That's Gneiss! #74 ~ A once in a lifetime adventure
Hello friends!
The weeks are just flying by. It seems I was just sending last week’s newsletter, and now here we are again. So, here we go.
We decided to do some exploring, so yesterday we drove off and had an ADVENTURE. Our typical method is to first decide where we’re going. Often I do this myself, as Michael is just happy to get out of the house and doesn’t really care where we’re going. Once I’ve picked a direction, I spend a stupid amount of time on Yelp looking at lunch options - eventually choosing something that looks promising. It’s a system that works well, usually.
Before we left I spent some time pulling weeds in the garden, as Rowland looked on. He’s really enjoying hanging out in our new yard. I am too. The weeds are making a valiant attempt to take over, but I am fighting back. To be honest, I’m not sure if some of the things I’m pulling out in front of the house are weeds or flowers. They’re doing a fine job of taking over though, so I’ll just leave a few to see what happens.
But back to the adventure! We hopped in the car and headed for Snohomish, with plans for lunch at the Snohomish Bakery at First & Union (that’s a long name). I ate there once recently and it was very tasty. We arrived in the downtown area and folks - it was a parking nightmare! People milling around everywhere, driving stupidly and just generally mucking up our plans. We weren’t interested in driving around half the day to find a parking spot, so we decided to just carry on to Monroe and eat there. Of course, that meant we’d be winging it! We’re not against that, but it does mean the results are harder to predict.
We drove along the lovely and cleverly named Old Snohomish Monroe Road - a beautiful drive with sweeping views of the Cascades. As we drove we noticed a slowdown ahead, with cars stopped in the opposite lane. As we crept by we saw the problem - the boat trailer pulled by the now stopped vehicle had come off the hitch! Close your eyes and picture the front end of a small speedboat under the rear of the truck, as if it decided it wanted to go faster and jumped ahead. Those guys were not having a good day, and that boat probably won’t see the water again. A good lesson in hitching your trailer thoroughly EVERY time you tow.
Before long we drove past the Monroe Correctional Complex and made our way into Monroe. We didn’t see a suitable place to eat so we pulled over to check the phone and find something nearby. Aha! Just a little bit ahead was a place called the Route 2 Taproom - sounded like a winner. And as it’s located in a strip mall, there was plenty of parking!
We sat down and the waitress brought us menus. Then she dashed off to get the tap list and returned with an iPad? She set it up on the table and we were able to scroll up and down to look at the offerings. It seemed like an awful lot of trouble for something that could just be on a piece of paper. We ordered our lunch and settled in to wait.
The beer was just dandy.
The food was bland. Fitting for a place that was, as Michael observed, a safe place for white people who all look alike to go out to eat. Michael was especially weirded out at how every little boy in the place looked exactly alike.
They had a lot of screens, too. Large screens, many screens, screens on every wall.
So. Not going back there again. But that’s all part of the fun - trying new places, never to return again.
Our next stop was the indoor swap meet at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds. Oh boy.
You’ll be glad to know we didn’t bring Rowland along. He was quite happily sleeping at home, waiting for one of his weekend pig ears. But oh, the things he missed out on!
A tiki carving destined to give somebody nightmares…
A deep sea diver helmet! Don’t be fooled by that $45 price tag - that was for some tool sitting in front of the helmet. The helmet will cost you a cool $450 my friends.
Somebody worked very hard on this.
How about a Seymour Mann Connoisseur Bride Doll who goes by the name of Fran? I didn’t catch the price, but you can buy one still smashed into her box for just $14.99 on Ebay. And yes, I spend part of my Sunday searching around to figure out exactly which doll this was so you don’t have to. You’re welcome.
Here’s another very special bride doll.
The excitement of the swap meet was too much to take, so we left empty-handed and headed for home, content to know we’ll never have to go there again.
We got home with plenty of time for me to get back out into the garden for another session of weed pulling. This time Rowland took a more active role in helping out.
On another note, I’ve been battling with my weather station to get it hooked back up to the internet. It’s talking to the indoor console just fine, but I’m having trouble working through the steps in the app to finish the process and start reporting to Weather Underground again. I’ve got a couple more tricks up my sleeve. The one thing missing from their documentation is what to do if you move your station to a new location! Bah. I’ll figure it out.
Have a great week!
Tidbits
Darwin Correspondence Project - just as it sounds! The letters of Charles Darwin transcribed, indexed, and available to read online.
Do you like watercolors? Then you will most certainly enjoy the Watercolour World database of 80,000+ paintings painted before 1900.
Vacation booked! Three nights in May at the Hi-Tide Resort in Seaside, Oregon. This is the trip we normally take in February, but put off due to the move. Much needed!
Snarky book subtitles by Snide Octopus
Drawing Nature, Science and Culture: Natural History Illustration 101 - a free online course from the University of Newcastle, vie edX
Can music change the flavor of cheese? Yes, according to this study.
Recently eaten: see above
Making: not much
Reading: Still listening to Michelle Obama’s Becoming every day in my car. My commute is so short now that I don’t get very far, but I did have a couple of longer drives for meetings. I am delighted at every minute I get to spend listening to her tell the tale of her life. I also started Uprooted, at the strong insistence of two close friends whose opinions I value (xoxo). I am loving it, and would be farther along if it weren’t for the annoying headache that plagued me for a couple of days. And that blasted weather station. Harumph.
Videos of the Week
Scott Walker…
Question of the Week
Just hit reply to send your answer, and I’ll share it next week. Always anonymous!
Do you have a favorite place for a quick getaway? What makes it special?
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Last week I asked if you’ve seen any good movies recently.
About this time every year, I take a stab at watching the films garnering Oscar nods. There are always some major stinkers in the contenders which leave me to wonder about the nature of art and the infinite variety in how we interpret it. Some are worthy of note. Drumroll, please. .. I hereby bestow the Biff to
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - Edgy, visually stunning, and uplifting.
BlacKkKlansman - Hilarious and terrifying in turn.
Black Panther - Beautiful cinematography, great costumes, compelling story, amazing hero. Wakanda forever!
Isle of Dogs - Worth watching more than once to catch everything. Quirky and wonderful.
Bohemian Rhapsody - Imperfect, but worth a view for fans of Queen. Rami Malek absolutely nails Freddie Mercury, And, the music. The music!
‘This is Life’ blew me away. That’s tough to do.
A movie we saw recently was Free Solo. I usually forget a movie within hours after seeing it, but this one has lodged itself in my mind - utterly gripping and heart-stopping! It's about that guy who climbed El Capitan WITHOUT A ROPE! Interestingly, he had brain scans done prior and it was revealed that his Amygdala (that little cluster of brain nuclei that makes us respond to scary things) is not like your or ours or billions of other humans. I highly recommend it! I could have done without his personal relationship issues brought to the fore, but those were telling, as well. A remarkable human being. He reminded me of Phillip Petit, who walked on a tightrope sans net between the World Trade Center towers back in the 70s. That, too, spurned a marvelous jaw-dropping movie, Man on Wire.
From the closest weather station until I get mine set up:
Current Temperature: 54 F (12 C)
Current Humidity: 86%
Wind Gusts: 1 mph
Precipitation: 0.00 in
Number of Subscribers: 97