Small Seattle Stories

A bunch of disconnected little Seattle stories:

A couple weekends ago Jana and I walked to the Seattle Public Library book sale in Magnuson Park. They had a warehouse full of books at ridiculously cheap prices. I could have spent hours there, but we don't have much room for even more books. With due deference to our limited shelf space, we left after about an hour with just one grocery bag of books -- $12 worth of classics, cookbooks, and local guides. So very awesome to be within walking distance of that sale. And we've already made a few recipes out of Fields of Greens.

The head chef and manager of Cafe Flora came to the office last week to talk about the venerable vegetarian restaurant and its cookbook. They had some good stories and made me like the restaurant even more. Plus, I got myself a free copy of the cookbook. Of course that didn't stop me from eating at rival restaurant Carmelita the next night.

Last weekend Jana and I went to the Seattle Public Theater at the Bathhouse to see Halcyon Days. It is a political satire that criticizes the Bush Reagan administration's invasion of Iraq Grenada and maybe even more strongly criticizes the rise of spin and disingenuous rhetoric (lies) as political justification. It ocasscionally felt like the small play that it was, but it was very smart and well-done. Conservatives might have gotten worked up when a character tackled the cardboard Reagan cutout that loomed over some scenes, but I just took it was a cathartic commentary on our past and present government failings. Read the Seattle PI Review.

Last weekend we also hiked to the top of Mt. Si. The mountain is only about 4000 feet at the peak, but it towers over North Bend, the town where Twin Peaks was filmed. We went with some friends and brought our dog Lyra. It was a steep hike, but Lyra did well. We got to the top in time to have a great view of the area. Then the sky opened up and we walked down in the rain. Rain or no rain, it felt great to be surrounded by all those trees and all that green.