UMTravels

Errands during the day, Canadians by night.

NeonBender, Hummingbird, and BamBam arrived a little after 4 and promptly set to work folding and binding all the directories for the faerie gathering. Light work with many hands while I worked on prepping an evening meal and getting the artwork together for towelettes to be handed out at the gathering. Here is the basic jist of what they look like:

While the other side has the phrases:

• Better Than Bacon
• Bordeauxing On The Insane
• Whine A Little
• Liquid Pleasure

Jillar and Murphy showed up a little after six and they were quickly added to the dinner table. Two roast chickens, a big salad, and some baguettes that looked more like Klingon weapons than bread.

A fun evening, but again, the packing fell a little short.

So much for a 10am departure in the morning.

[209.4]

A little better than average Sunday for sales which doesn’t really make up for a lackluster Saturday of sales. Such is the problem with competing against wonderful weather in Seattle.

The plan was to get all packed up for the gathering.

The plan failed.

[207.3]

The problem with working Saturday is that it doesn’t leave much of interest for the blog.

My day:

• Work from 11-4:30
• Cocktail with Swanda
• Home at 6
• Chicken Alfredo (minus noodles) & Salad
• No Saturday Night Live because of the Olympics

But the best part of today was checking the mail to find a house payment due — from the new lender, at $400 off the old price. Still has the PMI in it, but with the ease of the refinace I’ll suck down the $96 each month — cheaper than putting another 20% down.

The End.

[207.7]

No work today, unless you count having the Faerie Printer running at full tilt cranking out 1000 two-sided 8.5×14 pages for the directory. Having one less page this summer (which is odd as it’s the larger of the two twice-yearly gathering) is cutting down the print time. Will definitely be done by tomorrow.

Errands during the day – the apartment to drop off Olympics articles for Chris, Safeway for groceries, then home to find a big check in the mail so off again to get that in the bank as they tend to hold a portion of the funds when the checks are that big.

The plan for dinner tonight was braised lamb shanks with Lopez Lynn, along with a salad and some home-made dinner rolls. What it turned into was a three-way with Lopez Ron who was also it town though not for medical issues (Lynn) but for the annual gift show as he runs Paper, Scissors, on the Rock on Lopez. Luckily, Ron had noshed at the gift show and was happy with a salad and roll as there were only two lamb shanks (had I only known, I would have done three).

It almost felt like I was back on the island.

Such unexpected fun that I forgot to get any pictures.

[207.7]

Well, the on-going saga of the Faerie Directory debacle is continuing. This morning I get up to files that won’t print and don’t fit the printer.

Solution: reformat

Grab the RTF and the photos and reflow the damn thing. I got the names and photos done before I had to leave for the office – and at the office got the translation between faerie name and mundane name at the office…. Before starting to work on the Great Art Party website that we lost a week of updates because of an IP address change. The joys of free hosting (well, almost free).

Luckily the shop was slow – it’s a Thursday after all.

But here are shots AFTER I closed the shop and balanced the books. Stocking glasses:

But wait – when I’m locking up, customers.

Considering she bought almost $90 worth of wine (three bottles with tax), well worth doing the math for a double reconciliation.

Home a little later than usual, and instantly into making the printers spit out directories:

Why is it that I own five high speed laser printers, three of which are color? Right, for projects like this.

It’s going to be a long night, luckily tomorrow I’m off work, with just dinner with Lynn of Lopez.

[209.9]

Back in town.

Back to work.

Noon to seven today. Here is a “hard day at work” shot:

Various things to taste at the shop. Wine, vermouth/gin, wine, diet Coke®. Too bad I have to spit (well, not the Diet Coke®).

The evening is a steak, a salad, and trying to get print files for the Summer Gathering Directory out of the organizers. I should really just do all this stuff myself, but it’s good to have other people try should I drop dead of a heart attack from all the steaks.

Let’s try to get to bed early!

[210.3]

I feel surprising good considering that six of us killed 40 ounces of whiskey, a liter of vodka, a bottle of white wine, and two bottles of red.

But a good time was had by all.

A relaxing morning with my flight not until 3pm, but noon sees us packed and out of the condo by noon and off to Barb’s Fish and Chips which is a favorite of Swanda and mine.

What a zoo the parking lot was – no handicapped spaces, not anything close. Swanda gave up in frustration leaving me to battle the crowds single-handedly. It was a good thing he didn’t as the ramp would have been hard on him, as would the picnic benches.

As for me, I had the two piece fish and chips (10% discount as WorldMark guests) and didn’t finish most of the chips.

By 12:30 I was hanging out at the seaplane terminal reading the papers and worrying about my 3pm flight as the 9am and the noon were both cancelled due to fog in Seattle. But a sunny day laying outside reading, watching the boats on the harbor, drinking their free coffee, using their free wi-fi – not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

I got this great shot of the Coho Ferry which I came in on and the very seaplane that I’m about to leave on (15 minutes late but no big deal):

And here is customs and immigration checking the passengers from Seattle. No desk, no computer, just two agents on the dock.

Guess you don’t need much for 4 or 5 people. And me on the plane:

Luckily I got half the back seat rather than being wedged into the middle seat with three – was’t quite big/tall enough to score the co-pilot seat. And the view coming into Seattle:

That would be Westlake Avenue in the picture.

Customs on the US side could have gone a little quicker if not for the chatty customs guy chatting about where you grew up, etc.

After clearing customs it was off to hop a SLUT – that would be the South Lake Union Trolley, which I caught to Westlake Station where I switched to Light Rail for the run to the apartment.

By 6:30 I was home, cocktail in hand. Only bummer was that I was out of pop so after dinner I had to run up the hill to hit the bargain bins of QFC (two steaks, 4 jars horseradish, half gallon Evan Williams) and Safeway (pop a couple of other things).

To bed early tonight for tomorrow is work, filling in for Jim who is off in Idaho.

[? ? ?]

Oh the hell of an early morning travel schedule but totally worth it since Swanda and I are headed to Victoria this morning.

Here is the breakfast I made the night before for a quick heat-up in the morning:

That would be the microwave omelet maker from the trip to Hawaii with SurfBetty.

We got to Port Angeles with about two hours to spare – time for an early lunch, but first a round of…

They make a really good Bloody Mary, but the service at Smuggler’s Landing. Needless to say, the review I posted on Trip Advisor wasn’t complimentary.

The ferry ride was relaxing and the duty free cheap. $14.30 for 40 ounces of cheap whiskey, suitable for mixing. I’m not sure what it is about most Canadian Whiskey, but it just isn’t sipping quality.

By 3 we were checked in and relaxing:

Nice view from the deck.

A little before 6 the boys (RobynHood, Royce, CrowDog, Tyson) showed up for dinner which was:

• Pupu platter of pate, cheese, crackers
• Appetizer of shrimp cocktail
• Salad of mixed greens (thanks boys for bringing)
• Seared ahi tuna
• Grilled salmon
• Blueberries and clotted cream for dessert

Add a bottle of white and two of red and you have a party. And here is the aftermath of the party (CrowDog):

Well, after the hot tub.

[210.3]

The good news is that with the city at 93 in the city, I’m at the shop in the air-conditioning.

The bad news is that with SeaFair weekend, the traffic through the store sucked.

With the extra down time in the shop, I had time to pen a little article for the Madrona News – “Fish with Red Wine, Sacrebleu!” interestingly enough the phrase is more in use in the US rather than France due to the PBS mystery series.

Usage

The expression today is not in widespread use in the major French-speaking countries France, Belgium or Switzerland,[citation needed] but in the English-speaking world, it is well known from Agatha Christie’s books about the fictional Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.

Most French dictionaries state “sacrebleu” to be equivalent to “sacredieu”.[1] An equivalent English phrase is “Dag Nabbit” (or other variations e.g. Dagnabbit, Dadgum) as the name of God is also substituted as the term bleu in the French curse.[citation needed]

Origin

The phrase originated from the swear words “sacré bleu”, a Marian oath, referring to the color (i.e., “sacred blue”) associated with Mary, mother of Jesus.

Other sources[3] propose its coming from old blasphemous curses relating to God, used from the late Middle-Age (some are attested as early as the 11th century) to the 14th (at the latest), with many variants: morbleu or mordieu, corbleu, palsambleu, jarnidieu, tudieu, respectively standing for mort [de] Dieu (God’s death), corps [de] Dieu (God’s body), par le sang [de] Dieu (by God’s blood, the two latters possibly referring to the Eucharistic bread and wine), je renie Dieu (I deny God), tue Dieu (kill God)… Those curses may be compared to the archaic English [God’]sdeath, sblood, struth or zounds (God’s wounds). They were considered so offensive that Dieu was sublimated into the similar sounding neutral syllable bleu. The verb sacrer has several meanings, including to crown, to anoint, to name someone [champion, best actor, etc.], and in the past, rarely in France but more common in French Canada, of swear, curse. Therefore, sacrebleu could be in modern French Je jure par Dieu and in English I curse by God, or the more used I swear to God.

And the answer is, yes, think Pinot Noir, light Italian reds, anything without a lot of tannins.

The evening was all about being able to get out of the house at 6:45 in the morning having a little breakfast in my belly – and packing – and having a decent dinner.

[211.2]

The sun is out, and lordy is it hot. Swanda is hunkered down in his man cave, or would that be a “Snowy Cave” with the air conditioning running full tilt. Not unlike the shop when I arrived today. With the upcoming heat wave we will need to keep the air conditioning running even the days we aren’t there (Monday and Tuesday).

It’s also SeaFair weekend with the Blue Angels (meaning traffic stopped since I-90 is closed while they perform over the lake), and some other festival which closed 23^rd street – meant for a hellish commute to the office – like 50% longer.

With everything else going on, is was a slow day at the shop – we just barely broke four digits.

Off at 7 to come home and make a bay scallop chef’s salad and open a bottle of viognier from the Pays d’Oc region of France..

Early to bed tonight (midnight). Trying to start to reset my body clock for Monday’s very early departure to Victoria via Port Angeles.

Luckily there is air conditioning in my bedroom.

[211.0]

Project 1: Call Currie Tech (my scooter’s manufacturer) and find out why it isn’t holding a charge. After 45 minutes on the phone walking through various things – faulty charger circuit. New one coming

Project 2: another bag for the Miata trunk:

That would be it nestled behind the TentCot bag which is sitting on yesterday’s wheel well bag. I’ve decided to not do the final bag because after the cooler bag goes in, there is just enough room for a garment bag to lay over the top of it all:

Not much room for anything to roll around back there. And another reason for no fourth bag – that was the end of that roll of fabric.

Project 3: Finish the flash belt for my Summer Gathering talent/no-talent show act. Uncle Markie as Captain Flask!

Just add the kilt and you have the outfit – here are the pieces. The dive belt had six pockets so I created a bandoleer to hold eight more flasks – each custom emgraved with “Unle Markie as Captain Flask” and what particular kind of liquor is inside.

Project 4: Dinner with Swanda:

Boneless pork loin chops and a salad with crumbled bacon and Roquefort.

Only project that didn’t get finished today was the collapsible basket for the scooter and taking the covers for the summer gathering directory to get trimmed since I managed to get those printed last night.

[211.0]

Well, got another one of the four custom bags sewed for the truck of the Miata to maximize the truck space. Shown here in process:

And the final product nestled in the trunk well:

And the bag for the compressor and fix-a-flat that I made the other day:

Two down and two to go. Meeting at the shop at 6pm with Joe and Ross – they are planning for the wine for their wedding. Looks to be a nice order, and I get to help them drink it.

I was planning on BBQ for my dinner from The Barbeque Pit, but alas, they were closed. I had to settle for Ezell’s Fried Chicken.

Damn.

[210.3]

One of the little chores today was to add a gimbaled drink holder to the scooter. For the clamp around the frame I used a plastic clamp meant to attach conduct to a wall which amazingly had he same bolt pattern as the gimbal mount.

But the trouble started when I went to take it for a test spin…. And had to walk it home. It doesn’t seem to be charging. Damn. Guess that means a tech support call since the thing is only two weeks old.

Steak for dinner with a side salad. At least that still works.

Don’t know what happened to my motivation, but didn’t get around to sewing up any more of the bags. Maybe tomorrow after I call tech support.

[208.1]

Me with the Swiss German CouchSurfers Fabian and his younger brother Jonas:

They left in the morning for a little more sightseeing downtown before heading to Portland as their next destination – tried (but failed) to convince them to stay another night to have dinner with my Swiss German buddy Graf.

Rest of the day (and night) was filled with finishing one project and starting on another. The finished project is the kickplate for the stove. Painted matte high-heat black to match the stove, this shot is of the industrial adhesive tape that will hold the aluminum panels to the back:

Aluminum in place:

Kickplate installed:

Leftovers and slaw for dinner. After dinner got one of the custom bags made for the truck – the first one is to hold the air compressor, tire gauge, horn (which still needs to be installed). Subsequent bags will be:

• Bag for the wheel well (will probably make as a garment bag style)
• Bag for behind the camp cot & cooler
• Bag for on top of the camp cot & cooler

Due date is mid-August for the faerie gathering (not that I’ll be taking the camp cot or that cooler).

[207.7]

Weird, wild day.

A little before 10 the notary shows up (early, me in the middle making eggs and sausage) to sign papers to refinance my house and lower the interest rate to 4.25% — not quite the lowest, but no inspection, no appraisal, no income verification (guess that 815 credit score helped). New payment? A shade over $1100, $400 less than before.

More work around the house, then it’s off for a wine tasting/education session/appetizer eating afternoon…

Not a bad view from the deck on Alki Beach, and the two young guys are hot too.

Chicken breast in a sort of alfredo sauce for dinner.

Boys around ten. That would be a couple of CouchSurfing Swiss Germans (I’ve already invited Graff to dinner tomorrow night). Nothing like a last minute request from a couple of brothers.

[209.7]

Today’s big excitement at the shop is the closing reception for the current artist at the show. Not much of a wine drinking crowd, so I bugged out at 4:30 since Jim and Suze would be taking down the show after closing. Let’s hope they at least bought some wine on the way out (the art patrons that is).

It was so quiet for sales during the reception that I had time to book a return ticket on BoltBus from Portland to Seattle in late August — cost? $6, plus a $1 transaction fee. Had I gotten it together a day ago, could have picked it up for a buck (plus the $1 transaction fee). The first seat on each bus is sold at a buck, and since my ticket is A-02, that means I missed it by one seat. The A is for first boarding.

Home to start working on dinner with a stop at Safeway that changed the menu. Was going to be chicken breast BBQ’d with a nice green salad. Turned into to racks of ribs and cole slaw.

Looks yummy doesn’t it?

What I can’t believe is that we finished both racks with the exception of one lone rib.

[209.7]

My weekend to open the shop today – on the upside, means I’m out of there at 4:30 with plenty of time for evening activities.

Today’s humorous shot… what happens when you get a really inky cork:

And that would be from a professional pulling the cork – out wine rep from the distributor Click.

2-3 was dead, 3-4 lively, and apparently there was a 5-6 crowd as well, not that I was there for it. I was at home working on dinner fixin’s.

[210.4]

Up at 7… OK, the coffee arrived at 7, 7:30 was more like it after a sip, snore, sip, snore routine.

OF course, Swanda had been up for hours.

By 9 we were out the door, and checked out – and a quick stop at the mini-mart for some diet ice tea (to drink and then fill the bottle with the whiskey I didn’t finish) and on the road are we.

Swanda drove like a bat-outta-hell down the mountain, me not even bothering with a seat belt, no prettier place for the end.

Here are a couple of great shots of what awaited us at the border after going through Duty Free (Jameson for Swanda, but really for Fluffernutter and 80 proof Wild Turkey for me):

The Nexus line to our right… the “speed lane” where you can see the customs booth, and more importantly, the Nexus line stretching back – even they had a 30+ minute wait, ours was more like an hour plus.

I beleive this time Swanda might be serious about getting his Nexus card… though he did say that the last time as well.

Back to Seattle in time for early rush hour. Swanda doesn’t deal well with delays. I’m a little more Zen, but then again, I can just nod off.

For some reason I thought I had dinner with Lynn from Lopez – but that’s the 10^th, so once I’d picked up packages at the apartment (Alli® and a drink holder for the scooter) it was in for the night for a steak dinner (unless you count a late night taco run on the scooter).

[208.0]

Lazy morning with Swanda up hours before me. Nothing new there.

Apparently I’ve missed an 8:45am phone call – will look into after coffee 2x and breakfast. I can do email on coffee alone, but not talking to people.

When I finally get to voicemail (ponying up the $ per minute fee since I’m in Canadaland), it’s a call from QuickenLoans about my mortgage refinance. They want to set a closing date – does Monday the 30^th work to send the notary TO MY HOUSE to sign the docs. Hell yes.

Got this email to confirm:

Hello –

This is a friendly reminder from the Quicken Loans Closing Team regarding the property at 1036 S ROSE ST, Loan Number: 330XXXXX398. You are scheduled to sign your closing documents on 07/30/2012, at 10:00 .

If you have any questions/concerns regarding your appointment, please contact the Closing Hotline at 800-226-6308 Extension 1XX67. The Closing Hotline is available from 8am-11pm EST Monday through Friday, and on Saturday from 9am-5pmEST.

Thank you!

What this does to my payment is significant:

• Current payment: $1525.86
• New payment: $1121.88
• Savings: $403.98
• Percent savings: 26.47556 (round numbers, over 25%)

At a little over $1100 a month it doesn’t make sense to downsize to an apartment since any neighborhood I’d want would be over that with parking. Maybe I should rent out the second bedroom and move my printing equipment in to the garage (rent would pay for insulating the garage).

Another day.

My version of a celebration photo:

Here is the view from the hot-tub….

Swanda left a little after 11am for a meeting in Whistler Village with the hotel that they book for the American Thanksgiving weekend with his club. Nice to have some quiet time though saying that I should also say that it isn’t usually an issue with us – we both need it and feel no need to fill every silence with chatter.

Dinner tonight is pork loins on the BBQ, the left-over asparagus, a big salad with hare-boiled eggs and tomatoes and a nice bottle of rosé.

Trying to go to bed earlier tonight since tomorrow we are out of the condo at 9am to miss rush hour traffic in Seattle.

[? ? ?]

It was an alarm morning… need to be at Swanda’s place at 10am, or a little after 9 if I want to catch Air Force One taking off to the North right in front of Swanda’s picture window.

As it turns out… the President didn’t take off at 9:30, but he did snarl traffic getting to the apartment so that my 20 minute trip was closer to 35.

By 10am it was time to leave, president or no president. It turned out to be no president, but here he is waving goodbye. Thank you King 5 for the picture.

Off to Whistler-Creekside go we.

Stops in Mt. Vernon for gas and thrift shopping (was looking for wine glasses, found 45’s including a Jackie Gleason one), then Cloverdale for lunch (Boston Pizza – same place Rich and I stopped on one other trip, but need to find a new place in Cloverdale), last minute groceries and wine in Squamish.

By 5pm we were settled in with cocktails and admiring the view:

Steaks on the grill, asparagus in Alfredo, tomato, cheese, sweet onion salad. Damn fine – followed by a wonderful sunset:

It’s so hard to get sunset photos, but that one isn’t bad.

[208.0]