are quite delicious.  I'll never look at a tulip the same way again.

Funniest anecdote of the evening (unless you're his wife).  Our friend Angus was insistent that milk tastes better when drunk from a silver goblet and coerced the wait staff into bringing him a chilled silver goblet filled with milk (which was not on the menu), a subsequent pitcher of milk for refills, and a glass glass full of milk so that we could do a comparison taste test.  I'm afraid he's right, but I'm not going to be purchasing any silver goblets in the near future in spite of that.  Below is a picture of Angus pouring milk from the cat pitcher into his silver goblet.

All in all, it was a fantastic evening.  Between the food, the beverages, the service and the overall experience, it was worth the cost.  If you want to know how much it cost, you can go to the website and do the math.  Just don't think less of me because of it.  Especially when I tell you we might make this a yearly tradition.