9/25/16 Sunday Very few photos

Beautiful weather again after two days of cloud and wind.

We hiked up to church in a hotel the church converted into housing for low-income people. The service was held in the hotel's former dining room. The room was quite crowded with all sorts of people. Very nice.

We walked a couple of blocks and mounted the "D" bus for Ballard. Bryant and Susan met us. We hiked to Ballard Ave and into The Gerald, a bar & eating establishment. We had brunch with mimosas all of which was good. Ballard Ave is turned into a long farmer's market on Sundays. We wandered around looking at things. Bryant bought a bag of miniature doughnuts with cinnamon that were warm and wonderful.

Then we hiked back to 15th Ave and caught the "D" bus back downtown. A small hike through the major part of the market first, then we showed them the easy way to get to F&D's condo. Susan snuck up on the cats and petted them. We had soft drinks. They were up doing Ingress for a loonnggg time, so they're still recovering - they headed back to their place to nap and prepare for tomorrow.

Having nought to do, we did it. Reading and relaxing and watching a little TV.

The shooter from yesterday has been captured. No explanation.


9/26/16 Monday, Monday 🎼

We must be getting blasé about Seattle - we've hardly taken any pictures of this beautiful city despite the wonderful weather. Today's temperature was up near 80* with a nice gentle breeze and very clear sky. We could see across the sound to the Olympics and see the snow on their tops. Fantastic.

We did a few chores (trash, recyclables, dishwasher, etc.). D wanted to shop for clothes, so we explored a different way up the hill to Macy's. Not good for her going up Lenora Street. But we got into Macy's and D found stuff on sale and one good pair of slacks not on sale but perfect fit, so. Over then to Sally's Beauty Supply where I bought a replacement scalp stimulator, and into Walgreens (he was a Swede, by the way, named Walgren) for other stuff.

Back we walked through the Market and stopped in a used book store. It didn't have a cat that I could see, but it had everything else so we bought a few. We'll sell them back in a few days. The proprietor comes from Detroit. I told him I was raised in Holland. He told us about a time they came to Holland for a baseball playoff. He said their team was good, but Holland had some monster pitching who could throw a 90+ mph fast ball. Nobody could hit him and they lost. Neat story.

Back at the condo, we put stuff away and waited for the 5pm cat-treat hour. While they nibbled their treats and ate their food, we cooked ours. TV was full of predictions for tonights Trump-Clinton blather; we made a decision to watch no TV tonight.

We have wine, and our books.


9/27/16 Tuesday A few photos

Susan said she would be free from late morning onward, so we invited her to the condo. We went up into the Pike Place Market (PPM henceforth) and ate lunch overlooking Puget Sound. Nice day but a little cooler. We toured all the levels of the main market building and bought a few books. Susan was quite impressed by the variety of stuff available. Then we returned to the condo.

Susan played with the cats and we all chatted for a while.

We decided to do Anthony's for dinner. Bryant walked the mile from his office and we walked up the waterfront to meet at Anthony's. The food was very nice (but again they had no Dungeness crab) and we had a lot of fun in conversation, some of which included "drop bears" and other mythical creatures like Appalachian woolly mountain lobsters.

We split apart as we left Anthony's; they walked up to the bus line and we walked back to the condo. The rest of the evening was spent reading and computing.


9/28/16 Wednesday About 30 pictures

We awoke to clatter and talking outside the window. The laborers are cleaning out the debris from the re-facing effort and getting ready to replace the supports and 12"x12" pavers that rest on them. Maybe we'll actually get to use the patio before we leave.

I went out to get a haircut but found out the barbers here do it all by appointment. So I made one for tomorrow morning.

D said she wanted to take a ride and look at something other than city. So I picked a dot on the map called Snoqualmie to match the travel-and-lunch time before the rush hour. We went out WA-520, then WA-202 to get there. The weather was good and the air clean. As we approached Snoqualmie, we saw a sign for Snoqualmie Falls; we pulled in to the parking lot. D looked through the gift shop first and found a few things. Then we walked out to the viewing platform to look at the falls. They're really quite spectacular, with a drop of 270 feet in twin falls. The falls powered a lot of Seattle and Tacoma around 1900. It's now a 20mW plant.

We went on into town a picked a restaurant named Copperstvone. It turned out to be an Italian place. D had lasagna & I took baked fettucini with meat balls. Both were very nice, as was the chianti.

The Northwest Railroad Museum is housed in the old Snoqualmie depot almost across the street, so we walked to it. The docent was knowledgeable and pointed out a lot of features of the place. He told some history, including the fact that the dream of the locals and Seattle people was to drive a line through Snoqualmie pass, then to Montana, to bypass the terrible Northern Pacific (which ended at Tacoma and didn't even print the name Seattle on their literature). They got to Snoqualmie, then North Bend a few miles further and ran out of steam and money to continue. So the NP got it and operated it until 1970 and abandoned the line; the city picked it up and kept several miles of track and a lot of rolling stock. The depot is on the National Registry of Historic Places, so it will be there a while.

We might have to go back some Saturday or Sunday for the train ride they do.

We returned then to the condo via I-90, fed the cats, and now we're taking it easy.


9/29/16 Thursday (or Thorstag, if you wish) About 40 photos

This was a very Nordic day. After cat-feeding and ablutions, we went up Stewart Street and O got a haircut from a very professional barber. Then we hiked a few blocks to the bus stop and rode to Susan's place. She had a plan.

The Nordic Museum is housed in an old elementary school but has some great exhibits regarding all the Nordic countries, life there and how they brought their lives here. Really an informative place. They let us in without admission because we're members of our museum back home.

We wandered through the industries the Norse participated in here, with mockups of things like the tailor shop and the farm. Each country has a room to show items brought from that country, with some fine rosemaling on Norwegian trunks. In one room, there's a trunk and you are asked to pack it as though your family was going to America. Very hard.

The gift shop was small but attractive, so we had to buy things. I'm certain the family will enjoy them when we get back.

Susan then drove us to the Nordic Kafe & Gift Shop. We had open-faced Smorgas-type sandwiches (excellent) and coffee (Swedes drink a lot of coffee). We heard two older guys speaking Swedish as they left. I remember being in this shop before, in 2012, but not eating here.

And, once again, we bought gifts (and a few things for us like coffee cups).

Susan then drove us to a bakery that had nice things. We bought apple danish and other things to take to Susan's condo. We went there next.

We were served cabernet sauvignon to drink with our bakery goodies, over which we chatted and along with which we played with the house cats.

Finally we wore down and Susan had to go to the supermarket, so we grabbed the bus and returned to the condo.

T'was a very successful day.


20160930 Friday No Photos

We'd agreed with Susan & Bryant that this was a day off for all of us.

I walked up to Mud Bay Pet Supplies to get a toy for Susan's cats and grass for PC.

The rest of the day, we read, watched TV, played with cats, and generally relaxed.


20161001 Saturday A few photos

We made up for yesterday by doing things today.

We walked the waterfront to the ferry landing, where we met Susan and Bryant. They drove their car onboard while we walked on, then we got together in the lounge.

The ferry went to Bainbridge Island. We drove off and by routes 305, 3, 104, and US-101, reached Port Angeles. The first objective was Hurricane Ridge, altitude 5242, above Port Angeles (PA). We had helped to have good views of the Olympic mountains in the National Park. The clouds stopped us from seeing the peaks but we saw enough to make the trip worthwhile. Susan & Bryant had not been here before, so they were very impressed.

We drove back down to the waterfront, seeing three deer on the way, to Kokopelli the restaurant. The food was good and the setting fine - we were able to see the harbor, boats, and the Coho ferry as it departed for Victoria BC.

We walked to the Feiro Marine Life Center at City Pier. There were three or four docents ready to talk to the animals in the tanks. We did starfish for a while, then talked about fish and animals that survive by hiding and how they hide. Then Susan found the Octopus. We watched that thing for a half-hour as it moved, and drew water in then pushed it out, and changed colors a couple of times. The docent was happy that we were interested and told us all sorts of facts, most of which I've forgotten.

After the center we got into the Visitors Center in the old train station and spoke with the folks there for a bit & picked up some literature. Then the weather turned a little iffy and we were tiring, so we headed home via the Bainbridge ferry again. S&B dropped us close to the house and in we went.

We did the cats and sat down to wine (for warming purposes).