Tag Archives: Olympia

Six Decades of Friendship

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What a wonderfully surreal and fabulous day!

I drove from my home near Bellingham down to Olympia to visit with my FIFTH GRADE TEACHER (!!!) and two of my fifth grade classmates – people I’ve known for almost 60 years, but only reconnected with seven years ago. We hadn’t seen each other in the person since our visit with each other back in 2019 – separated by seven years that included the death of my dad, the death of Sue’s mom, Susan’s marriage to Sam, a new granddaughter for me, and a world-changing pandemic.

And oh! It was so good to be with my grade school people again!

I got to Olympia about an hour early, and thought I’d check out the Olympia Farmer’s Market. I met Talbot, who was selling cool artsy candles, and who, I learned, was a friend of one of my Bellingham friends. (I love these connections!) I bought one of his candles – a little snail – which I plan to light only sparingly. It’s too beautiful to let it melt away.

When I got done exploring the Farmers Market, I gave a call to my brother, Dave, who lives in Olympia. I hadn’t called him before because I’d assumed he’d be doing some ultra marathon running thing this Memorial weekend – but, when he picked up, he told me he’d just finished up shopping downtown and could meet me at the Farmers Market in, like, five minutes! So not only did I get to see my old fifth grade teacher and friends, but I got to have a quick visit with my “little” bro, too! (He suggested I stand on a rock for our picture because he is, like, a foot taller than me.)

A couple of fun people things I have to share:

When I got to Lacey, I exited to make a stop at the Safeway for a mocha and a restroom break. Something happened to me there that I don’t think has ever happened to me before – I stepped out of the women’s restroom at the exact moment a bearded and “flanneled” man of about 40 stepped out of the men’s restroom opposite. We looked at each other and spontaneously grinned. It was one of those awkward moments where you find out if someone has a sense of humor or not. He had a sense of humor. I really appreciated that grin.

I’d parked my car at the Farmer’s Market. When I got back to my car after my visit with my friends, a young family had just arrived at their car, too. I asked the father if I could get back on the freeway by going that direction, and I pointed east. He smiled and came over to me with his phone. He opened up a map on his phone and showed me what route he was going to take to get back on I-5. He was kind and helpful and treated me exactly as I hope my sons treat other lost women of a certain age. I shook his hand and thanked him, and asked his name. He told me he was Maurice. He asked my name and I gave my standard line, “I am, of course, Karen” and he started laughing.

I’d found an old Simon and Garfunkle CD before I’d left home this morning, and now I listened to it on my drive back to Skagit County. “Bridge Over Troubled Water” got me through the traffic jam in Seattle. Simon and Garfunkle’s magic still works!

P.S. Do you see the watercolor in the group photo? That was a painting Dad gave to Sue Lyon’s mom years ago, and Sue gifted it back to me yesterday – she thought it should be reunited with my family. That really touched me.

These Links to Other People, Places, and Adventures

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Scott and I gathered with family in Olympia on Saturday. After lunch we headed down to Capitol Lake for a walk around the loop. The reflections were amazing down there, and we met some way cool dogs and humans, too!

(I didn’t bring my big camera with me, so these were all taken with my cellphone and don’t have as much “pixel-power” as my Nikon might have given me.)

Little Boogey pup came by with his humans, and allowed me to give him a scratch behind the ears; we passed Joey the Corgi going the opposite direction – look at his sweet face! – how could I not take a picture? 🙂

We paused along the trail to look out across the lake towards downtown, and this is when I saw a man looking down into a marshy area of cattails and fallen logs. He looked to me to be grieving, and my heart reached out to him.

I saw a kind of stark beauty in the logs and cattails. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” I asked the man. He nodded his head and agreed it was.

Then he pointed to the mud and cattails and said, “I saw the largest boreal toad I’ve ever seen down there.” He said the toad had been about eight inches long! He’d never seen anything like it.

I learned he’d seen the toad three years ago and hadn’t seen it since. He said non-indigeneous bullfrogs had come into the lake, and efforts had been made to get rid of them. Jim thought the toads might have died then, too.

I confessed to him, then, that when I’d seen him looking into the cattails it looked to me like he’d been in mourning. I understood now. He nodded his head.

Scott joined us then, and we all introduced ourselves – Karen, Scott, and Jim Livingstone. We learned Jim was related to the Scottish explorer and abolitionist, David Livingstone. We learned, too, that Jim had served as a volunteer for the late great Olympia activist, Margaret McKenny, who had advocated for preserving open spaces in Olympia and who had founded the Olympia Audubon Society.

I was beginning to understand why Jim knew so much about the environment of Olympia.

I told him my dad had worked for a time for the State as a geologist-hydrologist. Dad, I said, had been an outdoorsman – he’d guided me to the summits of Rainier, Baker, Adams, and Hood when I was younger – and I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d known Margaret McKenney. I’d been born in the hospital up on the hill, I said, pointing to where the old Saint Peters Hospital had been on the west side of Bud Inlet. I’d spent the early part of my childhood in Olympia, I told him. We learned Jim had been born the same year as Scott, and had lived in Olympia most of his life.

When I asked Jim if I could take his photo and write a little about him, he agreed to this. I showed him my Facebook wall – where he might find his photo when I posted it. He saw my name and said, “Dee Molenaar.” Yup. He recognized my maiden name and knew, without asking, who my father had been. He said he’d climbed Mount Saint Helens with Dad. How cool is that?!

I love these connections Dad left me – these links to other people and places and adventures. What a gift!

Scenes from Olympia, Washington

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Made a quick trip to Olympia, Washington so Scott could present his photojournalism expertise at a newspaper conference. Olympia is such a beautiful city. Farmers Market four days a week through October. Reflections of boats in the marina. The capitol building rising above Capitol Lake. And then we were up at the crack of dawn to get back home today – and look what we saw!

(Photos by Karen Molenaar Terrell.)