Rosy Week
Not too exciting around here these days. My mom doesn’t even come by any more. Let’s see, what happened this week? For a month or so I’ve been sitting on a gift certificate to Seattle Raft and Kayak, a nifty little shop on Lake Washington at the old Sand Point Naval Base. I bought the certificate at the annual auction of Washington Water Trails Assn with the intention of using it to procure a Gore-Tex drysuit. I’ve been using a neoprene wetsuit when paddling, especially in Puget Sound, where the water temperature never rises above 55 degrees. The drysuit, with gasket seals at the neck, arms and legs, provides significantly greater safety if you capsize. They’re expensive, like $800 - $1000, but, as I’ve been saying, that’s cheaper than a funeral. Plus, I got the gift certificate at a significant discount.
So, last Sunday we were looking for an excuse to walk somewhere, and decided to walk over to SRK. I tried on a couple of suits, found my size, but couldn’t decide between two models. I did a little research, and on Tuesday went back to the shop and bought the Kokatat model.
I went out kayaking a couple of times last week, but haven’t worn the drysuit yet. The neck needs to be stretched a bit, or trimmed if stretching doesn’t do the trick. Right now, it’s stretched over a yogurt container. I’m thinking of wearing it out later today.
Also on Tuesday, after paddling around Lake Union, we went to the Montlake Alehouse to attend the weekly meeting of Drinking Liberally, a gathering of local pundits, columnists, bloggers and, occasionally, a candidate or two. On this evening, Joel Connelly of the Seattle P-I was there, as well as David Goldstein, who blogs prolifically at horsesass.org. We ended up in a lively discussion with several folks and had a very entertaining evening.
Also this week, owing to several days of 80-ish temperatures, our redoubtable yellow rose bush burst into bloom. This bush started from a 6-inch stick that my dad gave me to fly home with about 25 years ago. We’re not “rose” kind of people in the sense that we’ll fuss and fuss over a plant, but all I had to do was throw that original slip in the vicinity of some dirt, and it’s gone nuts with virtually no attention from us except to whack it back when it seems intent on capturing pedestrians and cars going by.
So what’s everyone doing for Memorial Day weekend? We’re headed up to San Juan Island on Thursday - Sunday to camp and kayak with one or two other couples. I haven’t been to the San Juans for 4 or 5 years, and I’m really looking forward to it. Last year, some Orca whales frolicked in the vicinity where they were kayaking, and that would be a thrill. In that circumstance, you want to not look like a seal or a salmon.
