hahahaha, ok, it’s not really falling anymore, and I haven’t heard anyone callin’ “yoohooooo”, but we’re singing it up here in the apartment!!! And we’re getting ready to go for a walk….do you think everyone would really think I’m crazy if I go out there saying “yooohoo” to everyone in the street?!

OK, we’re back from the walk and it’s about 4:18 PM…it’s really hard to get used to how soon it gets dark out here. I don’t mind it so much ’cause it’s kinda cozy (my new favorite word) in the wintertime, but sometimes you look at the clock and think “What am I going to do with the rest of my time?—it’s not even 5!”

We had a relaxing day today. I got up to finish the end of the coffee (that’s a big deal that I made it up in time!!), we watched some news and chatted, talked about ‘portant things (when I was little, around two or three, I would see all the adults pouring themselves coffee in these nice cups and saucers and sitting around the table talking, so I decided I wanted to join. Apparently I asked my mom if I could have some coffee—-which was probably 1/20th coffee and the rest milk and sugar—but she did put it in the nice cup and saucer. Anyway, I asked her for the coffee and said I wanted to talk about ‘portant things with everyone). After all, it seemed to me that adults drank coffee and talked about important things! (or ‘portant, as I referred to them). I still have a funny feeling when I sit down with everyone drinking coffee, like somehow I’m still an outside member of that club, always a child. But I rarely make myself any coffee when no one else is home because it seemed such a social activity.

Wow, that’s a long story. Anyway, there’s no shortage of coffee here in Seattle!!!!! I’ve mostly been sticking to hot chocolate (I go through phases…hot chocolate, decaf tall vanilla skim latte, sometimes spiced cider). My mom recently discovered the eggnog latte and highly recommends it to anyone! Aunt Barbie introduced her to that.

Geez…I guess I don’t have much to say if I’m droning on about coffee. Let’s see….after we dropped Aunt Bitsy off (we miss you!!!!!), we came home, did a couple things around the house, and went for our walk. Not many dogs out, but it’s a beautiful wintry day out there, and I stopped by Vivace’s for a hot chocolate. Now we’re just doing more stuff around the house–we’re in for the night! Who knows what excitement awaits, but we’re safe and sound and happy here, and we hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!!!!

Lots of love from Seattle,

Julie (and Carol)

It’s about 11 AM, and we’re getting ready to go to the SCCA Christmas party!!!

OK, now it’s 10:30 PM….wow, this day went by fast!! It was a wonderful day and GUESS WHAT, it’s snowing!!!!!!! It’s sticking to the tops of cars, buildings and trees, but not too much on the pavement which is good since everyone says the city basically shuts down when it snows. We’re all cozied up by the Christmas lights (and I think Aunt Bitsy might have fallen asleep ), watching a Lifetime Christmas movie, looking at the other apartments to see their trees (hey, they leave their blinds open!)….it’s a good night. Aunt Bitsy treated us to a delllllicious birthday dinner at Szmania’s, one of our favorite spots in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle (where they have Sauerbraten!).

This morning we went to the SCCA Christmas party, and it was wonderful. Hollie (remember, one of the volunteers they assigned me?) came with my mom, Aunt Bitsy and me, and we enjoyed some hot cocoa/coffee, listened to some gorgeous a capella music, and were even invited into the “North Pole” where local places had donated gifts for each patient and their families. I was surprised and touched to see all the gifts there. I picked out a journal for myself, Aunt Bitsy picked out “Rascal Flatts” to give to me, and Hollie chose “Apples to Apples”. I told them they were supposed to pick out presents for themselves, but they just woud not listen! My mom said we didn’t need any more stuff since we have to pack it up soon, so she didn’t get anything. Yah, we definitely have to start packing up soon. Can you believe we’ve almost arrived to that point—-packing to come home? Thank you to everyone who helped put together the party. I know the Matthews/McDougal/Zepke group really enjoyed it! I even took my antlers, and we took turns wearing them to show off our holiday joy.

After the party, Hollie had to take off to be somewhere, but my mom, Aunt Bitsy and I went to University Village to do a little browsing (but I had to leave lots of stores quickly because someone would start coughing or sniffling…I spent more time outside which was fine with me!). It was chilly out, but that is the way it should be in this season, isn’t it? ….just checked…still snowing!!!

Since we made our dinner reservations early to avoid the crowd, we drove around Seattle more to look at neighborhoods and Christmas lights. It was just perfect. Everything today was perfect!!!!! No, I haven’t upped my anti-depressant; the holidays (and the wonderful company) have brought out all the joy. I’m so glad I have all of you as my support network. There are several papers at SCCA that talk about “coping with the holidays”, and I just keep thinking how lucky I am. Lucky to be healthy, lucky to have so much contact with friends and family, and lucky to feel happy, I guess. So, I just pass those papers right up!!!! Thanks for helping me do that.

Aunt Bitsy leaves tomorrow, and I will really miss her, but we had a wonderful visit together. It’s funny ’cause when we were all little, when Laura knew Aunt Bitsy was leaving soon, she would start to tell her things like “I hate your hair” and little phrases showing that she was angry Aunt Bitsy was leaving…so my mom and I started telling Aunt Bitz that we too hate her hair. By the way, Aunt Bitsy woke up and pointed out that the snow is reaaaaaaally starting to come down right now! I won’t be able to get any good pictures since it’s late and I know it won’t come out through the window….I’ll try with words, how about that?!

We can only see a block up the street ’cause it’s so thick, and there are big, thick flakes dancing around under the street lamps. The streets are starting to cover themselves in white, and cars are starting to leave their tracks on the ground….you know what?!! I know an article that describes snow much better than I do…I found it last year (February 13th to be exact, in the “Washington Post”, and I loved it so much, I printed up a bunch of copies, and I even wrote the author to tell him how much I enjoyed it. So, here it is. I hope you like it!!:

“Let it Snow, Let Drifts Grow, Let Us Slow

Bring it on.

Bring on the breathless TV weather drones. Bring on the frantic milk-and-toilet-paper shoppers. Bring on the desperate homeowners fighting for the last snow shovel, stick of firewood or bag of ice melt at the hardware store. Bring on the school-closing second- guessing. Bring on the endless chorus that “no one” in Washington knows how to drive.

Bring it on.

Bring on the snow.

Silence, if only briefly, the honking and the squealing and the rubber-on-asphalt moan that is our daily soundtrack. Force us to hear the hush of falling snowflakes, an almost imperceptible sound, like two hands being rubbed together.

Throw a thick white blanket over all our human imperfections: our cracked sidewalks, our crooked shingles, our dented cars, our stinky dumpsters, our towering billboards, our trash-strewed riverbanks, our ugly strip malls, our mute and unblinking bollards.

Whiten all our window ledges.

Frost our gardens and our hedges.

Obscure all the city’s edges

With your powder so sublime.

Inspire in us a primal longing for food and shelter. Engender in some long-suppressed strand of our DNA a nervousness that drives us to the market to hunt and gather. Convince us that a few talismans - - a gallon of milk, a bag of Bugles, a roll of toilet paper — will appease the spirits, will help us survive the storm.

Let us succumb to our primitive urges.

Gather our shamans — Toppershutt, Bobryan, Suepalka — and make them chant and fall into a trance and summon forth the magic SuperDoppler.

There! On the flickering screen! It’s a bird’s-eye view of our village, etched with lines of barometric pressure and wind chill temperatures, the squiggly portents of our future, as reliable as the goat intestines our augurs once spilled.

Remind us of Nature.

Remind us that Nature isn’t our creation; we’re Nature’s, subject to its immutable rules, occasional victims of its nonchalant shrug. Remind us that Nature doesn’t care if we’re inconvenienced by winter, any more than a tree cares when we cut ourselves shaving or a stone that we sat on our cellphone.

Slow us down. Make us decide what’s really important — what trip, what task, what so-called necessity. Challenge us to find new ways to reach the nearest store, ways that don’t involve driving the paltry three-quarters of a mile.

Compel us to pull on socks and lace up boots, to bundle up and sally forth. Make us lean into the wind and hike, our footprints leaving temporary traces of our passage (for are they not a metaphor for our very lives?).

Encourage us to see the world anew, to notice how the fresh white mantle both blurs and transforms all that it covers: parked cars turned into lumpy hillocks, curbs turned into mere suggestions of the granite underneath.

Force us into close proximity with our families (without wringing one another’s necks).

When the power goes out, challenge us to somehow entertain ourselves (without wringing one another’s necks).

Shush the whiners who can’t recognize that a snowstorm is a gift. Quiet those who would have us power through the day as if it were like any other. Shut the traps of people who believe a day off school for a kid is the end of the world. Silence those who are ticked that they’re “essential personnel” — or that they’re not.

Allow us just a few hours of communion: with the huddled masses in the checkout line, with all the people shoveling off their stoops, with Nature itself.

So bring it on

Bring on the snow.

Ice, however, we could do without. And sleet. We don’t want any of that. Ditto freezing rain.”

It’s the perfect ending to the perfect day. I know the east coast probably isn’t in agreement with me right now because I’ve seen the horrible storm pictures from there. I better make clear that I only favor the benign snowstorms, where no one gets hurt, it looks beautiful, and it’s just plain ol’ fun.

On the upside though, maybe Aunt Bitsy will be stuck with us!!!!

Enjoy all the photos.

Love from a ***snowy*** Seattle!!

Julie