Spring Break: Packwood Passover!

After the arduous wait for April to come, I am now relishing my last couple of days of the Spring Break before AmeriCorps kicks back into gear for our final, busy push.

As with all good and overly anticipated things, the break went by too fast. The majority of it was spent galavanting Western Washington with mother and while that always brings to the surface our personal challenges that sometimes feel like more work than relaxation, her visit was ultimately a much-appreciated and welcome retreat that will make the transition back to the hum-drum no easy task.

The week of her arrival, Puget Sound College was also offering a lecture on addressing difficult behaviors in children. I headed out a couple days before she was to fly in and attended the lecture. It was mostly relating to the principles of ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) and IPBS, an individualized behavior system that our AmeriCorps program sort of utilized already. Even though I was familiar with a lot of the concepts, it was a good reminder series and led me to reflect a lot on the approaches we've taken at Open Gym. I was disappointed in recognizing some of the ways we've utilized punishment and the lecture motivated me to return to a more positive-reinforcement based structure when we start up again. Another bonus was that the man giving the lecture was a professor from the Portland State School of Social Work, of which I may be considering sooner down the road than I'd thought.

I stayed with Jordan in Olympia that night before heading into Seattle to bum around with Bryan and Dusty for a day before my mom arrived. While Dusty worked, Bryan and I explored Discovery Park which provides a wonderful illusion of wilderness within the city. We managed to get ourselves lost there for a while and before darting around to a few establishments: Mox Cafe where I surprised myself by winning at chess and Brouwer's Brewpub where I broke my Cider abstinence and my GAPs diet in one big swoop with a delicious Falafel Burger.

As I headed to Capitol Hill to pick up Dusty from work that evening, I experienced strange, bright flashes on the road. They were so luminous and quick that I thought they were some sort of traffic security camera. It wasn't until the thunder began that I realized it was lightening. The downpour lasted all of ten minutes but it was the first real thunderstorm I'd experienced since being out west. The thunder was so loud it shook the car. Dusty got off just as the rain stopped and we went out for a Cider House tasting. We both found a new favorite in Finnriver's Saffron seasonal as well as a new "never again". I can't even remember which cidery it was that had the cough-syrupy tasting pomegranate. But the one that won me over was Snowdrift's Red Apple reserve, recommended to us by our waitress. It was no other apple purity I've ever tasted and felt very much like good champagne.  Unfortunately, bottles of the stuff were long gone. With the abrupt return to cider, a tasting flight was enough and the good conversation satiated both of us.

I managed to get Dusty to rise early the next day and we met up with Bryan for breakfast at the Earlybird Cafe. Since Bryan was preparing to move, I'd asked our bartender the night before what his must-see suggestions were. He recommended the Arboretum but it had been closed for the night so after breakfast, we decided to check it out. We had limited time before Dusty had to be off to work but we figured we could get there with a good hour to spare. A whole ton of Seattle-esque detours and an accidental round-about through a hospital parking lot later, we'd made it to the Arb with about 20 minutes to meander. When I asked the visitor's center lady what we could do in 20 minutes, she had a unique and convenient recommendation; Lightening from the storm the night before had caused a tree to explode. Not split. Not burn. explode. It could be found just beyond the building. We strolled over to the ecological oddity and were thoroughly impressed by the complete lack of charring damage. The wood was fresh-smelling, wet bright-colored wood. the grounds smelled like an Fir Tree Candle. Apparently, the blast radius had measured a whole 500 feet. The limited time of our excursion and our traffic disasters were easily redeemed by having the opportunity to see such a sight.

 Once Dusty was off to work and Bryan said his farewells, I grabbed groceries and headed to meet my mom! The timing of her arrival for this visit was especially exciting because Passover on that Friday and we were going to have our own little Packwood Seder.

best Salmon dish I've ever had. 

Once I whisked her up, we hunted down some dinner in Tacoma, where I tasted some of the best Salmon on the planet. The next day was devoted to Passover preparations. I'd found a recipe for homemade everything, from macaroons, to horseradish to almond flour matzo. We took a break around 1 o'clock and bummed around the Butter Butte with a good game of Scrabble before finishing off the last of the cooking. While mother prepared the chicken dish, I snuck out the table supplies I'd scrounged up at the Thrift store and surprised her with an elegant set-up, including everything down to Elijah's glass. After unsure feedback from various people I'd tried to invite to join us, Dean and Brenda ended up making for very delightful company. My mom had brought the Hagaddah I made years ago and we included some good discussion in with the typical blessings for an abridged seder service. After dinner, we replaced the second half of the seder with a game of Taboo. Much more entertaining.

It was a wonderful way to welcome mother to town and a great opportunity to get to know both my friend and my teammate a bit more.



The next day, it was time to hit the road!