Us + Them

BOOKENDS: Sunday, we ripped up to another country (specifically, Canada), to catch the Roger Waters Us + Them tour finale. We had the chance to see the show a few months back down in Tacoma. It was so good, we wanted more, and that's what we got.

We left the Seattle area around noon, and made good time to Vancouver. We went to Renee and Jim's place on the University of British Columbia campus, hung out there for a couple of hours, and then made our way to the show. 

We had nice seats - the first row up off the floor.

I never thought I'd get to see "Great Gig in the Sky" performed live once, let alone twice. It was remarkable.

If you're at a Pink Floyd/Roger Waters concert, you have to expect flying pigs.

 This show did not dissapoint.

In the photo below, the pig is just feet over CJ, Christian and Jim's heads.

Roger Waters always has been, and always will be (I'd wager) a political person. This tour is no exception. Common themes throughout were the refugee crisis and his obvious disdain for the current U.S. president.

The concert was a multi-media affair. Huge screens were used dynamically throughout the last half of the show, and during "Dark Side of the Moon," cool lasers were employed.

At the end of the concert, tends of thousands of papers rained down from the sky. 

This was the message ... 

In other news, this much lighter message was on a delightful mousse cake after the concert, back at Renee and Jim's. It was delicious!

 We had a sunny, swift drive home, save the 40 minutes or so at the border.

All in all, a wonderful 24 hours.

On the Run

TRAILING: We are so, SO far behind on MPA posts. I'm not sure how to even start catching up. :(

Just this weekend, alone, is enough to make me need to kneel down to catch my breath.

Saturday night, we were leaders of a crew providing dinner at a youth homeless shelter, Teen Feed. When we started volunteering there (once monthly, or so, over a year ago), we used to have 25-30 guests for dinner. Last Saturday night, we had twice that, at least. 

We were in charge of menu planning and execution of serving the meal. 

We opted for a chili dog bar with all of the fixins. We served up nice, big quarter pound hot dogs and oversized buns, mostly homemade savory chili with mega protein and veggies, with toppings including sour cream, onions, jalapenos, cheddar cheese, hot sauce and such. Naturally, we had to provide vegan and/or gluten free options for the dogs and chili and buns. There were also sides of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Dessert was six different kinds of crispy rice cereal bars, with Halloween influences. 

The diners loved having all the options and ate like they hadn't eaten in awhile (for instance, more than one had four hot dogs).

It was a challenging evening, and we were thanked profusely by many of the diners. 

TREATING: Halloween was all sorts of fun. Abbreviated version: The kids both had award winning costumes. :)

Bee was Taco Belle, a mash up of Disney Princess Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and Taco Belle, one of America's favorite fast food establishments.

I cannot put into words how happy this costume made the general public who saw it. People yelled "TACO BELLE!!!" across stores and parking lots. They just loved it. 

We bought a cheap Belle dress off of Amazon, and made the tacos out of felt, spray insulating foam (the meat/beans), yarn (for the cheese), tissue paper (the lettuce) and tomatoes (red foam). 

Annabelle crafted the famous rose from the story out of hot sauce packets. 

On Monday night, Halloween Eve, we went to our new neighborhood's Halloween celebration, at Skyway Park Bowl. Her costume won first place for funniest costume at the event. 

CJ was also a winner, with his Mario Kart-themed costume.

Amidst all of this, I have left out our trip to Canada this weekend, and a Halloween visit to an amazing Harry Potter themed attraction in Seattle. Tomorrow, hopefully!