B'ham B'day

We need the tonic of wildness, to wade sometimes in marshes where the bittern and the meadow-hen lurk, and hear the booming of the snipe; to smell the whispering sedge where only some wilder and more solitary fowl builds her nest, and the mink crawls with its belly close to the ground.
-- Henry David Thoreau

Sunday, May 30, 1999
One year ago: Birthday
Two years ago: The Broad Wing of Time

I woke up early -- early, that is, for a Sunday morning -- and finished off the previous day's entry. I also got my design finished for next month, so I feel as smug as a housewife with a month's worth of dinners prepared and tucked away in the freezer.

The plan was for me to go to the Secret Festival (special movies that are part of the Seattle International Film Festival but can't be shown publically for a variety of reasons) then head on over to Jack's house. Every time I'm there, I think it will be the last time! But I keep having to go there again.

Even with all the tasks I got accomplished this morning, I ended up in line for the movie at around eleven thirty. (They usually let us in around noon.) I was surprised that the line was as short as it was! Maybe the beautiful weather, and the surprisingly long running time of the secret movie last Sunday (so I hear), made folks decide to give it a miss even if they already had a pass. I talked with the folks near me in line, about the benefits of buying a full-series pass. Not all the good stuff shown at the festival is released later; there are movies that I'm really glad I got the chance to see. And even if a particular movie shows up in a one-week run at the repertory theater sometime next year, the odds aren't that good that I'll get over to see it.

As it turned out, I wasn't thrilled with the theme of today's secret movie, although the performances were good, so I left after an hour. Yes, the fact that I was eager to see Jack probably added to my impatience. The drive over to Redmond only took a half hour; when I go see him in Bellingham (abbreviated B'ham) it will take an hour and a half!

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I was surprised to see a big black shiny-new truck in Jack's driveway. It turns out that the charity donation pick up scheduled for Friday didn't happen (those weasels!) so Jack rented the pickup to take the donatables to the charity place, and the trash and stuff to the dump. He and his friend Bret had only one more trip to do. Before they did this errand, Jack wanted to give me my birthday presents right away.

I was so pleased! He got me a pair of freshwater pearl small dangle earrings, and an irridescent blue glass ball, to be used as an oil lamp. He'd thought about getting me a candle, but that would eventually be burned up; this is something that will last. He also said that he wants to code up a weblog generating tool for me! I'm not sure exactly what form this will take, or when he'll have a chance to do it, but I think it will be a fun project.

Jack asked his daughter H---- to mow the lawn, front and back, while he was out, and she got most of it done. She was stopped when the mower conked out (water in the gas), but successfully mowed the main part of the front yard, and most of the back yard, too. Meanwhile, I read my email and did some online reading, feeling mildly guilty. But there isn't too much for me to do here now! The living room looks strange, now that the couch has gone to the charity. (And good riddance; it's a nasty beat-up sectional.)

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Errands done, we returned the rental truck and set off driving north. Jack was beat! I think it will take a while for him to recover from the deep-down fatigue that he's feeling now. But it was a nice day, and traffic wasn't bad. Jack had the idea of showing his daughter and me some of the beauty spots on the way to Bellingham, so we exited the interstate highway at Burlington and headed towards the water. We stopped first at a roadside store called the Holiday Market. Jack described it as full of tourist kitsch, but I thought most of the merchandise was hunting, fishing and camping gear. H---- had some money to spend, but didn't find anything she wanted at that time.

It turned out that we weren't precisely on the road Jack intended, but we had a map, so we just adjusted our route and drove north through some very tiny hamlets until we were back on track. Finally we were driving on the Chuckanut Highway (leading to some efforts towards jokes about "how many nuts could..."). This is an old road that connects Samish Bay to Fairhaven, a suburb (?) of Bellingham.

We stopped at several overlooks along the way. The sound views were beautiful! We also pulled in at Larabee State Park and walked down to the beach. Jack and his daughter showed their skill at skipping rocks. I'm sure we'll be visiting here again.

I really enjoyed the drive. This trip reminded me of when Jack wanted to show me the Columbia Gorge last Thanksgiving -- he's great about wanting to share the places he's fond of with me.

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When we got into town, Jack drove us by the Georgia Pacific paper plant downtown, his new place of employment. It's very modern and high-tech, not a smelly old pulp mill. I think the fancy new technologies they use there are one of the factors that interested him in the job! By this time it was about seven o'clock in the evening, so we went to our hotel and checked in. The place was perfectly nice, but not as luxurious as the hotel that GP is paying for Jack to stay in during this month before he gets moved.

When Jack asked what we should have for dinner, I requested a non-chain place, though I was open to any cuisine. He'd eaten at a place that had good coffee a few days ago, so we cast around in various directions until we spotted it. This wasn't as easy as it sounds, since he didn't remember the exact street, or even the name of the restaurant! But he did know what neighborhood it was in, and he recognized the distinctive sign when he saw it.

But! They were closing early that night, and we wouldn't have time to eat there. I suggested that Jack ask them for a recommendation of a similar place, and we got pointed to "Chubby's," supposedly on the way to Lyndon, a town to the north. We drove out that way, but never saw the place.

We were happy with the dinner we did get, at a restaurant called "Goldie's Patio Grill," though I didn't see a patio or a grill anywhere about. We were puzzled when the first thing the waitress said to us, after "Welcome to Goldie's," was, "Here are the bowls for your pickles." Turns out that the claim to fame for Goldie's is the pickle bar! It's a salad bar sort of arrangement, with a variety of different pickle types, plus carrot and celery sticks that didn't seem to be pickled at all.

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Standing at the front door of the hotel, H--- and I had seen carnival lights in the distance, so we drove over there after dinner. Alas, they were shutting down the carnival to drive south, at only nine o'clock! I was shocked, I tell you!

We went by a possible home for Jack, a large apartment in a very nice development. If he moved here, he'd have a short commute, a garage for working on his vehicles, and no yard maintenance, which are all good things. But he'd be living in an apartment, which he wouldn't like.

By the time we were back at our room and decompressed, it was too late to get into the hot tub. What a waste! Why aren't these things open twenty four hours? I think it would have been good for Jack's back. Instead we contented ourselves with Penn and Teller's Sin City Spectacular on TV.

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I did have a great time on my birthday. I'm forty three now, by the way. I think I got confused at a few points this year, and said I was forty three when I was still forty two!