GimletBlog

Thanks to snowstorms, we have had a day and a half off from school this week.  When Thing Two returns to kindergarten, he has something exciting to show the class:  he lost his first tooth!

The tooth has been bothering him for a few days, and we remembered that Bopa was always the one who extracted loose teeth from children and grandchildren (well, just Thing One), usually with the assistance of his vintage dental tools.  (We don’t know how or why he ended up with these terrifying implements, but a visit to the regular dentist was tame in comparison to Bopa’s tool kit.)  He would have removed the tooth long before now, but finally at lunch today Thing Two was having difficulty eating, so it was time for the tooth to go.

The tooth was definitely ready, but there were plenty of tears.   After it was out, Thing Two was asked, “Does it really still hurt?”

He paused mid-wail, and replied, “No.”  And that was that.

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Is it really the end of the year already?  To paraphrase another blogger, 2011 has been a year never to be forgotten and we hope never repeated.

Since we last posted in mid-October, the Gimlet and his employer parted ways just before Halloween, and the Things’ great-grandmother (whose 90th birthday was celebrated in grand fashion) passed away Thanksgiving Day, exactly six months to the day after Bopa died.   With so much sorrow and uncertainty occurring in a short space of time it’s been challenging to think positively and move forward, and we’re so grateful for the support of family, friends and our church community during this difficult year.  We’ve especially taken to heart some advice given to the Gimlet to focus on the abundance in our lives:  not just the good things we currently enjoy, but the great potential for future success:

• “The Liturgy of Abundance” by Dr. Walter Brueggemann (from religion-online.org)
• “Living the Abundant Life” by President Thomas S. Monson, January 2012 Ensign

We’ve had a genuinely happy holiday season, with plenty of delicious food, lively conversation, and continuation of the traditions from years past as we remember our loved ones who are no longer with us.  We agree it has been the sort of season they would have wanted us to have.  While we dropped the ball on blogging, our newest family blogger, Hå, has been busily recording all of the past months’ events in great detail.  (That is why she is the unofficial family historian!)  Just remember: it’s not shamelessly harvesting all of her hard-written content if we call it outsourcing.  Visit her blog and read all about our November and December there:

• We love Yulefest at the Nordic Heritage Museum
• Remembering great-grandma
• Thanksgiving 2011
• A day trip to Lynden, WA would not be complete without watusi cattle, caramel apple pie from the Dutch bakery, and a sedated angry cat in the back seat of the car.  Well, we could do just fine without the cat next time.
• Santa’s annual visit
• Christmas Eve dinner party

To provide our readers with a little original content, here are a few photos from a Christmas shopping visit to the Pike Place Market.

We had fresh Dungeness crab for Christmas Eve, but we buy ours at a neighborhood fish market much closer to home.

Seattle-native uncles will find it heartwarming to learn that Thing One discovered one of their favorite Market haunts (and a must-stop for any geek tourist):  Golden Age Collectibles.   Meanwhile, Thing Two keeps an eye out for more Daleks.

Several adventures are already in store for the coming year and will be revealed in good time … until then, best wishes to you and your families for an abundant 2012!

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Old Scoutmasters never die, they just smell that way become Committee Chair.

When last we left you, I was Scoutmaster in my ward troop and also the Boy Scout District Training Chair.   After a wonderful week as a Course Co-Director for NYLT, I hoped to be able to be Course Director in 2012, but was waiting to find out if I would have the opportunity.

Wow, the changes a month can bring!   First, I was asked to be the Stake High Councilor over Young Men/Scouting and sustained on September 11.  As that precludes being Scoutmaster, the Assistant Scoutmaster was asked to be Scoutmaster and I became the Troop Committee Chair the next week on September 18.  Meanwhile, on Saturday, September 17 I was asked to be a NYLT Course Director, and then Monday, September 19, I was asked to be the District Commissioner.   It appears that both life and the Boy Scouts abhor a vacuum of time!

So now, I am recruiting constantly:  As Troop Committee Chair, I recruit troop committee members; as NYLT Course Director I recruit staff and participants for the program; and, as District Commissioner, I recruit Unit Commissioners.   Beware — I may be calling you!

This ends my five and a half year stint working directly with Boy Scouts as a Scoutmaster/Assistant Scoutmaster.  I still am working with Scouts directly as the NYLT Director but it is not a weekly activity.  I once again return to working with adults to try and get them to run the program to help out the boys.

Scoutmaster is one of those “jobs” that really becomes a self-identification and that has been a little bit hard to let go of.   When the boys went camping last month, and I had nothing to do other than answer the new Scoutmaster’s questions, it felt odd not to be going.  However, next year Thing Two starts Cub Scouts and I get to start all over again!

Triple Threat: New scoutmaster, visiting Japanese scoutmaster, old scoutmaster

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This year’s vegetable garden has yielded countless tomatoes, and there are still plenty ripening on the vines.

Two years ago I stitched a lovely little Hardanger doily from a pattern in the 1997 Diana Craft Journal, and took the pattern up a notch by stitching it on 32 count linen with long filament silks.  That doily was given away as a gift, and this summer I got around to stitching another one to keep.  I managed to finish it in time for Puyallup Fair, where it won a second place ribbon!  The rest of Team Gimlet (and Team CurlyBee) were forced to linger in front of the display cabinet in the Home Arts building until it had been sufficiently admired.

This is the first time I’ve submitted anything to the fair, but it won’t be the last.  Those ribbons are addictive!  Usually a commemorative refrigerator magnet or mug comes home with us from the fair, but this is a much better souvenir.

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Thing One is starting his junior year of high school.  His school class schedule includes AP French, Chamber Orchestra, and Drama.  At home he’ll continue taking BYU Independent Study courses, finishing up the sophomore language arts and geometry series, then working on US history, junior-level language arts, and Algebra 2.  As a junior, he’s now eligible to sign up for Running Start at the local community college, so we’ve started the admissions process and hope that he can enroll in community college courses beginning winter quarter.

While Thing One is nearly done with his public school experience, Thing Two has started kindergarten!  He attends Thing One’s old elementary school along with a few of his friends from preschool.  They aren’t in the same kindergarten class, but they meet up at recess and play together.

When we toured schools for Thing Two, we were intrigued by the local alternative school’s Expeditionary Learning curriculum, which we thought would be an excellent fit for Thing Two’s abilities and interests, but he didn’t get into that school during the open enrollment period and the waiting list was so long that there was no hope of him finding a place in one of the few available late summer openings.  As it was, it was only a few days before the first day of school when we finally were notified that Thing Two had been granted a spot at Thing One’s old elementary school, so that uncertainty made for extra stress this summer.

The school is large, and at first Thing Two was a little taken aback by the number of kids and size of the building, but the school does a great job of breaking the classes down into smaller groups, and in no time Thing Two was very comfortable and happy in his new surroundings.  He likes riding the bus every day (he sits with a new friend from another kindergarten class) and Your Humble Narrator is getting used to this empty nesting thing.

We’re very excited to be back at Thing One’s elementary school with its vibrant community and wealth of after-school opportunities.  In addition to kindergarten, Thing Two has a French class after school once a week.  He already speaks with a slightly different accent from his big brother.

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August 15 – 20 was the second week of National Youth Leadership Training put on by the Chief Seattle Council.  I had the privilege of acting as the Assistant Course Director for Program (Assistant Scoutmaster for Program).

In order to create the program a youth staff had to be recruited and then trained.  They were trained over one Saturday, three weekend programs and finally the entire week’s presentations were given an additional run through the three days before the August 15 showtime.  The youth staff performed exceptionally well.

Thing One was a Guide and loved by his Team/Patrol.  His style of servant leadership showed.

Showtime happened and the participants arrived.

The Scouts that participated were great kids and it showed.  One Scoutmaster that came to the presentations at the end of the program stated that while some of his Scouts that had been in the past claimed they did not learn anything and were often bored, those same Scouts were the ones that stepped up and led his troop after the program.  He had asked his troop committee to send four boys this year rather than the two last year.  Like many things in life, the value of the lessons learned at NYLT cannot be seen immediately but change the way these young men react to future opportunities.

It really is a Scoutmaster’s secret to success.

• Upcoming NYLT sessions for the Chief Seattle Council

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See more of Thing One’s photos from Mount Adams in the Gimlet Gallery.

My family had other travel plans for the end of August so I didn’t think I would be able to climb Mount Adams with the Venturing crew (15-18 year-old young men in our church youth group), but when those plans fell through about three days before the pack check, the youth group leaders said I could still go.

On August 24 we went to REI to have our boots fitted for crampons and also picked up other rental equipment, like ice axes and tents. Then the leaders checked our backpacks to make sure we had everything, and also distributed our food and equipment.

The next day we met at the Stake Center at 1:00 pm with all our gear.

| …continue reading Thing One’s report: Mount Adams

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Since we last looked at Thing Two’s garden, a few tomatoes and radishes are now ready to be picked.

Thing Two is also excited because he recently completed his set of series 4 Lego minifigures.  The mad scientist was the most difficult one for us to find, but we finally did it!

The Team Gimlet: At-Home Unit probably needs to get out more.

But until that day comes, we’ll take it easy for these last few days of summer and watch the honeybees buzzing lazily around the peppermint blossoms.

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