#upper pnw

[hiraeth-arcane]

Washington lakes are so beautiful

[wayoutwest]

Fishermen’s View - Oregon

Harry Snowden

[eschynite]

I genuinely think people who move their families to places with high fire, flood, and drought risks bc of low taxes and warm weather are bad people

[ccherrycolouredfunk]

i always love hanging out in edmonds whenever the weather is nice. :)

[hipsofsteel]

our house is constantly one plumbing nightmare after another. so currently the upstairs shower is out of commission bc the drainpipe is apparently leaking directly onto our hot water heater. all four of us are therefore using the master bathrooms shower

the one that had the ceiling half cave in over a year ago because my parents, despite watching mildew grow and grow routinely over the years never did anything to like... protect the thin layer of sheetrock between the ceiling and the plumbing above and below it.

all because my dad is a madman of a home designer and both bathrooms in our house are completely internal structures with no outside walls or windows to help vent the steam out.

[harshr]

Lake of the Angels -> St. Peters Gate -> Upper Lena Lake

Olympic National Forest/Olympic National Park

S'Klallam and Twana/Skokomish land

[radioactiv3snak]

Mushy shrooms toads and stools

[i-carrion-icarian]

Upper Latourell Falls, Oregon, 11-7-24

Etsy | Instagram | TikTok

[ohwaitwhatdamn]

[hiraeth-arcane]

🩵🩵🩵

[wayoutwest]

Water Music - Oregon

Harry Snowden

[bortinatte]

[jewishbarbies]

I never learned Hebrew for a few complicated reasons and I never go to shul because I cannot physically get to one, so I felt a lot like I wasn’t allowed to be Jewish. reading you haven’t gone was comforting in a weird way because I know it doesn’t make you any less Jewish. it reminded me we’re not alone in this.

I’ve struggled a lot with imposter syndrome when it comes to judaism because I didn’t grow up in a jewish community, the only jewish people I knew were family, and there’s so much I feel like I don’t know all the time. I grew up incredibly isolated in general, but there are so many jewish experiences i haven’t had. I’ve been practicing the majority of my life but it feels like I’ve only just really connected with it in the last 3 years or so. although it’s not like i could go even if i want to bc I’ve never been close enough to the (2) synagogues in the upper pnw. it seems like people wonder a lot why there’s jewish communities only in certain spots and it’s like, well we don’t get to have a church on every corner. I’m getting more comfortable but i still find myself deferring to people my brain considers “more jewish” than me a lot.

i know there’s a lot of jews who don’t/can’t go for a lot of reasons, though, so we’re definitely not alone there! none of us are any less jewish. we’re here and that’s all that matters.

[whentherewerebicycles]

some excellent things from the day:

finished the new sally rooney and loved it. I literally couldn’t sleep last night because I was just lying awake thinking about it. I feel like I’d read a few books I only felt so-so about in a row and was starting to have that I’LL NEVER READ ANYTHING THAT TRULY WOWS ME AGAIN feeling so it was great to read something I just wholeheartedly loved. I’m at 76 for the year! I have to accept that I’m not going to make my secret goal of 100 but I will definitely hit my original goal of 80 and I think I could make it to 85 if I wanted to. but I’ve decided not to worry too much about it as I don’t like intentionally passing up longer books just to hit a randomly chosen number. I’m still really pleased I read so much this year! I physically could not hold a book or my kindle from March until early June because my CTS pain was so bad and I was also pretty busy caring for a newborn all summer. so I feel great about how much I’ve read! and I also feel like I immersed myself in some really wonderful novels this year which is great.

the baby is teething (I can feel one or maybe two of them through his gums!!) and he was feeling pretty desolate about it this afternoon. but we have discovered a new game he loves called EARTHQUAKE where I’ll be holding him on the bed and then I say omg owen do you feel that… omg owen is it—could it be—EARTHQUAKE!!!! and then you jostle him all around in your arms while yelling AAAAA! AAAAA!!!!!! BIG SHAKE!!!!! this makes him laugh so hard that even teething pain can be forgotten. also as soon as I start saying “omg owen” with my eyes really big he knows it’s coming and he gets this look of totally delighted anticipation because AAAAAAA THE BIG SHAKE!!!!!!!! my daily life is full of so many small moments of joyful zany silliness l and I just feel kind of overcome sometimes by how much life rocks.

speaking of delightful baby things: he has a couple special Car Toys that he only gets to play with in his carseat (this wasn’t an intentional policy lol I just got tired of taking them in and out of the house). one of them is his beloved Giraffe Friend. today when I put him in his car seat he started waving his arms and saying OOOO!! OOOOO!!! OOOOOOO!!! when he saw Giraffe Friend. then he spent the entire car ride chomping on his friend’s face. devastatingly cute.

I finished with my last two kids from the summer/fall!!!! I still have to do closeout letters for both of them (and then I have the three new students I’m working with on transfer applications) but PHEW another college admissions cycle on the books. I always forget how much freaking work it is and how exhausting october feels… when I was still doing in-person coaching in Texas I would finish my last session at 9pm and then lock the door of our office and lie facedown on the rug for 15 min every night before I could muster up the energy to drive home. but it’s also pretty rewarding to get to work so closely with kids, especially since my job doesn’t currently involve teaching.

it was gorgeous out today—upper 40s but sunny and crisp and clear with so much snow on the mountains. we took a longer walk than usual and then ran a bunch of errands just to be outside for a bit. I know people are like “oh the PNW summers make the PNW winters worth it” but honestly this is my favorite kind of weather! I’ll take the gloom in exchange for a clear crisp fall/early winter day like this one.

[oh-no-melon]

Looking for a penpal

Hi folks! So this may sound weird or a little out of place, but I'm in search of a penpal. I had one for a while but we've since lost touch and I've really missed writing to others. I love snail mail and would really enjoy writing once more.

Here are some basics if anyone out there is interested!

Name: Sam (or Melon, whatever works!) Pronouns: she/they Age: 38 (oh good lord first time I typed that since my birthday) Location: USA, west coast, PNW I would love to write to individuals closer to my age but upper 20s would be fine. Please no one under 18.

I'm an artist and enjoy reading, writing, and drawing comics. I'm also a big fan of horror and creepy things! I live with my husband and we're saving up to move and buy our first home, hopefully in a few years! Other than that, my day job is an employee at a bread store while I work on my comics after hours.

If you're interested in being a penpal, please feel free to DM! I really do hope to find someone again. I miss reaching out to people and have so few friends that the idea of a penpal sounds absolutely fantastic to me!