In Bloom

       

ROCKET FIRE: Today marks the anniversary of John Glenn's 1962 flight aboard the Mercury "Friendship 7" spacecraft. It was the United States' first manned orbital mission. After launching form Kennedy Space Center, Glenn completed a successful three-orbit mission around the earth, reaching a maximum altitude of approximately 162 statute miles, an a velocity of 17,500 miles per hour (the same speed the International Space Station maintains to stay in orbit at the present). Glenn's flight was a total of 4 hours, 55 minutes, and 23 seconds.
                                
GRAPHIC: NASA History

Fast forward 52 years, this evening we sat and watched (online) the launch of a Delta IV rocket from KSC. On board was a satellite for the Air Force.

We happened to be at one of our favorite hang outs when the launch went down, Chuck's on 85th. I will admit, we're guilty of making a little ruckus when it lifted off. "Sorry. Rocket launch," I explained to the people in our vicinity.

EIGHTIES BABY: CJ has recently become semi-obsessed with the movie "Tron." He became aware of it via some online games he plays. We tracked down a copy of "Tron" through Seattle Public Library and today, we picked it up. He quickly set about watching it.  I remembered the movie as being plodding and not engaging. Well, that's not how he saw it. CJ was captivated from first frame to last despite the dated technology. Ironically, he kept raving about how good the animation was given its age. Go figure.

ARTSY: While at the library, as luck would have it, while the kids were in the library picking up Tron (as the pups and I waited outside), it turned out  'Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii" was also ready for pickup. We watched that this evening. Trippy. Very analog.
                                              
Filmed in 1972, although it's filmed in an ancient Roman amphitheater, there is no audience, which only serves to make it more ethereal. The amphitheater was closed for six days for the filming.     
I LOVE this Roger Waters' quote (via Wikipedia from another source) about the experience ...

"Are you happy with the filming?"
"What do you mean, happy?"
"Well do you think it's interesting?"
"What do you mean, interesting?"—Roger Waters, being interviewed by Adrian Maben in 1972 

It honestly reminds me of something(s) CJ would say.

IN BLOOM: We went on a nice long walk today, a couple of miles, at least. We saw crocus popping up, some small petals on some heather-like plants (complete with bees) and tiny buds on a few roses. Spring is a comin'!

The kids enjoyed a couple of playgrounds along our journey.

And we enjoyed a lot of lovely scenery. Here's a glimpse of Puget Sound through some trees at a (shade) dark park. 

 We spied a kite caught in a tree in a wind-whipped park along Elliott Bay. Note to kite flyers: seek wide open spaces.

Speaking of 'in bloom' (the sub head of this section), today would have been Kurt Cobain's 47th birthday. What a tortured, talented soul he was. Love this video for "In Bloom," clearly a tribute to The Beatles on Ed Sullivan