Smell of the Sea
I started falling asleep last night around 8, finally turned out my light around 9:30 and – of course – was wide awake at 2:30 a.m. and HUNGRY. I finally gave up on sleeping, got up and had a small bowl of pasta (why not? I’m a grown-up, I can do what I want!) and checked around with the blog-world before going back to bed. I had just gotten back to sleep when my VOIP rang – a wrong number. I think I got another couple hours of sleep before AdventureMan called; he had waited up as long as possible to call me; these time zone issues are a (hmmmm) crock.
Got up, chased the Qatteri Cat around and hid his babies (it keeps him interested and active during the day), threw in a load of wash, grabbed a cup of coffee, shut the kitchen door (Qatteri Cat is fast, and doesn’t understand about balconies), opened the balcony door – and oh! the smell of the sea! I thought for a minute I was back in Seattle! The morning air is cool and damp, and the smell of the sea is fresh and knocks my socks off. Sixty seconds of pure bliss before it gets too chilly for me and I come back in. Thanks be to God for these small, wonderful sensory experiences – the smell of the churning sea.
Rain Rain Go Away
Seattle has had a record amount of rain – the second largest amount in one day in the entire history of measuring rainfall. Roads are flooded, traffic is gridlocked, and my sister is continuously sloshing out her flooded lower story, a grinding, thankless job. It’s a mess.
moar funny pictures (photo from I Can Has Cheezburger)
Winter Wonderland
Snowstorms make for dangerous driving, but oh, so beautiful moments. I wanted to share some with you:
Rockin’ Pizza
It was cold, so cold it was even . . . SNOWING! We were in the mood for pizza, and we had seen a tavern along the road that claimed a wood burning oven, which is our favorite kind of pizza. We ventured out in the cold and snow, made it to the tavern, and it turned out to have a rock theme.
It was a very fun place, with a fake old brick interior, booths, a stage – I guess for competing rock bands, but there weren’t any live bands that night – GREAT smells, and great looking pizzas coming out from the kitchen. It was called the Rock Tavern, and they played classic rock songs, some really old ones like from the ’50’s, too.
This is what it looked like inside:
Here is what I had; it was called Evil Ways, and had artichoke hearts, spinach, sundried tomatoes and a basil pesto cream sauce – oh YUMMMMM:
Adventure Man had Ripp’s Revenge, which had kalamata olives, marinated mushrooms and sundried tomatoes – also YUMMMMMMM:
By the time we left, it had stopped snowing and none had stuck.
Adventure Man’s Leaves
As we left the bank, Adventure Man was distracted by the last of the autumn leaves on the drive. The leaves are beautiful on the trees, but Adventure Man can see their beauty even on the ground. (For the rest of us, they get messy and they are slippery.)
Seattle Fuel
Here is what Seattleites tank up on to handle the chill weather:
There are little coffee shops ever couple hundred feet – Seattle people don’t want to be without their coffee, chai, or cinnamon apple cider.
Cold Weather Gear
I can’t be the only one to have this problem. It doesn’t even matter that I have lived in the Pacific Northwest; no matter what I pack, when I am in Kuwait, I can’t imagine being cold enough to need things like hats that cover your ears, gloves, and heavy scarves.
Last winter, I did buy some heavy shawls in December, in Kuwait, and I am wearing them over my jackets when we walk along the waterfront. The wind coming in off the bay is chill and damp, and goes right through everything we are wearing. I am so thankful to have beautiful wool shawls to keep me warm, but we still had to make a run to the store to buy more hats and gloves:
As we went out for our walk this morning, Adventure Man reminded me to take the tag off the top of my hat. Doh!
(I also have the same trouble going back to Kuwait at the end of a Seattle summer; like “what? I won’t need a sweater? Not for months?”)
The Fish
You know how I love public art. These fish are amazing with the early morning light on them:
A close up – one has gone entirely iridescent!
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!
Not Your Kuwait Gas Station
Yesterday I took my Mom (and my Mom’s car) to the COSTCO gas station, where people are lined up to fill the tank at prices slightly less than the normal gas station prices in preparation for the upcoming long Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
I shivered as I stood out in the cool windy weather, filling the tank. I thought about Kuwait, where there is always a friendly face waiting to fill your tank – “Supreme or Premium, madam?” – at about 80 cents a gallon. I always have a smile when I leave the gas station in Kuwait.
Not so, here. Thought you in Kuwait might like to see what Seattleites are paying for gas:
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