When It Rains, We Pour

Coffee... coffee... coffee...
On the eighth day God created Coffee!

Let me tell you all the wonderful things about being back in the Northwest:

1. Flannel sheets, five blankets, flannel jammies and you're still "just right"... not too hot, and never too cold.

2. Coffee. On every street corner, on every ferry, and in every store. And not this Maxwell house crap, either. REAL coffee. The kind that puts hair on your chest.

3. Rain. Blessed, cold, sideways-blown rain. It makes you feel alive! Not one pore of my body has released a bead of sweat since we've been here. Your senses are heightened, you feel the slap of fresh, cold air each time you step outside... it's fabulous!

4. Knitting. Yarn shops abound. Sitting in front of a fireplace, watching the rain pound the windows, and knowing that not only are you safe and warm... you are knitting with a purpose! No vain knits here, Nay! Every tenderly knitted glove will serve a purpose! Each sock will be a hero! Scarves are to be desired and cherished! Knitters here are elevated to a goddess-like status. Not bad for a lowly yarn artisan.

5. Food... oh man, more restaurants, cafes, bakeries, coffee-shops, and vendors than you can shake a fork at. You could eat out three times a day for a year and never hit the same place twice. And the food is amazing and so varied! All washed down with a hot cuppa joe. Oh yeahhhh.

6. Places to go, people to be... you can get in your car here (or on a bus or a train or a light-rail) and end up in the mountains playing in the snow or at the ocean digging clams or in downtown Seattle seeing an exhibit or at the Public Market on the waterfront or on a ferry just watching people. It's just not possible to be bored here.

7. Liberals. They're everywhere! It's crazy, but these people are just fun to watch. One birkenstock-clad woman had a bumper sticker that read: Earth is full-- Go Home. After you, lady. Or how about the job application I put in at a local low-brow eatery: The owner took one look at me and practically tossed my app in the garbage before I was even out the door. I was wearing make-up, you see. Oh, and carrying a leather bag. Oops. I was also smiling. Rats. There goes that job.

So these are just a few of the pleasures I'm enjoying since being home. Each day is brisk and wet and ripe with possibilities. I love it here. So good to be home.