10-10-08

• 1 22 oz. Sapporo - Waji's, Sea-Tac

I've been waiting for this day for six months - it's the day Susan, London and I fly to Fort Collins, Colorado to visit my brother and his wife. It was to be the first visit to Fort Collins, but when he got sick last spring, I flew out for a few days; so now I'm looking forward to seeing him and his wife again.

Miso Thirsty

• 2 pints Sapporo - Kushibar
  
• 1 bomber Rogue Chocolate Stout - home

OMG! The Kushibar is fabulous! (But what does Seattle have against outdoor heaters?)

Night

• 1 pint Rainier - Hooverville
• 1 bomber Stone Brewing Ruination IPA - home
• 1 Wild Turkey bourbon - home
  

*****

I drove into the night, last night.
The dark was there, waiting.
Sky was tranquil.
Sounds were muted, but some; crystal clear.
Streets were my own, really.
Headlights led me.

*****

pebbles wash, pushing
bridge pa-tuts creaks ominous
sound, nighttime surrounds

*****

Gasworks Park ~ 2 am
I wanted a night picture of Seattle from across Lake Union and thought I could get the perfect picture from Gasworks Park. I arrived about 2 am, but the parking lot was closed. I could drive into it, but technically, the sign told me that the park and lot closed at 10 pm. To enforce this was the lack of lamps lighting the area. I could have easily parked there and walked up to the top of the Gasworks hill, however, or to the edge of Lake Union and had a beautiful picture of the skyline. Instead of parking in the lot, I parked across the street further down by new condos. Only the street lamps lit the area and as soon as I ran across the street, determined to get my picture, I realized that it was only the street lamps that were lit. The entire park was blanketed with darkness. And I got scared. I started to imagine people coming out from behind the trees, the bushes, the gasworks. And I didn't want to go into that park alone.

Seattle Arboretum ~ 2:30 am
There are few places in Seattle where you can go and be alone. The Arboretum is one of them. I wasn't about to get out and hit the trails and find bits of Lake Washington, but I did want to drive through the Arboretum to get a little slice of solitude. It was there.

Lake Washington/Madrona/I-90 ~ 2:45 am
Bellevue is beautiful nestled amongst it's greenery at night from across Lake Washington. The I-90 releases some creepy noises at this hour.

Jackson Street/International District ~ 3:00 am
There was a collection of cops and their cars on a corner on Jackson, but when I slowly passed them, they seemed relaxed, even though they were most likely there for a reason. No wonder the air smelled so delicious...Wonder bread was being baked at the factory.

Alki ~ 3:20 am
The seals were talking as I pulled over into one of the grassy areas off of Alki Drive. Further up Alki, I listened to the water shush-shush-shush over the polished rocks.

Home ~ 4:00 am

Bellevue and I-90

King Street Station - International District

Seattle Skyline (wished my camera was steadier)

Shangri-La along Lake Washington Blvd.

Police along Jackson Street

Telephone Poles along the waterfront

I-90 Bridge

Chelan Cafe (not open 24 hours)

Cadillac Hotel - Pioneer Square

Gizzes

• 12 oz. Port Brewing Hop 15 - home
• 1 bomber Elysian Brewing Night Owl Pumpkin Ale - home
• 2 Blackberry Gizzes (gin and an Izze) - home
• 1 Clementine Vizze (citrus vodka and an Izze) - home

My friend Jeff invented a drink called a Gizze. It's gin and an Izze on the rocks. I also replaced the gin with citrus vodka and that was tasty too; like an Otter Pop. But you'd probably have to like Otter Pops to enjoy a Gizze.

London Wesley Stewart Lamb Barker

• 1 Cadillac 'rita - Mission

London took us by surprise when he was born a boy. I was convinced that London was going to be a girl; I'm not sure why...maybe I convinced myself that was just the way it was going to be. I had put a lot of thought into how I would raise a girl. I even had the perfect name - London Yvonne Helvetica Lamb Barker. I wanted to raise her in a non-typical girl way (whatever that means.) I was hesitant to have a boy because, well, when I think of boys, I think mostly of sports. And I'm not really a sports person, nor what I would even consider a very masculine role model. I was afraid that my boy wouldn't have a solid sports/male role model to look up to. Isn't that what fathers and sons do? They play catch, watch football, grunt at each other, wrestle til they're sore and plan their next few months according to the weekend sports schedule?

I'm just not this type of guy. I do enjoy individual sports: rollerblading, biking, running and the occasional game of tetherball (but only if I'm taller and more experienced than the other tetherballer.), but organized team sports I never really got in to. Sure I'll watch games now and then and sometimes I can watch a sport, say football, and think it's the best game ever invented. And basketball, how exciting to watch the slam dunks and the steals. Soccer? Great stuff. But when it comes down to it, there are so many other things that I'd rather do with my 2-4 hours that it would take to watch a game. I never understood how (mostly) men can get so into sports; like, turn-red-in-the-face-with-anger or I'm-on-a-World-Series-high-because-my-team-just-won into it. There's a passion in them that I just don't have.

And that's why I was afraid to have a boy.

Susan reminded me a little while after London was born, that I have so much more to offer him, however. "Your mom raised you to do things that boys don't typically learn, and you can do the same for London." So what can I pass on to London? I can teach him the difference between a tablespoon (T) and a teaspoon (t); or why baking powder and baking soda are different, but both important; or how to do his own laundry; or plant dahlias; or sew a button; or to put the forks on the left; or to read aloud to his own children; or that wine makes girls googly. These are somewhat inconsequential things, as are sports, but I believe now that God gave me a boy for a reason, and I think that Yvonne Patricia Stewart would be proud of the things that I'll be able to pass on to London.

zero

• 0

Pat(io) Party

• Bud Light, Jameson's, Rainier, vodka punch - PK's house
  

I went to an honest to goodness birthday party tonight for a friend turning 40 years old. There was a karaoke machine, 80's playlist, 80's movies, a keg of Bud Light, vodka-spiked punch, and a birthday cake. The best part was that it was at his house. Perfect.

3 ay em

• 2 pints Chopper Red Ale - Skylark, West Seattle
• 2 pints Elysian Pumpkin Ale - Endolyne Joes

Suspended mist, clear dark sky. Silent neighborhood. 2:55.

Pod: Band of Horses. Sun(moon)roof open. Visit to Alki. Liberty: Blue glow. Alki Asleep. Only sound heard; water over rocks. Soothing. Sleepy. Further...

Lights deceiving. City sleeps. Alki drive. Up gully...

Lonely - longer. Couch! Stop. Snap. Gully, gone. Down Admiral. Solo. West Seattle Bridge (Freeway) 60 mph. Timberlake 90 decibels. 1st Avenue.

No one. Wait! Sanitation! Seattle Times! Through Pioneer Square. Contour >> people! Continue 1st. Lusty Lady - open. Hungry now. Beths? Hurricane? 13 Coins? WHYM? Never been. YNOT? Veggie scramble. Coffee (decaf). 76 mph, I-5 drive, 4 am; passing cars. West Seattle Bridge (Freeway). Off at Alki. Streets still. Sodium lamps lit. Walkers - 2, not together. Back home, Charlestown. 60 mph up, over, bumps, round corners, and down; left on 48th, right into gravel. 4:30. City Asleep.

10-2=08

• 1 can Tecate - Tacos Guaymas, Greenlake
• 1 bottle of the High Life - MnM's house
• 1 Jim Beam Black taster - MnM's house
• 2 glasses Gnarly Head Zin - home

Yay! October!

• 1 can miller high life - home
• 1 bottle Spaten Oktoberfest bier - home
• 1 mango tequila - home
  

Uncle Hal

• 2 pints PBR - Uncle Hal's Tug Tavern

Ingredients:

One dilapidated house.
One outside patio.
One basement living room.
One bar serving beer and wine.
A coupla pool tables and dart boards.
Combine carefully. Drink at your own risk.

"I'm Renee. I haven't seen you in here before, so I'll need to check your id. What's your name? A mini-pitcher is a better deal than two pints of beer, except for today, when PBR is $2 for 'Cheapskate Tuesday'. Usually, order a mini-pitcher if you're going to get two beers or more."

I love you Renee.

nine twenty-nine

• 1 Imperial pint Hobgoblin English Ale - home
  

Solitude

• 1 can mILLER hIGH lIFE - home

• Sunday morning walk for 8 o'clock Mass.
• Soaking under the stars solo - jets off.
• 3 am drive.
• Singletrack.
• Empty house - nighttime.
• Eyes closed; sound off.
• Prayer.

Nine Twenty-Seven Sixty-Seven

• 12 oz. Dick's IPA - home
  
• 3 pints Bud Light - Emerald Downs
• 1 pint Widmer Hefeweizen - Emerald Downs
• 1 bottle PBR - Vermillion

Forty-one years ago my mom went into labor early in the morning on the 27th. I was two weeks earlier than expected and my dad was in Walla Walla for a work project, so mom had to have a neighbor (whom she didn't know too well) drive her to Lakewood General. She was surrounded by new people, in a new city, with a new doctor. At around 11:00 am, I was born - her first. Mom was 22 years old. It was difficult to contact my dad at the time because he was working "in the field". That is, he was in the Walla Walla countryside, sleeping in a truck with his other work partners, so he didn't know he had a baby boy until the next day, the 28th.

Witnessing (and participating) in the birth of London, and knowing what an emotional and painful and exciting process it is, I think about my mom in a hospital new to her (they had moved up from California just months before), lonely without her new husband, and going through the birthing process. I can't imagine how she felt having to ask her neighbor to drive her to the hospital and asking her to sit with her while in labor. There were no relatives nor friends to be with her in her room. There was no way she could contact my dad and I wonder if she was able to call her parents in California. I wonder how she felt when she found out it was boy. I wonder how long she was in labor. I wonder what she was thinking as she lay in her bed, knowing she had just had a son. I wonder if she had wanted a girl. I wonder how she got home. I wonder...?

***************************************************

I think birthdays get better as I get older. I have such great memories from my 40th birthday party last year. When I was younger, I had always looked forward to turning 40; I mean, I wasn't in a rush, but I was never hesitant about it either. I hadn't planned on doing anything for my birthday this year, but the planning just sort of happened. At one point I spontaneously decided that I wanted to have some type of get together. I guess it can seem a little self-important to announce, "It's my birthday and I want you to come!" but that's not the way I think of it. As I get older I realize how much my friends mean to me and how much happiness they provide in my life. Throwing a birthday get together is my way of appreciating the friends in my life.

***************************************************

This was the first year in eleven that I wasn't teaching school on my birthday. Students' exuberant 8:22 am voices greeting me with "Happy Birthday Mr. Barker!!!", sometimes leaving a gift on my desk, or in my hand, made me feel special. "How old are you?" "What are you doing today?" "What did you get for your birthday?" are questions of the day. Also, for the past six years, there has always been a 4th grade student with whom I share a birthday. I love sharing their birthday through their eyes. It almost makes me feel like I'm ten again. :)

Birthday Bowling

• 12 oz. Dick's IPA - home
• 1 can High Life - home
• 1 pint Pyramid - West Seattle Bowl
• 2 pints PBR - WSB
• 1 tequila shot - WSB
• 1 Bud Light Lime! - WSB
• 1 Bud Light in the Bowling Pin Bottle! - WSB
• 1 tequila shot - Yen Wor Village
• 1 Jack & Coke - Young Whore Village

Pumpkin Ale!

• 2 cans MHL - home
• 1 pint Mashing Pumpkin on nitro - Elliott Bay Brewing, Burien
  

Twenty-Four

• 1 can High Life - Barking Lamb Hot Tub
  
• 2 margaritas - home

Twenty-Three

• 1 can High Life - Barking Lamb Hot Tub
  

Autumnal Equinox

• 1/2 can High Life - home

As much as I love summer, I do love autumn in Seattle. The crisp air, the fallen leaves, the earlier darkness, the morning mist, the way the sun sits lower in the sky; all give me a special feeling that only fall can give. I've felt it since I was a boy and I wonder if it was my early years in Puget Sound that have shaped my feelings about fall. A person can't truly experience the fall in Southern California - it's still too warm (not that I have a problem with that - sigh). It's a beautiful time of year here in Seattle, and some of the best holidays are approaching - Halloween, All Saint's Day, and Thanksgiving, along with experiences such as finding the perfect pumpkin in the pumpkin patch, navigating my way through a corn maze, and putting together the perfect Halloween costume. I can't wait...

Fremont Oktoberfest

• 10 - 4 oz. beer tasters - Fremont Oktoberfest
  
• 1 - 4 oz. RedNik red wine - Fremont Oktoberfest

Beer: Good!
Wine: Bad! (Tasted like Hawaiian Punch with vodka.)