Cats on Scooters

Aug 5, 2008 by Kristin

My love of two-wheeled machines is surpassed only by my love of four-legged creatures. I have the privilege of sharing my home with Princess Nevadelia Lotus Blossom. I’ve been her servant for almost four years. She is a ridiculously beautiful lynx-point Himalyan mix cat with a feather-duster tail. Despite the fact that her enormous blue eyes are crossed, she is a formidable moth slayer. Nevadelia adopted me from the local animal shelter and turned me into a certified cat worshipper.
You can imagine my insane delight when I discovered the Flickr group, Cats on Scooters. Their subtitle is, “Cats are taking over the world – and they’re using scooters!”
While Nevadelia enjoys lounging on the sunny veranda of our residence, The Aloha Cabana, her reign is limited to the confines of the property because a free-roaming city cat is a dead cat. So I was stumped on how exactly I was going to participate in my new Flickr obsession with the cat on one side of the fence and my scooter on the other. Oh yeah… PhotoShop!

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Easy Riders

Jul 31, 2008 by Kristin

One of the scooter clubs I’m a member of, the Westenders, is featured in a great article in the West Seattle Herald. Once again, I’m caught in the act of waxing philosophical. You’d think I spend most of my time sitting in cafes wearing a beret and fondling my soul patch.

Ralph’s quote pretty much sums us up:

“Being a Westender is a state of mind,” said Ralph Leach, who wears a jacket of patches and buttons. “This is a family friendly scooter club. We aren’t a bunch of derelicts, just some of us.“

This lighthearted little news bite provides a much-needed respite from yesterday’s rampant stupidity in the reader comments on the Seattle PI scooter parking piece.

I’ve received word that the Westenders article is in the print version of the newspaper, on newstands now. I’ve got to grab a copy tonight to read while sitting on the beach at Alki, eating cupcakes and waxing philosophical.

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Secret Sunset Scoot ‘n’ Skewer

Jul 3, 2008 by Kristin

Jett had a great idea for a combination Westenders barbecue and group ride to see the sunset from one of Seattle’s countless scenic overlooks. She’d been planning it for months. Somehow during discussion of this potential event on the Westenders forum, the idea of jousting arose and stuck. Leave it to RogerTango to organize the execution of this competition.
I designed a logo and made buttons to commemorate the event (right). It was a perfect excuse to play with PhotoShop and my new button press.

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Seattle All City Scooter Day 2008 in the P.I.

Jun 18, 2008 by Kristin

All City Scooter Community Day was written up in the Seattle Post Intelligencer. We are definitely getting the word out! Of course, gasoline at $4.50 per gallon helps.

I’ll try to be a good sport and not get my panties in a twitch that the journalist refers to scooters as “miniature motorcycles”. And that he calls Amerivespa an erroneous “Vespamerica”. Oh, and Ducati doesn’t make scooters.

But Mama always said, you gotta pick your battles.

“ Scooter enthusiasts and dealers filled a parking lot on Westlake Avenue for the city’s first All City Scooter Community Day to swap stories, compare notes and extol the virtues of moving about on scooters, streamlined miniature motorcycles that are growing in popularity as gasoline prices increase.

With an estimated 200 people and some 150 scooters gathered at midday, it was the biggest scooter party since last year’s “Vespamerica” gathering, which attracted hundreds more when it was held in Seattle. Scooter clubs had tents, and several dealers displayed their wares. “

Read the full article here.

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StellaSpeed and Seattle Scooter Central

Jun 17, 2008 by Kristin

I’m a big believer in the online scooter forums and I find them an essential source of information, inspiration, entertainment and drama. Each forum offers these key elements in varying amounts. StellaSpeed is packed with useful tips, and the users will immediately jump in to help you troubleshoot – if you can weather the abuse.

It’s not a forum for the faint-of-heart and the testosterone can run a little high. But using the search function will turn up just about any issue you could ever have with your two-stroke, followed by a dozen possible fixes.

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