Still Summer

LOOPY: We're in mid September and summer seems to be doing its best to hang on, so we felt compelled to get out in it. 

We've walked on the trail next to Green Lake many a time, but we've never walked all the way around the lake, until today.

We parked on the lake's west side, not too far north of the rowing center, and then we were off! There are always a bazillion or so people walking the path around the lake (one reason we stay away, frankly), and today was no exception. 

We saw signs all around the lake warning people not to come in contact with the water due to algae bloom. That mean CJ and Annabelle didn't have a whole lot to worry about when they pulled lifeguard duty. Above they're watching the east shore, and below, they're on watch on the west beach. 

Our 3-mile circuit gave us views of lovely trees, shorelines, ducks, and heron. 

Here, the kids enjoy gently bobbing on a dock near the rowing center. 

MUSIC: We are are enjoying the heck out of our History of Rock Pt. 2 class via Coursera. It 'forces' us to listen to great music on a daily basis. That's my kind of homework! You know things are good when your 9-year-old asks, "Can we listen to some Tower of Power?"

As always, Annabelle is taking lecture notes in doodle form. Here, she contemplates the fact that I admitted (apologetically), I really REALLY don't like Creedence Clearwater Revival.

 And here is a sketch of the battle between disco, the hippie aesthetic and punk rock music.

 And here's a sketch from the lecture on theatrical rock (think Alice Cooper, KISS and David Bowie).

Remembering

DAY OF REMEMBRANCE: Here we are again. Another 9/11.

Last year on this day, we were in New York. 

It's hard to describe the palpable mood of New Yorkers on that day. "Smothering sadness" comes to mind. Clearly, when it comes to 9/11, they are still the walking wounded. With good reason.

Riding the subway, everyone was silent, eyes downcast, except for nervous glances about the cars, wondering if some idiot copycat had any ideas. NYPD were on the subway cars we rode. Their presence was both reassuring and a painful reminder of how vulnerable we all are.

Speaking of which, today I about had a heart attack. The kids and I were coming home from a run to Renton, south of town. As we headed back up I-5 there's one part on the freeway where it curves and suddenly Seattle is laid out in front of you. It's usually stunningly beautiful, but today it horrified me, as a growing TOWER of black smoke hung over the city. Clearly there was a large fire in progress. My heart started pounding and I immediately thought it might be a 9/11 copycat. I wonder how many other drivers around me were thinking the same thing. I dove for the radio dial to change it to an all news station. Within a couple of minutes I found out it was "only" a five-story apartment building on Capitol Hill on fire - not a terrorist attack. Relief (no one was hurt in the fire, thankfully), but, darn it, it also drove home how that day of terrorist attacks was a paradigm shift. 

Last year, we visited the State of Liberty and the 9/11 memorial on 9/10. Our recollections and photos are here: http://magnoliaprep.blogspot.com/2013/09/big-apple-big-day.html

THE BASEBALL PROJECT:  Thanks to a Facebook post by Seattle radio station KEXP, we learned about a live, streaming concert on the radio this afternoon by a group called The Baseball Project. Intrigued by anything baseball, we tuned in online.  Turns out it's a super group of baseball loving musicians (including Peter Buck and Mike Mills, formerly of REM), and all of their songs are about the nation's pastime. Baseball + rock 'n' roll?! Squee!!!

Their lead off song was was "Box Scores," which delightfully captures the allure of poring over box scores in the morning paper.

The second song they played was "13" about "a kid from Seattle and how it all went wrong" (they're talking to you Alex Rodriguez). Next on deck was "They Don't Know Henry," which they introduced as being bout "the greatest Brave of all" (Hank Aaron).  

Their closer was the rollicking "Hola America!" It's a song about Cuban baseball players making their way to America. To my ear it sounds like something Iggy Pop would record. Loved it!

If you're so inclined, you can watch a half hour set they played in Portland a couple years back here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTedT_WH1i0

ARE WE THERE YET?: Since landing on the Red Planet in August of 2012, Mars Science Laboratory has been making its way toward its prime destination: Mount Sharp. Today, NASA announced the rover is there.

The press release described Mount Sharp as "a Mount-Rainier-size mountain at the center of the vast Gale Crater." The kids and I stopped for a moment to ponder Curiosity sitting at the base of Mount Rainier, a fixture on our landscape.

Per the presser, "Curiosity’s trek up the mountain will begin with an examination of the mountain's lower slopes. The rover is starting this process at an entry point near an outcrop called Pahrump Hills, rather than continuing on to the previously-planned, further entry point known as Murray Buttes. Both entry points lay along a boundary where the southern base layer of the mountain meets crater-floor deposits washed down from the crater’s northern rim."

Here's a video about today's development. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7szg3JrNT-4

FAMILIAR FACE: Interesting news today that the art that inspired the Seahawks' original logo back in 1976 has likely been found ... in a museum in Maine!

For years, there has been speculation about the genesis of the original Seahawks' logo, which I'll post here (noting the NFL and the Seahakws own the rights to it).

Today, a story in the Seattle PI reports the inspiration for the logo is in possession of the Hudson Museum at the University of Maine. It's a transformation mask, and the inside is super intriguing, so it has been displayed in an open position, which is, perhaps, why it wasn't widely recognized as the Seahawks' inspiration all along. 

I don't want to post the photos since I don't know them to be public property, but here's the inside of the mask: http://library.umaine.edu/hudson/palmer/detail.asp?id=91647356

And here's a link to the PI article with the photo of the outside of the mask. I think you'll agree, it's a dead-ringer for the Seahawks' logo: 

http://blog.seattlepi.com/football/2014/09/10/burke-museum-hopes-to-exhibit-northwest-indian-mask-that-likely-inspired-seattle-seahawks-logo/#3276103=0&26627101=1

It is believed it was carved from cedar in the late 19th or early 20th century.

The Burke Museum has started an online fundraiser to get money needed ($7500) to pay for transporting the mask to the PacNW for display. When I checked this evening, they were 70 percent of the way toward their goal! Can't wait to see the original Seahawk!

STELLAR SELFIE: After 10 years of travel, the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft recently arrived in very close proximity to its intended target, a comet!

Photo: ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA

The "selfie" above was captured with the comet in the background, about 30 miles away from Rosetta. In the not-too-distant future, Rosetta will send out a lander, Phiae, to rendesvous with the comet. 

Back at It

FALL BALL:  This evening, before the Mariners' game came on, we headed up to the park to take some B.P. It had been way too long since the kids had swung a bat, so first they had to knock a little rust off, so to speak. However, soon they were in mid-season form. ;)

Kirby and Laika watched the action from the dugout. Or the dogout. Or the dogpen. ... 

SPRING FLOWERS:  While we were up in Shoreline today, we stopped by Sky Nursery to pick up the kids Junior Gardener's club gifts for September. They each came home with a big ol' daffodil bulb and planting instructions.  The cashier told the kids they should wait until late October or early November to plant. I said, "Perfect, we'll plant them on Halloween - that's easy to remember!"

SCHOOL DAY: Today marked the kids first classes of the year in Shoreline. Annabelle enjoyed art this morning, and then this afternoon they both attended their Science Detectives class, and a new offering, "Get a Clue," which is about investigations. 

Last week, they had some school photos taken. We got prints of them today. Nice!

They're certainly easier on the eyes than this self portrait CJ made today in the library.

Yikes!

Life 'n' Stuff

LIFETIME:  We love to play board games for fun and education, and today, we broke out a classic we hadn't yet played together - the game of Life.

I spent countless hours playing this as a kid, and I told CJ and Annabelle the thing I remembered most about it was that it took a long time to play. That has not changed. In fact, it has gotten worse with the new and more complicated version that we played.

I chose a college route (as opposed to delving straight into the workforce). Unfortunately, unlike Annabelle, who also went the college route and drew a lawyer card at 100k a year, I got a computer designer job, and could only afford to live in a mobile home, thanks to my pay level and my horrible spins.

While CJ, Annabelle and Christian racked up pay days and accomplishments, and a car full of children, I slogged along miserably behind. At one point my mobile home even flooded, if you can believe that. 

Life's not fair. 

That said, the game was good for prompting discussion about life choices, luck, and some good ol' math.

KEEP, CHANGE, FLIP: Today we did something we haven't done in waaaay toooo loooong. We cracked open the math workbooks.

Don't get me wrong, we do and talk about math every day, but it's primarily 'real world' or 'organic' math - things that come up in the course of the day that need to be computed. That's all well and good, but I want to make sure the kids are on track to meet state benchmarks come annual testing time, so the books need to be part of our lives, too.

The exercise the kids had to tackle today was dividing fractions. Instead of me just explaining it to them, I thought it might be fund to see if there was a music video on the topic. There is! We watched an animation from the "Flocabulary" series called "Dividing Fractions - Keep, Change, Flip."

Was it the Best Video Ever? No. But was it mildly entertaining and did the kids understand the concept that when dividing fractions, you just keep one of the fractions and multiply it by the reciprocal of the other fraction? Yes, they did.

MEANWHILE, ON MARS:  The year Annabelle was born, NASA rover Opportunity landed on the Red Planet. There, it has been toiling away ever since. 

Today, we checked out photos and video of what Opportunity has been up to as of late. 

Photo: NASA/JPL

The photo shows Opportunity looking back at its own tracks made from nearly half-a-mile (more than 700 meters) of southbound driving along the west rim of Endeavour Crater.

We also watched a short video of the rover's drivign route of more than 25 miles (40 kilometers) since its 2004 landing. 

http://youtu.be/Ka08deWohpQ

All's Fair

PUYALLUP PILGRIMAGE:  For a few years running, one of our September traditions has been making a drive down to Puyallup for a day, to attend what used to be called the Puyallup Fair. Now, it's known as the Washington State Fair, and by any name, it's big fun.

We arrived at the fairgrounds around 10:30 this morning. The midway didn't open until 11 a.m., so we visited some of the livestock exhibits.  

There were two big mama pigs with large litters.

Is it wrong to look at these cute little things and think, "Future bacon!"?  Probably. 

The kids got to pet some goats, and check out some bunnies and chicks. 

We saw lots of horses, too.  Loved the latticework on this mane.

By 10:50 we were standing in line to get the kids' and Christian's bracelets giving them unlimited access to all the midway rides and by 11 a.m. they were having a grand time!

They took a couple runs down the Giant Slide.

They twisted and twirled ... 

and rode the Ferris wheel in the background of this photo below.

The super-sized swings are always a favorite.

I thought the artwork on this swing ride was oddly interesting.

They rode multiple roller coasters. 

Annabelle was just a tad too short for this big orange coaster. Maybe next year. ... 

As we left the fair, I was feeling a little bad/guilty that we didn't go see any of the agriculture displays, but then I reminded myself that the kids spend a fair amount of time gardening at home, and I felt a little bit better. 

Here's a pic of them harvesting some beautiful green beans a couple of days ago. They were plentiful and delicious!