Boo

The Unicorn and the Witch

And Happy Birthday, Tom!
Celebrating a spooky birthday this weekend.

Hop on, hop off?

These green bikes are literally strewn all over Seattle. You see them on sidewalks, parking strips and in strangest places. The other day I lost count at 20, just driving along a short stretch of California Avenue. 

A few years ago, Seattle started a municipal bike rental program that failed miserably.  But that didn't stop us from trying again.  Bikes are considered a solution to our traffic nightmares and bike riders rule the roost. They expect all the rights of motorized vehicles without the pesky rules, like stopping at red lights and signs.  Adding to driver frustration, busy streets are narrowed to create seldom used bike lanes.

Anyway, after that first try, the city council gave the bike-share project to two private companies called LimeBike and Spin.  Instead of docking stations, logical places where you pick up and return bikes, LikeBike and Spin just scattered them around the city.  Download their app, scan the bar code with your smartphone and off you go. There's no reliable place to find one, but then, you never know where you will.

Maybe that's the idea? There must be enough people walking along who see a bike and suddenly decide they want to ride. Technically, you can get a citation for riding a bike without a helmet in Seattle, but that seems to be waived.  The rental is cheap-- about $2 an hour.  They look like expensive bikes so that's a lot of rides to be profitable. (Check back with me in a year or so.)

Both companies have 1,000 bikes on the streets now, and Spin says their goal is to eventually have 10,000 bikes throughout Seattle neighborhoods. Now that the weather is changing, it's kind of a sad sight seeing nice bikes thrown down willy-nilly in the rain.  And honestly, the last thing I'd want to do is jump on a wet bike seat and ride off.  But that's just me. 

Since you can leave a bike anywhere at all, they are showing up in some strange and humorous places around Seattle. 

Bikes for tree sitters.

Bikes for boaters.

Bikes for stair runners.

Bikes for people who like mechanical puzzles.

Bikes for people who jump off trains.

Bikes for swimmers.

Fall afternoon in Seattle

It is a beauteous evening, calm and free,

The holy time is quiet as a Nun

Breathless with adoration; the broad sun

Is sinking down in its tranquility;

The gentleness of heaven broods o'er the Sea;

Listen! the mighty Being is awake,

And doth with his eternal motion make

A sound like thunder—everlastingly.

Dear child! dear Girl! that walkest with me here,

If thou appear untouched by solemn thought,

Thy nature is not therefore less divine:

Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the year;

And worshipp'st at the Temple's inner shrine,

God being with thee when we know it not.

William Wordsworth

New glasses

I got a new pair of glasses yesterday which is always stressful. I have bad luck finding comfortable frames and well-made lenses, despite the exorbitant prices they charge now.

Even if they're perfect, your brain still has to get used to a different prescription.  And if you wear progressive lenses (a nicer word for bifocals) your neck has to adjust to a slightly different tilt as you point your nose around at what you want to see.  I'm getting a crick in my neck sitting in front of this laptop. I haven't quite figured these out yet.

These new frames are bright blue and smaller than my old red glasses.  John says they look stylish which was nice of him, although I'm not vain about glasses anymore.  I just want to see.  At this point, they all make me look a bit like Mrs. Beasley.

John is smarter and buys the exact same frames in bulk, so as his prescription changes he just pulls a new frame out of a drawer and has them made up. He doesn't have to go to the trouble to select or get used to new ones.

There is nothing to see in Seattle at this hour because it is pitch black outside.  The days are short and the sun already setting before 6 pm.  But we have a real weather gift ahead with a long string of dry, bright and almost warm days.

Have a good weekend!

Rain and leaves

My flight was on time yesterday and John picked me up on the way home from work. I made some turkey chili from the freezer, lit a pumpkin spice candle, poured a glass of wine and we watched a little baseball.  Who won? I was asleep by nine.

The leaves around town are colorful, but it rained several inches while I was gone and the garden looks pretty sad and soggy.  Well, at least compared to the bright desert landscapes.  But it's pretty in a subdued sort of way, as things wind down for the year and the gardener gets a little rest. The beds still need leaf mulching-- the final big chore.

After a drenching start, October is ending dry and there's no rain in the forecast until late next week.  Today I'll rake leaves and get caught up with the tidy pile of laundry that John thoughtfully left in front of the washing machine.  It is a mystery that someone can work on jet planes, yet washing machine operation is apparently too complicated. Ha!

Then tomorrow I'll reward myself with a horseback ride.  I haven't seen my riding friend Marianne for several weeks and we have lots to catch up on.

Hot dog

It got up to 91 yesterday, which is unseasonably hot for late October and a few degrees short of the record.  It brought out the lazy in us, but we took a morning walk at Floyd Lamp Park, a real desert oasis just a short drive away.


A few geese and ducks were napping along the shore and not too excited about our bread crumbs.

During the winter, the ponds are full of hungry waterfowl swarming like starving hoards.  Tule Springs is a lovely, peaceful place any time of year. So close to the city, there's always interesting wildlife, like this Great Blue Heron.

Marji flew back to the nest yesterday afternoon. We had wine on the patio, followed by pasta and shrimp dinner.   The good life!

Sunday morning breakfast

Dad said he was hankering for an old-fashioned, fried cornmeal mush breakfast.  You can buy plain 'ole corn meal in Las Vegas, but I brought a 2-pound box in my suitcase anyway, along with some hardcover books. I just skimmed under Alaska's 40-pound limit, but the heavy suitcase prompted a smart remark from the Uber driver: "Have you got a BODY in there?"

"Ha, ha," said I.  "Just incapable of packing light."

This breakfast is plain, simple and cheap. We had it all the time as kids.  The cornmeal cooks up into a hot, sticky glop, then you can eat it like bland, starchy porridge with milk and sugar.  But better yet, pour the mush into a loaf pan to set over night. In the morning, sliced and fried (preferably in a touch of bacon fat) and served with butter and syrup.

I was telling Dad this morning that "mush" was also good served "savory" for dinner, like with spicy red sauce and Parmesan cheese. He seemed a bit skeptical-- that combination seems pretty strange to a Pennsylvania Dutchman.

We’re having a nice visit, and just got back from a early morning food trip to Trader Joe's.  My sister Marji gets home tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to the three of us spending time together before I head back on Wednesday.

The weather is beautiful, everything standing out in sharp relief against a piercing blue sky. It is the perfect time of year here, requiring neither air-conditioning or furnace.  It was pouring when I left Seattle, and I hear it hasn't stopped raining all weekend.

You say polenta, I say mush...

Finding sunshine

"It is the rain that makes us melancholy-- 

that, and the localities we inhabit."

(Unknown)

It was so dark and dreary this morning I actually slept in until 6 am. Now I'm puttering around, packing for my trip to Las Vegas tomorrow. Another drenching storm is headed for the Northwest, but the desert forecast looks beautiful with summer-like temperatures in the high 80's.  Perfect weather for sitting on the patio and taking walks with Dad, Marji, and of course, Doodles the Supreme Commander.

John is home manning The Ark until I get back on Wednesday.  I should have some sunny desert pictures soon.  Have a great weekend, wherever you are.

Embrace the ordinary

We got pummeled pretty good yesterday with record-breaking rain and wind. The Seattle Times called the storm the beginning of the "Big Dark."  So true. I stayed home and cleaned the house from top to bottom, which was tiring but satisfying in that mindless way.

Last week, when it seemed like it would be sunny and bright forever, I almost cleaned all the outside windows.  I'm glad I didn't bother, because it feels we're living inside a washing machine this morning.  The rain can wash them all winter.

Speaking of appliances, it seems like I was just writing about dishwasher woes, and now the one we bought in March is acting up in an intermittent way-- the most frustrating way. It's so much better when things just up and die and get it over with.  This is a cheap model (the only one that fits) and gets heavy use, but still,  should last longer than 6 months.

Since it's technically still under warranty, I called the GE 1-800 service number, expecting to connected to somewhere in Pakistan.  Instead, I spoke to some very nice ladies in Alabama.  Between the heavy southern accents and bad connection, it was almost like talking to someone in a foreign country. (I mean that in the nicest possible way.) We tried, but the call involved reading off long strings of serial numbers, so things got a bit muddled.  I gave them my email address and never heard back, so something got lost in translation. 

I think I managed to make a service appointment one week from today. Of course the thing is running fine and dandy again.  If that keeps up, I'll cancel the appointment, rather than look like a fool in front of the repairman.  Been there, done that.  Remember when "major appliances" were things that lasted a lifetime?

Wordless Wednesday

Lynda Carter

Wonder Woman
1975

Bringing in the Sheaves

Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness,

Sowing in the noontide and the dewy eve;

Waiting for the harvest, and the time of reaping,

We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

American Gospel song, 1874

The satellite shows a moisture plume stretching 6,000 miles back to China, like a long fire hose aimed at the Pacific Northwest. Everyone is getting excited about the approaching wind and rain storms.  The months of boring, beautiful dry weather are about to become a distant memory.

Sheaves, leaves, plants...time to gather in and hunker down. Speaking of houseplants, despite a severe hacking back this summer, my jade plants are bigger than ever.  They love it out on the front porch, but now I have to find a place to cram them for the winter. I also need leaves for mulching the flower beds, and the big maple tree across the street will soon oblige. That is, if the wind doesn't blow them to Kingdom Come. Fall chores begin.  
 

  

Transitions

On the drive home Saturday, we caught a glimpse of a flock of Snow Geese in a corn field. We also also saw breathtaking, soaring V's of Trumpeter Swans high in the sky.

Swans and Snow Geese migrate from Alaska and Siberia to spend the winter in western Washington. In spring and fall, you can see them by the hundreds of thousands in the Skagit Valley, where they rest and feed in the farmlands and wetlands. Since we didn't have our binoculars or spotting scope, I'd like to plan a bird-watching weekend sometime. 

We enjoyed our little stay in La Conner.  There's a surprisingly fancy (and free) Museum of Northwest Art. I especially loved the glass art wildlife.

The glass artist, Raven Skyriver, grew up on in the San Juan Islands. He exhibits and teaches glass art classes around the world.

After one final indulgence (fried oysters for me, a bowl of creamy chowder for John) it was time to head back to the big city.

How quickly Monday rolls around.  And this is the last dry day for the foreseeable future-- a series of strong fall storms is headed our way all week.

Change of plans

We got an early start yesterday and decided to take the North Cascades Highway instead of Snoqualmie Pass. There was a winter weather warning in the Cascades, and the snow seemed to be more concentrated in the southern regions. 

That was an unlucky choice.  After a long drive getting out of Seattle, we were finally about 50 miles from Winthrop and excited about seeing the kids soon.  Suddenly, road closed!

Earlier in the day there were multiple spin-outs on Rainy Pass.  Fortunately we missed that, but this is an isolated area and tow trucks were 60 miles from the scene. No one could say how long it would take to clear the road of cars and reopen the highway. Even the pestered highway patrol man directing traffic had no idea.  His estimate ranged from between "a few hours" and "tomorrow."

The official WASHDOT pass reports don't even start until November, so the only information was word-of-mouth and rumor.  Cell phones don't work, and rumor had it that the back-up headed east stretched many miles. 

We hung out by the side of the road for a while before deciding to head back.  Stevens Pass was a option, but it would have added at least 4 hours to the trip and there was winter weather advisory there as well.

What a disappointment!  And with the car all loaded for a weekend trip, it was too depressing driving home in Friday afternoon rush hour traffic.

When my phone finally worked again, I made some calls from the car and found a last minute room at the Channel Lodge in La Conner.

This cute touristy town is about 60 miles north of Seattle in the Skagit Valley, along the Swinomish Channel.

We got a nice room with a balcony and view.  Wine shop next door. Barbecue restaurant across the street. We were sad and missed the family, but enjoyed an unexpected treat.

Pretty sunset...

My style of entertainment in the lobby-- the duo played many of The Ukes favorite tunes.

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade..."

Wine country heartbreak

The charming little town of Calistoga in the Napa Valley is now under mandatory evacuation, with fire burning right on the outskirts.  Everything depends on the wind direction today, but so much has been destroyed already in Napa and Sonoma counties, with a terrible loss of life.

We've been going to Dr. Wilkerson's Hot Springs for decades, and it seems inconceivable that the entire town, full of familiar restaurants, wineries, spas and galleries, could be destroyed. Not to mention, the beloved Calistoga Coffee Roastery and Cal-Mart grocery store.

We usually go to the Napa Valley in September, the loveliest month in wine country with the harvest going and warm, mellow days. Not this year. We hope and pray there will be a town to return to someday.

Lincoln Avenue

Calistoga

Bam.  Up here, fall has suddenly arrived.  It's wet and chilly (if only we could share with California) with first snow in the mountains.  But we're looking forward to visiting the kids this weekend.  More on that later...

Coffee nostalgia

Are you old enough to remember colored toilet paper?  Then you're probably feeling nostalgic for kinder, simpler days. At least it seems so in retrospect, with this constant fire hose of sad, scary and just plain vulgar "news."  

Kind of embarrassing, but food shopping is one of my sorry little hobbies.  I enjoy poking around grocery stores thinking of things to cook. Like most people, we have many store choices here, but that wasn't always the case. I've been trying to find a picture of the long-gone A&P market in Quakertown, PA. 

This is Youngstown, but it looks similar to the outskirts of Quakertown.  Going to the grocery store was a big family excursion on Friday night, with a Dairy Queen cone afterwards in the car.  

We lived on a dairy farm and grew most of our food, but mom had to buy staples like sugar, flour and coffee.  I wonder if dad had a cup of coffee before he went out to milk at 5:00 am?  It's hard to imagine getting going on dark, cold farm mornings without it.

The A&P was ahead of their time, and sold three varieties of beans that customer would grind in the store.  This was always really exciting to watch. (Simpler times.)

The "Eight-o-Clock" was "mild and mellow."  "Red Circle" was "rich and full-bodied."  But the most sophisticated brew was something called "Bokar," described as "vigorous and winey."

How many bewildering varieties of coffee can we buy now?  But when you think about it, a choice of three seems just about right.