Archive for March 7th, 2010

Peanut Butter

March 7, 2010

I am eating peanut butter toast. Creamy I believe.

I started the morning attempting to do some running, with mixed success.
Next week I have signed up to do a 5K (3 mile) St. Patrick’s Day run. This is a follow-up to my Jingle Bell 5K in December. 3 months should be more than enough to get ready. NOT.

I have been able to run for more than a mile, most of the time, and did almost 2 miles Friday evening. This morning the plan was to start from home, run to a track, do 1 – 1-1/2 miles at the track, buy some eggs (supermarket next door), and walk home. The run to the track (~1/2 mile) started OK, but much of it is an upward incline, and about a block before the track I was losing steam. Since there was no one around to chastise me – I walked – to the track. Once at the track I ran “My one damn mile.” That is what I called it. I decided I could limit myself to just one, since I had many other things to do this morning.

After finishing the plodding One Damn Mile, I walked a lap (1/4 mile) and then did 3 more laps walking the curves and running the straights. Off to the market, and home again, home again, jiggity-jig.

Back to peanut butter. Yesterday, before our walk to Red Robin (see prior post), we were trying to cover up a blister Carl had developed the previous day. He wanted to pop it (yes we know you are not supposed to pop, but …). So out with a needle and find a match. Very old school. Matches, where are the matches.

Into a high cupboard, towards the back – a jar with several matchbooks, some more than 25 years old, from our Colorado days. We reminisced a bit, and then Carlos noted the jar. It was a peanut butter jar. Lots of people store things in peanut butter jars. We have many around the house with various collections of toys.

This jar was a Skippy Super Chunk variety, and it is glass.

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Originals – Closures

March 7, 2010

The original Red Robin restaurant is closing.

Current Red Robin

Red Robin is a restaurant chain that started with one place in Seattle. It’s sign says open since 1949. Apparently it was more of a bar than a restaurant until the early ’70s. When we first moved to Seattle in the early ’80s there were two that we knew of, the original and a branch at Northgate. We would go there every now and then. It turned out to be a good place to go with the kids. We still go every now and then, mostly at the original.

We have noticed several things about the original – most notably the steep parking lot. It is dropping from street level down to the ship canal, and they never did anything to make it easier to navigate. The canal and the University Bridge can be seen from the restaurant, and we watch the bridge go up and down (it’s a drawbridge). Lately we have taken to walking to the restaurant, about a mile from our house, and don’t have to deal with parking.

When they announced the original was closing we knew we had to go one more time. If only to get a picture of their original sign – which is inside the restaurant now. It has the Red Robin, if in a slightly earlier version, and he is smoking.

The Original Red Robin

 Since the newspaper article came out, the original has been packed.
We went for an “early” dinner, around 4:30, and had to wait 20 minutes to get a table. But everyone was there for the one last experience, so we waited. It was a nice walk down, a beautiful day, and a good thing to do.

And on their door they had a sign posted that said.
“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”
                                                      Theodor Geisel

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