An Unplanned Trip

We will always remember 2015 as the year Jana had cancer and Scott had a heart attack and quadruple bypass. Yes, that’s the latest. We just returned from visiting him in Seattle and I am happy to report that he’s doing remarkably well. To recap the event that resulted in our unplanned trip north, about three weeks ago Scott returned home from spending a weekend with friends and family (Lauren) hiking in a remote area in southern Washington and before the evening was over had checked himself into emergency due to severe back and chest pain and numbing in his arm. It was confirmed that he was having a heart attack and he was immediately transferred to Swedish Cardiac Surgery in Seattle, where he underwent a five-hour quadruple bypass. He spent five days recovering in the hospital and then home to the loving care of his girlfriend (Ini), her 8-year old son (Joshua), and her mother (Gloria).

We’d met Ini on an earlier visit to Portland, but it was our first time meeting her mother and son. I’d heard a lot about Josh and he didn’t disappoint. He is precious --an adorable, well-behaved little guy who completely dotes on Scott. We sat outside in the backyard for a couple of hours and watched Josh play with his chickens. (Every backyard needs a few chickens!) His favorite is a Buff Orpington that he incubated and hatched from a fertilized egg last year (a Christmas gift from Scott.) Well, having over 30 chickens of my own, I enjoyed watching him handle and talk to his birds, clearly something he does all the time because they are far calmer than ours, who scatter at the sight of us.  Here’s a picture of Josh “listening” to his Buff Orpington. He kept saying to me, “Did you hear that?” She actually put her beak right next to his ear and softly cackled.  I do believe she was talking to him. Precious!

Gloria, who speaks no English, prepared a gourmet Peruvian meal for us, which featured a potato dish called Causa. According to Scott, Peruvian food almost always includes three ingredients: potatoes, eggs, and olives. I didn’t think to photograph it until there was little left, but this picture will give you an idea of what it was like (top and bottom layer of mashed Yukon Gold potatoes, filling of egg, olives, and tuna that Scott caught and canned, and a side of spicy red pepper sauce). She served it with a seafood soup (also with a hardboiled egg) called Chupe de Camarones. Delicious!

Sadly, I was unable to communicate with Gloria, but she apparently is familiar with the life-style changes Scott needs to make to enjoy a full recovery and avoid further heart complications and I believe she and Ini are a great support for him. We all went out to dinner together at Ray’s Boathouse in Seattle (a favorite of ours) and when the rolls/crackers and butter were served Scott took a cracker and scant amount of butter. Before he got it to his mouth, Gloria had grabbed it, scraped off the butter, and returned the plain, dry cracker to him with a shake of the head. She made her point!

We enjoyed one other outing while we were in Seattle...a visit to SAM (Seattle Art Museum). Their special exhibit was African Masks, but even more interesting were a series of cars hung from the ceiling in the lobby. The first car we noticed, an old beat-up Ford, was parked on the lobby floor as we entered. It just looked bizarre. Then we noticed more suspended overhead. All of them had lights protruding from them that resembled an explosion. The best vantage point was from the third floor where the seven or eight cars hung in a row suggested they were tumbling through the air. I've included a picture of one of the cars below, but it's most impressive to see them all from various perspectives. If you're near Seattle, it's a must see.

We spent a day with Lauren in Portland on our return trip. It started on a happy note with a phone call from Nike and a job offer. She’s worked at the Multnomah County Courthouse in downtown Portland for 2-1/2 years now and has been ready to move on for a few months now. She’ll be working in the legal department of Nike’s world headquarters in Beaverton, known as the Nike Campus, about 30-40 minutes from her home in Lake Oswego. Congrats to Lauren!!! We spent Friday with her working through a long list of errands and finished the day with happy hour at one of our favorite restaurants in Lake O, Manzana’s. 

Excepting the reason for the trip, we had a great time!