Whadda Day

I struggled to wake up and get out of bed, and felt less than human for the first couple of hours, but today was a good day and not just because I didn't have to use my AK.

Three books I had ordered from amazon.com showed up today. Since I can't do anything without obsessively gathering, I've been bookmarking links, renting videos from the library, and buying books on food. Today the armchair hunter came home with In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, The End of Overeating by David Kessler MD, and Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. This is what I do now instead of plowing through a huge bag of greasy, salty tortilla chips every night - I surround myself with words and images of healthy food, real food, sustainable agriculture, vegetarian and vegan recipes, getting in touch with the earth, natural fitness, being one with the Universe and chanting OM. Actually, the last two - not so much. Yet. And I still have the days when I plow through a half of a large bag of tortilla chips.

Not that I'm going vegan or anything crazy like that. Been there, done that as smartasses used to say even before the generation before the Not Really's said Whatever. But I want to eat less meat, and I want to eat humanely raised meat and I don't want to support, with my hard earned cash, industrial farming.

I'm not aiming for total purity either (yes, that is probably redundant). I hope to hit the target often, but won't always. My Aim Is True.

So after the books showed up, one of my delightful and lovely coworkers shared the web sensation that is sweeping the nation! Several of us spent far too long (actually the right amount of time, but if I was a true professional I'd say far too long) reading The Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt comments. A good time was had by all, but no sooner did we retire from the warm embrace of faith in humankind restored (via carefully crafted biting and hysterical sarcasm en masse), then we started to exchange emails to plan for next weeks Chip Day Potluck. Although we will in fact be dining on potato and corn flats and rounds, for the slightly older folks in the room you can't say "Chips" without thinking Ponch and Jon. This then started an exchange of old television titles, and eventually YouTube vids of great show openings.

The silliness had not yet reached a pinnacle. That didn't come until someone sent out what just may be the funniest blog of all time; Awkward Family Photos. This was wet your pants funny.

I walked to REI to meet up with Papa Seed after work. He got stuck in traffic so I sat on a log bench near the manmade forest (used for trying out walking shoes and hiking boots) and watched some totally wonderful Korean cooking videos I had added to my iPod last night. Back to the food thing. Full circle.

The Long & Winding Staircase

Still walking like an obese crazed middle aged man trying to catch up with his runaway youth. Adding a bit more as I go along. Last weekend decided to find out where the many staircases that are on the east side of Delridge go.

Stairs are difficult for me. I'm trying to use them 50% of the time at work (I work on the second floor, and until two weeks ago I always used the elevator except for the twice a year fire drill). My knees no longer work the way the once did. I guess there isn't a part of me that works the way it once did, but my knees really don't work the way they once did. Not that I didn't get a lot out of them back in the day, but now - not so much. So I'm pretty damn slow on stairs. If I hear that clickclickclick of someone bounding up and down the stairs, I wait 'em out. I would just get in the way, and I don't want them to see me do the hunched over crawl with the forehead spouting like a New York fire hydrant in July. But, I'm not giving up. I will keep using them. 50% of the time.

So Sunday I thought I'd take the pretty big stairs up to where there were trees. But when I got to what I thought was the top, there were more stairs leading up to more trees. And this repeated endless times. I had to stop to hack and choke and sweat and catch my breath, but I finally made it to the last step.


That step took me to a street I would otherwise never have been on. The rewards of walking continue - the revelation of the world outside the front door.

Parent Break

Yesterday Papa Seed and I went to a class that was being offered for folks involved in the Foster care system - either as parents or workers. Although we are no longer "Foster Parents", we want to keep our license current. You never know. It always makes me think of Tammy Wynette, who said she always kept her hairdresser license current in case the music industry gig fell through. That probably isn't the best analogy. Somehow it works for me.

Unlike some of the classes we have been to which are total snooze cruises, this one was very interesting - "The Disruptive Teenager" I think it was called. Something like that. We really liked the slightly crazy, totally energetic, very smart woman who taught the class, especially since she introduced the session by discussing how much she hated pathologizing kids by sticking a label on them that they would carry on their foreheads the rest of their lives. Yep. Papa Seed and I totally agree with that. Everyone has to have a diagnosis, a label, a sickness or mental illness. We wanted to be very careful just to call Mancub by his name. I think we've done pretty good with that piece.

It was also all a bit overwhelming. As the class went on, the stories became more intense - the stories about kids who just have everything going against them. The firestarters, the animal torturers, the suicidal ones. It is all so sad. Lives that are chaotic and insane from the time they land on earth - their version of "normal" is something so very shattered it is hard to wrap our minds around it.

We had a lunch break that we took advantage of by hitting a Vietnamese restaurant nearby. Papa Seed and I never get to have lunch together during the week. That was nice.

Alki Walk V

I got a couple of good shots of Papa Seed on this walk. I usually don't take photos of people, but since I knew this one it felt safe. Plus, at least on the anchor, I told him to get in the camera's view.





Satisfying and more than a bit exhausting, but like a good walk should be it left my spirits lifted and once again feeling so fortunate that we live where we do.

Alki Walk IV

Alki Walk III

There are treasures on the sidewalks and along the path - poems, stories, pictures. There are several large viewing machines that you can peer through to see vintage photos and drawings of the way it once looked in the area.

Alki Walk II

Some of the most beautiful homes in Seattle are found along Alki, most weathered and funky and now dwarfed by neighboring condos. Truly charming, but alas - not for much longer.