in Seattle and at the temple

Before I began this walk, I wondered how often I would actually be able to stay on the grounds of the places of worship I was visiting. As things have turned out, I've stayed on the grounds in a high percentage of cases:

Blaine: two nights at FCU

Lynden: one night in the gurdwara's outbuilding

Bellingham: one night in the Zen center basement

Arlington: one night in the Woods' house, where one corner of their living room is actually a shrine

Seattle: tonight I find myself in the well-appointed basement of the Zen temple I'm visiting.

So today's walk was about 18 miles thanks to my frustrating delay; had everything gone well, it would have been merely 15. MapQuest had told me to go "west toward 9th Avenue" at the start of today's journey, but my compass told me that going toward 9th Avenue was clearly going east. I went for about 35 minutes before finally heeded my gut feeling that MapQuest was right to send me toward 9th Avenue, but had erred in calling it "west."

I got confused a couple other times during the walk; as happens in DC, Seattle streets often disappear and reappear a few blocks later; also like DC, streets often meet at odd angles. I got to the temple eventually, though, and quite without police intervention today, thank you.

When I was directly across from the Zen temple, I saw my very first hummingbird. I've seen plenty of these little guys on TV, but never in person. It was quite a sight, but the hummingbird flicked away long before I could train my lens on it.

The temple itself is a house with a large wooden fence; I opened the gate, stepped into the front yard, and snapped some photos of the front. Genjo Marinello appeared moments later with a cheerful, "You made it! Oh, my God!" Genjo was looking relaxed in his casual clothing; he showed me to my nicer-than-expected basement digs, gave me a quick tour, let me meet his dogs, then told me he had a date with his wife. Before he left, he reminded me that there was a nearby Safeway where I could shop for dinner if I wanted.

My feet started screaming the moment I tried to resume walking (I think this walk may also have reopened the hip abrasion on my left side.) It's almost funny: I've been walking long enough to develop callused blisters. Go figure. But I willed myself into motion and gallumphed in my sweat-soaked tee shirt over to Safeway.

Let me tell you-- when you're tired and hungry, Safeway is a beautiful sight. As soon as I went in, I knew I had to eat everything. I restricted myself to a very large pre-made Cobb salad, a wrap sandwich, a small box of toothpick-ready sausage and cheese bites, and two tiny cups of pudding (chocolate and tapioca, the latter being a favorite ever since my buddy Mike's Grandma Margaret fed it to me when I was young). I scarfed this glorious mess down with a jug of Sunny Delight, then showered and laundered my clothes in the basement sink.

I was going to hang-dry my clothes, but Genjo said he had a clothes dryer, so I handed my wet clothes to him. They came back perfectly dry.

While my clothes were drying, Genjo and I sat down for a 30-minute one-on-one, which I recorded. We covered a host of subjects; I hope to write up a transcript of the conversation soon.

While I have a ton more to say about today, it'll have to wait until some other time because I feel myself getting drowsy.

Signing off!


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