Darcy Jo Love

Our girl is an amazing person. We are her parents, so we would believe that no matter what. One of the things that has constantly amazed and touched me deeply is that so many other people believe that, too, and are quick to tell us and show her. She is truly loved by a measurable percentage of Crescent City's population. I say this not to brag about my girl (although I'm not adverse to doing so). I say this because I am overwhelmed by the outpouring of love showered on our Darcy Jo in the past weeks.

Michael said lovely words at our last dinner with friends on Thursday night. He claimed that he understands why people want to be friends with me, but is often surprised that people are genuinely and equally fond of him and his company. I think both of us could say that about Darcy. I sometimes think that our family is welcomed into society because everyone loves Darcy. We are merely her transportation staff.

Darcy's last day of school just confirms this view for me. After a wonderful evening with a dozen or so close friends and a night spent in the home of the ever-generous, gracious, and much-beloved Leonard-Rhodes clan (our house was empty), Darcy did early-morning yoga with our hostess and we all ate huckleberry pancakes (one last gift from our garden/yard). Then off to school, somewhat coincidentally in the same outfit that started this school year:

Her teachers and class showered her with gifts (which I have to find proper stowage for in the trunk this morning) and hugs. Our good friends at Vita Cucina shared their own daughter's birthday glory by providing cupcakes to the whole Cohort A that were for both B's birthday and Darcy's departure. More gifts followed from her after-school contingent, who has posed for a group picture earlier in the week that was framed and gifted yesterday.

Darcy's fans (well, one fan anyway) even met us at the school when we went to pick her up to be sure he could say a proper good-bye:

We have extended our fictive-kin family while in Crescent City: there is no doubt about that. Darcy will forever have extra honorary aunts, uncles, and siblings on the North Coast.

One of her friends went the extra mile, however. The beautiful elder Miss W was sporting a homemade shirt expressing her sentiment for the day:

And this proves my point. We all got bone-crushing hugs from Miss W. I personally got four, all of them long-lasting. But only Darcy Jo got the t-shirt.

Oh, how we will miss you, our Crescent City friends. Never doubt that. You will be welcome in our home always, no matter what national park is outside our doorstep at the time.

Step One

It's a small step, but we have said our farewells to friends and places in Crescent City. Our stuff is on a moving truck (or in our car in Oregon or our pickup in Wyoming). We are in Ashland with a zonked-out Darcy and two parents very close to joining her in dreamland.

Some highlights of the day:

Watching the truck drive away from the house

Eating a last lunch from Vita Cucina

Being surrounded by good wishes from good people

Seeing Darcy Jo showered by gifts and hugs and love from her school mates

Going to the Medford Trader Joe's on its Grand Opening: that's right -- they opened the day we are leaving

A last drive along Crescent City's beautiful coast

One more drive through the redwoods on Howland Hill Road

Almost three years ago to the day (I think we arrived on October 18th and we've left on the 19th) that we first came here, we repeated some of our first stops. It has been a tremendous three years and this place has shaped who our child will be in many ways.

Tomorrow: Lake Tahoe and the kokanee salmon!

Random Photo and MOVERS

Random picture again. This of Darcy (wearing the shiny crown in front row) receiving her Student of the Month award last year. I'm pretty sure I gave the text, but you'll have to comb through the archives yourself if you want to see what her teacher said about her.

The movers come in a little over an hour. We're close to ready, but not quite there yet. Despite their original plan to pack today and load tomorrow, the driver called last night to say that he wants to try to do both today. I am SO on board with that sentiment. I hope it happens. There are supposed to be four people coming (maybe five if the driver helps?). When we left Alaska, two people packed and loaded everything we owned in less than five hours. I think there's a good shot it will be done today.

There Is No Extra Time Left

So it's just a picture so you know that moving hasn't killed me yet. One of the legacies of our sojourn in Del Norte is a bigger network of community gardens. I even worked yesterday to improve their future before the door hits us on the way out:

Time Speeds Up

We are down to days now.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, everything that's going in our pickup has to be in it. Uniforms, bike, a few kitchen things, my gift box of spice mixes, box of files, golf clubs, gas cans, propane tank, extra Darcy comfort items, heavy winter gear...all destined to travel by Tacoma. We're handing it over to a friend who will drive it partway across the country for us because driving two vehicles 3200 miles and trying to meet up for meals, hikes, and stretch breaks just doesn't sound like fun. We'll meet up with friend, truck, and stuff somewhere near the Ohio border and drive just the last day or two separately.

Thursday morning, anything that the movers aren't packing either has to be out of the house or labeled very, very clearly as DO NOT MOVE because our experience tells us that anything not nailed down will be packed. Quickly and efficiently packed, with no time to notice that one thing we'd planned to carry with us disappearing into a box.

Friday, we will leave. We are not ambitious about that afternoon of driving. Darcy will go to school, but probably not the after-school program. The plan is to stay in Ashland, OR, just 2.5 hours away.

It's crunch time. Here are a few random pictures for you to enjoy.

 Darcy and her friend K at the end of Camp Tall Trees Girl Scout camp.

A beautiful late-June day in Del Norte. Rock slide in pouring rain at False Klamath Cove.

Darcy and T at Big Dune.

View from a fire tower near Willow Creek.

Rangers point. (At Ballard Locks.)

Library envy in Eugene, OR, after a successful banh mi hunt.

The Cake

Several months ago, Darcy mentioned that she wanted her birthday cake to look like a sea star. I figured that should be doable. I had thought about farming out the task to our local fabulous cake-maker, but she was unavailable, so I went in search of a star-shaped pan. That didn't work out. Nobody wanted to sell me one and I couldn't find anyone who owned one to lend out. I did find a silicon pan that makes six small star-shaped cakes. So I decided that the plan had to become a tide pool seascape.

Let me digress for a moment. There is a blog called Cake Wrecks that pokes fun at professionally-made cakes for various crimes. Like terrible mis-spellings or bizarre themes ("Sorry I peed in your bed" anyone?). Some of the cakes are very seriously disturbing, so if you like cake and don't want to have to bleach your eyeballs in order to enjoy your next piece, just take my word for it and skip the blog.

In between having all the elements for my cake complete, but before starting to put them together, a friend happened to post a link to a Cake Wrecks post. Suddenly, I had some fear that I was about to create a Cake Wreck. While the cake didn't turn out exactly how I'd pictured it, it was not a wreck.

Here's the main cake. It's a brownie cake with blue water frosting and an ochre sea star gracing the top. I should have taken a picture once the candles went in. About five or six months ago, we saw some really cool shark candles at a toy store. Hoping that Darcy's obsession with the sea would last this long, we slid some onto the counter while she wasn't watching. Surprisingly enough, the small ones mostly asked for pieces from the other cake:

Again, the cakes are brownies frosted with cream cheese frosting and the "sand" was three kinds of crushed cookies to get the mix of colors and textures just right. One of the party guests came back for seconds of sand, so I think it was a hit.

In Which I Hold An OCTOPUS!!

Yes. You read that right. I held an itty-bitty, adorable OCTOPUS:

I've been watching the tides for the last couple weeks, hoping for a good opportunity for one last round of tide pooling before we leave our gorgeous North Coast. Today, there was a minus tide (meaning that the low tide is below the average low water line) at a reasonable hour (5:35 pm). Often, minus tides are at unreasonable hours like three in the morning. I love to stalk the tide pool creatures, but not by flashlight in the middle of the night. It seems rude.

So we went. Darcy left a birthday party before it was over and we arrived at Point St. George about an hour before the full low and started seeing sea stars and giant green anemones almost immediately. We were already having a good time when I saw something shiny move in some gravelly sand just in front of me. I stooped to get a closer look and saw that it was an OCTOPUS. I'm just a little excited about this. I got to hold an OCTOPUS.

I put my finger near it and it grabbed right on. We had a ziplock bag with us to watch things close up, so we got some water and put the octopus in it for a minute or two before returning it to a tide pool. Once it let go of the bag and swam off, we could see the puffs of sand from the water it shoots out to propel itself. It was unbelievably adorable. Since we didn't get a great picture, here's a picture of what I think I held, a baby Giant Pacific Octopus.

When John and Stef visiting us a little while ago (read about their North Coast adventures here), Darcy convinced them to try going tide pooling even though it was almost high tide. They played along and didn't get to see much. Here are some pictures of what they should have gotten to see:

Top photo has ochre stars and giant green anemones, among other things, on an isolated rock and pool teeming with life. The bottom photo is a rock half-covered with aggregating anemones. They're closed up and a bit sand-covered, but amazing. Here's another view:

The shore birds were in abundance, too. We saw gulls, some small plovers, pelicans, oyster catchers, and another that we haven't positively identified yet. It was wonderful. Here's Darcy with the leather sea star (she learned at marine camp that if you sniff their underside, it smells like garlic, so she always checks them out):

And then another isolated rock. We had a wonderful time. Beautiful low tide, wonderful creatures, a good view of Point St. George lighthouse, and, because it can't be said enough, I held an octopus.