We spent Saturday afternoon visiting with our son Taraz. He took us to several of his favorite espresso shops in Olympia, where he and Megan now live while Megan works on her Masters Degree in Education.Taraz loves coffee - in fact all of us do. Espresso, Cappachino, Americano with hot milk, or just a regular cup of coffee brewed over the campfire using a Melitta filter, its one of life's little pleasures.
Taraz and George are holding Macchiatos here, Taraz's favorite. In a glass, it is a gorgeous beverage.Taraz has worked as a barista for the last eight months here in Tacoma, at the One Heart Cafe. He loves making the coffees, and visiting with customers. He still visits his old employer, and occasionally helps him out in a pinch. They've become friends. Taraz has even set up exhibits and artwork at One Heart to provide ambience to the little coffee shop - using some of my fabric arts, and little collectables from my den. He loves driftwood, rocks, moss and shells, just as I do, and enjoys arranging them for display.
We visited a number of Taraz's favorite shops in Olympia, espresso places, a few antique shops, and a shop that sold hand-carved wooden walking sticks. Taraz has a special interest in beautiful sticks. When he worked at the Baha'i public radio station in Hemingway, South Carolina (WLGI), he collected them when he went canoeing. They were beaver chewed, had whirls and burls, and became his 'power sticks'. He gives them to friends.
After Taraz showed us his favorite haunts downtown, we drove to Priest Point Park, which is not too far from their apartment. It was a gorgeous sunny day, perfect for a hike.
A portion of the trail was damaged during a recent storm, and we decided to explore through all the debris. It covered the contour of the trail and totally damaged one of the little foot-bridges. 
Here, Taraz is encouraging me to walk along a slippery log through the boggy undergrowth, saying that if 'Dad could do it, you can'....yes, but Dad wasn't carrying a camera! We had fun working our way through shards of trees, and George pulled me up onto a platform where we could survey 'the damage'. I noticed that once we did this detour, a few other foolish people followed us, seeing the challenges...'well, if they made it, maybe we can'. I'm not sure we were good examples, but we did have fun.We walked along the beach, as the tide was out. 
Taraz found this little shelter interesting, as people had climbed up to it, and carved initials and images in the crumbly clay. He carried an unusual Madrona branch home that he found washed up on the beach, and it is now in his livingroom.
Taraz found this little shelter interesting, as people had climbed up to it, and carved initials and images in the crumbly clay. He carried an unusual Madrona branch home that he found washed up on the beach, and it is now in his livingroom.I packed some home-made lentil soup', hummus and pita bread, and fruit for an afternoon snack.
We found a picnic table at the park and enjoyed the hot soup, grateful for the sunshine and fresh air.When we were exploring downtown, Taraz told me that some of the alleys are actually set aside for grafitti art. Local youth come here with their spraycans, and splatter paint into swirls and patterns. 
One man was spraying from his wheelchair, another had a whole bag full of paint. As we wandered from alley to alley, I was quite impressed with the brilliant fresh color. It was a reasonable compromise from the gang slogans, the tagging, that is often seen in large cities. The only drawback was the intense fumes. In the alleyways, the air seemed trapped, and the odor of paint was everywhere.
One man was spraying from his wheelchair, another had a whole bag full of paint. As we wandered from alley to alley, I was quite impressed with the brilliant fresh color. It was a reasonable compromise from the gang slogans, the tagging, that is often seen in large cities. The only drawback was the intense fumes. In the alleyways, the air seemed trapped, and the odor of paint was everywhere. 
