Northwest BookfestThe only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our particular path than we have yet got ourselves. Sunday, October 22, 2000 I spent the morning getting things just so. Finally Jack heard (from his older daughter, still at her mom's house -- she refuses to come back to Bellingham) that his younger daughter would be put on the train to Seattle. But he hadn't left Bellingham yet! I offered to go and meet her at the station, but he felt he could make it down here in time. Just when I sat down, picked up a book, and put a music channel on the cable TV, the buzzer sounded and they were here, huzzah! Jack was a bit harried, so we let him rest for a few minutes. But it was too nice a day to sit around inside! So we walked down the hill, first to Value Village. H--- didn't buy a thing; she's not into the thrift store shopping, I guess -- too young! But I found a pair of lime-green hush puppies that will be good for dancing. We found a store across the street from Value Village that pleased Jack very much indeed. It's Seattle's (or the world's?) only industrial goth music store. He picked out three CDs and a tshirt. He allowed as how he was getting hungry, so I sent him and H--- down to an espresso place while I visited Venus, a plus-size consignment store. I was mostly looking for something for Halloween, but I don't think the goth styles are for me, not even for a one-time thing like the party I'm going to next week. I was more tempted by the leather gear! I considered the short-skirted Catholic Schoolgirl uniforms, but decided in the end to dig through my closet and see what's there. When I caught up with Jack and H---, I was surprised to learn that the espresso place didn't serve food anymore! I knew they were under new management, but to go to a coffee-only policy seems extreme. So I suggested Chinese food at the Little Shanghai, instead. It was only a few blocks farther, and I could get Chow Fun there.
H---- claimed she had never eaten sweet and sour chicken before, which surprised me. We had an order of that, and the house special chow fun, the wide rice noodles, with chicken, shrimp, barbecue pork, and beef. Very tasty! Since the Pike Place Market had been mentioned as a destination before, I suggested we take the bus downtown. We had good bus Karma -- it came right away. We wandered through the market. Jack was tempted by the organic strings of hot peppers, but resisted. The bad part about wandering through the market -- Jack's knee started hurting, and going up and down the stairs made it worse. We looked for routes that had ramps, instead of stairs. We got back home and Jack rested his leg. He doesn't remember twisting it or anything, but the extra walking Saturday must have aggravated a knee problem. He dozed a bit (except his knee kept waking him) while H--- watched Grease on TV. I felt very smug -- I had dinner cooking in the crockpot! But I didn't realize Jack didn't like turnips, and I'd put some in the beef stew. It just seemed like root crops like turnips and rutabagas belong in a fall stew. I'll know to leave them out next time.
Today we ended up going to the Northwest BookFest. I'd heard about this in previous years, but had never made my way down to the waterfront -- it used to be held on a pier. This year it's in an actual building, the the Stadium Exposition Center down by Safeco Field. I drove, and found a parking space under the viaduct with a minimum of irritation on Jack's part. H---- said, after a few minutes, "This is like a con, isn't it?" It was, without the memberships and socializing. There were a bunch of booths from independent publishers, author groups, and literacy organizations. There were six stages where various authors and literary types did panel discussions and interviews. The author Jack had especially wanted to see -- was canceled! Something must have happened to Patrick McManus. But the panel on fantasy that we dropped into was actually a good substitute, and inspired me to actually look for books by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Jack talked to the authors aftewards, plugging next year's VikingCon. We wandered through most of the aisles. H---- and I did the crafts project sponsored by Packaging Specialties; we each made a Christmas Cracker. I've seen instructions for these in craft books, but never made them. It always seemed like too much of a hassle, or too expensive, for what you get. But it's amazingly easy when someone precuts the paper for you. I think it took about 30 seconds! And the only thing you would need to buy special would be the "cracker" strips that make them pop! The only thing is, if you did these for an American festive occasion, you'd need to educate your guests on: how to open them, and what the purpose of it all is. I bought myself a book by Sark (half price!): Living Juicy, Daily Morsels for Your Creative Soul. An affirmation a day makes you healthy, I guess. Jack was hungry when we left the expo, so he wanted to go up to his favorite Pioneer Square place, the New Orleans. Red beans and rice, natch! It was a bit farther than he thought it was, though, and his knee was acting up by the time we got there. So after we ate, I walked back to the car and picked up the others. There was a bit of difficulty getting the doors to the car open -- they had locked automatically when I reached a certain speed and I didn't know which button to press to open them.
One more stop on the way to Olympia: Southcenter Mall. I was actually useful here -- Jack could just sit down and wait while I assisted H--- with her shopping. She knows what she wants, but I gave a few suggestions. The Wet Seal store was new to me, but they certainly know their market of teenage girls. H--- ended up with two pairs of pants, and four tops; I think that's a good deal for the money she was allocated. We drove to Jack's exwife's place and returned H---- home. Jack's older daughter A--- was inside the trailer, but wouldn't even come to the door to talk to him. That situation is very distressing for him. At least she was there, and not wandering the streets of Olympia. I drove home and we had a quiet evening. I swore I'd wake Jack up early enough that he could get to work in good time.
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