We were so lucky to have Ruth A. for a whole week. It really was a vacation for me as well. I wrote a tiny bit of poetry, but mostly I did my regular gigs--tutor, teach poetry to David's class, take out the garbage--and then played with Ruth. You already know about the zoo.

One morning we walked around Fremont and then took the Theo chocolate tour. I had never done that before and it is now on my take the visiting relatives list. Lots of chocolate samples, a reasonable explanation of how chocolate is made, and cool equipment to stare at. Did I mention the samples?

We spent a day at the Pike Place Market. I seriously haven't been to the market in over a year. Given that it was mid-week in spring, it was not uncomfortably crowded. I got tea and Ruth got a rainbow dress, very bright and beautiful. And we had piroshskis, yummy gluten.

Yesterday, we took the bus to Folklife. My relationship with Ruth extends beyond college to several overlapping years in Boston where we often went to folk music concerts together. It was so nice to be sitting on the grass listening to great accapella about jumping ship or the blues band and know she was enjoying it as much as I was.