Go West Young (Wo)man (updated)

I recently took an all-too-quick trip out to the West Coast to watch James promise "'till death do us part" to Andrea. And then I drove down to Portland to spend a night with Melissa nee Beni and Paul and their Sam. The last time I was in Seattle was when I passed through on the way to British Columbia to watch Melissa and Paul's promises to each other. Six years ago now. My how times fl_es.

Pikes Place Market in Seattle has perpetually wet concrete floors, seafood smells in the air, and a dazzling array of beautiful flowers for sale (and they're cheap!). Street musicians can be found every 500 feet or so. The band with the upright bass made out of some sort of distinctly un-bass-like contraption is called Slim Pickens. I bought one of their cds--mainly old depression-era standards--and we listened to it the whole trip. You can check out their music for yourself here.




















A big front porch, a warm fireplace, an old house full of friends. This was James and Andrea's wedding. As Thena sang, "I don't want to set the world on fire. I just want to start a little flame in your heart." Indeed. (More pictures of the wedding are online here.)



















Then there was dancing. And Lisa Beth's fun with her toy camera.



















We stayed at The Moore Hotel--a Seattle landmark that functions much like a high-end hostel. Private rooms, but no frills. The location rocks both figurtively (short blocks to Pikes Place, Space Needle, et al), and literally (Queensryche was playing downstairs in the ballroom during our stay. "Silent Lucidity" anyone?). From our room: a darkening sky and twinkling lights on Elliott Bay. And the obligatory self portraits.















This is the home of Beni and Paul and Sam in Portland. One of my first memories of Beni is a when a guy I hardly knew from work (now known as Chris) dropped me off at an apartment in Uptown. It was a snowy night and the drifts were high as I shuffled from the car to the door to hang out with my sister and this girl (now known as Beni) who she'd met at our college. That night I mentioned a certain bridesmaid dress dillemma for an upcoming wedding and she offered to make me one. "It would be no trouble." I thought she was just being polite in her own crafty way. Who offers to take the time and energy to make a formal dress for a stranger? But no. She was quite serious. Creativity, generosity, and a low tolerance for bull shit. That's Beni. You can see all three via her blog. It's one of my favorites.



















Yo La Tengo at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland.

Autumn comes and all of the sudden it's gone
Tiny birds sit patiently
Side by side on a wire
Darker days and leaves in shapes so true
Wind unfolds on nights so black their blue
Tiny birds fly silently
Side by side in the sky
Don't be sad when it's time to say goodnight
I'll be there to make sure that you sleep tight
I'm your friend when you need a friend
Until there's nothing left in the world to make you cry
-- Tiny Birds by Yo La Tengo

The morning comes too quickly. Brunch with Beni and Sam before Laura and I flew back to Chicago and Lisa to Colorado. Before we left town I managed to buy a rather absurd number of books at the Powell's mothership. "A city of books" indeed! I think I could live there.