20120801 Seattle Clear, cool, nice August already
We took it easy around the condo doing little stuff like laundry. Now we’re planning to get out in the day and do things.
Later: We went to the Seattle Aquarium. We haven’t been there in five years. It’s still pretty much the same, quite small and getting older. But the sea otters are still neat and the river otters are nice when they’re not sleeping. The caretakers fed the sea otter mom & pup while we were there - pup is a greedy little thing.
Then we went next door to the Fisherman for a drink (pop for D) to quench thirst (it started getting warm in the PM). The we rode the Great Wheel around and around vertically; at the top Mt Rainier was visible so we shot pictures of it.
That took us to 5pm, so we returned to the condo to do happy hour, water the plants, and feed the cats. They enjoyed their time outside. I had to bring in PC yesterday for an out-of-bounds violation when he went beyond the line he’s been trained not to cross.
We sat for a bit, then returned to the Fisherman for dinner. I took the Entertainment card, not realizing it is only good at the Fisherman from Oct to May. I tried to use it and the waiter said he’d check with management - and they allowed it, which saved $20. We tipped the waiter as for the whole bill.
The sailors off the USS Halsey (DDG97), which is berthed at pier 66 across the street from the condo, are all ashore and wandering around in dress whites. How well I remember being them in San Juan, St Thomas, Honolulu, and a whole bunch of other ports. I hope they have as much fun and fortune as I did.
We walked down the waterfront from the Fisherman to the condo and in. The cats came out to say hi, then disappeared. Now we’re doing TV, books, and computer. Dolores’s diverticulitis pain is just about gone. Yay!
Picture Link20120802 Seattle Cloudy, cleared, cool
Great day. Cared for cats, coffee, breakfast, newspaper missing again.
Then the Blue Angels made several passes up the waterfront, turning fuel into noise, getting ready for the big Seafair event Saturday.
We took a cab to 5th and University and walked around the neighborhood for a bit (Gucci, Brooks Bros, etc.).
Fran & Duane had furnished us tickets for the play “Rent” at the 5th Avenue Theater. When it opened we went in. Fantastic restoration of an old vaudeville and silent picture emporium done in the great Chinese style of 1924. A foundation now owns it and produces plays year-round. Productions coming up are “Memphis”, “Music Man”, “ELF”, “The Pirates of Penzance” and others.
The set was perfect and the way they changed scenes without drawing a curtain was choreographed with the play. Great lighting. Besides the stage, a lot of the action took place on industrial scaffolding around the back side of it. Even the “band” was on the right-hand scaffolding. Some of the audience was seated on couches stage left, where they almost looked like participants.
The cast all looked young. Well, the play is about a year in the life of aspiring actors and others in the East Village in NYC, so that fits. There are parts of all the phases of life that could occur in that setting - a little happy, a lot of frustration, some drugs, prostitution, friends splitting, friends becoming friends, a friend dying. If you’re going to attend it, read the plot first so you don’t have to decipher it from the action.
The sound is LOUD. Of course, it *is* a rock opera. But the music and multiple amplified voices sometimes make it very hard to hear the words of the song and thus that part of what’s happening.
Wonderful afternoon. Thanks, Fran and Duane.
We walked across the avenue afterward to the Rock Bottom Brewpub for beer (coke for D) and food. It was good pub food, sliders and chili for me and a big crabcake + mashed potato for D. Then we walked back to the condo (much easier downhill by way of 5th and then Pike).
The cats weren’t too perturbed because we weren’t all that late. We gave them treats and food and let them be outside for a while. Then PC went into his cave and HG hid under the bed with her tail sticking out (see pictures).
Then some Olympics-watching and laundry chores and so forth.
Pictures Link20120803 Seattle Clear, warm, almost hot
Again, circumstances dictate an easy day. Loafed the morning away with small chores. Susan sent us an e-mail saying one of her cats (Nixie) is ailing and must go to the vet today - worrisome.
Dolores decided she wanted pancakes. So we went to the Original Pancake House at 80th St & 15th Ave. She had her pancakes, I had the Swedish style. Both were good, and we walked out full. Then we went down 15th to the Fred Meyer supermarket.
There, we bought wine and other things, and took cash from the ATM. Then we returned to the condo. While waiting at a light, the Blue Angels roared over the street in front of us - six in beautiful tight formation. They roared down the sound too fast for us to get another look.
I went up into the Market to get a couple of paperbacks (at $1.75 ea).
At 5pm we held half-happy-hour (D still can’t drink) and gave the cats shrimp pieces. PC wasn’t very interested in his shrimp, but after catnip and grass and a period of watching the pedestrians come and go, he ate his. Honey attacked the shrimp.
We sat around and eventually made up a chicken-rice-salad dinner and ate. We laid out the plan for tomorrow and now are taking it easy.
Dolores is over half-way with her antibiotics. Yay!
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