Saying that Mary and I haven’t been getting out much lately is a gross understatement. The focus has continued to be learning HTML. In fact, this morning, Mary even told me that she’s now dreaming about writing HTML. Beyond living vicariously via TVland, our only real distractions have been limited to walking to two or three stores while shopping for dinner, and leering out the dining room window at our neighbor, the 
hot little blonde school bus driver who likes to sun on her deck in the afternoon. (OK, maybe it’s more me than Mary on that last one. I feel so dirty.)
As this morning’s clouds gave way to warm breezes and sunny skies in the early afternoon, we gave in to reason and went for a walk in the world of daylight. Sure, we ran a few errands, including signing off on the title to her car, but we deliberately extended our leisurely stroll around town.
Just gotta’ love Ballard! Even on a Friday afternoon during work hours there’s a great mix of people on the street. There’s plenty of dogs walking their people, those hidden little shops have their doors propped open, and locals gently nurse their caffeine addictions and people-watch from their favorite sidewalk perches. The sun’s drawing us out. My online forecast say that it’s about 62° (which is about 17° Celsius), but it sure feels warmer to me.
We took the scenic Old Ballard route on our walk back home, which passes by the Sunset Hotel. And that’s a real piece of work. As if it wasn’t bad enough that this local, historical landmark burned to the ground about four years ago, it was further damaged by that little earthquake we had on April 30, 2001, which ended any hope that the building could be restored. The city council and historic preservation society have been at seriously at odds about what to do allow to be done to the lot, and only recently came to agreement. Anyway, even in ruin, it’s a cool landmark that us Ballardites pass by on a regular basis.
And last on our tour was this vacant lot. It’s been vacant as long as I’ve been here, but the old school bus and all the debris has recently been removed, and there’s talk that it will be used to show outdoor movies during the summer, which will be very cool. (Maybe too cool?)
Tonight, Mary and I are going over to the OP to just hang for a while and to see what happens. As you may already know, there are always bands playing on the weekends, so I’ll be there, drinking my 7-Up and dreaming up new and creative ways to vocalize my personal review.
