Archive for November 25th, 2011

The Evening After

November 25, 2011

So today had a bit less staying around the house.
Because it was SUNNY!

We started out about 10 AMish (Carl noted the time, I did not.)
Dropped a movie off at the video store (wouldn’t be a walk without an errand).
Tried to get on the sunny side of the street, as there was still frost around.
Walked an extra block in the shade to avoid one of the more odoriferous folks that habitat our streets.
[Honestly, I do not dislike this person, always polite and quiet, but he reeks.][[Maybe the cold air would have dampened the odor, but we still waited the extra block.]
Over the freeway, and up the hill, into the neighborhoods we went. Zig-zagged our way down to the north end of Lake Union, and across the Fremont Bridge. Followed the Lake Union (Cheshiahud trail) trail along Westlake, through the new South Lake Union Park, past the center for wooden boats, restaurant and yacht sales row (sort of like an upscale auto row), and onto the road that follows close on the eastern shore of Lake Union. Finally back to Eastlake Avenue to cross the University Bridge (no Occupy Seattle protesters in sight). Up Roosevelt to 45th. We did a little job to avoid walking where we had before (only doubled on one block). Home again.

Settled in to check out the end of a football game and browse the paper. Looked at the ads for all of the sales that had since ended.

Then time for a movie. This time it was Intolerable Cruelty starring George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones. A Coen brothers movie. This was a funny one. Moved along, and kept us laughing. A good flick to rest our legs.

Dinner is in the oven now. Turkey casserole.

Total mileage today – 9.5 miles.
Money spent. $0 on the Black Friday sales, but a few $$ on groceries (yogurt, bananas, etc.).

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The Morning After

November 25, 2011

This is a report on our Thanksgiving.
And since we spoke with many most of my readers, you can probably skip this one.

We arose in the morning.
Actually, it was after 8 AM. I had woken up a bit earlier, but Carl was actually sleeping, and I did not want to wake him up. (Stuffed up nose and a C-Pap, make for disjointed sleeping.)
But we managed to roll out of bed, and it was not dark out.
This meant that there were not clouds completely obscuring the orb in the sky.

At this time of year in Seattle it is dark more than it is light. Combine the shorter days and generally normal cloudy sky, and sometimes it is hard to tell the time of day by looking out a window.

So we launched on a morning walk, albeit a short one.
Destination – Starbucks, for a morning coffee.
We chose the 1-mile Starbucks. There is another that is about 1/2 mile, and another that is 1-1/2 miles (maybe 2), and … (Well, this is Seattle.)
Upon arrival it looked like a cocktail party outside the door. People mingling in groups.
At first I mistook this for the line, but then realized they were all holding cups.
So we went inside, and got in the interior line. Not too long.
But what caught our attention was that this store was now only about 1/4 the size of the store we usually visit in this location. The barista said they were remodelling, and in a few weeks it would be back to full size.

Got our coffee and headed home.

Once home the food preparations began, and so did the rain.
Turkey with an apple, onion, cinnamon stick, rosemary and sage aromatic stuffing, and soup in a pumpkin – onions, breadcrumbs, sage, nutmeg chicken stock and Jarlsberg. And of course the pumpkin added its flavoring too. That was pretty much the dinner – followed by apple pie for dessert.

We spent some time catching up with our family flung far and wide. (Actually – I guess we are the ones that flung, and then ours did some further flinging.) And then a movie (in-house).

The movie was Somewhere, starring Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning, directed by Sophia Copolla. I believe it won an Academy Award, and Carl thought it was quite good. I think you needed to have taken a film studies class, or just have been ready to look for symbolism. To me, it was OK, but I wasn’t properly prepared for looking deeper at that moment.

And so a bit later my altitude went from upright to slouched to horizontal to bed. I guess this was the nap I had been expecting earlier.

Today has dawned sunny, bright and frosty.
Our weather choices seem to be warmer (40’s) and rain or sun and cold.
I do believe we are preparing to venture forth. Report later.

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