It's hard finding quality artisan doughnuts made by blind virgins

[gfrancie]

Yesterday I took the kids over to the park again because Senor Onion was itching to get out and ride his tricycle. I was game. Popped Miss Biscuit into the stroller and off we went. We looked at the flowers, investigated the gross storm drain and just took in the nice but strange weather. There are wild fires up in BC and the haze has been filtering down here. It makes the light so very odd. I first noticed it when I was walking the kids over to the park and I thought for a second that there was a strange blue stain on my trousers. I then realized it was the shadows. The shadows were blue! Really blue. Then I noticed how the light was orange. Things kept getting more and more orange and the sun was pink. Thankfully Cliff Mass and the internet explained what was going on. Pretty but odd.
So back to the park. Another family came along. There was a little boy named Jack who was about Senor Onion's age. Jack had a little sister named Emily. (because all children are named Jack and Emily these days) They had a grand time playing together. A sweet moment was Senor Onion and Jack holding hands and racing along. Emily kept trying to ride on Senor Onion's trike. Later on kids were playing about at the water feature. Then another family showed up. I shall call them the Pottery Barn family. They are a stereotypical Madrona family. I bet their children take Mandarin pilates or something. The husband spent most of his time on his phone. He spoke loudly. He had to mention two or three times that it was a new iphone and it wasn't very good at all. I suppose life is hard. Like being forced to use tin cans and string. The wife (who was apparently swallowed by a beige and taupe monster) was talking to another Mom (She is a hip Mom who obviously carried her baby in a shopping basket because she is crazy trim and looks like she is into body sculpting. Her glasses were also pretty fierce. I also liked her top. It was a pretty vivid turquoise) about houses and remodeling. There was much moaning about finding a four bedroom house. (you can't have the kids sharing a room y'all.) They have been renting a house for two years while they searched for a four bedroom house. It seems it is very very hard to find a four bedroom house in the area that doesn't have one bedroom downstairs or in the basement. Oh dear me. A bedroom in the basement? What next? Outdoor toilets and beating clothes on the rock to get them clean? So they found a house and they are doing a complete remodel. Lush. The hip Mom said they are just adding onto their home because it was so hard finding a new place.
Tragedy upon tragedy.
It took a lot not to start saying crazy shit. "You know what I like to do? I like to get nude and bake. How about you?" (not true since I fear burning myself. But you get the gist)

An interesting thing about my greater neighborhood (and I am guessing these people aren't aware of it) but it was one of the few unrestricted neighborhoods in Seattle back in the bad old days when black people could only live in certain places. They couldn't live in Ballard, Fremont or Queen Anne. But they could live here in Madison Valley and the Central District and down into Columbia City. North of the ship Canal was a sunset district -meaning that if you were Black you could go and work there (usually as a domestic) but you damn well better be out of there by sunset or the cops would show up. There are people who live on my block and neighborhood who remember this well. There are people on my block who bought their homes back when those rules were still in place -so that is partly why they live here. It is very much an area that was/is working class so the homes aren't enormous by some standards. Bedrooms in the basement aren't unusual because people put them in where they could. I have a three bedroom house and my neighbor across the street grew up in this house. She is one of seven kids. (Cat'lick) I am guessing they probably put some of the kids down in the basement, as the bedrooms aren't enormous. I was relating the conversation I heard at the park to Mr. Jenner and we both giggled a bit. I shared a bedroom with one or more of my siblings at various points when I was growing up. Mr. Jenner recalls times when his parents were first running Berry Park and there wasn't a lot of room and how the entire family would sleep in one room during the Summers. He often shared a room with his brothers at other points. Is it a new idea that each children needs their own bedrooms? I always kind of viewed it as a luxury.

I found the company of children much more entertaining. More fart jokes. Fewer discussions of real estate.

I made pizza last night for dinner. Everyone enjoyed it. Then there was cake and ice cream. Mr. Jenner and the kids had an early night as they were all tired beans. I stayed up and canned some pickles and then watched Mad Men. Rare to have that time to myself. It was kind of nice.

Now we face Monday and all its glories. Oof.

Comments

[queenthesixth.livejournal.com]

You get a lot of pretentiousness about houses here as well, especially since the Celtic Tiger. Suddenly it's all about the five and six bedroomed houses (though the property market is not good and people who forked out on those houses over the last eight years are up to their eyeballs in debt and the houses are in negative equity), and the bigger the house the better. But Irish people have a thing about owning houses anyway. I think it's genetic memory from the Famine and there not being enough land in families to give a patch for everyone to build a house on.
But some people are just trying to make out like they are better than the rest of us; their houses are making a statement! I feel like saying "it's far from four bathrooms you were reared!" Which is true for most people. We had an outdoor toilet until we built a kitchen and bathroom extension back in the 1980's. It's only in the last ten years that houses come with more than one bathroom. While it might sound impressive to say that your house has so many bathrooms and bedrooms, I just think of all those rooms to keep clean and shudder.

Though if you were to offer a bigger house in the morning, I would be in there like a shot happy to have room for my books. When I read "5 bedrooms", I think "5 libraries".

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

That Irish need to own property was likely transplanted here in this country. It is always harped on people here to get on the property ladder. Owning a house is a great thing in many respects but it doesn't need to be the only thing. (I suspect a lot of people got in over their heads because of that.)

Yes a library would be dandy!