As I started teaching Monday’s yoga class at Seattle Athletic Club (SAC), familiar irritating construction sounds competed with my voice!

Boom!

Bang!

Ba ta-ta-ta-ta-TA! Ba ta-ta-ta-ta-TA!

Yoga classes at SAC are held in a subterranean yoga studio.  The offending sounds come from street level construction above… or, rather, from a remodel of a home-decor-store-turned-restaurant.  For far too many months now, we have had to put up with the banging sounds and the ear shattering drilling above.  One too many times, I have had to call the front desk staff upstairs and ask them to walk down the street to ask the construction workers to hold off on the banging for just ONE hour so I can hold class in a relatively quiet setting.

And to be honest, for months, I have avoided walking past the construction site, for fear the construction workers will recognize me as the complainer who puts a moratorium on their work for one precious hour of their day!

One day, a few months ago, as I was teaching, a piece of plaster fell off the ceiling! No one was hurt-just surprised!  I think it was that very same day I finally found out that Seattle chef, Tom Douglas, was putting in a restaurant/snack bar called Seatown, directly above our heads.  So that was the source of the noise!   I jokingly told the class,  “Tom Douglas owes us a meal!”

Well, guess what?  On Monday, after more drilling sounds from a sidewalk railing installation above, I sheepishly (because I complained again and asked for a one hour halt on the drilling!!!) walked past the newly opened restaurant.  The only reason I did not find an alternative route was because I was with Simone.  Well, out comes TOM DOUGLAS (!!!) and he says, “Hey, come on in for a bite!”

He and Simone go back a long ways.  When he was a young man in his 20’s, he was a wine purveyor and used to come in to the Pink Door where Simone worked.  She said he used to talk about opening up a place called the  Cafe Sport.  Simone said she NEVER IMAGINED the dreams Tom had inside his head!  He DID open up the Cafe Sport which later became his restaurant Etta’s.  He also has the Dahlia Lounge and the Dhalia Bakery, Lola’s,  Serious Pie, Palace Kitchen, and now Seatown.  I had never met him before Monday, but I am the proud owner of his books, Tom Douglas’ Seattle Kitchen and I Love Crab Cakes.

So we walked into Seatown!  I couldn’t wipe that smirk off my face as we entered the newly finished restaurant at his invitation and ate Westport black cod with nectarine miso and Jackie’s tomato with avocado skordalia!

Then the rest of the week, I used up my precious afternoon relaxation times  (generally, I teach at the crack of dawn until noon and then teach again in the late afternoon until evening) and stayed up late into the nights,  trying to set up a fundraiser using various templates/websites I found on line.  They are all very complicated and I spent hours and hours trying to set something up for my brother-in-law.  I simply wanted something for my sister and brother-in-law that would allow their friends and family to donate to his cause (he is paralyzed and needs monetary assistance for badly needed therapy) using a simple on line format and pay pal.  But I finally gave up today after hours and hours of research and attempting to set up accounts.  I am simply going to put the fundraising event on  my blog and Zina can pass the info along to her friends by forwarding my blog info to anyone she likes.  Folks can write checks if they like, the good old fashioned way.

Sometimes, simplification is best. I am tired of trying to figure it all out.

Off to buy ingredients to make an orzo pasta salad for our India trip reunion this evening at Kelley’s house in Shoreline.  I will lead a yoga session with the group, followed by dinner.

Sleep deprived Fran