Monday Match

FLOWER POWER: What you see above is no garden-variety zinnia. 

This one's special.

It was grown in space!

More specifically, in the International Space Station's "greenhouse." How cool is that? Astronaut Scott Kelly posted the photo this weekend on social media.

I think I like this shot of it even better. You can see Earth in the background!!

I think it's my favorite photo of a flower EVER!

PRODUCTION KITCHEN: We're in the midst of a rather large baking project - making THREE HUNDRED little spanakopitas for the audience to snack on while watching a Greek-themed play CJ is involved in on Thursday and Friday this week.

It's a bit of a project. ... We've got about half of them done as of this moment. 

ICY AFTERNOON: We took a break from our ancient Greece inspired cooking and sewing projects to go to a hockey game. Specifically, an Everett Silvertips game. It's the first hockey game CJ and Annabelle have ever been to, and it was big fun!

The Zamboni was entertaining, as always. Talk about a specialized machine!

The game posessed all of the elements you'd expect to see at a hockey match. There was a (brief) fight, there was blood on the ice (an unrelated incident), and lots of crashing the boards. 

We had great seats (eight rows off the ice) for $12 apiece, including a good sized hot dog and a drink.

In the end, the Silvertips were victorious, thanks to a goal in sudden death overtime.

As an added bonus, the venue is home to the Snohomish Sports Hall of Fame.

 Definitely some familiar faces in the crowd there, including former Cougars coach Dennis Erickson.

 And there was Gilby ...

 As well as a display honoring Jim Lambright.

 Another Husky legend, Chris Chandler, is also a member (as is figure skater Rosalynn Sumners - I forgot she was from around here).

SIDETRACKED:  After the hockey game, we headed to the Everett waterfront for a quick early dinner. We passed the first driveway to the restaurant, so came in the back way. Turned out to be a fortuitous reroute, as we accidentally stumbled across this wreck of a ship.

 We pulled over to take a closer look. Turns out this decrepit old schooner hull is none other than the Equator.

It doesn't look sea worthy right now, but in 1889, the schooner carried Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife on a voyage through the islands of Micronesia. 

 Built in San Francisco in 1888, the ship was apparently abandoned in Everett in 1957.

You really should check out this vintage photo of it in Everett back in the day: http://focus.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Photos/72001281.pdf

The Robert Louis Stevenson organization has some great photos of the famous author on board this ship in 1889, including this gem ...

There are no plans to restore the schooner, which is one of a kind at this point ... 

but I sure wish they'd find a nicer way to display it. Right now it's surrounded by ugly chain link fence, you can't see its top or inside it at all.