MORE, MORE, MORE: Our kitchen has been a mess for what seems like weeks now. There has been one project after another. The latest was a couple dozen custom cookies for Christian's dad's memorial this past weekend.
Per usual, the project started with a plan. We cane up with a dozen or so different designs to represent aspects of his life. He spent most of his years in Lake Oswego, Oregon, so that fact played out in butter and sugar.
He loved photography, so we made several little slide cookies. Annabelle painted tiny photos (a sunset, flowers, a boat on a lake, the forest, Mt. Hood and more) and I made Kodachrome frames to go around them, so they'd look like little slides. I wish I had a group photo of those cookies, up close. They were terrific. We also made some camera cookies. unfortunately, the detail on those don't show up very well, given that it's black on black.
He was an Oregon Ducks football fan, played the banjo, was a good cook, loved his vintage wooden boat and had some funny Danish sayings. So we tried to capture all of those things on cookies.
We probably each spent 10 hours on Saturday making them, so that's 20 hours combined. A lot of work, but time well spent. The cookies were a hit and disappeared quickly at the memorial, which was a lovely event on the shore of Lake Oswego.
While we were cookie-ing, Christian was cobbler-ing. We had a dinner party to go to on Saturday night, and one of our contributions was dessert. I wanted to take advantage of the fact we're surrounded by ripe blackberries, so I found a recipe for a peach and blackberry cobbler. Christian worked hard and made it entirely by himself.
The recipe was good, but it could have benefitted from some cinnamon and some corn starch in with the fruit, IMHO.
It certainly looked terrific!
DOUBLING UP: A couple of weeks ago, CJ received his diploma for his associate's degree from South Seattle College.
A couple of days ago he got a bonus diploma - his high school diploma, also from South Seattle College.
We didn't know this was even a possibility until a couple of weeks ago, when the Renton High School registrar let us know that CJ was eligible to get a high school diploma from South Seattle under the Revised Code of Washington.
Specifically, from app.leg.wa.gov, "RCW 28B.50.535
Community or technical college—Issuance of high school diploma or certificate.
A community or technical college may issue a high school diploma or certificate as provided under this section.
(1) An individual who satisfactorily meets the requirements for high school completion shall be awarded a diploma from the college, subject to rules adopted by the superintendent of public instruction and the state board of education.
(2) An individual sixteen years or older or enrolled through the option established under RCW 28A.600.310 through 28A.600.400, who satisfactorily completes an associate degree through a community or technical college, including an associate of arts degree, associate of science degree, associate of technology degree, or associate in applied science degree, shall be awarded a diploma from the college upon written request from the student. Individuals under twenty-one years of age under this subsection are eligible for funding provided under chapter 28A.150 RCW."
Renton High School seemed very eager to be able to count CJ as a high school graduate, and it's certainly better to have an official high school diploma than not, so we were happy to request one, and had it within a week. So happy graduation to CJ again!
CENTERED: We have been (mostly) enjoying a string of hot weather, and one day last week we made a pilgrimage to the International Fountain at Seattle Center. That has been an annual tradition of ours for as long as we've lived in Seattle, save for last summer, when the fountain was off so as not to attract crowds during COVID.
CJ ran around exuberantly just like he did a dozen years ago. It's definitely one of his happy places.
Meanwhile, just west of the fountain, the new Kraken arena is nearing completion. We're season ticket holders and certainly looking forward to getting into building for some fun times ahead!
