Jun 25

Weekend Wanderings

Friday night Julian asked, “So what are the plans for the weekend?” I told him to look at the weekend section of the paper for inspiration. As it happened, the Greenwood Car Show was on Saturday. We’ve gone to this several times while we’ve lived here. In the interest of domestic tranquility, I acquiesced.

Somehow the Greenwood Car Show always falls on the first hot weekend of the summer, and this year was no exception. The cars were lined up for nearly 25 blocks along Greenwood Avenue. Entrepreneurs were making good money selling bottled water, lemonade, and snacks. Most of the cars were American-made. Several folks showed off their home-rigged electric vehicles. There was also a contingent of Soviet-era cars, made by Gaz and Lada. Not as many 1964 Chevy Impala low-riders as there were last year. The most unique car we saw was a 1931 American-made Rolls Royce limousine. Julian was a bit disappointed in the variety of cars this year. Maybe the entry fee was raised.

Today I decided to take Flash to church. I did not ride the whole way there, as I thought it would be socially incorrect to show up seriously sweaty. I took the bus from the Kenmore Park and Ride to the old neighborhood and rode from there. I was missing a granny gear big time. I had to walk five blocks up NE 75th Street rather than ride. Luckily, the ride home is mostly downhill. Flash got to go down one of my favorite streets in Northeast Seattle. It’s heavily forested with few houses. You half expect Hobbits to come out and greet you. Although the temperature was climbing fast, the Burke-Gilman trail was shaded in spots. I was passing men half my age as if they were standing still – always a good ego boost. The “your speed” sign near Log Boom Park in Kenmore clocked me almost at the speed limit for that stretch of the trail. So Kenmore isn’t making enough money from nabbing auto speeders???

Next weekend it’s road trip time, this time to Vancouver for the Canada Day Sesquicentennial festivities. We’ll be on this side of the border for July 4. Fireworks are definitely in our future.

 

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/06/25/weekend-wanderings/

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/06/24/good-triumphs-over-greedheads/

Jun 17

More Change, not for the Better

We went downtown on our usual caffeine run today. It’s high tourist season here. Pike Place Market was slammed. As we approached Julian’s coffee shop of choice, Caffe d’Arte, I noticed it looked strangely vacant. We read the sign on the door: Last day of business at the location on 2nd Ave and Stewart Street was May 3. NOOOOOOOOO!!!! We knew the building was doomed to become another soulless high rise, but the demolition date kept being pushed back.

When the salesperson at the Perennial Tea Room asked how we were, I said I was fine but Julian was in mourning because Caffe d’Arte had closed. She sympathized – even tea ladies in Seattle drink coffee from time to time. After getting my tea, we walked down to the new location at Pioneer Square (Yesler Street and 1st Avenue). Although it’s a bit of a schlep from our usual haunts, the new store has more room for both staff and customers. They also invested in new espresso machines. One of the baristas gave Julian a close-up view of one of the machines. The extra walk to the new store gives us an excuse to splurge on calories, especially if we stop at the Paris-Madrid Grocery and have to climb the Harbor Steps on the way back to the car.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/06/17/more-change-not-for-the-better/

Jun 14

Keeping Up to Date

Neli has been known to compose text messages. Today she decided to browse the CNN website on Julian’s phone.

Neli geeking out

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/06/14/keeping-up-to-date/

Jun 12

Meet the New Ride

Meet Flash, my “new” bike. As with Harvietta, this was a secondhand bike. This one was handed over by Julian. He decided he didn’t need to put his shoulder at risk by riding a bike. It’s much lighter than the old bike. It’s also silver. One guy passed me on the trail a couple of weeks ago and complimented me on how shiny it is. (Naturally, I didn’t tell him it had barely been ridden before I got it.)

Flash.

The one drawback of my new ride is the lack of a “granny gear”. I have several short steep slogs on my usual rides where the granny gear makes a difference between riding and walking the bike uphill. One may be forthcoming, when I get the bike fully fitted to my frame.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/06/12/meet-the-new-ride/

Jun 12

This Year’s Garden

So to speak. Our “garden” consists of the south-facing upper deck and a few square feet of semi-shade near the front door walkway. We also have some planters in deep shade on said walkway. Last week I emptied the soil out so Julian could paint them. Eventually I may try to put some ferns in the planters.

We’re talking shady!

I bought two Padron pepper plants back in April. The perennial herbs I had left over from last year (mint, rosemary, chives) looked pretty sad from the rainy winter and spring, so I ditched them. Last weekend we went hunting for replacements, along with basil. First we went to Molbak’s. This store is gardeners’ heaven. We got a few herbs there, along with a shiso plant. This is my experiment of the year. The red leaves are a nice contrast to the other herbs, plus shiso is tasty. I put some on an herb plate to go along with a Thai shrimp red curry.

After we left Molbak’s we stopped at the Yakima Fruit Stand and got a few more herbs. Julian also wanted a couple of hanging baskets. We got a fuchsia for the entry, along with a mixed petunia pot for the upper deck. The hummingbirds love the petunias. We also have a legit hummingbird feeder, but these freeloaders will hit both the basket and the feeder. Julian has his camera and tripod set up by the sliding glass door so he can take photos of the hummers. Stay tuned for those pics.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/06/12/this-years-garden/

Jun 05

Flower Communion

Like many Unitarian Universalists (UU), my favorite service of the year is Flower Communion. Each person brings a flower, places it in a common basket, then leaves with a different flower. The flowers may come from gardens, farmers’ markets, or the grocery store. This ritual is not imbued with the deep symbolism of Christian Communion; rather, it is in the sharing of beauty by the community. It’s also to commemorate a World War II martyr and Unitarian minister, Dr. Norbert Capek (pronounced Cha-peck).

Dr. Capek served the Unitarian congregation in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Under his leadership, it grew to over 3000 members and was the largest Unitarian congregation in the world at the time. He initiated Flower Communion in his church in 1923, at the last service before the summer. When the Nazis took over Czechoslovakia in 1939, Dr. Capek’s message of the inherent worth and dignity of everyone did not conform with the conquerors’ idea of the master race. The Nazis arrested him, made him participate in “scientific experiments”, and eventually executed him in 1942. His wife and children escaped to the United States, where they settled in the Boston area and introduced Flower Communion to Unitarian congregations on this continent.

Yesterday on my way out of the driveway, I snipped a couple of rhododendron clusters off a bush in the front yard. A bee was in a neighboring cluster, so I wisely left her alone to do her work. I set my contribution on a table in the foyer of the church and set up the bookstore for the day.

The baskets of flowers were brought in during the introductory music and laid on a table in front of the chapel. Flowers played a role in other facets of the service: The dedication of a baby (a long-stemmed rosebud stripped of the thorns), and a celebration of graduating high school seniors (long-stemmed roses with the thorns left on). Before blessing the flowers, our senior minister read a letter Dr. Capek wrote to his wife the night before he was killed. The letter miraculously made it to her. It’s hard to remain stoic during the reading of that letter. Finally the congregation was called up by rows to select their flowers while singing a hymn written by Dr. Capek, Color and Fragrance. I chose an iris.

The definitive book on Dr. Capek, Norbert Fabian Capek by retired UU minister Richard Henry, is out of print. However, if you saw Ken Burns’s Defying the Nazis, Dr. Capek and the Prague congregation were featured in that film. Dr. Capek met the Sharps at the Prague train station to help them begin their operation to get people out of Nazi-occupied Europe.

In these times, the message of Dr. Capek is more resonant than ever. We need to support the inherent worth and dignity of all against assaults by those in power. Jews, Gypsies, disabled, and gays were targeted back in World War II; now immigrants and Muslims are called out for abuse. Resolve to love your neighbor, regardless.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/06/05/flower-communion/

May 29

Olympic Feats

We went to the Olympic Peninsula for the day on Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend. For you readers Back East, the standard elementary school map depiction of Washington state resembles a hitchhiker’s fist. The “thumb” is the Olympic Peninsula. There are a few small cities, but most of the peninsula is occupied by Olympic National Park. This park encompasses numerous ecosystems: The rocky Pacific coast; a temperate-zone rain forest; and the Olympic Mountains.

The fastest (usually) way to get to the Olympic Peninsula from the Seattle area is to take the Edmonds-Kingston ferry. Bring patience and some reading material for the wait. At peak times you could be sitting in your car for up to two hours before driving onto the boat. Walk-on or bicycle passengers often don’t need to wait, but transit options are limited on the other side. Luckily, we waited about an hour to board the ferry on Saturday. The crossing to Kingston takes 1/2 hour or less. There’s a snack bar, and the bow of the boat is open so you can take pictures or (if you must) do the cheesy “I’m king of the world” pose from the movie Titanic.

Our first destination after getting off the ferry was Sequim (pronounced skwim) and lunch. We ate at a breakfast/lunch restaurant called the Oak Table Café. After that, we drove up to the Dungeness Spit National Wildlife Refuge. Unfortunately for us, many others had the same idea. Parking was non-existent, so we left. Since the main attraction of Sequim, the lavender fields, weren’t in bloom yet, we headed west.

Port Angeles is the largest city on the northern peninsula. We often visit on July 4 weekend for its community parade and fireworks. It also has a ferry terminal for day trips to Victoria, British Columbia. Port Angeles’s main industry back in the day was logging. (Word to the wise: Do not openly complain about the clear-cut hills you saw on the way into town lest you want to get a broken jaw.) These days the biggest attraction is the National Park. One of the biggest draws for us was Olympic Bagel, which made the best bagels we’d found in Washington. Alas, it closed since our last visit. Since we were headed in the right direction, we drove into the park to go to Hurricane Ridge.

Much of the high country in Olympic National Park is inaccessible by car alone. Hurricane Ridge is an exception. We found ourselves in line again to enter the park. We imagined the park ranger at the entrance doing triage on the tourists:

  • Subaru with occupants wearing hiking boots and backpacks: Welcome, have fun.
  • Minivan with kids in the back: Welcome, but stay near the visitors’ center and keep the munchkins within reach.
  • BMW convertible with occupants wearing miniskirts and spike heels: Where do you think you are, Bellevue? Get out of here!

It was very early in the season to be on Hurricane Ridge. Snowdrifts still covered the hills and the periphery of the parking area. Cars and the mere mortals therein were blocked from going farther than the visitors’ center. There were some deer grazing on the patches of open meadow. Most of what we saw were tourists ignoring the signs to stay off the patches of open meadow nearest the visitors’ center. After we used the restrooms and bought some iced tea at the snack bar, we went back to town. Julian drove down, but he wisely curbed his impulse to play Grand Prix driver on the hairpin curves. (I don’t want to replace Die Frau just yet.)

The consolation prize after a frequently frustrating day was dinner at Bella Italia in Port Angeles. This is our favorite dinner place in town, even if it’s immortalized in the Twilight books as where Edward and Bella had their first date. The food is always excellent. We both had the porchetta, stuffed rolled pork loin. Julian asked the waitress if our dish would resemble the porchetta we saw in France (below). She assured us it would be less whole-hog.

La porchetta vera.

Luckily, we didn’t have long to wait to catch the ferry home. The rest of our morning travel companions either took a later ferry or stayed on the Peninsula for the weekend. For a change on one of these day trips, I was in bed by 11 pm.

 

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/05/29/olympic-feats/

May 21

The Last Ride

Happy trails, old friend.

Now that I’ve inherited Julian’s bike, the Bianchi (aka Harvietta) needed to be passed on to another rider. Some of you recall that I inherited Harvietta from my friend and grad school roommate Jennifer when she had to choose between riding a recumbent and giving up rock-climbing with her dad. Jennifer commuted on the bike and took it to Europe at least once. For my part, Harvietta commuted to and from work and participated in five Danskin Triathlons. Not bad for a 30-year-old bike.

We donated Harvietta to Bike Works. Jennifer actually suggested this worthy cause several years ago. Bike Works sells affordable refurbished bikes. It also trains youngsters how to ride and fix bikes. I also donated the removable car bike rack, since I can fit a bike in my car (with the front wheel off). It was bittersweet to leave her there, but I think she’s got more adventures ahead of her.

 

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/05/21/the-last-ride/

May 18

First Bike Commute of the Year

I finally took the bike to work today. Between the dislocated pinky and the rainy seasons, I hadn’t done so in nine months.
Today was a bit different. I have a new ride: Julian bestowed his bike on me. It rides well and weighs much less than my old bike, but I do miss the “granny gear” on the pedal. The topography around here necessitates that extra gear lest you wind up walking the bike uphill, which I consider a moral failing. Otherwise, the trip home was good. I managed to pass some younger cyclists on the trail. The weather was quite comfortable for riding.

Since tomorrow is Bike to Work Day, I’ll reprise my commute – and maybe pick up some swag in the process.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/05/18/first-bike-commute-of-the-year/

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