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: And Freeway Park: 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: It wouldn’t be a Seattle photo gallery without the Space Needle: 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. And two more city pics that don’t fit neatly into a category. 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?