Last weekend of summer

The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle
And the hills the greenest green, in Seattle

(Montenegro, Shelton, Keller)

Well, not a whole lot of blue skies this past weekend, and I don't think we could see the hills very well (not to mention that they're mountains), but we still had a great quick break.

I had taken Tuesday off, and we drove down on Sunday, all of this in an attempt to avoid the worst of the border lineups. I'm pretty sure that on Saturday morning, and maybe well into the day, they would have been brutal. Besides, Sweetie figured out that Monday was the best day for bands at Bumbershoot, and it would have been awfully late to drive back that night.

As it was, on Sunday we went through the smaller Aldergrove/Lynden crossing in about five minutes. The guard asked us only a few questions. We then took our time, stopped for coffee, slowed down to make it through a torrential downpour, and arrived in plenty of time to leave our bags at our hotel near Seattle Center and walk to Lola in Belltown.

Just a few minutes after we were seated, Jill arrived. I'd seen photos of her, so I recognized her instantly. Jill and I are both volunteers at the Transgender Resource Center in Seacond Life, and I've known her online for quite some time. I've probably had more interaction with her than with any of the other volunteers. It was a pleasure to meet Jill in person. After all the conversations we've had, and having read each other's blog for some time, it was almost like I knew her already. Still, I love meeting online people in person. Sweetie is a teacher and Jill a school psychologist, so they got to talk shop a bit while we enjoyed a very good lunch.

The rain was holding off, so we walked to Nordstrom Rack on Pike Street. Nordstrom is a very nice department store where you shop if you can afford to buy designer fashions at retail. Nordstrom Rack is where things go when they want to sell them off quickly. It's similar to Filene's Basement in Boston. It can be a bit mad at Nordstrom Rack, and a bit overwhelming, but if you go through enough racks you can find excellent bargains. I ended up with only a top and convertible dress/skirt, but Sweetie found some tops and a very nice raincoat that she needed. Poor Jill did get somewhat overwhelmed, especially since her wife, who is her shopping consultant, was not with us. She's smart about not wanting to buy things that end up being wrong for her, as I did when I was first shopping for women's clothes. She's still learning what works for her.

Having escaped from the store, we wanted to find a coffee shop in which to sit and relax for a bit, and to get out of the wind which had really kicked up. Sadly, we did not find one that was open. That's one of the problems with downtown Seattle on weekends. We had walked most of the way to the ferry terminal Jill needed to go to, so Sweetie took a couple of pictures and we parted ways.

Sweetie and I braved the wind and did find a coffee shop in the other direction. Then we braved more wind to get back to our hotel. Then out into the wind again to the Frontier Room for barbecue and beer. It wasn't the best pulled pork I've ever had, but it was good, and it had been too long since I'd had any. (I might be a total pescatarian if it weren't for pulled pork.) Into the wind again to walk back to our hotel, where we got a cab to the Harvard Exit theatre in Capitol Hill to see In the Loop, a wickedly funny satire about how governments work (or don't).

Monday was a full day at Bumbershoot, probably our longest ever. We've usually skipped out on whatever late act we planned on seeing, but not this year. Maybe we're getting younger, eh? Highlights of the day: Visqueen, a Seattle band led by Rachel Flotard; Delhi 2 Dublin, a crossover band you'd have to hear to understand, and continuing our tradition of seeing Canadian bands at Bumbershoot, this one even from Vancouver; Mirah, a Portland-based writer of short, whimsical, engaging songs; Vieux Farka Touré, a wonderful guitarist and singer from Mali with an excellent band; and finally Metric (Canadian band number two). OK, so we didn't stay for the whole set by Metric, but we probably made it to half, and that's better than we'd ever done. In between, we spent money on crafts, clothes, food, and a print, saw cool band posters and other artwork, and caught bits of Recess Monkey, a band made up of school teachers singing songs for kids, and Dead Confederate, who were OK but not thrilling. And got rained on.

One trans note, just because it's the topic of this blog. We were killing time before hoping to catch the beginning of Sly and Robbie's set (they were late, of course, and we never did see anything but some sound check), and Sweetie and I went to a booth so she could get a lemonade. It had been showering, so I had my white and black hoody on with the hood up, probably with my hair tied back. After serving Sweetie, the vendor said, "can I get anything for you, ma'am?" Sweetie says later, see, you shouldn't worry about how you're read. And I don't really, but it's still nothing I take for granted. Nice to know my face is doing the job.

And then I woke up sick on Tuesday, but that couldn't take away from a wonderful weekend all around.