Thursday, June 12, 2025
Today would require a great team effort in preparing the Johnson's house for Friday's wedding rehearsal dinner extravaganza.
Our group of worker bees was more than just up for the challenge!
First though, I had to park
The Blueberry II in the
Seattle Yacht Club parking lot
One needs a special permit to park on the streets during the day and we did not have one. Mark and Susie Johnson assured us that parking in this exclusive club's lot would not be a problem.
So far, so good.
Our Press Gang of Flower Workers
Dori, George, Lindy, Mary Ruth
and Laurie
We all embraced the team motto today:
"Hydrangea POWER!"
Tomorrow all of these vases will
be chock full of flowers
Laurie worked hard on cleaning and preparing them all for tomorrow's shindig.
The Hardest Working Flower Team in
Seattle at the end of the day's preparations
Setting up eight tables and 64 chairs under a rented tent placed in the Johnson's back yard completed our morning of highly skilled labor.
Once done, I opted to take a hike up onto the nearby University of Washington campus and the eclectic University District.
I walked on the Montlake Bridge
over the Montlake Cut
The control tower of Montlake's
draw bridge mechanism
Arriving at the edge of the UW campus
The UW's General Graduation
is this Saturday
Several UW Departments held graduation ceremonies of their own today.
New UW Alumni posing for
photos in front of . . .
. . . Drumheller Fountain, a.k.a.,
"Frosh Pond"
The Main Entrance to the UW's
beautiful Henry Suzzallo Library
The still controversial
"Broken Obelisk"
Henry Suzzallo Library
full frontal view
A verdant campus pathway
leading to . . .
. . . the UW's Thomas Burke Museum
of Natural History
I had last visited The Burke Museum
about 30 years ago, long before
its major renovation in 2019
Pacific Northwest Native Art
More of the same
Richland H.S. Bombers helmet
The Richland, Washington area worked on the famed "Manhattan Project" that led to the atomic bomb known as the "Fat Man" that was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan to effectively end WWII.
Another big Totem Pole . . .
. . . next to a smaller one with . . .
. . . an epaulet wearing man
A bear protector
Wild looking but cool,
don't you think?
Pacific Northwest fish species
Prehistoric Fossil
Mastodon skeleton
Dinosaur skeletons
Colorful Petrified Wood
The Los Angeles Rams 2025 season
is just around the corner
Horns, Antlers, Tusks
and more horns
Eat that toadstool on the left and
you'll soon look like one of those
skulls on the right
All sorts of Pacific Northwest fauna
Wondrous shells
My visit to The Burke Museum was well worth the long walk to reach it.
On to the University District and the UW Bookstore.
GO DAWGS!
If Mary was a Husky she could
easily put on this Game Face!
Yes, I did buy a few UW trinkets to bring home to Camarillo.
One of those trinkets was a post card of the UW campus to send to a friend's daughter in France who uses it to share with her English language class. I know that school is out but it will give her something to share when the Fall term comes around.
There is a U.S. Post Office just down the street from the UW Bookstore so I opted to enter to buy a stamp to send the postcard on its way to France after I wrote the obligatory note.
When it was my turn, the postal worker asked to see the postcard and duly noted that the back side was blank, sharp cookie.
Once he came to grips with that dilemma, he finally agreed to sell me the necessary stamp for $1.65 but he did not have a ready made stamp in that amount and would have to make a $1.65 label off of his computer instead. It was no problem for me but a bit unusual I thought.
I then forked over a $5 bill to cover the makeshift stamp's cost only to be asked, "Do you have something smaller? I can't break a bill that large."
It was about 1:45 p.m. and this U.S. Post Office did not have enough cash on hand to break a $5 bill? America, WHAT A COUNTRY!
Upon further review, I did have a $1 bill and three quarters per chance to cover the exorbitant cost of mailing a mere postcard overseas.
But we were not done yet.
I had to view two questions on a computer asking if my "package" included any explosive or dangerous materials.
It was a postcard for goodness sakes!
It turns out that any time a U.S. Post Office makes a label as opposed to using a stamp, these questions must be asked.
But we were not done yet.
My by the rules postal worker must add the label to the "package" himself.
He didn't leave me a whole
lot of room to write
Whether in Europe or the United States, visits to the Post Office always seem to be fraught with adventure and intrigue for me.
One of the "U" District's
two iconic movie houses
The Neptune Theater around the corner is the other and it is still going strong too.
I stopped at Bulldog News for
a much needed cup of coffee
Back on the UW campus, I spotted
this stunning artwork by
Kenyan born artist, Wangechi Mutu
The backside of the Henry Suzzallo
Library as I walked back to home base
Husky Stadium in the distance
This research facility is located across
the street from our airbnb property
In the evening, our band of day workers received a perk.
We were all invited to dinner with the parents of both the groom and bride, Nick and Sophia, who would be joined in Holy Wedlock on Saturday. Unfortunately, co-worker Mary Ruth could not join us.
We were headed to the funky,
bohemian Fremont District of Seattle
Its an artsy district as well
Dining on smash burgers and
various seafood dishes at Local Tide
Along the wall are non-unionized day workers Laurie and George, father of the bride Mark and step-father of the groom George.
On the right we have labor rights activists Lindy and Dori, mother of the bride Susie and mother of the groom Kristie.
We all enjoyed a good dining experience over delicious food and constant snappy repartee between all eight of us.
It was a definite bonding moment between labor and management.
Local Tide makes the food but
Aslan Brewing Co. makes the beer
The two establishments are located next door to each other and have six foot by three foot opening in the wall to help them pass Local Tide grub to the Aslan patrons in exchange for adult beverages ordered by Local Tide diners.
See what happens when we forge symbiotic relationships?
Why can't we all just get along?
Management did require us to do one more task before the day was done, deliver a suitcase that had been momentarily misplaced to a wedding guest here from Scotland.
He was staying at the Johnson's glorious Portage Bay houseboat and I drew the short straw.
Their houseboat sits tranquilly
in this serene moorage
The view of Portage Bay with
Lake Union in the distance
Truthfully, we are all more than happy in helping to take pressure off of the entire wedding party during the potentially stressful lead up to Saturday's big event.
News from the net . . .
Pope Leo is a COOL DUDE!
The Adventure continues, stay tuned . . .
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