A perfect, sunny September day in Seattle — easy to think you’re on vacation instead of a work trip! 

Started with breakfast: a bagel with lox and cream cheese from Eltana and a pain au chocolat from Sea Wolf bakery. All eaten on my roof overlooking Seattle, of course. 

After that I puttered around the rooftop garden for a while, sprucing things up after three months of neglect. 

Then we walked over to the Fremont Sunday Market where you can get all the dog gelato, all-natural deodorant, and raclette you could possibly hope for. 

In the afternoon we had a soup and salad potluck with a bunch of friends from church who were excited I was in town. We had a great time catching up — then somebody mentioned the church’s new family history app that shows you how you’re related to people nearby, and we spent the rest of the evening discovering that we were all basically tenth cousins with everyone. Except for me and another guy who were fourth cousins going back to Abraham Hunsaker.