On the Eve of Summer

MORE TO THE STORY: "Earthrise" (above) is one of the most iconic photos in the history of humankind. It's our first look at us, from space, taken by the crew of Apollo 8 on Christmas Eve,  December of 1968. 


Frank Borman was the one holding teh camera, while Bill Anders turned the capsule and Jim Lovell fished around for film (not as quickly as Borman would have liked, as it turns out. You get to hear this for yourself thanks to an animation that has taken photos from Apollo 8, and seamlessly stitched them in with images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and the original audio from the time when the photos were being taken. It's almost like you're in the capsule with the astronauts while they're scrambling to capture the historic image.

It's worth the watch! 


NOT TODAY: This afternoon, around 3 p.m., we tuned into a SpaceX Web cast, ready to watch a Falcon 9 rocket make its 10th flight into space. On board the 23-story-tall rocket are six ORBCOMM communication satellites.

photo: http://www.spacex.com/press
Launch was initially supposed to be at 3:08 p.m. our time, but that came and went, as there was a leak in a line. SpaceXers tried to track down the source of the problem and were gearing up for another go an hour later, but instead, today's attempt to have 1.3 million pounds of thrust get those satellites up into space was put on hold. 

They may give it a go tomorrow. Updates here: http://www.spacex.com/webcast/ and http://spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/010/status.html

A LITTLE RESPECT:  Our musical adventure and education continues, with today's topic being Stax and Atlantic artists of the mid and late 1960s. Both Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin had a hit with "Respect," a tune Redding wrote and recorded. Redding had a hit with the song in 1965. We watched a performance of his, and the heavy horns, a hallmark of Stax artists' recordings, were much in evidence. http://youtu.be/Qo3aeXZFZkg

Up next was Aretha, the Queen of Soul. We watched a very sassy Franklin pantomiming along to the original recording. Good stuff!
http://youtu.be/cYbs_O_iMfU

Sweet Stuff

THE TASTE OF SUMMER:  Today was field day up at the place the kids attend classes on Wednesdays. We couldn't stick around for the hours and hours of fun, but we did manage to go, help set up a little bit, and drop off some summery cupcakes baked fresh this morning.

I used my standard dee-licious strawberry recipe for the cake, but invented a 'lemonade' frosting to top them, making it a strawberry lemonade treat. They smelled glorious. 

After dropping the tray off, I was really regretting not having actually eaten one of them! The kids report they were wonderful, however. 

MORE MOTOWN:  We're still stuck in the '60s, musically speaking. Today we learned more about some Motown artists, including Smokey Robinson, who was both a songwriter for other groups and a renowned performer in his own right. I should have shown the kids a Motown-era video of Smokey, but I couldn't help but dredge up this gem. I used to love it on Sesame Street.  http://youtu.be/ws_vnXup7so


I found old footage of a "Motown Revue" that featured Little Stevie Wonder performing his first Motown hit, "Fingertips Pt. 2" from 1963. Stevie was only 12. Wow! We also enjoyed the Four Tops singing "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" from a 1965 television appearance (1965).

We also started to learn about Soulsville USA/Memphis Stax. They had a very different approach than Motown's hit makers. Booker T & the M.G.s was the house band, backing the Stax artists. They did chart one hit on their own through, "Green Onions" - what a great groove that song is!  

STATE OF CONFUSION:  For awhile now, I've had a couple of blank maps of the United States with the states outlined sitting around. Today, I finally asked the kids to fill in the blanks - put state names on all the ones they were certain they knew. 

They were both Very Not Pleased with how many they didn't know. Basically the entire Midwest for both of them was blank. Oops. Guess what we'll be working on for the days to come?!

I played The Animaniacs' great song naming all 50 states and their capitals after they got stuck: http://youtu.be/MSvJ9SN8THE

We listened to/watched a few other state song videos. Most were forgettable at best. However, this one (Tour the States, from Marbles the Brain Store) was a standout. Catchy tune and neat-o animation.


GET A CLUE: This evening, we played a new twist on a classic board game, "Clue."  The setting was a waterfront park, but the characters and murder weapons were the same. 

I am proud to report that for once, I won! I could sense that at least one other player (Christian) was about to make a guess as to perpetrator, weapon and locale on their next guess, so I had to take a leap of faith and I guessed/deduced correctly.

Bridging Time

UNABRIDGED:  Yesterday after dinner, we decided to go for a stroll, destination: The Fremont neighborhood of Seattle (which will be full of naked bicyclists come Saturday, BTW).

We parked at the south end of the bridge and walked across to the north.

A few sculls slipped silently through the water under the bridge.

Once on the north side, we stopped at a place called Old School Custard. Their calendar is more delicious looking than most calendars, wouldn't you say?  :)

From there, we walked further east to Fremont Brewing. We haven't been there in a long time, but just from driving by, you can see the place has expanded and expanded, but it's still packed all the time.  We sat on the bleachers near the front door, and Annabelle added some artwork on their risers.

The sun was setting as we walked back across the bridge.

The bridge tender was all aglow.

If she were counting, she would have seen over 4,000 bikes cross the bridge on Wednesday. That's a lot.

ASSEMBLY LINE:  We're still working on learning about the history of rock. There's a lot to learn! Part of today's lectures touched on how television was so important to the music scene in the late '50s and early to mid-1960s, with shows like "American Bandstand," "Shindig," and "Hullabaloo."

And we learned Paul Revere and the Raiders, a Portland band, were the 'house band' on a dance and music show called "Where the Action Is." Their American Revolution outfits were a not subtle push back vs. the British invasion.

Music on television was so influential, it resulted in cartoon characters having a number one hit (The Archies with "Sugar, Sugar") The kids and I watched the original video from 1969, featuring the animated Archies of comic book fame characters performing the tune. "This is MESSED UP!" CJ declared. I told him think about how messed up it is watching it as a four-year-old, like I did!

And television can be credited for a band of chimpanzees (Lancelot Link & the Evolution Revolution) having a #1 hit, as well (Sha-La Love You). I shuddered watching those videos today. (I think I've repressed the memories of them due to trauma, LOL.) Christian remembers them and said to me, "It was not well done." I'd call that an understatement.

And not to be outdone by apes, the made-for-tv band The Monkees had a number of hits with 'bubblegum' pop songs. The Monkees were much easier on the eyes and ears, IMHO.

Wacky times, those were.

We also learned about the birth of Motown, which meant we listened to some great music today. :)
I showed the kids The Marvellettes performing "Mr. Postman"  http://youtu.be/rGJcbHni4rc

And we watched The Contours singing "Do You Love Me?" That video is ALL KINDS of win! A dance party ensued. http://youtu.be/FgtpreUfcS0

Motown founder Barry Gordy Jr. had a masterful, 'assembly line' approach toward creating artists who would be successful "crossover" acts.

BUDDING BOEING ENGINEERS: We stopped at Value Village on our way back from Shoreline (helping clean up the campus where the kids take school once a week). You never know what you're going to find there, and today, one of our finds was a Boeing 747 model - imported from Japan.

As you can see, the instructions were entirely in Japanese. However, there were a couple of drawings, which the kids made the most of.

There were moments when it was a struggle, as evidenced by CJ's face ...

However, in the end, they made it work. 

Randomosity

PUPDATE: As I reported yesterday, the doggies were on a downer post vet and immunizations. Today, they've bounced back to their annoying selves, I'm 'happy' to report. Have I ever mentioned Laika thinks she's a cat? And, oh my, look at all those nose smudges on the window. :/

STILL IN THE SIXTIES:  We continue plugging along in our History of Rock (Part 1) Coursera class. Today's lectures were about U.S. bands working to make their marks post British Invasion. 

Here's what Annabelle wore to college today.

Folk music was still super big stateside, and we listened to lots of electrified/progressive folk today. For instance, we watched The Turtles singing "So Happy Together" (on The Smothers Brothers' show, no less!) and the Lovin' Spoonful rocking the autoharp live singing "Do You Believe in Magic?" The kids both recognized the song "Good Lovin'" by the Rascals. 

A medley by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons singing "Sherry" "Big Girls Don't Cry" "I've Got you Under My Skin" and "Bye Bye Baby" gave the kids a taste of East Coast falsetto, and we watched a groovy Johnny Rivers (introduced by Judy Garland!) singing "Secret Agent Man"

Our professor also touched on Sonny & Cher. I have long known that Sonny Bono was a shrewd music businessman, but I hadn't known that he had worked extensively with Phil Spector. We checked out "The Beat Goes On" in the form of a wonderfully bizarre video with the duo in big fur coats singing in what looks like a cave with a cow eating hay. http://youtu.be/bS3O5zg290k

Speaking of music videos, I also showed the kid the latest OK Go music video. I'm not a huge (or even mild) fan of their music, but their videos are alwways truly amazing and their new one for "The Writing's On the Wall " was no exception. While watching it, CJ said, "This is messing with my mind." Check it out! 

http://youtu.be/m86ae_e_ptU

RETURNED: Today we returned the last of our most recent stack to the Seattle Public Library. The books were "Just Jake" and "Thea Stilton - Revenge of the Lizard Club." 

The kids described "Just Jake" as being in the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" vein. It is written by Jake Marcionette, who was 12 years old when he auhtored it a couple of years ago.

This afternoon, the kids checked out the book's Web site, which has over 80 games. You get to play the games after earning coins by taking quizzes about the book's chapters. 

MAD WORLD: CJ was thrilled to receive a MAD magazine in the mail today. He sat on the couch and laughed a good part of the day away while reading it. He found a parody of the song "Happy" especially hysterical.

ASTEROID HUNTERS: If you're a regular reader, you may recall a few weeks back we went to a presentation at the Museum of Flight with former astronaut Dr. Ed Lu. He's now with the B612 Foundation, an organization working to incercept potentially Earth-bound asteroids before they can wreck havoc on our home planet. 

Lu's entire (about one hour) MoF presentation can now be seen here: 
https://b612foundation.org/events/ed-lus-presentation-at-the-museum-of-flight/


SCREEN PLAY: So, at the game on Sunday, there was a family in front of us. For nine innings the mom's cell phone never left her steely grip. Most of the time was spent on Facebook, there was some texting and about once an inning, there was a 'selfie,' which was then texted or Facebooked. 

Meanwhile son, (in headphones the whole time), played Minecraft on a tablet for nine innings. 

Baseball, the American pastime. 

Game Day

SUNDAY FUNDAY: We spent a good part of Sunday, Father's Day, at Safeco Field, watching the Mariners take on the Texas Rangers. 

We arrived plenty early, as we wanted to make sure Christian was one of the first 10,000 fathers in attendance so that he could receive a really nifty Seattle Mariners spatula. 

Spatula procured, we then headed for the bullpen, and waited for Mariners personnel to show up. 

Catcher Mike Zunino was the first player out there. But first, he had a protracted talk with coach Rick Waits in the outfield, no doubt about the day's game plan. They both looked quite serious throughout.

Iwakuma was the day's starting pitcher. Mariners trainer Rick Griffin (in the bright blue shirt on the lead picture) kept a watchful eye on Iwakuma during warm ups.  I noticed the pitcher wincing and stretching funny between tosses and told Christian I was worried he wasn't going to make the start. 

Trainer Griffin wound up giving him some kind of back adjustment on the bullpen floor, in front of the bench, just before game time.

Guess it worked, because 'Kuma pitched a gem of a game, allowing only one run in eight innings. Impressive. (I read on the Mariners' Web site today that Iwakuma was, indeed "nearly ... scratched before first pitch because of neck stiffness."

On the offensive side, Kyle Seger was 4-4. That helps the ol' batting average. And here's a long distance shot of Endy Chavez watching a pitch go by. 

Before the game, some of the Texas Rangers were warming up by participating in a practice drill. Not too surprising that the pro athletes were very capable receivers.

 


After the game, we went to Chuck's Central District for some great food truck fare for dinner (muffaletta, fried catfish and amazing ribs by Jemil's Big Easy).

We played a board game too, as per usual. I had perhaps the worst hand in the history of Scrabble.

I didn't win the game, needless to say.


BIG APPLE:   Last month, members of the Expedition 39 crew on board the ISS took this great photo of the middle and southern end of Manhattan. 

It sure shows how big Central Park is (the large green swath in the middle). The white dots in the green are playing fields.  Per NASA, "The two darker zones are where the tallest buildings of Midtown and the Financial District cast long shadows even in this early afternoon view."

We were able to pick out where the rental we stayed in across the Hudson, in NJ, is in this photo. Makes me want to go back!

FURRY BLURRY: This afternoon we took the pups to the vet for some overdue immunizations and a routine exam. They were good little citizens there, but they are a pair of sorry dogs tonight. Those shots really knocked them for a loop, especially poor Laika. Hopefully a good night's sleep will have them back to their obnoxious selves tomorrow.

Friday Fun

SKELETAL CREW: The kids started the day with a little construction project. Yesterday we scored some 3-D puzzles at Harbor Freight (of all places) for $1.29. Today, they pieced them together, no easy task really, considering the only directions were poorly printed, tiny numbers on a piece of paper. You had to then find the piece with say one number 1, and then search the paper to find find another piece that had a number 1, and then find those pieces on the die-cut balsa (or some woodish material). 

Some of the pieces snapped, even though the kids were careful when removing them from the wood sheet. Fortunately, a hot glue gun was able to remedy the breaks (unfortunately, a hot glue gun always = burns!). 

However, in the end it was all worth it. The kids were quite pleased with their creations. We took them outside, to their "natural habitat" for a photo opp (although a pond would have been more 'natural' for Annabelle's plesiosaur).

LIKE A ROLLING STONE: Today's rock history class for us was a couple of lectures about Bob Dylan. We learned a lot. For starters, CJ and Annabelle learned their brother Kennedy's middle name is Dylan, after Bob Dylan. 

Not surprisingly, the lecture touched upon Dylan's no-turning-back performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1964, where, during a performance on the main stage, he had the audacity to go electric and play with a band. Branded a 'sell out' by some, he was loudly booed. We found a promo for "The Other Side of the Mirror Bob Dylan : Live at the Newport Folk Festival, 1963-1965" where the crowd could be heard turning on him. Here's a link to that short trailer: http://youtu.be/S1TKUk9nXjk.  (Immediately after watching the trailer, I hopped to our library's Web site and put the DVD on hold for us - can't wait to see it!)

We also watched a wonderful video of Dylan performing "Mr. Tambourine Man" at the Newport Folk Festival in 1964. He was introduced by none other than Pete Seeger.

http://youtu.be/OeP4FFr88SQ

And then we had to watch an all folk-star cast of Peter, Paul & Mary, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, and Bob Dylan sing "Blowin' in the Wind" at Newport in 1963.


PLAYING POMPEII: I feel like most of today's post is about how much I love the Internet, but really, we use it so extensively for so many things, including how to figure out how to play some of the songs the kids want to learn on guitar. Today's project was "Pompeii," by a group called Bastille. We looked at several sites where people post the chords they've supposedly figured out on their own, and found many conflicting versions. Not sure which was best, or easiest, I decided to hop over to YouTube to see if someone had posted a tutorial. Lucky for us, I quickly found a video by a user who calls himself onlineguitarschool.

Not only did he teach the kids which four chords to use in the song, I loved the time he took to talk about technique - how to play it well.  Bravo! If you're interested ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yBnA1MO7nw


SPACE TOURIST TIPS: We returned a stack of books to the library today, including the hilarious 'how to' book, "How Do You Burp in Space?" by Susan E. Goodman.  If you're planning on becoming a space tourist in the future, you'd do well to hit this book up first.

It proved to be a source of much giggling and many an "ah ha!" as it has traveled around in the backseat with us for the past couple of weeks.

WORD OF THE DAY: Annabelle was practicing playing The Beatles' "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" on guitar this a.m. and after singing the first line she stopped and asked, "What's pataphysical?"

Heck if I knew. Thank heaven for Wikipedia. From it, we learned:

'Pataphysics (French: 'pataphysique) is a philosophy or media theory dedicated to studying what lies beyond the realm of metaphysics. The concept was coined by French writer Alfred Jarry (1873–1907), who defined 'pataphysics as "the science of imaginary solutions, which symbolically attributes the properties of objects, described by their virtuality, to their lineaments".[1]A practitioner of 'pataphysics is a pataphysician or a pataphysicist.

Speaking of words, earlier this week I wondered aloud why a leg cramp is called a Charlie (Charley?) horse. Turns out no one is 100 percent certain as to its origin, but there are commonalities in citing its origin, specifically baseball players and a gimpy white horse named Charley. Wordorigins.org has about the best account I could find on the topic: http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/comments/charley_horse/

Play Time

THE NAKED TRUTH:  This evening we had the pleasure of attending a student musical at Kent Elementary, where Rick teaches school. He was an assistant director of the production and played the court herald (crier). He was considerably taller than most of his cast mates. ;)

Yesterday it occurred to me that I'd never shared "The Emperor's New Clothes" tale with CJ and Annabelle. I asked them today if they were familiar with it, thinking perhaps they might have read it on their own at some point, but as it turned out, they knew nothing of it. So, we rectified that by watching one of the many versions on YouTube. The one our browser landed on was narrated by Harry Shearer for a series of stories by an outfit called Speakaboos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvRpN5Y23UE

The kids found the storyboard images a bit creepy, but they enjoyed the story, and definitely got the moral of it. In fact, we talked about how it was kind of in the same vein as something Neil deGrasse Tyson was touching upon in last week's "Cosmos," when he talked about how wrong it is when people (especially scientists) pretend they have answers or know the truth.

We all LOVED the production tonight. Everyone played their part well - you could tell that hours and hours and hours of preparation had gone into it. The costumes and props were cute, and the stage lighting was good and the mics mostly worked well. :) It was great fun!

HOP ON BOARD: Anyone want to go to an asteroid? It's free and easy. Just follow this link to have your name take a round-trip ride to Bennu, aboard NASA's NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission. Just go here: http://www.planetary.org/get-involved/messages/bennu/

Opt in and your name will launch in 2016, travel to Bennu, where you'll spend 500 lovely days before returning to Earth in the Sample Return Capsule in 2023.

And when you sign up, you get a really nifty certificate, like this!

You can follow the mission on Facebook or Twitter, too, or you can go to NASA's mission page for it: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/osiris-rex/#.U5qF__ldV_8 

MORE MUSIC: We listened to a couple of "History of Rock" lectures today, all about British bands. Of course The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, The Who and The Kinks were covered, but there was also talk of many more, including Herman and the Hermits, the Yard Birds, Dave Clark Five and even Freddie and the Dreamers. Based on our professor's description of their song "Do the Freddie," we just had to hunt down some video. Fortunately, YouTube didn't disappoint. Yowza, that Freddie was one wild dude!

http://youtu.be/GbuRNbujkjA