Monochrome Madness: NIGHT FERRY
As Scene in Friday Harbor
Each week Leanne Cole PHOTOGRAPHY has a photo contest called Monochrome Madness. This month’s theme is something like ‘Where You Are’. This is our mode of transportation to and from where I am. Check out her blog and see other Monochrome Masterpieces. If you like to take photos, send Leanne one of yours. (this actually is my entry in next week’s contest, we’ll see which photo she chooses)
Here are the photos in their original state…
Guest Author ~ HOME by Ula Grace
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UlaG & Me… on the ferry, after picking her up at SeaTac Airport, coming home from Myanmar last year.
Some gifts cannot be bought… this is one of those. I have been encouraging my granddaughter to write some stories for TedBook. She is taking a creative writing class at school and I think is a clever writer. She is a lucky girl, as she has traveled the globe with her parents since she was a baby… every year. They always take a trip in January and get home in February… It is cold here and they go to warm places. I pick them up at the airport, quite a sight in their shorts and flip-flops, and return them to Friday Harbor. Last year they trekked through Myanmar for six weeks. She promised to write a story about the children there, complete with photos she took… I’m holding her to it. Hopefully this will be a start to more stories from the pen of UlaG.
Friday Fictioneers: THE TRESPASSERS
THE TRESSPASSERS… A Drabble for FriFic
This is actually not the real ferry-boat (I forgot to take a photo), but a stand in. The model can be seen at Seatown in Seattle.
After a stop at the first of many Starbuck’s we had an exciting car wash… 
and upon reaching Seattle, my Birthday got off to an exciting start in the make-up department at Nordstrom…
somehow this was a familiar theme throughout the day. We stopped to admire the Christmas windows at Tiffany’s (designed by my friend Christopher Young in NYC)…
After a delicious lunch at PF Chang’s, we boarded the famous Monorail… 
and headed for the Seattle Repertory Theater to see a matinée performance of…
It was an excellent production and lots of fun… 
Checked out the Space Needle on the way back to the Monorail… 
We went back to the Mayflower Hotel… 
in the heart of downtown Seattle and got ready to go out to dinner at one my favorite Tom Douglas restaurants … 
A fabulous meal of Pork Chop and Garlic Sausage followed with a nice birthday dessert… 
A restful sleep at The Mayflower and a day of shopping finished off the Birthday Bash.
Friday Fictioneers: INVITATION TO TAKE A RIDE…
Interisland ferry photo by Ted Strutz
INVITATION TO TAKE A RIDE… A Non-fiction Drabble
Checking my mail. The usual holiday catalogs. Here’s one from Figis wanting me to buy fruitcake. No checks or bills, so that kind of evens out. Wait a bit, here’s a brown envelope postmarked Seattle. What’s really odd, is the way they did the address… letters cut out from something… addressed to ted strutz. Maybe some new advertising gimmick to catch the eye. Inside, letters attached to a paper bag.
Ted
Walk on to the 8:05 ferry
on December 4th
Prepare to b gone all night
don’t forget your hearing aids
don’t ax questions
come alone
You think I’m kidding?
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You can imagine my surprise when I saw this week’s Friday Fictioneer’s photo prompt. It was one I had taken, and Rochelle-Wisoff Fields had chosen it to be this week’s inspiration for some 100 Word Flash Fiction. I wanted to wait till Friday was almost over to explain the photo and not influence any of the Fictioneer’s writings. It has been fun to read the different takes the photo evoked, and you can see them by going to the Fictioneer’s link page. As of now, 81 writers have linked their stories… I’ll be #82.
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MV Evergreen State
There are two types of ferries that service the San Juan Islands in the state of Washington. Located at the top of Puget Sound, in what is called The Salish Sea. The San Juan Islands consist of something like 172 islands, some no more than a rock… but since it is always above water, it’s officially an island. I live on San Juan Island… it was named for an explorer called Juan… and is the county seat. I live in Friday Harbor, which may or not have been named for an indian called Joe Friday… but that’s another story.
The ferry serves the 4 main islands Lopez, Shaw, Orcas and mine. You board in Anacortes on the mainland (although technically Anacortes is on Fidalgo Island which is connected by bridges and is not part of the San Juan Island Group) and travel by ferry-boat to the different islands, and can even go to Victoria, British Columbia on Vancouver Island (which sails once a day).
There is another run, which is the Interisland Ferry, it is a little smaller ship. The MV Evergreen State was built in 1953, and holds 100 cars and 1000 passengers. That is what I was on when I took the photo. I was the only passenger. In 17 years riding ferries, and I ride the Interisland a lot, I have never been the sole passenger. Let me tell you, it was a strange feeling, almost scary. I walked about the passenger deck and had the weirdest feeling, almost like I was in some of the stories my fellow fictioneers have written, they tend to run to the macabre, cheerful lot. It was around 5 p.m. when I took the photo, as the sun was starting to set. I thought it was an interesting shot, with the eerie calmness of an empty boat (that should have been busy with people doing all manner of things, including jigsaw puzzles) and the beauty of the scenic calm outside.
If you ever get up Seattle way, come up and take a ride on the ferry… I’ll buy.
I do not know who sent me the invitation, but I have my suspicions, my birthday is Dec. 4, 1943… do the math, it’s a milestone of sorts. There are two Prime Suspects, but they are not fessing up. I guess I will have to wait till I walk on the ferry and see who’s there. I will be sure to take my hearing aids… maybe there’s a Steely Dan concert I don’t know about.
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April ’14… Here’s one I wrote for Friday Fictioneers… I thought it would be fun for my yeahwrite friends to see. I’ll post the follow-up story next week.
THOR’S WORLD TOUR… Paradise Found!
Somewhere on a small island in the Great Pacific Northwest…. Paradise found!
After being moved about and held captive with many poor souls, I remind the evil Tie-Dyed Witches that I am The God of Thunder! Promising the Pooh family I won’t forget them I wield the Mighty Hammer and break free!
I head to the boat for a return to seek out this ‘Mausoleum’ I have heard tell about. My host, not wishing to pay the exorbitant ferry rate for ‘Gods’ decides to smuggle me aboard… Oh The Indignity!!!
Once on ship, I go in search of food and drink, as my energy level has been depleted in my struggle with the evil witches. I find the perfect thing and enter the Monster Hall… It is quite cold.
A quick blow of The Mighty Hammer releases a putrid spray of a sticky foam, completely engulfing the air-conditioned chamber. I find myself quickly evicted from the cafeteria. A kindly family takes pity on my circumstances, bathes me and gives me sustenance. After chatting, the man-boy tells me of a cousin who may be able to help me in ‘the ladies department’. He tells me to find the Land of Argyle and ask for Ula. They warn me not to wake the Sleeping Lion as I leave the table… I step very carefully.
He shares something he calls ‘his tunes’ with me… I do not know what to think, but try to stay polite.
My host treats me to something called ‘Ice Cream Cone’, and promises me we will go to the Land of Afterglow, where dwells ‘The Mausoleum”, on the morrow.
He tells me he knows Argyle well and of this cousin I seek.
Eureka… Praise the Gods… Valhalla found!
My new friend Ula has Barbies in Abundance. A pink haired beauty invites me for a drive in her automobile, which I quickly accept, hoping she knows Debra, my Pink Haired Mistress.
We are soon beset upon by a fearsome beast! I confront the evil monster and announce that I am the God of Thunder! Methinks the beast is not impressed and I am forced I do battle with my Mighty Hammer when the varmint attacks…
Instead of my saving the Pink Haired Maiden, the giantess Ula, upon hearing the commotion, arrives to save us both. I fear she must be part sorceress, for she quickly subdued the monster by putting it to sleep. She releases me from its fearsome grasp.
I quickly take my leave, telling the Barbies “I Shall Return!” Hopeful that tomorrow… the land of Afterglow, and ‘The Mausoleum’.
To be continued…
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Previously… Day Trip to the Magic Island (Part 3)
Previously… Adjusting to New Surroundings (pt. 2)
Previously… The Arrival (pt. 1)
To learn more about Thor’s World Tour, and see where he’s been… THE GOD OF THUNDER IS TOURING THE WORLD
THOR’S WORLD TOUR… Day Trip to the Magical Isle
Somewhere on a small island in the Great Pacific Northwest…. Day trip to the Magical Isle
“Away, damn you Loki. Take Skidbladnir and begone! My beloved Sif, what has he done? Why is it always about the hair? Now yours is no more. My Wife! I want my wife! Oh Pink One, why do you keep me from her?” I am roused from a fitful sleep with a curt “Come on, we’re late for the red-eye!” I find out later, that being ‘late for the red-eye’ is a proud tradition on this island. The only ferry I want to be late for is the one on the Styx, but then I’m not Greek so I guess it won’t matter. We head for the sea in the human’s automobile. I have been in many on this road trip, and this is by far the finest, as there are no foul odors from the small humans and their pets. It is also neat, without the clutter of the white cups with green mermaids that seem to cover the floor of all the other’s automobiles. Like that woman in Southern California with the tiny odious boy-child who would not ‘bow down before me’. The worst adversary I have faced thus far… It was luck to escape with my life. ‘Bite Eyeball’, indeed!
The sun is rising and the beast comes into view. I stand ready to fend it off at the first sign of trouble, as it is as fearsomely ugly as assumed.
Into the belly of the beast we plunge. A strange rumbling ensues and we push-off into the sea, headed for Orcas Island.
I wave good-by to the human’s village in the harbor, with high hopes of finding a link to Asgard on the magical isle.
We approach the island and the time has come to find these nobel artists and lovers of the earth. Perhaps they will be of assistance in my quest.
While the human is busy, I take leave to explore. I find that the artists I meet are interested in selling their wares and no nothing of Asgard. All the friends of the earth I encounter are sputtering about organics and preoccupied in hugging trees… not at all what I expected. I head back and find myself on a road with alarming signs proclaiming No Trespassing! Do they not know I am the God of Thunder? I find myself taken captive and tied up with other prisoners.
“Have you been here long?” I say. “Oh yes. Many years, for us there is no hope. Save yourself Thor. What you seek is on the island you just left. You must find… The Mausoleum!” I thank the maiden with the once red hair and breaking my bonds with The Mighty Hammer! I go in search of my human friend to ask about this Mausoleum.
To be continued…
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Previously… Adjusting to New Surroundings (pt. 2)
Previously… The Arrival (pt. 1)
To learn more about Thor’s World Tour, and see where he’s been… THE GOD OF THUNDER IS TOURING THE WORLD
I was recently onboard our InterIsland Ferryboat the ‘Evergreen State’, when she encountered some ‘difficulties’ and became adrift. In 16 years of riding the ferries, this was the most excitement I’ve had. We were getting close to land, and they were getting a towrope ready to attach to an oncoming ferry. The had everyone stand at the rear of the ferry on the top deck… in case we crashed??? They got whatever was wrong fixed enough to make it into Friday Harbor and dock. I was hoping we would have to be saved… that would have been great to photograph.
WSF ‘Evergreen State’ being towed out of Friday Harbor to dry dock…
