...and now I'm back. From Seattle, where I visited my friend Margaret and her husband Andrew, and their future child, XY as I like to call him. Using a mere 50K frequent flyer miles, I flew round trip business class on American Airlines.
I had forgotten they actually feed you (A LOT) so that bagel I brought along was unnecessary, what with the bowls of warmed nuts, filet mignon entree, salad, prosciutto, ice cream sundae, and fresh-baked cookies. While it was all delicious (really) and served on china (!) I felt a little guilty since I could clearly hear them broadcasting the prices of sandwiches for sale in coach. Oh well. And you wouldn't think 2" extra in each seat width would make that much difference, but then, those 8" armrests really cut down on the elbow wrestling.
Since Margaret is 37 weeks pregnant, and since I have just as much energy as an extremely pregnant woman, I was perfectly content to do mellow things like shop, take walks around scenic areas like Green Lake Park (above -- oh, and despite that photo, it was actually sunny every day that I was there), visit bakeries like Hiroki, lie on the couch reading, and sample the goods at homemade donut shops like Top Pot Dougnuts. Yuummmmmm... I gobbled down my chocolate raspberry and Bavarian cream doughnuts before I stopped to think of taking photos -- sorry -- but the Hiroki treats were captured before their destruction: (clockwise from the top) ginger pear biscuit for Margaret, orange bun, for me and fig & cheese bun for Andrew.
We (Margaret & I -- Andrew was working or took off like the straight guy he is, heh) also explored local yarn stores: 3 LYS in 3 days! Score! We went to Acorn Street Shop, Weaving Works, and Bad Woman Yarn. Both Margaret and I liked Weaving Works best, and these photos may demonstrate why.
If you can resist buying vast piles of yarn, loitering around yarn stores is actually quite a thrifty vacation past time. I managed to restrain myself by focusing on the colors of my next Little Bubbles cardigan: if it didn't coordinate, I wasn't going to buy it.
In the meantime, I finally finished the Little Bubbles for XY's cardie. See? It even coordinates with their couch. (Heh) And I got to use some of the puppy dog buttons I bought on eBay a while ago.
Other odd anomalies besides the sunny weather (although I understand sunny weather is normal for summertime there) was not one, but TWO out of three flights arriving early. My nonstop flight to Seattle arrived an hour early (!) thereby understandably startling Margaret. My flight home from Chicago O'Hare (I transferred there) got to Newark half an hour early. And since I only had "one personal item" and carry-on luggage (I mean real carry=ons, and not those overstuffed monstrosities people use to avoid checked baggage fees), I zipped right through the airports.
Staying at Margaret and Andrew's house was so delightfully peaceful: not a single siren pierced the air in 4 days, whereas in my apartment, my phone calls are regularly interrupted by trucks of various kinds: fire, ambulance, sanitation, etc.
The restorative quiet (and pretty flowers -- see the begonias on their front stoop?) have left me in a much better mood, although sitting here on my couch like a bump on a log all day has left not such a good feeling. So, tomorrow I will try to actually assemble my console table before I go back to work on Thursday. Hopefully, tomorrow night I will get to see my sweetie!
Then Thursday afternoon, I have a setup meeting with my radiation oncologist, and Friday is a half day before Labor Day weekend.
I had forgotten they actually feed you (A LOT) so that bagel I brought along was unnecessary, what with the bowls of warmed nuts, filet mignon entree, salad, prosciutto, ice cream sundae, and fresh-baked cookies. While it was all delicious (really) and served on china (!) I felt a little guilty since I could clearly hear them broadcasting the prices of sandwiches for sale in coach. Oh well. And you wouldn't think 2" extra in each seat width would make that much difference, but then, those 8" armrests really cut down on the elbow wrestling.
Since Margaret is 37 weeks pregnant, and since I have just as much energy as an extremely pregnant woman, I was perfectly content to do mellow things like shop, take walks around scenic areas like Green Lake Park (above -- oh, and despite that photo, it was actually sunny every day that I was there), visit bakeries like Hiroki, lie on the couch reading, and sample the goods at homemade donut shops like Top Pot Dougnuts. Yuummmmmm... I gobbled down my chocolate raspberry and Bavarian cream doughnuts before I stopped to think of taking photos -- sorry -- but the Hiroki treats were captured before their destruction: (clockwise from the top) ginger pear biscuit for Margaret, orange bun, for me and fig & cheese bun for Andrew.
We (Margaret & I -- Andrew was working or took off like the straight guy he is, heh) also explored local yarn stores: 3 LYS in 3 days! Score! We went to Acorn Street Shop, Weaving Works, and Bad Woman Yarn. Both Margaret and I liked Weaving Works best, and these photos may demonstrate why.
If you can resist buying vast piles of yarn, loitering around yarn stores is actually quite a thrifty vacation past time. I managed to restrain myself by focusing on the colors of my next Little Bubbles cardigan: if it didn't coordinate, I wasn't going to buy it.
In the meantime, I finally finished the Little Bubbles for XY's cardie. See? It even coordinates with their couch. (Heh) And I got to use some of the puppy dog buttons I bought on eBay a while ago.
Other odd anomalies besides the sunny weather (although I understand sunny weather is normal for summertime there) was not one, but TWO out of three flights arriving early. My nonstop flight to Seattle arrived an hour early (!) thereby understandably startling Margaret. My flight home from Chicago O'Hare (I transferred there) got to Newark half an hour early. And since I only had "one personal item" and carry-on luggage (I mean real carry=ons, and not those overstuffed monstrosities people use to avoid checked baggage fees), I zipped right through the airports.
Staying at Margaret and Andrew's house was so delightfully peaceful: not a single siren pierced the air in 4 days, whereas in my apartment, my phone calls are regularly interrupted by trucks of various kinds: fire, ambulance, sanitation, etc.The restorative quiet (and pretty flowers -- see the begonias on their front stoop?) have left me in a much better mood, although sitting here on my couch like a bump on a log all day has left not such a good feeling. So, tomorrow I will try to actually assemble my console table before I go back to work on Thursday. Hopefully, tomorrow night I will get to see my sweetie!
Then Thursday afternoon, I have a setup meeting with my radiation oncologist, and Friday is a half day before Labor Day weekend.
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