nablopomo2011

A writing exercise that turned into a story about my Grandpa

Writing

Who is the Tallest Person You Know?

Grandpa Ed

The tallest person I have ever known was my Grandpa Ed. He was very tall and very lanky. My brothers all took after him but I didn’t. I took after the Boucher  women (my maternal grandmother’s side of the family). I am curvy. I have never been lanky. My entire life, it seems, I have always been awkwardly curvy.

My Grandpa Ed liked to drink. We would go visit their old yellow house and he would take my dad, and later my step-dad, out to the back porch where he kept the whiskey. They would stay out there for a while shooting the breeze.

When he drank he would tell stories and he would get very loud.  I think I have taken on this trait.  I’m pretty sure I am a loud talker when I drink and am telling a story. I want everyone to hear me, as I’m sure Grandpa Ed did.

My Granny Mary

One story that sticks out in my mind is the story of how he met my Grandma. He told that story several times, each time with the same vigor.They met at a dance when they were in their early twenties. This was in the 1920s, the flapper era. My Granny Mary was beautiful. She had a short flapper-style bob, dark brown eyes, and the curvy Boucher body.

My grandpa fell instantly in love with her and wanted to dance with her but she was on a date with another man. My Grandpa Ed didn’t like this. One thing led to another and he got in a fight with the other guy; and won the heart of my grandmother. When Grandpa Ed told this story my Granny Mary would have a twinkle in her eye and teasingly chime in, “And I was having such a lovely time with that guy, too!” He would give her a big kiss and hold her tightly and say, “I still love this woman after 50 years!” He really did. It was sweet.

Running update

Health and Fitness
11.28.2011

my running jacket matches the swoosh on my shoes.

I was thinking it might be good to update here every couple of weeks on how my running is going. Mostly for myself. I”m hoping that in a year I will look back and be stoked at how far I have come.

I’m working my way through the Couch to 5k program (again) because I don’t want to go too far too fast again and injure my foot. I’m currently on week six! That means I only have three weeks left of this and then I can move on bigger and better things. I feel kind of silly doing it since I had already worked my way up to 4 miles on my regular run, but whatever.

The plantar fascitis is still bothering me a bit, and I don’t like that. But I’m being really good about stretching and icing my foot when I’m done running. Yoga on my off days has really helped a lot too.

The City of Sandy finished the Tickle Creek Trail and so I’ve been running that in the morning. I am really loving it! It’s nice to get off road to run.

I found a new band a couple of weeks ago and their music makes fabulous running music. The band is Cut Copy and their latest is album is Zonoscope. The song Need You Now has an almost hypnotizing feel to it that is perfect for that state you get into when you are running.

Thanksgiving Day Hike – Eagle Creek

Travel and Other Adventures
11.24.2011

Behind the weeping cliff

On Thanksgiving we decided to hike Eagle Creek, a trail on the Columbia Gorge. Several of my friends have told me that it is one of their favorite hikes and I’ve wanted to try it for a long time.

I was completely blown away by the beauty around me. I lagged behind to photograph almost everything. I found myself alone on the trail while Susie and Raf walked ahead and I didn’t  mind it at all. As I was walking along I found myself walking along a cliff that was literally weeping. There were cables attached to the side of the cliff that I could grab hold of, which I did. I noticed that there was a sheer drop to the bottom and I was tempted to let fear overtake me but I didn’t give in and I kept walking. Actually, the fear kind of came and went pretty quickly and I wasn’t so bad. I finally reached Susie and Raf who waited for me and I remarked, “that was really sketchy.” Susie agreed that it took her a few times hiking it before she felt comfortable with that part of the trail. I realized that I had walked it by myself and hadn’t completely passed out from fear. I was kind of proud of myself for that!  Had I known that people died on this very trail I might have felt a bit differently (so glad I didn’t know this before hiking this trail! yikes!!)

After the sketchy cliff trail we arrived at Punch Bowl Falls, one of many waterfalls along the trail.

We hiked to High Bridge, which is a little over three miles from the trail head. We originally wanted to hike to Tunnel Falls but didn’t because of the time. We weren’t too keen on hiking in the dark. Plus it had started raining pretty hard and the forest was already darkish from the cloud cover.

I love the bits of wispy fog that we get here. The fog  hangs in place and stays there for a while. It’s so beautiful. This is what we saw on our way back to the car.

IMGP8559

When I was taking this shot a young couple walked by and the girl said, “It looks like C.G.”

sigh.

We passed that couple as they were talking to some people with backpacks. Then they passed us again. As they walked by the girl felt compelled to tell us, “I just was talking to someone who I went to High School with in New England! And she lives in Seattle!” Their mind was clearly blown by this bit of synchronicity. And we were too.  It gave us something to ponder as we finished our hike back to the car.

When we finished our hike we decided to check out the salmon spawning in the creek near the fish hatchery. Amazing! I’ve seen this a couple of times (having lived here for two years) and I never get tired of it. The salmon are huge! We saw some that were, I swear, as big as sharks! We were standing on the bridge in the rain, watching the salmon and I decided I needed to get a video of it. So I ran as fast as I could to the car to get my camera. As I was running back to the bridge I felt this incredible feeling of happiness and I thought “today was fucking fantastic.”

Here is a video (though it doesn’t begin to capture the awesome).