This Little Egge: iPhone

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A Month of Goodbyes

In the last month I've said goodbye to my grandfather, my childhood home and my car. Obviously these are three very different goodbyes. However, while my grandfather was far more important to me than a house could ever be, and my home was more cherished than my car, the first two goodbyes were not as hard as I expected.

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My grandpa passed away on October 4th--four days short of his 95th birthday. In late August his health started to fail--he got sick and never fully recovered. I was home and got to visit him then. It was hard to see him like that. When I think of my grandpa, I think of a handsome, vibrant, charming man with bright green eyes and a shock of wavy white hair. I remember a talker; a storyteller. When I saw him in August, he was much too thin. His hair was less; his eyes were dull. He spoke to me, but he was in and out of sleep . . .

Still, I am grateful that I was given the chance to say goodbye--to hear him say "I love you" one last time. Also, I feel very fortunate to have had my grandfather in my life for so many years. His life was long, wonderful and accomplished. I miss him but I feel that the life he lived is something to be celebrated and admired more than the loss of it is something to be mourned.

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The house was home to my parents for 37 years. It was the house that all three Egge girls came home to . . . It was where we grew up. However it was no longer the only place I called home. I love that house but lately I've been finding new homes. C and I are making our home in Santa Cruz. My parents have built a beautiful place up on Whidbey Island and in recent years it has seen Thanksgivings and Christmases, showers and weddings. It has become our new gathering place. I'm even starting to think of the Nelson's cabin in Mazama as home . . .

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In short, I was prepared for those goodbyes. They felt natural; inevitable, even. I felt no bitterness. I mourned each loss but I didn't protest it.

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And so I was caught off guard when I found myself feeling sad over my car. We had been so anxious to sell it that I guess I hadn't really prepared myself for the goodbye. Initially I was relieved. Once I handed over the keys, I no longer had to worry about selling my car . . . or maintaining it or paying for it or having it parked somewhere secure. But then I remembered how I drove it to work every weekday for several years. And how it took me over Washington's passes in snowstorms and all over Seattle in the rain. It was the car I drove down to California in . . . It was where I discovered countless songs, sorted through a million thoughts and made so many plans. Since we moved into our condo, it has mostly sat in parking garages, but before then I spent a lot of time in my car and it carried me to a lot of places.

So here is my goodbye to my car, affectionately called "Javelina". You were a dependable car; a good car. We traveled 61,283 miles together. A lot happened between there and here. Thank you for the miles and the memories.

And here are some goodbyes as taken from my iPhone:

Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye.

Busy!

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I have all sorts of stuff I want to share but October turned out to be a lot busier than I expected. Here's a little of what I've been up to (in photos):

For a couple days I admired the big dreamy clouds that were out


And I continued to find fall where I could . . .

I carved a pumpkin shaped by visions from old photographs of my father's Halloween creations

On one sunny Saturday I toke a solo seven mile run along West Cliff Drive and stopped (several times) to really admire the views ...

We wished several friends "Happy Birthday!"

For a few days it was cool out and we ended our evenings with hot chocolates (topped with sprinkles!)

And I felt the days getting shorter . . .

Over the course of a weekend I spent several hours "bejeweling" a pair of leggings and a hooded sweatshirt with a hot rhinestone setter so I could go as Outer Space for Halloween

This last Saturday I went on a run with C up to UCSC determined to work more hills into my routine (and it was my fastest run on this route to date--yay!)

I took Buckwheat for walks along the levee to Ocean View Park so he could get in some good old fashion playtime (I did this two weekends in a row)

And then walked home past one of my favorite houses in Santa Cruz--isn't it just perfect? (sigh!)

More updates to come soon, but not until Wednesday or Thursday because I have another birthday to celebrate tomorrow!

xo.
Ally

Picking Pumpkins: A Fall Pastime!

On Sunday we drove up Highway 1 to pick some pumpkins for our Third Annual Pumpkin Carving Extravaganza! We went to Bob's in Half Moon Bay. It was a bit of a drive but it was well worth it. Bob's Pumpkin Patch is a big open field of pumpkins with a view of the Pacific Ocean. I'm also told the prices can't be beat. But there's more! At Bob's there were pigs that fell over in a heap of contentment when you pet them and goats that stared into your soul and then coyly trotted away. There was also an old rusted out truck and bales of hay and some of those boards with painted bodies and holes you can stick your head through (at Bob's you could try on the body of a fat ghost, a formal looking skeleton or a witch hunched over her cauldron) . . . But most of all there were pumpkins--lots and lots of pumpkins! There were the tall oval pumpkins that C likes and the perfectly round ones that are just right for those classic jack-o-lantern faces and hilariously lumpy ones that beg for a creative hand to transform them and the short squat pumpkins that I love--all sorts of pumpkins!

After everyone found their perfect pumpkin, we drove back down the coast and rewarded ourselves with cups of warm coffee and cider and pieces of blackberry cobbler, pumpkin pie and strawberry shortcake at Swanton Berry Farm in Davenport (because choosing the perfect pumpkin is a lot of work). Then, with bellies full and warm, we headed back to Santa Cruz to plot our designs for our Third Annual Pumpkin Carving Extravaganza!

Below are some photos from this year's pumpkin patch adventures:

Pig Whisperer

Hog Heaven

Buckwheat Meets Pig.

Sniffing Each Other Out

The Pumpkin Haul

Pick your Pumpkin!

Tall ones, squat ones, round ones, fat ones!

T & J Haul the Pumpkins

At Bob's You Can Try on Any of These Ghoulish Figures!

Buckwheat is a Pretty Good Sport

Adventures are Better with Dog.

C at Swanton Berry Farm

On Tuesday our friend hosted our Third Annual Pumpkin Carving Extravaganza. Photos of our pumpkin creations to come soon!

Happy Fall Everyone!

(9 - 12 taken by C)

Looking for Fall

It's felt like summer here for the last ten months. No joke. Last December it cleared up after a period of rain and I marveled at how it was gloriously blue skied and perfect out day after day (in December!). But ever since then, most days have been like that. There was a week or so of rain in March (which happened to be when my family visited) and maybe a rainy day or two in April but otherwise Santa Cruz has been decidedly dry. There have also been a couple of days when the fog never quite burned off and a slight chill hung in the air but those days never lasted into whole weeks. Yes, it's been sky, monotonous blue sky, for the better part of a year now.

I know I shouldn't complain about sunshine and warm weather but I miss the seasons in Seattle. Hell, I even miss the rain. A week or two ago the fog rolled in every night and hung around until midday and I thought, maybe, just maybe, fall was moving in. The days have heated back up though. Yesterday and today temperatures climbed into the 90s (and may have even reached 100 degrees). I guess it's an Indian Summer. But I'm tired (really, really tired) of summer. So I'm looking for fall. And at this point, I'll take what I can get.

Some of the best fall foliage on display downtown

Fall underfoot

Some signs of fall along the San Lorenzo

Buckwheat is ready for fall!

Fall fringed treetops in Pogonip

I miss wearing sweaters in the daytime and hearing rain falling outside at night and curling up on the couch with a warm drink on a dreary Sunday morning . . . I want to put away my shorts and stop ordering cold drinks and wear my coats and make soups! Summer's been nice but has definitely overstayed its welcome. So come on fall, I'm ready for you!

27

On Sunday I turned 27. 27 is when you officially enter your late twenties. Which feels crazy to me--how am I in my late twenties already? It doesn't feel that long ago that I was 19. But then again, I feel like a very different person than my 19 year old self.

The other day, C asked me how I felt about turning 27. I told him that I actually felt pretty good about it (excited even). My reason being, I explained, was that my mid-twenties were way better than my early twenties. I just know myself better. And I feel like that process is only going to continue.

For my 27th birthday a good friend visited, we went out to Cafe Brasil for brunch and we spent the afternoon at a beach a little bit up Highway 1. It was a good birthday. Yes, 27 feels pretty good.

Some iPhone photos from my birthday . . .