Lots of "T's" and one was coffee...

This is a shot as we raced across the bridge between Seattle and Mercer Island with Saturday's sun shining through the nearly cloudless sky. We stopped to help a friend of Jey-hu's solve a curious alarm problem. It was my first visit to the island and I can see why it is in such high demand as a place to live! We met two of the three family cats and I sat on a deck high among trees listening to the birds and boats - very relaxing -while Jey-hu and Mr. T discussed the cause of the alarm.

I only mention the alarm problem because it brings to mind the risk of using barbecue grills too near doors or windows of the domicile. Using compressed gas, these grills may give off CO2 aka carbon monoxide in deadly amounts. Please make sure you light the grill at some distance from the residence.

And even at a distance, check the direction of the wind to make sure it is not driving this heavier-than-air substance into the home. Without the CO2 detection device in this gentle man's dwelling, they might not have been warned that something was amiss.

Our next stop was at least an hour south of Tacoma and we realized too late that the new Link Sound Transit trains were having their debut running and we got caught up in the festival atmosphere near Martin Luther King Blvd.

Then we tried to take a short cut and found ourselves too close to Seattle's Safeco Field and all the sports fans - yikes! - and yet another detour landed us in the factory district, just west of

I-5, too far west from where we wanted to be. However, it looks like this area is being re-habbed and re-vamped so getting a chance to see some of the creative uses of the buildings made it not a wasted trip after all. It turns out that Tully's is quite a large company now and part of an ever larger establishment - as of last March - when they were purchased by Green Mountain Grocers in Vermont. Surprising to me to find this out as a drinker of lattes from another well-known Seattle firm, but this company has not been marketing as strongly as the other one.

And, the bigger connection for me was when we returned from Tacoma and we were on the freeway heading north. I saw the large "T" on the building and realized it was the coffee company. Now I will always recognize that spot on I-5, and probably want to stop!