At long last, I have made albums from the images and videos I captured in 2025. I spent more energy taking video and editing it into little social media offerings than I ever had before. During this last push to sort my media I realized that the new terms of service for my favorite video editing software are super crappy, so I will have to learn to use another. Depressing in the moment- even my funtime hobbies are not safe from creepy capitalist and/or big brother bullshit- but shifting to new software probably won’t be that big of a deal. I want to say that it’s a first world problem, but is it???
Among my favorites to revisit were the three (3!) times we made it to the Twisp cabin last year: February, June, and November. So peaceful out there. We were actually there again in January, but those photos are still on my phone, waiting for the next download.
In June we camped in my Mom and David’s yard for a combo housewarming/75th birthday party (happy birthday, Mom!). Morgan and I ducked out to go to the No Kings! protest in nearby Puyallup, and for some reason I stuck those photos in the 2025 Miscellany album- not gonna second guess myself now.
Flowers continue to hold my creative interest. I have already, in these cold dark months, been buying seeds and ordering plants for spring in hopes of having new and interesting materials to work with. I really enjoyed being able to fill up a bucket of flowers to take with me on our various visits and add a little fresh floral pizzazz wherever I went. If I have too many flowers for my own home and office, I have a steady collection of donated vases and my handy Free Flower Stand to lean on. Other shots from the Hammershack show even more flowers and garden action, plus family, friends, and fur babies. It’s a pretty good scene.
It feels funny to title a post “photo dump” and then post zero photos, but I’m gonna do it! You can look or not look, my work here is done.
This is me taking one of over 3,000 pictures and videos in 2025.
Every year around this time I set myself up to write this note to you. I tell myself I need to organize my photos, sort through them, make albums, and put them up on Flickr where I can share them. I pull a few pictures out to share in this post and link the albums to illustrate our adventures if anyone feels like clicking through. This is a useful ruse to push myself to get the task done, and one I appreciate because I like looking through the memories of the year, all the beautiful people and places I spent time with. This year I don’t want to push. I don’t want the ruse. I am not ready to look. I am still in this year, still living it out every day, and this year, being present for what is happening right now is probably the best strategy I have got.
It’s dark here in Seattle; it’s December, and it has been raining HARD, flooding out our exurban communities and washing out our mountain roads. The ground is saturated and more rain is on the way. We have seemingly intractable issues here with cost of living and homelessness, what to do with/for our mentally ill or substance-addicted community members, environmental concerns, and, of course, gun violence. It’s dark out there in America; people are being kicked around like political footballs, their vulnerabilities used against them to enforce a zero-sum vision that blows my born-and-raised blue-bubble mind. I know that fear drives that mindset, and there is a lot to be afraid of out there, for sure. Even nature can seem cruel.
Darkness is part of the deal though, right? As much as my body is telling me to sleep right now—sleep late, take naps, get some rest—it tells me to get moving in the long days of summer. My body wakes me up early on June 21, the light in the sky hours old by the time my alarm goes off and lingering long past the work day, keeping me out in the garden cutting flowers or harvesting the raspberries until 9 or 10pm. So, like the garden, on December 21 I am programmed to rest, compost, let go. The only thing that really sucks about December is that I tend not to adjust my expectations for the season.
If I allow myself to slow down, be with what is happening in this moment, I am less overwhelmed by all that darkness. If I let myself feel my breaking heart, my fear, my discouragement, then I am not wasting energy in avoidance, I am acknowledging my actual lived experience, which is probably the whole point of having a life. In receiving the whole of it— the rotting leaves and fallow, soggy ground of it—I am larger, more myself, truly here.
Preparing for SamhainCamping on the Green RiverBack at the Burn
And here I am! I am writing from my cozy Sodo office, where I have a thriving bodywork practice that continues to nourish me in so many ways. I have a full belly, a well body, and a warm home to return to. I am walking my path with more attention and intention than ever, and it is wonderful. I am grateful every day for this life, even when it is dark. Morgan is feeling actually good for the first time in a really long time, extending himself some well-earned grace, and finding his creative mojo. He recently bought a bunch of bronze, his preferred sculptural medium, which bodes well for his future artistic expression, and he has a wait-list of clients hoping to get his attention on their projects. Huck’s world expanded quite a lot this year; he has been stretching out, learning new skills, having fun. He joined the Iron Monkeys and went back to Burning Man, now 21 and able to explore every corner of that wild and magical place. He took a leadership role in co-producing a big community event. He is learning blacksmithing skills from our old friend Tabasco twice a week. He still teaches and practices Kung Fu, and after replacing himself at Jack’s Fish Spot with a young friend, managed to fully step away from the job he held there for 4 years.
We are lucky enough to have families who love us, cats to love on, projects to dive into, friends to play with, and places to go when we need a break from the city. We keep learning, looping back, learning more/again, looping. We are alive in a dynamic time, doing our best to be with the full spectrum of of our experiences, to show up as whole beings and learn. Thanks for being on the journey with us. May the new year bring us all some good news, and may we be ready to embrace it!
With love, Bevin
Here’s what my camera caught from the scene at the top. Winthrop, February 2025
We have a big chunk of messy indoor work to do here at the Hammershack before we can close that pesky permit we opened in 2014. The upstairs bath and laundry and hall will undoubtedly take many months and a good chunk of moola to complete, and though we have made progress on our design concepts and clearing the way by getting rid of large objects, we just are not quite ready to dive in.
There are a few smaller and more immediately achievable pieces we can peel off in the meantime, and last week Morgan finished these beautiful steel and gravel stairs connecting our front door to the upper driveway.
So elemental- steel, stone, gravel.The slippery slope of before, and process
It took 4.5 yards of gravel to fill, much of which I shoveled- oof, rocks are heavy, y’all. That said, I was very glad to contribute what I could after Morgan did all of the truly hard work.
Not shown- the step lights that pop on when you approach, and the sweet little under-boulder lights that he’s been playing with. You’ll have to come visit to see those!
Our little craftsman cottage, built in 1924, is 100 years old this year. I was looking at some maps from that era and trying to imagine what it must have been like in Seattle, in this neighborhood in 1924. Who built the house, did they do it on speculation or for themselves? There are some really cool historical photos online of the neighborhood in general, and we have this beauty from the WPA Land Use Survey in 1936.
1924 map of Seattle found on Ted’s Vintage Art. We live at Henderson and 42nd.
This weekend I was weeding along the fence line and a truck pulled up with these gentlemen in it. They said, “We used to live here. Did you raise it up?” We used to get mail for them, so I knew their names when they told me: Steve and Jim. Steve used to use the garage as his artists studio, and was glad to hear that it is still used as such. They said they had a little wood stove in the living room and they kept the house warm with that, and that they had enclosed the porch for extra warmth. It was so fun to get a little bit of backstory, and they remarked on the big changes, especially to the yard.
Speaking of big changes, this is also the month of our ten year anniversary of lifting the house! I remember writing somewhere long ago on this blog that we hoped we would be done in a year or two, but I also acknowledged that there was a lot of mystery to the process. Reviewing the posts about waiting for our permit or our excavation contractor, or Morgan realizing that he had to hand-dig what our excavation contractor missed, I am aware of how much we have learned about process and patience. Truthfully, once I got a new kitchen and we were able to move downstairs, it was all worth it. Getting a toilet back inside the house felt amazing, and getting one that actually had a door we could close was even better. A big upstairs bathroom will be luxurious when we finally get to it, but we have all we need. Nothing like living in privation to bring home how sweet heat and indoor plumbing are!
Future Bathroom/LaundryThe toilet lives there in the future, too.Future Bathroom/LaundryFuture Laundry Room/Hallway
We were hoping to tackle the big remaining piece of indoor work this year (that upstairs bathroom and laundry room), but circumstances did not line up for that to happen. It would have been so neat and tidy to finish our permits at the ten year mark, but life is so rarely neat and tidy. Perhaps we will be able to wrap it up by year 12, and move on to just fiddling and fixing and “stretch goals” and enjoying it. Heck, we are already enjoying it, so that’s a big win.
Happy Birthday 8824! Deepest gratitude for your shelter, your teachings, your protection, and for letting us alter you so significantly. You have been an excellent container for our family, and we love you. We have occupied you for nearly a quarter of your life, and somewhere around half of ours- or in Huck’s case, his whole life! We hope our attentions mean you will last another 100 years, and that we get to enjoy many of those with you.
Happy New Year! I write this as we here in Seattle tilt dramatically away from the sun, enjoying long nights with plenty of dark sky to contemplate our cosmic place. We are so very small.
Around this time last year we lost an old friend to the ongoing tragedy of the opioid crisis. Rani had been clean for 18 years, had a medical issue and the hospital gave him a painkiller that sparked his addiction as if he’d been using last week. So, 2023 started off with a memorial service for our friend, a reminder to enjoy each other and our time here on this planet- it’s special! It’s fleeting! Get that good stuff in you!
To that end, Morgan and I took a trip to Hawaii in March, staying part of the time with Chris and Carol in their fancy Waikoloa condo and adventuring on our own around the Big Island to check out the stunning volcano and the lush jungle vibes of the Hilo side. Hawaii is such a special place; big respect to the formidable energies of creation and destruction that live large on those little specks in the sea.
The house project of the year was our glorious shed/shop extension/covered deck which has been getting some use as a work space, a social hangout, and houses our new (previously owned) ping-pong table. Come on over, Morgan needs a challenger! The big remaining chunk of this permit set is to build out the old upstairs kitchen and hallway (which was once our bathroom) into a bathroom and laundry area, which will involve a large mess and a fair amount of disruption. It is possible that we will begin to tackle this in 2024, so we have been thinking about configuration, tile design, fixtures, etc. in anticipation of the rush of decisions that that will entail.
Huck survived freshman year at the University of Washington, and also the end of his relationship with Frankie. Her path took her out of state for college, but despite the no-fault need to end it, the pain of loss is always acute. He threw himself back into his Kung Fu practice and began learning new forms at JunHong Kung Fu Club where he had previously been practicing Sanda as an add-on to classes at White Dragon Kung Fu Seattle. He now finds himself at Jun’s studio almost every weekday, teaching 2-3 days/week and working on his own skills for 3 hours on the days he’s not teaching. Through Kung Fu he made a connection with a new friend who also attends UW, and she introduced him to a great group of other students- hooray! Friends make all the difference, especially since school has not been a slam-dunk. Going into next quarter, he is taking an intro to the Comparative History of Ideas (CHID) program, which is now officially his major. We are all hoping that having a smaller cohort and a more concrete goal makes things feel more manageable at that giant school. He continues to work Saturdays at Jack’s Fish Spot in the Pike Place Market, and participate regularly in activities with the PNW Great War re-enactment group. Honestly, I am not giving the re-enactment enough of a word-count here, it’s a big part of his day to day, as evidenced by the gallery below. Let me just say that he recently bought a reproduction Great War era blue French greatcoat and has been wearing that all over town. Imagine seeing that long-legged Kung-fu trained body striding around the UW campus in that decidedly unique look- they cannot know that inside that intimidating giant is our little Huckleberry Blue!
Morgan spent the first part of the year building the aforementioned shed. The rest of the year has been dedicated to other people’s projects ($$), maintaining friendships, and getting out into the world with me.
We had an active summer, with trips out to the coast, to the family property in Twisp (a whole delightful week there!), up to Bellingham, and over to Quilcene, among others. It was a bit like our pre-pandemic summer frenzy again, which is super fun, and leaves the garden feeling lonely.
I celebrated 30 years in practice this August, a milestone I can’t quite believe. For the past couple of years I have found myself wanting a better narrative for some of the things that have been happening in my practice, so in October I began a path of study that I have been describing as “bridging the conscious and the unconscious” with dreamwork, constellation, and ceremony. The first retreat was out in Hansville on the edge of the Salish Sea, and we practiced listening to the quiet, attuning to subtle shifts, paying respect to feelings and imagination, and I came away with three new friends and a bunch of homework. So far, it has been helping a lot.
Here’s to the great mysteries, my friends; may we maintain our awe, may we plant, tend, and harvest joy, and may we all become more and more excellent at compassion. All of our love to you.
This is such an exciting addition to our property. I’m just going to blast away with photos first:
If you read the last post, you know that we needed storage. We also needed some covered outdoor space that could flex between hangout and work zone. Hangout is obvious, work zone is maybe obvious when you see how small the Shop is, even when it is clean. Big railing jobs have historically been built in the driveway, and protected with tarps and pop-up canopies, which is not ideal. So check out our amazing new outdoor room! We love it!
Below, a video showing the custom locking mechanism that Morgan designed and created for the big sliding doors:
Shed as workspace with very bright work lights in full effect:
This is night time!
Some details:
You don’t see the brackets here, that’s on purpose.This cool thing Kevin and Leah gave us a long time ago.
Here are some process shots, including our main helper Jeremy Calvert and occasional helper Mark Tomkiewicz:
Thanks Mark!Thanks, Jeremy!
And finally a few images to remind us what this area used to look like, plus a previous blog post for context:
The back door and the basement door. Looking at the house and yard from where the Shed is now.Funky old decking and back porch during demo.
We have one more big disruptive piece to do, but that’s for another post. In the meantime, we will enjoy this great new addition to our day to day lives.
You may recall that last winter we had our peninsula finished in a lovely big slab of granite. We have been enjoying that quite a bit, but the wall below it remained unfinished plywood.
We had several ideas for the wall finish- tile? Wallpaper? Paint? And then Morgan did a cool job for someone using repurposed copper roofing tiles they had picked up at Second Use Building Materials. There were enough left over that he was able to buy some for our little job, and voila!
Bird poop patina
Once installed it kind of disappeared, which is what would normally happen with a space like that. Morgan pulled a bit of LED lighting out of the cabinets (pretty sure we got it from a white elephant exchange a few years ago), installed that, and now we have this fun, fancy, under-the-counter once-somebody’s-roof situation going on.
The big house project of the summer finally got underway last month. You know how it goes. At any rate, Morgan is building a sort of shop addition, a covered deck with a shed/closet on the east side where we can put our sports and camping gear, big tools, off-season gear, and gardening equipment.
Hot tub move thanks to friends! Thank you so much, friends!
Right now that stuff is either in the old kitchen (which will someday be a bathroom and laundry room), in a cramped attic space above the shop, taking up precious floor space in the shop, or tucked into a corner of the yard. This is what happens when you turn your old basement into a living space.
Steps to stairs.
Throughout this project there have been many glorious moments when things find their forever homes, as with our craft and office cabinets. This structure will likely potentiate several of those moments, and I will do my best to share them with you as they arrive.
❤️ Morgan’s notes in the landing pad. ❤️
In the meantime, one concrete piece of the structure has been completed, and we can now run up and down stairs on the east side of the house instead of slipping and sliding on the muddy slope we had there. Check out the step lights in the side of the house, finally united with their true purpose.
Morgan showing off the alternative to a slippery slope.
Welcome to the Hammershack Report 2021 year in review. Here’s what it looked like for us:
The year started on a hopeful note. Due to the nature of my work I was able to get my first dose of the Moderna vaccine in early January, which added immunization to my pre-screening, masking, and cleaning protocols and made me feel much safer about working, especially as the pandemic raged around us. After my second dose I was able to hug my nephew Gus for the first time– truly a moment of great joy!
Huck and Morgan got their jabs in April, shortly after we returned from our humble spring break road trip to Fields Spring State Park in the far southeastern corner of the state. We had the entire park to ourselves, as we were in a shoulder season between cross country skiing and summer blooms, so it was us, the kind and earnest rangers, and a thousand woodpeckers.
Morgan and I got out on some little camping trips and adventures with friends to other spots over the summer, leaving Huck behind. He was working, but honestly, his attitude at Fields Spring would have made me want to leave him at home anyway. I get it-16/17-year-olds don’t love hanging out with their parents all the time. The feeling can be mutual.
Big news around the house is the new roof, which you can check out in a previous post. The rains are changing here (as they are all over the planet) and it feels good to have gotten a new lid before our record-breaking fall precipitation. Speaking of record-breaking, you will certainly have heard of or experienced the insane heat dome we experienced in June. It was unpleasant and disconcerting. We got past it, but did we really get past it? I did what I could to help our plants, but some got burnt and one wonders what will thrive here in the coming decades.
burnt rhododendronburnt blueberryburnt fernChickens used to fertilize the garden beds.You can buy chicken poop, you know?
We gave our chickens away this year. They were fun, we had them for about a dozen years (not the same birds) and enjoyed their weird company and their eggs. But they took up a lot of space, and our yard has gotten crowded in that time with everything getting big and filling in. They attract rats, require food even when they don’t lay, and we had a lot of issues last winter with our automated systems, so Morgan consented to letting them go. I missed them for a hot minute, but I do not miss them anymore. We found some folks excited to take the equipment, and another person happy to have the hens. Everybody wins! For more photos of home and garden life, go here.
Kung Fu in the park
dress like your teacher day
snowboarding
WW1 re-enactment in Belfair
working in the Market
Cold War era re-enactment
Huck’s junior year was entirely online. He did… fine? I mean, he got good grades, kept a virtual social life, kept working out either zooming with kung fu buddies or in-person as the pandemic allowed. His re-enactment hobby continued to bloom.
The lack of actual social contact with humans concerned us. A friend of ours helped him get a job at the Pike Place Market this summer which was just the ticket- a lot of social skills needed to work at a busy fishmonger’s stall in the peak of tourist season. He has continued to work there on the weekends through the school year, which makes him a very busy guy. In-person school started in August, and it is an obvious relief to Huck and his peers to see each other again. He is applying to universities but not fully committed to the idea of going to one just yet. Who knows what the future holds? The world is his oyster! More photos of Huck in 2021 here.
men’s weekend at Surprise Laketesting the hammock systemsummer in the yardclimbing the Brothersbeing silly at Schafersnow day priorities
Morgan’s work fixing up other people’s homes in order to fix up ours continues. He did a bit of backpacking this summer with friends, getting to one of the peaks of The Brothers of the Olympic Mountain range this fall. His new hammock system was a success, and he is now preparing himself for snow adventure by taking avalanche safety classes. His guitar repertoire grew, and most recently he’s been taking himself through an online course in beginning banjo, thanks to the gift of said instrument by his cousin, Noelle.
dahlias are delightfulBevin at workbeing silly in Skykomishsnow dayworking the vinyardHalloween
My business was a big focus for me this year. After 28 years I decided it was time to share the bounty and try to help a newer massage therapist jump start their career. Bevin Keely, LMP became Thrive Together Healing Arts, PLLC and I invited Jennifer Keller to join me in my office as a mentee and renter. She uses the space when I am not there, I help her with her marketing and with bodywork questions and generally support her growth and well-being as a massage therapist. This transition took countless hours of invisible-to-you multilayered tasks, but I have a shiny new website and tax structure and am pleased with how it is going. My own work continues to deepen and I remain grateful to have found something I love to do that challenges and sustains me.
There were things this year that rocked us hard- the sudden loss of a dear friend and then a family member, scary medical events for people we care about. I may take some time to write about the feelings of 2021, but in the interest of keeping this “newsy”, I will do that in a different post. For now, just know that our connection with you brings meaning and joy into our lives, and we look forward to fostering that connection in the new year.
Hammershack Report 