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pride and glory of roots
Nov. 5th, 2010 10:48 amI visited my Mom yesterday. This meant going to Port Townsend. Always a swirl of emotions and experiences. The best way to describe everything is fragmented moments.
As I drove on Sims Way (main street that leads into town) I saw a sign I always see near the marina. It says, Crabs for Sale" which in itself isn't an odd thing but what makes this little sign stand out is that it always looks like it was present at a massacre. There is red paint that runs down the words. Apparently the crab you are about to purchase weren't taken without a fight. "You think that crab looks bad you should see the guy who had to get him -missing three fingers and a nipple."
We had lunch at Don's. Senor Onion and I shared a blackberry milkshake. When discussing what kind of milkshake to get he said, "Get a pink one." He knows what is good.
I was in a shop and the lady helping me said, "Gosh you look familiar. You grew up here didn't you. When were you in school?" I told her when and she said, "oh same as my son" I asked her who her son was and she said and I said, "oh. I remember him." Her response made me laugh, "He is much better now." Obviously this is a Mother who doesn't lie to herself. Her son in junior high and early high school was a bit of an asshole. I think I handled the moment well when I said, "I didn't think he was awful but I didn't run in the same circles as him, so I didn't know him that well." She then said, "Actually that is a good thing." I laughed. The thing is her son until fairly recently worked at a specialty grocery store that I frequent and he used to help me sometimes and he was always perfectly nice and professional. He's say Hi if he saw me and I would say hi back. Even assy kids can grow up. I may not have liked him in seventh grade but he seemed all right to me when we were twenty five or so. I probably wouldn't go out of my way to socialize with him but people can become civil adults. At least that is the hope.
I also ran into a girl I grew up with -she is back in town working at this one coffee shop. She was something else in school. I recall in junior high she had an eating disorder. It was more of an open secret. She was also just this side of pretentious; which in retrospect showed how insecure she was. She had this on-again off-again thing with this one guy and it was always train-wrecky to observe. When she graduated from high school she went off to New York and was going to do big things -just ask her. My brother would sometimes run across her in NY because well when you are from my town you always run into everyone you grew up with -no matter how far away you are. Even when I have visited NY, I have run into people who lived on my street. Anyways, she looked good and healthy. On the other hand I saw another girl I had grown up with and it looked like life had worn her down a bit. I wouldn't say she looked old but she didn't look young. Of course that makes me look in the mirror and wonder if I look old.
I tried this apple cider sorbet (the cider comes from FinnRiver which is local and delicious) at Elevated. It was perfect. Refreshing and sweet. A family friend stopped by and showed off her iphone by taking pictures of the kids. They have a fan club.
We walked past this one building that had recently been remodeled. For years it was owned by this absolutely crazy family and the ground flour of the building was a sort of "hardware" store. I put that in quotations because they sold all manner of things and it seemed that many things had been sitting on the shelves for decades. The place was kind of spooky and people didn't really go in there. My Mother said that if you went in there it would steal pieces of your soul. I went in once with my friend Kurt. (we were teenagers) We found things like a notepad from 1965 and a sofa from the fifties. It was kind of like going into a really weird haunted house. When the last of the crazy family died and the building sold, they converted some of the floors into condos -none of which have sold. I jokingly asked my Mom, "Did they get the place exorcised?" She said, "actually they had. They had someone come in and do a little ceremony or smudging to get rid of the bad energy."
Only where I come from would this be done. That building was creepy. Though it sounds like they didn't do a good job of getting rid of the weirdness. Someone should hose the place down in Holy water and maybe do a triple smudging. Add a few relics or something to ward off the spirits.
We also passed by the local fancy lingerie shop -which has a picture of my sister in her underwear at the entrance. True story. Right now she is reading this and she is horrified. True facts: If you want to see a picture of my sister in her pants, just visit Port Townsend. Folks, she is single!!! Tits and Sass is how I describe her. Aaaaaaaannnnnnnd now she will IM me and go, "SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP" Whatever Kit.
My Mother, Mrs. Chazbot is well. She got to see her grandchildren and show them off to people.
As I drove on Sims Way (main street that leads into town) I saw a sign I always see near the marina. It says, Crabs for Sale" which in itself isn't an odd thing but what makes this little sign stand out is that it always looks like it was present at a massacre. There is red paint that runs down the words. Apparently the crab you are about to purchase weren't taken without a fight. "You think that crab looks bad you should see the guy who had to get him -missing three fingers and a nipple."
We had lunch at Don's. Senor Onion and I shared a blackberry milkshake. When discussing what kind of milkshake to get he said, "Get a pink one." He knows what is good.
I was in a shop and the lady helping me said, "Gosh you look familiar. You grew up here didn't you. When were you in school?" I told her when and she said, "oh same as my son" I asked her who her son was and she said and I said, "oh. I remember him." Her response made me laugh, "He is much better now." Obviously this is a Mother who doesn't lie to herself. Her son in junior high and early high school was a bit of an asshole. I think I handled the moment well when I said, "I didn't think he was awful but I didn't run in the same circles as him, so I didn't know him that well." She then said, "Actually that is a good thing." I laughed. The thing is her son until fairly recently worked at a specialty grocery store that I frequent and he used to help me sometimes and he was always perfectly nice and professional. He's say Hi if he saw me and I would say hi back. Even assy kids can grow up. I may not have liked him in seventh grade but he seemed all right to me when we were twenty five or so. I probably wouldn't go out of my way to socialize with him but people can become civil adults. At least that is the hope.
I also ran into a girl I grew up with -she is back in town working at this one coffee shop. She was something else in school. I recall in junior high she had an eating disorder. It was more of an open secret. She was also just this side of pretentious; which in retrospect showed how insecure she was. She had this on-again off-again thing with this one guy and it was always train-wrecky to observe. When she graduated from high school she went off to New York and was going to do big things -just ask her. My brother would sometimes run across her in NY because well when you are from my town you always run into everyone you grew up with -no matter how far away you are. Even when I have visited NY, I have run into people who lived on my street. Anyways, she looked good and healthy. On the other hand I saw another girl I had grown up with and it looked like life had worn her down a bit. I wouldn't say she looked old but she didn't look young. Of course that makes me look in the mirror and wonder if I look old.
I tried this apple cider sorbet (the cider comes from FinnRiver which is local and delicious) at Elevated. It was perfect. Refreshing and sweet. A family friend stopped by and showed off her iphone by taking pictures of the kids. They have a fan club.
We walked past this one building that had recently been remodeled. For years it was owned by this absolutely crazy family and the ground flour of the building was a sort of "hardware" store. I put that in quotations because they sold all manner of things and it seemed that many things had been sitting on the shelves for decades. The place was kind of spooky and people didn't really go in there. My Mother said that if you went in there it would steal pieces of your soul. I went in once with my friend Kurt. (we were teenagers) We found things like a notepad from 1965 and a sofa from the fifties. It was kind of like going into a really weird haunted house. When the last of the crazy family died and the building sold, they converted some of the floors into condos -none of which have sold. I jokingly asked my Mom, "Did they get the place exorcised?" She said, "actually they had. They had someone come in and do a little ceremony or smudging to get rid of the bad energy."
Only where I come from would this be done. That building was creepy. Though it sounds like they didn't do a good job of getting rid of the weirdness. Someone should hose the place down in Holy water and maybe do a triple smudging. Add a few relics or something to ward off the spirits.
We also passed by the local fancy lingerie shop -which has a picture of my sister in her underwear at the entrance. True story. Right now she is reading this and she is horrified. True facts: If you want to see a picture of my sister in her pants, just visit Port Townsend. Folks, she is single!!! Tits and Sass is how I describe her. Aaaaaaaannnnnnnd now she will IM me and go, "SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP" Whatever Kit.
My Mother, Mrs. Chazbot is well. She got to see her grandchildren and show them off to people.
