It's Friday

OFF TARGET: A couple of days ago we were wandering through the aisle of West Seattle (mostly killing time before the latest "My Little Pony" movie!).  Naturally, we checked out the toy section. It pushed hot buttons with our family.

At the ends of the aisles, there were helpful labels where girls and boys would find toys to their liking. Want a dolly or pink building blocks!? Look here, little girl! Like dinosaurs and activity? You must be a boy - check aisle E14. I didn't photograph all the labels, but that was the theme. SO stereotypical, SO archaic.  What's up with you, Target? I do believe we'll be having an MPA writing assignment directed to corporate offices asking them about their apparent gender biases/blatant sexism. So stupid.

FIRED UP:  We've still got our eyes on Rosetta - the European Space Agency mission set to land on a comet in a little over a month.

Check out this very cool photo of said comet (with the very long and not catchy name of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko).  It looks a bit like a barbell, no?

Rosetta was about 16 miles (26 kilometers) from the center of the comet when this photo was snapped.

Per an NASA/JPL press release today, we learn the jet activity at the "neck" of the comet are a product of ices sublimating and gases escaping from inside the nucleus.

For more information on the U.S. instruments aboard Rosetta, check out http://rosetta.jpl.nasa.gov.

More information about Rosetta is also available on the ESA Web site: http://www.esa.int/rosetta.

HUNTING, GATHERING: Today, we tore around the greater Seattle area in search of Stuff. We listened to a couple of "History of Rock 'n' Roll" lectures whilst we made our rounds. 

In other news, we each recently got notice our final grades for "The Camera Never Lies" course (via Coursera), about how photographic images (many manipulated) have been used to convey messages throughout history.  The kids each passed the class "with distinction." I just passed, which is OK by me. ;)

Daily Delights

SEEDY:  This weekend, we harvested the heads off a couple of our now-severely-drooping sunflower seeds. 

The birds already beat us to some of the seeds, but we're OK with sharing. 

We plucked out what we could and saved some to plant next year, but we also roasted hundreds. They were delicious!

RAFTER TALES:  It was a gorgeous day from the get-go, so we decided to get a good long walk in. We wanted a view and full sun, so we chose the Queen Anne Boulevard stroll. It never disappoints!

As we walked the west edge of the bluff, I pointed out some architectural details to the kids, including some thoughtful, beautiful rafter tails cut in an artistic manner.

It's amazing how much organic learning takes place on these walks ... history, architecture, botany, geography ... it's more than exercise with a view. :)

Queen Anne hill is covered in chestnut trees (both sweet edible chestnuts, pictured below, and horse chestnuts - don't eat!), and we spotted many of both kinds still hiding in their spiky armor. 

In researching the population of chestnuts on Queen Anne, I found a Super Cool "tree walk" map of the hill, delineating different species of trees. We are totally going to have to do this in the future: http://www.seattle.gov/trees/docs/Queen%20Anne%20Tree%20Walk.pdf

Definite signs of fall could be seen today. In the photo below, you can see deciduous trees turning color near the fishing pier we sometimes walk by. 

And we walked under some grape vines, laden with fruit, we spied leaves turning pretty autumnal tones. 

WEDNESDAY FLASHBACK:  Catching up on uploading a few photos from the kids' classes in Shoreline on Wednesday.

In science, they're learning about the skeleton. We humans are oh-so-lucky to have opposable thumbs. The kids found out just how lucky when they had to tape their thumbs to their pointer fingers and then perform everyday tasks. 

Their last class of the day, the kids are learning about being good detectives (asking good questions, being observant, etc.). 

Here, they had to study a 'crime' scene.

GOO-EY:  This afternoon, we played around a bit with a Steve Spangler Science kit we scored at Value Village, intact and unopened, "Gravity Goo."  It was a rather major time investment, as the kids had to pour water and a polymer back and forth between cups for 8 minutes, then wait 35 minutes and pour a couple minutes more before they saw the goo 'defy gravity' and basically run uphill.

Wish I could tell you it performed as advertised, but not-so-much. 

On the Web site it says "Mix up your own batch of Gravity Goo (it's simple and only takes a couple minutes) ." Um, no, by your own instructions, it takes over 45 minutes ... and then  "watch the gravity defying magic happen." Again, um, no. It's thick, sticky and stringy, but "defying gravity?" Not even. 

Still, they had fun with it, and we'll give another experiment outlined in the box a go, hopeful for better results. 

VIOLIN SOLO: We don't listen to a whole lot of violin solos as part of our day here at MPA, but this one we say on Facebook today was marvelous to our ears.

The violinist plays the music and sound effects of part of the first world in the original Super Mario Bros. game. I wish I knew the genesis of this video, or the musician's name, but none of those identifying items were included in the post, unfortunately.

Post by Skylinkradio.com.

One More Time

The calm before the storm at Safeco Field on Sunday

PLAYING CATCH UP: We had a busy weekend, I'm still trying to recount it all.

Sunday was another fun day - we spent most of it at Safeco Field, hoping like heck that we'd be watching our beloved Mariners win their way into the play offs. Basically, after 162 games, their season boiled down to the outcome on a single day.

We got to the field early because we wanted to enjoy every minute we could of what might be our last Safeco trip of the year. It was Kids' Appreciation day at the park, and there were many mascots on hand to greet the youngsters.

Here the kids are with The Boxtrolls, characters from a new stop action animated movie. http://www.theboxtrolls.com/

They also got to hang out with the (WNBA) Seattle Storm's mascot, who had a sense of humor.

And they waited to get a word in with a very busy moose.

At the gates they passed out rally towels to all comers. What a sight it was to see during the game when 35,000-plus of those were being twirled around! I wish I'd taken video of it.

As we waited for the Mariners' game to start, we kept our eyes on the out of town scoreboard, watching for news from the Oakland-Rangers game, which started an hour before the Ms' game. That score was paramount, because not only did the Mariners need to win Sunday, they needed the Texas Rangers to beat Oakland. Unfortunately, it was 2-0 Oakland before the Ms even took the field.

Once the Mariners took the field, it was clear that "King" Felix Hernandez was in fine form. 

He held the Angels scoreless into the sixth inning. 

Until ... when the final score from Texas was posted. 

The Rangers had lost, which meant the Mariners had been mathematically eliminated from post season play. 

You could hear groans throughout the stadium as people got the news. But then something remarkable happened. Fans spontaneously rose to their feet and started cheering, a rousing ovation from 40,000 heartbroken people saying, "Thanks for the memories, and we'll get 'em next year." 

Mariners Manager Lloyd McClendon pulled Felix from the game shortly thereafter. He received a thunderous ovation as he departed. 

A couple minutes later, McClendon pulled superstar second baseman Robinson Cano, who also received an electric ovation.

In the end, the Mariners won their game, but the season was over. Players stayed on the field for several minutes waving at the fans and throwing swag into the stands.

And so it's over. No more baseball for us until April 6, 2015, the home opener at Safeco. You know we'll be there wearing blue and broad smiles. Go Mariners!

SPLASHY: For the second Monday in a row, we checked out a new-to-us indoor pool in the greater Seattle area. This week's destination was the Lynnwood Aquatic Center. What a sweet place that is! TWO big ol' tube slides, one for body sliding, the other you ride an inflatable down. Both of them have twists and turns and actually extend outside the building.

The pool also has a number of spouts, sprayers and even a giant bucket that fills frequently, tips, and douses happy swimmers. Impressive!

I asked CJ to write a description of a pool he'd design. Here's what he came up with: 

If I were to design a swimming pool, one of the first things I would do is make sure that the  pool is the right length, width and height. I would make sure that at one end, the pool would be rather shallow, but as it gradually progresses from one end to the other of the pool, the water would get less and less shallow. This would make it so that families with younger and/or learning swimmers could have fun along with those who are more experienced.

Another thing I would design for the pool would be to make a slide that you could ride down and crash into the pool with. A design I would consider for that slide is one where you could get a tube and ride down a large slide with, landing the tube into the pool. (Hopefully, you would put the tube where it belongs!)

Last, and possibly least, is putting a little "river" structure in the pool. You could swim (or walk) in the flow for a nice, pleasant experience that allows swimmers to relax. maybe at one point, there could be an intersection with a path that leads to a part of the pool, and another path that allows the swimmer to continue their pleasant path n the river structure.

Sounds a lot like the pool in Lynnwood!

Music and More

EMP EXPERIENCE:   I'm still playing catch up from our busy weekend. It included a field trip to Experience Music Project, and I took so many photos, it has taken me awhile to sort through them.

We went to EMP on Saturday for free thanks to the Smithsonian's Museum Day Live! annual event. 

It had been months since we've been to EMP (it's kind of a spendy visit at full price), and so we were very happy to be there.

One of the feature exhibits they have at the present is Hear My Train a Coming: Hendrix Hits London.  I love me some Jimi, so I was thrilled to get to see it.

I really loved how the exhibit designer(s) make an enormous, 3D Union Jack out of beautiful fabrics. Very clever. 

Naturally, a highlight of the exhibit are what's left of some of Jimi's guitars.

 He literally loved them to death, according to literature on display. Before shows, Hendix would custom paint them.            

 We enjoyed some Hendrix music videos on the mammoth HD screen in EMP's "Sky Church." Here, Jimi plays his iconic version of "The Star Spangled Banner" at Woodstock. The kids and everyone else in the area were spellbound.

We wandered through other musical-themed exhibits, including one about music videos called "Spectacle."  Here are the suits the guys in OK GO wore during their fun "This Too Shall Pass" video.

 If you haven't seen the video yet, it's definitely worth a watch.

The exhibit included the original drawings used in the famous video "Take on Me" by Norwegian synth-pop band A-ha.

That video is worth a watch, as well. It was groundbreaking back in the day (1985, to be exact).


We recognized these clothes right away - they're from Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' mega-hit "Thrift Shop."

The kids enjoyed watching an amazing 3D video by Bjork for her song "

Eventually we made our way to the Science Fiction section of the museum.  Pretty cool entrance, no?

 

Right at the entrance is the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.

One of the first things we saw upon entering the exhibit was Uhura's red dress from the original "Star Trek" series. They also had her little communications earpiece.

And how much drama went down in this chair? Can't you just picture William Shatner as Captain Kirk sitting in it?

Also on display was one of the Superman costumes Christopher Reeves wore.

The museum also has an exhibit called "Can't Look Away: The Lure of Horror Films." This interactive screen was a lot of fun - it morphed you into a monster!

 The absolutely terrifying steel skull from Terminator 2 was in the collection. Scary!

And here's the original Creature from the Black Lagoon mask from 1954. Funny, it was black and white when I saw it as a kid. ;)

Recognize this tattered suit? It's from Michael Jackson's music video "Thriller," which was directed by horror (and other) movie maker John Landis. 

One of the most famous axes ever. Can't you just picture Jack Nicholson clutching it, maniacally saying, "Here's Johnny!"?

 And if you're talking scary and sci-fi, you have to have one of these nasty Aliens, right?

In addition to all of the above, EMP also has a special exhibit right now called "Fantasy: Worlds of Myth and Magic."  It blew our socks off!

What a treat to get to see original costumes from "The Wizard of Oz"!

Here's the unmistakeable black hat belonging to you -know-whom.

 And check out the original Cowardly Lion costume. Did you know it's made from real lion pelts? I never would have guessed that (and I suggest that would *never* happen today).

 And check out this castle guard's suit. It was absolutely gorgeous in person. The fine details on it were amazing!

When I saw this outfit, I had to stifle a fan girl "SQUEE!!"

 It was worn by David Bowie in "Labyrinth," one of my favorite movies EVER! 

 The masks from the masquerade ball, when Bowie was singing "As the World Falls Down." Sigh. 

 After our visit, the kids enjoyed running through the labyrinth outside of EMP. 

 It's always more work and takes longer than they think it's going to!