Much Music

BAY WATCH: We've had a couple of warm (for Seattle days), and clouds are starting to roll in, which made it rather humid today. We decided to beat the post-dinner heat by heading down to the water. Plus, it gave Annabelle a chance to try out the brand new Keen water shoes we got at a great price (1/4 retail!) at Goodwill today.

"I can walk on water!" she happily announced. Clearly, the shoes work. 

IT'S BEEN A LONG, LONG TIME: We started watching lectures from Week 1 of our History of Rock 'n Roll class today. These first lectures are primarily about mainstream pop music before the birth of rock 'n roll. Bing Crosby was one of the biggest names in the business. I made sure to tell the kids he's from Washington. I think the only Bing they've heard to date is "White Christmas," so I had them listen to "It's Been a Long, Long Time," a lovely performance with the Les Paul Trio. 

Sinatra also got his start before rock took off. We listened to "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)"   (interestingly, Phil Silvers was one of the song's co-writers).

Big Band music was also pre-rock. The kids learned a bit about Benny Goodman, Harry James, Woody Herman, Tommy Dorsey and, of course, Glenn Miller. I had them listen to a Miller recording of "A String of Pearls" from November 8, 1941, 

When it came to women, The Andrews' Sisters were as big as anyone. I played "Rum and Coca Cola"on YouTube for the kids.  

A couple lectures covered the early years of country and western music - and yes, the 'and' belongs between those two words. We learned about the differences between country music (mostly SE U.S., with white gospel influences) and western music ('cowboy' songs and Western swing, with roots in Texas, Oklahoma and California). Early country artists were the Carter Family, Roy Acuff and Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers (you know we just HAD to listen to a track from them today!). Early western music stars were Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, and Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. 

We also learned about the rise of Nashville, the Grand Ole Opry, and the birth of bluegrass, which isn't as long ago as most people think it is. It pretty much spawned when Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys burst on the scene in 1945. We listened to Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky" as an example. 

We also watched a video featuring a 1952 television performance by singer-songwriter Hank Williams where he performed "Hey, Good Lookin' " Afterward, I found myself reading a wiki about him, and learned he had spina bifida. Speculation is the pain from that condition is one of the factors that 'helped' him get hooked on narcotics. 

A FRICKIN' LASER BEAM!: Our favorite, laser-shootin', Mars explorin' rover continues to be a workhorse on the Red Planet. The rover recently drilled into some sandstone, zapped it with ChemCam, and then took this photo of it. 

Now, some of the powdered rock collected is inside MSL, to be analyzed by its on board lab instruments. 

AND A REAL, LIVE FLYING SAUCER:  NASA's gearing up for a Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) experiment over the Pacific Ocean featuring a saucer shaped craft. The flight will simulate the entry, descent and landing speeds a spacecraft would be exposed to when flying through the Martian atmosphere. During the test, a disk carrying an inflatable inner-tube-shaped decelerator and parachute system will be lofted to an altitude of 120,000 feet (37 kilometers) via a giant balloon. After release, rockets will lift the disk another 60,000 feet  while reaching supersonic speeds. As it descends, LDSD will be traveling at 3.5 times the speed of sound, the saucer's decelerator will inflate, and a parachute will deploy to carry it to the ocean's surface.

On June 2, at 11 a.m. PDT, NASA will hold a media briefing about LDSD (coverage on NASA TV - http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv). NASA has six potential dates for launch of the high-altitude balloon carrying the LDSD experiment: June 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13. 

Here's a short video with more info about LDSD

I also found a neat classroom activity about LDSD - http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/best_ldsd_workbook.pdf

LAUNCH ALERT: We were all prepped to watch a Delta IV launch this evening around 5 when we got news it was scrubbed due to weather in Cape Canaveral.network. The launch has been rescheduled for Friday evening, 5:03 p.m. Pacific time. You can follow the mission on Spaceflight Now: http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d366/status.html

There's a new Global Positioning System satellite on board. 

Yesterdays

MEMORY ROAD: I don't often lead with ancient news, but it is also not often that it's the anniversary of us watching a space shuttle leave Planet Earth.

It was on this day four years ago that we sat on the Causeway at Kennedy Space Center and watched Atlantis thunder into the clear blue skies.

We learned that today also marks the anniversary of Skylab's launch back in 1973. How 'bout that?  (Cool photo via NASA, of course.)

Speaking of space stations (and scientific saber rattling), there is word today that Russia plans to abandon ship (well, station) in 2020. We'll see how this plays out. Lots of tough talk back and forth re: the space programs lately.

SUNDAY-MONDAY: Busy weekend here. We spent a sunny Mother's Day at Safeco Field, watching the Mariners make 5 errors along the way to losing. Sounds like fun, no? Actually, it was. As the saying goes, the worst day at the ballpark is better than the best day not at the ballpark.

It was nice the Mariners' Moose brought his mom along for the day.

We were sitting out in left field. Say 'hi' to Ms' left fielder Dustin Ackley.

On the way out we explored a fairly new plaza kitty-corner from Safeco Field's Home Plate entrance. 

Monday, we drove down to P-Town. We arrived early enough to have a light lunch at the art-rich Kennedy School, a McMenamins property. Here are the kids in front of a painting honoring the location's namesake. Love how he's riding a book out into the cosmos!

Christian went to the Blazers' game that evening, and the kids (mostly) enjoyed some swim time in a small, cold hotel pool. 

THE MEN WHO FELL TO EARTH: Yesterday evening, NASA astronaut Rick Mastraccio, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency astro Koichi Wakata and Soyuz commander Mikhail Tyurin of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos)  fell out of the sky and plunked down in a dirt patch southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan at 6:58 Pacific time, having completed a 188-day mission on the ISS.

MEANWHILE, IN SHORELINE: We headed up north for the kids' classes in Shoreline today. Annabelle's art class included a little (harmless) graffiti time in front of the school. Thanks to Annabelle, the sidewalk has been ponified.

ROCK 'N' ROLL 4 EVER:  We've just started another Coursera class, cause you know how we love us some Coursera classes. This one is The History of Rock 'n' Roll Part 1 (not to be confused with Gary Glitter's Rock 'n Roll Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xd44PWZGzg

The class is taught by Dr. John Covach of the University of Rochester, our prof from the fabulous class all about The Beatles we completed a few weeks back. 

Care to join us? Check out the overview here: https://www.coursera.org/course/historyofrock1

Whirlwind Weekend

 Hello MPA blogees, it is I, your (thankfully infrequent) guest-blogger, Christian. Your normal, talented blogger, Kristine. is unable to blog at the moment, so please enjoy a few pictures from the weekend.

 Saturday night I drove to Portland for the Blazers - Spurs second round NBA conference semis playoff game. The Blazers lost, unfortunately going down 3-0 in the series.

Sunday, it was back to Seattle for a beautiful Mother's day at Safeco Field. Again, unfortunately, the NW did not prevail, with the Mariners losing to the Kansas City Royals.

But all was not lost, it was back to Portland on Monday for the Blazers game 4 with the Spurs.

I don't have any pictures of the Blazer's win over the Spurs, because I was so excited, I forgot to take any.

By Tuesday afternoon, the kids and I were back for yoga class in West Seattle while Kristine stayed to be with her parents (Hi Eric & Judy!).

I

Busy Friday

PRETTY IN PINK: Our "home ec" project for the day involved making some delightful strawberry cupcakes with pink frosting for a neighbor's prom-themed party this evening. I wish the Internet had smell-o-vision. These things are dangerous, I tell you. 

WALK AND LEARN: We try to get a good long walk (well, at least 40 minutes) with the doggies in every day. Today, we parked in 'The Village' and walked several/many blocks toward Discovery Park. We made some of our own discoveries along the way. It always amazes me how educational our walks can be. Naturally, we always talk about landscaping "dos and don'ts" (one of the don'ts is concrete lions flanking your front porch, BTW). 

Today, we spied some 'helicopters' - the maple trees' castoffs, their attempt to perpetuate. There were hundreds of them on the ground just outside the tony Metropolitan Market grocery store.

There are some interesting articles online about how their seeds fly, including this one: http://www.livescience.com/3672-secret-flight-helicopter-seeds.html

Annabelle reminded me of a paper-folding craft project she and CJ did in science class that mimicked a maple 'helicopter.' It's much like this project: http://www.kodeescanoe.com/craft-maple-seed-helicopters/

The walk also provided a vocabulary lesson. We passed this sign along the way. ... 

I asked the kids if they know what 'venerate' means. They didn't. And so, when we got home they looked it up. A new word for their toolbox. 

BRITISH BROADCAST:  A couple days back I got a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/newsletter/. I get them regularly. And I regularly fail to really read them. Sigh. However, I have determined to do better, and today, that resolution started to pay off.  

During lunchtime, the kids listened to a wonderful, 16-minute story from the BBC's "Just Think" series. Per the BBC, "Just Think... is a series of five comic stories, each exploring a philosophical 'big question', like 'what does it mean to be brave?' " The episodes are designed to help students "develop articulacy, ask high-level questions and explore a range of ethical issues."

The story we listened to today was "Sir Alvin and the Dragon…or What Does it Mean to be Brave?" In it, a cowardly medieval knight is called upon to save a village from a dragon. "But what exactly is the bravest course of action?" asks the BBC.

Here's CJ's take, after listening to the tale. ... 

Today, I listened to an audio recording called "Alvin And The Dragon." Alvin And The Dragon is about a knight named Alvin The Brave, who is forced by the villagers in the story to go up and fight a dragon under the name of Roger. Alvin thought he was going there to judge a cake baking contest, but the villagers decided that he should go fight the dragon that was terrorizing them.

The villagers told Alvin about the story of a "girl" named "Susie Peabody" (who turned out to be a lifeless ragdoll), who was supposedly kidnapped by Toger during an invasion of the village. The villagers mocked Alvin with sayings such as "Says Alvin The Scared!", which showed that they thought he was a coward. When Alvin went up to fight the dragon, the dragon told Alvin that his name was Roger and he was actually more friendly then what Alvin had thought based on what the villagers had told him. Not only that, but Roger told Alvin that Susie Peabody was not much more than a lifeless ragdoll.

My own interpretation of the story is that the villagers were really the cowards of the story, due to the fact that they sent the one labeled "The Brave" right up to the dragon without thinking about any other ways to solve the problem. Not only that, but they failed to tell Alvin that Susie Peabody was really just a ragdoll. Seriously, what kind of person would fear for their lives if a dragon who has not physically attacked anybody in that village decided to steal a lifeless ragdoll? A coward definitely would.

Annabelle's take ...

Alvin and the Dragon was a recording by BBC that was about a man named Alvin the Brave, but he doesn't necessarily live up to his name. When he is walking through the forest and sees a squirrel, he claims that it could eat a whole man in one bite! He gets to a village to judge a cake-baking competition and attend a feast. When the village asks him to slay the dragon that stole "Susie Peabody", he refuses because he isn't brave. The village urges him to do it, and he is forced to go. He gets to the top where he encounters the dragon. "D-d-dragon!" he exclaims. The dragon replies, "Everyone says that. They don't stop to ask my name, just run away. My name's Roger, in case you were wondering." Then Alvin discovers the dragon is nice, and that he was trying to return a doll named Susie. So he doesn't kill the dragon, and proves to the village that looks aren't everything.

The moral of the story was stand up to a challenge, even if you think you can't do it, and partly that looks can be deceiving. It was a fun story and I would definitely listen to it again, because there are no pictures. 

MORE TIME: The kids read and worked their way through four Time for Kids issues today. One was mostly about the re-opening of the Washington Monument, which closed to visitors in 2011, due to damage from an earthquake. It's set to reopen this month. Another issue was about Author Lois Lowry. It occurs to me the kids haven't read any of her books yet. We have to fix that (not to self, find 'Number of the Stars'). They also read an issue with "Mind Games" as a cover story, It was about "how video game makers get inside your head." And they read an issue about Little League's 75th anniversary. (Interestingly, a TFK they read earlier this week had a story on the same topic.) At the end of the issue, there was a "Talking Baseball" quiz, noting how common expressions from the sport, like 'to throw a curve ball,' someone who's out 'in left field.' 'to hit it out of the park,' and 'to step up to the plate,' have made it into our everyday language. They also did a worksheet involving reading a map of the National Mall, and "Be An Author!" where they had to outline characters, traits, settings and a plot for a story they'd like to write. (CJ's was about a couple of Mormon missionaries and a time machine, Annabelle's was about interplanetary penguins.) 

MORE = BETTER: If you can't get enough of the new "Cosmos," you should probably check out a space-y lecture series starring Neil deGrasse Tyson, "The Inexplicable Universe."

You can buy it on DVD from the Hayden Planetarium, or through Great Courses, but the really good news is, it's now available for streaming on Netflix, per a Facebook post from NDTyson himself.  

FIRST CLASS: We test drove a new to us Coursera class today,AstroTech: The Science and Technology behind Astronomical Discovery . We managed to watch all of Week 1's video today. I could tell you what it was about, but it's more fun to share some of the factoids we learned via Annabelle's doodlings.

We found out that there are at least 50 stars in the Milky Way galaxy for each Earthling.  

We also learned about light. 

And one of the professors noted the fact that we are all star stuff (as Carl Sagan liked to say), composed of universal elements that got their start a long time a go, in a far away place. 

SCRUBBED: We were looking forward to watching a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch tomorrow, but it's not going to happen. It was set to deliver six ORBCOMM OG2 satellites into orbit, but on Thursday they had trouble with umbilical connections between SLC-40 pad and the rocket, so Thursday and Friday's static fire tests were scrubbed, leading to the postponement of the launch until late May. Bummer. SpaceX has already come a long way in the commercial space race, but they're not to the point where things are routine, if there is such a thing when it comes to launching rockets.

JUST FOR FUN: Our 'art appreciation' education today included watching a parody of the song "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" from Disney's smash hit "Frozen."  

You can listen to the original song here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZOI1yUGPBQ (It's super sweet, by the way), or skip it and just listen to the "Do you Want to Go to Starbucks?" parody. It's funny enough to stand alone. :) 

http://youtu.be/6SDIc6bGw9w

QUESTION: Did you hear about the restaurant on the moon? Great food, but it has no atmosphere. 

Pop, Plus

                 Library of Congress collection photo "What Flavor Shall I Make It?," circa 1900

COKE & A SMILE: Every so often (but not often enough), I remember to check out the Library of Congress' great "Today in History" Web feature. It's always full of interesting info, and today was no exception. For instance, on this day in 1846, General (and future president) Zachary Taylor defeated the Mexican army in a two-day battle at Palo Alto,  

But the factoid the kids were more interested in was today marks the day the first Coca-Cola was sold. The concoction of Dr. John S. Pemberton, the tonic contained extracts of coca leaf, including cocaine, and the caffeine-rich kola nut. Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia, was the site it was first sold, in 1886.  (Coke headquarters are still in Atlanta, BTW.)

There's a nice little album of (19) vintage Coke photos on the company's Web site: http://www.coca-colacompany.com/history/history-of-coca-cola-trucks. Here is one photo from the album (I'm assuming it's OK to share it, as they had lots of 'share' options on the pages, and a download image option, too. 

Per the photo's caption on the Coke site, "The Rapid Truck, made by the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company in Pontiac, MI, was the first truck in Knoxville, TN. This photo was taken in 1909."

MAJOR BUMMER: For whatever reason, while I was standing out in my front yard watching the dog do nothing this morning 'round 7:30 a.m., I had a bolt from the blue. "Hey?! Shouldn't I have heard about the Seattle Science Festival for 2014 by now?!" 

We have been HUGE Science Festival fans since its inception in 2012. That year we saw Stephen Hawking and an all star cast of scientists at the "Luminaries" event, attended a function at The Museum of Flight with a panel of astronauts, and enjoyed the festival day at Seattle Center, with hundreds of science-related activities.

The following year, we thoroughly enjoyed astrophysicist Brian Greene and others at the Luminaries event, and had a great time again at the Seattle Center festival day.

Half panicked that I had missed an announcement for this years event, I cut short the dog's milling about and hopped to the computer, only to see this on the SSF Web site:
After two successful Seattle Science Festivals in June 2012 and 2013, Pacific Science Center has determined it will not be leading a Seattle Science Festival in 2014 due to budget limitations. A subset of our Seattle Science Festival Advisory Council has been working with Science Center staff to identify other regional community-serving organizations that might lead the Festival and several promising next steps are currently being explored. It has been determined that there will not be a Science EXPO Day, Signature Programs or Luminaries Event in 2014.

Darn it! Guess we didn't miss out - everyone is missing out. :(

I do hope it's back for 2015 and beyond.

LATE NIGHT SCIENCE: I often start the day with a clip from The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. This morning, I was happy to find "Science Experiments with Kevin Delaney" in my feed. 

I called the kids over and we watched it - twice! And parts of it four times. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OELiqiIHZEI&list=UU8-Th83bH_thdKZDJCrn88g&feature=share&index=12

I do believe the kids got to see some elephant toothpaste in person at the (now defunct) Seattle Science Festival in years past. They desperately want to make some of their own, so we combed the Internet for recipies. We found one on Steve Spangler's site: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/elephants-toothpaste. We need to round ourselves up some industrial strength hydrogen peroxide. 
CREATIVE FRONT: Today CJ "penned" a couple of diamante poems, with the help of a nifty ReadWriteThink template here: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/diamante/

Meanwhile, Annabelle designed a couple of (template-free) Mother's Day cards.

JUST DUCKY: Amazing the things I learn every day from the kids. For instance, this afternoon, vocal hysterical eminated from Annabelle at her computer. She's accidentally closed her Internet browser, losing all of her open tabs, and she was in the middle of a project. However, she quickly regrouped and just and just seconds later was happily trumpeting, "It worked! It worked!"

"What worked?" I asked.

"Control-Shift-T!" she shared. It reopened the browser and all of the tabs. She says she learned it from a meme, "Actual Advice Mallard." Sweet!

In case you're wondering, Actual Advice Mallard is a photo of a duck with a helpful 'life hack' (as the kids like to call them). Here's an example. ...

Word to the wise: Actual Advice Mallard (green head) is not to be confused with Malicious Advice Mallard (a redhead).


CANDIDATE FOR IMPEACHMENT: CJ spent some time this afternoon playing "Executive Command" on iCivics, a non-profit organization dedicated to reinvigorating civic learning through interactive and engaging learning resources. They have a number of great learning games on their site, and CJ is an especially big fan of them.

Today, he was having a little to much fun being our nation's top executive. Instead of aspiring for excellence, he was trying to be the worst president ever (I could insert a certain snide comment here about how hard it would be to be worse than a certain someone who couldn't, say, pronounce 'nuclear,' but I'm refraining, snicker).

Seconds

TESTING, TOO:  Today marked CJ's second day of mandatory annual state standardized testing. He had a science test to take. We met in the library again, where Annabelle enjoyed a book, and a 'float' in a boat.

While CJ was in testing, Bee and I took the pups for an hour long walk. 

We returned to the wooded area behind the school. There, we made notes about the ecosystem and subsystems, and hoped CJ remembered those terms while testing. We found a fallen tree that is acting as a subsystem in the stand of trees' ecosystem, hosting fungi and countless insects.

While walking, we skirted a Shoreline School District rule at times.

CJ was done about 11:30, ending the annual tests until next year.

TIME OUT: This afternoon, the kids read the May 2 edition of Time for Kids. It included topics such as kids using crowdsourcing to fund projects, an update about the World Cup coming up, news of Kepler-186f, a 'cousin' planet to Earth, a graphic about popular youth sports, an article about Little League's 75th anniversary, and a feature story about an organization creating jobs and other opportunities for women in Afghanistan. After they read the articles, the kids completed some comprehension and opinion questions, and we watched a video about crowdfunding (www.timeforkids.com/crowdfunding) and about the non-profit working to help Afghani women, Arzu, which means 'hope' in Dari, a language spoken in the country (www.timeforkids.com/arzu). 

TALE OF THE TAPE: I'm in the process of migrating decades-old home movies from VHS to DVD. This process includes lots of me cursing my 1991-era self for not taking those 12 seconds to label the tapes' contents right before or after I recorded them.

Today's mix tape was a Halloween party Rick and Ken went to in 1991, followed by "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" (which CJ and Annabelle didn't mind watching in May), followed by a kindergarten classroom Halloween party for Rick (with him dressed as Spider-Man and Kennedy was The Hulk, seems like I made this costumes just yesterday). Next up was the Disney's animated version of Robin Hood from 1973. We didn't watch but 5 minutes total of that. However, that was followed by a classic Disney cartoon where Mickey Mouse kills seven flies with one blow. When "The Brave Little Tailor" trumpets his 'seven-with-one-blow' feat to some guys standing nearby, they misinterpret him, thinking he killed seven giants with one blow. Mickey goes along for the ride, embellishing his story with every retelling. CJ, of course, wanted to know what year the cartoon is from. We found out the answer is 1938. 

Someone (other than the Disney Co.) has uploaded the nine-minute cartoon to YouTube, in case you're interested. (In fact, there are multiple uploads, one being here: http://youtu.be/GT5ucWolPhw)

WORLDWIDE: A couple weeks ago, we participated in NASA's #GlobalSelfie social media campaign, submitting a photo of the kids in front of the Fremont Troll on Earth Day. It was cool, people from all over the world 'liked' their photo on Facebook, and we enjoyed looking at others' photos. Today, NASA released a neat-o video showing just how far and wide the #GlobalSelfie day spread!
http://youtu.be/lbtjx8XgDvs

In all, they received around 50,000 photos, which are being assembled into a mosaic image of Earth to be released later in May. The Global Selfie event was designed to encourage environmental awareness and recognize NASA's ongoing work to protect our home planet.

CALLED TO DUTY: Christian spent all day yesterday in a holding pen, waiting to be called (or not) for jury duty. This morning, he sat there again. At least his view was phenomenal!

Finally, just before noon, he was called into service and he is now Juror #5 on a Seattle municipal court trial. 

Working and Waiting

PUT TO THE TEST: This morning, we were very mainstream - up and at 'em early and hustling out the door for school just a few minutes after 8 a.m. Glad we don't have to do that every morning. :) 

We had to be up in Shoreline a bit after 9 for the kids to take the mandatory Measurement of Student Progress test for the state of Washington.  Today, they each took their grade level test for reading and math. 

Students pow-wowed in the library and then proceeded to the testing rooms, grouped by grade. 

CJ emerged about an hour and a half later, while Bee took two hours to come out. I was surprised it took her so long, really. However, she told me that she had finished early, but stayed in the room to read her book while another student was finishing up. She felt bad about leaving the girl in the room alone. I thought that was sweet. 

We went and grabbed the kids some lunch (pizza, pizza), and returned to campus to go for a half hour walk. We hit the trails in the woodsy area behind the school.

We saw all sorts of points of interest, including some cool shrooms.

And this crappy cell phone photo didn't do a good job capturing it, but we came across a distinctly crater shaped spot. 

It looked like it had been there for a long time, and we couldn't help but wonder what (or whom) created it.

We also encountered two tree trunks sticking up, completely denuded of bark and a good portion of the wood fiber beneath. This stand of woods is not a wetland at all - no beaver habitat whatsoever - so we had to surmise a human had done it.

Before too long, it was time for the kids to report for their afternoon (math) tests.  Annabelle was out in about an hour. CJ took about 90 minutes. 

Then, we were southbound. The kids have a new, 6-week session of 'social studio yoga' starting in West Seattle. We had a little time to kill, so we decided to stop downtown for a bit. Christian was summoned to jury duty this week, and we knew he was in a 'holding cell' waiting to be called as a potential juror. He had to report at 8:30 this morning, and by 3 p.m., when we got to downtown, he was still in a holding pattern. 

We decided to kill some time and hope he'd be released in time to go to West Seattle with us.

We stopped at Columbia Tower first, and killed a little time in the atrium of the city's tallest skyscraper. This is how they enjoyed the view, LOL. 

Next, we drove over right next to the courthouse on 5th Avenue and Yesler. In the photo, Yesler stretches toward the waterfront.

Out front of the courthouse, there was a huge steel sculpture. We searched the area for info about it or its artist but found nothing. 

At 85 feet high, it's pretty hard to miss. ... 

I poked around (more than I should have had to, IMHO) online tonight to find out about it. Turns out it's Songbird by John Henry.  Though the artist lives in Chattanooga, Tenn, now, his local history stretches all the way back to 1962, when he sold paintings outside the World's Fair on Seattle.