Seattle Stay

I spent a couple of nights in Seattle this week. I don't recall every spending a night in a Seattle hotel. I actually spent each night in a different hotel. The first night was spent at the Vintage Park Hotel on 5th Ave. The second night I moved to the Westin. Both were great hotels and a great price thanks to Priceline.com.

Tuesday night I went to the Triple Door for dinner and to hear the acoustic guitar of Trace Bundy. Wow, what a gifted guitarist. I would recommend going to hear him if you ever get the chance. I was also impressed with the venue.

I, too, had never spent time in Fremont and Ballard. These are great places to hang out. In Fremont, I stopped at a glass studio called the Edge of Glass and ad a tour from the owner, James Curtis. His glass work is unique enough, but I particularly enjoyed his collection of art deco and nouveau metal light stands. If I ever have some disposable cash, I'd love to have some of his work in my house.

I had lunch in Ballard at La Carta de Oaxaca, recommeded by a local merchant. It lived up to it's recommendation. I had the chicken quesadilla which was made with traditional mole sauce and Oaxacan cheese taking me back fifteen years when I visted a friend who lived in the Mexican city.

Random Shots

What a great day in the weather department. I was wanting a little more warmth and a little less wind, but I'll take it.

After my run this afternoon, I took time to take some photographs.

House/Dog Sitting Reprised

A friend of mine escaped the gray of our Northwest winter and headed south for a long weekend. I agreed to keep her house "lived-in" and her dog "lived with." Meet Cappy. He's a typical poodle, and very cute. I think he enjoyed having me around. Especially when I would eat an apple. Oh my word, he freaked out.



He puts on this aire that he doesn't do hard wood floor. He'd rather walk on the carpet, which there are only a few area rugs around--one in the diningroom and one in the livingroom. I happened to be in the kitchen cutting some slides when I hear this barking commotion. I peered around the corner to find him inching his way on the hard wood. Apparently, when it comes to fruit he makes an exception. However, up until this time I had been carrying him around to avoid his precious feet touching the smooth surface. I was duped.

The house has a great 180 view of the water, looking across to Fox Island. Friday turned out to be a sunny day and a low tide making for a great opportunity to hang out on the beach for a while. Saturday, the wind picked up and made for a great indoor retreat to read a book I've been enjoying, In Justice by Alan Sears.

Day Of The Dog Bite

I try usually try to post a photo taken on the day of my blog post. Today was a pretty gray day and I wasn't too motivated to shoot. So, this photo was taken a couple of weeks ago, but it is somewhat pertinent since I did run at this location today. In fact, lately I've been running in University Place in hopes of literally running into some Curtis team runners. Indeed, today I ran in to a couple of guys and shared part of the run with them.

At the beginning of my run I was cruising along the Zetterberg trails in UP and passed by a familiar house where a couple of enthusiastic English Spaniels consistently bark at me. I have this call that I do whenever I encounter them or any animal, "watchyadoin, whatchyadoin." I somehow think this kind of communication is endearing and I usually get a positive response.

This time as I ran by, the owner was out checking his mailbox. So I took the time to stop and say how much I appreciated his enthusiastic dogs. He reciprocated the appreciation and invited me to pet his dogs through the fence. Bad idea. I'm a fool. The male dog chomped on my finger. It's now swollen as I write.

The guy was very apologetic and invited me in for a clean up and a Band-Aid. He even invited me back for a beer. That won't happen. But I did appreciated his sentiment.