Easy Does It

QUIET TIME: How 'bout that. Today we didn't have any big ol' whoop ti do to do. No museum. No fair. No carnival. No expo. 

Our dogs were glad for our lack of agenda. ;)

This afternoon, we took them down to "Secret Beach" (an end of the road kayak launch in Magnolia), during a very high tide. 

They wished they were retrievers, like the water dog chasing sticks like crazy.

But, alas, they're shore pups.

So, they settled for watching some of their humans frolic on the shore.

TUTORIAL: The kids have been working very hard on a Star Wars fan fic project for the upcoming "Star Wars Reads" day, Saturday, Oct. 10. The Museum of Flight here in Seattle is hosting a competition, and so we'll be sending off their entries to them pretty soon.

Annabelle, a whiz at Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, features five illustrations along with her story, five pictures being the limit per contest rules. 

CJ's story about the cantina band from the original movie is word-centric, but he wanted at least one picture to go along with. Annabelle sat down with him and worked with him to do a draft of some Bith musicians (Bith being the name of the species of the cantina band characters).

I found CJ's drawing (above) after the kids were all done and Annabelle had written "Nice job, CJ!" on the bottom of it, with a star. Sweet. 

Yesterday and today, Annabelle helped CJ take his drawing from paper to Illustrator. It took a few hours, but in the end, CJ was so pleased and proud of the product. (Stay tuned for a look at it.)

LET ME TAKE A SELFIE: CJ started quizzing me about the history of photography - specifically, when it became accessible to the masses - this morning. I know a fair amount on the topic, having toiled many hours in the darkroom back in the day, but we hopped online and did a little research.

While reading, we were delighted to find this photo. It is, reportedly, the very first selfie.

It's of Robert Cornelius, taken in Oct. or Nov. 1839, using an approximate quarter plate daguerreotype. The back of this photo reads, "The first light picture ever taken."
Presumably, it was taken without a selfie stick. ... 

Cornelius took it outside of his family store, at about age 30. The family business included work in silver. The metal is was a crucial element of early photography.

This image, in the public domain, is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3f04912. 

TEASER: We received an interesting email today. Its subject line? "NASA to Announce Mars Mystery Solved."

O really!?! What mystery would that be?!

Sorry, but they're not telling - yet. Per the press release, "Nature Geoscience has Embargoed Details until 8 a.m. PDT/11 a.m. EDT Sept. 28)." At that time, "NASA will detail a major science finding from the agency's ongoing exploration of Mars ..." The event will be broadcast live on NASA Television and the agency's website (http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv and/or http://www.ustream.tv/NASAJPL) News conference participants will be Jim Green, director of planetary science at NASA HQ; Michael Meyer, lead scientist for the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters; Lujendra Ojha of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta; Mary Beth Wilhelm of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California and the Georgia Institute of Technology; and Alfred McEwen, principal investigator for the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) at the University of Arizona in Tucson. The public can ask questions during the briefing using #AskNASA tag on social media (I'm guessing Twitter would be a best bet). We're certainly going to be watching! Hopefully, they're finally going to tell us how ancient Martians dug all those canals.

All's Fair

FALLING FOR THE FAIR: Summer may be officially over, but today was full of sunny skies and state fair fun for us. What a great way to spend the first day of fall.

I told the kids we were going to the fair and since it was sunny and relatively warm and we'd be walking a lot asked the kids to dress in lightweight pants and shirts. They emerged from their rooms looking like this. 

I couldn't help but remark that they looked like they were running off to join the circus, not going to the fair. 

Annabelle decided to change. CJ decided not to. Whatever. The fair was full of colorful characters. 

There were roller coasters to ride, including the Wild Cat.

And the classic old coaster on a big ol' wood framed structure. 

 The kids were in the last occupied car, with Christian just ahead of them.

And then there Rainier Rush, that took CJ and Christian (in the front car) up, down, around, and upside down.

Annabelle passed on that ride!

The kids went 'hang-gliding.' 

And they went on a couple of big swings.

 They're at 7 o'clock in the photo above.

 And Annabelle's at about 3 o'clock in the photo below.

The kids did some sliding ... 

and some "scrambling."

And they even ventured into a not-so-spooky haunted house.

We sampled a little fair food, but not this ...

 or this ...

or this ...

While the kids and Christian were riding, I decided to use my free time by looking at horrifying only-at-the-fair graphics on some of the attractions.

For instance, look at these portraits that adorned the front of the Wild Cat roller coaster.

 What made them even more horrifying is they were about eight by four feet in size. 

And how about this, on the front of a fun house for kids ... 

 Why of COURSE it's a man in a chicken suit  pounding a drink.  Here it is in "context," as if that makes it any more OK. ...

Honestly, the graphics on this giant swing ride looked like fine art compared to the other attractions.

There were random signs that caught my eye. ...

But we decided not to spend $11 to let passersby know they're being barked at by Havanese.

 We also declined to get "FAIR HAIR!"

 We really wanted to peek in the door of this office, but didn't.

 And I couldn't help but think the lost children on this sign look super happy. Hopefully it doesn't make any kids want to go missing.

Predictably, the midway was full of enormous prizes, like this giant pug, to tempt you to throw your money away.

And I suppose you can't go to a fair without seeing a clown or two. 

At least JP Patches is a friendly clown.

 But these body-less heads on the midway were horrifying. 

 And what's with someone randomly writing 'FAT PAT' on the wall below the big clown?

 Fortunately, Annabelle was willing to try to kill the clowns for me. Look at the determination on her face!

We did eventually venture into some of the educational buildings. In one, we saw a giant pumpkin! 

According to the sign beside it, it grew to full size ( pounds) in 81 days, growing 1.5 pounds an hour on average!

We saw some neat displays by Granges in the state. 

We checked out some peppers, but noticed none of the entrants were Trinidad Moruga Scorpions or Ghost chiles or Carolina Reapers, three super hot types CJ is growing.

There were pretty petals to appreciate, too.

All in all, it was a busy, busy day full of big fun!