Changing Weather

We've been through a gray and dismal patch of weather lately. It matched the way my life's been going. Over the past few days, things have changed for the better. The rain slacked off. Blue skies broke through. Coats were discarded and sunscreen was reached for. And the mountain was out for two days running.

For non-Western Washingtonians, "the mountain" would be Mt. Rainier. And "out" refers to it being visible, as opposed to being hidden by haze, clouds, or both. (You might not think simple pollution and atmospheric haze could obscure a mountain the size of Rainier, but it can and does.) When the mountain is out, it's a clear day, the kind of day that reminds you why it's worth living in the Pacific Northwest.

Yesterday, we went out to a local woodcarving show. The show was held at an area fairground which also hosts an interactive museum of old-time "stuff," mostly farm equipment. My sister and I had been up to the woodcarving show the day before (Saturday), but on Sunday we went back with the rest of the family, including Mom, Dad, my aunt, my uncle, and my grandfather. We wandered through woodcarvings and poked around in the museum, which proved more entertaining than initially anticipated. Everyone seemed to enjoy the trip, even Grandpa, who isn't connecting with the external world as well as he used to even a year ago, but one of the highlights had to be the drive back home. We take the "long way" back from these particular fairgrounds, a winding stretch of road where farms and fields and tranquil backwaters endure despite encroaching development. Peeking over the Cascades was our old friend, the mountain. Something about the mountain being out makes a pretty day and a pretty drive that much prettier. It's a good, good trip where the ending is just as wonderful as the trip itself.

Today, I saw the mountain at much closer range. When we returned from yesterday's excursion, we had a message on the machine. It was from the car dealership where we bought the Golden Taurus. Something about the financing... I froze. Something had fallen through, obviously. They wanted the car back. I'd be stuck bicycling to work because no bank wants to deal with a loser with no credit rating and only a part-time job to her name. Then I'd lose the job and the bicycle, and wouldn't even have a car to live in. (Okay, so I've been in a bit of a down mood lately...) But, no, wait - they were talking like they might be able to save us some money on the payments, but we'd have to come back into the dealership to sign something. The depressed, paranoid part of me smelled an elaborate trap; they'd lure us down there with the too-good-to-be-true promise of lower monthly payments, then they'd snatch back the keys and laugh at us as we hitchhiked back two counties home. But, what the hey, I wasn't doing much else today, and the dealership was right in the shadow of Mt. Rainier, so it's a nice drive. We'd go down there and see what the deal was.

Today, the weather outdid itself. The sun shone so bright the trees fairly glowed in their fresh green leaves. The air was clear, the sky was blue. And the mountain... that mountain... The unpredictable weather this April left fresh layers of snow on the upper slopes of the Cascades, and when it comes to upper slopes, Rainier is mostly made of them. So as we headed south towards the dealership, we were treated to a spectacular view of the mountain dressed in winter whites under a summerlike sunny sky. If I'd had my camera with me, I'd have tried to pull over off the freeway to snap a photo. It was that beautiful. I hoped against hope it was a Good Sign.

Down at the dealership, things got off to an inauspicious start; the guy who had called us in had just left, and nobody seemed to know if or when he'd wander back. So we sat there for twenty minutes waiting, being mocked by the beautiful day we could've been out enjoying if we hadn't been called in. At long last, the man in question sauntered back from lunch, and we got the story. The first place we'd tried to finance through somehow failed to come through. The dealers, however, kept at it, trying more places. And more places. And more places. At last, they came up with someone willing to take a chance on a puny little loan to someone with no credit (whose cosigner didn't exactly have the greatest credit rating, either, but at least had a credit rating - it seems wrong that banks are more willing to take a chance on someone they know to be a credit risk than on someone they don't know either way about, but I digress...) I'd never heard of the outfit in question, but right now they're my favorite institution in the world. Why? Not only did they take on the financing, but they did so at about half the interest rate of the original lenders... and for nearly 30 bucks less a month. All we had to do was sign some new paperwork and pay five bucks each to start a savings account with them. Done and done - five bucks to save nearly thirty a month is a no-brainer, even for one with as little brain as me.

On the way home, we stopped for a celebratory Peanut Buster Parfait (and lunch, as we were pretty much starving by then.) I hadn't felt like one after we got the car - for some reason, it just didn't seem "real" - but now I figured I officially had something to celebrate. Looks like the Golden Taurus really is here to stay... and it made today look all the more beautiful. Hope the nice weather sticks around awhile...