Briefly, briefly, briefly

WHAN that Aprille with his shoures soote

The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote,

And bathed every veyne in swich

licour,

Of which vertu engendred is the flour; ...

Yeah, yeah. If old Geoffrey cares to see "rootes" being "perced" with "Aprille shoures," he should drop by Seattle this month. Anyway, it's been quite a while since I gave my readers a summary wrap up of life in the Northwest, so here goes.

• It's been hella cold and wet this year. Where's our global warming when we need it? According to Yahoo! Weather, the forecast for the next five days? Today, Showers. Tomorrow, Showers. Tuesday, Showers. Wednesday, Showers. Thursday, Few Showers! "Few"? Excellent! Things are looking up. The highest temperature through Thursday is expected to be 51 degrees.
  
• The corollary to the above: My back yard is turning into a green field of hay. We never get enough dry weather for me to mow it. One year I had to borrow a weed-eater from a friend just to whack it down low enough to give it its first mow of the season.
  
• The Mariners have already dropped to 2-3. As I write this, they are tied with the Orioles in the bottom of the ninth. You'll have to check the outcome yourself. The Northwest Corner does not update sports scores.
  
• I'm writing a chapter for a legal publication. My first draft is overdue. I have a lot of work to do. Instead, I'm procrastinating [see an earlier post on the subject of my procrastination!] by writing this post for my blog.
  
• I tried a lawsuit in 2004. The jury gave me an excellent verdict. The judge ordered a new trial. I tried the lawsuit again in 2005. A new jury gave me an even more excellent verdict. The loser appealed to the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals ruled in my favor. The loser filed a motion for reconsideration. The Court of Appeals denied the motion. The loser petitioned the Washington Supreme Court to take the case up on review. Ta-da! This past week, after a nine month wait, word arrives from Olympia -- petition denied. The loser has run out of options. Yay, me!
  
• The squirrels have emerged from wherever they choose to sleep away their winters. My cat Loki gazes out the front window. He sees a plump squirrel. He dashes to the back of the house, out the cat door, and around to the front yard. By the time he slithers up from behind a bush, the squirrel's vanished, of course, but I'm left to marvel. How clever of Loki to realize that he can access the squirrel by dashing off in the opposite direction and using his cat door.
  
• I watched Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg play Bruch's Violin Concerto at the symphony last night. A woman, about 30, with heavy but immaculately applied makeup, sat next to me and began chatting. She said she never missed a chance to see Nadja play. She couldn't believe this was my first time. She'd seen her in person in the lobby the night before, during intermission. She thought that if she could only meet Nadja, they probably would become very close friends. I asked her, nervously, if she actually stalked Nadja from city to city. Our conversation seemed to die out at that point. (Nadja, by the way, played beautifully and with great emotion.)
  
• After a period of tendinitis in my ankle, I'm back to running again regularly. Yesterday, I ran one of my usual routes, four miles around the UW campus. It feels SO good to be back on track. It's even a pleasure to run in the rain. (Fortunately!)

And that's the way it is in the Northwest Corner, April, 2008.