22 January 2007

weekend reprieve

it's monday. which means i'm back in the office after a weekend respite from cubicles and computer screens. just that break alone is always a treat. i went into this weekend with no real plans on the horizon, but things shaped up quite nicely.

leaving work on friday night, i decided on a whim to text my friend conners to see if he'd like to join me for a beer at my neighborhood pub. thankfully, his evening was open as well and we met up at hilltop for some fun conversation. we ran into a couple guys we know and ended up sharing a table and some laughs with them. a pleasant way to spend a friday evening for sure.

saturday morning i met up with an acquaintance for breakfast to talk about some future possibilities that involve volunteering and travelling--two things in which i place great value. i'll talk more about that some other time, but for now i'll just say it was a morning well spent and one that makes my heart feel full with possibility. we enjoyed lovely conversation and a yummy breakfast courtesy of the dish. if you've never visited this place, i highly recommend it. they make some of the best eggs in seattle!

after breakfast i took a little road trip down to the booming metropolis of chehalis to visit toby for the remainder of weekend. he's been working for the state down in lewis county for the last month and a half as part of a disaster recovery team aiding people who were affected by the floods from earlier this winter. it was fun to get out of the city for a spell and get a taste of the slower pace of small town life. we really had a relaxing time complete with a nice dinner at mcmenniman's pub in centralia, a drive out to the coast at ocean shores, coffee and crossword puzzling at caffe vita in olympia and an evening movie in lacey.

my favorite part was probably the drive out to the washington coast. it's so completely different from the southern california coast i grew up with, it's sometimes hard to believe it's the same body of water. the ocean is always so vast, and it's beauty and power so mesmerizing. the washington coast is very rugged, particularly so in the middle of winter. the skies were grey, the tide was rising, and the wind was there to take our breath away.

the rain stopped long enough for us to take a walk along the beach, which was a veritable wasteland of broken clam shells and abandoned crab carapaces. it was haunting in a way that made me long for the life-renewing springtime--the season where instead of seeing carcasses, you see little creatures scurrying about, where evidence of life, not death is all around. but it's also a reminder that this life is full of seasons, that the cycle continues, and were it not for the cold and dark of winter, we might forget to value the gift of new life we're given each spring.


shore birds running to and fro as the tide ebbs and flows


a crazy tangle of kelp

the beautiful stump of a once grand tree

waves crashing on the jetty

1 comment:

Eliza said...

There's nothing like the Washington coast--it's top on the list of my favorite places. How fun to get out & see it in the winter.
Every Memorial Day weekend my husband & I take whomever is interested backpacking on the Washington Coast. We backpack lots of other times, but Memorial is the big weekend where we take a group out. You're welcome to join us!