Monday, January 30, 2006
Monday Morning Thoughts
A little bit of this and a little bit of that:
1. Friday night we had our monthly wine tasting get together in Seattle. Did we wear green and blue to celebrate the Seahawks? No, the word spread amongst all of our members, most of whom are University profs and scientists, to wear red in honor of the Chinese New Year and to welcome the "Year of the Dog". No one in this group is Asian but it doesn't matter--Chinese New Year is a big deal in Seattle. But on the way home, I saw one car decorated with Seahawks flags. One car on a Friday night on the main freeway into Seattle was it.
Picture in the paper today by Greg Gilbert, Seattle Times (note the rain)
2. Two of our friends in the wine group grew up in Detroit. Both of them expressed concern about Seattle fans in Detroit. They said the city has deteriorated and has some very rough sections unlike anything we have here. Certainly, we have areas where the average income level is less and areas of drug use and some gang activity and many many homeless people. But you can be confident if you take the wrong exit in Seattle into a depressed area, you don't need to worry about your safety. Also, if you just drive a few blocks toward water or mountains, you'll end up in a place where the incomes are higher. Sometimes it is hard to tell what kind of neighborhood you are in because after all of this rain, everybody needs a new paint job.
The view from Detroit in the Seattle PI today:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/football/257511_postcards30.html
And a quote:
"When I heard Seattle was coming [to Detroit], I was like, 'Yeah! We're going to have sophisticated people in this city!'
"I love Seattle. I've spent time there. When people say it has the highest suicide rate because of the rain, I tell them it's just a drizzle, a mist.
"I love the Asian influence -- the arts, the shops, the culture. Every neighborhood I was in, you could walk to something, a bead store, a restaurant, a theater.
"Aesthetically, Detroit is just not beautiful like Seattle is. It's so contemporary. So cosmopolitan."
3. Speaking of rain---last night was stormy and we had over two inches of rain and it was not just a drizzle. Avalanches have closed I-90 for the second time and four new mudlsides happened overnight to stop the train below our house. As of this moment, I do not know exactly where the mudslides are but a utility truck just drove by. I expect the helicopters any time now. We have one window that leaks under extreme conditions right here in the den where the computer is. I have had no less than four different guys here including window experts, deck builders, repair people and gutter people. All of them have charged us a hefty sum to fix it without success. Mother Nature wins! So I am thinking of sunnier days to cheer myself. But don't worry, I am not suicidal.
Feb. 2003, San Jose del Cabo, Mexico, the kids and me.
4. And some Seahawk Super Bowl statistics that I found fascinating: I love it when I find statistics that support my gut cultural feelings and observations.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002770903_hawkfans30m.html
And some quotes:
Despite the "12th Man" flag planted atop the Space Needle, just 14 percent of people in Seattle identify themselves as strong NFL fans, according to Scarborough Research, a New York-based firm that conducts detailed surveys of consumer behavior.
The fan base is double that — 28 percent — in South King County. On the Eastside and in Pierce County, 21 percent follow the NFL and Seahawks. In Snohomish County, 16 percent. The data, based on surveys done before the Seahawks' playoff run, undoubtedly lag behind the current frenzy.
[My county, Snohomish, the fan base is only 16 percent which does not include my family. But we are what they call "Bandwagoners" because we have been fans through the play offs and into the Super Bowl but not on a regular basis. Hey, I have to spend my time looking for orcas.]
Why is that? Is Seattle too snooty for football?
For that, we have no firm data, but there are theories.
"Basically, a lot of the people living in the city right now are the latté group," said Jerry Martinez of Sequim, a lifelong Seahawks fan on his way to Detroit in his impossible-to-ignore motor home, the Seahawk Express....
But there is a lot to do in Seattle, a city known for its book-reading, filmgoing population. Most of the time, people are focused on other things....
"Pittsburgh as a city is defined much more by the Steelers and its sports teams. Seattle is defined by Starbucks and Boeing and rain and the Space Needle."
In fact, the market-research data from Scarborough last year ranked the Pittsburgh area as the No. 2 market in the country in percentage of football fans, with 41 percent of the people there identifying as strong fans. The Seattle-Tacoma region ranked 65th, with about 20 percent of the population.
Evidently, Pittsburgh like Detroit is a more depressed city economically than Seattle and folks have fewer things to focus on or to do so they latch on to football. Who knows? But 14% or even our highest of 28% still pales compared to 41 %. The article fails to mention or recognize that a huge part of the Seahawks fan base is even further away than the Seattle suburbs. All of Eastern Washington which includes Spokane and on into Idaho and Montana where Seattle is the nearest city with any professional sports teams has a huge percentage of football fans.
And right now, they are rooting for the Seahawks. And so am I. Will I put 12th man flags on my car? No.
(I might but for me it would be to rub Texas A&M's face in it because they are suing Seattle for using the term "12th Man" which they claim as theirs alone. Boo!)
A little bit of this and a little bit of that:
1. Friday night we had our monthly wine tasting get together in Seattle. Did we wear green and blue to celebrate the Seahawks? No, the word spread amongst all of our members, most of whom are University profs and scientists, to wear red in honor of the Chinese New Year and to welcome the "Year of the Dog". No one in this group is Asian but it doesn't matter--Chinese New Year is a big deal in Seattle. But on the way home, I saw one car decorated with Seahawks flags. One car on a Friday night on the main freeway into Seattle was it.
Picture in the paper today by Greg Gilbert, Seattle Times (note the rain)
2. Two of our friends in the wine group grew up in Detroit. Both of them expressed concern about Seattle fans in Detroit. They said the city has deteriorated and has some very rough sections unlike anything we have here. Certainly, we have areas where the average income level is less and areas of drug use and some gang activity and many many homeless people. But you can be confident if you take the wrong exit in Seattle into a depressed area, you don't need to worry about your safety. Also, if you just drive a few blocks toward water or mountains, you'll end up in a place where the incomes are higher. Sometimes it is hard to tell what kind of neighborhood you are in because after all of this rain, everybody needs a new paint job.
The view from Detroit in the Seattle PI today:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/football/257511_postcards30.html
And a quote:
"When I heard Seattle was coming [to Detroit], I was like, 'Yeah! We're going to have sophisticated people in this city!'
"I love Seattle. I've spent time there. When people say it has the highest suicide rate because of the rain, I tell them it's just a drizzle, a mist.
"I love the Asian influence -- the arts, the shops, the culture. Every neighborhood I was in, you could walk to something, a bead store, a restaurant, a theater.
"Aesthetically, Detroit is just not beautiful like Seattle is. It's so contemporary. So cosmopolitan."
3. Speaking of rain---last night was stormy and we had over two inches of rain and it was not just a drizzle. Avalanches have closed I-90 for the second time and four new mudlsides happened overnight to stop the train below our house. As of this moment, I do not know exactly where the mudslides are but a utility truck just drove by. I expect the helicopters any time now. We have one window that leaks under extreme conditions right here in the den where the computer is. I have had no less than four different guys here including window experts, deck builders, repair people and gutter people. All of them have charged us a hefty sum to fix it without success. Mother Nature wins! So I am thinking of sunnier days to cheer myself. But don't worry, I am not suicidal.
Feb. 2003, San Jose del Cabo, Mexico, the kids and me.
4. And some Seahawk Super Bowl statistics that I found fascinating: I love it when I find statistics that support my gut cultural feelings and observations.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002770903_hawkfans30m.html
And some quotes:
Despite the "12th Man" flag planted atop the Space Needle, just 14 percent of people in Seattle identify themselves as strong NFL fans, according to Scarborough Research, a New York-based firm that conducts detailed surveys of consumer behavior.
The fan base is double that — 28 percent — in South King County. On the Eastside and in Pierce County, 21 percent follow the NFL and Seahawks. In Snohomish County, 16 percent. The data, based on surveys done before the Seahawks' playoff run, undoubtedly lag behind the current frenzy.
[My county, Snohomish, the fan base is only 16 percent which does not include my family. But we are what they call "Bandwagoners" because we have been fans through the play offs and into the Super Bowl but not on a regular basis. Hey, I have to spend my time looking for orcas.]
Why is that? Is Seattle too snooty for football?
For that, we have no firm data, but there are theories.
"Basically, a lot of the people living in the city right now are the latté group," said Jerry Martinez of Sequim, a lifelong Seahawks fan on his way to Detroit in his impossible-to-ignore motor home, the Seahawk Express....
But there is a lot to do in Seattle, a city known for its book-reading, filmgoing population. Most of the time, people are focused on other things....
"Pittsburgh as a city is defined much more by the Steelers and its sports teams. Seattle is defined by Starbucks and Boeing and rain and the Space Needle."
In fact, the market-research data from Scarborough last year ranked the Pittsburgh area as the No. 2 market in the country in percentage of football fans, with 41 percent of the people there identifying as strong fans. The Seattle-Tacoma region ranked 65th, with about 20 percent of the population.
Evidently, Pittsburgh like Detroit is a more depressed city economically than Seattle and folks have fewer things to focus on or to do so they latch on to football. Who knows? But 14% or even our highest of 28% still pales compared to 41 %. The article fails to mention or recognize that a huge part of the Seahawks fan base is even further away than the Seattle suburbs. All of Eastern Washington which includes Spokane and on into Idaho and Montana where Seattle is the nearest city with any professional sports teams has a huge percentage of football fans.
And right now, they are rooting for the Seahawks. And so am I. Will I put 12th man flags on my car? No.
(I might but for me it would be to rub Texas A&M's face in it because they are suing Seattle for using the term "12th Man" which they claim as theirs alone. Boo!)
// posted by Janet @ 7:53 AM
0 comments
Friday, January 27, 2006
More Seahawks!
I am loving this. Everyday the newspaper is full of more Super Bowl preparations. For an amateur like me when it comes to all things cultural, I feel like I have discovered some large gold nuggets in the bottom of my gold pan. (And yes, being from Montana, I have actually panned for gold, thank you very much.)
1. Slowly, it is beginning to dawn on us that the Seahawks are going to play in that game---you know the one where Janet Jackson....Yuck!
2. Still, the grocery store displays of Budweiser beer up to the ceiling with giant inflatable footballs seem to be generic. Come on QFC! Quit thinking corporately and make your display specific to the SEAHAWKS.
3. The Pittsburgh Steeler fans are positively frightening. Evidently, football is their religion and everything--homes and bodies are draped with black and gold. And get this: they drink beer called Iron City out of a metal bottle and eat sandwiches made with sausage, beef, scrambled eggs, American cheese and mayo. OH MY! I didn't even know you could buy American cheese anymore. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/football/257287_pittsburgh27.html
4. And what do we do? We send one of our best chefs, John Howie of "Seastar Restaurant and Raw Bar" and "Sport", to Detroit to cook Sizzling Dungeness Crab Cakes. Come on--shouldn't that be served over steak or something? After the big game last Sunday, Seahawks owner, Paul Allen of Microsoft fame, showed up with 20 people without a reservation at a local restaurant and ate crab-stuffed salmon like a good Seattleite. Mike Holmgren, the coach and not a native, went to a steak house with reservations and ordered a steak. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2002765040_nancybowl27.html
Let me add here that Homgren's wife fits right into Seattle. We love her. She is going to miss the Super Bowl because her coach husband gave her a trip to the Congo for Christmas. The trip conflicts with the Super Bowl but the Coach insists she go.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/football/257278_hbok27.html
And what is she going to do?
She will travel to the Congo on an aid mission from Northwest Medical Teams, and her husband wouldn't have it any other way....She will leave for the Congo on Thursday. Kathy will be going along with their daughter Calla, who is a doctor. Kathy is a board member for Northwest Medical Teams, a non-profit organization that helps coordinate international aid and relief. She previously went to Romania to help at an orphanage.
I'd bet money she did not approve of that steak he ordered!
5. John Howie, the chef, also happens to be a big Apolo Anton Ohno fan (Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist in Short Track Speedskating from Seattle). Whoa! And the Olympics are coming up right after the Super Bowl so the national sports coverage will again be mentioning Seattle every other sentence. Need we be worried about all of this publicity?
Apolo in Seattle during the Vancouver/Whistler 2010 Olympics announcement. (Yes, we were there--took this terrible photo myself.)
6. No, we do not need to be worried about the publicity! I'll answer my own question because we are coming off as being gigantic weenies who do not know what to do with a Super Bowl if it hits us in our collective rain-covered faces. Who would want to move to a place where you dare not disagree politically; where everyone is depressed; where the sun never shines; where you better know how to order at an Ivar's Fish Bar; where you are afraid to admit you've watched a football game on a TV that you are afraid to admit you own; and where you are scoffed at if you eat steak but if you do--it better be organic?
7. I mean seriously, folks, if the Steeler fans find out about this: In the Seattle Times today, you can cut out a Seahawks newspaper hat to wear on your head. PLEASE! First of all, it will last about 30 seconds in our humidity inside or out and will droop in an obscene way. Second, it has "weenie" written all over it. Thank God, Seattle Times, you did not put this in your online newspaper.
8. This was the front page headlines of the Seattle Times today "Dinner and Dancing on Super Sunday" and this is the article and a quote:
Super Bowl obsession is seeping into places you might assume it would skip, such as the Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB). Professional ballet and professional football seem like diametric opposites on the cultural brow. One is white wine poured gently into crystal glasses. The other is watered-down domestic beers sloshing in 32-ounce plastic cups.
Toe shoes vs. face paint.
Yet during a class Monday among PNB's company dancers, Casey Herd and James Moore turned their choices in wardrobe into a mini-spectacle. Herd wore a Seahawks hooded sweatshirt to class, while Moore, a native San Franciscan who danced four years with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, donned a gold headband and wiped the sweat from his brow with his Pittsburgh Steelers "Terrible Towel."
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002765032_ballet27m.html
I love ballet and I would pick a ballet over a football game any day to see in person. I have argued with my husband over who are superior athletes--ballet dancers or basketball players.
But did this need to be on the front page? Evidently, Pittsburgh Steeler fans eat nails and we go to the ballet and drink white wine. Do we really want them to know this?
9. And more fodder for the can crunching, nail eating Steeler fans: Here are our choices besides home for Super Bowl Sunday.
Back in Seattle, some well-heeled football fanatics will be enjoying the game in style in the Grand Reserve Room at Joeys on South Lake Union. It's already booked, to parties that can handle a wine list that starts at $140 and includes a $475 vintage Dom Perignon — just the thing to toast the Seahawks' first trip to the Super Bowl.
OR
While the rest of Seattle is glued to the game, Jacqueline Roberts, owner of The Pink Door at Pike Place Market, will be celebrating with a party of her own. She's calling it Super Belle Sunday, and says it's a "girls-only" affair — although gents in drag are welcome. The party kicks off at 3 p.m., a half-hour before they'll be kicking off in Detroit, and $20 buys the belles of this ball a chance to nibble antipasti at the buffet table and hang out in the bar watching chick flicks.
That's right: This is an anti-Super Bowl affair, and the game won't be seen on a single screen.
Roberts also promises a passel of adorable busboys willing to fetch wine and cocktails while ladies and their look-alikes indulge in a manicure, have their tarot cards read (all for a price, of course) and watch trapeze artist "Trapecia of the Cabrini" swing from the restaurant's rafters.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2002765040_nancybowl27.html
Oh gosh, does this stuff have to be in the paper. Well, maybe it is a good thing. Pittsburgh and Detroit need to learn about us. Let them think that the Steelers will walk all over our team. Let them think it!
10. And finally, the view from Detroit where "They just don't know Hawks fans"
All over town, they're predicting that intellectual, liberal, nice Seattle fans just won't have the juice when faced-down with the gritty, hard-core black-and-yellow fans from Pittsburgh.
"Pittsburgh's a blue-collar team. Seattle's a white-collar team," said Robert Dunlap, who's selling Super Bowl XL merchandise at one of 38 NFL insta-shops set up around the city.
Added Dunlap: "Seattle fans are going to be outnumbered 15-1. There's going to be a sea of black-and-yellow here by Monday."
Still, he welcomes any Seattleites who wander in to buy a $70 Super Bowl jacket or $29 T-shirt. "The Seattle fans -- those are the people who are going to bring the money in," he said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/football/257276_postcards27.html
Yep, I gladly taught my son to run away from people like the Steeler fans. All of this reminds me of our rivalry in Montana in high school of Helena v. Butte. Helena is a white collar city full of lawyers, business people and politicians and the girls have a reputation for being pretty. Butte is blue collar and used to be full of miners and hard core drinkers and scary people who chew on nails instead of toothpicks. Let's just say we had an incident where the Butte girls beat up our drill team and cheerleaders once. But guess what? Our basketball team took the state championship the year I graduated.
Yes, indeed. I have a feeling. Weenie Seattle where you'd hate to live unless you fit a rather severe high minded stereotype that includes our coach's wife...well, our Seahawks are going to....going to.... outsmart those Steelers.
Yes, we are.
I am loving this. Everyday the newspaper is full of more Super Bowl preparations. For an amateur like me when it comes to all things cultural, I feel like I have discovered some large gold nuggets in the bottom of my gold pan. (And yes, being from Montana, I have actually panned for gold, thank you very much.)
1. Slowly, it is beginning to dawn on us that the Seahawks are going to play in that game---you know the one where Janet Jackson....Yuck!
2. Still, the grocery store displays of Budweiser beer up to the ceiling with giant inflatable footballs seem to be generic. Come on QFC! Quit thinking corporately and make your display specific to the SEAHAWKS.
3. The Pittsburgh Steeler fans are positively frightening. Evidently, football is their religion and everything--homes and bodies are draped with black and gold. And get this: they drink beer called Iron City out of a metal bottle and eat sandwiches made with sausage, beef, scrambled eggs, American cheese and mayo. OH MY! I didn't even know you could buy American cheese anymore. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/football/257287_pittsburgh27.html
4. And what do we do? We send one of our best chefs, John Howie of "Seastar Restaurant and Raw Bar" and "Sport", to Detroit to cook Sizzling Dungeness Crab Cakes. Come on--shouldn't that be served over steak or something? After the big game last Sunday, Seahawks owner, Paul Allen of Microsoft fame, showed up with 20 people without a reservation at a local restaurant and ate crab-stuffed salmon like a good Seattleite. Mike Holmgren, the coach and not a native, went to a steak house with reservations and ordered a steak. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2002765040_nancybowl27.html
Let me add here that Homgren's wife fits right into Seattle. We love her. She is going to miss the Super Bowl because her coach husband gave her a trip to the Congo for Christmas. The trip conflicts with the Super Bowl but the Coach insists she go.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/football/257278_hbok27.html
And what is she going to do?
She will travel to the Congo on an aid mission from Northwest Medical Teams, and her husband wouldn't have it any other way....She will leave for the Congo on Thursday. Kathy will be going along with their daughter Calla, who is a doctor. Kathy is a board member for Northwest Medical Teams, a non-profit organization that helps coordinate international aid and relief. She previously went to Romania to help at an orphanage.
I'd bet money she did not approve of that steak he ordered!
5. John Howie, the chef, also happens to be a big Apolo Anton Ohno fan (Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist in Short Track Speedskating from Seattle). Whoa! And the Olympics are coming up right after the Super Bowl so the national sports coverage will again be mentioning Seattle every other sentence. Need we be worried about all of this publicity?
Apolo in Seattle during the Vancouver/Whistler 2010 Olympics announcement. (Yes, we were there--took this terrible photo myself.)
6. No, we do not need to be worried about the publicity! I'll answer my own question because we are coming off as being gigantic weenies who do not know what to do with a Super Bowl if it hits us in our collective rain-covered faces. Who would want to move to a place where you dare not disagree politically; where everyone is depressed; where the sun never shines; where you better know how to order at an Ivar's Fish Bar; where you are afraid to admit you've watched a football game on a TV that you are afraid to admit you own; and where you are scoffed at if you eat steak but if you do--it better be organic?
7. I mean seriously, folks, if the Steeler fans find out about this: In the Seattle Times today, you can cut out a Seahawks newspaper hat to wear on your head. PLEASE! First of all, it will last about 30 seconds in our humidity inside or out and will droop in an obscene way. Second, it has "weenie" written all over it. Thank God, Seattle Times, you did not put this in your online newspaper.
8. This was the front page headlines of the Seattle Times today "Dinner and Dancing on Super Sunday" and this is the article and a quote:
Super Bowl obsession is seeping into places you might assume it would skip, such as the Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB). Professional ballet and professional football seem like diametric opposites on the cultural brow. One is white wine poured gently into crystal glasses. The other is watered-down domestic beers sloshing in 32-ounce plastic cups.
Toe shoes vs. face paint.
Yet during a class Monday among PNB's company dancers, Casey Herd and James Moore turned their choices in wardrobe into a mini-spectacle. Herd wore a Seahawks hooded sweatshirt to class, while Moore, a native San Franciscan who danced four years with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, donned a gold headband and wiped the sweat from his brow with his Pittsburgh Steelers "Terrible Towel."
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002765032_ballet27m.html
I love ballet and I would pick a ballet over a football game any day to see in person. I have argued with my husband over who are superior athletes--ballet dancers or basketball players.
But did this need to be on the front page? Evidently, Pittsburgh Steeler fans eat nails and we go to the ballet and drink white wine. Do we really want them to know this?
9. And more fodder for the can crunching, nail eating Steeler fans: Here are our choices besides home for Super Bowl Sunday.
Back in Seattle, some well-heeled football fanatics will be enjoying the game in style in the Grand Reserve Room at Joeys on South Lake Union. It's already booked, to parties that can handle a wine list that starts at $140 and includes a $475 vintage Dom Perignon — just the thing to toast the Seahawks' first trip to the Super Bowl.
OR
While the rest of Seattle is glued to the game, Jacqueline Roberts, owner of The Pink Door at Pike Place Market, will be celebrating with a party of her own. She's calling it Super Belle Sunday, and says it's a "girls-only" affair — although gents in drag are welcome. The party kicks off at 3 p.m., a half-hour before they'll be kicking off in Detroit, and $20 buys the belles of this ball a chance to nibble antipasti at the buffet table and hang out in the bar watching chick flicks.
That's right: This is an anti-Super Bowl affair, and the game won't be seen on a single screen.
Roberts also promises a passel of adorable busboys willing to fetch wine and cocktails while ladies and their look-alikes indulge in a manicure, have their tarot cards read (all for a price, of course) and watch trapeze artist "Trapecia of the Cabrini" swing from the restaurant's rafters.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2002765040_nancybowl27.html
Oh gosh, does this stuff have to be in the paper. Well, maybe it is a good thing. Pittsburgh and Detroit need to learn about us. Let them think that the Steelers will walk all over our team. Let them think it!
10. And finally, the view from Detroit where "They just don't know Hawks fans"
All over town, they're predicting that intellectual, liberal, nice Seattle fans just won't have the juice when faced-down with the gritty, hard-core black-and-yellow fans from Pittsburgh.
"Pittsburgh's a blue-collar team. Seattle's a white-collar team," said Robert Dunlap, who's selling Super Bowl XL merchandise at one of 38 NFL insta-shops set up around the city.
Added Dunlap: "Seattle fans are going to be outnumbered 15-1. There's going to be a sea of black-and-yellow here by Monday."
Still, he welcomes any Seattleites who wander in to buy a $70 Super Bowl jacket or $29 T-shirt. "The Seattle fans -- those are the people who are going to bring the money in," he said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/football/257276_postcards27.html
Yep, I gladly taught my son to run away from people like the Steeler fans. All of this reminds me of our rivalry in Montana in high school of Helena v. Butte. Helena is a white collar city full of lawyers, business people and politicians and the girls have a reputation for being pretty. Butte is blue collar and used to be full of miners and hard core drinkers and scary people who chew on nails instead of toothpicks. Let's just say we had an incident where the Butte girls beat up our drill team and cheerleaders once. But guess what? Our basketball team took the state championship the year I graduated.
Yes, indeed. I have a feeling. Weenie Seattle where you'd hate to live unless you fit a rather severe high minded stereotype that includes our coach's wife...well, our Seahawks are going to....going to.... outsmart those Steelers.
Yes, we are.
// posted by Janet @ 7:57 AM
0 comments
Thursday, January 26, 2006
This is a First!
I have never put a photo of Mount Rainier on my blog. We cannot see it from our house but we can see it from the freeway all the way into Seattle from Mukilteo---when it is "out".
This photo is from the internet and is a view--non-telephoto lens--from the University of Washington. In fact, this is very close to hubby's new office on the main campus.
UW Campus
And an undate on Seahawk fandom. Doing my errands yesterday which took me to downtown Everett and throughout Mukilteo, I saw two reader boards that said "Go Seahawks" and I saw one coffee shop with "Go Seahawks" in the window and it was not a Starbuck's. In addition, I saw a grand total of two people with Seahawks sweatshirts and I have a feeling I would have seen them even if we were not going to the Super Bowl. I read that everybody in Pittsburgh is wearing team colors everyday. Ok?
An article in today's Seattle PI was about what Detroit thinks of us:
While Seattle's in Detroit covering the city pre-Super Bowl, Detroit's in Seattle, trying to figure out what makes the city tick. "Quirky" is the tag in Wednesday's Detroit Free Press story on the city. The Jet City profile talks about "too-cute bookstores" -- keep the giggling down, you silly philoso-heads at Elliott Bay Book Co. -- as well as fans who argue politics during Seahawks timeouts. How 'bout them ninth council-seat candidates?
It also describes Seattleites as fit, literate, polite, artsy, liberal, nature-loving, with the "hippest football fans in the history of the sport."
"Who are these people?" reporter Tamara Audi wanted to know.
Good question.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/football/257080_postcards26.html
Hippest football fans in the history of the sport??!! The Coldplay concert last night in Seattle, attended by my daughter and her friends and everybody both of my kids know, had quite a bit of discussion about the Seahawks and the Super Bowl---now that's totally hip. I mean Coldplay! Are we really that different than the rest of the country? I think possibly yes. We live in a corner that latitude-wise is further north than the northern most part of Maine. This is baseline for strange.
I have never put a photo of Mount Rainier on my blog. We cannot see it from our house but we can see it from the freeway all the way into Seattle from Mukilteo---when it is "out".
This photo is from the internet and is a view--non-telephoto lens--from the University of Washington. In fact, this is very close to hubby's new office on the main campus.
UW Campus
And an undate on Seahawk fandom. Doing my errands yesterday which took me to downtown Everett and throughout Mukilteo, I saw two reader boards that said "Go Seahawks" and I saw one coffee shop with "Go Seahawks" in the window and it was not a Starbuck's. In addition, I saw a grand total of two people with Seahawks sweatshirts and I have a feeling I would have seen them even if we were not going to the Super Bowl. I read that everybody in Pittsburgh is wearing team colors everyday. Ok?
An article in today's Seattle PI was about what Detroit thinks of us:
While Seattle's in Detroit covering the city pre-Super Bowl, Detroit's in Seattle, trying to figure out what makes the city tick. "Quirky" is the tag in Wednesday's Detroit Free Press story on the city. The Jet City profile talks about "too-cute bookstores" -- keep the giggling down, you silly philoso-heads at Elliott Bay Book Co. -- as well as fans who argue politics during Seahawks timeouts. How 'bout them ninth council-seat candidates?
It also describes Seattleites as fit, literate, polite, artsy, liberal, nature-loving, with the "hippest football fans in the history of the sport."
"Who are these people?" reporter Tamara Audi wanted to know.
Good question.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/football/257080_postcards26.html
Hippest football fans in the history of the sport??!! The Coldplay concert last night in Seattle, attended by my daughter and her friends and everybody both of my kids know, had quite a bit of discussion about the Seahawks and the Super Bowl---now that's totally hip. I mean Coldplay! Are we really that different than the rest of the country? I think possibly yes. We live in a corner that latitude-wise is further north than the northern most part of Maine. This is baseline for strange.
// posted by Janet @ 8:53 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
We are so narcissistic! Only in Seattle.
The headline and front page article in the Seattle PI today is an analysis of whether or not we are responding as we should be to the news that the Seattle Seahawks are going to the Super Bowl. Their premise is that our reaction is typical Seattle cool and reserved. I do not know if I agree or disagree but the article made me laugh out loud at the breakfast table this morning as I read exerpts to my family.
Refuse to snooze: Frenzy slow to build. Is it bewilderment with success or famous reserve?
By CLAUDIA ROWE, GORDY HOLT AND LISA STIFFLERSEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/football/256934_seahawksvibe25.html
Granted, this is my home and I do not know any different about how we should be acting. I thought we went kinda nuts toasting with our glass of red wine! I even screamed--out loud and scared my puppy, Apolo. My friend, Patti, who moved to Pennsylvania from here learned early on that people are quite passionate about Penn State football and even decorate at least one room of their homes with the school colors. Ok, that is just weird. I suppose we could put up a sign or something.
So we are evidently responding to the Super Bowl news Seattle-style. This is not Texas, that's for sure. "Call it laid-back cool or uptight reserve, Seattle's signature style does not often lend itself to overt displays of joy." And more from the article:
1. Only in Seattle will you hear this:
"You've got probably 70 percent of the people here are on some kind of anti-depressants because of Seasonal Affective Disorder," said Vinnie Richichi, better known as "New York Vinnie," the garrulous and decidedly un-Seattle commentator on KIRO sports radio.
"People don't let their emotions out here like they do in other places. It's the kind of town where you're told to sit down at a Rolling Stones concert. It's the kind of town where you have to be told, 'It's OK to go crazy.' "
2. Only in Seattle will you hear this:
In Seattle, the kind of no-holds barred Super Bowl frenzy that saturates cities such as Philadelphia or San Francisco in team colors, appears tastefully muted. Seattle fans love their Seahawks, they just don't wear that enthusiasm on their sleeves. Or backs, reader boards or windows.
"I root for them because I'm here," said Steve Oliver, who hails from Columbus, Ohio, and lives downtown. "But I'm not waving a flag for them off the balcony of my condo."
3. Only in Seattle will you hear this:
Meanwhile, the city is notably devoid of Seahawks paraphernalia. Downtown, the only commercial evidence even vaguely reminiscent of the blue-and-green team was a scoop of mint ice cream at Stone Cold Creamery on Westlake -- and it was a tastefully pale green at that.
Walk the entire block-long lobby of City Centre and spy not a single Hawks notion. Scan the reader board outside Icon Grill, and learn only that Valentine's Day is coming.
4. Only in Seattle will you hear this--good point:
Sedat Uysal, owner of Cafe Paloma in Pioneer Square, has little love for professional football in Seattle. He opposed construction of Qwest Field....
...He wonders why folks can't channel all that energy toward something bigger than moving a ball up and down a field -- say, protesting social injustice or the war in Iraq. Still, he said he'd probably watch the game on Feb. 5.
5. Only in Seattle will you hear this--definitely:
Monica Corsaro a Methodist minister leading an Equality Day rally at the capitol in Olympia on Monday, called out to the crowd, "We are gay, we are straight, and we are Seahawks fans!" to roars of appreciation. (God loves the Pittsburgh Steelers too, she noted.)
6. Only in Seattle will you hear this--oh yea! It's a feeling:
At Rainbow Natural Grocery on Capitol Hill, Pinn Palermo, admittedly sports-oblivious, acknowledged that the home team victory had created a discernable atmospheric tremor.
"I will say that when they won, there was definitely a change in the air," the part-time cashier said. "But I'm also a yoga instructor, so I feel these things."
7. Only in Seattle will you hear this--you betcha:
"In Seattle, sports seasons don't end this way. They end in disappointment. So it's kind of like falling off a ladder and suddenly being able to fly.
"Also, I'm Scandinavian, and we tend to see joy as a postponement of sorrow."
8. Only in Seattle will you read this--from the Seattle Times:
The Seattle Times can't in good conscience suggest you ever eat a hot dog, but if you do, for the love of God, don't put ketchup on it. [Particularly ketchup made in Pittsburgh] What do you think mustard is for?
9. And, Only in Mukilteo from my own daughter:
I seriously don't care about football! What's the big deal? People should have gone nuts when "The Light in the Piazza", the musical born right here in Seattle, made it to Broadway. Now that's important.
10. Finally, Only in Mukilteo from me:
The sun was shining yesterday all day for the first time in a while. The Cascades were breathtaking. "The mountain" was out and magnified. The sunset over the Olympics was fabulous. People will pull out of their SADS funk and will begin to plan the Super Bowl parties with zeal---and with plenty of Sushi. But the chips and pork rinds and hot dogs? Not so much.
The headline and front page article in the Seattle PI today is an analysis of whether or not we are responding as we should be to the news that the Seattle Seahawks are going to the Super Bowl. Their premise is that our reaction is typical Seattle cool and reserved. I do not know if I agree or disagree but the article made me laugh out loud at the breakfast table this morning as I read exerpts to my family.
Refuse to snooze: Frenzy slow to build. Is it bewilderment with success or famous reserve?
By CLAUDIA ROWE, GORDY HOLT AND LISA STIFFLERSEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/football/256934_seahawksvibe25.html
Granted, this is my home and I do not know any different about how we should be acting. I thought we went kinda nuts toasting with our glass of red wine! I even screamed--out loud and scared my puppy, Apolo. My friend, Patti, who moved to Pennsylvania from here learned early on that people are quite passionate about Penn State football and even decorate at least one room of their homes with the school colors. Ok, that is just weird. I suppose we could put up a sign or something.
So we are evidently responding to the Super Bowl news Seattle-style. This is not Texas, that's for sure. "Call it laid-back cool or uptight reserve, Seattle's signature style does not often lend itself to overt displays of joy." And more from the article:
1. Only in Seattle will you hear this:
"You've got probably 70 percent of the people here are on some kind of anti-depressants because of Seasonal Affective Disorder," said Vinnie Richichi, better known as "New York Vinnie," the garrulous and decidedly un-Seattle commentator on KIRO sports radio.
"People don't let their emotions out here like they do in other places. It's the kind of town where you're told to sit down at a Rolling Stones concert. It's the kind of town where you have to be told, 'It's OK to go crazy.' "
2. Only in Seattle will you hear this:
In Seattle, the kind of no-holds barred Super Bowl frenzy that saturates cities such as Philadelphia or San Francisco in team colors, appears tastefully muted. Seattle fans love their Seahawks, they just don't wear that enthusiasm on their sleeves. Or backs, reader boards or windows.
"I root for them because I'm here," said Steve Oliver, who hails from Columbus, Ohio, and lives downtown. "But I'm not waving a flag for them off the balcony of my condo."
3. Only in Seattle will you hear this:
Meanwhile, the city is notably devoid of Seahawks paraphernalia. Downtown, the only commercial evidence even vaguely reminiscent of the blue-and-green team was a scoop of mint ice cream at Stone Cold Creamery on Westlake -- and it was a tastefully pale green at that.
Walk the entire block-long lobby of City Centre and spy not a single Hawks notion. Scan the reader board outside Icon Grill, and learn only that Valentine's Day is coming.
4. Only in Seattle will you hear this--good point:
Sedat Uysal, owner of Cafe Paloma in Pioneer Square, has little love for professional football in Seattle. He opposed construction of Qwest Field....
...He wonders why folks can't channel all that energy toward something bigger than moving a ball up and down a field -- say, protesting social injustice or the war in Iraq. Still, he said he'd probably watch the game on Feb. 5.
5. Only in Seattle will you hear this--definitely:
Monica Corsaro a Methodist minister leading an Equality Day rally at the capitol in Olympia on Monday, called out to the crowd, "We are gay, we are straight, and we are Seahawks fans!" to roars of appreciation. (God loves the Pittsburgh Steelers too, she noted.)
6. Only in Seattle will you hear this--oh yea! It's a feeling:
At Rainbow Natural Grocery on Capitol Hill, Pinn Palermo, admittedly sports-oblivious, acknowledged that the home team victory had created a discernable atmospheric tremor.
"I will say that when they won, there was definitely a change in the air," the part-time cashier said. "But I'm also a yoga instructor, so I feel these things."
7. Only in Seattle will you hear this--you betcha:
"In Seattle, sports seasons don't end this way. They end in disappointment. So it's kind of like falling off a ladder and suddenly being able to fly.
"Also, I'm Scandinavian, and we tend to see joy as a postponement of sorrow."
8. Only in Seattle will you read this--from the Seattle Times:
The Seattle Times can't in good conscience suggest you ever eat a hot dog, but if you do, for the love of God, don't put ketchup on it. [Particularly ketchup made in Pittsburgh] What do you think mustard is for?
9. And, Only in Mukilteo from my own daughter:
I seriously don't care about football! What's the big deal? People should have gone nuts when "The Light in the Piazza", the musical born right here in Seattle, made it to Broadway. Now that's important.
10. Finally, Only in Mukilteo from me:
The sun was shining yesterday all day for the first time in a while. The Cascades were breathtaking. "The mountain" was out and magnified. The sunset over the Olympics was fabulous. People will pull out of their SADS funk and will begin to plan the Super Bowl parties with zeal---and with plenty of Sushi. But the chips and pork rinds and hot dogs? Not so much.
// posted by Janet @ 9:01 AM
0 comments
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
The 1950's Yes, I was alive then!
To commemorate the year 1953 which holds the 33 day record of non-stop rain in Seattle, I thought I would list some of my memories, dim though they are, of that decade. I just turned 53 (born in 1953) so it seems appropriate and besides I think that 50 is the new 30 so my age doesn't scare me a bit. (Susan Sarandon, Goldie Hawn, and Suzanne Somers are way.... way older than me and they are still pretty hot!) Furthermore, Kaley performed this past weekend in the Kamiak winter play, "The Stuck Pot" which took place during that time. It had lots of words like, "Golly" and "Holy Mackerel" and "Drippy". Kaley will be in "Grease" in the spring so I have been sharing with her what I remember.
The reason I can separate out the 50's is that I started first grade in 1959 and we moved from an apartment to a house in 1960. My earliest memories go back to when I was two years old in Bozeman, Montana. My Dad was in graduate school at MSU and when he finished with his Master's Degree in education, my family moved to Helena in 1956 where he had a job as an eighth grade math and science teacher. I was three and my brother was six. All of my memories before first grade and from the apartment, by definition, had to be in the 50's. Here goes:
1. Hula Hoops. They were a huge huge fad. My Mom bought us a yellow one and my brother and I had to share. Frankly, I do not think he cared too much about it though I recall to be mean, he'd say he had "dibs" on it just so I couldn't have it.
2. Metal and Formica Tables. My Mom's favorite color was yellow so we had a kitchen table and chairs that were yellow. I think my Mom still has the table in her basement. They were indestructable. The table was the center of our lives. We didn't have a dining room table until much later in my childhood. All of our everyday meals and holiday meals were on this table. My Dad made lead sinkers (weights for fishing) on this table (I wonder about the toxic effect of that little activity; my husband cringes when I tell about this); he butchered the deer and the elk; and he tied flies. My Mom's home made bread and cinnamon rolls would be placed on the table to rise.
3. Marilyn Monroe. When we lived in the basement apartment, I played with the girl next door sometimes. I remember I did not like her. Remember how there always seemed to be a kid in the neighborhood with more advanced knowledge of nasty things? I have always wondered about that and whether or not they were abused in some way. Anyway, this girl was only a year older than me but I have a clear memory of her wiggling herself around a baseball bat and saying she was Marilyn Monroe. I did not know who Marilyn Monroe was but from that point on I equated Marilyn Monroe with nastiness.
4. Television. We did not have a TV until 1959 when I was in the first grade. I distinctly remember the day we bought our first television set. My brother and I were as excited as if it was Christmas morning and we could not wait to watch "Walt Disney World".
5. Elvis. Elvis was really before my time. For me, it all began with the Beatles but I remember my Dad saying Elvis had a nice voice but he sang the wrong music. My Dad also proclaimed to my dismay that the Beatles were just a fad like the Hula Hoop and they would fade away. Yet, my daughter in 2006 loves many of the Beatles songs and wears a Beatles t-shirt to school and I think Paul is still HOT. So there, Dad! The first time I heard about Elvis was at a rodeo. A rodeo clown announced he was Elvis, swayed his hips, and his pants fell down to the laughter of the crowd. I must have been 3 or 4 and I had no clue--that is why I remember it.
6. Poodle Skirts. My Mom never did make me one and I always wanted one. Believe me, Kaley had the cutest red poodle skirt I never had. But, the rage in Helena among the teen age girls in the 50's was stuffed tigers. You see, the high school mascot was the Bengal Tiger. Because my Dad was a teacher and he had been a high school and college basketball player, our family always attended the high school basketball games. All the girls had little stuffed tigers and I wanted one! And I got one for Christmas one year and I hauled it with me to the games just like the big girls.
7. Cigarettes. My parents smoked. Everybody their age smoked. I have a girl cousin who is ten years older than me so in the 50's she was a teen ager. I thought she was the coolest!! Her Dad was my Dad's brother and he and my aunt are still alive and living in the same house in Deer Lodge, Montana where we would visit when I was five. I recall being in my cousin's bedroom with her and all of her teen age friends. I felt so cool and special. My memory duplicates the slumber party scene in "Grease". They were listening to records, had rollers in their hair, and....they were smoking. Suddenly, they heard someone coming up the stairs, so they stubbed out their cigarettes in their ashtrays and shoved them under the bed. They asked me not to tell my Mom. I responded in the most grown up way I could that my Mom wouldn't mind because she smoked, too. At that point, I sensed they were not so comfortable having me around.
8. Party Lines. You think the NSA spying program is bad, in those days we had party lines. Several telephones would be on the same line. This is before I even really knew how to use the telephone but I remember picking up the phone and being able to listen to someone's conversation. The phone was up high on the wall, and I had to move a chair under it to even reach it.
9. Ashtrays. Everybody had ashtrays of all shapes and colors--sytlish and weird. They were placed on tables throughout the house in everyone's home to allow anyone to smoke. It would have been considered completely rude to ask someone not to smoke or to ask them to go outside. My parents had an ashtray that was a coiled rattlesnake. Lucky Strike? Lung cancer.
10. Pat Boone. There was Elvis but there was Pat Boone, too. I liked Pat Boone as a little girl. I thought he was handsome. My brother had this really neat scrap book that he received as a gift and naturally, I was jealous because I did not have one. So I made one out of one of my Dad's old college notebooks. Life magazine had Pat Boone on the cover so I cut him out and glued him on the cover of my very own scrap book. The internet is a fabulous thing because I am fairly certain this is the photo. I remember the hat.
To all of Mukilteo, "Grease" is the word and it is going to be fun! Dig out those poodle skirts and saddle shoes.
To commemorate the year 1953 which holds the 33 day record of non-stop rain in Seattle, I thought I would list some of my memories, dim though they are, of that decade. I just turned 53 (born in 1953) so it seems appropriate and besides I think that 50 is the new 30 so my age doesn't scare me a bit. (Susan Sarandon, Goldie Hawn, and Suzanne Somers are way.... way older than me and they are still pretty hot!) Furthermore, Kaley performed this past weekend in the Kamiak winter play, "The Stuck Pot" which took place during that time. It had lots of words like, "Golly" and "Holy Mackerel" and "Drippy". Kaley will be in "Grease" in the spring so I have been sharing with her what I remember.
The reason I can separate out the 50's is that I started first grade in 1959 and we moved from an apartment to a house in 1960. My earliest memories go back to when I was two years old in Bozeman, Montana. My Dad was in graduate school at MSU and when he finished with his Master's Degree in education, my family moved to Helena in 1956 where he had a job as an eighth grade math and science teacher. I was three and my brother was six. All of my memories before first grade and from the apartment, by definition, had to be in the 50's. Here goes:
1. Hula Hoops. They were a huge huge fad. My Mom bought us a yellow one and my brother and I had to share. Frankly, I do not think he cared too much about it though I recall to be mean, he'd say he had "dibs" on it just so I couldn't have it.
2. Metal and Formica Tables. My Mom's favorite color was yellow so we had a kitchen table and chairs that were yellow. I think my Mom still has the table in her basement. They were indestructable. The table was the center of our lives. We didn't have a dining room table until much later in my childhood. All of our everyday meals and holiday meals were on this table. My Dad made lead sinkers (weights for fishing) on this table (I wonder about the toxic effect of that little activity; my husband cringes when I tell about this); he butchered the deer and the elk; and he tied flies. My Mom's home made bread and cinnamon rolls would be placed on the table to rise.
3. Marilyn Monroe. When we lived in the basement apartment, I played with the girl next door sometimes. I remember I did not like her. Remember how there always seemed to be a kid in the neighborhood with more advanced knowledge of nasty things? I have always wondered about that and whether or not they were abused in some way. Anyway, this girl was only a year older than me but I have a clear memory of her wiggling herself around a baseball bat and saying she was Marilyn Monroe. I did not know who Marilyn Monroe was but from that point on I equated Marilyn Monroe with nastiness.
4. Television. We did not have a TV until 1959 when I was in the first grade. I distinctly remember the day we bought our first television set. My brother and I were as excited as if it was Christmas morning and we could not wait to watch "Walt Disney World".
5. Elvis. Elvis was really before my time. For me, it all began with the Beatles but I remember my Dad saying Elvis had a nice voice but he sang the wrong music. My Dad also proclaimed to my dismay that the Beatles were just a fad like the Hula Hoop and they would fade away. Yet, my daughter in 2006 loves many of the Beatles songs and wears a Beatles t-shirt to school and I think Paul is still HOT. So there, Dad! The first time I heard about Elvis was at a rodeo. A rodeo clown announced he was Elvis, swayed his hips, and his pants fell down to the laughter of the crowd. I must have been 3 or 4 and I had no clue--that is why I remember it.
6. Poodle Skirts. My Mom never did make me one and I always wanted one. Believe me, Kaley had the cutest red poodle skirt I never had. But, the rage in Helena among the teen age girls in the 50's was stuffed tigers. You see, the high school mascot was the Bengal Tiger. Because my Dad was a teacher and he had been a high school and college basketball player, our family always attended the high school basketball games. All the girls had little stuffed tigers and I wanted one! And I got one for Christmas one year and I hauled it with me to the games just like the big girls.
7. Cigarettes. My parents smoked. Everybody their age smoked. I have a girl cousin who is ten years older than me so in the 50's she was a teen ager. I thought she was the coolest!! Her Dad was my Dad's brother and he and my aunt are still alive and living in the same house in Deer Lodge, Montana where we would visit when I was five. I recall being in my cousin's bedroom with her and all of her teen age friends. I felt so cool and special. My memory duplicates the slumber party scene in "Grease". They were listening to records, had rollers in their hair, and....they were smoking. Suddenly, they heard someone coming up the stairs, so they stubbed out their cigarettes in their ashtrays and shoved them under the bed. They asked me not to tell my Mom. I responded in the most grown up way I could that my Mom wouldn't mind because she smoked, too. At that point, I sensed they were not so comfortable having me around.
8. Party Lines. You think the NSA spying program is bad, in those days we had party lines. Several telephones would be on the same line. This is before I even really knew how to use the telephone but I remember picking up the phone and being able to listen to someone's conversation. The phone was up high on the wall, and I had to move a chair under it to even reach it.
9. Ashtrays. Everybody had ashtrays of all shapes and colors--sytlish and weird. They were placed on tables throughout the house in everyone's home to allow anyone to smoke. It would have been considered completely rude to ask someone not to smoke or to ask them to go outside. My parents had an ashtray that was a coiled rattlesnake. Lucky Strike? Lung cancer.
10. Pat Boone. There was Elvis but there was Pat Boone, too. I liked Pat Boone as a little girl. I thought he was handsome. My brother had this really neat scrap book that he received as a gift and naturally, I was jealous because I did not have one. So I made one out of one of my Dad's old college notebooks. Life magazine had Pat Boone on the cover so I cut him out and glued him on the cover of my very own scrap book. The internet is a fabulous thing because I am fairly certain this is the photo. I remember the hat.
To all of Mukilteo, "Grease" is the word and it is going to be fun! Dig out those poodle skirts and saddle shoes.
// posted by Janet @ 8:07 AM
0 comments
Monday, January 23, 2006
Wowie!!
I watched an entire football game yesterday with my husband! And I liked it. I even jumped up and down and screamed. This is fun. I do not know what it is. Maybe it is because we are so tired of gray skies and rain; or maybe there are just so many books you can read; or maybe because it is still too soggy to get out in the yard to garden; or maybe we want something to be positive to be united about.
Everybody is talking about it. The Seahawks, I mean. At church yesterday, we had little blue and green pom poms decorating the altar along with the flowers. We did not pray for them to win because we do not believe that is appropriate but who knows what kind of prayers people were saying privately. Our tables in the parish hall were decorated with confetti and little footballs for our soup potluck and Annual Meeting. Most importantly, we wrapped things up quickly so we could get home and get ready to party by 3:30. And sports averse ME was running the meeting.
I think my jinx days are over because I watched the whole game and WE WON! I didn't have to leave the room. Seattle went crazy last night. Actually the entire Puget Sound area went nuts. My daughter went to a movie because she is even more sports averse than I am, but it ended about the same time the game ended. She said there were fireworks everywhere and people screaming like the 4th of July or New Year's Eve.
The Seahawks have never gone to the Super Bowl before. We moved here 27 years ago the very month the Sonics (basketball) won the National Championship and the city went nuts then. We wondered what kind of interesting place we had moved to. The Seattle Storm (women's basketball) won a National Championship a year or two ago and other than that, no Seattle sports team has made it this far. 27 years ago the Seahawks were a new franchise and very popular. Even I knew who some of the players were--Dave Krieg, Jim Zorn and Steve Largent. Krieg and Zorn still live here and were at the game yesterday. Seattle was one of seven cities whose team had never gone to the Super Bowl---until yesterday. Paul Allen, Bill Gates buddy, native Seattleite and co-founder of Microsoft, is the team's owner so this is just cool.
Poor Lucas--to be in France when the Seahawks go to the Super Bowl?! This is kind of a cruel turn of events.
Ok, so maybe we do not act like other folks in America and celebrate entirely the same way. Instead of beer, I was drinking green tea. It is still drizzly, misty and cool. Hubby doesn't like beer either. At half time, we opened a nice bottle of 1999 Australian Syrah and pulled out the Camembert cheese and a baguette. After the game, we fixed a lovely pan seared Alaskan halibut (caught by hubby) with citrus sauce, broccoli, and baked stuffed portobella mushrooms.
Frankly, we have not had good pizza since we left Kansas City 27 years ago nor is there good BBQ around here. Pork rinds are disgusting and it is too chilly to drink beer. So we do not know how to do football--the food part! But, we still won. For the first time in my life, I am actually excited about Super Bowl Sunday. Who would have thought?
I watched an entire football game yesterday with my husband! And I liked it. I even jumped up and down and screamed. This is fun. I do not know what it is. Maybe it is because we are so tired of gray skies and rain; or maybe there are just so many books you can read; or maybe because it is still too soggy to get out in the yard to garden; or maybe we want something to be positive to be united about.
Everybody is talking about it. The Seahawks, I mean. At church yesterday, we had little blue and green pom poms decorating the altar along with the flowers. We did not pray for them to win because we do not believe that is appropriate but who knows what kind of prayers people were saying privately. Our tables in the parish hall were decorated with confetti and little footballs for our soup potluck and Annual Meeting. Most importantly, we wrapped things up quickly so we could get home and get ready to party by 3:30. And sports averse ME was running the meeting.
I think my jinx days are over because I watched the whole game and WE WON! I didn't have to leave the room. Seattle went crazy last night. Actually the entire Puget Sound area went nuts. My daughter went to a movie because she is even more sports averse than I am, but it ended about the same time the game ended. She said there were fireworks everywhere and people screaming like the 4th of July or New Year's Eve.
The Seahawks have never gone to the Super Bowl before. We moved here 27 years ago the very month the Sonics (basketball) won the National Championship and the city went nuts then. We wondered what kind of interesting place we had moved to. The Seattle Storm (women's basketball) won a National Championship a year or two ago and other than that, no Seattle sports team has made it this far. 27 years ago the Seahawks were a new franchise and very popular. Even I knew who some of the players were--Dave Krieg, Jim Zorn and Steve Largent. Krieg and Zorn still live here and were at the game yesterday. Seattle was one of seven cities whose team had never gone to the Super Bowl---until yesterday. Paul Allen, Bill Gates buddy, native Seattleite and co-founder of Microsoft, is the team's owner so this is just cool.
Poor Lucas--to be in France when the Seahawks go to the Super Bowl?! This is kind of a cruel turn of events.
Ok, so maybe we do not act like other folks in America and celebrate entirely the same way. Instead of beer, I was drinking green tea. It is still drizzly, misty and cool. Hubby doesn't like beer either. At half time, we opened a nice bottle of 1999 Australian Syrah and pulled out the Camembert cheese and a baguette. After the game, we fixed a lovely pan seared Alaskan halibut (caught by hubby) with citrus sauce, broccoli, and baked stuffed portobella mushrooms.
Frankly, we have not had good pizza since we left Kansas City 27 years ago nor is there good BBQ around here. Pork rinds are disgusting and it is too chilly to drink beer. So we do not know how to do football--the food part! But, we still won. For the first time in my life, I am actually excited about Super Bowl Sunday. Who would have thought?
// posted by Janet @ 7:39 AM
0 comments
Friday, January 20, 2006
What do I think about?
Actually, I hate not having my camera though any pictures I would take would be multiple shades of gray. I do a lot of thinking on my walks between squirrel sightings so what did I ponder yesterday?
First of all, I noticed that at least two families on my street have not taken down their Christmas trees. This is strange to me so then I wonder why. Are they gone? Doesn't look like it. Are they depressed and unable to function because of the rain? Hmmm! Maybe! One of the houses is brand new and not quite finished and I had heard they were from California. Yea, this is a little more soggy than California. Maybe they like their tree a lot. Maybe they are some type of Orthodox and the tree stays up until their Epiphany. Maybe they just have not managed to get to it. And they have old-fashioned tinsel on the tree. In the 50's and early 60's, that was the thing--to put tons and tons of tinsel on the tree one strand at a time.
This is Martin Luther King week. Kaley has an assembly today. Yesterday, I thought about what difference Martin Luther King's efforts have made in my community which is still mostly white and Asian. One of the two multi-million dollar 10,000 plus square foot mansions on my street is occupied by an African American family. Actually, they still have their Christmas decorations on their gigantic entrance gate come to think of it. You know, most of the time that gate is open and at times (when it is not pouring rain) their children are riding bikes with the other kids on the block--Asian, white, Black.
An Indian family from India lives across the street from them. When they have family visit from India, I see them on long walks in vibrant gorgeous clothing. We wave. Apolo and I are a familiar sight. We have at least two other African American families on my walking route. At school, Kaley has three good friends who are African American. One of them is one of her best friends. Maybe this is a change but this community has a long way to go to be truly diverse. An article in the paper the other day indicated that the percentage of Black students at UW is still pitifully small.
On the second half of my walk, I thought about the church meeting we had had the night before. The purpose of it was to brainstorm about our future. Particularly, what is it about our church that we can emphasize to make people welcome? Church should not be hard; it is not our job but God's job to evaluate the folks who come through our doors. I pointed out that the reason I was there was because when we were all together, Jesus was amongst us and we were washed with the Holy Spirit--not a difficult concept. We offer Holy Communion without condition--no ID or card checking at the altar rail. This was just a "tad" more important to me than my investment club, for example.
The room was silent for a few seconds. Sometimes I get frustrated because people make things harder than they ought to be. Another person finally popped up and remphasized a thought that had come to her the day before: "We... our church is passionate about the Love of Christ!" Duh! To me, that is the bottom line. I do not care that there is a gay bishop 2000 miles away in New Hampshire. Our priest isn't gay but who am I to make a judgment about that anyway? He is divorced and remarried and that is none of my business either. I would take Communion from him no matter what because that is my time in personal touch with Our Lord. No, church should not be hard. We mind our own hearts and joyfully share our passion about the Love of Christ with others without judgment. Period.
As I continued my walk, I thought "Blackberry bushes are something else!" They are all over the place and poor Apolo sometimes gets the thorns in his foot or tail. They are weeds that people try to dig out of their gardens on a constant basis. Our church is surrounded by massive bushes 10 feet tall that have to be hacked back with machetes while dressed in complete body armor. And they grow behind our fence at home on the steep slope. Though deciduous, not all of the leaves have fallen off back there, so luckily the bushes have formed a type of umbrella with roots. Not only did we get some yummy jars of jam but they are protecting us, too. The second, however, they reach under or over the fence into the yard it is "Whack! Whack!" This must be a good metaphor for something.
Finally, I thought about how happy Apolo is all of the time. He loves his walks with unabashed joy. His tail is up and his face is smily. He is completely contented to be tethered to me and he always has the time of his life. Life is simple for him.
Photos taken when we got our Christmas Tree
Blackberry bushes take over Whidbey Island barn
This is what happens without diligence!
Actually, I hate not having my camera though any pictures I would take would be multiple shades of gray. I do a lot of thinking on my walks between squirrel sightings so what did I ponder yesterday?
First of all, I noticed that at least two families on my street have not taken down their Christmas trees. This is strange to me so then I wonder why. Are they gone? Doesn't look like it. Are they depressed and unable to function because of the rain? Hmmm! Maybe! One of the houses is brand new and not quite finished and I had heard they were from California. Yea, this is a little more soggy than California. Maybe they like their tree a lot. Maybe they are some type of Orthodox and the tree stays up until their Epiphany. Maybe they just have not managed to get to it. And they have old-fashioned tinsel on the tree. In the 50's and early 60's, that was the thing--to put tons and tons of tinsel on the tree one strand at a time.
This is Martin Luther King week. Kaley has an assembly today. Yesterday, I thought about what difference Martin Luther King's efforts have made in my community which is still mostly white and Asian. One of the two multi-million dollar 10,000 plus square foot mansions on my street is occupied by an African American family. Actually, they still have their Christmas decorations on their gigantic entrance gate come to think of it. You know, most of the time that gate is open and at times (when it is not pouring rain) their children are riding bikes with the other kids on the block--Asian, white, Black.
An Indian family from India lives across the street from them. When they have family visit from India, I see them on long walks in vibrant gorgeous clothing. We wave. Apolo and I are a familiar sight. We have at least two other African American families on my walking route. At school, Kaley has three good friends who are African American. One of them is one of her best friends. Maybe this is a change but this community has a long way to go to be truly diverse. An article in the paper the other day indicated that the percentage of Black students at UW is still pitifully small.
On the second half of my walk, I thought about the church meeting we had had the night before. The purpose of it was to brainstorm about our future. Particularly, what is it about our church that we can emphasize to make people welcome? Church should not be hard; it is not our job but God's job to evaluate the folks who come through our doors. I pointed out that the reason I was there was because when we were all together, Jesus was amongst us and we were washed with the Holy Spirit--not a difficult concept. We offer Holy Communion without condition--no ID or card checking at the altar rail. This was just a "tad" more important to me than my investment club, for example.
The room was silent for a few seconds. Sometimes I get frustrated because people make things harder than they ought to be. Another person finally popped up and remphasized a thought that had come to her the day before: "We... our church is passionate about the Love of Christ!" Duh! To me, that is the bottom line. I do not care that there is a gay bishop 2000 miles away in New Hampshire. Our priest isn't gay but who am I to make a judgment about that anyway? He is divorced and remarried and that is none of my business either. I would take Communion from him no matter what because that is my time in personal touch with Our Lord. No, church should not be hard. We mind our own hearts and joyfully share our passion about the Love of Christ with others without judgment. Period.
As I continued my walk, I thought "Blackberry bushes are something else!" They are all over the place and poor Apolo sometimes gets the thorns in his foot or tail. They are weeds that people try to dig out of their gardens on a constant basis. Our church is surrounded by massive bushes 10 feet tall that have to be hacked back with machetes while dressed in complete body armor. And they grow behind our fence at home on the steep slope. Though deciduous, not all of the leaves have fallen off back there, so luckily the bushes have formed a type of umbrella with roots. Not only did we get some yummy jars of jam but they are protecting us, too. The second, however, they reach under or over the fence into the yard it is "Whack! Whack!" This must be a good metaphor for something.
Finally, I thought about how happy Apolo is all of the time. He loves his walks with unabashed joy. His tail is up and his face is smily. He is completely contented to be tethered to me and he always has the time of his life. Life is simple for him.
Photos taken when we got our Christmas Tree
Blackberry bushes take over Whidbey Island barn
This is what happens without diligence!
// posted by Janet @ 7:34 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Feeling Gushy Today
Today I am feeling gushy about my kids. I don't know why. Perhaps it is because of that horrible video from Florida of teen boys smashing defenseless homeless people with bats. Perhaps it is because I got an e-mail today about Lucas's childhood next door neighbor "super soaker" and fort building buddy arriving in Iraq for the third time--the second time to Fallujah.
He survived the first tour just fine and in fact, we thought it gave him a sense of self-esteem he needed in his life. He was a Marine and a war hero and veteran at age 19 without seeing the horrors of war. It was good. This child did not have a father figure until later in his childhood; he had trouble making friends or getting along in high school; he was ADHD and more than once I kept him from leaping off of our second story deck. So he joined the Marines well in advance of the Iraq mess. His mother tried to talk him out of it.
The second time in Iraq put him in the middle of Fallujah. His best friend was blown to pieces right next to him. I do not even want to know what else he saw or what he had to do. He came back without physical injury except for a small scar above his eyebrow from, ironically, a fall off of a second story of a bombed building in Fallujah. A handsome kid, we were thankful it was only a small scar and that he had all of his limbs. His parents tell me he is fine and that he has been "handling things". He had troubles as a child and I witnessed them so I worry.
His mother, of course, worries constantly. I cannot even imagine. I stupidly worried for four days of Kaley's muscial auditions. I worried when Lucas was sick for two days by himself in France. Try worrying about your beloved handsome son for six months praying that he'll come home not only alive but in one piece. This is not fair to him or his family. It is horrible and senseless; the debilitating anxiety and the euphoria of relief when he comes home only to repeat it all over again. Six months and 22 days for daily prayers.
So I am gushy about my children today. My husband and I lucked out with two beautiful intelligent children with good hearts and wonderful friends. I love them so much. We are so lucky and so thankful. No parent anywhere in the world should have to worry about losing their child in war. Absolutely nobody.
Kaley and her two best friends at Kaley's Christmas Party this year.
New Year's Eve in Paris---before Kaley got sick.
Today I am feeling gushy about my kids. I don't know why. Perhaps it is because of that horrible video from Florida of teen boys smashing defenseless homeless people with bats. Perhaps it is because I got an e-mail today about Lucas's childhood next door neighbor "super soaker" and fort building buddy arriving in Iraq for the third time--the second time to Fallujah.
He survived the first tour just fine and in fact, we thought it gave him a sense of self-esteem he needed in his life. He was a Marine and a war hero and veteran at age 19 without seeing the horrors of war. It was good. This child did not have a father figure until later in his childhood; he had trouble making friends or getting along in high school; he was ADHD and more than once I kept him from leaping off of our second story deck. So he joined the Marines well in advance of the Iraq mess. His mother tried to talk him out of it.
The second time in Iraq put him in the middle of Fallujah. His best friend was blown to pieces right next to him. I do not even want to know what else he saw or what he had to do. He came back without physical injury except for a small scar above his eyebrow from, ironically, a fall off of a second story of a bombed building in Fallujah. A handsome kid, we were thankful it was only a small scar and that he had all of his limbs. His parents tell me he is fine and that he has been "handling things". He had troubles as a child and I witnessed them so I worry.
His mother, of course, worries constantly. I cannot even imagine. I stupidly worried for four days of Kaley's muscial auditions. I worried when Lucas was sick for two days by himself in France. Try worrying about your beloved handsome son for six months praying that he'll come home not only alive but in one piece. This is not fair to him or his family. It is horrible and senseless; the debilitating anxiety and the euphoria of relief when he comes home only to repeat it all over again. Six months and 22 days for daily prayers.
So I am gushy about my children today. My husband and I lucked out with two beautiful intelligent children with good hearts and wonderful friends. I love them so much. We are so lucky and so thankful. No parent anywhere in the world should have to worry about losing their child in war. Absolutely nobody.
Kaley and her two best friends at Kaley's Christmas Party this year.
New Year's Eve in Paris---before Kaley got sick.
// posted by Janet @ 9:11 AM
0 comments
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
The Seahawks Won!!
As a prelude to the game on Saturday, there was a little Washington v. Washington sniping. Sometimes, in addition to wishing I had a Ph.D. in Marine Mammal Biology, I wish I had a Ph. D. in Cultural Anthropology or Sociology. But, I don't, so I must rely on my monumentally unscientific observations about this Puget Sound/ Seattle culture that I live in. And I rely on newspaper articles.
My daughter and I were having a discussion in the car (which actually was my son's Jeep with its derogatory bumper stickers) while driving in the rain along with many other cars with similar and even identical bumper stickers. Since I had watched most of the Seahawks game and my daughter did not, I told her it was raining nicely and visibly on national TV---pouring enough to squelch any ideas of people across the country thinking of moving here. Thank goodness TV viewers did not notice that the Seattle fans in the stadium were not the least bit bothered by the rain because of all of the Gore-tex. In addition, I told her that one of the announcers commented on some of our good players and that they are relatively unknown nationwide because we are isolated up in this geographic corner.
Kaley and I decided that we do indeed have a rather strong cultural identity here that is perhaps unique in the country. We are two million inhabitants squished geographically together in a small area between water, more water and mountains and volcanoes. Furthermore, we are too far from any other major American city to be influenced. Believe me, it takes forever to drive to San Francisco--and that is northern California. Forget Los Angeles. Vancouver B.C. is only 120 miles away but the fact it is a different country negates major influence though there are similarities. Portland is too small to overwhelm us as is Spokane. Beyond that, we are talking about Salt Lake City or Minneapolis/St. Paul. So here we are, bound together with some peculiar characteristics.
Montana is unique as well but again geography plays with the culture. Montana is the fourth biggest state behind California, Alaska, and Texas. Less than a million people are spread over that huge area so I would say there isn't the cohesiveness there as here. Ranch folks are different that the city folks. Ski bum Bozeman is different than hippie-vegan Missoula is different than political Helena is different than oil industry Billings is different than.....Butte. Add to that mix the hundreds of tiny towns and roadside bars in the middle of nowhere with access only to satellite TV.
Seattle has three major local TV stations with news and weather anchors who are native Seattleites and have been for the whole 27 years we have lived here. Oh sure, we get a few new folks sprinkled here and there but you can tell instantly they do not belong--especially if they have blonde hair, tan skin and cannot say Puyallup. Our rain streak caused us to be noticed a little nationally and so have our Seahawks. An article appeared in the Washington Post about us--but that was before our Seahawks beat their.....(typical Seattle response) cringe....cringe...before I type...Redskins.....Ewwwww!
"In Seattle, the Hostile Crowd Is All Smiles"
By Blaine HardenWashington Post Staff WriterFriday, January 13, 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/12/AR2006011202135.html?referrer=emailarticle
This article contains some interesting anecdotes so I will quote and comment:
Indeed. Drivers rarely honk in this town, though traffic is horrible. Jaywalking is viewed as evidence of low moral character. It is not at all remarkable to see pedestrians standing at an intersection in pouring rain in the middle of the night -- with no cars visible in any direction -- waiting dutifully for a "walk" sign.
We like to follow the rules, ok? This has caused me problems in our travels--especially in New York City as we were left standing alone while an entire crowd, horror of horrors, jaywalked.
Extremism in the pursuit of high-minded behavior is a source of civic pride in Seattle. Per capita opera attendance leads the nation. Nine out of 10 women claim to exercise at least once a week. The city claims to have the best-attended arts and lecture series in the country. Seattle is the nation's most literate city, based on a national survey. It has more bookshops, more residents with college degrees and more coffee shops than any other city its size. The city's one great vice -- massive consumption of overpriced caffeine drinks -- keeps people alert so they can read, recycle, go to the gym, scowl at jaywalkers, keep their hands off strippers and repress the urge to honk.
He [local author, J. Raban] added: "Liberals like to think they are on the side of liberty, but actually they are on the side of authority."
Mayor Nickels does not see it that way. He says Seattleites obey laws and are civil with one another out of "respect for the community."
I agree with Nickels. We tend to be community minded and we do not like selfish people who do not like to pay taxes for the common good. Tim Eyman, need I say more? And we do not like people who are self-serving and try to get ahead at other people's expense. If you do become filthy rich and say, you are the richest man in the whole world, the expectation is you will share for the benefit of the entire world. Bill and Melinda have fulfilled that expectation nicely. By the way, just try cutting in one of our ferry lines to get ahead--just try it.
Whatever its historical, cultural and political origins, there is widespread agreement among the city's many new residents that civic politeness is as infectious as it is pervasive.
Consider how it infected Erik Blachford, who moved to Seattle in the mid-1990s and who until last year was chief executive of Expedia.com, the online travel agency based in the Seattle area.
When Blachford moved six years ago to a house atop Seattle's Queen Anne Hill, he noticed that his downhill neighbor had just planted a large tree and that it obstructed the splendid view of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains that could be seen from the first floor of his house.
Blachford complained cautiously to his neighbor that first year but has not mentioned it since -- even though the tree has grown and now obstructs the view from the second floor of his house.
[Yes, trees do grow that fast]
Having grown up in Montreal and lived for several years in New York, Blachford is not by nature a milquetoast and says he can be as hard-charging as any business executive. Still, as a Seattle resident, he says he simply cannot force himself into a full-blown rant.
"It doesn't feel like that is how things work here," he said. "In other places I have lived, this sort of thing gets brought up quicker. But because this is a tree -- and this is such an environmentally sensitive place -- you feel strange asking somebody to cut down a tree to improve your view."
Uh, Erik, some advice. You are absolutely correct to leave it alone. We "politely" complained about a couple of trees in our neighborhood and we are backed up by view covenants that support our position. You would have thought we were asking people to throw their first born children and all of their pets into the bubbling cauldren of Mt. St. Helens. I am a tree hugger, too, but people really really love their trees--until they fall on their house. And even then, there are those who would mourn the loss of the tree over the house. "The house can always be rebuilt....but that tree was 500 years old and can never be replaced. (Tears)"
So we continue to drink our Starbuck's and cheer on our Seahawks even though the coach admitted to voting republican. It is ok because his wife did not. At meetings at my church, we are having a tough time figuring out how to welcome new people. We can't be too nice or we scare them. Polite is ok but, oh my gosh, the worst thing in the world would be to offer to visit with them one on one. Can't get too intimate! At our wine tasting group, we make fun of California (sorry Susans). My investment club is heavily into Microsoft and Starbucks and we spent most of the meeting last Friday discussing how a 120 foot tree sliced through one of our member's brand new house in Mukilteo on Christmas day. She was more upset about the house than the tree, though.
And me, I walk in the rain most everyday in my new purple rain shoes....without an umbrella! With my puppy who is named after a Seattle Olympic Sports Star!
As a prelude to the game on Saturday, there was a little Washington v. Washington sniping. Sometimes, in addition to wishing I had a Ph.D. in Marine Mammal Biology, I wish I had a Ph. D. in Cultural Anthropology or Sociology. But, I don't, so I must rely on my monumentally unscientific observations about this Puget Sound/ Seattle culture that I live in. And I rely on newspaper articles.
My daughter and I were having a discussion in the car (which actually was my son's Jeep with its derogatory bumper stickers) while driving in the rain along with many other cars with similar and even identical bumper stickers. Since I had watched most of the Seahawks game and my daughter did not, I told her it was raining nicely and visibly on national TV---pouring enough to squelch any ideas of people across the country thinking of moving here. Thank goodness TV viewers did not notice that the Seattle fans in the stadium were not the least bit bothered by the rain because of all of the Gore-tex. In addition, I told her that one of the announcers commented on some of our good players and that they are relatively unknown nationwide because we are isolated up in this geographic corner.
Kaley and I decided that we do indeed have a rather strong cultural identity here that is perhaps unique in the country. We are two million inhabitants squished geographically together in a small area between water, more water and mountains and volcanoes. Furthermore, we are too far from any other major American city to be influenced. Believe me, it takes forever to drive to San Francisco--and that is northern California. Forget Los Angeles. Vancouver B.C. is only 120 miles away but the fact it is a different country negates major influence though there are similarities. Portland is too small to overwhelm us as is Spokane. Beyond that, we are talking about Salt Lake City or Minneapolis/St. Paul. So here we are, bound together with some peculiar characteristics.
Montana is unique as well but again geography plays with the culture. Montana is the fourth biggest state behind California, Alaska, and Texas. Less than a million people are spread over that huge area so I would say there isn't the cohesiveness there as here. Ranch folks are different that the city folks. Ski bum Bozeman is different than hippie-vegan Missoula is different than political Helena is different than oil industry Billings is different than.....Butte. Add to that mix the hundreds of tiny towns and roadside bars in the middle of nowhere with access only to satellite TV.
Seattle has three major local TV stations with news and weather anchors who are native Seattleites and have been for the whole 27 years we have lived here. Oh sure, we get a few new folks sprinkled here and there but you can tell instantly they do not belong--especially if they have blonde hair, tan skin and cannot say Puyallup. Our rain streak caused us to be noticed a little nationally and so have our Seahawks. An article appeared in the Washington Post about us--but that was before our Seahawks beat their.....(typical Seattle response) cringe....cringe...before I type...Redskins.....Ewwwww!
"In Seattle, the Hostile Crowd Is All Smiles"
By Blaine HardenWashington Post Staff WriterFriday, January 13, 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/12/AR2006011202135.html?referrer=emailarticle
This article contains some interesting anecdotes so I will quote and comment:
Indeed. Drivers rarely honk in this town, though traffic is horrible. Jaywalking is viewed as evidence of low moral character. It is not at all remarkable to see pedestrians standing at an intersection in pouring rain in the middle of the night -- with no cars visible in any direction -- waiting dutifully for a "walk" sign.
We like to follow the rules, ok? This has caused me problems in our travels--especially in New York City as we were left standing alone while an entire crowd, horror of horrors, jaywalked.
Extremism in the pursuit of high-minded behavior is a source of civic pride in Seattle. Per capita opera attendance leads the nation. Nine out of 10 women claim to exercise at least once a week. The city claims to have the best-attended arts and lecture series in the country. Seattle is the nation's most literate city, based on a national survey. It has more bookshops, more residents with college degrees and more coffee shops than any other city its size. The city's one great vice -- massive consumption of overpriced caffeine drinks -- keeps people alert so they can read, recycle, go to the gym, scowl at jaywalkers, keep their hands off strippers and repress the urge to honk.
Blaine, are you being nice or polite.... or critical? Perhaps you are jealous. At least we don't bribe people or take bribes.
Goody-two-shoes behavior is endemic and appears to be spreading -- by order of law. A new city ordinance requires lap dancers to keep four feet from patrons. [Can't invade the Seattle bubble! Even with strippers.] A new no-smoking law requires smokers to move at least 25 feet from the doors, windows or vents of a public building or workplace before lighting up. Starting this month, there's a $50 fine for residents who improperly mix their recyclable garbage. [I thought the smoking rule was 40 feet]He [local author, J. Raban] added: "Liberals like to think they are on the side of liberty, but actually they are on the side of authority."
Mayor Nickels does not see it that way. He says Seattleites obey laws and are civil with one another out of "respect for the community."
I agree with Nickels. We tend to be community minded and we do not like selfish people who do not like to pay taxes for the common good. Tim Eyman, need I say more? And we do not like people who are self-serving and try to get ahead at other people's expense. If you do become filthy rich and say, you are the richest man in the whole world, the expectation is you will share for the benefit of the entire world. Bill and Melinda have fulfilled that expectation nicely. By the way, just try cutting in one of our ferry lines to get ahead--just try it.
Whatever its historical, cultural and political origins, there is widespread agreement among the city's many new residents that civic politeness is as infectious as it is pervasive.
Consider how it infected Erik Blachford, who moved to Seattle in the mid-1990s and who until last year was chief executive of Expedia.com, the online travel agency based in the Seattle area.
When Blachford moved six years ago to a house atop Seattle's Queen Anne Hill, he noticed that his downhill neighbor had just planted a large tree and that it obstructed the splendid view of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains that could be seen from the first floor of his house.
Blachford complained cautiously to his neighbor that first year but has not mentioned it since -- even though the tree has grown and now obstructs the view from the second floor of his house.
[Yes, trees do grow that fast]
Having grown up in Montreal and lived for several years in New York, Blachford is not by nature a milquetoast and says he can be as hard-charging as any business executive. Still, as a Seattle resident, he says he simply cannot force himself into a full-blown rant.
"It doesn't feel like that is how things work here," he said. "In other places I have lived, this sort of thing gets brought up quicker. But because this is a tree -- and this is such an environmentally sensitive place -- you feel strange asking somebody to cut down a tree to improve your view."
Uh, Erik, some advice. You are absolutely correct to leave it alone. We "politely" complained about a couple of trees in our neighborhood and we are backed up by view covenants that support our position. You would have thought we were asking people to throw their first born children and all of their pets into the bubbling cauldren of Mt. St. Helens. I am a tree hugger, too, but people really really love their trees--until they fall on their house. And even then, there are those who would mourn the loss of the tree over the house. "The house can always be rebuilt....but that tree was 500 years old and can never be replaced. (Tears)"
So we continue to drink our Starbuck's and cheer on our Seahawks even though the coach admitted to voting republican. It is ok because his wife did not. At meetings at my church, we are having a tough time figuring out how to welcome new people. We can't be too nice or we scare them. Polite is ok but, oh my gosh, the worst thing in the world would be to offer to visit with them one on one. Can't get too intimate! At our wine tasting group, we make fun of California (sorry Susans). My investment club is heavily into Microsoft and Starbucks and we spent most of the meeting last Friday discussing how a 120 foot tree sliced through one of our member's brand new house in Mukilteo on Christmas day. She was more upset about the house than the tree, though.
And me, I walk in the rain most everyday in my new purple rain shoes....without an umbrella! With my puppy who is named after a Seattle Olympic Sports Star!
// posted by Janet @ 8:32 AM
0 comments
Friday, January 13, 2006
Day 26 and Counting
We are now in second place to the 1953 record of 33 straight days of rain. Over 12 inches of rain have fallen in a rather steady weeping for 26 days now. It is not all bad; it seems to have united us and reminded us of our true culture of wetness. The last two dry winters were freaky and this is more like normal. I do believe I read somewhere that it is not uncommon to have about 90 days of mostly rain. No records are set because usually there is a day or two of a break.
The usual forecast this time of year is "40 degrees and chance of rain". Everything is multiple shades of gray and the sky drizzles. But this year the weather is "40 degrees and rain" so it is not really all that different.
When we get breaks, the water has a chance to drain out of the rivers, creeks, and lakes. And a slight breeze dries the soil out--squeezes the sponge so to speak--so that the lawns and hillsides can soak up a little more. The problem is we haven't had any breaks so our ground is like jello. Hillsides slide and trees tip over. The rivers aren't draining so there is flooding.
Five Good Things About 26 Days of Rain
1. Al Roker has mentioned our 26 days on the Today Show.
2. We have no guilt feelings about cuddling up with cups of steaming coffee and watching the Seahawks play the Redskins tomorrow on TV---yea, even me.
3. This gave me an excuse to order my birthday present out of L.L. Bean--something I have wanted for years. Waterproof clogs for gardening....and I ordered them in purple. Now, I can slip something on and off of my feet easily to get the mail in the rain, to get the newspapers off of my wet driveway, and to clean up dog poop in my soggy back yard.
4. The asthma that affected me in Paris and on the dry airplanes has disappeared. Moist air does wonders for all organs of the body.
5. As I have said before, we love to talk about ourselves here. We are not unlike the French with our provincialism. For example: The Seattle PI newspaper's "Sunless in Seattle--When it Rains We Blog" blog.
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/weather/
And another example is the Everett Herald's editorial this morning suggesting that all of this is reason to celebrate and we should create a festival or something:
http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/01/13/100edi_editorial001.cfm
"Yes, roads, train tracks and houses are taking the brunt of ongoing mudslides. Yes, rivers and streams are flooding or threatening to do so. Yes, Seasonal Affective Disorder is more prevalent than the flu. Yes, it's hard to have a totally good hair day. No, wet dog fur will never be an appealing fragrance. All these things are true...
But if we can just break the record, then we can celebrate. We can invent a Rain Festival o' Fun to mark our heritage of wetness. Events can include contests for puddle jumping, creating the biggest wall of water by driving through a puddle, and best mold sculpture."
Of course, the editor reminded us that when Lewis and Clark got stuck in this place for the winter, they nearly went mad and couldn't get out of here fast enough.
Five Bad Things About 26 Days of Rain
1. The roof on the old section of our church is like a sieve. Somehow it seems like providing our needy families with food is more important than our roof. But, the water damage is not good--not good.
2. My husband is acting completely justified buying that damn exercise bike that takes up an entire room. I refuse to use it. I continue to walk and yes, I come home soaked. I'm going to make him use it the entire Seahawks game tomorrow.
3. The mice and the rats want to come inside where it is dry. When we opened the garage door the other evening, a little mouse scurried in. Dave chased him out with a broom. Kaley felt sorry for the little rodent. Not me! The pest guy was here the next day.
4. Our house smells like a wet Golden Retriever and so does my car and probably so do I.
5. But the WORST and the cruelist thing about all of this rain is that all of the STICKS at Mukilteo Beach are water logged. Yesterday, in the rain, I took Apolo to the beach because he loves to swim. He doesn't like the rain but he loves to retrieve sticks. (Plus, I wanted to see a sea lion which I did.) I must have thrown 35 sticks into Puget Sound.
This beach is covered with all things wood--stumps, logs, and sticks of every imaginable size and shape. None of it--none of it floats anymore. I picked up a stick and thought--"Ok, this one is not so heavy; it should work." I threw it and it was suspended vertically just beneath the surface. Apolo swam out confused and returned looking at me like I had played the meanest trick on him.
Over and over again, the sticks would sink. Yea, we need a break to dry out the sticks.
Mukilteo Beach---old picture because my camera is broken but that stump is still there though it probably weighs another 1000 pounds.
UPDATE: On Sunday, January 15 it did not rain at Sea-tac so the 1953 33 day record still stands and 2006 is in second place at 27 days. When we went to church yesterday, it did sprinkle on us but Edmonds is not Sea-tac and a sprinkle is not enough. But today, Monday, it has been raining all day so we only had one day of a break.
We are now in second place to the 1953 record of 33 straight days of rain. Over 12 inches of rain have fallen in a rather steady weeping for 26 days now. It is not all bad; it seems to have united us and reminded us of our true culture of wetness. The last two dry winters were freaky and this is more like normal. I do believe I read somewhere that it is not uncommon to have about 90 days of mostly rain. No records are set because usually there is a day or two of a break.
The usual forecast this time of year is "40 degrees and chance of rain". Everything is multiple shades of gray and the sky drizzles. But this year the weather is "40 degrees and rain" so it is not really all that different.
When we get breaks, the water has a chance to drain out of the rivers, creeks, and lakes. And a slight breeze dries the soil out--squeezes the sponge so to speak--so that the lawns and hillsides can soak up a little more. The problem is we haven't had any breaks so our ground is like jello. Hillsides slide and trees tip over. The rivers aren't draining so there is flooding.
Five Good Things About 26 Days of Rain
1. Al Roker has mentioned our 26 days on the Today Show.
2. We have no guilt feelings about cuddling up with cups of steaming coffee and watching the Seahawks play the Redskins tomorrow on TV---yea, even me.
3. This gave me an excuse to order my birthday present out of L.L. Bean--something I have wanted for years. Waterproof clogs for gardening....and I ordered them in purple. Now, I can slip something on and off of my feet easily to get the mail in the rain, to get the newspapers off of my wet driveway, and to clean up dog poop in my soggy back yard.
4. The asthma that affected me in Paris and on the dry airplanes has disappeared. Moist air does wonders for all organs of the body.
5. As I have said before, we love to talk about ourselves here. We are not unlike the French with our provincialism. For example: The Seattle PI newspaper's "Sunless in Seattle--When it Rains We Blog" blog.
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/weather/
And another example is the Everett Herald's editorial this morning suggesting that all of this is reason to celebrate and we should create a festival or something:
http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/01/13/100edi_editorial001.cfm
"Yes, roads, train tracks and houses are taking the brunt of ongoing mudslides. Yes, rivers and streams are flooding or threatening to do so. Yes, Seasonal Affective Disorder is more prevalent than the flu. Yes, it's hard to have a totally good hair day. No, wet dog fur will never be an appealing fragrance. All these things are true...
But if we can just break the record, then we can celebrate. We can invent a Rain Festival o' Fun to mark our heritage of wetness. Events can include contests for puddle jumping, creating the biggest wall of water by driving through a puddle, and best mold sculpture."
Of course, the editor reminded us that when Lewis and Clark got stuck in this place for the winter, they nearly went mad and couldn't get out of here fast enough.
Five Bad Things About 26 Days of Rain
1. The roof on the old section of our church is like a sieve. Somehow it seems like providing our needy families with food is more important than our roof. But, the water damage is not good--not good.
2. My husband is acting completely justified buying that damn exercise bike that takes up an entire room. I refuse to use it. I continue to walk and yes, I come home soaked. I'm going to make him use it the entire Seahawks game tomorrow.
3. The mice and the rats want to come inside where it is dry. When we opened the garage door the other evening, a little mouse scurried in. Dave chased him out with a broom. Kaley felt sorry for the little rodent. Not me! The pest guy was here the next day.
4. Our house smells like a wet Golden Retriever and so does my car and probably so do I.
5. But the WORST and the cruelist thing about all of this rain is that all of the STICKS at Mukilteo Beach are water logged. Yesterday, in the rain, I took Apolo to the beach because he loves to swim. He doesn't like the rain but he loves to retrieve sticks. (Plus, I wanted to see a sea lion which I did.) I must have thrown 35 sticks into Puget Sound.
This beach is covered with all things wood--stumps, logs, and sticks of every imaginable size and shape. None of it--none of it floats anymore. I picked up a stick and thought--"Ok, this one is not so heavy; it should work." I threw it and it was suspended vertically just beneath the surface. Apolo swam out confused and returned looking at me like I had played the meanest trick on him.
Over and over again, the sticks would sink. Yea, we need a break to dry out the sticks.
Mukilteo Beach---old picture because my camera is broken but that stump is still there though it probably weighs another 1000 pounds.
UPDATE: On Sunday, January 15 it did not rain at Sea-tac so the 1953 33 day record still stands and 2006 is in second place at 27 days. When we went to church yesterday, it did sprinkle on us but Edmonds is not Sea-tac and a sprinkle is not enough. But today, Monday, it has been raining all day so we only had one day of a break.
// posted by Janet @ 7:41 AM
0 comments
Thursday, January 12, 2006
A Bright Spot in Our Sunless Lives!
Yesterday, I watched my daughter read her first review by a critic. Yes, of course, it was our little home town newspaper, The Mukilteo Beacon, and I would never expect them to be terribly mean but I believe they are honest. They have a readership of about 13,000 and they adhere to standards of good reporting.
Kaley's face broke into one of her dazzling smiles. Yep, it was a good review. The current issue of the Mukilteo Beacon is not yet online but I have my hard copy and I happen to have the picture from the play that accompanied the article, too---sent to me by one of the other drama mamas.
Kaley has the female lead in the Kamiak winter play, called "The Stuck Pot" and Meredith Pechta, the entertainment writer for the Beacon liked it. She was not so kind about "Cats", a professional production playing in Everett. So, needless to say, we are thrilled about her positive review of Kamiak's production.
And this is what she said about Kaley:
"Kamiak has put together two terrific casts for this quirky production. Jessica Boehm and Kaley Lane Eaton star in the title role. They're extremely funny and sympathetic, which is needed."
"Extremely funny..."! Wow! This is so cool. This is exactly why we thought Kaley might be considered more for the role of Rizzo in "Grease" than Sandy. As soon as the winter play is over, rehearsals being for the spring musical. Ah, the life of show business!
Kaley as "Alice" and Mick as "Edward"
Yesterday, I watched my daughter read her first review by a critic. Yes, of course, it was our little home town newspaper, The Mukilteo Beacon, and I would never expect them to be terribly mean but I believe they are honest. They have a readership of about 13,000 and they adhere to standards of good reporting.
Kaley's face broke into one of her dazzling smiles. Yep, it was a good review. The current issue of the Mukilteo Beacon is not yet online but I have my hard copy and I happen to have the picture from the play that accompanied the article, too---sent to me by one of the other drama mamas.
Kaley has the female lead in the Kamiak winter play, called "The Stuck Pot" and Meredith Pechta, the entertainment writer for the Beacon liked it. She was not so kind about "Cats", a professional production playing in Everett. So, needless to say, we are thrilled about her positive review of Kamiak's production.
And this is what she said about Kaley:
"Kamiak has put together two terrific casts for this quirky production. Jessica Boehm and Kaley Lane Eaton star in the title role. They're extremely funny and sympathetic, which is needed."
"Extremely funny..."! Wow! This is so cool. This is exactly why we thought Kaley might be considered more for the role of Rizzo in "Grease" than Sandy. As soon as the winter play is over, rehearsals being for the spring musical. Ah, the life of show business!
Kaley as "Alice" and Mick as "Edward"
// posted by Janet @ 9:08 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
ONLY IN SEATTLE
This item stands alone as my "Only In Seattle" feature today. I am not kidding. This is not April Fool's Day. This is true and it really did happen.
Only in Seattle is there a multiple vehicle accident caused by sunshine. It is January and this time it wasn't snow or hail or rain or a mudslide or a fallen tree causing traffic woes. It was sunshine!! We have had 24 straight days of rain and along with rain it has been dark. But today there was a crack of blue sky and some bright sun. I took Apolo for a walk and that giant unfamilar orb in the sky was blinding. You have no idea! In fact, at this moment it is shining in my window and I am shading my eyes with my arm.
http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_011106WABsuncaraxSW.694c48d9.html
Sunshine causes multiple-car crash in downtown Seattle
SEATTLE – Traffic was backed up for miles after a burst of sunshine apparently blinded drivers on Interstate 5 in Seattle, causing a multiple car accident.
The Washington State Patrol said when the gray skies opened up and the sun came out, at least five cars were involved in the crash.
Traffic got by on the shoulder for a brief period before the entire roadway was shut down so emergency crews could manage the scene.
It was not immediately known how many people were involved or if there were any injuries.
This item stands alone as my "Only In Seattle" feature today. I am not kidding. This is not April Fool's Day. This is true and it really did happen.
Only in Seattle is there a multiple vehicle accident caused by sunshine. It is January and this time it wasn't snow or hail or rain or a mudslide or a fallen tree causing traffic woes. It was sunshine!! We have had 24 straight days of rain and along with rain it has been dark. But today there was a crack of blue sky and some bright sun. I took Apolo for a walk and that giant unfamilar orb in the sky was blinding. You have no idea! In fact, at this moment it is shining in my window and I am shading my eyes with my arm.
http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_011106WABsuncaraxSW.694c48d9.html
Sunshine causes multiple-car crash in downtown Seattle
SEATTLE – Traffic was backed up for miles after a burst of sunshine apparently blinded drivers on Interstate 5 in Seattle, causing a multiple car accident.
The Washington State Patrol said when the gray skies opened up and the sun came out, at least five cars were involved in the crash.
Traffic got by on the shoulder for a brief period before the entire roadway was shut down so emergency crews could manage the scene.
It was not immediately known how many people were involved or if there were any injuries.
// posted by Janet @ 1:29 PM
0 comments
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
More Paris
I have more pictures and I am going to put them on here before the power goes out. Last night, it was like sleeping in a washing machine with all of the wind and the rain. And more mudslides have hit the tracks below stopping some of the trains. Evidently, we have now had 23 straight days of rain. The record is 33 established back in the 1950's. The last time we had over 20 days was in 1965. No wonder I grew up thinking Seattle was a miserable dark and rainy city. IT IS!!
The houses on my street were all built in the late 80's and early 90's so none of our homes have experienced this much rain. I say if our back yard survives this winter, it'll be ok until the end of our mortgage when we will be dead anyway.
St. Chappelle in the background
River Seine and Eiffel Tower in background
I have more pictures and I am going to put them on here before the power goes out. Last night, it was like sleeping in a washing machine with all of the wind and the rain. And more mudslides have hit the tracks below stopping some of the trains. Evidently, we have now had 23 straight days of rain. The record is 33 established back in the 1950's. The last time we had over 20 days was in 1965. No wonder I grew up thinking Seattle was a miserable dark and rainy city. IT IS!!
The houses on my street were all built in the late 80's and early 90's so none of our homes have experienced this much rain. I say if our back yard survives this winter, it'll be ok until the end of our mortgage when we will be dead anyway.
St. Chappelle in the background
River Seine and Eiffel Tower in background
// posted by Janet @ 7:27 AM
0 comments
Saturday, January 07, 2006
Mudslides
Buchanan, Everett Herald
Now I know why the helicopter was hovering yesterday. This slide is on my block just eight houses away from me. Yikes!! And this was the front page headline story in the Everett Herald this morning. We never did want to own a house on that side of the street. We are back a little way but perched on a deep gully called Big Gulch. If our back yard slides, it will hit a level spot on our property not very far down and our house isn't in any danger. In fact, we'd get more area to landscape. Maybe. Hopefully.
They say our ground is completely saturated because of day after day of rain and winter has just begun.
http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/01/07/100loc_a1mudslide001.cfm
Yikes!
Buchanan, Everett Herald
Now I know why the helicopter was hovering yesterday. This slide is on my block just eight houses away from me. Yikes!! And this was the front page headline story in the Everett Herald this morning. We never did want to own a house on that side of the street. We are back a little way but perched on a deep gully called Big Gulch. If our back yard slides, it will hit a level spot on our property not very far down and our house isn't in any danger. In fact, we'd get more area to landscape. Maybe. Hopefully.
They say our ground is completely saturated because of day after day of rain and winter has just begun.
http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/01/07/100loc_a1mudslide001.cfm
Yikes!
// posted by Janet @ 9:49 AM
0 comments
Friday, January 06, 2006
Nothing to do with Paris.
Ok, this has nothing to do with anything at the moment but in the process of using Lucas's Paris pictures, I figured out a way to resize pictures that are not from my now dead digital.
But, what is going on in my life today? The helicopters have been flying overhead because we have had some mudslides. Basically, all of north Seattle, Edmonds, and Mukilteo to Everett is a bluff or cliff down to the water with the railroad tracks down below. And there are currently three mudslides that have blocked the train one direction. The helicopter hovered over our neighborhood; we are always at risk when it rains this much. We could lose half of our backyard if it decided to slide.
The other thing that happened today is that my daughter, who left in a hurry this morning because she is the choir president and she had a meeting she forgot about, tried to back out of the garage without opening it. Yea, we were not really intending to buy a new garage door. I called my husband and started laughing; he didn't think it was so funny. I have not yet seen the back of the car.
And I discovered a bird's nest in my Christmas tree as I undecorated it today. Made me smile and so does this picture. This is my Dad and my bro taken about 35 years ago, I'd say. My Dad looked a lot like Paul Newman--blue eyes and all. That's where my blue eyes come from. My Mom fell head over heels for him because he was so darn handsome. Whenever I see Paul Newman on TV, I can picture how my Dad would have aged.
Deer hunting
Ok, this has nothing to do with anything at the moment but in the process of using Lucas's Paris pictures, I figured out a way to resize pictures that are not from my now dead digital.
But, what is going on in my life today? The helicopters have been flying overhead because we have had some mudslides. Basically, all of north Seattle, Edmonds, and Mukilteo to Everett is a bluff or cliff down to the water with the railroad tracks down below. And there are currently three mudslides that have blocked the train one direction. The helicopter hovered over our neighborhood; we are always at risk when it rains this much. We could lose half of our backyard if it decided to slide.
The other thing that happened today is that my daughter, who left in a hurry this morning because she is the choir president and she had a meeting she forgot about, tried to back out of the garage without opening it. Yea, we were not really intending to buy a new garage door. I called my husband and started laughing; he didn't think it was so funny. I have not yet seen the back of the car.
And I discovered a bird's nest in my Christmas tree as I undecorated it today. Made me smile and so does this picture. This is my Dad and my bro taken about 35 years ago, I'd say. My Dad looked a lot like Paul Newman--blue eyes and all. That's where my blue eyes come from. My Mom fell head over heels for him because he was so darn handsome. Whenever I see Paul Newman on TV, I can picture how my Dad would have aged.
Deer hunting
// posted by Janet @ 3:51 PM
0 comments
Thursday, January 05, 2006
The Sounds of Paris
At times I have wondered if I had to choose losing my eyesight or my hearing, which would it be? My eyes have given me problems for unknown reasons (backpacking in my youth; smoking parents; asthma treatments or all of the above) but with surgery and lens implants, my beautiful blues no longer need glasses or contacts or even reading glasses. When premature cataracts began taking my sight and the world looked like it was smeared with Vaseline, I had such thoughts. As a sidenote, after visiting museums in Paris and seeing the great Impressionists' work, I am completely convinced that Monet, if not all of them, had cataracts.
But without being able to hear, my daughter's piano music would be beyond me as would her singing and her moving character interpretations. My son's viola music would be non-existent as would his hysterical impressions. He does a great Bill Clinton, George Bush and his newest before he left for France was MSNBC's Rita Cosby. This must have something to do with his language abilites which in large part is mimicry.
Anyway, when I travel, I try to use all of my senses to experience a new place. Paris does not sound the same as Mukilteo at all.
1. The Sirens. I love hearing the European sirens when I first arrive. They make me feel like I am in a movie. However, they were not so romantic at 4:30 AM on New Year's Eve after hearing them for an entire week.
2. Multiple Languages. Paris is such a global city. New York is probably similar but I have been to New York only once and I have been to Paris many times. Within five minutes on the sidewalk you will hear French, Spanish, German, and Italian.
3. Little children speaking French. There is something completely adorable about listening to toddlers speak perfect French.
4. Dogs who understand French. The French love their pets. It cracked me up hearing old French ladies speak endearingly to their beloveds at the intersections. Dogs are allowed everywhere--in the fancy department stores and in the restaurants. Our last night in Paris was New Year's Eve and we splurged and ate at a rather nice place. People were dressed up and there were white table linens and fancy little foods between the multiple courses.
In walked an older couple dressed in evening clothes with their dog. Was it a poodle? Mais NON! It was a yellow Labrador Retriever as big as my Apolo and he was NOT a service dog. The waiter seated them at the table next to us and that darling puppy behaved himself perfectly under the table until midnight.
At a busy brasserie one day at lunch time (where I had the best omelet I have ever eaten in my life), a young woman enjoyed her meal with her large German Shepherd at her feet. After she finished and left her table, Mr. Very Large Dog's nose came perilously close to the baguette on a nearby table. The diners were unfazed.
Our Apolo behaves horribly and all of this made me feel like a terrible dog parent. We have to shut him in the laundry room if we want peace and quiet at dinner time. He snatches our napkins and artichoke leaves and licks the butter if it is too close to the edge. And he barks at us when we are finished to put the plates in the dishwasher so he can lick them. If we'd had Apolo in that brasserie in Paris, more than one baguette would have instantly disappeared.
5. Church Bells. Our apartment was located between Sacre Coeur and Trinite cathedrals. On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day the bells tolled calling people to mass and it sounded like Christmas.
Ten years ago, when we stayed in France for several months, little Lucas heard church bells in a village we were visiting. He grabbed the camera to take a picture while the bells tolled. We teased him about that but you know, every time I look at that picture now, I hear the bells.
Sacre Coeur
At times I have wondered if I had to choose losing my eyesight or my hearing, which would it be? My eyes have given me problems for unknown reasons (backpacking in my youth; smoking parents; asthma treatments or all of the above) but with surgery and lens implants, my beautiful blues no longer need glasses or contacts or even reading glasses. When premature cataracts began taking my sight and the world looked like it was smeared with Vaseline, I had such thoughts. As a sidenote, after visiting museums in Paris and seeing the great Impressionists' work, I am completely convinced that Monet, if not all of them, had cataracts.
But without being able to hear, my daughter's piano music would be beyond me as would her singing and her moving character interpretations. My son's viola music would be non-existent as would his hysterical impressions. He does a great Bill Clinton, George Bush and his newest before he left for France was MSNBC's Rita Cosby. This must have something to do with his language abilites which in large part is mimicry.
Anyway, when I travel, I try to use all of my senses to experience a new place. Paris does not sound the same as Mukilteo at all.
1. The Sirens. I love hearing the European sirens when I first arrive. They make me feel like I am in a movie. However, they were not so romantic at 4:30 AM on New Year's Eve after hearing them for an entire week.
2. Multiple Languages. Paris is such a global city. New York is probably similar but I have been to New York only once and I have been to Paris many times. Within five minutes on the sidewalk you will hear French, Spanish, German, and Italian.
3. Little children speaking French. There is something completely adorable about listening to toddlers speak perfect French.
4. Dogs who understand French. The French love their pets. It cracked me up hearing old French ladies speak endearingly to their beloveds at the intersections. Dogs are allowed everywhere--in the fancy department stores and in the restaurants. Our last night in Paris was New Year's Eve and we splurged and ate at a rather nice place. People were dressed up and there were white table linens and fancy little foods between the multiple courses.
In walked an older couple dressed in evening clothes with their dog. Was it a poodle? Mais NON! It was a yellow Labrador Retriever as big as my Apolo and he was NOT a service dog. The waiter seated them at the table next to us and that darling puppy behaved himself perfectly under the table until midnight.
At a busy brasserie one day at lunch time (where I had the best omelet I have ever eaten in my life), a young woman enjoyed her meal with her large German Shepherd at her feet. After she finished and left her table, Mr. Very Large Dog's nose came perilously close to the baguette on a nearby table. The diners were unfazed.
Our Apolo behaves horribly and all of this made me feel like a terrible dog parent. We have to shut him in the laundry room if we want peace and quiet at dinner time. He snatches our napkins and artichoke leaves and licks the butter if it is too close to the edge. And he barks at us when we are finished to put the plates in the dishwasher so he can lick them. If we'd had Apolo in that brasserie in Paris, more than one baguette would have instantly disappeared.
5. Church Bells. Our apartment was located between Sacre Coeur and Trinite cathedrals. On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day the bells tolled calling people to mass and it sounded like Christmas.
Ten years ago, when we stayed in France for several months, little Lucas heard church bells in a village we were visiting. He grabbed the camera to take a picture while the bells tolled. We teased him about that but you know, every time I look at that picture now, I hear the bells.
Sacre Coeur
// posted by Janet @ 7:29 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Ten Maddening Things About Leaving Paris
Our family likes to eat well and we like to cook and we like to save money. It is kind of a long story but we know a woman in Seattle who is orginally from France and her business is renting houses and apartments in France. This is our fourth time to France in the last ten years and each time she has managed to find us the perfect accommodations.
Our gorgeous apartment had three bedrooms and three bathrooms. One of the bedrooms had twin beds--perfect for Lucas and Kaley. And my Mom had her own room as did we. Though not cheap, it was less expensive than three hotel rooms. In addition, all four of our plane tickets including my Mom's were frequent flyer thanks to my husband's never ending travel. Most importantly, we had a fully stocked kitchen right down to the olive oil.
After Paris, it is hard to come back and be limited by convenience to my local grocery store. We'll have to go to Pike Place market to ease the transition.
1. The Bread! Oh, the French do bread. Everyday for lunch and dinner fresh baguettes and flutes and bread in every imaginable shape are on every street corner. I am always horrified at my local grocery store at all of the stale bread. I have been known to take the loaves of so-called French bread at my QFC and blatantly pound them on the shelves. Yep, I have done that and when it sounds like a hammer, it should be thrown to the sea gulls.
2. The Lettuce! At the little grocery store across the street from our apartment which was not even a market, I bought the most beautiful red lettuce for less than 1 Euro. It was a foot across, crisp, and looked like a giant rose. My Mom thought it was a cabbage. Before I tore it into pieces, I set it in the salad bowl and admired it. And it was flavorful. I can't even look at the wilty wimpy stuff at QFC after that.
3. The Pain au Chocolats! Every morning we'd get fresh croissants, brioche, and pains au chocolats at the nearest boulangerie and bring them back to the apartment.
4. The Moutarde (mustard)! I'm picky about mustard because we make our salad dressing out of mustard, olive oil, shallots, and vinegar. I spend $4 or $5 for a good dijon at QFC. But in Paris, I spent less than 2 Euros for fabulous moutarde. Kaley eats it right out of the jar.
5. The Crottin! I have been known to spend $10 for a cute little goat cheese at Pike Place. The cheaper goat cheese at Costco just doesn't quite make it for me. But in Paris, I bought the most darling twin pack of crottin for less than 3 Euros. Melted in your mouth and with the fresh baguette??!! My Mom wanted to bring it back. "No, Mom---not good in the suitcase--the smell--not good!"
6. The Tomatoes! Ok, so the tomatoes were said to be from Belgium but my Mom who is an expert tomato grower said they were as good as from her garden.
7. The Desserts! Wow! At Christmas time the windows are filled with the most beautiful desserts and cakes and Buches de Noel everywhere. Sometimes we'd buy a variety of little things to sample. For Christmas dinner, we bought a Buche de Noel. Another time, we bought a perfect looking fruit tarte with apricots, cherries, pear and apple. The crust was crisp, tender and flaky---not even a spot of sogginess. The thing is, they taste as wonderful as they look. At my QFC, I'll pick something that looks pretty and costs pretty, but when we get it home, it tastes like cardboard.
8. The Sandwiches! One day, we were shopping and ducked into a chain sandwich place kind of like our subway. But, they used fresh baguettes and the chicken was actual chicken breast and nothing pressed.
9. The Moules et Frites! (Mussels and fries) We are mussel experts being that they grow some of the best mussels on earth right over here on Whidbey Island BUT but...in Paris, when it is snowing and cold and lunch time, there is nothing better than stepping into a brasserie or cafe and ordering a steaming hot bowl of moules with a side of the best fries you've ever eaten.
10. The Boucheries! The greasy goose was finger licking fantastic even if he did cost us our camera. And even if the butcher made fun of Lucas when he asked him to cut off the head and even if my Mom had to clean it. Also, at a boucherie near our apartment, we bought the most beautiful steaks freshly cut exactly to our specifications--- with no plastic wrap or styrofoam containers to taint the flavor.
Notice I said nothing about the wine. Ok, France, cover your ears but even though your wine is incredibly inexpensive, California and Washington do just as well if not better when it comes to red. Sorry, but it is true.
And finally, it was only one rich meal at the end that upset our systems and caused us to crave steaming hot bowls of Asian noodles. Now, I think it wasn't the food but a bug of some sort because Kaley, then Dave, then Lucas all had similar symptoms with Lucas and Dave having fevers.
Champs-Elysees
Our family likes to eat well and we like to cook and we like to save money. It is kind of a long story but we know a woman in Seattle who is orginally from France and her business is renting houses and apartments in France. This is our fourth time to France in the last ten years and each time she has managed to find us the perfect accommodations.
Our gorgeous apartment had three bedrooms and three bathrooms. One of the bedrooms had twin beds--perfect for Lucas and Kaley. And my Mom had her own room as did we. Though not cheap, it was less expensive than three hotel rooms. In addition, all four of our plane tickets including my Mom's were frequent flyer thanks to my husband's never ending travel. Most importantly, we had a fully stocked kitchen right down to the olive oil.
After Paris, it is hard to come back and be limited by convenience to my local grocery store. We'll have to go to Pike Place market to ease the transition.
1. The Bread! Oh, the French do bread. Everyday for lunch and dinner fresh baguettes and flutes and bread in every imaginable shape are on every street corner. I am always horrified at my local grocery store at all of the stale bread. I have been known to take the loaves of so-called French bread at my QFC and blatantly pound them on the shelves. Yep, I have done that and when it sounds like a hammer, it should be thrown to the sea gulls.
2. The Lettuce! At the little grocery store across the street from our apartment which was not even a market, I bought the most beautiful red lettuce for less than 1 Euro. It was a foot across, crisp, and looked like a giant rose. My Mom thought it was a cabbage. Before I tore it into pieces, I set it in the salad bowl and admired it. And it was flavorful. I can't even look at the wilty wimpy stuff at QFC after that.
3. The Pain au Chocolats! Every morning we'd get fresh croissants, brioche, and pains au chocolats at the nearest boulangerie and bring them back to the apartment.
4. The Moutarde (mustard)! I'm picky about mustard because we make our salad dressing out of mustard, olive oil, shallots, and vinegar. I spend $4 or $5 for a good dijon at QFC. But in Paris, I spent less than 2 Euros for fabulous moutarde. Kaley eats it right out of the jar.
5. The Crottin! I have been known to spend $10 for a cute little goat cheese at Pike Place. The cheaper goat cheese at Costco just doesn't quite make it for me. But in Paris, I bought the most darling twin pack of crottin for less than 3 Euros. Melted in your mouth and with the fresh baguette??!! My Mom wanted to bring it back. "No, Mom---not good in the suitcase--the smell--not good!"
6. The Tomatoes! Ok, so the tomatoes were said to be from Belgium but my Mom who is an expert tomato grower said they were as good as from her garden.
7. The Desserts! Wow! At Christmas time the windows are filled with the most beautiful desserts and cakes and Buches de Noel everywhere. Sometimes we'd buy a variety of little things to sample. For Christmas dinner, we bought a Buche de Noel. Another time, we bought a perfect looking fruit tarte with apricots, cherries, pear and apple. The crust was crisp, tender and flaky---not even a spot of sogginess. The thing is, they taste as wonderful as they look. At my QFC, I'll pick something that looks pretty and costs pretty, but when we get it home, it tastes like cardboard.
8. The Sandwiches! One day, we were shopping and ducked into a chain sandwich place kind of like our subway. But, they used fresh baguettes and the chicken was actual chicken breast and nothing pressed.
9. The Moules et Frites! (Mussels and fries) We are mussel experts being that they grow some of the best mussels on earth right over here on Whidbey Island BUT but...in Paris, when it is snowing and cold and lunch time, there is nothing better than stepping into a brasserie or cafe and ordering a steaming hot bowl of moules with a side of the best fries you've ever eaten.
10. The Boucheries! The greasy goose was finger licking fantastic even if he did cost us our camera. And even if the butcher made fun of Lucas when he asked him to cut off the head and even if my Mom had to clean it. Also, at a boucherie near our apartment, we bought the most beautiful steaks freshly cut exactly to our specifications--- with no plastic wrap or styrofoam containers to taint the flavor.
Notice I said nothing about the wine. Ok, France, cover your ears but even though your wine is incredibly inexpensive, California and Washington do just as well if not better when it comes to red. Sorry, but it is true.
And finally, it was only one rich meal at the end that upset our systems and caused us to crave steaming hot bowls of Asian noodles. Now, I think it wasn't the food but a bug of some sort because Kaley, then Dave, then Lucas all had similar symptoms with Lucas and Dave having fevers.
Champs-Elysees
// posted by Janet @ 8:47 AM
0 comments
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Returning Home
Paris was beautiful. We had cold days, snow, rain and sun. The blizzard at the Eiffel Tower was interesting. We were trying to meet up with the Kamiak High School band because Kaley's best friends are in band. Yea, I know, it sounds so....like something we never got to do. Lucas and the orchestra went to Vienna and Prague when he was in Kamiak and Kaley with the choir went to Montreal a while back. So this year the band picked Paris at Christmas time and it had nothing to do with our trip but we thought we'd hook up with them. We had their itinerary so we planned to surprise them. Or so we thought until there was a blizzard.
We came up from the Metro at Trocadero to walk from there across the river to the Eiffel Tower---only we couldn't. The wind was driving the snow directly into our faces and the steps and plaza area were impossibly slippery. So we stood there wondering what to do when Dave noticed a bus that said "Kamiak" on the front. I started waving and jumping up and down thinking this would be a dead give away that I was Kaley's Mom. But, out of context, in Paris with my hair dripping wet, the kids on the bus just looked at me like I was stark raving mad. A blizzard--who would have thought??
Anyway, returning home is a process and makes me wonder why I like to travel. But then I think back to Paris and it is worth it. The morning we were to leave, Kaley was vomiting. My poor petite child who normally consumes Asian food simply could not handle the multi-course rich French New Year's Eve dining experience. At the airport, the security lines were excruciating for her and I was worried we'd get turned away because of all of the Avian flu symptom signs. In Detroit, they lost half of our luggage and naturally, it was Kaley's. She was panicky that she'd put her retainer in her checked bags and thought she'd never see it again.
After getting home, I could not get ahold of my Mom at first and it turned out her flight from Minneapolis to Helena had been canceled so her trip took an extra day. She arived safely late yesterday. Dave was sick last night with a fever and he threw up once; the airplane air gave me asthma; and Kaley was still upset about not having her retainer. We decided our digital camera is dead---that seems to be what "error #45" means. Finally, we picked up Apolo all groomed and clean from the kennel sporting a Christmas bandana. He seems to have a little diarrhea but is otherwise ok. Kaley and I hit one of our local Asian eateries to regulate our systems and we brought some home for Dave and the white sticky rice for Apolo's diarrhea. Kaley's bags were delivered at 9:30 last night and her retainer was just fine. Our house wasn't flooded or robbed though the wind messed up my poinsettias on the front porch.
I have checked my e-mails and favorite blogs and I guess our church had a good turn out on Christmas. This was my personal goal. I went to the Post Office to retrieve our mail; our neighbor brought us our newspapers. While in line at the Post Office just a little while ago, I read Chuck's column in the Mukilteo Beacon which I'd missed last week and it was a good one about his musical wife and daughter. My daughter doesn't know this yet, but she has been accepted into the University of Washington even though she will probably go to school at some far away place. An e-mail from Lucas indicates he is "dreadfully ill" and he feels like "dying". Oh great! And he didn't call and I can't call him so I do not know if he is throwing up, has diarrhea, or asthma or a bad cold and just when I was ready to let him go emotionally because he seems to be doing so well in France. He has no easy access to Asian food or milkshakes or me.
I guess it is good to be home but Paris--ah, seductive Paris--was so--not Mukilteo!!
Christmas Lights in Paris
Paris was beautiful. We had cold days, snow, rain and sun. The blizzard at the Eiffel Tower was interesting. We were trying to meet up with the Kamiak High School band because Kaley's best friends are in band. Yea, I know, it sounds so....like something we never got to do. Lucas and the orchestra went to Vienna and Prague when he was in Kamiak and Kaley with the choir went to Montreal a while back. So this year the band picked Paris at Christmas time and it had nothing to do with our trip but we thought we'd hook up with them. We had their itinerary so we planned to surprise them. Or so we thought until there was a blizzard.
We came up from the Metro at Trocadero to walk from there across the river to the Eiffel Tower---only we couldn't. The wind was driving the snow directly into our faces and the steps and plaza area were impossibly slippery. So we stood there wondering what to do when Dave noticed a bus that said "Kamiak" on the front. I started waving and jumping up and down thinking this would be a dead give away that I was Kaley's Mom. But, out of context, in Paris with my hair dripping wet, the kids on the bus just looked at me like I was stark raving mad. A blizzard--who would have thought??
Anyway, returning home is a process and makes me wonder why I like to travel. But then I think back to Paris and it is worth it. The morning we were to leave, Kaley was vomiting. My poor petite child who normally consumes Asian food simply could not handle the multi-course rich French New Year's Eve dining experience. At the airport, the security lines were excruciating for her and I was worried we'd get turned away because of all of the Avian flu symptom signs. In Detroit, they lost half of our luggage and naturally, it was Kaley's. She was panicky that she'd put her retainer in her checked bags and thought she'd never see it again.
After getting home, I could not get ahold of my Mom at first and it turned out her flight from Minneapolis to Helena had been canceled so her trip took an extra day. She arived safely late yesterday. Dave was sick last night with a fever and he threw up once; the airplane air gave me asthma; and Kaley was still upset about not having her retainer. We decided our digital camera is dead---that seems to be what "error #45" means. Finally, we picked up Apolo all groomed and clean from the kennel sporting a Christmas bandana. He seems to have a little diarrhea but is otherwise ok. Kaley and I hit one of our local Asian eateries to regulate our systems and we brought some home for Dave and the white sticky rice for Apolo's diarrhea. Kaley's bags were delivered at 9:30 last night and her retainer was just fine. Our house wasn't flooded or robbed though the wind messed up my poinsettias on the front porch.
I have checked my e-mails and favorite blogs and I guess our church had a good turn out on Christmas. This was my personal goal. I went to the Post Office to retrieve our mail; our neighbor brought us our newspapers. While in line at the Post Office just a little while ago, I read Chuck's column in the Mukilteo Beacon which I'd missed last week and it was a good one about his musical wife and daughter. My daughter doesn't know this yet, but she has been accepted into the University of Washington even though she will probably go to school at some far away place. An e-mail from Lucas indicates he is "dreadfully ill" and he feels like "dying". Oh great! And he didn't call and I can't call him so I do not know if he is throwing up, has diarrhea, or asthma or a bad cold and just when I was ready to let him go emotionally because he seems to be doing so well in France. He has no easy access to Asian food or milkshakes or me.
I guess it is good to be home but Paris--ah, seductive Paris--was so--not Mukilteo!!
Christmas Lights in Paris
// posted by Janet @ 1:57 PM
0 comments
Notre Dame
Mom, Kaley, and Lucas
Mom, Kaley, and Lucas
// posted by Janet @ 9:53 AM
0 comments
Paris in the Snow
Lucas has his pictures online and I am working to put them on here. Anyway, this is the view from our apartment in the 9th arr. while it was snowing.
Magical
Lucas has his pictures online and I am working to put them on here. Anyway, this is the view from our apartment in the 9th arr. while it was snowing.
Magical
// posted by Janet @ 9:30 AM
0 comments
Monday, January 02, 2006
Joyeux Fetes!
We made it back--not with all of our suitcases yet and I'm not sure my Mom made it back. The last I saw her she was going through customs in Detroit. She had a very tight connection to Helena--ours not so tight to Seattle--and she is not answering her phone.
I now have material for our annual Christmas letter. Let me start by saying Lucas came through with ordering a goose from a small boucherie and I'm really really really thankful my Mom spent all of her married life cleaning wild birds. Unfortunately, geese are really really greasy which makes holding a digital camera after Christmas dinner and French wine a tad touchy and when you drop such items on a French tile floor--well, they don't survive.
But, Lucas had a digital and we bought a couple of disposable cameras so there will be pictures.
Stay tuned!
We made it back--not with all of our suitcases yet and I'm not sure my Mom made it back. The last I saw her she was going through customs in Detroit. She had a very tight connection to Helena--ours not so tight to Seattle--and she is not answering her phone.
I now have material for our annual Christmas letter. Let me start by saying Lucas came through with ordering a goose from a small boucherie and I'm really really really thankful my Mom spent all of her married life cleaning wild birds. Unfortunately, geese are really really greasy which makes holding a digital camera after Christmas dinner and French wine a tad touchy and when you drop such items on a French tile floor--well, they don't survive.
But, Lucas had a digital and we bought a couple of disposable cameras so there will be pictures.
Stay tuned!
// posted by Janet @ 11:02 AM
0 comments
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