4th of July -- Everything is exploding!

Luna's longtime boss invited us up to her home in Birch Bay for the 4th. We stayed 2 nights and had a really good time. Someone should make a documentary film about this little town's 4th celebrations. They go all out. While the town's government doesn't host fireworks, the people invite all their friends up and each spend $1,000 on dangerous, sparkly wonders. We guesstimated that perhaps $500,000 were spent on fireworks, which could be seen by everyone else, all night, in the horseshoe-shaped bay.

I didn't have experience with personal fireworks, so I was hella scared to hold Roman candles, but they were awwwwesome. (Pictured = Darren and Barb)

Things of note: the moon, the water, the sunset, the ungodly amounts of smoke from the fireworks, the fire with which we toasted marshmallows.

Our group's stash. (Firework packaging = incredibly ridiculous and awesome.)

The camera died before I could take too many photos.  =0(

Smoked tofu our hosts made, our marshmallows (why did we only bring one pack?), and the skeleton of a sand dollar mysteriously turned green.

Besides fireworks and great food, the weekend included badminton, a ridiculously small-town parade, and Lupin chasing lots of seagulls and one huge bald eagle as we walked maybe a mile out from shore during low tide.
(Imagine if Lupin had killed a bald eagle on the 4th of july!)

What must Lupin have thought, leaving behind our home (this was his first night sleeping elsewhere since we adopted him), to drive far away late at night to a place where everything (everything, everything, I mean, firecrackers were thrown into the bonfire as a warm-up) everything, everything is exploding. Waking in the morning to wander chest-deep (his chest) into the sea, past the snails, then the seagrass, the sand dollars, the crabs, where the water tasted salty, started to get deeper, the apocalypse, never to see home again? But wait, we turned around! Back to shore! Where everything (everything) was still exploding!!!!!!

Actually, he handled the fireworks pretty well. The other dogs had to be drugged, but he did okay in the house where they were quieter. And during the day, he looooved sunbathing on the deck.

And then, hooray, we drove home! His home still existed! Phew!

This is actually a drawing our friend Aaron drew of/for us. When we came home from Thailand, it was waiting for us, aside a plate of cookies his lovely partner Emily baked for us.

The end.

Year and a Half Anniversary

Yesterday was our year-and-a-half anniversary. Half-anniversaries are strange, because the weather -- everything, really -- is like the exact opposite of how it was when you met. We met a couple days before the winter solstice, so our half-anniversary is just before the summer solstice.

Comic Luna drew for me of our first kiss. He gave it to me on our second date (in which he cooked Pad Prik King for me and we danced around the carpet to Edith Piaf). The comic hangs above our bed now.

We met when night was at its longest, but falling in love at the very start of winter meant basically getting the cheat code to skip winter. That first night, when we met, after the symphony, after dinner, we found ourselves on the swings at Cal Anderson Park, and I was wearing a dress as low-cut as the one I wore yesterday.


"Do you ever get out of the city?" he asked me, and he stumbled over the words a little bit, like he was nervous.

"Not really. I don't drive so I haven't really seen much of the state yet."

"Would you like to? We could get a cabin on the coast."

Our first date. And we both had this realization that this was not a first date conversation, but we also realized that the normal rules didn't apply.

I got off my swing and went over to him, somehow shared the swing with him (haha, I think I straddled him?) and we kissed, and I said, "I would love that."

And two weeks later we were sharing a little A-frame in La Push, hiking through the rainforest and making vegan s'mores.

He wrote our names, with his finger, on an Artist's Conk (Mushroom)

It was the first week of January. We held hands and ran into the ocean together, then immediately ran back out, freezing and giggling.

Ancient tree!! We set the camera timer for this picture, because we were alone (people-wise) in the forest.

Now it's supposedly the start of summer, though I felt as cold yesterday (sitting on a boulder together at Magnuson Park, by the lake, laughing at our awesome dog, then trying to soak up the failing sunlight while having a dessert picnic in the parking lot of PCC) as I did a year and a half ago when we met.

Conclusions:
This particular spring and summer are pathetic excuses for sunny seasons.
Luna will keep me warm, come spring or summer or winter or fall.
Desserts are delicious.
I need to take more pictures, especially if I'm going to keep up a blog.
We're in love.



P.S. I've been very busy this week, overwhelmingly so. I was imagining I'd be blogging every day, but now I see that that's something only my funemployed self could do. Since I haven't been posting, I haven't pushed myself to take pictures, but we have had some delicious food this week, and here's one example:

Chilaquiles Luna made us for breakfast -- Corn tortillas scrambled with tofu (and veggies, in this case), topped with salsa and "sour cream" (garlic aioli on this one). I was feeling under the weather, slept for about a million hours straight, then woke up to this. Yummm.