So Mike and I were good friends a hundred years ago when I lived in Nashville and he briefly relocated there. I hadn't seen him since (so, like 10 years or more had passed). He was way cool and picked me up at the airport, I got a mini tour, and we chilled a little at his place before meeting Seattle Bill for dinner.
Mike referred to his place as the Crack Shack, and I thought he was just being self deprecating. Wow. Not with the so much. He bought the place years ago and has done some work to it, such as re-dry walling the living room and putting a new window in the front of the house, but he never really finished it.
He's the Crack Shack from the street:
No so bad at a glance. But a bit different from the houses across the street.
Mike's home does have a lovely Japanese magnolia out front.
It's a lovely tree. Here's the thing. It wasn't there when he moved in, and he never planted it. When he moved in , the front yard was a zen rock garden. He just never cared for it. Wild seeds took root and some made it to full grown trees and shrubs.
There were a few wild flowers (seeded I imagine from his neighbor's garden).
The rest of the greenery is knee-high dandelion weeds.
As I looked closer, I could see the bed of pebbles beneath from the original rock garden.
And when I questioned the plastic tiger toy half buried in the brush,
he merely said, "Oh, that was there when I moved in."
Oh yeah, Mike also houses/cares for about 20 feral cats in his garage.
I am not making this up.
What is at odds is that Mike has great taste. While for his own home, once the large television and surround sound were installed, he considered himself done.
But for Seattle Bill, and his immaculate, perfectly styled apartment, Mike is the Interior Design Enabler. Bill's decorator calls Mike his dealer, as expensive home furnishing and remodels are Bill's drug habit. (I'm not sure this is an improvement over the expensive watch habit that once sent him to rehab.)
Seattle Bill lives in a swank high rise and has a definite sense of style (he moved to a lower floor a couple of years ago because he felt too removed from life on the ground, which I think is cool).
He has been trying to remove all "things" from his life. His entire DVD collection is now in sleeve wallets housed in two small leather boxes. He has purged his home of books.
Except, of course, for these:
And all I could do was quote Auntie Mame, "Books are so decorative..."
I had to laugh at the extent of his minimalism. His refrigerator had only a few bottles of Pellegrino (he does travel for months at a time), and this is what his kitchen cupboards look like:
Bill laughed at me when I took a picture of his balcony. He, in all seriousness, refers to this as his "garden."
And he has a gardener.
Gotta love it.
Other Seattle notes—
The Emerald City Hoedown host hotel was the red Lion downtown. It was quite expensive, but wonderfully located. Mere blocks from the Pike market and in the middle of the central shopping zone. I liked that I could get both LV and Gucci in the same frame.
They took me on another little tour, and even over to Bellevue and points beyond. The Mountain came out and it was very, very cool. I don't know how many times I've been to Seattle and I'd seen Mount Rainier only once before.
(But it doesn't show too well in the pic.)
The late winter made for late tulips, and I got there just as most of the state was in bloom. The Pike Place Market was exploding with color.
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Mike and Bill also took me to the Space Needle for dinner, and I will say it was so much fun. I had never been. The weather was perfect for views, and the Sky City restaurant was rather fine.
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The restaurant's signature dessert was a scoop of ice cream with chocolate sauce and a strawberry served suspended over dry ice. I don't remember what it is called, but it had a cutesy thematic name. I had to have it.
The Emerald City Hoedown itself was quite fun. I was a little disappointed in the turnout as I am accustomed to the masses at the Stompede, but it was a good dancing crowd and nice people.
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On the first night one of the visiting instructors (the last guy on the right) asked me to dance but made me follow. I am a much stronger lead, but happily acquiesced to dance with him. He is a strong lead, but I didn't have enough time to learn his signals and style of dancing before he spun my on an inside turn and I whipped back just close enough and fast enough to clock him in the mouth with my elbow.
He had a cut and a fat lip the rest of the weekend. Sorry buddy.
Shouts out to Head Ho Klint who made my stay very enjoyable.
To Jack, whom I know from work and Sundance Saloon, and who happened to be in town for the death of his estranged father and came out to dance.
and finally to my adorable dance partner and BFF for the weekend, Shana.
Facebook rundown of the weekend.
Flicker sets: Mike's place, Space needle and such, Friday, Pike market, Emerald City Hoedown
