Water features

So, spring certainly sprang today in Bellingham, the City of Subdued Excitement.

Coco and I had a fresh rice-noodle-and-tofu salad for dinner, not quite al fresco, but certainly with doors and windows open, and jumped at the opportunity for a post-prandial stroll in the sunshine. After feeling not-quite-guilty watching some deer eat the neighbor's tulips, we made our way down to the waterfront and since it was such a glorious day decided on the longish northeastward walk through the village and along the boardwalk to Boulevard Park rather than our usual shortish westward route past the train station to Marine Park.

That turned out to be a good call.

The boardwalk and the park were filled with shiny happy people enjoying the evening; puppies abounded (and some of them bounded) and cyclists wove their ways through through the walkers. Little did we know that we weren't just taking the air- we were also acting as spectators for slackliners, a canine SUP boarder, and some outrigger paddlers.

Here, see for yourself:

I couldn't have asked for a better end to the day. B'ham sure lived up to its nickname tonight.

From the File 3

So, I think this is from a meeting I attended  - we were writing short bios as an icebreaker, and we were writing them on vintage bowling postcards. So, yeah.

From the File 2

So, some time back I participated in a kickstarter (or some kind of crowdfunding) for the wonderful cartoonist Carol Lay, who at the time was launching a comic called Murderville. As a contributor premium, I got a sketch of anyone I wanted - so I sent in a couple of pictures of Coco. The sketch lay forgotten in a file - I was going to give it to Coco on her birthday, but we wound up doing so much other stuff it didn't make it into the festivities. I just ran across it again, and present it herewith:

 

Whattaya think?

From the Files 1

So, remember when I wore kilts all the time? Remember when I was a teacher? Remember when I was a teacher and wore kilts all the time? Yeah, that was cool.

QED.

(Student sketch found in a work file.)

Long day's journey

So, I scheduled myself for a training in Vancouver USA. It was on a Friday, so I figured maybe Coco would come down with me - we could leave in the morning, she could have a short day of adventure, and then we could make an evening of it in Portland. Nice multivalence.

Of course, I had forgotten that we don't live in Seattle anymore, we live in Bellingham. The trip to Vancouver is no longer three hours or a little under, but rather four and half hours or a little longer. The leaving-in-the-morning plan wouldn't quite work; I'd have to go the night before, and then it just started getting complicated, so it became just my trip.

I cleared the decks and scheduled my departure for 1:30 Thursday afternoon, right after a webinar. The plan was to get past Seattle traffic - and maybe even Tacoma's - before the rush hour. Maybe stop at Chehalis for dinner, maybe at the McMenamin's there. Roll into The Couv at 7pm, fed and happy, and have a productive night.

As you might guess, that didn't happen. Today made me think seriously about not coming south of Everett ever again. Or even Mt. Vernon. I'll spare you the details - well, here's just one: a solid hour to get from the Tacoma Dome to JBLM. Add in a little Everett traffic, a little Seattle traffic - when did rush hour start to build at 2:30? - and the trip took over six hours. I drove straight through, not stopping to get coffee, to get gas, to pee, not at all, and I hit the motel just before 8pm. Dinner turned out to be a bag of Safeway deli from down the block, and a small beverage to take the edge off.

A minor misadventure, as far as bad news goes, but man, was that a longer drive than I anticipated. On the bright side, the sun was out most of the way down, even though rain had been forecast. Of course, that meant it was shining right in my eyes for most of the trip, but what do I want, an egg in my beer?