Musical

BACK AT IT: The kids and Christian arrived home last night, with loads of dirty laundry, a few mosquito bites and good memories of their trip.

Some of those good memories include songs 'round the campfire. Here's one.


LONG LIVE THE QUEEN: On a hot July afternoon, 33 years and what feels like more than a lifetime ago, I was super pregnant with my first, sweltering through a hot summer, but was so lucky to have cable TV, so that I was able to see a once-in-a-lifetime event.

The occasion was Live Aid. It was a dual-venue (Wembley Stadium in London, JFK stadium in Philadelphia) benefit concert, organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. 

I was glued to the television for the entirely of the broadcast.

There were so many wonderful performances, but one group absolutely stole the day. 

Full disclosure: I am a big time Queenie. I have loved the bad forever and a day. But on this day, Live Aid, they SLAYED it.

You really should watch this. I've seen it so many times before, but we watched it again today. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A22oy8dFjqc

Long live the Queen. 

Nearing the Finish Line

MY DAYS ARE NUMBERED: Today was Day 5 of the Great House Painting Project.
Since Sunday, I've been working away at it, and by this morning, I was down to second-coating some trim, doing a few touch ups, and installing one finishing touch, new house numbers.

I picked some 'floating' (mounted out, away from the fascia board) digits, in mid-century modern font, since this house, 'born' in 1962, is definitely MCM vintage.

*Do* note how my ladder is tied off for safety. *Do not* look at the semi-precarious blocking beneath it. ;)

Have I mentioned that the dogs are *not* enjoying painting the house. They don't understand all the commotion, why I'm outside 12 hours a day, why they can't be on the ladder, any of it. ... Maybe it's especially confounding to them because dogs are supposedly color blind?

I've tried to keep them outside with me a fair amount of the time. It has been hot, so most of the time, they lounge in the shade, alternatively barking or whining, while I work. 

Below, Kirby embraces her inner mountain goat - and waits for our neighbor's dog to come out to the fence line, just uphill from her.

STEMonstrations: Did you know there's an educator orbiting Earth right now? Yup, that would be NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold. The former middle school teacher is a mission specialist on board the International Space Station, and is participating in A Year of Education on Station, a celebration of a yearlong educator presence on the ISS.

Today, I watched a quick video "STEMonstration," Surface Tension in Space. 

In it, Arnold explains that more than 70 percent of our planet is covered by water, which is is crucial for life, of course. In addition, water has many unique properties, one of which is  surface tension. Arnold demonstrates how surface tension works a lot differently in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station as compared to down on Earth.

When the kids get home (later today), I will share the video with them, of course. Oh, and it's more than a video: NASA has also posted coinciding classroom connections on  https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstrations.
https://youtu.be/34bFgA3H3hQ

Field Day

STARRY EYED: This morning I had to head to the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle for a meeting about taxes. Not usually the most fun thing to do, but as  luck would have it, I was listening to local sports talk radio right before I left, and heard breaking news that the Seattle Mariners were hosting a "SeguraFest" party at Safeco Field during the lunch hour. 

The event was a promotion to bolster Mariners' shortstop Jean Segura's campaign to win the last American League spot on the Major League Baseball All Star team.


As I was already going to be driving by the stadium in that time frame, I simply *HAD* to stop in.

After my meeting, I piloted the Honda to the Safeco Field garage, where parking was free for the occasion - hooray! I walked to the stadium, solo, as Christian and the kids  are still gone camping, but was soon caught up in a wave of Mariners blue fans. We entered the stadium through a VIP gate, and were ushered through a fancy lobby with lots of memorabilia I would have loved to stop and stare at. However, we were being urged along by Mariners employees, urging us to vote on our phones while we made our way to voting stations on the field.

Guests were directed to enter through the exclusive Diamond Club area, and then were ushered to the stadium's "basement," where there are a series of tunnels.

Fans were directed to head down the umpires' tunnel, toward the field. 

 The 'basement' walls are filled with Mariners' legends. 

 Finally, some (day)light at the end of the (umpire) tunnel!

It was a beautiful day at the ballpark! The scene nearly took my breath away, truth be told. I;ve been there countless times as a fan, but I'd never set foot on the Safeco Field grass before!

 The big screen had a non-stop series of #SendSegura-related Tweets displayed.

 Ooh, what's that over there on that table? ... Looks like a small stack of t-shirts. ...

Sure-enough, I came away with one (of the few) Send Segura shirts given away today, as well as some arm bands and a Send Segura sign!

The t-shirts have been seen all over these last few days, from an Alaska Airlines flight ... 

This L.A.-bound @AlaskaAir flight is DEFINITELY ready to #SendSegura. 🛫

🗳️ https://t.co/Q16mvWsAww#TrueToTheBlue x @AlaskaAir pic.twitter.com/mbKPVsubSC

— #SentSegura (@Mariners) July 10, 2018

to the charter the Mariners took down to Los Angeles, to play the Angels. (Photo below is from the Seattle Mariners' Twitter account.)

I waited in line between first and second base for a bit, waiting to get to the voting stations near the shortstop spot, where Segura plays.

 Standing behind second base and staring toward home was kind of surreal.

Soon, marketing staff for the Mariners asked people to gather for a group shot.

I took that opportunity to skedaddle over to the voting stations!

Tablets were set up, all ready for us to cast our votes for Jean. Speaking of Jean, Jean, the Hitting Machine Segura, I *loved* that David Bowie's Jean Jeannie was playing over the Safeco PA while I waited.

 I voted three times on site (adding to the couple hundred times I voted at home).

We exited through the visitors' dugout. People were thrilled to get a chance to check that out, myself included.

 I should have sat and stayed awhile.

And the really good news? Our efforts paid off! It was announced this evening that Jean Segura won the final spot on the All Star team! 

He joins fellow Mariners Mitch Haniger, Nelson Cruz, and Edward Diaz on the team. Go Mariners!
Not gonna lie, I actually had a lump in my throat as I was standing on the sidewalk just outside of the stadium as I exited. I realized that I haven't allowed myself to get my hopes up about the Mariners for so, so long.

I've always loved the Mariners, but frankly, there has been no JOY in it for so long now.

This year is different. No matter what happens from here on out this season, 2018 will go down as the year joy returned to Seattle baseball. And for that, I am grateful.

Here and There

IN TENTS: Reports from campers down south are positive.  They have an enormous, multi-room tent, comfy beds, and the weather is agreeable. Yay for that.

I am going to make a bold prediction: I'll bet CJ has already eaten both of the bags of Doritos that made the trip with the campers.

Here's a near-sunset photo from the campground (Baker Bay), taken by Christian tonight.

BUCKET LIST: Meanwhile, back at MPA, buckets of paint rule the day. I've finished the east end of the house, the north side, and about all of the east side I can reach safely, without a spotter. 

This afternoon, I started working on painting the front wood thingee jutting out from the front's stone facade. It's currently covered in the pastel/minty green color that we're working to make disappear.

Part of my painting today involved drips and drops on on things I didn't mean to paint. Like, the daisies.

 And I got a little paint on the hops. Oops.

STARRY, STARRY NIGHTS: Summertime can be a great time to scan the stars. Recently, 
NPR shared this new video in their "Skunk Bear" series. (Skunk Bear is NPR's science show, during which reporter Adam Cole "explores the secrets of the universe, documents the wonders of nature, and occasionally draws pictures of owls," per NPR.)

Skunk Bear tells us how to find summer constellations,  

Lost Time

MAKING UP: Yeah, so, we're still kicking here at MPA. 

Apologies for being rather terrible about keeping up-to-date here. We've been a bit busy.

For instance, last Thursday night we went to a Mariners' game. 

It was a gorgeous night for baseball, on and off the field. The Ms won 4-1, and we got to see some great pitching and defensive gems.

Oh, and dogs. We got to see some dogs. Many, MANY dogs.  It was "Bark at the Park" night, and a special ticket let you bring your four-legged friend out to the old ball game.

Our dogs stayed home, because we actually wanted to watch the game.

This weekend we were busy with a number of activities. A bright spot on the 'to do' list was a cocktail party Saturday afternoon for Christian and me at a friend's beautiful home. So fancy!

Meanwhile, the kids spent a couple of hours at Seattle Center, mostly at MoPop, but they also checked out the International Fountain, a Polish festival, and the food court in the Armory.

Saturday night we packed and packed and packed, as Sunday morning the kids and Christian left for a camping excursion along the Dorena Reservoir. 

They were in one packed to the rafters (and beyond) car, let me tell you!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I began a little paint project.

 As in, painting our home exterior.

I'm two days in now and making OK progress. The painting is fun. The cleaning, prep, moving millions of things around, notsomuch.

One quick side story about paint. ... Sunday morning, I was at the local hardware/paint store bright and early, the only one at the paint counter when I arrived. 

While my paint was being mixed, a man came in carrying an ornament from a concrete fountain. He asked the people at the counter to color match it, and they said their scanner wouldn't work on it and told him to go find the color on his own from the wall of samples.

He looked over at the wall with hundreds upon hundreds of different swatches and his expression was absolutely crestfallen. Rather than try to find the right color himself, he started to leave the store instead. 

I quickly called after him, "Wait, let's go look and see if we can find a match!" Immediately, I started pulling brown sample paper swatches from the wall, and holding them next to his object. Quickly, I eliminated most all of the samples. "Nope, too purple. ... Nope too gray .. Nope, too yellow," I was saying aloud. He was bewildered and said, "What do you mean, 'too purple' - it's brown. They're all brown. Why are you talking about purple and gray? How can you tell the difference?"

I explained that I paint a LOT and am used to looking for the perfect color. And I told him that based on his example, he should look for what looks like chocolate to him. That seemed to make him feel it was manageable, and he pulled a couple of examples. I pulled a few, and we found four decent contenders. However, then I told him not to order one until he went out into the sunlight to see what it really looked like, because you should never choose a color based on bad hardware store lighting. 

Anyway, long story long, I was happy to help him. I love looking at colors and trying to find the perfect fit, but seriously, the paint counter people should have offered to do what I did. I was their only customer when he walked up, and there were two of them standing behind the counter. For all they knew, the guy was colorblind. They shouldn't have just sent him over there, unassisted.