why I'm here
Apr. 7th, 2022 08:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ironymaidenmy knitting group has struggled to stay together through the pandemic. the original organizer is a cancer research nurse, others are immune compromised, and we're all paranoid. we met in person once at some point last year in that moment after vaccine and before Delta, and otherwise we've been doing zoom meetings but it sucks. but today, today really felt like spring, the first warm day of the year. so we met up at a place with outdoor seating and totally failed to knit, it was just so nice to see each other.
part of my neighborhood's response to pandemic restrictions was to reduce traffic on a historic street and allow all the businesses to put seating and shopping stalls into the parking spaces. it started out rudimentary and turned into roofed open air seating with lights and heating, various sorts of decor, and plants. so on a warm evening it has a wonderful festival feel* with fairy lights everywhere and a gentle buzz of activity (but because everything is in the streets the sidewalks aren't crowded).
so anyway, we hung out at Hattie's Hat, and then wandered up the street for gelato. across the street from the gelato place there was a popcorn cart in front of the candy shop, sort of a tiny truck, large enough for someone to stand inside. the smell of popcorn is in the air, and we step outside with our dessert, lights are shining in the gloaming, and the woman in the popcorn truck begins to sing. and she was doing something. at first i thought she might just be singing opera and dishing popcorn because that is totally a Seattle thing to do. and then i realized that she was focused on the window but not reaching through the window. SHADOW PLAY!
we walked across the street and sure enough, she had a little proscenium where the walk-up window would be, colored scenery that she scrolled from scene to scene, and various spring-themed shadow puppets. and there was a dude that just came around and handed out little bags of the popcorn.**
and then we all drifted our separate ways and the walk home was lovely, and I got C and Leela and we did our usual last walk of the day together, and now I write it all down. those moments of serendipity, the strange profusion of nice things that are just part of everyday life are what made me fall in love with Seattle and why i'm still here.
*I know this is Tuesday in Europe but in the US cities are really shitty about anything outdoors that slows down cars
**turns out that is her dad
part of my neighborhood's response to pandemic restrictions was to reduce traffic on a historic street and allow all the businesses to put seating and shopping stalls into the parking spaces. it started out rudimentary and turned into roofed open air seating with lights and heating, various sorts of decor, and plants. so on a warm evening it has a wonderful festival feel* with fairy lights everywhere and a gentle buzz of activity (but because everything is in the streets the sidewalks aren't crowded).
so anyway, we hung out at Hattie's Hat, and then wandered up the street for gelato. across the street from the gelato place there was a popcorn cart in front of the candy shop, sort of a tiny truck, large enough for someone to stand inside. the smell of popcorn is in the air, and we step outside with our dessert, lights are shining in the gloaming, and the woman in the popcorn truck begins to sing. and she was doing something. at first i thought she might just be singing opera and dishing popcorn because that is totally a Seattle thing to do. and then i realized that she was focused on the window but not reaching through the window. SHADOW PLAY!
we walked across the street and sure enough, she had a little proscenium where the walk-up window would be, colored scenery that she scrolled from scene to scene, and various spring-themed shadow puppets. and there was a dude that just came around and handed out little bags of the popcorn.**
and then we all drifted our separate ways and the walk home was lovely, and I got C and Leela and we did our usual last walk of the day together, and now I write it all down. those moments of serendipity, the strange profusion of nice things that are just part of everyday life are what made me fall in love with Seattle and why i'm still here.
*I know this is Tuesday in Europe but in the US cities are really shitty about anything outdoors that slows down cars
**turns out that is her dad
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Date: 2022-04-08 04:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-04-08 05:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-04-08 11:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-04-08 03:54 pm (UTC)I ended up halfway up a tree in our vacant lot hanging a mason bee box. While I was up the tree waiting for my partner in garden crime to return with a power screwdriver, I watched the sailboats on Lake Union and the clouds skirting the Olympics. It was perfect.