By the time we got to Blackstock

Greg Blackstock plays accordion and makes what some have called list paintings.  They’re meticulously hand drawn illustrations with cleanly lettered explanations of everything from knots to bells and saws and mackerels, power boats and Vermont’s historical attractions, and well, whatever he gets the urge to make. The walls of his basement apartment are covered with prints of his work, letters about his retirement from a kitchen post at the Seattle Athletic Club, and autographed photos of his favorite celebs.  He loves Phil Silvers, and barks out a mean Jimmy Cagney impression.  He and Don even went toe to toe with a round of dealing Cagneys!!

A book of Greg’s amazing pieces (and a few recipes) will be out by Labor Day. Congrats are in order...

We hit Greg’s place near Green Lake after a morning run through Frement, the self-proclaimed Center of the Universe.  It reminded Mike how much he loves “Journey to the Center of the Earth”, but really, what doesn’t?   We saw the statue of Lenin by the Taco del Mar there and took the Big Ball under the bridge to visit the VW crushing Fremont Troll.

On the way out of Seattle we ate “the best chips of the trip”--Tim’s Cascade Chips from nearby Algona, prompting us to consider a morning visit to the company HQ in hopes of copping some freebies!  TV Weasels to the end...

But the day actually ended with a visit to Bob’s Java Jive, a still standing coffee pot shaped structure in Tacoma. Never really made money as a restaurant the owner told us--so it’s been a bar for fifty plus years.  The inside was fabulously folk artsy, and only a wee bit dank.  Karaoke tonight didn’t float our boat, but someday it’d be fun to come back and rock out with ‘em on the grounds of this classic roadside attraction.

A rocker and a ranter

Mother’s Day was a beaut in Seattle, mid 70s and plenty of sun. But inside the workings of this crazy blog thing, it was more like a meltdown.  I did write eloquently, I swear, about our two Seattle stops, but they got “corrupted” or something.

So now I’ll just do a quick thumbnail sketch of our day.

1) The Walker Rock Garden--a Boeing worker named Milton Walker transformed his sloping backyard with rocks and concrete that have held up incredibly well. Milton Walker’s daughter Sandy turned the fountain on for us, and even let us use her dad’s old wheelbarrow to shuttle the Big Ball back up to the van. 

2) Tim Fowler--here’s a guy who likes to rant.  He’s very good at it, and not just verbally.  Some of the art that adorns his yard in an old neighborhood that’s starting to gentrify has a noticeable bite to it.  He carves wood, works with tile and likes to race motorcycles.  He is, as he puts it, a pre-existing nuisance.

A Starbucks on every corner

No, we didn’t actually replace Don with a four-year old.  That’s camera guy-in-training Truman, son of Karen Light, owner of Seattle’s Garde Rail Gallery.  Karen’s a southern girl who’s been bringing outsider art to the Northwest.  She called Don a crazybutt at one point, so you gotta like that!

She’s been instrumental;in helping us track down some good local artists to see and shoot around here. And today, we started with Ree Brown at the gallery. He’s a soft-spoken retired accountant, whose small scale paintings are, much to his surprise, finding an eager audience.  His subjects are often African-American, though he’s not.  Ree turned 80 the other day, and is more than willing to share his feelings about the current administration, though not in his work, 

I almost forgot to mention that we stopped in Roslyn on our way in.  It’s the little town 85 miles east of here, where Northern Exposure was filmed back in the day.  Many have visited, but perhaps none have played catch in front of The Brick.  Viva Maggie & Joel, Hollings, Shelly and Ed...

Dinner tonight was Polynesian, pu-pus and all, with a great crusted asi dish for moi and a tasty garlic green bean tofu that made Don quite happy.  As of this writing, no ice cream yet for Mikey. He’s probably getting some now, or at least reading the flavors somewhere near Pike Market. Best of all, our quest for good coffee has taken a most positive turn.