For once the ad is true

It’s good to be home. When I got off the plane this sign greeted me. It certainly sums up the situation. I found the contrast between Seattle and Baltimore to be quite stark.

My understanding of Seattle is affected by where I went to college. Hampshire College is in the Pioneer Valley (western Massachusetts) and is part of a 5-college system with Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Amherst, and UMass. At Hampshire I wasn’t a freshman, I was a first year student. There were classes in Womyn’s Studies, Herstory (not history), and the best dances were hosted by the LGBA. I was a sweet young thing from the Midwest and went through two years of culture shock before getting acclimated to the politically correct, emotionally intense East Coast. In Amherst, there was a bit of PC Nazism going on. If you believed in absolutes you were a corrupt bigot who’d clearly never learned to think for yourself. It was the tyranny of tolerance. The Absolute that nothing is absolute was taken for granted. How DARE you say there might be Truth, don’t even THINK it within my breathing space! It was a great place for figuring out what I really believed. I came away from college with a true ability to think critically!

Seattle is a big city, yet laidback version of Amherst. Very PC, environmentally friendly, but with a ‘do what you want’ attitude underneath. Sure, it’s not cool to think in terms of absolutes, but whatever. Just don’t push it on me and we’re good. To emphasize the laid back thing: NO ONE speeds on the highway! The fast lane goes 68 mph in a 65 mph zone. I’m used to driving I-95 where 75 mph is the slow lane. In fact a law was recently passed in Maryland that, regardless of the speed limit, if you’re going slower than the car coming up behind you, you have to move right. Seattle is willing to spend whatever it takes to make their rivers and shorelines hospitable for the salmon. Baltimore won't fix the sewers that keep dumping raw sewage into the Chesapeake Bay. Here’s a shot of the Boeing parking lot in Seattle. Minimize the black top and you minimize runoff, pollution, and CO2.
(I actually love that they do this since it’s a great idea.)

In contrast to all that, Baltimore is a really gritty city. No matter how much they dress up the Inner Harbor and the culture centers, at heart, Baltimore is a blue-collar town. In Baltimore, no one has time to bother with PC stuff. When there are over 300 murders a year, who has time to plant grass in the parking lots? Baltimore has relentless row-houses. Walls of brick with little porches jutting out in front, even the suburbs tend to be townhouses in a row-home style. The streets are full of pot-holes and vacant lots. The truism for Baltimore is “The pace of the South with the manners of the North.” I’ve never been very good with pretense, or BS. I keep trying to learn to be tactful, but I have to focus to maintain it. Guaranteed tough. I like it here.

Final Thoughts

I got to fly over the Big Ditch both going to Seattle and coming home to Baltimore.

On the way out I had the window seat next to a couple of chatterers. We saw a rather large canyon below and debated whether it was the Grand or not. The steward answered our question, “Nah, when it’s the Grand Canyon, you’ll know." Ten minutes later, we knew. They kept handing me their cameras and asking me to take shots for them.

Going


On the way home I had a row all to myself!!! That was excellent. It was nice to be able to watch the canyon without having to take more than 2 photos. The moon was up and I felt quiet and rested after my week away. We flew over a wildfire just past the canyon. I heard there were some fires in New Mexico. I don’t know if this was one of them.

Coming


I got in trouble with my bro-in-law for posting a photo of his daughter. Actually, he was nice about it, but I could tell it bothered him. So, for these shots, she’s either disguised (she and my brother are wearing 3-D glasses for an exhibit at the Boeing museum of flight)



or her eyes are hidden. I’m showing this shot cause the one recognizable feature that M inherited was my brother’s mouth. They both have what I call a curl in the corner of their lips. When she grins, it’s this wide-open, very cute, infectious, face-lit-up endeavor, which is the same grin my brother sported as a baby.

I forgot to post this picture

Here’s the necklace that Jrex got me for Christmas. It’s the first jewelry he’s bought since my engagement ring. Good job, hon! (well, not in terms of not getting jewelry for me for 8 years, but in terms of picking something this cool. The engagement ring was beautiful, too...)

I'm just doing my job

Obviously, the main purpose of an aunt or an uncle is the proper corruption of the niece or nephew. I have begun as I mean to go on: I've taught M 'the bump'.

When I was a baby I hated to be kissed. So my Dad came up with an alternate form of affection. He would say, 'bump' and we would gently touch foreheads. This visit both my Dad and I have been doing the bump with M. Yesterday morning my sister was holding the baby and suddenly M leaned toward me head first. "Oh, ok. Yes, ma'am," I exclaimed and leaned in to bump heads. M sat back with a satisfied expression. K and I kept talking. Then M leaned again. Bump. She sat back. We did this ten times. Clearly, the corruption was extensive, but was it complete?

Last night my sister hosted a King's Day party. Quick explanation: my mother hated doing so much buildup to a one-day gift orgy. She decided we would celebrate the 12 days of Christmas. We opened one gift Christmas eve and one on Christmas Day. Each day after that we opened an envelope on the tree and followed instructions: look at Christmas lights, go to the zoo, open 1 gift, visit the trains at CG&E, etc. Then on the 12th day (Epiphany/King's Day/January 6th) we opened our big gifts. She also did a King's Day open house which featured three king's cakes (braided sweet bread). In each cake a quarter wrapped in foil was buried. Whoever found a quarter was king for the day/year (depending on one's interpretation).

For my sister's party: people came, people ate, kids wore triumphant crowns. Then, near the end of the evening, K held M and chatted with a friend. I was standing nearby. The friend's daughter stood grinning at M. Who leaned expectantly toward her. I laughed triumphantly, "She wants you to bump foreheads with her." The girl did and M sat back with a satisfied grin.

Mission Accomplished.

Wow

I remember a friend telling me about blogs two years ago. She mentioned there were people she checked in on daily. At the time I thought it was bizarre. A waste of time. These are people you'll never meet, go spend time with the people near you. Now, of course, I'm guilty too.

I'm not even sure how to write about this. I'm feeling really honored and excited (while feeling mildly silly for feeling that way). I've been included in the "Blogs I like" list on someone else's blog. When I read through the other blogs listed, they're all funny, witty, interesting people.

The strange thing is I suspect two of my closest friends rarely read this blog. One has never left a comment. The other has left one. When I tell them stories, it's rare they say, "Yeah, I read what you wrote about that." It's obviously perfectly fine (ok ok it hurts my feelings a bit, but I don't judge them for that. One is in training to go overseas and the other is a high school teacher who has about 10 minutes a day to sit in front of a computer). Yet this person I've never met reads mine, and I read hers. This blog thing still feels new and strange, yet every so often I get to tell a story and find just the right way to say what I'm feeling. It's really comforting to know that people are listening. And that someone I've never met finds it interesting.

I guess I will be blogging after all

My sister has done an evil thing. She's put me on the air mattress in the room with the computer. A computer that automatically links to the internet. Doesn't she know that blogging, and reading other's blogs, becomes an evil addiction? That I sit around thinking, 'how should I include that on the blog?'. That I need a life and this isn't helping?!

On the other hand, I'm still on east coast time. I've been up since 6:30 AM here. No one is awake. It took everything in me to stay up til 9 pm Seattle time. It helped that my niece is very fun and cute. She's much skinnier in person than in her pics. I guess the camera does add 10 pounds. If you only weigh 17 lbs, that's alot! She's 8 months old so she's ready for all the repeat games. "I'm eating your fingers. Ymmmm" Then she thrusts them towards me again. And again. And again. She has a great laugh though, so it's all worth it. I like being an aunt. Rev the kid up, have fun, and pass her back if she smells, cries, or wakes up cranky. I see the appeal of grandparenting!

The other potential evil of all this is that my sister reads my blog religiously. She calls me on all the facts I get wrong (good job, sis. Try to keep me honest. Though that's hard work, just ask Jrex.) How can I post pictures when her hubby won't let her do a blog cause he doesn't want the world to see his daughter? "It's better to beg forgiveness than ask permission"? There's a reason I haven't told my Dad, my bosses, or my in-laws about the blog...

Minor worries. The best part of all this is that I didn't bring my computer, so the office can't call me with any emergencies. The last time I was here was a working vacation. While my sister took an epideral-induced nap (but she was still in labor, people!), I had to hit the wireless cafe and get just one more design sent to our biggest client. Ugh!!! This time feels like a real vacation.

Cross Cultural II

During dinner the night before I left for Seattle, I was teasing Jrex about being jealous of something I did (likely something idiotic).

"You're just jealous, so stop right there, buddy!"

He grinned, "That's right. I'm just green with envy. Well, actually I guess that would make me blue."