Lowell's, Pike Place Market, Seattle, WA, USA

Lowell's at Pike Place Market

Lowell's - 2nd floor where the "tourans" are less present. Find your self here. Not a bad place to contemplate all manner of things. Since this is supposed to be a prep-themed blog, I was wearing Sperry Top-Siders, L.L. Bean ragwool socks (gray), Boss jeans, Orvis viyella shirt, Henri Lloyd vest, Castaway Clothing jacket. Not a bad kit, if I do say so myself. Totally lost on the crowd, however.  WTF Cascadia?!

The Double Life

How very simple life would be
If only there were two of me
A Restless Me to drift and roam
A Quiet Me to stay at home.
A Searching One to find his fill
Of varied skies and newfound thrill
While sane and homely things are done
By the domestic Other One.

And that's just where the trouble lies;
There is a Restless Me that cries
For chancy risks and changing scene,
For arctic blue and tropic green,
For deserts with their mystic spell,
For lusty fun and raising Hell

But shackled to that Restless Me
My Other Self rebelliously
Resists the frantic urge to move.
It seeks the old familiar groove
That habits make. It finds content
With hearth and home - dear prisonment,
With candlelight and well-loved books
And treasured loot in dusty nooks,

With puttering and garden things
And dreaming while a cricket sings
And all the while the Restless One
Insists on more exciting fun,
It wants to go with every tide,

No matter where . . . just for the ride.
Like yowling cats the two selves brawl
Until I have no peace at all.

One eye turns to the forward track,
The other eye looks sadly back.
I'm getting wall-eyed from the strain,
(It's tough to have an idle brain)
But One says "Stay", and One says "Go"
And One says "Yes" and One says "No"
And One Self wants a home and a wife
And One Self craves the drifter's life.

The Restless Fellow always wins
I wish my folks had made me twins.

by Don Blanding

Doin' lines at lunch

Nijo's, Pioneer Square, Seattle

Like "preppy", sushi is trendy. Also like "preppy", sushi has staying power.  Long after the conveyor belts have stopped serpentining through the strip mall sushi restaurant, authentic sushi bars will be patroned by authentic sushi lovers and those of the authentic prep variety. Until that time....

(By the way, despite what the photo above shows, I am not a proponent of hiding the taste of fish in wasabi (or green mustard), pickled ginger and soy sauce. That is akin to putting A-1 or ketchup on your $50 bone-in rib eye. Come on Cascadia! We have more fish than we know what to do with, so it's up to us to lead the way. Dump the condiments in Elliott Bay, the Willamette River, and Burrard Inlet !)

Musical Evolution of a Transient Prep

1980s

but a few shows I went to in the 1980s

1990s

and a few from the 1990s

The Internet and barcoding killed the "ticket stub" in many cases.  A pity. But, I guess sentimentality is overrated.

Huzza!

[huh-zah] originally a sailor's shout of exaltation, encouragement, or applause. Perhaps originally a hoisting cry. (1573) 

 

With Summer fading into the half-light of Fall and madras giving way to viyella, it's time to get the reading lists together. Here are a few "shout-outs" to sailing-themed, non-fiction books I've enjoyed reading over the past few months.  Hit me with an email or comment if you have recommendations! Please note, I try to read only non-fiction or "classics"... oh, and the articles in Playboy.

• My Old Man and the Sea: A Father and Son Sail Around Cape Horn, by David Hays and Daniel Hays
• A New England father and son sail around Cape Horn.
• The Bounty : The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty, by Caroline Alexander
• A true(r) account of Captain Bligh and the allure of Tahitian women.
• The Motion of the Ocean: 1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers, and a Woman's Search for the Meaning of Wife, by Janna Cawrse Esarey
• Cascadian author(ess) and hubby sail around the Pacific (a fun read).
• Sailing with Vancouver: A modern sea dog, antique charts and a voyage through time, by Sam McKinney
• Late Cascadian author retraces the footsteps (wakes) of Vancouver's circumnavigation of Puget Sound.
• Unsinkable: A Young Woman's Courageous Battle on the High Seas, by Abby Sunderland and Lynn Vincent
• About that 16-yr old girl who attempts a single-handed trip around the world.

There's only two things I hate in this world...

1) People who are intolerant of other people's cultures, and
2) The Dutch.

(OK, I jest, but I do love this line from Austin Power's Goldmember (2002))

What was suppose to be a 10-month long cultural exchange experience, turned out to be a 3 1/2 week American vacation for our Dutch Foreign Exchange student.  It seems that homesickness got the best of her. My family is grateful for the experience, albeit short, because it brought us closer together. This was a trying experience for us all.  The student was on an emotional roller coaster half the time - going from being amazed at American high school football to being depressed about our food, our time spent in cars, and our amount of choices for anything.

Walking into any American supermarket and seeing entire aisles dedicated to breakfast cereals or salad dressings was a little overwhelming for her. Telling her that "Yes, it's true.  You can buy food, shoes, motor oil and guns in the same place" was a reflective moment for me. "Thank you, Walmart."

The Disease of More - see "The Paradox of Choice" has a basic premise that if we had to choose between three of four similar items, we would be much more happy than having to choose between five and fifteen items. Perhaps. But I think 'mericans are quite good at choice management. Sometimes I feel like a nut, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I like watching "Inside the Actors Studio", sometimes I prefer "Inside Edition".

And then there's the discussion we had about 'merican teens' (18 yrs +) ability to vote, smoke, go to war, but not drink alcohol. Wow! I'm not really sure what to do with that one. Lucky for me I have a 7-yr old daughter, so I have a few years to get my spiel together. It had better be water-tight or she will see through it just like the other 20 million teenagers in America do.

A Note for my Absence

Day 12 of 300 days of having a Dutch Foreign Exchange Student living on our house. I will return to these pages as soon as things settle down.  Future postings will surely include my reflections on the questions I have been getting from a 17-year Dutch girl - subjects which include America, Cascadia, and preppiness.

Walmart patrons, Advocates of the current US drinking age,  and NRA members watch out!!!