Cupcakes, Sunshine, and New Friends

Here’s a link to the podcast.

What a gift of a day! I drove into Mount Vernon to run some errands and to see how the downtown was preparing for the up-coming tulip festival.

I bought a mocha at the co-op and took it up to the river waterfront to soak up the sunshine while I sipped it.

A man holding hands with a toddler was enjoying the sunshine by the riverfront, too. We smiled at each other, and I smiled at the tot – remembering my own sons at that age. Pretty soon the man approached me and opened conversation. He introduced himself as Serge. He said he was from Ukraine, and that his wife and son had just joined him in America at the end of December. He said his wife and son, Daniel, didn’t speak English, yet – but I could tell as I watched Daniel watching me, that it wouldn’t be long before the little one was fluent. The tot was shy with me at first – and maybe a little scared – but he warmed up to me and, eventually, smiled back at me – and that was magic! Serge said that when Daniel saw planes flying overhead it scared him – because of his experience with the war – but that Daniel was getting more comfortable with planes now. Serge’s wife joined him then and smiled and waved. I welcomed her to America – and Serge translated my words for her. They left then, to wander some more in the sunshine. I was so glad I had a chance to connect with them today.

I walked back down to First Street – cupcakes from Shambala Bakery on my mind. As I shambled towards Shambala I saw a woman put a blanket over a man who was sleeping on the sidewalk. That really touched me. I asked her if the man was alright, and she said yes, but that she feels the need to care for people – and she felt he needed a blanket. I found myself tearing up at her kindness. I felt a kinship with this woman – who I learned was named Jody – and we gave each other a parting hug before I continued on my cupcake mission.

I opened the door to the bakery and hopped to the the case full of cupcakes. So many cupcakes! How to choose?! I decided I’d get the one with banana frosting for my husband, and get myself an orange cupcake. Then I asked the sales person what her favorite was – and she pointed to the chocolate ones with raspberry frosting – so I decided to get one of those instead of the cupcake with banana frosting.

I left with my cupcake loot, and hadn’t gotten very far when I came upon a young man standing on the sidewalk, surrounded by baggage. I asked him if he was hungry, and he said yes. I asked him if he’d like an orange cupcake – and he said that sounded great, thank you. So I gave him the orange cupcake – I’m so glad I had something to give him! – and then went back to the bakery to fetch myself another one.

When I got home from my trip to Mount Vernon, I wasn’t ready to go inside, yet. I pulled a weed. Then another. Then I grabbed the garden claw and settled in for some major buttercup pulling. It felt good to feel the soft earth around my hands. When I was done with that little patch of garden, I pulled out our electric lawn mower and mowed the front yard. The grass was all shiny and green. I breathed in the spring smells and felt the warmth of the sunshine on my face.

It has been a lovely day.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell

I Collected Smiles Today

Bellingham, Washington:
Walked my walk on the boardwalk. Before I drove home, I thought I’d check with the youngest son and his wife and see if there was anything I could bring them. The answer: A fruit smoothie.

I drove to the juicer place (Refresh Juice) on Cornwall, but it wasn’t open, yet, so I walked to the vegan bakery (Wild Oat Bakery and Cafe) down the street to see what I might find there. And I found all kinds of fun there. I ended up buying a slice of banana nut bread for the son and a cupcake for myself and had a cheery conversation with Nolan who was manning the counter.

I left with my loot and saw a young man with a sleeping bag. I thought he probably needed the cupcake more than me and offered it to him. He happily accepted it.

Then a young woman in a sleeping bag called out a hello to me. I asked her if there was something I could get her and she said a bag of chips. “Just chips?” I asked. “Could I get you something from the bakery?” She said that would be great.

So I went back to Nolan and explained my situation. Nolan started grinning when I told him I’d given away my cupcake. “Spreading the love!” he said. I told him it had started with his kind smile. I bought a scone for the woman and a cookie for myself and told Nolan he might be seeing me again in a few minutes. He started cracking up.

I brought the scone to the woman and went to the juice store. It wasn’t open, yet, but I thought I’d just work on my word puzzles while I waited. The juice shop ended up opening five minutes early and I was the first customer. Teagan and Kristen were fun and efficient and quickly presented me with the smoothie for my son and friendly smiles to take with me. They let me take their photo.

Now I went back to Nolan and asked him if I could take his picture, too. He graciously agreed. I announced to all my fellow patrons that Bellingham is full of the nicest people and, on that note, made my exit.

I stopped by the sock shop (Crazy Socks) on my way back to my car – I wanted to get some socks for my daughter-in-law. Reed was working the counter there and quickly helped me find some cat socks and a pair of otter socks, too. And, of course, I had to take a picture of Reed.

Socks, banana bread, and smoothie were successfully delivered to the son and daughter-in-law, and I brought home all the smiles I’d collected for myself.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
(Originally publised on bellinghambayblog.wordpress.com.)

The Great Horned Owlet Adventure

My former student and one of my favorite people in the world, Austin Breckenridge, invited me to watch a pair of great horned owlets getting tagged yesterday by biologist Jeff Kidd. What an amazing gift! Here are some photos from The Great Owlet Adventure. (Skagit County, Washington.)

(Photos by Karen Molenaar Terrell.)

Of Snow Geese, Unitarian-Universalists, and a Son to Laugh With

March 30, 2022

What a remarkable day.

I didn’t start off with big plans. But a call from the youngest son brought me to Padilla Bay Interpretive Center to go for a quick walk with him while he waited for his car to charge up at the charging station there. Xander is such a hoot. We share the same sense of humor about things and spent a lot of our time together laughing at life.

On our walk we came upon some of my friends from the Skagit Unitarian Universalist Fellowship – it was such a joy to see them again! It’s been so long! It was a year ago on Mother’s Day that I last joined them for a zoom meeting to share stories about my mom. It’s been years since I’d seen them in the person!

I’d just gotten home and eaten some lunch when I got a call from my friend, Teresa, with a tip that there was a mega flock of “big white birds” near Conway. Teresa didn’t know what the birds were, for sure, but her instincts told her these birds were special. “Are they really loud?” I asked. And Teresa confirmed they were. “I think we’ve got snow geese,” I told her. This was very cool for me because I know the snow geese are about to make their northerly migration to the Arctic and I’m not sure how much longer we’ll have them here with us.

I grabbed my camera and headed towards Conway. It wasn’t hard to find the snow geese – there were thousands of them! And I could see them filling the skies from a mile away. They put on a spectacular show today. I’m so glad I got to be witness to their celebration.

Here’s a link to the Youtube video of the snow geese extravaganza I witnessed.

Pictures below…

An Award-Winning Scone

Okay, I am a proud scone grandma and I’ve just got to share: The classic scone at SconeGrown in Bellingham, Washington, owned by my son, Xander, and my daughter-in-law, Kyla, was recently chosen by PETA as one of the top ten vegan desserts IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY!!! No, I am not kidding. It is, in fact, the only dessert in the Pacific Northwest to make the top ten this year.

I visited Scone Grown last week and had this tangy tastebud-pleasing delight – my new favorite scone – I present to you the orange spice scone with orange curd:

SconeGrown’s Orange Spice Scone with Orange Curd
Vegan Dessert Award from PETA

Tulip Town 2021

My husband and I visited Tulip Town (Mount Vernon, Washington) on Thursday. The tulips aren’t quite in full bloom, yet – but it was a sunny, blue-sky day; everyone was friendly and full of good humor; and get this – I asked a random person to take our photo and he turned out to be a professional portrait photographer! Can I pick ’em or can I pick ’em?! I’ll attach his photo of us at the bottom with a photo credit for him – he did a great job!

Here are some of the photos I brought back back from Tulip Town. (Photos by Karen Molenaar Terrell.)

Below: Photo of Karen Molenaar Terrell and Scott Terrell by professional photographer, Bob Wachtendonk, of North Bend, Washington.