Water Weekend

BRAIN GAMES:  Anyone following our blog knows we love thrift shops. Many/most national holidays are also 50 percent off days at Value Village, so of course, we had to go there today.

We found CJ and Annabelle some fancy duds to wear to an Oscars party on Sunday, but we also found some books and games, including a vintage version of Mastermind.

While we were pawing over it at the store, a woman appeared out of nowhere. She said she heard us talking about it and had to come see. Likewise, a bit later, when we were at our favorite ale-and-ice cream place playing it, it was a magnet for people of a certain age. A classic game - simple, challenging logic.

Mastermind was the very first computer program Christian ever wrote, circa 1982 on a Commodore 64. It was saved it on a cassette tape (archaic!).  As I write this, Annabelle is working on writing a Mastermind program for Scratch (https://scratch.mit.edu/).

ON THE WATERFRONT: We had a fun Sunday afternoon, out on a boat on Lake Union.

Specifically, we had a Groupon to burn for an electric boat rental.  Electric boats are so great! Sure, you're not going to set any speed records, but they're quiet and environmentally friendly and totally not stinky (the exhaust on gas-fired boats I've been on makes me green). 

We had a grand old time. Here's CJ, oblivious to the Aurora and Ballard bridges, enjoying a Mountain Dew. :)

We had a couple of hours to putter around. It was not super warm, but clear, so we couldn't complain! We kept the clear plastic window flaps down and were plenty comfortable.

We saw lots of working boats. ...

and many houseboats  ...

of all shapes and sizes.

We saw a dragon boat practicing off Gasworks Park's Kite Hill ...

and all kinds of birds attracted to the water, like these cormorant.

Different people took turns piloting the boat. ...

And we admired other boats we passed.

All in all, it was a lovely two hours.  

SKETCHY: Talk about paper gold! Loved this post I found on Facebook today of NASA-owned images. The first one is the handwriting of none other than Wernher Von Braun. What a treasure this is - von Braun's words and ideas regarding converting a Saturn V rocket to a space station, as well!

 In this 1964 sketch, Saturn V designer (and NSS founding father) Wernher von Braun imagines converting the rocket's 2nd stage into a space station.