On Saturday, I put myself to bed at 9:00 p.m. with a hot toddy (bourbon, honey, lemon, hot water) trying to cure my cold. I didn’t sleep all that well because it was really stormy that night – it felt like I spent most of the night listening to the rain and wind hit the house – but I was in bed for 10 hours.
On Sunday, maybe because of my long but restless night Saturday, I fell asleep while watching an episode of Mrs. Maisel on my computer, and decided I might as well go to bed early again. So another 10 hours.
I was able to go to bed early because Saturday morning officially began my solo time in Seattle: I drove Mark & Anna to the light rail at 8:00. I woke up feeling pretty cruddy – the worse cold – but I started to feel better when I took the dog for her walk, before serving as taxi to the light rain. I came home and had some oatmeal and toast with a hunk of ham for breakfast and then went off to work at the Douglass-Truth branch of Seattle Public Library.
First solo breakfast in Seattle
For my solo dinner I reheated the New Year’s black-eyed peas with a sweet potato I found in the fridge. I was going to bake it whole but it had moldy spots, so I chunked it up – it cooked a lot faster that way.
Black-eyed peas with hunks of sweet potato
Sunday morning I thought it’d be fun to take the dog and walk to the donut place on 23rd. I thought they opened at 7:00, and we arrived there about 8:00 a.m. only to realize that I’d misread the sign – they don’t open until 9:00 on weekends. It meant I didn’t have to figure out how to tie up the dog when I went in, so just as well, I guess.
We came back home and I had peanut butter toast for breakfast instead.
I walked to the Blick to return the solar printing kit I didn’t think I’d use, stopping at the donut place again, and buying one each of what they had left (at 11:00): a mochi ring (which is gluten free) and an apple fritter and stuck them in my backpack for later. More on that, later.
While I was in the neighborhood, I bought more cough drops at Walgreens because I forgot to bring the ones I bought at the co-op the day before. I had a muffin and coffee at Elliott Bay Books, sitting across the long table from, and trying hard not to listen to, two men, one old, one young, the older one a long time area resident, the younger one new here, who evidently were meeting as some kind of gay men’s fellowship thing, then took the light rail to the Beacon Hill Library.
I’d decided to work at Beacon Hill Sunday because the librarian at Douglass-Truth told me they had bookable study rooms there – Douglass-Truth just has one, and it’s first-come first-served – and I wanted to scope it out. I read a funny review of the library from 5 years ago, that sorta prepared me to be waiting with a whole gang of older (my age) Asian people for the library doors to open at 1:00. I worked for a bit, and on my way out asked the librarian if I could book a study room in advance, and he confirmed it can be done, but I need to wait until it’s about a week out from the time I need it – that will be January 16.
I think I’m going to have to start a tradition of listening to Sunday weekend edition at about 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon when the full show audio becomes available online. None of the NPR stations here seem to play it live in the morning at a reasonable time – the jazz station has it on at 5:00 a.m. I made the dog wait to walk while I did that.
I put the leftover stove top mac into the oven to heat for dinner, and while I was waiting, I tried out the donuts. I kind of have to agree with the yelp review that said, “small, hard, kinda oily, and expensive”. At least when they’ve been in your backpack all day, which I’m sure affects the consistency but doesn’t change the price. Raised is a bit cheaper than Stan’s in Chicago, but Stan’s donuts, at about $4 each, are enormous. The mochi ring was the most disappointing – it was one bite and into compost. The apple fritter was better.
My stomach was a little funny all day Sunday but eating a big bowl of mac & cheese while watching Outlander seemed to settle it – and probably is what put me to sleep during Mrs. Maisel.
Monday I had a new set of adventures, but the main thing is I’m already up later than the last two nights.