Vacation in Seattle
Dec. 17th, 2006 11:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
butterflydreamingL had a secret plan for Friday, and as it turned out, her plan counterbalanced the blackout's inconvenience. All she had told me was that I needed to be home around 4, so that we could be on a bus around 5:30 after having had dinner nearby. We needed to be dressed nicely.
That was the original plan. In the original plan, I wouldn't know that we would have a hotel room to stay in after the ballet. She was able to keep me in the dark about going to see The Nutcracker, but because we didn't have any electricity at home, she had to tell me about the room at theWicket W. Warwick. We went downtown early, checked in, and got dressed there. Because I was under the impression that we were going to be out late bar-hopping, I had some clothes angst. I barely have fitting clothing for the work day anymore, let alone anything dressy.
When she said that we needed to be near Westlake (a mall in the center of downtown shopping, a few blocks from the hotel) a little before seven, I relaxed. Maybe we were just going to the movies; Pacific Place has a nice, big cinema. I didn't know what was playing. Maybe the Marie Antionette movie? But it wasn't the movies. The monorail is running again (this is Ye Olde Monorail, meant as a sampler of the future... a future that never came for Seattle), something I knew from taking Omnifarious on his first Seattle Monorail trip a couple of weeks ago. This just goes to prove that L and I have the same ideas about what is fun. Except that riding the monorail wasn't going to be just for fun; as she pointed out, we were using it as a valid form of transportation. In fact, if a person needs to get from 5th & Pine to the Seattle Center or Lower Queen Anne, taking the monorail really IS the most efficient and direct way. The buses heading in that direction run on 3rd or 1st Ave, stopping at all the lights and intersections and passenger stops. The monorail is a straight shot and a steady speed, through EMPs inner ear with a final stop at the Center House (food court).
I was wondering what we were up to at that point. Seattle Center? We weren't dressed for ice skating. Was there a show at the Key Arena? Did some cool new bar open in Queen Anne? None of these fit with how I was advised to dress and how L was dressed.
There seemed to be a flow of people heading toward Mackaw Hall. We joined the flow, and there we were. At first I thought that she was fooling me again, but no! We were, indeed, going to attend one of the holiday traditions that I had not experienced. Yeah, I'd pretty much only ever seen pieces of it on tv.
And I enjoyed it. It was fun! What an awesome set. While I love Maurice Sendak, the unfolding Christmas tree may feature in future nightmares. My fingers twitch to fanfic Clara. Surely, someone has already written a retelling with twists? EDIT: Wikipedia tells me that Dumas wrote a version from the original German story by Hoffman. I must aquire translations of these, if they exist... !
After the show, it was so good not to have to travel all the way home, especially to a cold, dark apartment. In the morning, awoken too early by a dripping ceiling (bathroom, it had something to do with a heat pump), we made it to Top Pot before it got really busy. Oh, heaven. Those doughnuts are amazing. They have the elegance of fine desserts and hardly seem related to what is typically labeled a doughnut.
Finally we turned homeward with the hope that power had been restored to our neighborhood. I thought that maybe we could get the keys for the new place since that block had appeared to have power back yesterday afternoon. Alas, no keys yet and no power yet. (It came back on fully around 9:30.) We mused about going back out, but I was tired. We sat with the cats curled up with us and candles burning in the fireplace. Blackouts are best for cuddling with a sweetheart. I didn't have that, but I did have my big,cozy comforter and a friend who gets warm when she's sleepy. We didn't have any meltdown disasters with the refrigerator/freezer except for something berry red that melted and spilled. I'll be cleaning out the freezer today.
It may be a point of curiousity to some that I'm moving but continuing to live with L. I can't imagine being able to put up with any else's quirks and habits. We have similar ideas about conservation (recycling, composting, utitities usage, and such) in the home and reasonable similar cat rules (no one in the household is allowed to stand/sit on the table or counters). We will probably have to go into negotiations about privacy and entertaining once we are moved into the entertaining-sized place, but as it has been, we haven't had conflict. Actually, we've never really fought much over householdish stuff.
And as to living by myself... well, in most ways, this is simpler.
Some poor sucker was trying to get his stuff moved into my current building yesterday, when the elevator was out of commission. I was outside on our 4th floor walkway trying to get a signal on my cell phone since L was inside talking to her dad on the land line. The new tenant had some friends helping. One of them stopped to chit-chat with me... I think he was flirting, but at the time I was feeling cold and missing someone and not feeling up to flirtation. I was petulant, and now I'm a bit embarrassed by that. Me, with all my grouching about good manners.
That was the original plan. In the original plan, I wouldn't know that we would have a hotel room to stay in after the ballet. She was able to keep me in the dark about going to see The Nutcracker, but because we didn't have any electricity at home, she had to tell me about the room at the
When she said that we needed to be near Westlake (a mall in the center of downtown shopping, a few blocks from the hotel) a little before seven, I relaxed. Maybe we were just going to the movies; Pacific Place has a nice, big cinema. I didn't know what was playing. Maybe the Marie Antionette movie? But it wasn't the movies. The monorail is running again (this is Ye Olde Monorail, meant as a sampler of the future... a future that never came for Seattle), something I knew from taking Omnifarious on his first Seattle Monorail trip a couple of weeks ago. This just goes to prove that L and I have the same ideas about what is fun. Except that riding the monorail wasn't going to be just for fun; as she pointed out, we were using it as a valid form of transportation. In fact, if a person needs to get from 5th & Pine to the Seattle Center or Lower Queen Anne, taking the monorail really IS the most efficient and direct way. The buses heading in that direction run on 3rd or 1st Ave, stopping at all the lights and intersections and passenger stops. The monorail is a straight shot and a steady speed, through EMPs inner ear with a final stop at the Center House (food court).
I was wondering what we were up to at that point. Seattle Center? We weren't dressed for ice skating. Was there a show at the Key Arena? Did some cool new bar open in Queen Anne? None of these fit with how I was advised to dress and how L was dressed.
There seemed to be a flow of people heading toward Mackaw Hall. We joined the flow, and there we were. At first I thought that she was fooling me again, but no! We were, indeed, going to attend one of the holiday traditions that I had not experienced. Yeah, I'd pretty much only ever seen pieces of it on tv.
And I enjoyed it. It was fun! What an awesome set. While I love Maurice Sendak, the unfolding Christmas tree may feature in future nightmares. My fingers twitch to fanfic Clara. Surely, someone has already written a retelling with twists? EDIT: Wikipedia tells me that Dumas wrote a version from the original German story by Hoffman. I must aquire translations of these, if they exist... !
After the show, it was so good not to have to travel all the way home, especially to a cold, dark apartment. In the morning, awoken too early by a dripping ceiling (bathroom, it had something to do with a heat pump), we made it to Top Pot before it got really busy. Oh, heaven. Those doughnuts are amazing. They have the elegance of fine desserts and hardly seem related to what is typically labeled a doughnut.
Finally we turned homeward with the hope that power had been restored to our neighborhood. I thought that maybe we could get the keys for the new place since that block had appeared to have power back yesterday afternoon. Alas, no keys yet and no power yet. (It came back on fully around 9:30.) We mused about going back out, but I was tired. We sat with the cats curled up with us and candles burning in the fireplace. Blackouts are best for cuddling with a sweetheart. I didn't have that, but I did have my big,cozy comforter and a friend who gets warm when she's sleepy. We didn't have any meltdown disasters with the refrigerator/freezer except for something berry red that melted and spilled. I'll be cleaning out the freezer today.
It may be a point of curiousity to some that I'm moving but continuing to live with L. I can't imagine being able to put up with any else's quirks and habits. We have similar ideas about conservation (recycling, composting, utitities usage, and such) in the home and reasonable similar cat rules (no one in the household is allowed to stand/sit on the table or counters). We will probably have to go into negotiations about privacy and entertaining once we are moved into the entertaining-sized place, but as it has been, we haven't had conflict. Actually, we've never really fought much over householdish stuff.
And as to living by myself... well, in most ways, this is simpler.
Some poor sucker was trying to get his stuff moved into my current building yesterday, when the elevator was out of commission. I was outside on our 4th floor walkway trying to get a signal on my cell phone since L was inside talking to her dad on the land line. The new tenant had some friends helping. One of them stopped to chit-chat with me... I think he was flirting, but at the time I was feeling cold and missing someone and not feeling up to flirtation. I was petulant, and now I'm a bit embarrassed by that. Me, with all my grouching about good manners.