Waylaid

DUWAMISH WAY: Playing catch up here. This post was supposed to go down last week. Logging in today I noticed it was waylaid. Oops.

Friday middday, we wanted to get ourselves and our dogs out into the sunshine. We decided to head down the hill about two miles to the west to check out a park we've driven by dozens of times. Yesterday, we learned it's called the Duwamish Gardens Project.

The park's tiny, 5-car parking lot is right under the light rail line. It was cool to watch the trains whiz by, overhead.

We headed down a pathway near the park's northern border. Before long, we encountered an art installation. 

The art was multi-sensory: Pretty to look at, and it played soft chiming music as the light breezed moved its elements. A nearby sign explained that the sculpture was supposed to be evocative of the method the Coast Salish used to preserve salmon they'd harvested.

The park is full of native plants, many of which were blooming during our visit. This is the viewpoint looking back toward the parking lot/light rail track, at the western-most border of the park. Can you spy the solitary fisherman?

It's a pretty little park, and a spot we'll visit again, but it wasn't a great place to go for a walk, given the short trail. So, we stopped at another, nearby park on the way home. There, we found these beautiful flowers (dahlias?) in bloom. No filter on the photo below - their color was amazingly vibrant!

SOMETHING BREWING: This morning, Annabelle and I updated our kombucha brewing operation. Kennedy was handling it while he was here, but he has moved on, so it's up to us to keep the mother alive.

Not gonna lie, every time I have to look at or work with the mass of bacteria, it grosses me out. I mean, ewwww.  Hard to believe that something that looks this terrible produces something that is supposedly good for you (kombucha is chock full o' probiotics).

The finished product looks slightly less sinister ...but to my eye, it does kind of resemble a specimen jar you might find in a lab in Area 51 or Dr. Frankenstein's castle.

EXPANSIVE: I had the kids read a really interesting article on Space.com about the Bigelow Aerospace B330 habitat that's being tested by NASA right now. I've long thought the Bigelow approach of building inflatable/expandable habitats makes so much sense.

One of the most interesting parts of the article to me was a photo where you could see the words "does not exist" on certain parts in the habitat. What the label meant was that, for instance, the steel walkway wouldn't be present in a space habitat, because in near zero-gravity, no one's needing a walkway in the habitat!

YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING: I don't usually post political news on the MPA blog, but a headline today was just too much to pass up, so the kids and I read it. The article in The Hill was titled: "Trump on energy-efficient light bulbs: 'I always look orange' "

Last week, the Trump administration finalized the reversal of the Obama administration's efficiency standards on light bulbs. A compelling reason for this anti-environmental action: Trump blames the bulbs for showing him in an unflattering light, literally.

At a recent rally in Fayetteville, Trump claimed, "I'm not a vain person. ... But I look better under an incandescent light than these crazy (LED) lights that are beaming down."

And in a speech to Republican House members, Trump told the group, "People said, 'What's with the light bulb?' And I said 'Here's the story,' and I looked at it. ... The bulb that we're being forced to use, number one, to me most importantly, the light's no good. I always look orange."

So there you have it, an illuminating look into the inner 'workings' of the mind of the man that is the current President of the United States of America.