Terumi Pong

Seattle evening walks are so precious. ✨ it hasn’t rained forever and maybe we’re starting to miss it but this will all come soon enough and right now we still have evening light and lately we’ve spotted so many bunnies and they are pretty adorable. Maybe I’m inspired a bit by @marnieraec doing her 10000 steps a day and @sylviagaya encouraging me to keep trying to run too and @doc_sadie I thought you might want to see a cute little bunny from Seattle and @four_go_exploring I bought the book you shared-thank you. I love how on this platform sometimes people we’ve never met in real life or have only known a little bit bring us so much joy and meaning in our lives. Sometimes we think we need to wait for monumental moments to share something but when I look back on memories sometimes it’s just the “I went for a little walk and it made me think of you” moments that we say and share instead of keeping to ourselves that mean the most in our lives. (It’s also blackberry season so next time I walk I really need to remember to bring a vessel.)

I want to remember starting-out-grey days like today that end in glorious sunsets because they’re the type of Seattle summer day where we don’t notice the temperature outside because it’s perfectly matched with a t-shirt. And I finally made it into the pottery studio and one of these days maybe I’ll finally get to the wheel but I am finding I like hand-building plates and little water holders for bees. Did you know there were such things? (I learned this from my pottery teacher and now I want to make a whole bunch for my garden) We’ve had so many glorious sunsets lately I’m worried I’m starting to take them for granted but maybe getting used to good things isn’t the worst thing in the world for a little bit and today felt very hopeful too don’t you think? (And somehow my last piano lesson of the summer also ended up on today and my piano teacher mentioned she would like to take ice skating lessons because her kids are learning and I love how even in our grownup stages we dream about trying new things and I feel like the more we talk about our hobbies the more we give each other the space to one day try the things that bring our hearts so much joy and peace.)

We’re getting to the point in summer where the days are starting to blur together and maybe it’s also the point in life where our years are starting to as well. We somehow celebrated our 22nd (😳) wedding anniversary the other day with a family meal we made together (it included gnocchi on the barbecue which was so easy and so good!) Does anyone in Seattle have tomatoes yet? Ours are still green but any day now hopefully. Seattle summer tomatoes are so magical! And a soccer tournament brought us up to @genuineskagitvalley and that’s always an excuse to stop at @terramarbrewstillery for a while and all the delightful farm stands in the area. My parents managed to meet us for some games and the shot I took of them is with my new camera and for the first time in ages not my iPhone. I took a @glazerscamera photo class for my @polaroid recently and it made me realize that I really wanted to learn real photography again (they even have a new film lab for actual film cameras too! @glazersphotolab ) so I bought a beginner @canonusa mirrorless camera there and I’m just starting to shoot. I’m definitely awkward with it and I have a ton to learn but it does feel really nice to hold a camera again. (Do you shoot with one or are you more photos on phone? And if so did it help to take classes?) It’s still not too hot yet in Seattle this morning, and I’m getting the day started after dropping one son at the airport for a school trip. I’m learning that we parents can still function with little bits of our hearts adventuring out independently into the world even though I think I’ll find this feeling strange and a bit empty forever. I posted the dreamy spa pic from @hollandamericaline to remind myself I need to book a pedicure this week. (And PS yes I tried to go to @breadfarm but didn’t check the times and missed it by minutes) (PPS love, I’m so thankful to do this life adventure with you, even and especially the brave and responsible things.❤️)

Last day of July: a hike to Source lake with my son, live music and happy hour with the hubs during soccer and pink skies all the way home.

I couldn’t be more thankful that Vancouver is close to Seattle and that it’s easy enough for a weekend or even a day trip. We’re waking up to wet and drizzly weather today (but the pnw needs this weather so much) and it’s hard to believe that yesterday we had glorious sunshine to hang out at @granville_island and at Stanley Park too. I highly recommend @tapandbarrel (Bridges) for group dining-they were so great with my family this weekend and I need to go back to try the French toast (my niece and nephew ordered this and it looked magical!) and they had popping boba lychee drinks that were really fun as well. We can’t take places like Granville island for granted, they are truly special and we also realized our guys haven’t ridden bikes around Stanley Park in forever so we rented from @bikesandbladesrentals and it took less than an hour despite giant bike traffic jams all along the route as people stopped to take pics (so I have very few from the ride). I’ve never seen so many people riding here ever and while next time we’ll go early morning this was really cool to see. It was also nice that our parking spot was near @daigyo_canada which has delicious ice cream. We walked the loop around Deer Lake for the first time in a while this weekend too and it’s about the size of Green Lake in Seattle and really scenic and @motonobuudon isn’t too far away. Are you waking up to rain as well today? I hope you have a good week!

Last night we went for a walk along the Lodge Lake trail in Snoqualmie Pass and Scout insisted on jumping up on this pile of wood scraps just as the sun was making a little flare. I thought everything would be dry but the wildflowers were spectacular. It was also almost put-another-layer-on cool in the evening, the kind of pnw evening we look forward to after days of hot hot sun. I forget sometimes how beautiful our mountains are and how even just an hour’s walk here can feel so good.

A few touristy but also very Seattle things we’ve done these past few days with my sis and her duo ❤️. We were kindly gifted a few Seattle C3 @cityPASS passes which helped at the @seattleaquarium and @spaceneedle (I love using @citypass when I’m visiting multiple attractions in cities because they provide a discount and often make booking times and getting in a lot easier too.) Summer is a spectacular time to visit Seattle and everything is bustling and the weather these past few days has been so perfect too. Do you like to play tourist in your own town? (It’s definitely one of my favorite things.)

It’s peach season in the #pnw and you can find delicious local peaches at @pccmarkets. My favorite salad so far this summer is a grilled peach salad. I pick up local greens, burrata, and peaches from my local PCC Market in Ballard (and even on a quick trip other things always make it into my cart as well-flowers for my garden, local kombucha like @brewdr from Portland, and quick ready-made sandwiches and salads from the deli, I’m always finding something new.) One of my sons loves to grill so this peach salad is something we make together. He puts the peaches on the barbecue until they get grill lines and start to caramelize and then I slice them up, nestle them in some greens (these greens were from @commonplace.farm ) and sprinkle them them with a bit of chopped basil. I mix together a bit of balsamic and olive oil and salt to drizzle over it all and then add salt and pepper to taste. This definitely feels like summer in a bowl and we eat this on repeat all season. Do you have a favorite summer salad?

Yes to fancy pizza on the beach and remembering to grab a not so fancy slice for the teen on a quick Costco run during soccer practice. (And also reminding that teen to save a piece of crust for Scout-i think Scout’s favorite food might be pizzas) And would you do self-serve bubble tea? My favorite thing about shopping actual bookstores are the little love letters about books staff members write. And the city is still surprisingly green for all the warm weather we’ve had lately. One teen met a major milestone yesterday by passing his driver’s test and the other is still racing with his solar car team in Texas (they’ve had 2/4 days in the lead so far and today is the last day 🤞🤞) and me I’m just trying to lean into this life era with all that I’ve got and I wish I could have prepared for this constant breaking and healing and growing of the heart but how do we really, it’s all just life ❤️