Dry Ice Factory

I don't go to Vanguard parties much anymore, but on Saturday it was at janeehawkins's, which of course is a nostalgia trip for those of us of a certain age. So I put on my Vanguard disguise (a.k.a. the clothes I'd been wearing all day) and headed on over. Amongst other things, it allowed me to return the DVD of Jerry Springer: The Opera that I had borrowed from roadnotes (thanks again, it was brilliant!), and to bring some of jimtrash's Tiny TAFFzines and some TAFF ballots, which Jane had promised to flog because she was so entertained by the Tiny TAFFzines I had mailed to her. It was a pretty small party, with many notable figures Missing In Action (no Jerry & Suzle, no Andy and Carrie, no Ulrika and Hal), but I guess that's not unusual these days. Although Frank (of Frank & Molly) said that the last one they hosted was quite a bit bigger, so I guess it still waxes and wanes. Jane had just taken a course in soldering at a maker space on Capitol Hill and has become fascinated with the 3D printers on offer there, so she showed some videos of the printers in action and showed off a few objects that had been printed on them. Very cool! At some point five of us retired downstairs to smoke a little smoke. There was a time when the smoking room would have been full of people madly puffing away on various smokables, but that would have been a time when I still smoked cigarettes, which I don't really miss. Actually I don't remember seeing Jane smoke any tobacco this time, so now I wonder whether she's quit too. Well, it was great to chat with kate_schaefer and jackwilliambell just like old times, and there was John D. Berry and Vonda McIntyre and a number of other familiar faces, as well as one new person who came with Janice Murray but left before I got a chance to talk to her.

So that was the old tradition, and a very pleasant tradition it was. On the new front, I have now walked to SIFF Uptown in Lower Queen Anne three times on the weekend to see a movie. It's about three miles from our house and takes me an hour. So far I've always walked there via Westlake and Mercer (always running into a crowd entering or leaving the opera house), then I return home by climbing up and over Queen Anne on Queen Anne Avenue, with a stop at the Hilltop Ale House for a pint and a shot of Crown Royal along the way. The last two times I've done this, I've gotten to the area early enough to eat something in one of the restaurants near the theater, have a coffee at Uptown Espresso, and read a book. Yesterday I was reading Diana Wynne Jones' Hexwood, which is certainly weird and intriguing and very meta so far. The movie I saw was Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder, which was the one 3D movie he made and was being shown in that format. Anyway, this new tradition is a fine thing, and I hope I can continue with it, although it depends on SIFF continuing to show movies I want to see. They've been on quite a roll lately. I can't remember how long ago SIFF acquired the Uptown, but they are really turning it into something special for film freaks. One nice thing about this new tradition is I've gotten to know both Lower and Upper Queen Anne quite a bit better than before. The upper parts have always seemed like an island on top of the world, isolated from the rest of the city because you never go through it on the way to anywhere else. Never say never, because now I've found a reason to pass through and to stop at the local watering hole to read a few pages and observe the local wildlife. All in the service of getting more walking in and thus maintaining some semblance of health. Life is good.

Well, the party seems to have gone well enough. Nobody died, at least that I know of. People brought a lot of great stuff. Thanks to juliebata for the cupcakes (there's only one left), and to whoever brought the smoked salmon and the huge container of fresh strawberries. There are still massive amounts of beer in the fridge, and I now have an extra lighter. The party even spilled out into the backyard, because some people were feeling too hot inside. We didn't have enough chairs, as usual, and only this morning did I realize that I never deployed the two chairs from the kitchen. D'oh! scarlettina and I realized that we were practically neighbors, and I also talked to another woman who lives nearby and who praised my raspberries. (The new canes are growing like topsy.) There was a young woman from New Jersey who had been flown out by Amazon as part of a writing competition. It was a good crowd. Did I mention there weren't enough chairs?

Haven't had a chance to debrief with Doug and Christina yet, but they seemed to be having a good time. They got a ride back to their hotel in Victor's beemer. They're going to come hang out with me in Fremont later, and then it's the pubmeet at the Pub at Third Place.

Next weekend it's the Solstice Parade and a tiki party for somebody's birthday. The weather is beautiful again today. Feels like summer is almost here. (Probably an illusion.)

It seemed somewhat smaller than September's party. It never reached that moment when the kitchen was wall-to-wall people and cacophony. Still, it was a good group, and thanks to paulcarp for bringing some friends. They seemed to fit right in. Thanks to him for the Negra Modelo, too. And thanks to farmgirl1146 for the box of organic garlic that she grew on her very own farm.

Despite the lower turn out, the basement smoking party continued until after 2am. It may have even been 3 before I finally kicked carl and Scott out. I'd say that I'm too old for this shit, but I'm actually feeling halfway decent after two cups of coffee. Not that I'm moving real fast, mind you.

Well, the house is ready. Where *is* everybody?

Some of y'all might enjoy the short (3:08) video that Graham Charnock (aka Cartiledge) has posted to YouTube and called "Vanguard Party in Seattle". See many of your favorite Seattle fans in their natural habitat! See kate_schaefer in a ditch! See Andy Hooper in a fez! Hear libertango's obituary!

Good family fun. This Cartiledge fellow has a future in video.