This past month has been busy as the end of a school year always is. The research papers are graded. The final grades have been recorded. Report cards are checked over, and all I have left is to clean the room and plan for next year. Strangely enough, I find summer hard at times. I think it is because of the lack of schedule. I am not naturally a very organized person so the structure of school days helps to order my life. I am determined not to let this summer pass in a blur though.
So as a prelude to a wonderful summer, I flew to Seattle to spend a long weekend, Wednesday night to Monday night, with my youngest daughter. She had invited me to come to the Northwest Folklife Festival there when she was here at Christmas. She knew I would love it, and she was so right. I spent most of Thursday resting and finishing up some homework for a Bible class I’m taking. Friday we rented a bicycle and went riding for the whole day, 8 hours. We visited Theo Chocolates, yummy! Then we rode out to the beach and stepped in the icy water. By that time i was feeling the pain of an unpadded seat and my lack of conditioning. Ah, well, we still had the ride back! We figured that we rode around 16 miles altogether. For the final ascent up to Capitol Hill, we rode the bus. Fried fish was the reward for a long day’s ride. 
On Saturday we went to the festival. Oh, my, there were a lot of people! Along every pathway there were bands, jugglers, dancers, and drums. The regular shows were almost secondary to the local talent. We ate Ethiopian food, which I love, and Greek gyros. Most of all, it was just fun to watch all the people. I am a seasoned people watcher and this was a superb opportunity. 
Sunday morning early we went to church. Her church is much more sedate than ours, but I love the sense of reverance and the orchestra. It had grown since we were there last August, both the orchestra and the congregation. Afterwards we enjoyed brunch at an outdoor cafe, then wandered through the neighborhood of big old houses. Trees canopied the streets and gave a sense of cool greenness and elegance. 
As we neared Broadway, the main street of Capitol Hill, apartment houses replaced the old estates. Right outside of the Farmer’s Market, we saw a punk VW with saw blades on the roof like a mohawk. We got special cheeses and organic vegetables and headed home.
Then it was back to the Festival for another afternoon. We caught the monorail back to the center of the city on the way home and once again walked the couple of miles uphill to her boyfriend’s apartment. We gathered ingredients for supper and walked to her apartment to fix everything. It was hard to go to bed that night. We just wanted to visit a bit more.
Monday morning we went to the food coop to grab a couple of items I wanted to take back. There was one last trip to Value Village, the local thrift store. And then we had to head to the airport. It all seemed too short, but I guess that is to be prefered to being too long. I must admit I shed a few tears saying good-bye. I wish far away weren’t so very far away!
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