Haikus: Epiphany

I know this summer I haven't posted as much as usual.  Due to my job and thesis research, I didn't have as much time for personal writing as I wanted to.  I did find myself jotting down phrases on the go and eventually got the idea to work on a collection of haikus.  I had a lot of fun with this project and it was really fascinating how once I embraced the form, it seems like I started thinking 5-7-5.  I'm not sure if this project is over, but it's time I share these snippets from the past few months.

So, without further adieu, summer 2015 according to Haikus: Epiphany.

* * * * *

Cascadia:

Disillusioned ones

walk on. But the face of God

is a mountainside. 

Staying up the hours the carpool lane is open:

Embrace the night owl 

living within yourself and 

stop harboring guilt.

Post Alley:

I don't remember

the song playing, but I now 

have my alibi 

Flat Rate Boxes:

Can't account for the 

words, tears, everything, but...

"You want your stuff back?" 

Park West:

See the pale half-moon, 

fire-red sun share the sky

and feel my pulse calm. 

Breakfast conversations:

"Girls go to work, too?"

As mothers and execs, but

yes, darling girl, yes.

12805:
Strangers footprints mark
once most-familiar floors,
when home is not home.

Soho, 1.30am:

"What the hell is that?"

Your wedding ring... Brokenness 

I can't help you bear. 

Anticipation:

Oxford isn't a place, 

but an ancient creature made

of heart-beating stones. 

Original Starbucks:

Spain. England. Belgium. 

"No, that wasn't the last one." 

Stroking away fears...

Welcome:

Fresh-faced pixies, once

I was like you, before I 

felt always behind. 

Cœur de la vallée:

Wood smoke.  Unbroke.  Our

star-gazing conversations

ease anxiety. 

Highway 101:

Ever think about

Seattle and recall that

corridor we shared? 

An Erasure from Compline, Book of Common Prayer:

Glory to Father, Son 

Holy Spirit, as it was, 

is, will be. Amen.

Westview:

That moment when they

cry, "I can't believe..." and it's

like vindication. 

Seattle Day

I'm on break, but my boyfriend has to work...an hour and a half away.  So today, when I wanted to visit downtown Seattle, I decided to "take him along" by sending him pics of all the different steps of my adventure - including some of my favorite places.

Step one: Mercury's chai. Always

[Hello, my old frenemy]

Ok, so this is where I got off, but it is also pretty significant for our relationship.  The day I met my boyfriend, he offered to walk me to the bus. It was raining slightly, we got to this covered gate area and stood talking for quite a while about arts and faith.  I watched my bus come, I watched my bus go, I kept talking to this cute boy I had just met.  At one point in the conversation, he leaned against the gate, not realizing it isn't secured, and totally got off balance.  And I took it as a bit of a sign that, as I hoped, this fella may like me.  Turns out...he did :)

The room where we met!

Then I visited the Sheraton's famous Gingerbread Village.  Here was an incredible Seattle replica, complete with a motorized Great Wheel.

Here's another, I loved the Seahawk Crane with a 12th Man Flag, Mrs. Seahawk, and Hawk's nest.

Another had this ode to Up :')

"Typical Tourist" moment

The back side of the Market

And the wheel we took on our first date...

I can't visit the market without a stop to Le Panier

Cafe time calls for a journal moment

And then, after a secret little stop, it was time for a visit to the impressive Seattle Public Library.

Just a few different angles of the library.

I brought my current read...

One more angle from outside...

And then it was back home.
I've missed Seattle, and it was lovely to reconnect with some familiar spots.
Next time, I hope to get some more exploring in to discover new ones.

Metamorphosis, Pt. 3

It is late, dark, wet and I'm trying to get home as fast as possible.

I am cruising just fine, wipers on their highest speed when an accident up ahead brings traffic to a halt and I decide to detour on back roads to get around this obstacle.  Even though this takes me through an unfamiliar part of the city, I dismiss the map on my phone. So what if it takes a few extra turns.  I should be able to figure it out if I dare to call myself a Seattlite. 

And I do.  Soon enough I'm taking a left at the genesis of Interstate-90.  This bridge will take me home.  If I let it, it could take me all the way to Boston.  I've followed it that way before.  The ends of a road fascinate me.  It's an inexplicable sense that I find every time I go there - where that long of a road runs into the water.  I think it's the Hobbit in me; "The road goes ever on and on..."

And then I'm in the tunnels, moving fast under lights.  Like the movies, I'm driving and weighing decisions - but they're nothing compared to the weight of my heart.  My heart is trying to say so many things at once.

I'm thinking of the future. And past. And of the film I just watched. Of how much heartbreak we can handle. Of the music. Of the parking ticket that's drying on my dash. Of how difficult relationships are. Of what it would be like to get to know different mountain ranges.

Of how things can be light and dark at the same time.

Speaking of... I don't know if this is unique to Seattle, (but I like to think it is) we get these schizophrenic spring days where you can be in golden light, needing your sunglasses and yet at the same time be rained on.  Usually just a system rolling through.  But the phenomenon seems an apt description for the melancholy beauty I see in things.

Thoughts keep rushing by faster than my wheels.

But then, I turn into my driveway.  I turn once again inward to the stillness.

And this is why I love my city...

West by Northwest: City Lights from Edward Aites on Vimeo.

12 years

It is a solemn day as we once again remember such a brutal attack on our nation.

But it also does us good to remember. 

And I feel I have a special connection with New York & DC on this day, so I wanted to share about it. No pictures of those horrific attacks, no heart-wrenching stories... Just a small connection I share to this day & our shining cities on the East Coast. 

I should begin by saying that growing up in Seattle, it's hard to completely connect to the East Coast. It's not a different country, but it might as well be. Different cultures, different accents, different weather. The times I've been there have seemed nearly as foreign as being in the UK. (Preparing for my recent trip to Boston, I had to remind myself I'd have cell coverage.)  All that to say... It's easy to feel disconnected & disjointed with the East Coast.

But, as they say, on that day, we all became New Yorkers.  This became more real to me when my family road-tripped across the country the summer after.  It had been 9 months, but as we walked toward Ground Zero, the hums and honks of the city stilled.  Complete silence in the middle of Manhattan.  And the wall was still up.  Ribbons, cards, flowers, teddy-bears, have-you-seen-them signs.  The makeshift memorial had survived the winter.  I stared at sun-bleached paper no one had the heart to take down.  And in that moment, I touched their pain.  As distant as Seattle might be from New York, I felt the pain as if someone had struck "my city."  It became personal.  And it became beautiful.  I am so grateful for that moment.






Fast-forward nearly 12 years.  This year on tax day, April 15th, 2 bombs went off at the finish line of the Boston bombing.  I can't tell you how or why, but I identified so quickly with the Bostoners left hurt and frustrated by the blasts.  Little did I know then that I'd be visiting Boston in just a few months.

And this is what greeted me:

A wall.  A wall of remembrance.  A wall of mourning.  And another connection.  Another reminder that though spread across "amber waves of grain" and inhabiting from "sea to shining sea" - we are, indeed, United.

Above is a map of the Boston Marathon route.  Below is the restaurant the bomb wiped out.  It re-opened the week before I visited.

On this day, we are all New Yorkers.  We are Boston Strong.  And our resilience makes us all Americans.

Crawley Sisters take Seattle

This weekend was glorious! Glorious!!

If you've ever lived in Seattle, you would just know that we don't get 70 degree days at the end of March. Gorgeous clear-skied sunniness - it doesn't happen till June - May if we're lucky.

Except it did happen. This early Easter weekend decided to brashly proclaim "Spring is here!" And back it up with miraculous weather!

Before even knowing how fine the day would be, some dear friends, Ash & Kayla, & I had picked this Saturday as a "Seattle Day" to go do the types of things in our own city that one normally only does when visiting somewhere else.

And it was rather magnificent :)




[Crawley Sisters]

 At Portage Bay Cafe, they asked what name to put down on the wait list, and I said "Crawley."  So when they called us, they shouted "Crawley for 3" and we just smiled.


[Portage Bay - yummo!  Will be returning!!]





[They gave us a free mug :D ]

 We wanted a picture with the infamous "portage bay cafe" mugs, but none of us ordered a hot drink and were, ergo, short on mug-worthiness.  But I was trying to sneak a picture of one as we were leaving and the manager said "Wait just a sec,"  came back with the mug and said "keep it and tell your friends."  Gladly, Mr. Portage Bay.  Gladly :)



[These. Two. Wow!]

 First time to Elliot Bay Book Co. I know, I know... how can I possibly call myself as literary Seattlite and not been.  Well......... I'm not sure.  But my trips usually took me to Magus, not Elliot Bay.  While I have an affinity for independent bookstores of all kinds, I prefer used to new.  I did love my inagural trip to Elliot Bay though, and shall definitely return.  I picked up an adorable set of Austen postcards and the sci-fi YA novel from the 70's: Ender's Game [have to read it before the film comes out!  Both look really good!].



[Bookshops are my happy place!]





[Pike's place picnic thanks to Le Panier, Beecher's, and the corner fruit market - parfait.]

 A baguette + good cheese + strawberries is, to me, the perfect picnic.  I've lunched on that in grassy fields at Blenheim Palace, Shakesepare in the Park, and now Gasworks.  It's just so delish!  So... who wants to plan another picnic?



[I mean - look at that sky!]





[ smiles. ]





[kite flying at Gasworks]


"Let's go fly a kite up to the highest height..."  Ok, next time!


[We're really excited about the sun and our picnic!!]




[sunny!!]

 The picnic was impromptu, so we were lucky that Ash had a blanket in her car.  And we cut our cheese with a plastic knife (it was Beecher's Smoked Flagship though - so totally worth it).  Oh, and we spread our brown-paper bags of picnic-stuff on Ashley's long-board, which made a surprisingly good tabletop. Of course, on a sunny day in the park, picnics must be enjoyed barefoot.  There's a rule about these things.



[This guy was filming a music video at Gasworks, all mic'ed up and with his accordian. We were humming La Vie en Rose the rest of the afternoon.]

 I was playing some of my own tunes until this guy showed up... Accordians are the coolest so they trump.



[Aren't they just too much? :]

 Attemtped sneaky shots of these two ladies.



[Adorable hipster]





[longboard]





[So stinking cute!]





[ :P ]





[ L O V E ]



These girls make me smile. It's more than what they say or do...although they are some of the funniest people I know. It's their dreams & passions that make me smile because they're things I dream about too. And I'm pretty sure someday I'll get to say, "I knew them before ________.  We spent sunny Saturdays aspiring to do and to make and they have." 

And lucky for me, I'm spending next weekend with them too!  Ash + Kayla + Cami + Regina + Becca + I are heading to Portland for a quick trip and lots of fun.  Powells. St Honore's.  The Pearl District.  They're calling my name!  And there may be an old movie or two since we're all cinephiles :)

Last week on the bus, I was struck by how grateful I am for the friends God has given me.  They make me feel rich.  So blessed in this season to be able to invest and pursue some of the amazing ladies that I know.

So, back to Monday meetings, still absorbing the Vitamin D and dreams from the weekend... Cheers!

Spring, why must you rain on my parade?

Oh, right, I live in Seattle.

Oh well... bringing Spring inside with mint and a new cuff :)

I've been on the look out for the right cuff and finally found it.  Woot!  Loving the chevron cut-outs!

Happy Spring!

Oxford to Seattle

My dear friend, Kristina, spent the last week out in Seattle.  We hadn't seen each other since leaving Oxford a year and half ago, so she decided to come out for a visit.  And since she'd never been to Seattle, I got to play tour guide for a week :)

Here's a peek at our adventures - 

[Clockwise: Greenlake on a crisp winter day, smiles at UW, a visit to Magus Books - complete with matching reads, and the Fremont Troll :]

[Kristina at Greenlake]

[sun and smiles]

[closest to Oxford we could get]

[the quad]

[Happy New Year!!]

[had to include a cute shot of my sibs as well]

[vision banquet]

[original starbucks...as you do]

[hipster banjo player outside of starbs... he serenaded us with "auld lang syne"]

[pike's place... obvi :]

[not so sure about the gum wall ;]

[View from the Great Wheel - very fun!]

[Clockwise: we went to London! err...  outside "Elephant & Castle" in Seattle, Seattle Public Library, breakfast at Library Bistro, Kristina on the merry-go-round]

[so grateful for this girl!!]

Hope you've had a smashing start to 2013!!  And here's to more adventures :)