A list for midsummer

I took a little walk at lunch time today and it turned out to be a great day for noticing. It’s so nice when you’re jammed with work and can only take a few minutes to step outside and then the experience even for a few minutes is so great! And of course, I had my short term memory (my little notebook) in my shirt pocket, as always.

So without further falderal, might I present for your entertainment and edification….

Things you would have noticed had you been with me at Westlake Park at 12:09pm today (and were paying attention):

·         The most incredibly, indelibly blue sky;

·         A young guy with dreads getting a ticket from two bicycle cops for skateboarding on the sidewalk;

·         Ping pong games in progress on two tables;

·         A plethora of fake service animals (which chaps my hide but what the hell);

·         Buses coming and going;

·         The hot dog stand that never has a line but always has a customer at the window – gotta try that one day;

·         A young woman asking me to move so she could take a picture;

·         People eating bag- and takeout- and vendor cart- and leftovers-in-containers-lunches;

·         A singer with his guitar under the busker canopy – Dude, you gotta sing louder than that if you want tips;

·         Other people watchers, perhaps watching me – or you;

·         Kids on the big climbing toy;

·         Bums, as always;

·         Folks at the info booth answering questions for tourists;

·         A chess game with the huge pieces and lots of watchers and one young woman who clearly didn’t understand that quietly offering advice to one of the players is just…NOT…done…;

·         A group of students in a tour group staring at everything and everyone;

·          A young shirtless guy playing Chopin (I think) and then Fur Elise under the canopy and people walking right on past as though that’s not unusual – which, in Seattle, it’s not;

·         The illegal food cart guy looking nervously at the cops as they strolled up, until they ordered lunch;

·         And at least one other thing that I noticed but can’t recall because my short term memory notebook is flimsy and my hand tremor was in rare form today. An archeologist couldn’t decipher that scrawl.