Nighttime view of entrance to Pike's Place Market including its iconic sign and clock

An award-winning poem and a visit to Seattle

November 11, 2023 /

A more-exciting-than-usual week here at Camp WTF. Long-Suffering Husband and I just got back from Seattle. I was there for a work conference; he was there for the coffee. Then as soon as we got back, I got the news that one of my poems won an award in the Arizona Authors Association Annual Literary Contest. Yay!

But before we get to all that: This post is part of the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. Grab a treat, have a seat, and let’s get to it.

“Mourning Doves” won Best in Category

My poem “Mourning Doves” won Best in Category in the Arizona Authors Association annual literary contest! It will be published in the Arizona Literary Magazine–I’ll share the link once it’s available.

Now I’m waiting on the results of the Arizona Mystery Writers annual contest (should hear sometime in late November) and waiting to hear back from an agent on a full manuscript request (definitely not getting my hopes up on that one).

A visit to Seattle

Long-Suffering Husband and I are back from Seattle, and guess what? (You might want to sit down for this.)

It was rainy.

I know. I’m shocked too.

I love Seattle. I lived there in the early 90s when Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden were playing clubs and Bill Nye was on a local sketch comedy show called Almost Live. I was too uncool to go to the early grunge shows (I somehow managed to live in the Pacific Northwest for 17 years without learning to like either grunge or coffee. I’m surprised they didn’t kick me out.) but Long-Suffering Husband and I stood in line (in the rain, of course) on Saturday nights to get into tapings of Almost Live. Somewhere in the bowels of my spare bedroom closet, I have Bill Nye’s autograph. My kid will probably find it when I die.

In case you’d like to see a young Bill Nye as Seattle superhero Speed Walker, I’ve got ya covered. Here’s Speed Walker rescuing a stolen burger:

If you want to see more, search YouTube for Almost Live Speed Walker. You can see Speed Walker rescue a stolen latte and a stolen Rose Bowl trophy and thwart an attempt to steal the Space Needle (yes, really). Great stuff.

So yeah, I love Seattle and have lots of happy memories of the place. But there’s a reason I don’t live there anymore, and that reason falls from the sky 10+ months of the year. Here’s the weather forecast for Seattle for the next few days:

And here’s the forecast here in Tucson:

If you need me, I’ll be lounging on my front porch, hiking in the desert, and forgetting where I put my umbrella.

Anyway, back to Seattle. We had mostly-tolerable weather for the 5 days we were there–not too cold, not raining constantly, and we even had a little sunshine on the first 2 days. For Seattle in November, that’s pretty awesome. Also awesome: fall color!

All photos are clickable if you want to see them in their original size.

Here’s Pioneer Square:

Trees arch over the pergola in Seattle's Pioneer Square with yellow fall leaves on the ground
Mural on a brick wall. Mural shows 5 people of different ethnicities and is signed, Friends of Post Alley, 2002, Billy King.

And Freeway Park:

Geometric-style concrete fountain (turned off) with trees in background
Sign describing the Book Carts program in Freeway Park, Seattle. Includes a drawing of an old-fashioned 2-wheeled cart.
Concrete courtyard, trees with fall leaves, and skyscrapers in background against a clear blue sky

I love the idea of carts of used books in a city park! Unfortunately the carts weren’t open when I was there, or my suitcase would have been a lot heavier on my return trip.

Seattle Waterfront and Pike’s Place Market:

View looking down at the Seattle Waterfront with a giant Ferris wheel next to a crane and wharehouse-style building with Puget Sound in background
A large ship in Puget Sound with Seattle waterfront in foreground
Nighttime view of entrance to Pike's Place Market including its iconic sign and clock

It wouldn’t be a Seattle photo gallery without the Space Needle:

Looking up at the underside of the Space Needle, which is glowing in the late afternoon sun.
View of the Seattle Space Needle between the buildings of the Pacific Science Center

The Space Needle isn’t the only attraction in Seattle Center. I became fascinated with a sculpture called Sonic Bloom, which looked super-cool in the late afternoon light.

5 building-height metal flowers in red, orange, and black in front of a glass building and surrounded by shrubs and other landscaping.
Sonic Bloom sculpture (giant metal neon flowers) in Seattle Center with their reflections in a glass building
Black and white photo of Sonic Bloom sculpture in Seattle Center with the iMax dome of the Pacific Science Center in the background.
Sonic Bloom sculpture in Seattle Center (giant neon metal flowers) with Pacific Science Center iMax dome in background

And two more city pics that don’t fit neatly into a category.

Wet multilane freeway with overpass to the left and cityscape behind
View from Seattle Convention Center, Summit Building
Late 19th century arch built with gray stone in front of modern city skyscrapers
Arch from the Burke Building (1895)

We didn’t get to do much more than take pictures, because I was there for a work conference and so was expected to–gasp!–work. Sigh. But it was a lot of fun to be back in the city.

The Memery

If you really want to understand a place, check out its humor. So, in the interest of helping you further understand Seattle, I’m bringing you this special edition of The Memery.

I married a Northwesterner. He’s confused by that bright thing in the sky.

I’ve seen orcas in Puget Sound, so they wouldn’t have to travel far.

Northwesterners will tell you that umbrellas are for wimps and Californians. I’m both a wimp and a Californian and I still don’t use one up there. I wear a jacket with a hood and call it good.

Oh, and true story: the conference I attended gave out organization-branded umbrellas as conference swag. Mine is still in its plastic package in my suitcase.

Also weekends. We arrived in Seattle on a Thursday night. The rain started on Saturday. When I lived in Portland, it’d rain all weekend, then be bright and sunny on Monday morning.

Then there are the times when you get at least 3 seasons in one day:

Behold the Seattle marketing genius:

True story: I once got stuck in an hour-long traffic jam while leaving Seattle.

At midnight.

Keeping the traffic theme going:

I didn’t keep a car in Seattle while I was in grad school. When I graduated and Long-Suffering Husband moved up there with me, he brought our car. We paid a neighbor $50 a month to rent her driveway so we’d have a place to park, then took the bus everywhere to avoid futile searches for parking that cost less than $20. Seattle logic.

If you do decide to actually try to drive anywhere, you quickly discover that every third road is under construction.

I’m pretty sure some of the roads that were under construction when I visited last week were also under construction in the early 90s.

Of course, Seattle is famous for more than rain and traffic.

One more true story: When I first moved to Seattle, Long-Suffering Husband would drive up to visit me once a month or so. He’d always make fun of the fancy-pants coffee sold pretty much everywhere.

Until he tried his first mocha.

He was instantly transformed into a Seattle coffee snob who consumed his body weight in espresso every day he spent in the city.

Then we moved to a small town in Georgia–in 1992, when Starbucks had not yet opened locations across the known universe and fancy-pants coffee was mostly a Seattle and Portland thing. Long-Suffering Husband went into full-blown withdrawl. He asked every restaurant if they could make a mocha and looked longingly at espresso machines that cost more than my weekly paycheck.

Then one day, we were shopping in a mall in Chattanooga, Tennessee, when he spotted it:

An espresso stand.

Dear readers, I am not exaggerating when I say: He *ran* across the mall to get to that espresso stand. Picture a clichéd scene in an old movie, where long-separated lovers see each other for the first time in years and run in slo-mo across a crowded room to throw themselves into each other’s arms. That was my husband and the espresso stand, minus the slo-mo and cheesy music. I’m surprised he didn’t drop to one knee and swear everlasting fealty to it.

He’s currently on a first-name basis with the staff at our local Dutch Brothers.

That’s it for me this week. Whatcha all been up to?

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24 Comments

  • Natalie

    November 11, 2023 at 3:33 pm

    Janet, Congratulations on your poem award! That’s fantastic. Your beautiful photos of Seattle brought back memories. I really like the Sonic Bloom. Thank you for your weekend coffee share.

      • Janis @ RetirementallyChallenged.com

        November 13, 2023 at 8:33 pm

        We were visiting friends in Tucson (a blogging friend as a matter of fact) who are new to the area also. We made a valiant effort to fit in as much as possible in 2 1/2 days, but only scratched the surface. I have a feeling we’ll be back and I just may take up your offer of suggestions.

        • Janet Alcorn

          November 15, 2023 at 7:13 am

          Please do! Also happy to be a contact for your friends since they’re new in town. (Then again, I’ve only been here 3 years, so I’m not exactly an expert either.)

  • Joanne

    November 12, 2023 at 10:07 am

    Congrats on your poem! That’s wonderful. I’ve always said I could never live in Seattle because of the rain. I need to see and feel the sun. Though I can totally relate to the constant roadwork since ours are ALWAYS under construction. All that ice and snow really wreaks havoc with the pavement…

    • Janet Alcorn

      November 12, 2023 at 3:09 pm

      Living in the maritime Northwest can be a slog for those of us who like rain. I’d start dreading winter in late August. I do miss all the water and green though.

  • Julie

    November 12, 2023 at 8:47 pm

    Congratulations on your poem! My husband has relatives in Seattle. They say they get sad at some points through the year because of the many gray days.

    I think about the days when YouTube first came out — I was in college at the time. I remembered it was like a time machine — it was like magic. We can revisit old shows and music videos from our teen years and childhood.

    • Janet Alcorn

      November 13, 2023 at 7:32 am

      YouTube really is like a time machine–or a huge cultural archive. I’ve found old shows, even old commercials in there, but my favorites are the old musical performances.

  • Esther O'Neill

    November 13, 2023 at 6:23 am

    Congrats on the poem – and the superb pictures.
    Every third road under construction ? Global conspiracy ?
    Our Highways have two main signs – Road Closed and Flood.

    Two branches of U.S. cousins, Arizona, California…
    Visiting the UK, they stay south or head for eastern Scotland.

  • Marsha

    November 14, 2023 at 8:38 pm

    Congratulations on your award-winning poem. Awesome! Your Seattle post brought back many memories. My first MIL lived in North Seattle near 150th and Dayton Avenue N in the Shoreline area. When we lived in Portland, we drove up there about every three weeks. I always preferred the weather in Portland but there is a lot to do in Seattle. What a climate change you have gone through in all your moves! Wow! Have a great week. 🙂

    • Janet Alcorn

      November 15, 2023 at 7:15 am

      Thanks!

      Oh, that drive between Seattle and Portland–I’ve made it way too many times. If you don’t need a car on the other end, the trip is much nicer by train.

      I also preferred the weather in Portland. Still too gloomy and gray but not as bad as Seattle. Both are beautiful cities though.

      • Marsha

        November 15, 2023 at 9:32 am

        I never took the train. My husband’s mother never drove, so we always needed a car. Maybe some day my brother and I will give it a try just for fun. He still lives in Portland.

  • Kirstin Troyer

    November 16, 2023 at 8:08 am

    COngrats on the poem award! Haha..I live in Washington and RARELY use an umbrella, though I hate being wet…Ha! Those memes were all awesome! Us coffee lovers will hunt down good coffee anywhere we go..I mean when we took our road trip in the nE states last year, I would literally sit the night before and search “coffee shops near me”

    • Janet Alcorn

      November 16, 2023 at 8:35 am

      The problem with using an umbrella up there is you’ll spend 10 months of the year essentially one-handed.

      Glad you enjoyed the memes! PNW life definitely has its funny side.