Mother's Day

    As we know, Mother's Day occurred this past weekend. I carefully engineered things so that the entire weekend worked towards my honor. There was high levels of love, enjoyment, appreciation, rest, relaxation, food, gifts, chocolate cake, and sunshine. Voila!

   On Thursday night, we bought me a new wheel barrow. (I know, I know! So lucky.) On Friday nothing occurred, which is sometimes a good thing. On Saturday, I awoke fairly well-rested. We all made ourselves presentable and went to Christianson's Nursery which is a hallowed place for plant lovers, and is a generally well-tolerated place for people who belong to plant lovers because they have those little flatbed carts. Buck commandeered the little flatbed cart. I tried not to be stressed about this. Mostly, I let Wes and Buck be a team and I let myself ignore them because I was on a mission. I was NOT the only mother there on Mother's Day weekend, however, so I really had to self-advocate to get the plants I wanted. I moved fast, in a zone if you will, from section to section, greenhouse to greenhouse. Wes and Buck did a decent job of keeping up with me even though I was ignoring them. In the end, I found exactly what I wanted, plus a few other temptations. And equally fantastic and impressive, the boys maintained a good attitude and lots of patience, and nobody got hurt by the little flatbed cart.  It wasn't even Mother's Day yet and already things were incredibly groovy!

 
    I am no plant/gardening expert, by any stretch of the imagination. I try. The first few years of living here with an actual yard to start from scratch with, I was both super excited and totally overwhelmed. At this time of year, when I yearn to plant things, I'm usually postured firmly between enthusiasm and ignorance. For several Mother's Days, we've gone to the Master Gardener's big mega intensely overwhelming sale at the fair grounds. I would fall into a bit of a trance and fill my arms with various plant mysteries, and go home and need a nap. But this spring, my garden has felt less mysterious. I know exactly what I want to do, and where. I even know most of the names for this trunk full of plants you see. Viburnum, daphne, fuchsia, geranium, sweet peas, Hollandia broom, and a thing called a rhodohypoxis which sounds like a medieval disease but is really the absolutely cutest little thing you've ever seen. I think one reason I've been eager to learn about gardening is just to gather up all these new and amazing words. There are so many words. I am so jealous of the green thumbs out there that have all these delicious words in their brains. (Also, I think my new personal motto is 'there are so many words.')

     Saturday afternoon, Wes and I went on a hike and then out to an early dinner. It has been sunny in Skagit Valley so everyone else also went on the same hike that day.  Lots of humans. But I didn't let it get to me. We had a great time. When we were almost to the lookout, Wes pushed past me and ran the rest of the way so the people already there would think he was a super badass. Typical.

     When we got home that night, I made a flourless chocolate cake. I'd never made a flourless chocolate cake before, but I really like to eat them, so I had a lot of hope in that cake. The next day, we went to the opening day of the Edison Farmer's Market where I got to hold my friend's baby Eloise and lull her to sleep in my arms. It was a delightful Mother's Day nugget of an experience. I also really, really enjoyed handing that sleeping baby back to her daddy. Thank you and thank you. Later, Buck and I drove to my parents' house on Camano Island where we focussed on being very lazy. My mom and I talked about stuff and other stuff, and I made a ganache for the chocolate cake. My father was keeping a close eye on the cake. When we sat down to dinner, he slowly approached the table and gave me a very stern look while saying: "I don't see the main course." And then he sat down with an air of disappointment. Meaning, the cake ought to be the main course. This was hilarious and filled my heart so much that it still hurts to think of it.

   I am really only here today to tell you how damn good that cake was. It tasted far better than it looked. The texture and consistency was even and silky. I'd used dark chocolate, and the taste was so deep, so evil, so luxurious that we've had to lock the rest of the cake in the safe. The Cake That Exceeded My Expectations was really the triumph of this glorious weekend.

   Not to ignore the fact that being a mother to such an adorable, amazing, incredible kiddo isn't the triumph and the glory. Because yay motherhood! And, really, he does amaze me. Also, MY mom is not too shabby. She's the OG of motherhood, lemme tell you. She is 100% in charge. All roads lead to her, tho I imagine she would rather they didn't. I love her. But, again, that cake...

  Oh wait! I forgot! Man, this weekend was one for the books. Wes finished the cabinets in the laundry area. Praise the heavens. But I'll save those details for another post. Because really that freakin cake was the grand finale. Happy Mother's Day.