One Hundred Days of Good Government

How nice it feels to be in "good" government hands!  I am a firm believer that a well-intentioned government can do great things and, despite our president being an old white guy from Pennsylvania and seemingly a bit out of touch with how progressive the majority of voters in this country have be come (and how I feel personally), I've been surprisingly impressed with what Joe Biden has been able to do in his first one hundred days (it's sometimes hard to quantify the profound relief at having smart and well-meaning, science-believing adults in charge of our country).

I didn't watch his Joint address to Congress this week but am happy to reflect on the hard work he and his administration have put in in the last few months, thanks in part to (probably short-lived) legislative majorities (and an uphill battle in anti-majoritarian chambers).  Here are some of his notable accomplishments.

- Surrounding himself with a diverse group of smart people (many of them women) and following science

- Passing a $1.9 million American Rescue Plan and COVID relief, including stimulus payments

- Rejoining the Paris Climate Accord and showing a strong commitment to tackling climate change

- Getting the pandemic under control, including delivering over 200 million COVID-19 shots in arms (ahead of schedule!)

- Helping public schools re-open safely in most parts of the country

- Withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, America's longest, decades-long war

- Repealing the ban on Transgender Americans serving in military

- Planning (if Congress gets its act together) to bolster voting rights and to pay for free early childhood education and debt-free college by taxing the richest 1%.

 

One of my favorite powerful images from last night's speech was described by 19th news, a news organization started my one of my high school classmates, as "An elbow bump for the history books."

"Madam Speaker, Madam Vice President ... No president has ever said those words from this podium. No president has ever said those words, and it’s about time,” Biden said.

I can't wait till there's a woman up front (and two in the back-- and that that wouldn't seem remarkable).

We need good actors (and many more progressives) in Congress to keep the good laws coming, because (as much as we can hope for bipartisanship) the other side doesn't seem very interested in playing ball for doing good for the American people.  Positive change is slow (and comes with many setbacks) but is possible.  To use some of Biden's words, "Can democracy deliver?" 

It certainly can, with leadership like we currently have.  Three cheers for good government (I'll try to enjoy it while we can...)!

Low Tide at Houda: Sea Stars & more

Houda Point is one of our favorite beaches to visit in Trinidad. From the parking area, you do have to hike down some log-steps to get to the beach, but it's a lovely place to watch birds (if that's your thing [which, for me it's not]--  nearby "Camel Rock" has the largest breeding colony of Leach's petrel on the north coast), walk, and tide pool.

We have rarely been there at low tide, but Sunday afternoon was a lovely time to walk around and see the creatures in the low water.  Iver knows an interesting amount of stuff about sea creatures thanks to library books, and we always enjoy seeing them in "the wild."

(one kid was understandably more interested in puttering in the water than in taking family photos....

... but we got a few.

You can't see it well from these photos, but we saw numerous bright sea stars stuck on the rocks.

 Sea anemone-covered rock

colorful sea stars

"Playing" at low tide

Pepper (who has gotten her pep in her step back after some prednisolone for her skin allergies) frolicked with another pup. 

Beach time in a long-sleeved tee alone for this guy: summer is ahead!

 (this Lion King-themed shirt is his current favorite, which he wants to wear daily)

Love us some Sunday tide poolin'!

A year's worth of love (and photos)

Kelvin's parents just returned home after a full two weeks with us. It had been almost a year and a half since they'd been here to Humboldt (although we'd seen them in OC a few weeks before California locked down last March).  They were soooo helpful and really make us question why (and regret that) we live so far from family.  Kelvin's Dad is extremely handy, and completed all kinds of home projects, including things like retouching chipped paint, fixing faucets, and deep-cleaning that are either hard or impossible for us to do with our skillset and schedule, and which had been low priorities for us during the pandemic. Kelvin's mom is a patient seamstress and fixed many favorite-but-holey clothes for the boys. She's also an incredible person to have in the kitchen. She peeled and minced an entire year's worth of Blue Apron garlic (I’m lazy and use the Costco jar of minced garlic for cooking) and I didn't have to cook a single meal while they were here (I used to feel guilty about this, but now I accept their help and gifts-- she shows love by feeding us all and it was a much-needed break for me).  They helped us out with Pepper (letting her out more frequently in her old age and medicating her) while we were at work. We have missed their hands--and hearts-- (our village!) so much!

They are so wonderful with our kids. They were amazed at how much the boys had grown since their last visit-- Iver progressing in leaps and bounds with reading skills (while his negotiation skills have stayed sharp), and Niall with huge strides in communication and humor. They are capable caregivers in our absence. They really couldn't get enough of watching them learn and play-- Kelvin's mom took a ton of photos and videos of the boys (especially during our weekend absence in Bend, giving us frequent photo updates).  Here are just a few!

Burrito time

"Sushi for animals"

Reading

Heading to preschool

Temperature check time!

Some rare tears 

  More often joy

Dress up

Chess time

  Music Class

"Playing" the piano

Fixing bikes 

 

Borrowing ông nội's back brace

Lots of jammie time

Checking the mail

Egg prep

Trinidad beach

 

Park Time

Spring! 

My parents will come to visit next month, and we may see Kelvin's brother here in May (a budget airline just started with a hub in Burbank and flights to Arcata as well as some other western cities as destinations so Kenn and Kingston plan to try it out!). We plan to fly down to So Cal in July so the kids can see their paternal grands again as well as aunts and uncles. It's so nice to be reunited with family! We all truly felt a year's worth of love while they were here and it was amazing to have the return of “our village,” which we have missed so much during this pandemic year.