Bright Spots

PRETTY HARDY: Yes, more photos from our yard. Sorry. That whole pandemic thing. ... 

We have been enjoying some pretty and persistent flowers from our yard. Our one and only dahlia still has several pink flowers. 

And we even have a crazy daisy or two in November. That surprised us! 

Our Japanese maple is stunning right about now - the colors are so vibrant. This photo doesn't do it justice.

APPLIED: Yesterday morning, I was disappointed when I awoke at 6:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. I was so tired from the 14-hour work day on the day before, I was hoping I could sleep in and relax some. Oh well, my brain had other ideas, I guess.

So, laying there wide awake, for whatever reason, I thought to check the King County animal shelter's site for any volunteer opportunity for CJ. Sadly, they had nothing due to COVID-19. However, I saw a link to other county volunteer opportunities and clicked on it.  Within seconds I saw something called "South for Parks Winter Workshop Series." It was described as follows ... 

This virtual program is an opportunity for young people in grades 9-12 to participate in a series of Zoom sessions on various environmental topics related to parks and green space. This one-time opportunity will involve a co-design process where participating youth work with Parks staff on our new summer internship program for high school students.

We firmly believe that youth programs should be informed by young people like you, so apply and be part of this process! Participants will receive a stipend for doing the workshop.

I clicked the link to look at the application and found that it was pretty short, and I also discovered that the deadline for applying was yesterday by 5 p.m.! 

When they got up, I showed the kids the page and asked if they were interested in applying. They each said they were, so our "to do" list for yesterday changed. We'll see if either one of them gets accepted into the program. It's hard to know if 2 or 200 teens will apply, and the post didn't say how big the group would be. 

ELECTION REFLECTION: What an experience working for King County Elections was this cycle! Turnout was phenomenal, and I got a chance to meet so many voters, many of whom I'll never forget. One gentleman who came to my station was absolutely beaming - I could see that even behind his mask. He placed his voter registration on my table and right next to it he placed this ornate certificate. It was mid-afternoon on the final voting day, and I was trying to work as fast as possible. In fact, I was in such a hurry, I'll admit I didn't even read the document, but I just instinctively said, "That is beautiful."

The gentleman pointed to the paper and told me he had just received his citizenship. He rushed straight from that office to the Renton vote center.

Through misty eyes, I registered the new voter and issued his first ballot as an American citizen.

Though 2020 has dished out more than its fair share of ugly, that moment was a moving reminder to me of how beautiful America can be and still is. 

Tacos and Ballots

BOXING: We're just a couple of days away from the election, and votes continue to pour in early here in King County. As of Halloween night at 6 p.m., of the county's 1,409,017 registered voters, 1,014,55, or 72 percent, had returned their ballots. That's fantastic! We spied this ballot box at the White Center library a couple of nights ago. It looked lonely in the moment, but it, like other ballot box drops, has been plenty busy. 

As of noon on November 4, King County Elections was reporting 1,209,255 of King County's 1,425,772 registered voters had returned their ballots - that's 84.81 percent! 

STOLEN TACOS: One fun thing we look forward to each year for the past couple of years is stealing tacos. 

Never fear, we are not robbing Taco Bells, rather, they have been doing a promotion where if a player steals a base during the World Series, every American is eligible to 'steal' a taco.

We have Mookie Betts of the Dodgers to thank for our free tacos. During my lunch break, we tore down to the Taco Bell in Renton. Surprisingly, there was only one other car in line. Don't people like free tacos?!

CJ sure does. :) We may or may not have passed another Taco Bell several hours later. ... 

TREAT TOSS: Friday afternoon we were able to participate in a gathering with about 50 or so, I think. It was the first time we've done anything like that in, like, FOREVER.

The occasion was a Halloween costume parade and candy toss at a park by the kids' former school. To keep it safe, social distancing was strictly enforced, there were gloves and hand sanitizer, masks everywhere and it was only a half hour long. 

We know a lot of the students at CJ and Annabelle's former school have food allergies, so we opted to bring some Dollar Store prizes instead, along with a few packs of nori (seaweed), which were surprisingly popular.

Unicorn Annabelle tossed them into kids' bags. 

Meanwhile, CJ, as Buddy the Elf, tossed some fruit leather for a parent, so that he could walk around the circle with his kids. 

The kids didn't go trick or treating this year, and I had to work all day on Halloween, but I did order them some treats online, which they and Christian went to pick up in the late afternoon at Cupcake Royale. 

Pretty cool, and tasty, too, I'm told.