Plans for the Summer

I am taking this summer off, so I can spend time with my family and relax. During the week, I will probably go hiking in the mountains with my son and father-in-law and go to the swimming pool near my house. Then on the weekends, my husband usually likes to go sailing, so we will go in our boat to visit some of the islands in Puget Sound.

our boat

I also plan to run and ride my bicycle more because this quarter I was so busy correcting papers that I didn't get to exercise as much as usual. My goal is to run a half marathon (21km) or ride a century (100 km) on my bike.

We don't have overseas trips planned this year. We are just staying in the Pacific Northwest. In July, we will climb Mount Saint Helen's which is an exploded volcano. Then in August, my husband's family always takes a vacation together. This year we are going to Ocean Shores on the Washington Coast. I've never been there, so it should be interesting.

If you want to try sailing, the Center for Wooden Boats on Lake Union gives free rides on Sundays.
got to http://cwb.org for more information.



Mount Saint Helen's

Other fun events for summer include Seafair
The Seattle Gay Pride Parade  in Capitol Hill
and Bumpershoot over Labor Day Weekend



My son- enjoying a waterfall after a hike in the mountains

Stephanie

     My friend Stephanie is an amazing person. She is the funniest, most energetic, and skilled female sailor that I know.  I can't exactly remember when I met her, maybe about 20 years ago. Our common interest is sailing (yacht racing). Stephie used to sail on our boat when she lived in Seattle, but a few years ago she moved to moved to Anacortes (about 90 minutes drive north of Seattle), so now I drive up to sail with her on her boat. Yes that's right, her boat. She owns and races her own 27 foot sailboat, and I crew for her. While we are sailing, she often tells silly stories, plays loud music  and decorates her boat with flowers, yet we still do well and even win races. Other times, we are more serious and focused on racing because she is very competitive and hates to lose. Even though sailing is a sport mostly dominated by men, Stephie is very girlish.  As you can see in the pictures, she loves flowers and often has her crew dress all in pink, so we are clearly different than the guys. Whenever I go out sailing with her, I know it will be fun!

Lincoln Park and Alki Beach

Lincoln Park and Alki Beach are two places really like in West Seattle. Although they are both waterfront parks with beaches, they have distinctly different personalities. Lincoln Park is peaceful and an actual park with big douglas fir, madrona, and maple trees. There are trails through the woods and lots of rocks and shells on the beach. Alki Beach, on the other hand, isn't really a park but more a narrow beach with boardwalk along a city street. In the summer Alki can be crowded with tourists, sunbathers, walkers, joggers, and volley ball enthusiasts. In the winter however, it's much quieter, even a bit depressing on a rainy day.

My Feelings about Writing

I love, love, love, love writing!!! Well not exactly! You will think it's funny, but I used to hate writing when I was a child. When I was in sixth grade (about 11 years old), I got a D in English because I never handed in my writing homework. It was the worst grade in my whole life.

I'm not sure when I started to like writing, probably in high school. I enjoyed writing poems, stories, and letters but not essays. They were still a hellish torture for me. When I first started college, I would procrastinate writing papers. Sometimes I would stay up all night before a paper was due because I didn't start until the last minute. Back then, I had to type everything on an old fashion typewriter, so I only did one draft. As a result, my grades were okay but not great.

Then, I got my first computer. It made writing so much easier! I could revise and improve my work without having to type it again. . I could add sentences and change paragraphs around. Spell check was a miracle! The thesaurus function could help me think of new words. Having a computer totally changed my writing and my grades improved. I started to like writing. Now, I think of writing as a challenge, a puzzle. I'm not sure I love it, but writing is more of a friend than an enemy. It's funny to think I teach writing now. I'm sure my sixth grade teacher would never have guessed it. I hope that you can learn to enjoy writing. that's one reason we are using blogs, to make writing a bit more fun!