After my abysmal showing last month, I'm trying to get a little ahead in July and get this out before the end of the month...
Obviously, summer is here and you can feel the rhythm of the heat whether you are in Florida, Oregon, Washington, or all the way up in Alaska. It can be kind of draining, but you just have to make the best of the situation. Like I always tell Lucie, "If I ever lose my faith in you I don't know what I would do." I'd probably just give up completely and have no self control at all. Fortunately, at least here in Oregon, we've had a couple of breaks and more overcast / rainy; or as I like to call them, invisible sun; days in July than normal.
Lucie seems to have had a good time on her Alaska cruise. I say "seems to have had" because, of course, we weren't there as she played her games without frontiers, kissed a moose (at least she didn't shock the monkey), and explored the secret world of Alaska. It is probably for the best though, as her mother might have been driven to tears... after all she is pretty fragile. Anyway... as you can see in the pictures, Lucie got to see a lot of cool stuff. I don't think she got to see the red rain or go dancing with the moonlit knight, but you can't cram everything into one trip...
I do have to give Lucie a reminder to keep calling / texting her Mom (or at least send a message in a bottle) when she goes somewhere though. She did a great job while she was in Florida, but really dropped off during the cruise. I had to tell Caroline, "Don't give up... I'm sure Lucie is just having such great fun with the hounds of winter that she hasn't gotten to the phone. When the big time is done your desert rose will text you again..."
Meantime, we had our own big fun going up to Seattle. We stayed in Central Seattle close to Queen Anne, Capitol Hill, and Solsbury Hill. Walking around and seeing all the different visitors to the city I really felt like an Englishman in New York. Fortunately I was there with Caroline, and every little thing she does is magic... Not that we didn't have a little tension here and there, but love can heal, and even though we're both control freaks we realize that if you love somebody set them free to be themselves and it will all work out.
Finally, having forced this whole little story, I just have to say, "Roxanne, every time I look in your eyes, I think to myself... with every breath you take I just want to be your sledgehammer!" Just be glad the concert wasn't even longer or I would have had more than 25 song titles to fit in there...
 I don't think Dad was really impressed with the golf cart's acceleration, but at least he had fun with it... |
 Late arrival? I think the "telephone booth" is a little bit late... |
 Sit?... Down?... Enough! Give us bacon right now! (I told Dad to fix the red eye, but he thought this was funnier...) |
 Bebe is entering her second (third?... fourth?...) childhood and I had to entertain her with coloring books... |
 Another evening at Brownwood Square... |
 A little scare while I was in Florida, but she survived a bout of pneumonia and is running around again. |
 Last month Dad had a bunch of pictures from the wetlands preserve... I'm just adding one more that I took... |
 See how fast I was willing to dump Bebe and TC when the cruise started?! |
 One of these things does not belong... That's right, you can't take Miss Katy anywhere! |
 Mr. Jim was telling a story, but I'll let you fill in your own story for what happened here... |
 Like I said... You can't take her anywhere! (And you know how easy Bebe is to influence...) |
 "And over there you can see... Alaska..." (What a great tour guide you are, Bebe...) |
 No, I didn't comb my hair... that is all wind! (just check out my fancy lanyard...) |
 Look! Whales! |
 And Sea Lions! |
 You can't go on a cruise and not have a picture of the ship... |
 We made it to the top! Apparently no one else did, so we had to take two pictures! :-) |
 I'm sure I should know what this is... Oh that's right! It's a waterfall... :-) |
 This is why you don't mess with a wolverine! (Don't worry - he's fine - it was all an act.) |
 We saw lots of interesting wildlife at the Kroschel Films Wildlife Refuge! |
 I kissed a moose... and I liked it! (with apologies to Katy Perry) |
 Glacier Bay is amazing! (You can get a sense of scale from the boat in the inset image.) |
 I'm ready to move to Alaska! (Of course not really.) |
 Mom and Dad were feeling left out, so they went up to Seattle... |
 There's a reason not to take selfies... but it proves they were in Seattle... |
 And they got to see Peter Gabriel and Sting! |
 But I got to hang with Sergio! |
 They also went to see Snoqualmie Falls... |
 And I went to see The Butchart Gardens! |
 When all the July travels were done, I just had to spend some time with Morgan... |