There's something magical about the fountain in Prospect Garden. Surrounded by tall trees and abundant gardens, you're hidden from the world. It's the kind of place you stumble upon by accident and then never want to leave. It's where Dave and I first kissed and talked about our dreams. It's a place to be in love; to make wishes on pennies and watch them float to the bottom. Though the years pass quickly we visit our fountain from time to time and sit where we once sat and share a kiss. We visited our fountain a couple months ago, right as the leaves were beginning to turn magnificent shades of red and yellow. And as we sat on its concrete ledge and shared a kiss a little girl approached with a penny clutched tightly in her palm. She knelt near the edge and closed her eyes, silently mouthing her wish to the fountain gods. She held the penny so tightly her hand shook and her lips moved rapidly as she made her wish. Finally, after some time of this, she tossed her penny in the fountain and ran away. I've never seen anyone wish that hard for anything. Whatever it was, I hope her wish comes true.
You may remember my May 25th post entitled, "Grimstad," in which I talked about the time we spent exploring my family's heritage in Norway. When you consider how much we discovered about Dave's heritage, we didn't find much at all about the Neilson family tree. That is, until now. Since returning from Norway, my Dad has been working with a research assistant from Stavanger who filled in a bunch of missing pieces for us. It turns out the story of my great, great, great, great grandfather, Captain Christian Paulsen is true! He did strike gold in the California gold rush and when he returned to Norway he was known as "The Gold Man of Norway" or "Guldmannen" in Norwegian. In addition to building the ship yard (for pictures, see the May 25th post) he built a beautiful waterfront home (pictured above), which recently sold for the equivalent of $5,000,000 USD. The current owner is professional Norwegian bicycle racer, Thor Hushovd, who recently won stage 2 of the 2008 Tour de France (check him out at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_Hushovd). We were so surprised when Thor responded to our e-mail inquiry. He told us he was familiar with the story of Christian Paulsen and the house. Plus, he was kind enough to send us photos!
Yesterday Dave and I celebrated our 5-year wedding anniversary. It just so happened that our big day fell on the last night of Musikfest, which our town commemorates every year with a magnificent fireworks display. Living downtown, we were able to enjoy the show from the comfort of our front porch. We sat in complete darkness, holding hands and exchanging a few kisses, as the fireworks illuminated the night. And in that moment, it felt like the whole world was celebrating with us.
"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." - Buddhist proverb
I stuck to my guns and made it through the rest of the week with relative ease. My downfall, of course, was the weekend. Not to make excuses, but this wasn't just any weekend, it was a special beach weekend with dinners at Specchio, Buddakan, and McCormick & Schmick's. Naturally, my vegan lifestyle fell by the way side as I scarfed down fish, meat, and dairy by the forkful. Do I regret it? Not even for a minute. After all, how often do I get to eat at these terrific restaurants? Today, I'm back on my game knowing full well that I am likely to make special allowances for certain special occasions, like vacations, holidays, or my upcoming 5-year wedding anniversary. Week 1 taught me that with a little thought and preparation, the vegan lifestyle cannot only bring you better health and weight loss, it can be an enjoyable and satisfying lifestyle. Maybe one day I will be able to commit 100%, but in the meantime I am going to follow the rules day-to-day and allow myself the freedom to make allowances for special circumstances.
I sit here, minutes before lunchtime on Day 4 of my vegan experience, pleasantly surprised at how easy - and enjoyable - this has been. So far, I've found that there are vegan substitutes for EVERYTHING and they all taste REALLY good! Even Dave has attested to the tastiness of the food and he's a tough critic when it comes to food. The biggest bummer so far has been cutting out Wawa coffee but I think I've found something even better: the chai soy latte from Starbucks...heavenly. For a DIY option, buy chai concentrate and soy milk from the grocery store and mix them in a 1:1 ratio...delicious! Now, I realize that part of the vegan experience is to completely purify your body and cutting out caffeine is part of that, however, I'm not a saint and for now the caffeine must stay. One of the trickiest things about this challenge is picking the right food. For example, I bought a butter substitute that's made out of olive oil, only to learn that it does contain a little bit of buttermilk (you have to read the nutrition labels super-carefully). So I botched up a little bit last night, but that's the great thing about calling this my "vegan experience" rather than my "vegan diet," it allows for imperfection and doesn't make me feel guilty when I mess up. Plus, the word "diet" screams "restriction," which naturally just tempts you to cheat. Surprisingly, I haven't felt the urge to cheat at all during my vegan experience. My next big challenge will be surviving the weekend (that's when all my best resolutions seem to fly right out the window!)
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