Driving a dinosaur after all...

Seattle's been peppered with Smart Cars thanks to its Car2Go program for a few years now but soon, my own Smart Car will be one of the few on the road. Car2Go is converting all theirs to 4 door Mercedes and SUVs. This is actually ok on several levels and concerning on one. It will be nice to know you can find a 4 door vehicle just by looking at the Car2Go app (previously, they did not distinguish between the bigger cars and the 2 passenger Smart Cars). My car will now go back to being a special sighting. I think the last I heard there were fewer than 100 Smart Cars (outside of Car2Go) in Seattle and probably way less than that now. I like being special. But, it also means that despite what the dealership guy told me, the days of the Mercedes dealership servicing gas powered Smart Cars are likely numbered. Sigh.

Wednesdays are really becoming my favorite swim days because it's really only me and the old, slow guy. Today there were two women who didn't stay for long. I had a lane to myself for the entire time. And I had hit my tracker goal for today before I even got home. Nice.

Today is house cleaner day and so, usually, Goodwill day. No reason why those two go together except she cleans on Wednesdays and Goodwill has Senior Discount Days on Wednesdays. (Back to yesterday's spend/splurge entry... I gravitate to Goodwill on Wednesdays because of the discount but then almost always pay with a 20 and give the change to someone in line OR when they have 'donate your change days' tell them to keep the change. If I shopped on another day, it would be cheaper for sure! Makes no sense, doesn't stop me.)

It's really ridiculous to do Goodwill today because it's so close to Halloween when it gets crazy in there. I might not even go into the store. Depends on what the parking lot looks like. But, my Goodwill donations pile is getting perilously big. If I wait much longer, I'm going to have to rent one of those big Car2Go cars.

ooops. Here she is. Time to hit the road.

My tweets

• Tue, 18:18: Amazon's own delivery service is working hard to ensure I give Google Express more than a passing glance. Time for a change.
• Wed, 10:43: I did not know that boxed were was better! https://t.co/xEYcpKnznm https://t.co/Up1cLLFeZd

undo/redo

The parking lot at Goodwill did not look killer so I donated my car full and then went in and scored some pretty good stuff. I have a cool quilted print fabric but not enough for a top so I need some red fleece for the sleeves. I had some queued up on Amazon but hadn't pulled the trigger yet. I found a red fleece lap robe that will work fine. $3.99 instead of $8 on Amazon. And I found a knit queen flat sheet in beautiful shape - clearly expensive when new - in a nice gray. $6. Enough for 2 pairs of pants. And a couple of other choice finds.

Once home, I decided to finish off my sweater. I sewed it all together only to discover that the arms are too small. They fit but they look funny and really need more room. So I unsewed them and ripped them all out. One of the great things about crochet is that the nature of the textile you create is such that you can get an accurate measurement at any point in the making. Knit is not so easy to do. I'm such a knitter that I didn't even think about this. I could have fixed the problem easily at the beginning. But, it's bulky yarn, and crochet so fast.

And that's really been the entire day. I did get some gray pants cut out. No sewing happened at all. Slacker.

My house is so clean and that is wonderful. Plus, all that stuff gone to Goodwill. Now I can start filling up the bin again.

Oh, rather big tree news...

Backstory. When I bought this condo, I had a clear view of the parking lot in front of the Kingdome. And I could see other parts of the neighborhood. And it was wonderful. And then the city planted a tree. For the first 10 years, it wasn't a problem. I couldn't see it. My neighbor just below me could and he reached out and lopped the top off and got in massive trouble for it, too. But that bought me a couple of years. And then, it was all over. The tree is ugly. It's a sycamore tree called London Plane and is planted because nothing can kill it. (Not even the car that smashed into it about 15 years ago.) They are all over the neighborhood and if you are on the ground and/or far enough away, they don't look too bad but up close, they are ugly trees. And they are all over this neighborhood.

And mine blocks my view nearly completely when it's in full leaf and somewhat even if it's not. In 2008/09, I took a picture of it every single day for a year. And now, nearly 10 years later its bigger and worse.

Well, this morning, one of them... a big one like mine... fell over!!! This is on 1st and Yessler at the other end of my neighborhood (about 5 blocks north of here).



I'm so hopeful. I'm sure my tree will outlive me by a long shot but... I'm sure they said that about the tree at 1st and Yessler, too.