Home broken down Home

This ugly thing is near my apartment.  

It is so broken down and trashed.

I'm having a mid-life crisis and this broken down trailer is what I feel like.

I'm getting old, my parents are getting old and one of us is always in the hospital.

When you are a kid you think you;re parents will live forever.

Now you are your parents age and you realize their living forever just isn't true!

I had a scary thought the other day, I too disabled to fly and my parents are too sick too fly.

We live 3500  miles apart, I may never get a hug from my mom or dad again. 

That thought has made me depressed enough to need sleeping pills.

A3100

A3100 is a Canon point and shoot.  It was cheap when I bought it, only 109.99 at Office Depot.  The camera is really neat, its almost more advanced than my SLR  The only cons are it sucks in low light and its only has a 4 optical zoom.  I took the photo above on ISO 400 and on vivid color.  I set the bowl of jelly beans in the window so no flash was needed.  I bought the camera because I wanted a camera to take with me in the hospital.  One I  wouldn't get too upset if it got lost or stolen.

I can take sepia tone, BW, vivid color photos.  I can change the ISO up to 1600.  There's is movie mode, white balance settings, continuous shooting and it has large LCD.  Not bad really for a point and shoot.  I also can use it when its raining outside.    I recommend it if you want something basic with cool extras.

You don;t need the most expensive camera to take a great photo.  Its all about knowing how to use the camera you do have.  Bryan Peterson has a book about close-up photography and most of the pictures were taken with a Lieca point and shoot.

So true!

I saw this on a wall in Ravenna behind Whole Foods.

I bought a roast today I almost shit a brick when the butcher said 25.00.  It was a rib eye roast, so I guess I got a deal.  It was 4.99 a pound.   The best way to cook a rib eye steak is to cut up mushrooms and onions and saute them up in butter.  When the mushrooms are almost done, melt a little more butter in the pan and toss in a seasoned steak.  Seasoning is nothing but salt and pepper.  Set a timer for 1 minute 30.  Flip the steak and set the timer for the same.  When the timer goes off stick your finger in the center, the further your finger goes in the rarer the steak is.  Set the timer for another minute if you like it medium.  I like my steak still mooing.

On the Interurban

If you bike down the Interurban bike trail you will see these series of signs, there's one of Salmon swimming, bubble blowing and Mt Rainier erupting.  The Interurban is a rails to trails bike trail.  They are created from railroad tracks no longer in use.  When I biked across the country it was a joy to find these trails.  I can;t bike anymore but the trail does come in handy to zip up to the Central Market.

Sidewalk art near what looks like a train stop.

I photographed these two birds because I thought they looked like love birds.

Merry Stinking Christmas

I had a rough week this week.  I went to pre-op this week at Harborview Hospital and got sick in their waiting room.  I zipped in the bathroom and got sick again.  I felt sorry for the cleaning staff because there was stuff on the floor, the sink, the walls, the toilet, my wheelchair and me.  I had such a mess to clean up I had to scream for help.  A nurse came on the fifth yell with a stack of towels, wash rags, and wipes.  Then after meeting with the anaesthesiologist I went home on metro.  I'm sure a stunk.

My second problem was that my catheter bag rubbed on my wheel and the wheel rubbed a hole.  I was leaking every where.  I tried scotch tape and that worked for a while.  Then I tried using duct tape (handy mans secret weapon) that didn't work at all.  I had to finally call Heartland for a new bag.  Damn duct tape its supposed to fix everything.  I won't talk about my third problem cuz it is worse than the second problem.

This weekend I wanted to go to Fisherman's Terminal but I ended up in Pike's and Fremont.  It rained off and on making it difficult to take out my camera.  I did take a picture of a man covered in sliver paint with a pigeon on his head and a man covered in gold showing me the thumbs up.  The day wasn't a total loss.

Fremont at Christmas

I love it! A Grinch in a rocking chair. Watching that cartoon every year it's a tradition.  I put up my  tree three weeks a go and my friend Donna hung wrapped chocolates from the branches.  I don't want to get fat again so I'm doing my best not pulling them off the tree.

     Santas were every where for sale.  A lot looked like they were from the 70's.   I hate tacky plastic yard ornaments.  There was a guy in Tacoma who covered every square inch of his house and lawn with Christmas crap.  I'm sure his neighbors disliked him.  The light pollution coming from his house at night was blinding.

     Yesterday was fabulous lots of people wandering the Sunday Market.  The weather was sunny but chilly . Smells of fire pit cooked pizza and fresh nan bread with curry heaped in the middle floated in the air and wafted up peoples noses making them quite hungry.  I bought some mini doughnuts, tasted some chocolate samples and took a ton of great photos  I couldn't ask for a better day.

Pike Place Market: at Night

I went to the market last night and I think I went a bit late.  Bryan Peterson says you should shoot just before sunset.  The building would look better in dark blue sky instead of black.  On the roof around the Conor there are pigs with lights and wreaths there is also a large tree with lights.  Right beside the public market sign there are fruit shapes in lights,

Holy mackerel!  The fish market smelled like my apartment last night.  I made deep fried rock fish with salsa for fish sauce.   Dredge your fish in flour, salt and pepper then dip it in egg and finally dip it in panko.  Put fish in hot oil about an inch deep.  Don;t flip fish until one side is golden brown, about five minutes.  Flip and cook another five minutes until fish breaks apart flaky.  Rock fish or red snapper is a thick fish so if you use a thinner fish like sole or tilapia it will take less time to fry.  Red snapper, my favorite fish, is only found in Florida and Texas.