Hands covered in clay, she carefully crafts coffee mugs that look like owls. "I like critters." Animals take to her. "They follow me to school," she says, grinning.
He loves astronomy and would like to visit the old refractor fashioned from iron and brass he remembers from the University of Washington. "It looks like something off Captain Nemo's ship."
"Quite a few of the things we want to do with our hobbies we had to put on hold, because right now we are homeless."
Vendors of the Week Tammie and Wesley Clark ease the struggles of homelessness by engaging in activities they enjoy. They listen at night to a shortwave radio that broadcasts from all over the world. The other night they were listening to Radio Beijing. "I dabble in shortwave and if the weather's right I go swimming," Tammie says.
Although much of their history is in Tacoma, they love Seattle. "It's a wonderful city," Wesley acknowledges. "Look out there in the bay and on any day you can see ships from all over the world." In particular, he enjoys the Museum of Flight. "Aviation is an endless joy to me. When I was a kid my dad was ex-Air Force. I remember some of the aircraft my dad flew in."
Eventually they plan to open their own business. "Maybe a secondhand store," Tammie says thoughtfully.
Tammie and Wesley are passionate about literacy. They desire for everyone to be able to read and learn. "We read just like that, it's like breathing to us," Wesley says, nodding.
Wesley would like their customers to "Read Real Change. Don't give up your hopes and dreams. Keep working on it!"