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| 7/12/24 Brown Bear Car Wash, Lake City |
When my Miata was in the repair shop for a ding it received while
parked, it came back washed, polished and gleaming – looking better than it had
in years (certainly since before the pandemic). Our poor Subaru looked worse
than ever by comparison – however long it had been since the Miata got cleaned,
I think it’s been even longer for the Outback. Unlike the Miata, which is lucky
enough to fit in our tiny garage, the Outback is parked outside all day, every
day, and the north side’s windows have moss growing on them. It was time for
heavy-duty cleaning.
Although Brown Bear Car Wash, “Washington’s Favorite and Best Car Wash for 65 years,” has locations all over town, I had another errand in Lake City, so I decided to take the Subaru there. After an exhilarating ride through the “tunnel” (Remember how thrilling that was as a kid? It still is), I parked at Starbucks next door, got a chocolate cream cold brew, and walked back to Brown Bear. Beautiful as it is, a rather formidable bronze grizzly sculpture greets customers as they drive in. Elsewhere are smaller sculptures of cubs, but they are too close to the car washing mechanism to sketch. I’ve always liked these realistic sculptures, which were originally designed by Lorenzo Ghiglieri in 2009. (I find it amusing that the grizzly is so incongruous with the car wash’s logo, a cute, Japanese-looking teddy bear.)
As I sketched, I was trying to remember how long ago it was that I had sketched a different Brown Bear sculpture. I found the answer on my blog – 11 years ago! (I hope that wasn’t the last time we got a car washed.) Incidentally, running the Outback through the tunnel was hardly sufficient in removing the moss; I guess I’m going to have to give it some elbow grease.
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| Hey, good-lookin'. . . you still got what it takes! |
I love the cool sketch of the grizzly! The miata looks so shiny. I took my car to have it washed because it still had winter salt and crud on it. They did a lousy job. I think it needed two trips through.
ReplyDeleteI was told that I could take it through a second time for free if I wasn't satisfied with the cleaning! But I knew that moss would take more than just a car wash. ;-)
DeleteI totally cracked up at the image of moss on the side of your Outback! It adds perspective to the coating of dust and bee poop on my RAV4 (yeah, I am going to wash him…any day now…) Anne HwH
DeleteBee poop!! OK, I'm not sure I know how to distinguish that from moss. ;-)
DeleteBee poop is small, bright yellow from pollen and indicates that I am parked in a flight path;-)
Delete:-0 I wonder if what I'm seeing is not just pollen!!
DeleteNew reader & beginner sketcher here! Have been reading your blogposts from 2012 (now at 2013, LOL) and love seeing how your art evolved! Was intending to remain a lurker here, but I saw the photo of your car and couldn't help but comment: your car plate has your name on it! How cool is that!?!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your readership! :-) And yes, I've had that vanity plate since I bought the car in 1996! :-)
DeleteThe last place I lived did not have a garage, not even a carport, to park my nearly new outback in for six years. Parking was next to a busy highway and under a big maple tree and I hated having it out like that. Dusty, from the highway and the dirt road in front, covered in maple leaves in the fall and snow in winter, backing in the sun in summer, bird poop now and then, but no moss (drier northern Idaho). ;-) Now it is safely tucked away in a garage. But your mention of moss on the car reminded me of a song on the KEZX Album Project from when I lived in Tacoma - Don't Come To Seattle by Robert Stanley. Perhaps you are familiar with it? One line is "It rains so long the moss grows on the southern side of trees." And I seem to remember a joke about locals having moss growing under their arms. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised at some moss on your Outback. Boy that Miata looks slick!
ReplyDeleteHa-ha, yeah, we all have moss under our arms and we don't tan, we rust. ;-)
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