2010 10 30 Saturday
Signs on Circle Road that Gary had finished installing a new septic tank and water line at Fisher’s and taken his power shovel off the island. Pink clouds in a light blue sky over a misty Crane Island airstrip bordered by firs black in the pre-dawn light save for a golden maple pushing through the barrier. Too dark to see its level from a distance, I walked up the hill to the water tank: 9 ½ feet. Down from yesterday or only a more accurate reading? I’ll have to pay attention. Home, the sun rises right through Bell Island, half a mile east southeast from the house, a prickly half-dome rising out of Wasp Passage and the site of frequent groundings on a well-marked reef and a non-fatal small helicopter crash with a couple from Shaw Island earlier this year. A welcome sun pours in revealing toast crumbs on the kitchen counter.
Yesterday morning at 7:30 I took Yvonne across to Orcas so she could take the 8:55 ferry to Anacortes and head to Seattle. She had her new Verizon pre-paid cell phone with her. It had arrived Thursday, left in the UPS/FedEx locked delivery cabinet on the north wall of the storage shed above the Crane Island community dock on Orcas, and she would stop at a Verizon store on the way to have her current cell phone number “migrated” to the new phone (with a new plan). That didn’t work and more attempts Saturday came to naught. Told on the telephone by Verizon service that it could be done, live people in their store said it couldn’t.
First Yvonne visited her brother Ron, newly moved into his Capitol Hill studio apartment, one of Seattle’s lively neighborhoods. They walked around Volunteer Park, its reservoir, old water tower, conservatory, and Asian Art Museum. In less than two weeks Ron would start his acupuncture practice after years of schooling, exams, and preparation. He was excited and nervous. Next to daughter Jen’s where she was just home from a long day working in a Swedish Hospital operating room. Bonus daughter Corrina was crashed at Jen’s and would be until she left for three months in India to see possible love interest Arjun. In the interim Corrina was applying to MFA/art administration programs around the country heartened by her grandma Dotty’s encouragement and offer to pay part of the cost. Dave showed up later, another Pennsylvania emigrant making his way in a new city.
Benoit was hosting a pumpkin carving session at a studio art space he and girlfriend Audrey, both French and both in the design business, rented parts of to a specialty bicycle store, and creative, non-traditional artists and crafts people. Yvonne was very impressed with these young people – who were polite and patient with the 60 year-old grandma who enjoyed their company but really had no idea what their lives were about.
Saturday morning coffee in a nearby Tully’s waiting for Jen and Corrina to get up and out. Rainy off and on but off they went to Seattle’s own Rally to Restore Sanity. Several thousand attended, sympathetic to the Stewart/Colbert rally in Washington DC but unable to attend the big event. At Westlake Park a large screen showed the DC scene and speakers around the venue broadcast the speeches. Local speakers overrode the intermittent musical performances in DC to address the local crowd.
Dave Ross, talk show host, encouraged the group to whisper rather than shout “Turn it down”, and “Sanity, civility, discourse” adding “we should be able to debate each other without destroying each other” echoing the theme playing across the country.”
Kelly and Tim, had walked down from Capitol Hill and stood with Yvonne, Jen, and Corrina in the crowd struggling to see the speakers. They had news but really weren’t telling anyone yet – well maybe just a few people. Kelly was nine weeks pregnant. Married in early July at the Orcas Hotel, with John as wedding officiant and Yvonne as ceremony traffic director, the next step happened before Tim could digest the previous but Kelly is ready. To Perth over Christmas for a second ceremony there and sometime maybe to Zurich or Paris, with baby, where Tim can be temporarily assigned by Google.
A little shopping on the way north, Yvonne reporting that she returned more than she bought. That’s good I guess. She’s coming home with marmoleum flooring for the guest bathroom. I’ll install it and a new toilet in the coming months. Spaghetti, movie, hot tub, reading. Happy Yvonne is home again.
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