If you’re driving around Bellevue and spot a pirate ship out of the corner of your eye, don’t blame your drugs. Avast there — we’re the current pirate port-of-choice. Here in Bellevue, for the past week or so, every day has been Talk Like a Pirate Day.
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There’s a new development regarding this summer’s horrifying Enumclaw Horse Sex Incident [Ed: a great band name, yours for the taking], namely the filing of misdemeanor charges. While bestiality is too legal in our state and the still anonymous recipient of the horse sex is too dead to be charged with anything, the authorities managed to find a way to make aiding and abetting a horse-on-man love session punishable by law.

Because the EHSI took place in a neighbor’s barn the police have charged James Tait, the evening’s madam of sorts, with criminal trespassing [seattletimes]. I’m have a feeling that “no trespassing” will soon spread like wildfire as polite shorthand for “I’m just not into being sodomized by a large mammal.”

The cyclamen’s an odd little plant — no matter which month of the year it is, you can find at least one species in flower. And it’s so darling how they seem to hang about in little groups — you can’t see one without seeing half a dozen popping up their heads to say hullo.
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Sometimes, a trip to IKEA can take what feels like a lifetime. You wander in looking for an inexpensive nice frame for your favorite concert poster and end up winding your way through a hundred perfect Scandinavian rooms and dreaming of a bank loan. By the time you stumble out into the harsh light of day, you’ve got a five o’clock shadow and are facing a week’s worth of furniture assembly.

But this post is not quaintly named products or the fun of buying them. Instead it’s an entirely different reason that your visit to the Renton superstore might turn out longer than expected. Over the next few weeks, Printer’s Devil Theater is presenting The IKEA Cycle, 13 scenes written for and performed in various parts of the big blue IKEA store. On Monday and Wednesday night strolls through the store, shoppers may run into a few vignettes that are points on the timeline of a “huge linear story”. The schedule is available online if you’re interested in planning ahead [4culture].

The Seattle Weekly has the whole story. [#]. If you go and find yourself confused by the furniture names, someone on the internet broke the code [m-m].

edit: It seems that I’m late to this party, but maybe there are others who missed this story, too.

Last week, some friends and I decided that what we needed was to take a day off and head out of town. So we called out of our respective work situations for today, and headed out last night for Leavenworth.

Leavenworth is about a two-hour drive north eastish of Seattle. It was originally a logging town, but after the local industry died the city decided to remake itself into a Bavarian village, figuring that what tourists love most is an Alpine village in the Pacific Northwest. They appear to have been right, as the town is thriving and usually filled with busloads of visitors.

We decided to stay at the Obertal Inn, and after our continental breakfast this morning I asked the lady at the desk just what one did on a Tuesday in Leavenworth.
She laughed at me.

A man joined her at the desk, and between the two of them they suggested that we go home and sleep, take a trip to the movies, or go down to the river and look at the salmon. They advised against hiking unless we brought bright clothes, because it is hunting season.

In the end, our day in Leavenworth involved a lot of walking around through remarkably lovely trees, stopping into quaint shops, and looking for salmon. It’s a very cute little town, and I imagine it tends to be much more active when there’s actually an event going on. If you’re looking to take a day trip out there, the events that are left for the year are:

November 12: “A Taste of Leavenworth”
November 25-27 “Christkindlmarkt” [Nov]
The whole month of December [Dec]

Leavenworth is close enough that the drive is worth the visit, but just far enough that it feels like you’ve gotten out of town. I imagine it’s probably pretty crowded on the weekends, so if it’s possible I recommend heading out there on a weekday if you’re just going to look around.

The other day, I taught my two-year-old nephew the word blustery. “Blus-ter-y,” he said in small, measured breaths, sounding out the word.
“Yes,” I said. “Today, Seattle is blustery.”

I love these last few days of wild weather. Windstorms make me happy. Today it returned to flat grey, but the weekend gloomed and blew. And when it’s as stormy as the skies can be here, I like to go to a bookstore.

Third Place Books in Ravenna, to be exact.

We’re blessed with great bookstores in Seattle. Did you know that there are more independent booksellers in Seattle than in all of Manhattan? We haven’t been gobbled entirely by Barnes and Noble here, thank goodness. I’ll take the Elliott Bay Bookstore any day, with its lovely wooden floors and spiral staircases. And some time, I’ll have to write about the joys of being there. But right now, it’s Third Place that’s calling to me.

Filled with spacious light, new books and used both, and wide aisles for browsing, Third Place makes me feel at home immediately. The cookbook section alone, with its welcoming chair and rows of beautiful books stretching to the ceiling, demands part of my paycheck. And stroll through the store slowly for glimpses of photographs of famous writers in relaxed poses. Writers and readers share the space with equanimity.

And of course, there’s the Honey Bear Bakery at the back. Many will tell you that this version of the Honey Bear isn’t nearly as good as the one that used to exist. That may be so, but I never went to that sacred space. I’ve only had warming bowls of tomato soup and strong cups of coffee at this one, as I sat at large, scarred tables and watched the sunlight dance across my shoulder. I never feel rushed there. Everyone gathers to read and talk, and the laid-back employees never ask you to move it along. And besides that, there’s a working fireplace in the restaurant. What more could you need?

So on the next blustery day, I’ll probably be lingering at Third Place Books, eating a bowl of soup, sitting by the fire, and reading some Jane Austen. Come join me.

Hey smartypantses, trivia buffs, and pub quiz champions — think you could be the next Ken Jennings? Maybe you’d just like a chance to see Alex Trebek up close or want to get America’s favorite annoying thinking music stuck in your head on national television? If any of those topic appeal to you, it just might be worth your time to register for a contestant interview for Jeopardy!. The show’s producers will be in Seattle next month to test and interview the next batch of potential quiz show superstars; so put your name in the hat [jeopardy].

If you win a lot of cash, we expect a finder’s fee or at least a couple of pitchers at a Metroblogging happy hour.

If you’re thinking about choosing “blogger” as your Hallowe’en costume for this year, tomorrow brings a great chance to do some field research. The Seattle Weblogger Meetup Group convenes at 7 pm at Ralph’s Deli in Belltown for their monthly informal meeting. Expect children, laptops, interesting food and beer options, nifty technology, and occasional photoblog content generation events. From the looks of the RSVP list [#], you might run into more than a few of Seattle Metroblogging’s authors, too! It’s typically a fun and casual event, enhanced by lots of people wearing nametags, and is a nice opportunity to see the faces behind some of your favorite local weblogs and maybe discover some new sites to add to your daily reading list.

As if that isn’t enough, it’s not too early to start planning your fourth Tuesday: our regular Metroblogging Seattle hangout time at the Elysian is just around the corner [upcoming]. Authors, readers, fans, and critics are all welcome to drop by for food, beer, and gossip.

My husband and I are still clueless about what to do on October 29 – the biggest holiday party night of October this year. There are just too many options, and it’s going to take a while to sort out which one we’re willing to spend the money on! I found several festival-style events with great music headliners, vendors, and food. Here are the runners up. Be sure to check their web sites for more information:

Freaknight 9: Resurrection
Entertainment: Paul Oakenfold, Gabriel & Dresden, Gray Area, Uberzone, The Crystal Method, among many others!
Location: Qwest Field Events Center, 1000 Occidental, Seattle
Age: 18+ 8pm – 2am
Admission: $25, $30, $35, and $40-tiers of presale tickets
Available @ www.uscevents.com, TicketMaster, and local retail stores.
$75 VIP tickets through TicketMaster (21+ only)

King’s Chamber – an Oracle Gathering
Entertainment: DJ Cheb i Sabbah, Osiris Indriya, Michael Manahan, + many more.
Sanctuary area with licensed massage practitioners, meditation, activation, and divination available.
Prayerformance at midnight.
Location: South Lake Union Building near the Center of Wooden Boats.
All ages. 8pm – 5am
Admission $25 in advance, $30 at the door, available from Brown Paper Tickets

Purrfect Pals Black Cat Ball Gala Auction
Red Lion Hotel, 1415 Fifth Avenue, Seattle
Tickets $100 – Includes scrumptious vegetarian or vegan meal, wine, and tasty dessert!
To be sent an invitation, e-mail cats@purrfectpals.org or call 360-652-9611 extension 4.
Auction items include: vacation packages, restaurant and winery packages, art (photography, paintings, jewelry, pottery, textiles), theatre and sports tickets, massage and body care packages, and various services.

Space City Mixer – Seattle Social Club
Would You, Could You, In the Dark?
Theme: cartoon villains
Location: The Showbox in Downtown Seattle, 1426 First Ave.
21+ 8:00 pm – 2am
$25 in advance, TicketsWest, Showbox, or via paypal at http://www.halloweenseattle.com/sBuyTickets.html
ENTERTAINMENT: Local dance band, Cool Ade!
Costume contest – grand prize is a Napa Valley Winery excursion for 2.

Witches Ball by TerraTacoma
Entertainment: Abney Park, Heather Alexander, DJ Trent, Goblin Funk Machine
Location: Scottish Rite Hall 817 Vassault Street, Tacoma
Age: 18+, 16 with adult, Ritual at 7:00, event goes from 6pm – 1am
Admission: $10 + one non-perishable food item
Costume contest, Bard Circle, vendors, carved pumpkin contest.

So, what else is out there that I don’t know about?

So, you know that Display & Costume and Champion Party Supply have a big selection of ready-made Halloween costumes — but where can you go if you don’t want to spend a lot of money and/or you want to do something original and creative? One option is to check out your local Value Village.

Each October, Value Village brings in a large variety of new (and some used) Halloween costumes and accessories — this year the Halloween store is called “Dr. Frankenfrugal’s Halloween Factory”. Although the quality isn’t what you would find at a place like Display & Costume, the selection is good and the prices even better. I had been looking for a curly blonde wig at Display and Costume, but couldn’t find the right style — and certainly didn’t want to spend $26.99 or more for it. This past Saturday, I checked out Value Village’s Halloween wigs and discovered tons of different styles, all at very reasonably prices. Of course they’re hideously tacky and not very well made, but I’m guessing the one I bought will survive one or two nights of partying — and at $5.98 I’m not going to care if it falls apart shortly thereafter.
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