ballard farmers market

What better to do on a Saturday morning than a farmers market? ....preceded by breakfast? Here's a local market in the neighborhood of Ballard.

fiddle fern - we tried some at home - kinda bitter

Tania with my glasses at brunch

yummy fried plantains

Tania tells a story

smokers plus

Most of us know the negatives of smoking. But what about the positives?

- Smoking breaks provide a time for grounding, slowing down, and focusing on breathing. Most smokers I know who take their breaks consistently are friendly, conversational people, as a generality more approachable than many non-smokers. I see people taking their breaks, and see the practice of pausing and breathing as a great one.
- It's an efficient weight-loss program. Keeps most slender, and wards off hunger.
- It keeps the pretentious, I'm-better-than-you people away. Or at least they keep their distance.
- Smoking bonds people with a commonality among eachother.
- It causes one to develop thicker skin. Judgements and dirty looks abound, causing one to instrospect and pull strength from within. One learns not to depend on others for self-esteem and worth, but to pull that up from the inside.
- In a way, it's people listening to their bodies. On a daily basis, "how do I feel right now?," "how am I going to manage myself physically?"
- It's a quick way to feel better.

Let it be clear that I DON'T recommend smoking. I personally don't smoke and don't plan on starting. I work on a hospital floor where I see smokers coming in with bladder cancer. Lung cancers go to other floors. Deadly stuff. And still I respect my co-workers, neighbors, ex's, and good friends who smoke. Let not this frank discussion separate us. There are positives too, if we're being un-censored-frank. Just sayin'.

Many people, in discussing smoking with their children, prefer to leave out, even with near-adults, the other half of the story. Should we? And among adults, do we only discuss the one side?

utah spring

In May I was able to visit the little farm in Utah. It was great to be with family again.

Dad with the new lambs

Mom holding up new kitten, 
who will hopefully grow up to be a ferocious mouse-catcher

curious

enjoying the grandkids

chickens in the old dog-pen

one of Dad's famous breakfasts

argentina 2012

Here are some over-due highlight pics of our trip to Argentina.

flight between santiago and buenos aires

can't go to argentina without trying the beef
(okay, if you're vegetarian, you can)

ice cream with Andrea and Ashwin 

memorial to falklands - or malvinas - conflict 

young men who died in the malvinas conflict 

knocking at the door of the brazilian embassy -
 Casey loves brazil

nice parking sign

at the sublime mausoleum cemetery 

crowds gathered to see the tomb of Evita

Jason shopping 

tango on sunday afternoon -
one of our favorite memories of argentina 

my elders

A veteran teacher told me when he remembered drinking-fountains and bathrooms being segregated by the color of people's skin. 

My Idaho grandfather rode a horse to school - a small log cabin of one room. He used an out-house for a bathroom as a kid. 

My Chilean grandmother left her rural home at 16 and went to live in the big capital city. She became a nurse and nursed the president of her country. Later she asked him for a big favor, which he granted.  

Sometimes the experiences of our elders enrich our lives with a breadth of stories that we would never have lived otherwise. Travel enriches a life. But one can "travel" in one's own neighborhood talking to people rich in years. 

I took a summer course from a Hungarian woman who had her ten fingers broken at a concentration camp, and her children taken from her until they were adults. In Los Angeles I taught with a boxer and military man who survived the race riots and lived through multiple drive-by shootings. My great-aunt, after whom my sister is named, lived most of her life without electricity in her arid town. I met her blind in a poncho, a childhood legend. A New Yorker I worked with marched in the civil rights era. 

Somehow the events and diverse generations of our planet don't seem so distant. Their experience in a way becomes mine. Better said - ours. My conversations and memory wealth are increased. The collective unconscious - the massive whirl of humanity and life - stirs complete again. 

food hedonist

I've discovered that I like taking photographs of food. It's so beautiful sometimes - an art-form. And I think it's part of taking a moment to pause and be grateful. Grateful to the artisans that prepared it. Grateful to the plants and animals that gave a part of themselves to further our life.

And then the sheer pleasure of eating. Anticipation is part of it... letting the salivary glands get flowing, the digestive juices prepared, but mostly just enjoying food consciously - slowly - gladly. Mmmmm

toasted reuben

Had to try the potato-bun peanut-butter burger at a local restaurant.
Interesting. 

chile IV of IV

Okay, so here's the last photos from Chile. I try to be brief and only include the best photos, but when you take so many, it's hard not to show at least some of them. And it's like showing off a great country, or a great relative or friend - you just can't say enough about how wonderful they are.

Being half Chilean, I feel a sense of pride and belonging, I was interested to still discover. I was surprised that after 15 years of absence it is still strong. If outsiders spoke disparagingly about Chile, I found myself feeling personally miffed. Sheesh, I thought, and who are you?  So many things, the imperfect and the chaotic too, felt perfect just as they were.

cactus fruit - tunas - prickly pears

eating a yummy cake I used to have as a kid 

so it wasn't only my Abuelita who saved everything in the soups :)

Tia Martita 

The two guests didn't decide fast enough between our two favorite cakes,
so the next time we turned around there were two cakes!

Tio Lucho discusses the higher points of life with Casey

the famous soups - of all varieties 

a door like many others

another neighborhood street early in the morning

with Mom

tried Sangria for the first time with these great folks in Valpo
- it's pretty darn good