Things I will miss and things I will not miss about Seattle

Things I will miss about Seattle:

• The friends I have made here
• Many local businesses and the nice people who work there
• The Pacific Northwest Ballet (but I still plan to fly back for the swans)
• My quirky old apartment and the wonderful light it gets
• Spending time in the garden with my 92-year-old neighbor
• Most of the summer weather
• Anhalt buildings

 

Things I will not miss about Seattle:

• The junkies.  The seemingly chemically impaired people just hanging out on the sidewalks, the neighborhood parks, the bus stops, wherever.  The odor of piss along the sidewalks of Belltown and from every alley of downtown.  The used syringes left in our garden.
• The contrast of ground level poverty at the feet of the magic growing glass structures/behemoths of the burgeoning wealthy tech industry.
• The fact that I will not be able to afford to live here (even if I wanted to) when I retire, and even with a pretty well-paying job I will never be able to afford more than a one bedroom apartment in a building with problems (though I realize I am fortunate to have a job that lets me afford this, and I don’t need more than one bedroom for myself, but now and then it would be nice to have guests).
• The overcrowded buses.
• The weed clouds at downtown bus stops.
• Wildfire smoke when it drifts over here from elsewhere.  It was pretty bad last summer; this summer I’m prepared with masks and DIY box fan filter.

 

I am so over Seattle.

 

Things I am looking forward to:

• Snow
• Glorious autumn leaves
• Fireflies
• Thunderstorms
• Visiting Montreal, Boston, and Maine
• The Boston Ballet, and popping down occasionally to NYC to see ballet there

 

Things I am worried about:

• That much snow.
• The slim likelihood of finding a place to live that is within a block of a veterinarian (see also: That much snow).

 

The where, the when:

• Most likely Burlington, Vermont
• Most likely early October mid-late April

 

things I’m gonna miss about Seattle (a list in progress)

1. The small number of friends I have made here
2. Cafe Argento
3. Cupcake Royale on E Pike
4. Pettirosso
5. Porchlight
6. Everyday Music
7. Wall of Sound
8. Elliott Bay Book Company
9. Seeing an evening ballet performance without needing to book a hotel room
10. Velocity Dance Center
11. Seattle Yoga Arts
12. proxmity to the airport

some things that happened in recent weeks

I drew stuff on a digital tablet.

I made a book.

Michael came to visit.

I learned to use my new pink camera, an early birthday gift from Michael.

We saw Josh Ritter at the zoo with Mr. & Mrs. Lavender and my officemate and her husband, and Luluc at the Fremont Abbey.

I worked.

I spent 4.5 days in Denver for work.  It was a long week.

At the airport the day I flew to Denver I was in the security line with a bunch of PNB dancers apparently heading out to Jacob’s Pillow.  This thrilled me no end.  They were also milling about the SeaTac food court on the other side of security.  I was in line behind Joshua Grant at Qdoba!

I bought some ballet tickets.  It has been a long dry spell, but next week there are a couple of studio previews to tide me over until mid-September.

Lucy has taken a fancy to sitting in the kitchen sink.  She also discovered peaches.

I realized in seven weeks I will be in Paris, and in eight weeks it will be only a memory, and a credit card payment (or two).

Over the weekend I uploaded a bunch of photos to Flickr.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Lucy time

It is high time to give Lucy’s endearing habits some attention.

1. She likes to open drawers.   The drawers under my bed, that is.  The drawers in which the cat toys are stored, next to the sheets and blankets.  She likes to open them every day, sometimes more than once.  Sometimes she drags a toy or two out, but mostly it seems to be about the act of opening.  To be honest, it’s kind of annoying, since I have to be careful not to step in a drawer whenever I get out of bed, but it’s also kind of cute.  It was especially cute this morning:

Lucy in a drawer (that she opened herself)

She was looking particularly pleased with herself, I think because this was a tough drawer to open on account of the sheets rather wedged in there.

2. She likes to eat greens.  Not just the wheat grass you may have noticed near the drawer.  She likes to eat whatever is in my salad.  (Arugula is a favorite.)  I have to be very careful not to leave a salad unattended (especially if it has kitty dangers like onions and garlic) because she will find it and eat it.

Her love of plant matter isn’t limited to leaves.  Last week I caught her biting into a whole tomato left on the counter.  I don’t think she liked it; she jerked her head away after chomping into it, but I left it out on the counter a few more days just in case, disposing of it only after it started to sag around the puncture wounds.

3. She’s a chirper.  She chatters away whenever I am petting her, which is often since she has grown into quite the cuddler.

4. She likes to Facetime. Just ask M—-l.  Although he would probably complain that with Lucy it’s more like Butttime.  But seriously, when she hears the signature Facetime ringing, she is there, rubbing up against the iPhone, enjoying a chit-chat with that guy with the beard.

5. She is mesmerized by the mystery of reflected light.  Many an evening when I am washing dishes, she’s gazing up at the moving light on the ceiling, transfixed.  I wonder what aspect of feline instinct those glimmers on the ceiling tap into.

6. She seems to be trying to befriend Ella, and sometimes Ella will play a bit of chase with her, but that’s as friendly as I’ve seen so far.  Still, Lucy periodically approaches Ella to sniff, and no paws have be thrown recently, so I’m still hopeful.

7. She snuggles down to sleep next to me every night and most mornings she is first thing I’m aware of.  Sometimes this is annoying (like those times when she jumps on my abdomen).  But once I’m awake, her happy purrs and chirps (Oh joy!  Food Lady’s getting up to give us breakfast!) are quite endearing.

I had some doubts in the first couple of months, and Ella still might not agree, but Lucy was a good choice.  I think she’s happy here, too.

things I have been doing instead of the things I really ought to be doing

• watching Pan Am on DVD over and over, and tracking down the songs playing in the background that don’t appear on the brief soundtrack
• worrying about the fact that I ought to be reviewing conjugation of key French verbs (instead of actually reviewing them)
• starting a beginning what-was-I-thinking-this-involves-touching-strangers waltz class
• drinking pink wine
• eating pink popsicles
• yet again rearranging the four pieces of furniture that make up my 120 or so square feet of bedroom-slash-living-room floor space
• starting books I don’t really have any interest in
• premature laundry
• thrift-shopping for hideous ill-fitting spring jackets

things for/in Paris (a work in progress)

Having secured a place to sleep, I hereby begin to really plan the trip, which will be in early October.  This post serves as place to store a bunch of evolving lists.

For those who feel tempted to make suggestions, please note that I’m not planning to see much in the way of typical tourist places or “doing” a whole lot.  I’m mostly interested in wandering quieter streets, seeing very old buildings, sitting and sketching in quiet and cozy places, gazing up at the stars when tucking in for the night in my l’il garret, and eating reasonably well and reasonably inexpensively in a vegetables-with-cheese-and-eggs-and-the-occasional-seafood kinda way.

Stuff to prepare:

• Find a tiny garret apartment.  Done! It’s in the 4th arrondissement (Le Marais), near the St. Paul Metro station, in an 18th century building, has a wee kitchen with washer and dryer, wifi, a 6th-floor southwest view plus skylights, and thankfully an elevator for the first 5 flights.  Woo!

I will be able to see rooftops…

…and even a tiny glimpse of Eiffel

• Book flights by Aug. 1.
• Sign up for the next French class at SCCC.
• Line up cat-sitting.
• Get a travel-friendly cell phone plan.
• Maybe get a tablet computer even though I obviously will have no money left.
• Maybe buy a ticket to the ballet, even though I’m not particularly excited about what’s on while I’m there and oh yeah the money thing.  Anyway, tickets for this show go on sale June 23.
• Round up addresses for postcards.
• Find out where the record stores are.

Stuff to pack:

• Sailor Babo
• iPod & charger
• sketchbooks
• pens & pencils
• watercolors & brushes
• guidebooks
• leisure reading for the plane
• a printout of this bus route map

Stuff to get once I get there:

• a 10-pack of transit tickets (un carnet)
• Metro system map
• more sketchbooks & art supplies
• more leisure reading
• the tackiest possible small Eiffel Tower snow globe

Stuff to see or do:

• Musée d’Orsay
• a bit of Louvre (and I’ll be there for free first Sunday of the month)
• Opera Garnier (at least look inside even if not seeing a ballet)
• whatever market is in my neighborhood
• Maybe a day trip to some small ancient village outside of Paris
• Shakespeare & Company
• Montmartre Cemetery
• Père Lachaise Cemetery (psst … M—–l … that’s where George Perec is buried)
• Ride bus route #69 (I am a transit geek after all)
• Ride Le Metro
• Ride Le Batobus

Stuff to eat:

• L’As du Falafel (4th) – fou du Falafel
• Tien Hiang (11th) – Vietnamese, closed Tuesdays
• (for ideas, look through Chocolat & Zucchini)
• (also look through this)

Stuff I do not plan to see or do: go up in the Eiffel Tower (although I will see it from the bus and will probably also walk near it and look up) or L’Arc de Triomphe, visit Versailles, buy clothes, fancy dining, stay up late

Goodbye 2013

Goodbye Muki
Goodbye Lila Bean
Goodbye bicycle
Goodbye drum kits, and aspirations of drumming
Goodbye urges to rock out
Goodbye desire for pop music
Goodbye counter-height table and tipsy stools
Goodbye dollars
Goodbye frequent cooking
Goodbye ovulation

Hello Lucy
Hello car and car payments
Hello right elbow and right heel tendinitis (in good company with the other tendiniti)
Hello Topricin
Hello housecleaner
Hello smaller, softer, quieter life
Hello Mozart, and more Bach
Hello Bix Beiderbecke and Billie Holiday
Hello ballet überfandom
Hello small proper table and chairs
Hello couchlet
Hello soup
Hello malbec
Hello acceptance that I really need to replace the fridge
Hello vague plans for moving to Port Townsend, maybe, although that would preclude a trip to Paris this year

and other random observations of the week so far

• I am so very behind at work and outside of work.
• That is just too much homework for a non-credit class.
• Cough drops do not a meal make.
• I really want some soup right now.
• I can’t seem to finish anything I start.
• I quite like my unfinished drawings, though.

• I would like to mess around more in watercolor.
• Early sunsets signal time for hibernation.
• Given that I my ovaries haven’t produced for 11 months now I think this might really be it.
• The hot flashes have really ramped up, though.
• I really love having a car, even if it only gets used to run errands, take cats to the vet, and shuttle me to and from the ballet.
• Lucy’s face is fully back in business, thank goodness.
• No wonder everyone at the vet adores Ella:

Ella in my purse

a confession and a bunch of random bullets

Confession:

I usually avoid posting things because I typically feel too overwhelmed to respond to comments and I feel guilty that I am not commenting on other people’s posts.   So please don’t take any lack of response from me personally, or feel compelled to leave comments here.

Random bullets:

• Today I got my bangs back.
• I started a community college non-credit French class last week to prepare for next October’s trip to Paris.  Like!
• Lucy scarily has a partially paralyzed face, since a week ago last Sunday.  Cause as yet unknown.  Maybe high blood pressure led to a small stroke?  (she’s been tested twice since then and starts blood pressure medication as soon as the compounded transdermal arrives in the mail).  If she’s not significantly better by the 14th, it’s off to the kitty neurologist for an MRI.  Meanwhile, there’s a twice-daily struggle to administer artificial tears.
• Ella continues to dislike Lucy.  Ella also has high ionized blood calcium.  The impact of dietary changes will be tested later this month.
• Ella still doesn’t like Lucy and I kinda regret adopting Lucy.  But I will continue to offer her a forever home and whatever veterinary care she needs.
• I am really jonesing to buy a car.  All these trips to the vet are getting to be an expensive drag via Zipcar.   A used Mini, a Fiat, or, most sensibly, a Honda Fit are potential choices.  In any case, I dread dealing with the car salesman.  It may well happen this weekend.
• Work is busy.  That’s good though, due to vet bills, and probably soon a car payment.
• Pacific Northwest Ballet started its new season last week.  I am still smitten (especially with James Moore and Carrie Imler this go round).  Feel so lucky that this wonderful company is right here in my new hometown.  And turns out, I like Twyla Tharp.

• I will fly to Cincinnati for a 6-day visit later this month (barring any veterinary emergencies).
• I’m looking forward to seeing the Cincinnati Ballet’s Swan Lake when in town.  Even if it’s not PNB.
• Last week I turned 49.  WTF.
• Ce vendredi, j’apprends faire des crêpes.  (I probably said that incorrectly.)
• Am currently reading Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit and Danny Gregory’s The Creative License.
• Here are a few random sketches and photos:

ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Allen Toussaint

birthday cake at Dilettante

the wine that inexplicably reminded me of Florida.

Beth Orton, waiting for that first-time feeling

On the #43, late for meeting Kitty @ the movies (Thérèse)

It’s going to be a fun but very busy weekend.

no wonder I am broke and frazzled

Not pictured:

• Hauling a bag of financial records to a community shred event
• Shopping for summery hippie skirts at the U District Street Fair (since I’ll be in the neighborhood on Saturday)