i t z i e . d i a r y l a n d . c o m

Arr! Not quite hardcore. // 2003-07-21


We had our 30th anniversary P-Patch Party on Thursday. It was a cute little gathering. Most of the people I garden with are in their 50's and up. It's kind of fun to socialize with them. It reminds me that, despite my own experiences living in Seattle, everyone is not between the ages of 25 and 35. I got lots of compliments on my onions and lavendar. My onions can kick your onions' ass any day. My onions are HUGE. I also took photos for the gathering, which was fun. I haven't done a photo shoot of an event in quite some time.

On Saturday, I had to work. We were having "Kid's Day" at Seward Park to which all adoptive or prospective adoptive families were invited. Since Seward Park is an area I'm really not familiar with and since it would certainly take at least two buses to get there from Capitol Hill and because Abby and I had such a lovely time biking there before, I decided to bike to work. It was chilly when I left the house, so I put on jeans and my required tourquoise blue "STAFF" shirt and headed down into Madison Valley. But by the time I got down to the lake, it was already starting to get a bit toasty - even though it was only 8:30AM. I was in charge of the balloons during set up and then, when families came, I got to be the official photographer. So many cute kids! I had a blast going around and taking their photos. I ended up taking seven rolls. There's one really sweet family that kept taking my photo because I'm helping them bring their daughter home - they should be leaving to pick her up in a few weeks. She took my picture four times - twice with her son (who was also adopted through our agency a few years ago) and she had someone take my picture with her once, and her son (who is maybe 4) took our picture once. She's so sweet! My co-workers once told me that though I might feel close to some of my families now, and I might think that we're a big part of their experience, after the adoption is over and the child is home, they will forget all about us though we always remember most of them. That's definitely not true for this family, and that's really nice.

After the picnic was over, I had to head out to Abby's going away party which was in Golden Gardens. So I biked there. Ok, for you non-Seattlites, this is a pretty big trek. It's basically going from the southeast most corner of Seattle to the almost-northwest-most corner of Seattle. It's far. And it was boiling hot. I was sweating buckets and I was hungry because I hadn't eaten much at the picnic (I was busy taking photos - I was having too much fun!) and I didn't even have any water left with me. It was a pretty brutal towards the end there and I kept stopping for water. But I made it! I had a dehydration headache, and I was a little shakey and tired, but I made it!

Abby's party was a lot of fun. All of the cool kids were there. We had a blast. Anya made Abby a butt cake (an in-joke), so we all got a piece of Abby's ass before she left Seattle. There was of course, the requisite spanking of the cake, cake fights, and ass jokes. We did a little dancing and watched the sun set over the Puget Sound. I couldn't have thought of a better send-off party.

And then I got back on my bike and headed down to Fremont for the outdoor movie festival with Timothy, my friend from high school who just moved out here. We got to see Rebel Without a Cause - one of the many classics I have never seen. It was... dated. It was an interesting movie, and I'm glad I saw it, but boy was it cheesy! Anyhow, it was a great night to lay on the warm concrete, share some rice crackers, and watch James Dean struggle with the bullies in High School, and learn how to "stand up and be a man."

And then, finally, I biked from Fremont to the U-District where I sacrificed my chance at calling myself a hardcore biker girl by putting my bike on the front of the bus and riding up to Capitol Hill. Give me a break, it was almost 12:30. Maybe someday I'll be hardcore enough to bike up Capitol Hill after such a heavy biking day, but this was not the time. I'll be hardcore yet! Arr! And yeah yeah, I know of at least one person who probably reads this journal who does longer bike rides than this every day, but I still think it was almost hardcore!

My skin still smelled salty today even after a long shower.

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