Archive (Page 2) • david's eyes • Buttondown

And start with a sunrise

January 6, 2020

Every year should end with a sunset. Gaël was with his mother for Christmas. My plan was to go to New York, but I ended up in Oregon. These things happen....

December 6, 2019

Cold pizza and sandwiches on the ridge. Although the hike is not long - 4 miles roundtrip - this is the farthest our little hiking group has ever gone. Even...

October 13, 2019

Calm mind. Calm heart. Calm breath. This is my mantra every time I find myself in cold water. It took a long time for me to understand my enemy isn't the...

Alright here's the deal: you find yourself on a sunny rock sitting beside Mason Lake. The initial grouchiness of the morning has burned off along with the...

Finding some life in the desert

Vacation is over. Back to Seattle and finding a new world. The months of gray and rain have left the world flush. Clouds broken, sunny 70 degree days rolling...

DJ Petersen: not a luddite

Friendos, * I've joined a gym. $15/month at 24 fitness. I use it every day minus Saturday and go to as many free classes as possible. Petersens get value...

Early morning pancakes

Gaël slept an hour later than normal. Still up at 5:30 AM, but with a flurry of "CUDDLE, CUDDLE, CUDDLE". Burrowing under the covers next to me, he conked...

Titling e-mails is hard and this update is weak (I'll give it a 4/10)

December 31, 2018

Compañeros, Hello, hey you. Again (my bad), it's been a while. No news is good news? Life has been (and is) good. Spent the two months after vacation...

A walk in the mountains

October 1, 2018

To my fellow wanders, dreamers and explorers, I know I said I would try to write a little more regular, but life as it always does has gotten mad busy (but...

Through the haze and into the mountains

August 30, 2018

In 20 minutes I'm about to head off into the mountains for a few days and wanted to see if I could send off some bullet points (bang bang!) * I'm in San...

*record scratches* Oh hey there. Remember me? It's been a long while since I wrote. Almost a full year (or at least a year that was full). Underneath all...

Eddies and currents

“All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered.” ―...

Friends! It's been too long. I have been thinking about this newsletter, but have to admit that I haven't carved out the time to sit down and pound it out....

February 5, 2017

I guess I'll just this out of the way. Céline and I are getting a divorce. I have written several thousand words and at some point will wrestle them into...

Feeling a bit gray, wishing for a bit of blue

December 4, 2016

I am trying to write these with a little more frequency as it seems like I am only able to keep a few weeks in my mind at a time. Things farther back than...

October 16, 2016

We're back. After 11 months in France we've found our way back to Seattle. It feels like we left the arms of loved ones and fell into the arms of other ones....

We have successfully exited Paris. The final week was frantic. I attempted and failed to wrap up loose ends at work and we Céline spent the whole week trying...

Rounding into the final turn...

We are currently wrapping our last couple days in Paris. I'm trying to hastily do everything I neglected for the last 10 months. Tea at the mosque, reading...

Fouace fouace fouace fouace fouace

It seems like quite a bit has happened this last 2 months. It's been really tricky to find a continuous couple minutes to sit down and write. So since there...

French basketball games are loud

Last week we decided to do a double date with one of Céline's friends. Somehow it became this thing where the girls would do dinner and we would go a...

It seems like spring has finally come to Paris. People have started to shed their winter coats and scarfs. The parks are starting to fill on the sunny...

Metro justice and animal telepathy

Bonjour! I haven't written in a while since there hasn't been much to write about. The last month or so has pretty much been more or less routine for us....

February 6, 2016

Friends, Life has started to hit a sweet rhythm and days are flying by. I thought it would be good though to sit down and pound out another one of these. I...

Woo!!! Gaël is one-derful!!!

January 17, 2016

Ok so I probably should start this e-mail with an apology for the subject. I swear it was a moment of inspiration and not me googling "baby birthday puns"....

Back to reality: a soft landing

January 13, 2016

Remember me? Yep I am still here, looks like this newsletter still has a little life left in it. So let's get this started. Bonne Année! Happy New Year! Hope...

The sweet relief of escape

December 23, 2015

I'll have to keep this one brief as my laptop is out of power and I am typing on one of these bizarre French keyboards where they have randomly rearranged...

Margaritas and Baby Duck - Thanksgiving with the Petersens

November 30, 2015

I never realized how much I have fallen in love with Thanksgiving. It is slowly becoming my favorite holiday(my anti-valentine's day). A holiday that for me...

How to cure the plague: butter

November 22, 2015

This last week sickness descended upon the Petersen-Maillard household. Gaël started with a runny nose, which quickly devolved into all of us hacking and...

The wheels of Apollo: Bicycle races in Paris

November 15, 2015

What a week! First off the passport thing is having a bit of progress. It was tough to accept that the old one is gone. It was so much work (and money) for...

work work work work work...weekend

November 7, 2015

So I promised myself that this week I wouldn't write more about my trials and tribulations with my passport. Thanks to all of you who sent nice replies -...

October 29, 2015

There is a certain inevitability in life that a good thing can't last forever. We like to imagine that if we put ourselves in the right places and do the...

Winning the gold medal in stair races

October 19, 2015

To start this week I'd like to pour one out for the lost subscriber(it will have to be wine of course). You are now the chosen 15, let's continue on this...

Stay safe biking with baguettes

October 15, 2015

Its been getting colder here. It seems overnight the temperature dropped about 15 degrees. I especially feel it in the morning. I have been trying to retake...

How do you say "I think I'm getting the hang of this" in French?

October 11, 2015

Well it's been 3 weeks since we moved and we're getting settled! Kind of. Maybe. We were lucky enough to move into a furnished place which has made things...