Raincharm’s Weblog

With just two of us I would think the preparations would be less time consuming. And they are, but not as much as I expected. One of our traditions as an empty nest, is to not have too many traditions. Each year develops as the holiday approaches.

Past experiences have included long walks with turkey sandwiches in tow (and a finally successful search for an open coffee shop). Most have included a meal.

This year includes just 3 dishes. Food servings that is. There are lots of dishes.

1. Turkey breast. There are a gazillion ways to prepare a turkey breast. I know, I googled it. As it happens, last week there was a PCC coupon for a free bottle of pure maple syrup. So along with our puff pastry purchase we picked up a bottle of maple syrup. And, while browsing recipes I spotted on for Maple Roasted Turkey Breast. Serendipity! Maple syrup is not something we normally have around, so this was the year. And it was quite good.

2. Salad. Actually, Roasted Pumpkin and Chestnut Salad with Orange-Cranberry Vinaigrette. This is a WW recipe, 6-7 points … if we only ate one serving. The roasted pumpkin and chestnuts made this a filling accompaniment to the turkey.

3. Apple Puff Pastry tart/galette/pie. This was a mash-up of the Betty Crocker apple pie recipe, with a puff pastry instead of a traditional pie crust. And a bit smaller than the pie.

One other thing about Thanksgiving dinner that changes every year is the time we actually dine. Nine out of ten times we eat later than planned. This was apparently the tenth year, and we ate early. Mid-afternoon. It actually surprised Carl. He was in the midst of a cleaning, flinging, reorganizing project. I had to ask him at least 3 times to help with the final preparations. He would do as requested and then grab another load of something to move about.

The rest of this evening will be spent hanging out until dessert. We’re watching a movie or two. The current movie is from 1944, Between Two Worlds.

And as for the rest of the weekend….

We had a few things on our list today. As with most planned days, a few more things added themselves. And it’s only late afternoon.

First up for me was a 7:30 WW meeting. Last night I was thinking about skipping, but they just introduced a new program update and I wanted to hear what they had to say. And I woke up at my normal work time, so no excuses there. In fact I actually did a little work before I left.

Things at work seem to be accelerating. One task I perform is to look at new development proposals, from house additions to plats, and tell them what they need to do and pay for their water and sewer. Since the city in which we operate just lifted their development moratorium, there are lots of new proposals. I spent most of yesterday trying to get caught up. I think I finished 8, but there was still 1 left plus some other lingering service questions. This is where you should be thinking, TMI, get on with it.

Meeting and home, at which point the unplanned interruption arrived. While pulling into our driveway, which includes going over a hump, the car scraped bottom more than expected. This happens with a loaded car, really full tank of gas, or low tire pressure. In this situation I immediately suspected tire issues. The left front tire looked suspicious, so I backed out of our sloped driveway and parked on the street. The pressure seemed about 4 pounds low. So, off to the gas station to fill ‘er up. They have really improved the air filling stations. Of course I had to do it twice because I didn’t realize you had to enter your target pressure first. Hang the $2. It was relatively quick and painless. And the car is still parked on the street while we give it a day or two to see if it holds the air.

And there was some more work done. And chatting with the kids. (Not work.)

Finally the real day’s outing was at hand. The goal was to rendezvous with a friend for Covid boosters and lunch. We planned to take light rail, starting at 2 different stations. Our booster appointments were also 2 hours apart. We sort of rendevoued on the train. Except he was in the last car and we were in the first.

We did meet up when we de-trained, and proceeded up a Seattle hill to Kaiser Permanente. Jim was on time for his appointment, and we were allowed to slide right in too.

Next on the activity list was Dingfelder’s Deli for lunch. Pastrami sandwich for me. Yum. And we picked up chicken soup for tomorrow (in case the booster hangover hits). They don’t offer inside seating, but they do have an outdoor picnic table where we enjoyed our sandwiches. And had a chance to talk.

Next up was wending our way back to the light rail station. There have been times we may have opted to walk the 3 miles home from Capital Hill. But the University Bridge, a drawbridge on our route, is stuck in the up position. This happened yesterday when some motor burned out. After predicting a few hours to fix, I have now seen a post suggesting November 20th. And there is a UW Husky football game today. This bridge is one of the main surface routes to the University …

Back to the light rail trek. We passed through Cal Anderson Park. This is a lidded water reservoir, and until recently home of one of Seattle’s encampments, and before that part of the CHOP. It’s actually a nice looking park, at least during the day, and they’ve made some nice improvements. It’s also directly next to one of the light rail entrances.

The next station north of Capital Hill is at the UW stadium. Needless to say, with the game about 90 minutes off and one bridge out of service, the train was full of purple clad fans. Our stop was two more north, and we didn’t miss getting off this time.

Each of the walking legs on Capital Hill was about half a mile, with the extra between home and the Roosevelt station. An easy 2 to 3 miles. It was nice to get some walking without dodging raindrops or rivers of water.

I went in to work yesterday.

I left in the dark. Blustery winds buffeted the car, especially in areas without tree cover. Like crossing the lake. And when near trees, watching nervously for branches falling. Sunrise 7:04 AM.

I started for home in the dark. In an atmospheric river. Sunset 4:39 PM.

TECHNICAL TERMS

Carl undertook a project of his own making over the last several days. In the all things baseball part of his life he has acquired one or two or several autographed baseballs.

He decided to get them organized and archived.

After consulting with our professional archivist, what has been accomplished is storage, organization, identification for easier retrieval. But not archiving.

Still a worthy project. Worth the time and maybe setting a precedence for future projects.

Hard to believe it’s been 2 years!

Starting with today. It’s easiest to remember. We ventured out between the raindrops to get some exercise and do some exploring. The new light rail extends north to Northgate, which has been in a perpetual state of destruction and construction for the last several years. The mall has a few remaining businesses around its periphery, but a large section has been rebuilt as the Kraken Community Iceplex. So we decided to explore the area a bit.

We saw two rinks, one in use for youth team practices, and the second for general public skating. These were rinks 2 and 3. We didn’t see Rink 1. Perhaps we didn’t explore enough or it is out of view for Kraken practice. There is also a Starbucks and the 32 Bar and Grill.

Northgate “Mall” is still very much a work in progress. In its current state, being a pedestrian trying to go from one area to another is challenging. Lots of parking, most of it now requiring payment, but it is difficult to see the entire picture at this time. Maybe in a few more years.

The Northgate light rail station is directly across the freeway from North Seattle (Community) College, and a new pedestrian bridge was built as part of the station.

North Seattle Community College is where Carl took his Early Childhood Education classes. It was also home to the Coop classes we did with each kid. And the parking lot is where I taught the kids to drive with a stick shift.

After this bit of exploring we decided to take the train back to our neighborhood.

All was good. Only one stop. Except we were both distracted, and used to travelling for multiple stops. As the doors were closing on the Roosevelt Station I realized our mistake. So we exited at the U District Station instead. It added about 3 or 4 blocks to our walk, but we got to stop at Trader Joe’s on the way home.

Back in the house, watching soccer and sorting baseballs for archiving.

That was today. During the last two weeks the baseball season ended. The World Series went 6 games. We gathered with our baseball friends for 4 of the 6 games. All 4 we were together were won by the Atlanta Braves. Coincidence? No, no superstition in baseball.

On one of the days without baseball, gathered or not, we got to go to our first Kraken (NHL) game at Climate Pledge Arena at the Seattle Center. As part of their efforts to encourage fans to get out of their cars, the transit passes were included with the ticket. On your phone. Also on your phone you were supposed to have your vaccination status, on the Clear app. Vaccination was required for entry.

Getting the tickets onto the phone was relatively painless, once you downloaded the Kraken app. The Clear vaccination bit was more complicated. First you took pictures of your ID. Then a selfie so you could be matched to your ID. There were several rules for the selfie; don’t smile, hold steady and no glasses. The no glasses really slowed me up because it would flash directions and suggestions, but I couldn’t read them because – no glasses. Then a facial scan and finally vaccination information. Whew. And then repeat for Carl. The issue with Carl was his phone was almost dead and couldn’t take a focused picture until we plugged it in. They do have a tent where you can show your card, but a friend said the line was long and the process slow enough that they completed the app process while in line.

So we walked to the light rail, and got off at Westlake. Climbing a few flights in the Westlake Mall to the Monorail. Who thought this one stop relic of the 1962 World’s Fair would be an integral part of the transit system 60 years later. Monorail to the Seattle Center, and a short walk through the rain to the Arena.

The game was fun. Since we were masked, there wasn’t much temptation to snack, although we did share a beer. Mannys from a tap, served in an aluminum cup. More recyclable. The Kraken beat the Minnesota Wild 4-1.

To get home we did the transit thing in reverse. However, instead of the fans arriving over an hour or two, everybody left at one time.

The wait really wasn’t all that long. Two Monorail cars running, and no pushing or shoving. Again just scanned the transit pass from the ticket on your phone. The interesting thing was there were different barcodes to scan for Monorail, light rail, bus and a few other transit options.

In other fun, there was Halloween. Our neighborhood blocked off the street for 3 hours and held a limited contact trick or treat event. Carl repeated his baseball player delivery of Origami “baseballs” with a piece of candy tucked inside. We had about 60 visitors, and the delivery method was given high marks. The best was a group of 8 young teen girls. They were enthusiastic and 7 of the 8 caught the pitch.

And don’t forget to fall back tomorrow morning.