OMG, y'all. SEATTLE.

Mom's birthday was last week, so I spent last week in Seattle with Beloved Mother, Sainted Father, Beloved Sister, and The Boyfiend. Other participants included Der Alter Jo, her husband, Archie the Mastiff, and A Number of Wild Animals.

Mom and Dad are well, thanks for asking. Dad, after his last tumble-thump, tumble-thump-tumble, has been prescribed a neck brace (to be worn for 90 minutes at a time) and physical therapy three times a week. Mom is still dealing with the occasional Moment when her a-fib gets snarky, but otherwise is okay. Dad has a number of complaints about Seattle and its political leanings, but that's fine, because that's how you know Dad is okay.

Boyfiend and I made it a priority to stop by the pond near M&D's house at least twice a day, to ensure that the Baby Duck and the Baby Raccoon were okay. Baby Duck survived the week (although, on my last day there, his mother went to the bar and left him peeping furiously until she returned). Baby Raccococoon fell off a log while trying to wash his hand-paws, with a despairing "gronk," and had to be hauled out of the pond by Mama. Archie the Mastiff was overexcited, according to his size 00 owner, but all I saw was a gently waving tail. Hermione the Heron caught two fish and one bullfrog that I witnessed.

Der Alter Jo and her hubby are blooming like roses. It's rare that you see two people so obviously suited to one another, doing things that they're so obviously suited for. At one point, DAJ said "I'm not sure I've stopped being a nurse; maybe I just have to turn those skills to other things." Being that she's doing the ADA program right now, I think she's got it covered.

Beloved Sis and Boyfiend and I spent one afternoon with really old family friends--and by "really old," I mean that the male half of the couple showed up with a toothpaste squeezer on my folks' doorstep when I was but a fetus. We had enormous amounts of coffee and multiple salads and some roasted chicken, and entertained a three-year-old who looked so much like her mother (whose birth I remember) that I thought, when she opened the door, "I'm in the right place, but the wrong decade."

It's weird, seeing faces you recognize reproduced on babies' heads.

Anyhow, it was lovely. I scored a Seattle Trifecta: I had a coffee at Google, then caught an Uber in the rain (it was a Prius, of course). My skin changed to plaid flannel and I grew a beard instantaneously.

I also walked up and down hills so much that the outsides of my ankles swelled up and my butt muscles complained. I drank some amazing pale ales (Botany Bay is a good one, if you can get it on tap) and ate really good, really fresh food. I slept well and woke up early, in time to hear the Stellar's jays being annoyed with the crows, and regretted not bringing string cheese on my walks in order to feed those crows.

Oh, and I got sunburnt. Of course. Because that is how I roll in Seattle: sunburnt.