— छ हजार ग्यारह —
So I noted in
yesterday's post, which had been adapted from an email photo travelogue I sent out combining our day trip to Whidbey Island three weeks ago and the day trip to the Tulip Festival this past Saturday, that Ivan was with us at the Tulip Festival. Indeed, it was the very same foursome for both day trips: Shobhit, Ivan, Alexia, and me. And in both cases, Alexia drove to Seattle to pick us all up from our place on Capitol Hill.
What I did
not note in yesterday's post that Ivan spent the weekend with us again. I had invited him to join us for the Tulip Festival and he accepted; but when I asked for an address where we can pick him up in Edmonds, he asked if he could just stay the night with us on Friday and Saturday nights. He said he wanted to spend some time in Seattle proper, but it really did make things easier for everyone involved, since Alexia could just pick all three of us up at our place and we wouldn't have to get off the freeway to pick him up in Edmonds.
Ivan indicated that he had been staying at an AirBnB, and evidently he was going to find a new one to stay at when he got back to Edmonds on Sunday. This meant he was between places while he stayed with us, and although I was skeptical when Shobhit predicted that Ivan would want to do laundry—that's exactly what he did. He asked me on Saturday evening if he could "do a small load." He opened the door (which was already slightly ajar) to ask me while I was doing my every-other-day stretches. I said it was fine.
I never did clean the sheets on the guest room bed after he stayed with us three weeks ago. Now I'm glad I didn't, since he came back again so soon. I'll probably wash all our linens sometime this week, though.
Anyway, Ivan arrived on Friday. I had told him Alexia was coming over Friday evening as well, to watch the original
The Devil Wears Prada. He told me he was interested in joining us for that. I actually had the theater reserved, but, just like happened at the last Action Movie Night, I could not get the HDMI connection to work—at least, not until I connected it directly to the back of the projector. This was also done at the last Action Movie Night, and they actually got the sound to come out the regular speakers, which I could not figure out how to do. It would only come out in tinny tones through the small speaker in the back of the projector, which sounded like shit. So, we all just watched up in the condo, which was just as well because Shobhit made a bunch of food, even though I had told Alexia I would have dinner before she got there, so she ate before leaving. And then Shobhit had a bunch of food made.
Ivan actually arrived quite early. I think he came down pretty much right after finishing his overnight shift; he said he's doing three 12-hour shifts overnight per week. So he got to our place at about 9:30 Saturday morning, but then he went straight to bed and slept all day. He got up right around the time Alexia arrived, and we all watched the movie together and had a great time.
When I left yesterday morning and said goodbye to him, Ivan somewhat surprised me by suggesting he could participate in one of my Birth Week activities. I'd be thrilled to have that happen, actually; the only possible challenge is that I have pretty much every day of that week scheduled already with other people, as I made all these plans well before I had any idea Ivan would be moving to Edmonds. But, I did come up with three options that I texted him this morning, possibly the best of which would be for him to join us for the drive out to Olallie State Park on my actual birthday—which is also
his actual birthday, he's just 9 years younger to the day. Barbara will be with us, though, and it'll be interesting to hang out with people as wildly different from each other as Barbara and Ivan are. I'm sure they'd get along just fine, though.
The other ideas were to have him join me to hang out with Alexia in Issaquah on Tuesday that week, or to find one of the few open times I have otherwise to hang out at Pike Street Hillclimb, which was apparently constructed in 1976. I don't know how difficult it may be to work him in to both the limited options I have left as well as his own work schedule, though, especially considering he spends many days a week sleeping through the day.
He was pretty tired on the drive to the Tulip Festival on Saturday, and he snoozed several times in the car. He was always perfectly alert at any of our stops, though, and I got
lots of pictures both of and with him.
— छ हजार ग्यारह —
— छ हजार ग्यारह —
Between all of the above and yesterday's post, I have the weekend pretty much covered. I left home yesterday shortly after 10 a.m., and walked first to the Central Library, where I returned the book I just finished and picked up the next one I was to start reading while on the bus. I caught the Sound Transit #594 southbound at 2nd and Seneca at 10:53, and was at Commerce Street Station in downtown Tacoma on schedule at 11:51. Tracy was parked about a block to the south, and she drove us the rest of the way out to Point Defiance Park, and we had a lovely picnic lunch there and spent the next couple of either hanging out or exploring the "Dune Peninsula" portion of the park. We then drove over to the "Chutes and Ladders" across the water on the mainland by the ferry terminal, and were there another 40 minutes or so.
I got a call from Gabriel maybe 15 minutes before the end of my bus ride down, and when he heard I was in Tacoma he suggested maybe we could hang out later, depending on a whole host of factors. When Tracy and I were done, I had her drive me over to Tacoma Dome Station, where I thought I would call Gabriel and see whether I should catch a bus to the Federal Way Transit Center or just the rest of the way back to Seattle. Conveniently, the two buses left at the same time, at 15 and 45 after each hour. But, when I called Gabriel again, he had just gotten into all his gear to go out working on his yard, so it wasn't in the cards. He could have pivoted had he known earlier, but I had no idea when I'd be done with Tracy.
Had I known Gabriel wouldn't work out for the day, I might have hung out longer with Tracy, but it was still okay. I quite liked getting back home in comfortable time anyway—I was on the 594 northbound at 3:57, and was at the Seattle bus stop shortly before 5:00. It was 5:12 when I got home, and I had plenty of time to process
my Dune Peninsula and Chutes and Ladders photos. Shobhit made a beans and rice dish for dinner, and we watched the season 3 premiere of
Euphoria and this week's episode of
Rooster on HBO. All in all it was a lovely weekend.
— छ हजार ग्यारह —
[posted 12:31pm]
