Schmitz Park

I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than other things do.
-- Willa Cather

Sunday, October 14, 2001
One year ago: Back to the Woods
Two years ago: Phad Thai
Three years ago: Deciding

I got down to the farmers market this morning. There are only a few more weeks! I found another source for a winter vegetable subscription, and they allow half-shares. I'm very tempted! There are only a few more weeks before the market is done for the season. I bought mixed greens for stir frying, along with cherry tomatoes.

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Our project for today was putting my bed back together! This is a good thing, because the headboard has been propped against the wall, and the rails and footboard were sitting in a pile on the floor, ever since we brought it over here to West Seattle. This has caused a few problems when Jack has been sleeping on that side of the bed for the first part of the night, then steps on the boards or knocks the footboard down when he transfers to the recliner in the middle of the night. (His recliner is better for his back, but he likes to cuddle with me when first falling asleep, awww...)

As a bonus, he put the boards, that are an extra support under the slats, together in an improved way. Those boards weren't doing nothing under my bed when it was on Capitol Hill -- they had fallen over and we never bothered to redo them. This time, extra screws! At least we got it built sooner than we did the last time! I bought the bed in August of 1999, and we didn't get it assembled until January of 2000!

Once again, the bed is very high, but I can manage to climb up. The new disadvantage is the sharp corners on the footboard -- now Jack bumps into them in the middle of the night and hurts his leg! Now, clean sheets, all very comfy, but I need another duvet for the down comforter, I think. But I don't want to pay the high price my elevated taste for fine linens demands!

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H---- had an unhappy afternoon, poor thing. First, she didn't want to get off the phone when her dad asked (told) her to help us with the mattresses. She was writing down something her friend was telling her, but didn't communicate that in a way we could understand. Instead, she growled and moaned phrases like "In a minute!" So she was mad when Jack hung up the phone on her after several requests to terminate the call. She did end up helping us, though, after some threatened resistance.

Later, she and her dad discussed stuff in the dining room; I tried to stay out of the way. She's disappointed that she didn't get assigned to two schools for the reading coach thing she'll be starting next week, but only one. That means less hours, and she thinks it's too late to get this changed. Plus, it's cold in her room (I'll bring the space heater from Capitol Hill), and she needs more clothes (her expensive tastes cause difficulty here). Jack wants her to do more chores on a regular basis, but this issue didn't get resolved, and I think that's a discussion I'll need to participate in -- it's more of a household thing.

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Well, after that, I was ready to get out of the house, and it was finally turning into a pleasant afternoon. So I proposed that we either walk to Camp Long, or drive to Schmitz Park and walk there. H---- didn't want to go, so Jack opted for Schmitz Park.

I'd recommended this as the last piece of old growth forest in Seattle, donated to the city in the early 1900s. It was here that the Cacophony Society did part of our St. Jojo the dogface boy Pilgrimage some years back. It's a gorgeous place! We followed a path up to the higher edge of the park, then circled back on a different trail. From the parking lot, we walked north, underneath the Admiral Way overpass which dates from WPA work in the 1930s.

The one thing I didn't care for -- too many unleashed dogs! How obnoxious, when the city does provide parks that have special areas to let your dog run free, to let them run around while you "hike". Hummph! I didn't confront the offenders, though.

We didn't explore the whole place, since Jack's knee was starting to complain. I suggested that as we were so close, we could head towards Alki Beach. I had in mind just driving along the beach on our way home, but Jack thought we were going to park, so we did! Parking is tight near the beach, but a block away I had no problem. We got mochas at Tully's, and walked a bit along the beach.

It's a nice neighborhood! Great views, of course, and it's not overrun with tourist crap and souvenir shops -- it's still a real neighborhood. But I wouldn't want to live there (congestion, traffic, landslides). We saw the Statue of Liberty, a smaller version of the famous one.

Even the drive home was good -- there were lots of interesting places I want to go back and explore later.

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I'd put a turkey breast in the crockpot in the morning, so dinner was mostly take care of. I did stirfry those greens, along with jullienned kohlrabi and the small tomatoes. This turned out good, to me, but I think the bitter greens (beet, kale, spinach, and unknown) were too bitter for the others.

The turkey was good, very moist, but the gravy (made from the packet included with the bird) was nothing special. The fingerling potatoes were good! And now I have lots of turkey meat in the freezer for future meals.

Normally we don't watch tv during dinner, but Jack was interested in seeing The Emperor's New Groove, formerly known as Kingdom of the Sun. This was originally going to be a serious take on the Prince and the Pauper, with plenty of romance, but along the way they completely dropped that idea and changed to an all-humor premise and made David Spade's Emperor the main character. It was funny, and Jack laughed heartily.