Josie Schembre channeling Josephine Baker & Isadora Duncan

When my daughter Naomi refers to Josie, she says, "My good friend Josie" never just "Josie".  It goes like this. "My good friend Josie likes to build things just like I like to build things" or "Mom did you know that my good friend Josie likes to dance?" Does she ever!

 Josie is pictured here and below doing a dance of "Spring."

It is Easter and we are at the Schembres' house searching for eggs in their lovely backyard.

Three in a row

Sophie, Simone and Annabel playing on a hill.

Antigua back yard

Behind the apartment in Antigua, Guatemala were the ruins of a church (above).  The apartment ($16 per month) had a courtyard, an outdoor kitchen under a tin roof and an enclosed bedroom and bathroom.   The back of the courtyard had a door into the space above.  The door didn't close and the remains of the church were so beautiful that eventually I took the entire door off and made it into a table using some of the broken pillars as the base.  The church space became my dining room. The only other church entrance was this opening about 5 feet off the ground.

About a week after getting the apt, I added an oven and a fridge.  Suddenly the neighborswith their flocks of children and their friends children came knocking to ask if they could use the oven and it seemed to always be cooking something.  I had to buy a gas bombe (canister of gas) nearly every week but the breads and casseroles coming out of the oven were worth it.   I also loved having all the kids around and started up an ad hoc dance school to entertain them and keep choreographing.

(more photos coming..)

Pioneer schmoozing

Pioneer Square is a wonderful place to live and Annie Strain has been a huge positive force.  She gather ed a big group of the Pioneer community at her beautiful home to greet the incoming Mayor Mike McGinn.  Here is a picture of William Justen, Mayor Mike McGinn and Simone.  Simone asked Mike to please help her get a playground in Occidental Square for her little sister.

Merging collective experiences or Augmented-Reality demo from Blaise

Earlier I oohed and aahed over Blaise's 2007 TED talk about photosynth.  
Would you believe there is more?  Now we can merge our collective experiences live!  Hold onto your seat.

Daily Rituals or Off to School

In the morning, the girls pack their backpacks with school stuff (lunches, sweaters, sneakers) and after-school stuff (leotards, swim suits, snacks) and then head downstairs to say good morning to Kumar, Hamilton and/or Nelson running the building elevators and Michelle, Michael and Alex manning the security desk in the lobby.  

Sometimes they stop at Starbucks to order a coffee for me.

Michelle moves into high gear when the girls arrive and a good ten minutes goes by between songs, chasing, updates.  Simone and Naomi adore Michelle!  Oh what heaven it is for me to watch this interplay each morning. The before school ritual is so much fun!

Naomi is playing hide and seek with Michelle Coleman, head of Tower security.  

Usually we head to Evergreen School first. We got there a bit early on this particular day and Naomi and Simone decided to play in the mud a bit before school.

Simone's Kindergarten teachers are Eve Ingraham and Christine Burnett and in the photo above the class is celebrating Valentine's Day with a Disco dance party. Black lights, a mirrored ball and a break-dancing circle.  Naomi in pink and Simone in orange whooping it up to the Bee Gees, "Stayin' Alive."  

After dancing up a storm, Naomi and I headed to her school, Global Gardens, where she spends a few hours a couple days a week. She loves it and asks every morning, "Do I have Global Gardens today?"

After school and the many extracurricular activities...we sometimes can fit in a visit with Godfather William.  His office is just down the street and he often works late.  

Dinner with the Strains across the Square

Our neighbors, the Strains, live across Pioneer Square from us. We can wave or flashlight morse code from our windows. Annie Strain has a great blog about life in Pioneer Square.

Jackson Strain is the same age as Naomi. They are two. They had a great time riding around the kitchen while Jeff, Annie, David and I enjoyed a delicious lamb dinner. Jeff was one of the founders of ArenaNet in 2000 and in the Fall of 2009, he founded Undead Labs. Here is a speech of his about what it takes to create successful Massively Multiplayer Online Games.

Another fun link is the story of when Annie, having just moments before given birth to Madeline, looked up to see Jeff feverishly tapped away at his keyboard, "Are you working on that damn game during the birth of our daughter?" Jeff answered sheepishly, "It's not 'that damn game' Annie, it's Starcraft!"

Annie Strain is on the Pioneer Square Revitalization Committee and is making sure our beautiful neighborhood continues to thrive. In the 12 years that I have lived in the Smith Tower, Pioneer Square has had opportunities to create a much needed playground in Occidental Square, an ice skating rink by the Pergola, and a grand structure to (sort of an Arc de Triomphe) replace the "sinking ship" garage that would still provide parking below ground but on the street level it would be a great archway framing the entrance to Occidental. I love all of these visionary ideas, but the Arc de Triomphe, an idea that William Justen dreamed up, is my personal favorite as it would connect 2nd Avenue to the heart of Pioneer Square with a vista into Occidential's green menagerie. Over Pioneer's Square 150 plus years, many new additions have kept the nation's best-preserved historical district authentic and relevant. The way I see it, a grand arch would become a new entrance to Seattle’s first – and liveliest – neighborhood.

Daniel Strain is 10 and introduced Simone and Naomi to his guinea pigs.

Madeline Strain, who is 12, and quite a rider herself, became a human "filly" for Simone to ride on. The kids were on a roll.

What amazing luck to have such a great urban family only a block away. I am in heaven.

Why WWFC or "Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber." Aristotle

"Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished 

by being governed by those who are dumber." Aristotle

Suffragist Parade in NYC on May 1912.

Linden Rhoads, Gemma Daggatt, Patricia Atkinson, Tracy Newman and a couple others were extremely tired of yelling at their TVs after watching the news.  One particular morning as Linden and Tracy set off on a walk, they didn't spend the hour complaining about the state of the country, instead they decided to do something about it.  They came up with the idea of starting a PAC (political action committee).  The concept grew.  Lets have small political gatherings in our homes.  We can promise the Senators $10K if they'll fly out to talk with us.   If we pool our money we could meet with 6 Senators a year.  We could request that the Senators refrain from stump speeches and use the time to discuss the bills they are working on and our concerns. Perhaps we can change the direction of the country.  At the very least, I think it would help us figure out who to endorse?  A couple weeks later the group had their first gathering.  Over the years WWFC (Washington Women for Choice) has grown into a wonderful organization.  One of our members, Ann Kelly, developed diligence tools for us to determine where and when we wanted to use our money so that we could be bold and enter early on critical bellwether campaigns.  We meet with Presidential candidates as well as Senators and occasionally Congressmen. A couple times a year we bring in guest speakers and host salons on political issues.  

Just walking into the doors of a WWFC event feels so good.  

Suffragettes Celebrate the Ratification of the 19th Amendment on Aug 26th, 1920 granting women the right to vote.

Holiday 2009 or slinky on the hotel stairs

Our holiday tradition is a feast with friends around the table that goes on late into the night. The dinner is usually a couple weeks into December. The food has been the same for the last 8 or so years. It is a scrumptious Paella brimming with everything that looks good at the Pike Place Market and a Flaming Baked Alaska for dessert.  Our Baked Alaska is a flourless chocolate cake with a wild ice cream inside (pumpkin this year) and covered with an inch of meringue and baked. Finally we light the huge delicious meringue dome on fire and the kids squeal with delight.  (dinner photos coming)

The morning after dinner, we share family gifts and hang around the tree to enjoy one another.  

Godfather William comes over to help open presents.

We took a walk downtown after opening presents and did a few loops on the Carousel.

Although I am non-religous, my mother's side of the family is Jewish.  I have taken the girls to Shabbat and Passover with friends, but I my character building comes from a heaping dose of rational thinking, frequent discussions of virtues, accountability and social mores.  I love Valerie Tarico's wisdom commons and Yaffa Maritz' Character Corner and use many of those ideas with Simone and Naomi.  

David's side of the family is Christian, so sometimes the girls enjoy Christmas or Easter Mass with their Grandmother Elinor.  Opera Diva, Frederica von Stade belongs to the Church and sometimes sings. The girls love the music.  

After our walk North, we took a walk South through Pioneer Square. (below)

Chocolate treats from the cafe at Elliot Bay Books.

Later in the day or the next day we fly to California to visit David's family for their holiday festivities.

The girls at the Claremont where we stayed this year.

Getting the Slinky to work.

Claremont hallways are great for performances.

There are many ways to play with it.

hee hee hee

We will eventually get this slinky to work!

Sweet and HORRIFYING! or A Whirling Deverish Halloween

Hanging out on the Schembre's back porch before trick or treating on the top of Queen Anne. Annabelle (Princess), Sophie (Mermaid), Josie (Kitty cat), Simone (Good and Evil), Naomi (Smaller Good and Evil) and Lucy (Clown). The second photo shows Josie's cat and the horrifying skeleton on the underside of Simone's costume. Naomi has a bony creature under her hoop skirt too.

When Simone was trying to decide what to be this year, she sketched some costumes in her journal. One was a gruesome skeleton and one was a lusciously pretty goddess in a ball-gown. We merged both. She called it a two sided "good and evil" doll. Naomi and I followed suit and sewed similar costumes. At the time I had a cast on my leg so Simone was in charge of the sewing machine petal and cutting out of the many fabrics. The mad scientist inside the dress below only can be seen if the front of the skirt is pulled up.  We created swirling dervish dance for "trick or treating" that included spinning around and then stopping right in front of our audience and lifting our skirts to reveal the monsters and then roaring and chasing them with the skeletons or mad scientist.  It was so fun!  

Naomi was afraid of these costumes when we were first assembling them. If she had to walk past the closet where they were hanging, she would walk along the edge of the opposite wall singing to herself a cheer-up song and keeping her eyes on the closet door the whole time. She would tell me, "Those are NOT real monsters," but the way she said it you knew she was asking not telling. So I replied, "Those are pretend monsters Naomi. We created them to be super scary for Halloween. (pause) Did we do a good job?" "Oh yes! We made very scary monsters!"

Elinor and Naomi enjoying the day.

Grandma Elinor and Naomi enjoying the day

Pausing at Rhoad's End

Our summer sail included a brief reprieve at Rhoad's End to visit with Linden, Rhoads and Celeste.  We found evidence this sunny cardboard house on the doorstep....and some slithering creature was snoozing inside....but no one else was around.

Inside the Gazebo there is a earthly bathroom tucked into the cliffs rock.  The garden moved in.

We took a quick swim and headed off.

Rhoads' catch

On this particular July day on Orcas Island, Rhoads' captured four snakes.

Naomi and Celeste are waiting for us on the dock.  We're getting ready to go fishing.

Sweet Zepher.

Gritty Oasis in Seattle or Beaching in Seattle

McKinley and Naomi.

The recess Monkeys showed up.

All aboard!  Kaya and Simone riding high on David's shoulders.

We indulge in long days at the beach in the summer.  Somehow we always stumble into friends and gatherings, on this day it was both...the recess monkeys arrived as well as friends from "Tribe Seattle."

Puget Sound is a bit chilly, perfect for a swim at the end of an epic beach day.

Melissa relaxing.

  

Lake Washington beaches have darker sand but the warmer water and floating swims docks make for luxurious long swims.  We often head to the lake at the end of the long summer days. (Sunset is 9pm.)

 

Pictured below is Simone, Stella, Elizabeth (holding the clan together) Elias, Lola and Naomi.