Not Your Kuwait Book Store
Killing time waiting for Adventure Man to arrive. I always save Barnes and Noble for a special treat. If I go too soon, my bag is full of books, and no room for anything else. B&N is my incentive to get all my business taken care of – my special reward.
I love the bestseller, new hardcover and new paperback sections, where I can get a quick overview of what is hot.
Gregory Maguire’s Wicked is out in a new paperback format; while it first came out about ten years ago, it is as delightful now as it was then. It is the Wizard of Oz story, retold from the point of view of the Wicked Witch of the West, a radical reformer who got bad press. It was also made into a Broadway musical that ran for years. Well worth bringing out for a new generation of readers.
Old Cars
Several years ago, some friends were visiting Seattle and returned, saying “I have never seen so many OLD cars anywhere else.”
(They had never been to Turkey, where they have an art of keeping old cars running.)
I had never really noticed, but there truly are a lot of older cars in this area, and I don’t know why. Maybe one reason is that Seattle had a few leaded gas pumps longer than other states, and most of these old cars ran on leaded gas. You still see them – a lot of them – still on the roads.
Extra Ferry Runs
At the worst possible time – just before the huge Thanksgiving rush to the ferries – cracks were discovered in the hulls of four of the ferries in the transportation system. Once the cracks were discovered, the four ferries had to be taken off the runs – they don’t take chances here on people’s lives.
Ferry boats that can carry cars take specialized care to build and to repair. It will be a while before they are back in service, or replaced.
Meanwhile, people are on their way to grandmother’s house – by ferry. Cars are lined up for miles, waiting to get on. They have a strictly enforced system; there is no cutting in line, no going to the front – you get in line when you get there and you take your turn. Being Seattle, there are multiple places along the lengthy lines where you can buy coffee, and places where you can make a pit stop, to dump the coffee.
Families bring books and puzzles, and just plan on the wait. They build the ferry-waiting time into their schedule. Thanks to mobile phones, many families walk on (no waiting to walk-on, and it is a lot cheaper) and have people pick them up on arrival on the Winslow/ Kingston/ Whidby Island side.
The transportation officials also put on extra ferries, so just about as one loads up and leaves, another arrives. You may have to wait a while, but it is about as efficient as it can get.
And then, after dinner, it all reverses, and people come back on the ferries. I try to imagine the revenues those ferries bring in on this one four day weekend, and I can’t begin to imagine.
Jack Frost Nipping
When you think of Thanksgiving in Seattle, you usually think of rainy and stormy. Everyone has a tale to tell about the year the electricity went off just when the turkey was cooking and 22 people were coming for dinner.
This year, however, was picture perfect.
It is COLD (brrrrrrrr, shiver, brrrrrr) Morning and night, you either have to scrape the frost off the windshield, or wait long enough for the car to heat up and melt it off. (Brrrrrrrr, shiver)
It is GREAT sweater weather.
In Seattle, this is what you say “Look at the mountain!” Everyone knows which mountain you are referring to – Mt. Rainier.
Look at the mountain!
Mom, Please Don’t Leave Me!
I am taking care of my sister’s cats while she and her husband are on a short vacation trip. As they were leaving, Wally, the diabetic cat, begged her not to leave him with me:
He is one of the easiest cats in the world to take care of. He knows when he needs his shot and he doesn’t run and hide like my own sweet little cat used to do when it was time for her shot. Wally hangs out around the refrigerator, where his insulin is kept, around time for his shot, and purrs when you give it to him. What a sweetheart.
Once my sister was gone, he got along with me just fine. 🙂
Jail Problems in Seattle
When I was blogging about the upsurge of antibiotic resistant infections springing up in more hospitals, our son sent an article about problems in the Pensacola Jails. Arriving in Seattle, the Seattle Times published a report of jail violations in this area, including rising rates of MRSA related infections.
The U.S. Department of Justice has issued a sweeping condemnation of the operation of the downtown King County Jail, saying inmates’ civil rights are being routinely violated through physical and sexual abuse by staff and inadequate medical care.
King County officials released a 27-page letter from the Department of Justice’s Civil rights Division which says that the department has notified county officials of “life-threatening deficiencies in medical care” for some inmates at the jail and alleges that inmates were routinely pepper-sprayed by staff and subjected to “degrading” physical abuse, including hair pulling to force inmates to comply with guards’ orders.
The DOJ says the county has failed to adequately train its staff and has inadequate policies and procedures in place to protect inmates.
The Department of Adult and Juvenile Corrections’ internal investigations unit is also inadequate and routinely fails to follow up on reports of inmates complaints, the DOJ alleges.
Jail Director Reed Holtgeerts said the jail is addressing many of the issues but that the county disagrees that inmates rights are being violated.
“We strive at all times to provide safe, secure and humane conditions for the over 50,000 inmates for whom we are responsible each year,” according to a written statement released today by the county. “We disagree that the constitutional rights are being violated, but we are in complete agreement with DOJ that there is room for improvement in the areas they evaluated.”
Holtgeerts said the county has and will cooperate completely with the DOJ.
The DOJ says a lawsuit could be filed if the county fails to address the issues.
The DOJ’s Office of Civil Rights opened an investigation into the King County Jail in November. Much of the investigation focused on jail health issues, including the spread of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, a highly contagious bacteria that can lead to severe infections and even death. At least one jail inmate has died from a MRSA infection and hundreds of others are diagnosed every year.
Other issues the DOJ said it would look at included jail suicides and sexual abuse of inmates.
You can read the entire article HERE
Shooting Tux
One of my sister’s cats won’t stay still – or when he does settle down, his favorite chair is black, he is black – not such a great shot.
Shooting Tux is a challenge. He spent quite a while with me yesterday as I wrapped packages, and I had to shoot about twelve shots to finally get one that worked – he moves too fast. Here are some samples of “shooting Tux.”
Wrong angle:
Typical shot – he moves too fast!
And he gets too close!
Finally, one clear shot. It’s all I need:
Stroller Brigade
People laugh – or worse, look like I am crazy – when I tell them living in Kuwait is not unlike living in Alaska in terms of climate. When the climate gets extreme – too cold has the same impact as too hot – people stay at home more, going from their heated/chilled homes to their heated/chilled cars to the heated/chilled stores and malls or theatres. When the milder weather comes, everyone spends every minute they can outside.
In Kuwait, there are groups that head for the malls early in the morning for some serious walking when it is too hot to walk outside.
In Seattle, I ran into another group of serious walkers, but here, they are avoiding the rain and cold. When you see the stroller brigade – and there were between fifteen and twenty women with their babies – you had better get out of the way! These are some serious strollers!
Fast Food To Feel Good About
I’m still adjusting to the local time, and there are odd times when I am suddenly starving. Delighted to be in Seattle, I know where all the Ivar’s restaurants are. Some are go-in-and-sit-at-a-table kind of Ivar’s, with waiters and fabulous entrees, and then there are the fast-food Ivars, where you can get fish and chips, salmon and chips, halibut and chips, clam chowder, crab cocktail, and my favorites – smoked salmon chowder, and grilled salmon Ceasar. Oh, yummmmmmmmy!
Most of all, it delights my heart to see so many people eating fast food that might even be good for you.
Not Your Kuwait Starbucks
All the Starbucks in Seattle – there is one on every corner, and sometimes on TWO corners of the same crossroads – are tarted up for Christmas. They have special Christmas blend coffees, they have Peppermint Mocha and Gingerbread Latte, and they have all these adorable Christmas theme cups, and hot cups, for your home and for your car:
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