Joseph Campbell Reads My Mail

"We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us."  Joseph Campbell....

Today, at Liz Orlady Johnson's funeral, I am talking to Frank Eustis and it dawns on my why this last two weeks have been so tender.  Again and again I have been forced to confront the reality that life isn't like the plans in the Matt Daemon film, The Adjustment Bureau.  There are no thick books detailing all the twists and turns that happen.  As much as I want to control all the elements in my life and family, it ain't gonna happen.

•••••

Great talk at the funeral by Grace O.  She knocked it out of the yard.  Well done.

Tuesday in the Emerald City....

Pikes Place Public Market - Cold and windy day.

So we headed downtown for some macaroni and cheese at Pike's Place.  The wind was up, with lots of white caps on the bay.  Over my left shoulder (right side of the picture) is a big container ship that was anchored in the bay.  I am amazed at how many layers of container they pack on the ship above the deck.  I counted three and four layers of container above the deck.

Here we are at the fish market, one of my favorite places to visit.

We walked along looking at the art work.  I saw some beautiful salmon made out of steel, Jeff found some pepper jelly that he liked.  Peer did a great job of taking these pictures (I left my camera at home.)  Our final stop was the fish market, and I have to say that the salmon looked a little tired.  Here we are chatting with one of the men at the fish market.

Mac and cheese at its best.

Here we are eating mac and cheese.  They had the spicy, I had the basic, which was unbelievable.

Inside the Seattle Public Library.

 Next we hiked up the hill to the Seattle Public Library that was designed by a man from the Netherlands.  Peer was interested in seeing the building.

Next it was back home to put fender on Jodi's bike.  Peer was a champ at getting this done.  It went faster with the two of us working on it.

Great times.

Fenders on the bike.

The Rose City for a Day

Stumptown Hot Chocolate - Best looking, worst tasting.

Took Amtrak to Portland and met Erik and Jordin.  Had some great walnut pancakes at the City State Diner, followed much later by some great doughnuts at VooDoo Doughnut.  Stumptown Roasters, however, gets the brickbat award for the worst cup of hot chocolate I have ever had.  Beautiful design, but really poor chocolate flavoring. 

Erik & Jordin's bedroom.

It was great to see Erik.  He looks fantastic.  He seems as poor as a church mouse.  I wish I was in a position to be a bit more of a help to him, but I am not.  Sigh.

Union Station in Portland.  Waiting for the 507 North.

I was a bit overwhelmed during my dad in the Rose City.  I think my worries about not having any money amplified my concerns about Erik and his future.

I hit Voodoo Doughnut and then I made it to the train station.  Here is a shot of the inside of Union Station as I waited for my trip back up to Seattle.

Goodbye to Liz

Liz Johnson, Grace, Skip

I hear that last night, Liz was gathered into the life eternal (which is a stupid expression I use to avoid saying "she died").  What moves me the most about this sad episode is the unbelievable amount of love that I have witnessed from Skip and Grace.

The last seven years Liz fought early onset Alzheimers.  I have watched how Grace has learned to deal with this reality and how she has had to shoulder things that no 20 year old should have to do. 

Skip has set a new standard for loving devotion.  For the last several months Skip has spent hours after work trying to get a few calories in Liz.  His devotion to caring for Liz has been very moving.  He certainly stood tall when it was time to do so.

Liz, thank you for paving the way for Will and Grace.  Thank you for your patience in teaching me about wheat allergies.  Thank you for raising such wonderful children.  Your spunk, humor, and beauty live on in all of us who were fortunate enough to know you.

Birthday at the Kingfish...

Dinner at the Kingfish Cafe.  I hoped to catch our reflections

in the window.

 I have been in Seattle for a surprise celebration of Jeff's 55th birthday.  Last night we had a wonderful night out at a very fancy restaurant, The Kingfish Cafe.

Jodi, Jeff, AmiJune

Jeff, AmiJune, Peer, Charlie

Charlie

Birthday Boy

Here are shots of everyone at dinner.  I had the gumbo, which was very good.

I sat across from Jodi and next to Charlie.  Jodi explained her cleansing diet.  She is trying to determine if she is allergic to wheat, dairy, peanuts, and sugar.  She won the award for "high maintenance" order of the night, but the woman who waited on us was wonderful.

Charlie, to my right, is a very soft spoken editor with a quiet sense of humor.  He avoided the spicier items on the menu and he enjoyed the crab cakes.

Jeff and I had mint juleps in mason jars with dinner and then we ordered a slice of sweet potato pie and double-chocolate cake.  The slice of cake was large enough to land a small airplane on and quite good.

AmiJune or Amy June (I don't know) works at a park or research station in a part of Idaho that is only accessible via single engine plan.  She is interviewing from jobs here in Seattle.  She is Diane, Jodi's sister's daughter, and she did well in Celebrity later in the evening.

Gumbo

Poisoned, Snowed, and Irished to the Gills

I am in Seattle.  You can't really tell from my picture, but it is snowing outside.  I left 70° in Minneapolis and it is snowing here.  Hmmm.

The small house in the middle of this picture has changed from my last visit. They used to have a nice sized yard, but the previous owner sold the yard and someone built a modern looking three story there.  The new house is close to handsome.  Now the small house in the middle also has a very small yard.  Too bad.

I arrived here Friday night.  Jodi was very patient and waited for me after Delta was an hour and a half late in getting us out of town.  Almost spent too much time in the bar....When I got here, I was a bit hungry and had a cheese sandwich.  Jodi offered me some mustard...I did manage to get some mustard out, but I began to suspect that the bottle might be a bit old.  Too true.

Peer and Jodi mid-conversation.

Yesterday we went to the 74th Street Ale House for corned beef and cabbage.  Later that night they had bag pipes playing outside.  Very nice.

Okay, the bag pipes are between the cards and behind the sign....nigh on to impossible to see.

Colonial Day 2012

Painting backgrounds.

Fog and Other Random Thoughts

Friday, March 2, there was fog over Lake Calhoun.  You can't see it very well here, but it was beautiful.  I don't know what it is about fog that pulls me in, but I always enjoy fog (unless I am driving on the freeway).

Notes from this week:
• Greg Williams, the former defensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints came under fire for having a bonus system that rewards knocking opponents out of the game.  That was upsetting, but Jimmy Johnson shrugged off the story, saying that many teams in the past have had similar programs.  I guess when the money is that big, some people will do anything.

• Rush Limbaugh came under fire after he called a Georgetown law student a "slut" for wanting to have her health care system cover birth control.  The only good thing about this story is the blowback that is being directed to Limbaugh for being such a jerk.  I guess the president even called the woman in question to apologize for the rude treatment she received.

• The president has been talking tough about Iran's nuclear program.  Israel's president has been in Canada and is now coming here to drum up support for preventing the Iranian's from developing nuclear weapons.  This strikes me as a very sticky wicket.  I don't know what right we have to tell another country what they can and cannot do -- yet, who wants more nuclear weapons in the world?  Many people seem to think that Israel will initiate some kind of program to destroy the facility.  I don't envy the Iranian's who work there.