snapshot of ken

hipster. doofus.

The Fool

i’m back in boston working. i flew in yesterday, and this morning i went for a run.

i’ll typically leave the hotel and run through the common, onto the esplanade, and finally back down the commonwealth avenue mall. today they had the great elephant migration on display, and it was really fabulous.

the mall ends at the public garden, which is so wonderful. i have thousands of pictures of the george washington statue, so today i gave him the morning off and took some pictures of the weeping willows and the pond instead.

i was listening to “the fool” by queen herby while i ran by. “do the dance, take a chance, start a garden…” has really been sticking with me.

maybe that’s the whole thing: get outside, notice something new, and grow some plants.

yabba dabba doo

i wanted to do a little day trip and finally see whidbey island and a park named deception pass.

we couldn’t do much hiking because sml had hurt his back about a week earlier. he’s able to, you know, stand up on his own now… so… progress has been made, but we didn’t want to overdo it, obviously.

we got some nice views of the bridge and the beach, though, and i’m even more inclined now to finally make the trek over to the san juan islands at some point. i hope soon!

i wanted to explore more of the island, so we did the full drive down to clinton to take the ferry back. we stopped along the way in oak harbor, where i took a picture of this funny flintstones car that someone made.

sml did not want to take this picture, but i think he’ll remember it as fun later on.

when we got home, sml said he wouldn’t go back—but just one quick google search away, i told him about all the things he missed: lavender, sculptures, and, i assume, a tour of every scene from practical magic.

plans? at a time like this?

sml and i took a short trip to vancouver, bc, over the weekend. it is a relatively short drive from seattle, except for the part where the line at the border is endless and time loses all meaning.

the border security officer asked what i planned to do in vancouver, and i genuinely did not understand the question.

plans? at a time like this?

he said i must have done some research. i had not. my research began and ended with staying near davie street.

somehow, despite this total lack of preparedness, we ended up seeing the harbor and walking along the seawall. vancouver made a very convincing case for simply wandering around until something interesting appeared.

we also crossed a suspension bridge over a canyon and completed a small hike, which sounds suspiciously like a plan when written down after the fact.

the standout moment, though, was when i suggested taking the ferry to granville island. we walked down to the water expecting a ferry, and the littlest thing came to pick us up. it presented itself like a cartoon: tiny boat, captain in the middle, enormous wheel.

so, for the record: no plans, no research, one canyon, one tiny ferry, and a very good weekend.