Savor the Moment.

Last thursday I got an impromptu phone call from the past. Fellow JIS Dragon Mitch Petovello was in town for a week, and suddenly eights years of silence between us was broken. It's amazing how fast time flies by, and as I get older, it seems to get faster.

For those of you who haven't visited Seattle, I would highly recommed it during the summer time. There are many many, wonderful sights and sounds to experiance. Additionally, since you know me, you have the added benefit of a local guide. =)


FREEMONT

I foolishy gave Mitch both the keys to my apartment and my cell phone during his trip here. He was always hopelessely lost, and I had a phone at work to use, plus Andrew and I always carpooled home together.

Yet, on a Friday night I found myself stranded with no keys and no phone. Locked out of my own abode. Mitch was at a wedding, and Andrew went down south to hang out with his father. I found myself sleeping on a friends couch until midnight, when Andy came to rescue me.

Note to self: Make spare keys for guests.

Anyway, Saturday morning we go to Fremont to see the troll under the bridge. But since there were many MANY tourist people with the same idea, we hit a little cafe for some outdoor alfresco lunch....

Fremont is quite the charming Seattle neighborhood. Home to the hippies and organic gurus, it's well known for its electic shops, exclusive boutiques and specialty restaurants. There's an outdoor movie theater for warm summer nights and fun and funky nightclubs for after the credits.

After lunch we return to see the Fremont troll, which lives under the bridge on Troll Ave. He's the same Troll you see in Ten Things I Hate About You, and just as cool. He's a lot huger than you would imagine, as his eyeball is as big as my head. Hehehehe.



Here's Mitch by the VW Bug that the troll has in left hand. Did you know that Fremont once wanted to succeed from Seattle and become it's own city? Or that they wanted to paint the bridge pink? They have the Freemont fair once a year as well, with lots of parades of naked people along with good food and music.

It makes it impossible to get in and out of the area though, since Fremont is accessible mostly through side streets.




GREENLAKE

From the Troll Mitch and I decide to take a walk - to burn off the roasted chicken salad and Spicy Chicken Wrap we had for lunch. I take him to Greenlake, a beautiful park full of trees, waddling ducks and gorgeous water.

Greenlake is great because there's always something going on. This weekend there's a rowing ragatta going on - a couple of soccer games and lots of volleyball action. There's plenty of people watching to do, and the 2.88 miles around the lake is long enough for some serious "walk talk". Some of my local friends like to pick out which couples they think are on their first date - since the lake seems to be a popular spot for budding romances.


View of the lake from our starting point - I usually like to go clockwise starting at the most popular part of the lake... Where the football feilds, basketball courts and volleyball courts are.


The was a huge rowing tournament going on, teams from all over the world were present. The greatest part was that most of the people rowing were normal people. They were mothers in their 40's, grandfathers in their 60's, kids cheering on their older sisters... There were ripped rowers, and others not in perfect shape. It made me realize these people are out there becuase they really, truly love the sport. And I have tremendous respect for that.



















We saw some interesting things this time around - which included a pretty cool cow-kite that was flapping in the breeze, as well as a not-so-cool old-man-in-a-speedo sighting.

The guy was walking in front of us, and we needed to overtake him, or else we would have ended up staring the whole time.... And that would have been waaaay too traumatic.

Mitch was good at playing papaazzi was the camera, although he did say he tried to close his eyes while shooting the images.

Along the lake there were also other fun things to explore, such as the lazy ducks hanging out under the shaded lagoons, or the interesting signs such as the one below.



So, after our long walk we head home to regroup. Mitch takes a shower (he smells like a boy) and I change clothes a million times and contemplate wearing heels for the rest of the day, or flipflops. Thankfully, my sane side wins, and flip flops it is!

PIKE PLACE MARKET


Here are some wonderful images of us and Seattle's
most famous pig from Pike Place Market. Why a pig? Well... Here's the blurb from the actual Pike Place Market website.

Rachel
Rachel, the Market's bronze piggybank, has been bringing in the bacon for the Market Foundation since the Market's 79th birthday in 1986. People from all over the world feed Rachel with pennies, quarters, checks, pesos, lira, yen, and rials, contributing $6,000 to $9,000 to the Market Foundation each year.

Rachel weighs in at 550 pounds and was created by Georgia Gerber, a sculptor living on Whidbey Island, Washington. She was named after a real 750-pound pig named Rachel, the 1985 winner of the Island County Fair. Rachel's favorite holiday is March 1, National Pig Day.

Anyway, Rachel got even more famous after the pigs on parade benefit for the market place which happened in 2001. Basically, the city had artists create all sorts of personalized pigs and had local businesses sponsor each one... they were displayed all over the city and then auctioned off for charity at the end of the summer. It was quite fantastic to see. You can read more about that at www.pigsonparade.org.

There is a wonderful story on the website as well that I would love to quite here - for those of you who are a little romantic at heart...

What a Story!

Throughout the summer of 2001, pig fans called and wrote us about their favorite pigs and favorite pigs stories. One of our favorites was the following - what pig romanticism!

"About 1 year ago, I met a man named Trey online - he was commissioned in the US Navy and was going to move to the Seattle area soon. We emailed back and forth a few times and as soon as he moved to the area we talked on the phone and agreed to meet in person. One of the few distinct and fairly easy-to-get-to places in Seattle I could think of to meet was at the "bronze pig" in the Pike Place Market. So a date was set and we agreed to meet in person for the first time at Rachel.

Trey, being a romantic type, remembered from an episode of Crocodile Hunter how the croc hunter and his wife had a photo of the first time they ever met, and thought how cool it would be if he had a picture of the first moment he met his future wife. Going on faith and a strange feeling, he brought his camera planning on having some random passer-by snap a picture of us at the pig. Fortunately I persuaded my mom to drop me off (after all, I was meeting a strange man and didn't want to go alone) so she was there to take the picture of us the moment we met, with Rachel in the center.

Trey and I hit it off and soon began dating seriously. A little over six months later, Trey and I celebrated our "anniversary" at Place Pigalle, a romantic little restaurant just behind the pig at the Pike Place Market. Trey proposed that night and we took another picture with Rachel just after becoming engaged. Trey and I decided then that at every landmark occasion in our relationship (marriage, anniversaries, birth of children, etc.) we would take a picture with Rachel and collect a series of photos of us at the Pike Place Pig.

Meanwhile, the Pigs on Parade event occured and I thought how coincidental it was that there were replicas of Rachel all over the greater Seattle area, reminding me and Trey of our special meeting place. With our wedding fast approaching this 1st of December, I HAD to figure out a way to get a pig for Trey as a surprise. I wrote to the market foundation asking if there were any "naked" pigs left that I could get so I could decorate it myself for Trey, but then I found out that many of them would be auctioned off on Ebay and realized that would probably be the surest means of procuring a pig.

So on October 14th I raced home from church, fiercely determined to win a pig. I didn't have much money, but I figured this may be the only opportunity I'd ever have to acquire a lifesize Rachel replica. I locked myself in the computer room with a double tall latte and started bidding away. About an hour and a half and many prayers later, my shout of success resonated all through the house when I was the high bidder on "Patchwork Piggy."

Trey knew I was up to something the whole time...sharp little cookie that he is, it didn't take him long to figure out what I had purchased. So much for surprising him on our wedding day! He was totally excited and amazed though and can't wait to display our pig at the wedding and tell everyone the tale behind it (no pun intended). Now our only concern is finding a house with space enough for both us, and our 7-foot long pig!

Anyway, that's the short of it. Thanks for making a few special replicas of Rachel - I'm more than delighted to be the lucky owner of one!"

Mary Votava

The original starbucks in Pike Place Market still has their pig, and it's hanging over their front door. He's made of coffee beans and he's half inside a roasting canvas sack.

Which reminds me... Going back to our story about two JIS dragons on holiday... Mitch and I went into the original starbucks for some roasted beans for him to take back to canada, and the place was PACKED. I remember now why I don't usually go their. The guy behind the counter asked for our names, and Mitch even had to spell out his name for him. Here's how he ended up spelling M-I-T-C-H.


Here's Mitch and I on the top deck of the Ferry, watcing all the Sea Hawk fans get ready for the big game. The big black tower you see behind me is where I work, so I'm pretty close to the docks and the market.


Since Mitch and I lucked out and got the perfect ferry ride to enjoy the sunsets, we took advantage of that and shot lots of photos. There was a bomb dog on board sniffing around, and the officers handling him said the dog really loved his job since he always got lots of attention. Apprently, he's such a ham around the ladies. I think though, that most dogs are.


Overall, having Mitch around was wonderful. I was able to be myself, let my guard down and hang out with someone whose only become more mature and sweet as time has passed. He reminded me of where I came from, and where I'm headed... Most of all, I learned that no matter what, even if you haven't seen each other in eight long bloody years, you can pick up right where you left off, just like it was yesterday.