Or maybe just an awakened determination...

Last day with the family. The time went by so fast. They got on the Yellow and ended up walking to my place so we took it easy for about an hour. Dad made some turkey sandwiches for us. Mmmm. Eventually we decided to just wander down towards Little Finnegan's and see where the rest of the day took us. Mom found a delightful cowboy lunchbox that she liked as well as some bike streamers. Big Finnegan's had a wonderful noisy ray gun that is the perfect prop. It was splendid. And the nice parents bought me the Playmobil Advent Calendar that my heart desired so strongly. It is now assembled and waiting to be enjoyed during my finals month (finals week is for suckers). I also got a new bike light because mine was stolen.

There is a printed book exhibit at the library and included some Kelmscott Press selections.

Mom's ice cream cone fell apart when she was trying to undress it from its paper holder.

The massage chairs at Brookstone are lovely.

The crowds were very crowdy. Nordstrom Rack was insane, we were in there fore barely five minutes and we had to escape.

The last hour was spent in enjoyment of the Chinese Gardens. We had some late afternoon tea in the tea shop (as well as a mooncake and some dumplings). I had the Monkey King again (same kind of tea I had when I went there with mom a few years ago). We sat and talked about stuff, you know. Nathan took lots of pictures, of few of which I'd like to see. The family got to the train station just in time. We hugged and hugged and then they were off to Tacoma.

The clouds were overhead but no rain came down. It made for a rather pleasant walk to Powell's. I was just snug enough. I found a present for a someone someone amid the sale racks as well as some other things for me in the sale section (namely JPod, which had an approach in the narrative that intrigued me, a paperback of Atwood's Oryx and Crake with a Bosch cover , and the new edition of Illustration Now for $15). It wasn't that crowded but Powell's probably didn't have any Black Friday sales. The streetcar was packed and my arm was tired of reaching up and grasping the rail tight. I've done tight streetcars before and no one smelled so it was fine.

I assembled the Playmobil Advent Calendar, put some stuff away, put on a sweater, and kicked back. Tomorrow I am throwing myself at work with a profound vigor, yeah!