One open water piece a day

Yesterday was my best friend's birthday, so I joined him and a few other friends on Lake Washington for a day of sailing.

We started out from the Center for Wooden Boats in Lake Union, motored out through the cut, and raised sail in Lake Washington not far from the new bridge construction that will double the size of the highway 520 floating bridge.

There wasn't much wind, so we spent our time relaxing, nibbling on cheese and salmon, knocking back some beers, and I spent a good amount of time in the lake indulging my love of open water swimming.

At the end of the day, nearly back to the dock, I spotted a floating object that was not supposed to there

Can you see it?

I whipped off my shirt and sprang into action, determined to bring the fugitive beer can to justice.

In a very short time, I succeeded in removing the offending item, and once again the cool waters of Lake Union were pristine. Once docked, I deposited the can in the nearest recycle bin.

One sartorial piece a day

I recently took up wearing hats. Well, ok, it was 2 1/2 years ago, but for a 50 year old guy, that counts as recent.

It all started when several of us went to Vancouver, Washington for a visit. We decided to go to the Kiggins to see Back to the Future. The Kiggins is a cool old theater that shows cool old movies. Anyway, somebody had the idea to go to a nearby vintage shop and buy vintage outfits to see the vintage movie. We kept our vintage outfits and re-used them to have a vintage Thanksgiving. My vintage outfit included a fedora, and everyone commented on how great it looked. So I became a hat guy.

This past Thanksgiving, the guys wore plaid shirts, boots, and cowboy hats. The gals wore saris and put a bindi on their third eye. Cowboys and Indians - Get it? I came away with a nice big black fedora (Value Village - 7 bucks!).

So, that's the hat story. Apparently we're a family that does theme holidays.

How does this relate to picking up one piece of garbage a day?

Well, recently, I was walking to my car from work, clutching a discarded paper coffee cup I'd picked up off the sidewalk. It was a warm sunny day. I had the hat on, only because I'd needed it in the rain when walking to work that morning. I passed a gnarled old guy with a ratty grey beard crossing the street. He cocked his head at me as I passed. "Nice hat", he said.



I still can't decide if he was giving me a serious compliment, or criticizing my choice of sunny day wear. Maybe he meant the discarded cup. Who knows. At least that cup wound up in the garbage where it belongs. At least I'm a hat guy.