HELLO, FROM ….

Hello from Seattle! 

Yes, three weeks into my latest adventure, I am happily west coastal and loving my digs.

Though nothing can replace Roseledge on the harbor of my summers,  I am still near water, busy monitoring boats as they line up in the Ship Canal to go through Ballard Locks on their way to Puget Sound.  I see mostly a few very big fishing boats and lots of too-big pleasure (power) boats, both of which are new to me. So much to learn.

Action Picture 1.  Monitoring. You may think this is Alfred Hitchcock, with chipmunk cheek, planning a Rear Window adaptation, tentatively titled Canal Window, but you would be wrong.  It’s a good idea, though.

East coastal Roseledge, the place of my heart and a memory for the ages, will carry on only in blog-dom as  Roseledge Books, which will be ever there for inquiring minds, those curious folks who ask and vote and generally make the world a better place — except for 2016.  Where were you when Disaster Trump appeared? Aargh! We have our 2020 work cut out for us. I hope for all of our differences in books and other matters, that we can join together, as people who read and think and get things done to rid the world of His Pestilence.  

This makes Roseledge Books and it’s readers sound very much like the “business” started by the Canadian ex-spy who, for pay, recommends to his Wall Street followers, that they choose best books from his lists and, then, set apart reading time in their days (all previously noted two posts back, dated March 20, 2019). More recently, it sounds like Ceridwan Dovey’s efforts to find out if reading can make you happier. She did this by signing up for a remote session with a bibliotherapist from London’s School of Life.  The session was a gift. Similarly, but on her own, Marianne sent me the following note: “I just finished reading Soul of America by Jon Meacham, about surviving the Trump presidency. It was encouraging, so I appreciated that.” I call that hope, and surely hope is at the center of happy.  So maybe reading CAN make you happier. Better and more interesting, I know for sure. 

In this spirit of learning about current affairs through reading books, I continue to tackle  Middle East mores and moves from the exploits of Israeli spy and art restorer,Gabriel Allon, and Daniel Silva is spot-on again in his brand new novel, The New Girl..  Equally learned about intrigue in places less well- known is David Ignatius, foreign policy analyst for the Washington Post, though his last two, The Quantum Spy and The Directorate were as much about the FBI as they were about world affairs, but the FBI seems a mess, too.

So we read, which is good..  But, increasingly, we also see, too.  Remember the recent “Pelosi looks drunk” video? BIG ALERT!  It was a deep fake, about which Regina Rini notes, among other good points, that with so much seeing, we need to start paying more attention to  what the video says, who it comes from, how it got to us, and why, because it all matters.  Prior to Professor Rini,the latest, best source I remember reading about visual sophistication is documentarian Errol Morris’ Believing Is Seeing.  So, CHECK YOUR SOURCES.  BE PERPETUALLY WARY! Pictures have always been malleable, but with unregulated social media and new technologies, videos can be easily manipulated, then distributed widely and virtually instantaneously through all kinds of channels.  We, as readers and voters have to be vigilant for our own good, and we, as librarians, need to be vigilant and pro-active for the good of the world. I firmly believe librarians can — and should — save the world, one wary reader at a time.

Okay, books are good, but not enough when a mighty lonesomeness sets in. So, this weekend, I indulged my love of rocky coasts by getting up way too early and watching for way too long, the (cough) British Open Golf Tournament on the magnificent coast of Northern Ireland. WOW!  And though I have a few sailboats and the calls and swooping flight of gulls nearby, it is not enough. I miss Tenants Harbor a lot. So I am calling on the Sea Street walkers-by, to rest a bit on Roseledge’s rock wall, watch the harbor, and through ESP, keep me in the loop which Scott has promised to invent.

In a word,  my move defines “bittersweet.”  For all that I love being near Charlie, I miss the you-all of my former lives.  It’s a bit like knowing when my sister, Charyl, than Gordy died, that there was no one left to keep me honest when telling of my early years.  Well, except for my college roomie, Nons, who recently rediscovered yearbook pictures better left unseen. So I’m starting a new history in a new place at 80.  Bittersweet, indeed.   

But I am ready for new adventures, and in every way, every day offers just that..  At the moment, I am trying to convince Charlie that I could be his caddy when next he golfs.  I could roll like a golf cart and strap his clubs to the back of my chair. He has not said no, which is VERY encouraging  But today, when he gets up, we are starting the BIG picture-hanging marathon, which I know requires an enormous outlay of goodwill from everyone.   He has promised me one hanging and one re-do, so I am optimistic. LARRY, WHERE ARE YOU IN MY TIME OF NEED? I am also generally encouraged because Charlie was a very good sport and put on his sunglasses to get me a Starbucks medium skim, extra hot latte.  Thusly anonymous,he retained his Seattle coffee chops and I slurped my latte right down and didn’t say a word as he did the same, surreptitiously.  

All in all, I’d say we’re settling in.  Good omen: the street was closed and I rolled right out, just as if Kathy and I were walking and rolling again.  And my telephone number — 612.331.7643 — and email address — colleen@roseledgebooks.com — remain the same.            

Action Picture 2. Waving and pink toes.