Apparently, I haven't been to Elliott Bay Books http://www.elliottbaybook.com/index.jsp for a while, because when I went there today, I discovered that they've redone the cafe downstairs. Surprise! The bookshelves lining the walls are gone, and strangely, I don't miss them. It looks nice, brighter, and the ladies bathroom has lovely faucets. There's a name for the variety of faucet handles with four, white enamel spokes on them, but I don't know what it is. Suffice it to say, I'm fond of them. Don't know why. Go check it out and let me know what you think.

But even with the improved writing environment, I couldn't resist the siren call of all the books upstairs. That was the main reason I headed into Seattle today. So I succumbed. Hurray for the 10% discount that comes with being a card-carrying Hugo House member! http://www.hugohouse.org/

After gorging myself on books (along with an orange currant scone and a cuppa), I dropped by Dry Soda Co. http://www.drysoda.com/about-tasting-room.php They have 2 new flavours, folks, and as samples were being offered, I partook. The flavours are juniper berry and vanilla bean. I'm not a fan of gin, but the juniper berry soda was delicious. So crisp and clean and green. Reminded me of hiking along a juniper ridge in the Ochocos in the hot summer. The vanilla bean soda was wonderful. Not too sweet, no unpleasant aftertaste, just a light vanilla cream soda without the cream. I bought a couple bottles of each (forsaking the lavender because I simply couldn't carry more with all the books that were already in my bag). I'm looking forward to sharing them with our fellow rockers when next we meet.

This evening, I've been working on my haiku, transferring ones I've jotted down in my "everywhere" notebook to my haiku notebook. Tomorrow I'll get some ready to submit to journals since I don't have anything circulating at the moment. There are also a few contests I hope to enter:

http://moonsetnewspaper.blogspot.com/
http://pinewoodhaiku.blogspot.com/

Also, tomorrow, Jan. 7, is the deadline for the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival haiku contest, so if you haven't entered a haiku yet, go for it! http://www.vcbf.ca/haiku

On an unrelated note, if you haven't checked out the website for Tundra: The Journal of the Short Poem, please do so... http://sites.google.com/site/tundrashortpoem/

As for Clarion West, I am still planning on applying. But it's bedtime, and I don't want to think about it right before bed. Too stressful. Eek.

Haikuishness. Bookishness. Tookishness. Doctor Whoishness. Good night.