Damn! Forgot to take a pic of Kris and Matt in West Seattle, though I did take in their fabulous view . . .
We ate dinner together and then I looked at both their lives in terms of the near-30-year astrological cycles of Saturn before retiring by the usual Kreilkamp time of about 8:30 p.m.! Did that with brother John and Jeannie as well. With my crone friend Claudia, I spent some time introducing her to a complicated new astrological technique, as she too, speaks this ancient symbolic language, and, I keep telling her, could set up as an astrological consultant if she weren’t so busy at their Kronos store.
It’s interesting how, during this incredible time when transit Saturn continues to square Neptune, so that forms (Saturn) of all kinds morph and dissolve into the flow (Neptune), some of the “presentations” I was planning (Saturn) to give on this trip have also been dissolving, in lieu of personal astrology, instead! However, brother-in-law John Cowan and I and others are now in final prep phase for one of the presentations, Hildegard, set for this Friday evening in downtown Seattle. Plus, two others, next week, as I begin to spiral east. More on those later.
Meanwhile, this morning I planned to walk on Alki Beach in West Seattle before returning to North Seattle via I-5, where brother-in-law John lives. Kris instructed me before she left for work at 7 AM: “turn right on Aurora “— hmmm, or did she say Avalon?? — “down the long hill, winding around, just continue on, underneath the West Seattle Bridge, on out to the Alki Beach trail.” So I did that, and yes, it was Avalon, as I found out when there was no Aurora before the road that led to the bridge.
Okay, Ann, relax. No need to worry about directions. That goof was relatively minor.
Well, yes, but perhaps you will understand more when I present you with the problem I had with this venture from brother John and Jeannie’s condo in Magnolia to West Seattle and its ferry to Vashon during the last two days — both going west on that bridge and returning east, by the way. And the first weirdness happened less than one minute after I had noticed that I was beginning to feel comfortable with my newly-won ability to use Siri for directions in a big, complicated city.
Yep, Siri led me off-track, just prior to taking the bridge, down into the bowels of the Seattle docks instead; and then, the next day, coming back from Vashon and wanting to go into West Seattle to be with sister Kris, Siri led me onto the bridge instead — and I-5 N — at rush hour . . . adding one full hour to my trip to sister Kris’s house in West Seattle, while I crawled slowly north up I-5 to a turn that would take me back to I-5 south and finally onto the West Seattle bridge again. Breathe, Ann!
So yes, I have had a problem, two problems in fact, back to back, with Siri. And it’s funny how they happened just as I was feeling smug about my newly won ability to use Siri to find my way. . .
Anyway, it’s done now, and most likely the problem was that I didn’t give instructions precisely enough, so that Siri got “confused,” even though she didn’t say that. And you know, I was just beginning to get comfortable with AI, and all else that “she” represents (geez, that means that every road is mapped, indeed, every single inch up down and up all those roads in my car and every other moving vehicle, both identified and tracked; as well as changing “current traffic conditions”; geez, that means there really is no way to get away from total surveillance: it’s already a done deal), when oops! here we go, Siri leads me completely off-track. And not only that. I couldn’t figure out how to stop her from continuing to direct me, insistently, in the wrong direction to the wrong location, even when I had turned the phone off while trying to wing it and find my way using common-sense, instead. Which I did. And got there okay (luckily, I have been to Kris’s house before), but the experience, the double-experience I should say, with Siri, did give me pause.
In any case, here’s some photos from my 4-mile Alki Beach walk, which was wondrous, 8:15 AM to 9:30 AM today.
See the docks? Where I was stranded by Siri? (Sticking up at weird angles across the way.)
Seagulls, plus one sandpiper, checking out the effluvia from a polluted? rivulet going into the ocean . . . I do wonder how much life is no longer present in the warming water. And have read a recent viral report that “100% of west coast orca babies no longer survive to one year.” Google that phrase. You might discover that the same thing has been said for at least five years. True?
Meanwhile, you can get this sweet little place (a Certified Wildlife Habitat), squatting amidst new multistory developments facing the beach that feature unlived-in looking rental units, for a cool $750,000.
Finally, after four miles, I arrive where I started.
