Well that was a lovely life interlude in Utah. Lasted far longer than I’d’ve thought. Some highlights for posterity:

• The harrowing drive south, through a blizzard.
• Mattie and Scout greeting me in the dead of night.
• Walking up the stairs the next morning.
• Mattie’s glow cloud project.
• Hayden’s graduation and shaving video.
• Hayden’s programming and math homework.
• Binging BSG with Dad.
• Only being able to do that because of the new antenna setup.
• Popcorn and movies and sourdough bread.
• Hiking the Y.
• Exploring Alpine.
• Finding new places to work remotely every day.
• Video games with the siblings.
• Star Wars.
• Doing both of the above on the jumbo screen.
• Out-door movie nights.
• A new smart plug for a new fountain.
• A quick trip back to Washington to make sure my place hasn’t burned down.
• Getting the old iMac ferried back from Washington, powered up, and loaded up with old games.

Now that I’m back, life has definitely slowed down. I can go a few days without seeing another living person. On the other hand I don’t have to hunt for a place to work each day. In fact, I’m using my upstairs room more than I have ever before. In the past I could go weeks and weeks without even setting foot on the upper landing. But it’s a pretty sweet room, great view and lighting and chair.

Some pics from the drive back with Dad:

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Dad stuck around for a couple days, and we had some good times; walked to the beach, dusted off the slow cooker, watched some Doctor Who.

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Since then it’s been pretty quiet. Did have some friends over on Friday to play games and watch Knives Out. We figured out that I can bring the projector over next to the couch and project up above the dining room, allowing us to make better use of the couch.

Saturday I went down to the CHOP / CHAZ area in Seattle to check it out.

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Didn’t get up to much the next week. Pulled an all-nighter on Friday for dumb reasons, but for better or worse I found myself eating a bowl of cereal out on my deck at 5am, and remarking that it would be nice to go for a walk in the light rain down to the beach. So that was fun.

Saturday was the baptism of an investigator that I’d had a lesson with once, over Zoom. Very few people attended; it was held in a large hot tub in the back yard of someone in our stake presidency. Immediately after there was a pizza + hangout party in the church parking lot, the most ward members I’ve seen in one place in months, so that was nice.

Tomorrow I’ll be heading in to the office for one of those special operations we do from time to time, and will be preparing for a four-hour virtual workshop I and a co-worker will be running on Tuesday.

Looking forward to the cabin!

Whenever I get too far backed up with this my posts tend to turn into photo montages, as I rely heavily on my camera to remember what I’ve been up to. Thought I’d go for a change of pace today and fast forward past The Month That Never Was, which I’ll revisit in subsequent installments.

My day today started like all the others of the last week, alone in my house. Shambled downstairs, ate some cereal, read some Hacker News. At 11:30 I got a video call from the sister missionaries, who had asked that I be a part of their virtual lesson that day with an investigator. I had to mute my video temporarily while I ditched the robe and donned a shirt. No Pants Meetings are the best.

Topic was tithing and fast offering, and the lesson reminded me I had fallen a bit behind on mine, so while they were demonstrating how to pay online I was actually doing it – served as a nice little practical demonstration for him.

Spent the next while working on refining Hayden’s graduation video into something suitable for submission into this quarantine film festival put on by the Tribune. Here’s the finished product:

After bumming around for a bit more I set out on a walk/run/jog around the neighborhood. It had been pretty rainy earlier in the day but had calmed down by this time. Had a delightful time. Hadn’t left the house much since the previous Saturday, so I spent most of the jaunt walking just to be able to take it all in. And being in my jogging clothes I hadn’t brought my phone, so, no pics.

Took a relatively little-used route and passed some houses with lovely trees that were covered in blooms. There was a nature preserve area nestled between a couple of apartment buildings, with a very small river running through it. The recent rain had led to a lot of water moving through what at other times were more dry-looking areas.

Next up was the most amazing shrub I’ve ever seen, out in front of a closed dentist’s office. Its right side was mostly a vivid green, but from right-to-left the green gave way to tiny blossoms, until the left side was a vivid monochrome pink.

Reminded me of Tom’s reaction to abstract art:

The shrub was so striking I kind of wanted to preserve it, somehow.

But I wondered how much of the shrub’s beauty was tied up in its ephemerality. Like amazing sunsets, there’s only so much you can preserve on film, and at some point it’s best just to watch it go by without trying to freeze it in time.

I was in a medical plaza of sorts at the time. Wandered around back behind the closed offices to find a lawn area next to a river. Across the river was a small neighborhood, where I spotted a kid piloting a DJI Phantom quadcopter. A bird nearby was flying sorties at the thing, trying to scare it off.

From there I meandered towards some upscale Totem Lake apartments and eateries, an area I never frequent. Very odd that that place exists so close to my quiet corner.

I wanted to get a look at some new construction I’d seen going on at Juanita Beach, so that was the next stop. Before I arrived I could see some windsurfer kites flitting around, and I hightailed it over to see what was up. Looked like maybe a dozen so windsurfers had congregated at Juanita to take advantage of the windy weather. Very very cool.

The exit path from the beach went along a route that took me through a wooded area next to the water. At that time the sun peeked out from behind the clouds and between the branches of the trees. It was breathtaking – the sunlight on the trees, juxtaposed over the deep blue of the rain-heavy clouds behind them.

Dashed back to make it in time for a catch-up phone call with a friend, had dinner, watched another Starcraft 2 pro match on YouTube, wrote this post, then called it a night.

When time stands still you figure “what’s one more week gone by, I’ll catch up on my blog eventually.” Now that I find myself with oodles of time on my hands, I can rectify the situation.

Last I left off, Steve and Lauren were coming to town. One of the last times I’d be able to host anyone from home for quite some time.

First stop: Pike Place.

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After exploring some smelly and not-so-smelly shops in the underbelly and loading up on snacks top-side, it was off to Ballard Locks. Neither Steve nor Lauren had ever been.

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From there it was off to Alki Beach for some sunset views.

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The next day was pretty rainy, but we managed to get some fun in after work. Spent some time exploring Bellevue Square, then grabbed dinner at Mox Boarding House, where you can play games while you eat. The cafe portion was pretty darn full but we snagged a table in the gaming part of the establishment, where we could eat our food take-away style. Didn’t leave much room for games so we packed up and headed back home for a harrowing round of Castle Panic. Steve & Lauren had brought a set with an expansion which was dang fun.

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The next day was a trip around Whidbey Island. Headed up to the top, up and over Deception Pass, played around a bit at a beach up there, then headed down to Coupeville which is like the Grand Lake of Whidbey, for some lunch. From there it was across the island to Fort Casey, then down south to the ferry home, stopping by briefly to catch the sunset on another beach.

We took my Tesla, which was not fully charged when we left. Ended up cutting it fairly close range-wise. One of those drawbacks to EVs, which I became much more familiar with two weeks later.

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The next morning it was time to say goodbye. One of us clearly didn’t care how their hair looked.

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And that was that!