In Memoriam

Grandma Hamilton
August 13, 1911 - March 14, 2012

My grandmother passed away a few days ago. She was 100 years old and full of piss and vinegar. I cannot be there for the funeral this weekend. I'm just getting over the illness that's kept me down and out for the last four weeks, and as much as I'd like to jump on a plane today, I have to admit that I'm probably not in the greatest shape right now for a whirlwind trip.

My family started a tradition, of sorts, to write a letter to our loved ones that have passed as way to provide closure and pay our respects. I completed mine this morning and sent it off to my parents to be read at the prayer service and funeral. Needless to say, after spending a fair amount of time really pouring over memories from my childhood and all the quirky things that made up the essence of my grandma, I'm a bit of an emotional wreck and worn out from the experience. Here is an excerpt from my letter and a few things that my grandma taught me:

1. When there’s water in the basement, just shut the door and get some sleep; there’s nothing we can do about it anyway.


2. Cranberry juice is good for your kidneys and aloe vera plants are good for just about everything else.

3. Age ain’t nothin’ but a number.

4. It’s hard to beat popcorn made on the stovetop.

5. Short people can move faster than you think.

6. Green onions last longer and taste better if you stand them up in a glass of water in the refrigerator.

7. Everyone needs a little music in their life.

8. It doesn't matter what size, age, or gender you are, no one is allowed to push you around.

9. Even people with a tough-as-nails exterior can have a soft spot for stray animals.

10. We can overcome whatever life throws at us and still be okay on the other side.

Even when eternal peace is probably for the best in the end, we don't realize how much our loved ones touch our lives until the reality of their absence hits us in the face. So when you have a moment, tell the people you love how much they mean to you while they are still here to feel good about it. You'll be glad you did.

~Paula

Life, Interrupted

I'm upright and dressed. I ran errands while my son was at preschool this morning and now the van is parked in the garage after having picked him up and brought him home once again. Finally, a normal weekday in our house.

Last Monday, I had just gotten home from a fun-filled, jam-packed weekend in Minneapolis with my college friends (interrupted by a two-day music teacher's conference on Thursday and Friday). I felt fine during my trip until the plane ride home when I noticed an annoying tickle in the back of my throat like I'd swallowed a spoonful of sand. No amount of ginger ale and pretzels could get rid of it. I got home from the airport and noticed that my son, who had just been getting over a cough when I'd left, was starting to cough a lot more again. And that was the start of a long and useless week.

Three doctor's visits, and myriad of cold medicines and two antibiotics later, my youngest and I are finally starting to feel like human beings again. This morning was his first day back to school in a week and my first night's sleep in as much time that was spent entirely in my own bed. Thank goodness my only obligation last week was getting my daughter to and from school, and even that took all the energy I could muster. On top of which, my husband had work-related obligations and had to use the van all week. I think crawling in and out of a two-door Chevy Cavalier to buckle car seats should be an Olympic event. It's probably for the best that I didn't have much contact with the outside world last week. I've retained more friends that way.

Hoping to blog about happier memories of our time out here in the days to come. Right now though, all I want to do is nap.

~Paula

Life in Suburbia

Greetings! My husband keeps reminding me that I haven't posted in a while. I think he just enjoys getting non-work related e-mails when I (used to) post something new. I guess my lack of blogging activity means we're  getting settled into our new life here in the 'burbs and he hasn't gotten anyone fired lately. Well, that's nearly true, but I'm not at liberty to discuss. Since I've got time on my hands today as my youngest is home from school with a cold, I'll try to bring you up to speed without putting you to sleep. I said try.

We've celebrated two birthdays in our household recently--my daughter's in December, and my husband's big 4-0 in January. For my daughter's celebration, we put aside our disdain for one Chuck E. Cheese and brought 5 little girls and a little brother through the gates of Hell and back and lived to tell about it. I think the video speaks for itself. FUN CHECK!

The New Year's Crew

Christmas found us back in Minnesota and catching up with many family and friends. It was 18 days (yes, I said 18) of brown grass and mild temperatures interrupted by a New Year's Eve snow flurry in the Twin Cities. To say that this winter is strange would be an understatement. Although, I did enjoy going for a run with my husband on Christmas Eve Day in a t-shirt and shorts. I'm not exactly sure where all the snow has gone this year, but I didn't run into many people during our stay that were missing it.

We survived Portland's snowpocalypse for the year. Four to five inches of snow that lasted for almost 48 hours. I don't know how, but somehow we managed to pull through it. There are parts of the Northwest that have had a lot of flood and storm damage from rain and snow, and we in this household can certainly sympathize with them. At the same time, however, we delight in the fact that for once it isn't my husband or myself in the basement with a shop vac. Sounds like a new character in a round of Clue.


It's windy here today. The house shook throughout most of the night and we listened to garbage cans on the curb get blown over, gutters bang against their eaves, and wind howl from Mt. Hood, down the gorge, and try to beat its way into our house. I also blame it for the 5:30 a.m. wake up time from the kids. After shooing everyone back to their beds, I peeked out our window to check the weather, and noticed that many in our neighborhood were also up early, probably because of the noisy skies as well.

Just Because

So here we'll sit today and listen for the recycling truck so we can run the collection can back out to the curb in time. I suppose later on I'll be dodging the kamakaze mail truck driver and make my way up the street to retrieve her daily offerings. The dog will sit in the kitchen and patiently stare at the floor, waiting for me to slob something on the floor in front of her. Just another day in Suburbia.

The Pilgrimage: Part Deux - The Film Sets

Bella's House

Through my super sleuthing, I discovered that one of my neighbors isn't afraid to admit that she, too, enjoys her a little dose of Twilight-mania from time to time. Okay, so really I just mentioned in passing at the bus stop that we had driven up to Forks and her face lit up, so I knew she was my go-to girl on the subject. Since discovering that none of the filming for the movies had taken place in Forks or points in-between during our first pilgrimage, I began researching the actual filming locales in the Portland area and discovered that I was living within an hour away from almost all of them.

With map and my smart phone GPS in hand, I picked up my neighbor on the drizzly Sunday before Halloween, and we decided the best place to start was at Bella's house located in St. Helens, Oregon. As we started to get closer, the excitement built as we made the final turn onto the actual street....and then the road narrowed down to one lane....and we noticed the 'No Outlet' sign....and then there it was. Cue the choir singing. This sign greeted us in the front yard.

Through the illusion of Hollywood, it would appear as though this house is on a busy street or possibly a highway in the movie. Actually, it's in a somewhat secluded residential location and I had to do some maneuvering to get us turned around when we were ready to move on to the next site. I'll spare you the images from the movie that went through my mind as we stood in front of the house. I know how delicate some of your stomachs are for that kind of thing. (Robert Pattinson! Kristen Stewart! That's where Bella slipped on the icy sidewalk! That's where she looked out the window at Edward! OMG!)

Back view of
garbage house/lawyer's office

Next, we tried to find the Thunderbird and Whale Bookstore. I would have believed it to be the lovely bed and breakfast we first came upon at the top of a hill overlooking the waterfront, except the addresses didn't match up, so we turned around and attacked approached from the opposite direction and ended up in another parking lot at the bottom of the hill and next to what looked like an abandoned house. Nope, it was a private lawyer's office with garbage strewn all over the back porch. Okaaaay. So where's the bookstore? We eventually ended up getting an extensive tour from the owner of the bed and breakfast and she informed us the garbage house lawyer's office is indeed the building used in the movie. She walked us right around the other side so we could see the front of it and, sure enough, that was image I remembered...more or less.

Thunderbird and Whale Bookstore

Oh yeah, and then she mentioned that Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart rehearsed their lines in the swing on the FRONT PORCH OF HER B&B. She thought they were doing some artsy indie film, so she didn't think anything of it at the time. And then I had an inner moment of Jr. High squealing going on in my head.

The b&b owner was nice enough to then walk us down to the area where they filmed the alley and parking lot scenes adjacent to the bookstore. The large mural advertisements on the side of the parking lot buildings were added for the movie. (That's where Edward drove up in his car and saved Bella! OMG!)

Creepy Parking Lot

Creepy Alley

After our tour, we drove a short distance to the dress store and restaurant set in "Port Angeles" -- Le Petit Jolie and the Bloated Toad. If you haven't seen the movie, I'll let you decide which establishment is which.

As illustrated by the bookstore building earlier, Hollywood sets quickly come and go. The dress shop is now home to a hair dresser (with a lovely eau de Marlboro scent in the back where the bathroom is located) and the restaurant building is for rent, and therefore, perfect for two nosy Twilight peeping toms to check out. (Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart stood here and walked up these steps! OMG!)

Le Petit Jolie

The Bloated Toad

If you're still enduring this post reading at this point, then we've come to the piece de resistance -- The Cullen House. Located in a very metro part of the city (no off-roading seatbelts required), we wound our way up a narrow street in the hills of Portland and came around the bend to this sight:

Cue Squealing

From here, we visited the site of Bella's ballet studio and then drove all the way across Portland to Damascus, Oregon, and the cafe that Charlie and Bella frequented in the movie. The bush on the right is the one Mike molested in the background during a scene where Charlie and Bella are eating at the cafe.

Ballet Studio

Forks Cafe

We pulled up to the cafe just as it was closing up for the day, so our dinner plans were thwarted at this point. Then trusty ol' Mr. GPS located the Stone Cliff Inn for us. We didn't know until we got there that the stony hillside behind the Inn's parking lot is where they filmed the 'Lion and Lamb' scenes and Edward reveals his vampirey diamond-like skin in the sun to Bella. Because we didn't get there until late in the day and decided to eat first, all I have are pictures of the signs posted next to the parking lot.

The best part of the whole trip?  One of the managers (owner?) of the Inn indicated that the final film, Breaking Dawn Part II, is looking to come back here and film again in their woods. Production is currently trying to negotiate the price of filming with the state of Oregon. (OMG!) Cue inner squealing.

~Paula

The 'Dubyas' In My Life

We are having a fairly mundane weekend so far compared to this time last week. We were happy to have the Dovre Wudalis--affectionately referred to as the D-Dubyas (or D-Dubs, for short)--fly all the way out here from the Twin Cities to spend their four-day MEA break with us. My children were thrilled to have their cousins spending four whole nights in the same house and we were glad to have some familiar faces walk through the door.

We took advantage of the first non-rainy day (Thursday) and hit the Gorge/waterfall route again. This time, though, we packed our hiking supplies and did the full Wahkeena Falls Trail from start to finish. If you've been following my blog, you will recall that we attempted this hike once before shortly after we first moved to the area. Unprepared and unknowing, we only made it about the first third of the way and had to abandon our mission. This time, we brought our game faces.

If I seemingly went on and on about how many jaw-dropping photo ops there are on this trail the first time we tried it, I hadn't seen anything yet. Once you get toward the "summit" of your hike along the gorge wall, the environment turns from lush and ferny to fir trees towering above you and their scented needles blanketing the path in front of you. When you're not right next to the rushing rivers and waterfalls, you can hear strange bird calls high above you in the treetops and I was suddenly Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games (if you haven't read these books, start right after you finish reading my blog. Otherwise, sorry for the random literary reference).

The Crest of Multnomah Falls
(That's the parking lot 630-ish feet below)

All along the way, we exchanged inane pleasantries with the people we passed on the trail and we'd get some surprised looks and/or comments when they spotted all the kids we had along with us. On our descent to the other falls, Multnomah, we stopped at a fork in the trail and asked an older gentleman which way we should head to get to the top of Multnomah Falls. He directed us accordingly and then said, "Next time, try starting from Wahkeena. I hear it's a beautiful hike." He was floored to find out that the 4-yr-old boy standing in front of me and the rest of us had just come from there. We parted with high fives (my son and the guy, not all of us...cuz that would be awkward) and FINALLY got to peer down over all 620 feet of Multnomah Falls. Mission accomplished, Dubya style. The only thing missing was a fighter jet and a festooned banner.

So what do you do the day after you hiked for four hours straight? You go to the zoo, of course! We didn't last long that night after dinner.

To top off our tour marathon, we chose the rainiest day to go to the beach. What it lacked in leisurely strolls up and down the sand, it made up for in quality time in the car. We spent a short time on Cannon Beach--just enough to get soaked--and then drove down Hwy 101 to Tillamook, Oregon. Now, normally, I wouldn't have known Tillamook Air Museum existed, much less wanted to spend another 2 hours in the car to get there, but there's some family history in this small town, and I wanted to check it out. 

K-ship Blimps in Tillamook
Copyright Tillamook Air Museum

My mother's parents lived in Tillamook for a short period of time in the early 40s while my grandfather help build the two blimp hangars there. And, yes, they actually housed eight K-ship blimps in them until 1948 and had their own blimp Squadron Z-33. There is still one hangar left, the other destroyed in a huge fire in 1992, and it houses a collection of around 30 privately owned aircraft at any one time, including those from WWI and WWII. The wooden hangar itself is an impressive sight, and I'm proud to say my grandpa was a part of constructing one of the largest wooden structures in the world.

The kids had a good time crawling in and around the various cockpit displays that were there for the public to sit in. The big boys strolled around taking in the various planes, and we all got a chance to dry our pants out for the long ride home again.

I'll briefly mention the 'Balls of Fire' fritter challenge from Salvador Molly's in Portland. Those little suckers live up to their name. My brother-in-law ate all five of them and he lived to tell about it the next morning, even though he didn't have a very restful slumber that night. And I'll just leave it at that. Kids, don't try this at home.

We dropped the D-Dubyas at the airport Sunday afternoon and slept like the dead Sunday evening. I'm sure they did, too. We look forward to our next house guests and promise we won't submit you to the same crazy schedule, unless you ask for it. That includes the Balls of Fire.

~Paula

The Pilgrimage: Part I - Forks

Sorry it's been so long since I posted last. We are in the middle of a visitation wave. My sister-in-law's family flew out and stayed with us over MEA break, tomorrow a friend of mine from PLAY Group in Marshall happens to be in town and is visiting, and then next week, my husband's boss is coming to town and having supper with us. So...I'm preoccupied. I have a few posts I'm working on in order to share the various things that have been going on, but I want to make sure I start where I left off.

F.O.R.K.S.

Yes, that's right. I made it to Twilight Mecca. It was a lo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ong day of driving there and back, but I made it (and I'm sure my husband and the kids were enjoying it just as much). The town itself isn't much to look at, but it was fun to drive around and see the setting for the books that I've enjoyed so much. I thought some of the movies had been shot in Forks and Port Angeles, but turns out that most of the filming of 'Twilight' was done in St. Helens, Oregon. And yes, I am already arranging a fieldtrip there this coming weekend. The others were filmed around Vancouver, B.C., and I'm not ready for another long car ride just yet.

The Movie Truck 

We stopped at an information center as we entered Forks, and the lady inside knows exactly why people come to Forks and stop in her shop. Or, maybe it was me giving my best brooding Twilight pose, but she handed us the Twilight Tour map of the town and directed us toward a few other specialty shops to accessorize our mission. The truck used in the movie was parked outside her building, so after an obsessive excessive amount of picture taking of this beat up old red truck, we headed into town and hit the highlights.

And by "highlights" I mean the houses and buildings that the Forks chamber of commerce has designated as the buildings Stefanie Meyer described in her books, not the ones from the movie. Underwhelming would be a good way to describe the Forks tour, but fun nonetheless.

"The Swan House"

Forks High School

"The Cullen House"
(aka Random Area Bed and Breakfast)

Has the town cashed in on the empire? Um, YES. The town has half a dozen shops dedicated to everything Twilight and Quileute. And why not? Instead of being the hometown of a celeb in rehab, they have a best selling author to thank for picking their town off a map on a dartboard to set her blood-sucking, bazillion dollar stories in. I need to write about werecoyotes on a small town farm in the midwest and cash in on this trend, too. Or weresquirrels. The possibilities are endless.

To top our trip off, we swung over to Port Angeles, and another hot spot in the book series: Bella Italia. The restaurant is really there, and we had the mushroom ravioli which was delish. We walked past the movie theater and the bookstores (in the books) afterwards. Port Angeles is actually quite a beautiful city and I'm hoping we can make it back there at some point to do some more exploring.

Look for Part II of my Twilight pilgrimage in the next week(s) to come. In the meantime, if you spot any weresquirrels, be sure to post details in the comment section so I can start writing my cash cow novel.

~Paula

Five Minute Friday: Catch

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here (The Gypsy Mama) and invite others to join in.
3. Most importantly: leave a comment for the person who linked up before you – encouraging them in their writing!

OK, are you ready? Give me your best five minutes on:

Catch


This time of year is full of things to catch. A scarlet leaf, a worn out football, a cool fall breeze, and my least favorite, a new virus. As with any new school year, a batch of ick is working its way through the local schools. Each morning, I stuff my children full of vitamins and supplements and send them out the door with a quick prayer to keep them in a sanitary bubble while they're away.

Of course, the flip side is that by keeping them secluded from the outside world, they also miss all the things that make being a kid so fun. I can only speak for myself, of course, but I don't remember my mother ever barging in on an intense scene in our superhero role play to squirt us with hand sanitizer. Nor do I remember ever having been dragged to the doctor for a flu shot.

Has the level of ick become uglier, are we products of media hype, or are we just more educated about the ick?

STOP

Here's hoping you're all healthy and happy and able to enjoy the beautiful cool weather this time of year offers without all the snow.

This weekend, we travel to my Mecca....Forks, Washington. Stay tuned.

~Paula