A Quaint But Delightful Seattle Bistro

I wandered the downtown of Seattle this evening, searching for a restaurant to capture my fancy. After enjoying a beautiful evening stroll into the Belltown district, I was drawn to the Cyclops, a quaint establishment whose stylish, yet unassuming, exterior proved to belie a delightful ambiance and some surprisingly remarkable cuisine. The Cyclops is best decribed as an eclectic cafe with decidedly eastern Mediterranean and spanish influences. The crowd was thin on a Wednesday evening and I made my way over to the bar area of the cafe to better immerse myself in the "feel" of the place. The music was canned, typical of the nouveau chicque Seattle sound, lighter than grunge, but more visceral than folk...an excellent mix that was well suited to casual dining in a Seattle cafe. The waitress was accommodating and I engaged her in assisting me in choosing my meal. She recommended the "special" and it proved to be an excellent choice, though more due to the skill and proficiency of the chef than her ability to discern my tastes in food. The special was a light dish comprised of salmon and halibut cakes covered with a sweet chile sauce, on a bed of baby greens with a wasabi vinegarette dressing. This was sprinkled liberally with shards of crystallized ginger and the flavor combinations played together in a remarkable fashion. Though admittedly rather pedestrian fare, I truly enjoyed the experience and it went well with the margarita that I had chosen to accompany the meal. This most excellent entree, combined with the pleasant, colloquial atmosphere resulted in a dining experience that I will treasure for some time to come. I encouraged the chef to make this a regular offering, but regardless of their response to my request, I will visit the Cyclops again and would recommend it to my friends without reservation. Vertu svalur, muy compadres!

Back To School!!!

After a hiatus of over seven years I think that it is time to return to school.  This time though I am going just for me, not to improve my job skills or to acquire some certification, but purely for my enjoyment in exploring my interest in astrophysics.  My lofty goal is to earn a PhD in that discipline, but one step at a time.  Since the state pays my tuition as an employee, all I have to do is buy the books and dedicate the time.  I must admit that I miss campus life and the intellectual stimulation that comes from pursuing a course of study and networking with your fellow students.  So, sometime in the next week or so I am off to the WSU Tri-Cities campus to do some course of study planning.  I may have to wait until the spring to start, but that gives me to the winter to anticipate it…too cool!!!

A Day In The Sun

Our annual staff golf tournament and barbeque was today and everyone had a good time. The weather was perfect; I golfed acceptably, managed the barbeque grill with my usual flair and even managed to get in some Frisbee between flipping burgers and turning the sausages. In fact, the only thing that kept the day from being perfect was the absence of those who could not be with us. It was a smaller group, what with the leaving of our Safe Schools folks, most of who were the younger, more energetic and out-going crowd...I miss them terribly! Still, it was about as good a day as one could ask for, even if I was a bit subdued at missing...

Back From The Mountains

It was indeed a grand weekend and the weather was beautiful, just a bit cooler as fall settles into the mountains. I spent the time hiking some old favorites one more time for nostalgia sake and talking to my Ranger Barrett about the old architecture of the park that I had observed in my many visits. We talked about wooden water mains, fire plugs and other turn of the century infrastructure. At his suggestion I met and enjoyed a conversation with Ranger Michelle Hart, Barrett's girl friend, and she was as bright and charming as I would have expected for her to be my friend's friend;-) She also possessed a wealth of knowledge about the Paradise-area history and architecture and I enjoyed a long conversation with her, going over many old pictures of the park. That topped off a day where I dashed, literally, up to Panorama Point and back after hitting several lowland hikes. I met some interesting young folks from Europe and Asia along the way and chatted with them a bit about their American experiences and reveled in their different accents and colloquial sayings...what fun! I ended up the day quite exhausted, but pleasantly so, and ready for a cold one by the campfire, looking up at the stars and thinking of loved ones far away, especially the one held the closest to my heart and yet seemingly the farthest away. What a perfectly lovely day, followed by a perfectly melancholy evening!...Life just does not get much better than this...l8r

Back to the Mountains

I am heading over to Seattle for a meeting on Monday, which means that I simply must spend this weekend in the mountains. It promises to be cool and wet, perhaps with snow yet again and I cannot imagine a better place to be. I plan on hiking up on the sub-alpine ridges above Paradise and it should be a magnificent trip. I only wish that I had someone to share the moment with, but then I know that I am never truly alone and that special someone is always in my heart wherever I may go. Life (and love) is truly grand! See y’all when I return:-)

Aldur Eftir Aldur

Nei, að eilífu er ekki svo langur að biða handa það ákveðinn einhver...en eilífð er aldur langt!

Snjór, Snjór, Snjór!!!

I spent a wonderfully exhausting day hiking 15 miles up to the Three Lakes area and back on Friday. I marveled at the old-growth lowland forest and the size of the trees, which rivaled anything outside of the 1000-year giants of the Grove of the Patriarchs, and was truly enchanted by the discovery of a sub-alpine old-growth forest. The day was perfect for hiking, cold and damp, with a promise of more rain to come. Sure enough, I woke up this morning to rain pounding on the tent and a more typical Mt. Rainier day of low clouds and steady rain. On a hunch, I packed up and made my way up to Paradise (5400’) and was overjoyed to end up in the first snowfall of the year! What a perfect day, even though I had to leave and return to the more mundane world of my normal existence. But for a brief moment, I was in heaven, O já!

Bumbershoot Rocks, O Ja!!!

I spent yesterday at the Seattle Folk Arts Festival and it was totally cool. It goes on for 4 days every Labor Day weekend, but I only went for the last day and it could not have been more perfect. The weather was great, the crowds huge (but fun), the mood festive, and the music fantastic. I started with The Seattle Women's Jazz Orchestra, then on to Post Stardom Depression, The Decemberists, Dashboard Confessional, Aqueduct, Earlimart, Streb (a dance troupe), and closing out with Tegan and Sara (wayyy cool;-). Wow, 12 hours of running from one side of Seattle Center to the other, rocking with the bands, 4 hours of driving on each side of that, and having to go to work this morning! I will definitely be back next year, and for all 4 days. But for now I need just a little sleep so that tomorrow I can drive back over to the west side for a meeting Thursday and then spend a couple of days in the mountains. Well, sleep is for the dead, and I am not dead...yet;-)...vertu svalur y'all