Would like matching trousers

Wow. I guess he or she viewed 101 Dalmatians as more of a business plan. Seen yesterday.

This and that

I guess it is a good sign that I haven't posted much lately. Been busy with some fun projects and living the good life. Weekends have been particularly nice. Sarah and I have been really having fun, and we've been getting to and from the fun on foot or by bicycle, as usual. And this time of year is pretty hard to beat the sheer beauty that is Spokane.

In no particular order, some highlights:

Sekani trail run - Got off work and then Sarah and I biked past Upriver Dam for this event. And guess who took first for her age group for both men and women. That's right - Sarah won! After we biked home, we walked to Aunties for a book reading by the author of The Man Who Never Died - a book about Joe Hill, an instrumental member of the IWW. Much of the story takes place in Spokane, so the author, William Adler, was pretty happy to be here, especially with all the Occupy stuff going on. Beers downtown.

Half a turkey on sale at Rosauers. Look what the Big Green Egg can do! Had great meals all the last week (OK some of them I cooked at work). We were invited over to friends for a really fun evening on Thursday. WOW - a great meal and fantastic conviviality in their very spookified, beautiful home. Again, a long autumnal walk each way. Nice!




A couple of weeks ago, a sister firefighter put on a benefit for one of our members who was recently diagnosed with cancer - a tricycle race. If you have never been to one of these, you can watch an entire race, on this video. Very cool!

Sarah and I try to support the local wine scene by belonging to some Spokane wine clubs. Whitestone and Barrister had release parties last Friday. So again, another walk downtown.

If you get a chance, ride your bike down Manito Blvd, around Manito Park and then walk around Cannon Hill Park. Amazingly beautiful. Also, Cannon Hill Pond is beginning to see some of the less common species of ducks as they migrate south.

First Friday Last Friday

Sarah and I met up with some friends Downtown for First Friday. The best part was Terrain. Something that I didn't even know existed. Thousands of feet of open spaces and cubby holes filled with paintings, sculptures, readings, films, music. It was amazing! What was really great was that it was packed. You couldn't squeeze one more person into the poetry reading. WOW!

Spokane RIver Clean Up 2011

A lot of fun as usual. We spent most of our time in an abandoned homeless person's campsite. Hundreds of pounds of all kinds of garbage was hauled out. It looked like it had been abandoned for a long time.

Not to get preachy, but you can add the transient camps along our river to the outcomes of conservative causes, private market solutions and other efforts to gut the social safety net. What we do to our mentally ill haunts our streets, our economy and our national conscience. And it washes up right here on the banks of the Spokane River.

The Spokane County Jail is the largest mental health care facility on the east side of the state. And the only treatment many of the residents receive is when they are behind bars. For many, when they aren't "receiving treatment," they abide in their garbage-strewn camps along the river.

Some of the most recent controversies in Spokane are direct outcomes of those who slash funding for the mentally ill and work to destroy government. Ironic that some of these same politicians now run for office and shamefully "cash in" on their abandonment of the mentally ill. They point their fingers at sad, unnecessary events and blame the incumbents who have had to deal with the crisis these office challengers have created, championed and will continue to champion. It is very sad, and hopefully the voters in Spokane understand that they are being played by these morally ambivalent hucksters. We must work to keep them out of our city offices where they will only make things worse.

It would be nice to have seen some of these office seekers out here cleaning up the garbage, seeing what they helped create. I doubt they would have made the connection. Mayor Mary Verner was out here with us though, cleaning up the mess. Cleaning up other people's messes is something Mayor Verner does - a lot. I hope the voter knows what a great, smart, hardworking, ethical person we have as our mayor. We could do a lot worse. I just hope in November we don't.

OK. Off my soapbox. Here are some cool things other people found in the river: