Prattling on Paddling
My flight home Friday night was uneventful, although about a half hour late arriving in Seattle. When you’re bumping up against midnight, though, a half-hour seems a little bit larger than it does at noon. The sun was setting as we approached the Minneapolis airport, casting long shadows over the still-dormant landscape (Click any photo to enlarge 
Despite the late arrival, I dragged myself out of bed Saturday morning to kayak with a friend on Puget Sound. Turned out to be a good decision, as this was our first real spring weekend. There was little to no wind, and the water was dead calm. Nice for us, not so for the gaggle of sailboats that were amassing for a regatta just off Shilshole Marina (below, left).
The fellow on the right has found a nice, private sliver of beach on which to sun himself, but his solitude comes at a price!
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Saturday evening, we attended a charity auction for Washington Water Trails Association, a kayak advocacy group for whom I recently became a board member and treasurer. We’ve attended their auction the last few years, and it’s low-key and convivial, especially when compared to other charity auctions we’ve attended. Unlike some private-school auctions we’ve attended, where there was hilarious one-upmanship, and people were bidding $10k to host a girls’ tea-party, I didn’t feel embarrassed to place bids in this one. The downside: I won a few.
The items below were donated by two of my clients, one a bakery and one a manufacturer/distributor to the outdoor industry. The auction was Caribbean-themed - thus the palm fronds in the frosting on the cake:
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Part of the festivities was a silent auction, where items are arrayed on tables, and you fill in your name/number to bid. There are hors-d’oeurve plates interspersed with the auction items. You’d think that would dissuade people from snitching the actual auction items:
Our table missed out on my client’s cake, but we managed to nab a pretty nice coconut number. I left a slice or two for the rest of the table:
There were about 180 people at the auction, and the bidding seemed energetic and competitive, but the recession has affected non-profit donations across the board, and I’m not looking for a miracle when we get the final tally today.
Spring stayed over another day, and Sunday was even warmer. People were walking around in t-shirts and shorts, and the sexes were once again differentiated. I was riding my bike along the Burke-Gilman trail towards Gasworks Park when I espied a young woman in a Missouri t-shirt. The words “Show Me” got as far as the tip of my tongue and, fortunately, no further.
hmmmmm. i think you waited a bit too long to eat.
Glad the spring weather has finally arrived. That does look a very nice party. Hope that cake was good, as Roger mentioned, you do look hungry enough to eat the whole thing yourself!
Excellent impulse control, Phil.I take that Friday evening flight back from Mpls pretty often and it feels like it is *always* late. What’s up with that, anyway?
That cake looks incredible!
Roger - actually, I believe Mrs. Perils scarfed down half of it, and snuck most of the rest of it into her purse.
Robin - see above. Still warm today, haven’t looked ahead.
Molly - Dang. Now I guess I’ll have to behave on that plane. That wasn’t you I barfed on, was it?
Keith - I went over to the table that bought it, sucked in my cheeks and forced a tear down out of my duct. I’ve got a chunk of it in the fridge. Haven’t found out what our stuff went for.