Perspective

The trip to Bainbridge was a nice outing. While waiting for the ferry and riding the ferry I worked on my second Koigu sock, which is coming along nicely:

I'm finding that this one is smaller than the first one, but the first one is a little too large so I may have to re-knit it. Or not. Maybe I'll just walk around with one slouchy sock and one nice sock to remind myself how important it is to take notes on what size needle you used!

The Blackbird Bakery welcomed us as our first stop in Winslow, the little town just off the ferry landing on Bainbridge Island. We devoured some wonderful orange rolls right out of the oven and lingered over cappucinos. Our conversation wandered to my friend Brian Stork (the one who writes the anomolophiles) and his latest escapades. His band, Klondike 5, plays at Molly Maguire's Irish Pub regularly. Recently he was contacted by Michael Feldman to see if he would be willing to be considered as guest local artist on the Whadya Know? show when it comes to Seattle's Paramount Theatre in a couple of weeks. Ultimately KL5 wasn't chosen, but the pure joy that was brought into his life just because they were considered for the show kind of bubbled over and rubbed off on everyone around. Also, he is involved in a group that brews beer, called An Ale of Two Cities, and they recently won top awards for their brew. Anyway, the gist of what I was saying is that I wish I had the energy and ideals of a 32-year-old again. It would be nice if we could still embark on projects of our dreams and stop evaluating future possibilities against past realities. Yes, Brad agreed, that would be nice.

After filling ourselves with food and drink we meandered next door to Churchmouse where, believe it or not (despite the mountains of beautiful yarns begging to come home with me), I stuck to my plan to buy only the dpns that I needed. Kit's husband was working with her in the store, and it was fun to point this out to Brad :-) who enjoys teasing me about my fiber addiction and would have everyone believe that husbands should not assist this addiction in any way not essential to marital harmony!

Next on our little journey through town we stopped in at the bookstore. If you've never read Diana Gabaldon's time-travel series, I highly recommend it. The series begins with Dragonfly in Amber [ed. correction: the first book is Outlander, not Dragonfly in Amber (thanks Laura!)] and proceeds through five books now, the latest of which I have not read. I saw it in paperback there and it came home with me. I don't read a whole lot these days because I am knitting or spinning, but in former years I would devour four or five books a week. As a child I couldn't be pried away from books, mostly fiction. I guess it was my way of escaping; I was too shy to be comfortable around other people. Now I find that knitting etc. is a good escape and also provides a community in which I am comfortable, so I don't need books as much. But I am looking forward to disappearing into The Fiery Cross soon.

Brad got a book on Memory, of the how-to-improve-yours variety, and we ambled on.

After browsing through a couple of other shops we came to a delightful little wine shop nestled in an alleyway mall. We talked with the owner for a bit and ended up buying a wine that he recommended, the Reininger 2000 Merlot (a Washington winery). I love Merlot best out of all wine varieties. We opened it later that evening when we were home to find that it was a very enjoyable wine indeed, definitely a buy-again wine!

Next was a tiny little gallery called Art Soup that we went into just because it was there. Surprisingly, I was greatly enriched by my time there and came out of it as if I had been to church and experienced a divine revelation. Behind the counter was a very old woman, gray hair piled high on her head. I didn't know if she was the shop owner but assumed that she was based on her age and grace. We looked around at the various artwork and handmade cards and then went to the far back corner, where the lady gestured to four rows of cards which were labeled "Mormor's Art" and explained in accented English "these are my painting".

The cards contained prints of her miniature paintings of her life. Delightful, cheery and compelling were these paintings. Looking at the reverse of the card, I noted that "Mormor" (Danish for "Grandmother"), whose real name is Grethe Herlin, was born and raised in Denmark and came over to the US after she was an adult. She started painting when she was 78 years old!! Started! I found four cards (all for $10) that I will frame and hang in the house not only because they are so engaging, but also to remind me of Mormor and her capacity for new ambitions so late in life. I recalled my earlier conversation with Brad about Brian, and was amazed that I could prove myself so wrong so quickly.

We chatted with Mormor for a little while, learning that her daughter owned the shop and that Mormor would soon be celebrating her 85th birthday. A very nice lady, she told how she moved to a small town in the midwest when she was 41 and depended on the game of bridge to break the ice and get involved in a strange land. She still plays bridge and gives it a lot of credit for keeping her memory and mental capacities. (Brad is a bridge fanatic, and I love to play it with real (not computer) people).

We took the ferry back home, with smiles on our faces and many good memories of the day.

Here are the four cards that I love so much (Jojo likes the first one best!)

Posted by Sheila at March 17, 2003 07:30 PM Posted to Bainbridge Island | Family | Friends | Inspirations | Introspection | Socks | Travels | TrackBack