Super Moon

RARE SIGHT: Last night, just before midnight, as I was going to bed, I looked out the living room window and saw a shadowy figure. ...

No, not a prowler (thankfully). Rather, it was Mount Rainier! I was so surprised. I've never seen the mountain at night before while we've lived here (just short of three years). 

Of course, I called the kids out to see it, and even woke Christian up so he could take a gander.

I think we could see it because it was so bright thanks to the last "Super Moon" of 2020, and the skies are so clear thanks to people staying home due to the pandemic.

INSIDE THE HIVE: This week Christian has checked on our two our new-to-use bee colonies, both of which he captured as swarms in the neighborhood. 

The first colony he captured is doing great. They are building out comb, the queen is laying eggs, all the stuff that should be happening. Speaking of the queen, Christian even managed to spot her in the hive, and he marked her with a pen made specifically for that, if you can believe such a thing exists.

The second hive is a bit of a mess. The bees out front of it seem agitated. In fact, CJ and Annabelle each got stung once recently. Christian opened the hive up yesterday and he discovered that it is queenless. (He could tell because there are no brood or eggs, and they've been in our hive for a week now.) Who knows if the queen died in our hive, or we somehow didn't capture it in the swarming ball of bees that we brought here. To try to remedy this situation, Christian borrowed a couple of racks from the other hive that have some eggs. Hopefully Hive #2 will raise a new queen from one of those eggs. Time will tell. 

Meanwhile, I took this photo of (presumably) one of 'our' bees yesterday.

Our honeybees love these shrubs, as do bumblebees. If you stand next to the greenery and its tiny blossoms when the sun is out, you hear it abuzz with pollinators.

I posted the photo to Facebook and a friend reported that Google told her the shrub is a Hessei Cotoneaster. According to the Missouri Botanical Garden, the deciduous shrub is in the rosaceae family. It has reddish pink blooms in May, is low maintenance, and it attracts birds. They should add bees to that list.

HARVEST TIME: Our rhubarb is going NuTsO. It's enormous. This is our *** spring in this location, and it has not been quite this big before. 

We were wondering when is the right time to harvest some stalks. I did some Googling and the consensus is when they're over 12 inches tall and bigger around than your thumb. 

The question is, what do do with said rhubarb? Muffins and cakes come to mind, but I really don't want to make a bunch of sugary stuff. I'll have to spend some more time researching rhubarb recipes. 

CAKE TIME: Yesterday, Annabelle and I put the finishing touches on a cake for a friend. The theme is Duolingo Spanish (it's an online language learning program). 

An owl named Duo is its main mascot, but there are other characters populating the Duolingo world. There are also graphics marking streaks (consecutive days of study and such).

Since the birthday girl is turning 15, we did the math for how many days that 'streak' is. (Annabelle was smart enough to remind me that we needed to take leap years into account.)

TO DO LIST: There are so many organizations offering free programming online during the pandemic, it's hard to keep track of them all. I keep getting emails from Pacific Science Center about cool stuff they're doing. For instance, next week they're offering an "Animals Week at Curiosity at Home" on May 11-15. They have the week planned out as following:

Monday: Ecosystem Exploration
Tuesday: Animal Movement
Wednesday: Feeding and Eating
Thursday: Adaptations
Special Livestream Events
Daily: Facebook livestreams at 11 a.m.
Wednesday, May 13: Virtual Planetarium Show at 1 p.m.
Thursday, May 14: Virtual Meet a Scientist at 1 p.m.

Hopefully we'll be able to fit some of these things into our schedule!

Cake and Punk

CAKING IT: Between classes and a couple of errands, we managed to bake a cake today. Actually, four layers of cake. A Mexican chocolate vegan cake, to be more precise. That, and a small bucket full of crunchy peanut butter filling. 

It was a first time recipe for us. It definitely smelled good. It's for a family friend - a teenager having a pandemic birthday, which is a little bit (or kind of a lot bit) sad, since you can't really go much of anywhere or do much of anything. We though a custom cake might be a bright spot, and offered to make one for the family.

Since it was a first time test-driving this recipe, and it was vegan (no eggs, no butter!), I wasn't sure how it would turn out, height wise. The recipe was for one 9-inch layer, so I doubled the recipe. Twice. Making four layers in all.

After the first double batch, I learned the recipe produced a *beautiful* layer of cake, with a nice rise. It is really moist (sorry - that word!), and just the right amount of density. I ended up only using three of the four layers I baked, so the bonus layer went onto its own plate and I topped it with leftover filling and some chopped up peanuts. Then I sent Kennedy a photo and told him to come and get it. No surprise, he said he'd be happy to do so. (Now I know how to get him to visit, ha ha.)

ROCKUMENTARY: We here at MPA are certainly enjoying CJ's Rock History class. I knew we would. When the kids were much younger, we took a couple of rock history classes on Coursera and learned so much. Interestingly enough, the professor for those courses, John Covach, literally wrote the book that is being used for CJ's current class. The text is "What's That Sound: ."

One of CJ's assignments this week was to watch and review a documentary about a rock band. He had a list to choose from, but immediately honed in on "A Band Called Death." This proto-punk trio from Detroit was composed of a trio of African American brothers. Making music in the early '70s,  the band never caught on back in the day, due to a number of reasons. For starters, the band's polarizing name didn't help, and their unexpected sound raised eyebrows, and not in a good way. As was told in the movie, people expected young black men in Detroit to be playing rhythm and blues or Motown music, not hardcore, in-your-face rock. 

Here's a trailer for the movie ...


The three brothers' bond knows no bounds. Their music is entirely original, if not downright visionary. Their story is remarkable. As CJ told his classmates, "I would strongly recommend A Band Called Death to classmates. The documentary provides fascinating insight into the best 70s punk band you’ve never heard of." Honestly, even if their type of music is totally not your cup of tea, the trials and travails of the brothers is enough to draw most any viewer in. 

You can watch the movie for free on Amazon Prime Video, on tubi (which was free via our Roku stick plugged into the back of the TV), and Vudu. it's like $3 on iTunes and Google Play. 

Here's one of their tunes if you care to take a listen.


BE STILL:  Annabelle had an Art to Go session midday, thanks to Gage . Today's lesson was still life. 

CASE CLOSED: Have you ever wondered what your "reward" is for finding a beetle in a bag of Frito Lay peanuts is?

Below, you have your answer. 

Answer: You get three coupons for free Frito Lay products (hopefully beetle free this go round).  

Tuesday Doings

DRAMATIC: This evening, our view of Mt. Rainier was replaced by a wide, dramatic rainbow (with a faint secondary rainbow to its right). I could hear neighbors all around us outside on their decks, oohing and aahing over the sight. This cell phone photo doesn't do it justice. 

Shortly thereafter, the sky turned all sorts of scary shades of blue gray, and thunder and lightning ensue.

VIRUS HUNTERS: Our 'to do' list was long today, involving the usual Japanese, art, world history, writing, and rock history. We also had a special event this afternoon - an hour with a virus hunter.

While most people right about now are trying to avoid viruses, Dr. Ken Stedman is a full time virus seeker. 

Presented by King County Library System, the session was called "Dream Careers-Study Extreme Viruses."

Stedman studies viruses found in extreme environments, for instance volcanic acid hot springs. 

In addition to being a professor at Portland State University, Stedman also works in laboratories, and in the field, in places like Yellowstone National Park. Some of his work is funded by NASA. No surprise the space agency is interested in learning more about what kinds of life might be encountered in the extreme environments in space.

It was an interesting hour, and while we listened, we even got quite a bit of work done on a jigsaw puzzle.

DOODLING: This morning, I directed the kids to Google's Doodle for the day as a tangential activity for Cinco de Mayo. 

The doodle featured the traditional Mexican bingo card game Lotería. The game uses cards, each featuring colorful pictures of various things you’d find in Mexico, like palm trees, corn and musical instruments. The pictures are labeled with the Spanish word for the object, so you can learn a little while you play. 

The game is like a combo of a memory game and bingo. A grid of 16 cards is laid out, and when the game starts, you're told what it takes to win (like four cards across in a row, or all four corners).

Cards are flipped from a deck, and if it's a match to one in your grid, you put a bean atop it. The cards are revealed pretty quickly, so it's a fast-paced game.

The kids were quickly hooked. And neither one would quit until they won a round. You can find the game here: 
https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk00kCh6aBjMZHQRMiyTGf58Zx9A-bg%3A1588712969779&ei=CdaxXsaOL6qw0PEPmP-XwAY&q=today%27s+google+doodle&oq=today%27s+google+doodle&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzIECCMQJzIECAAQQzIFCAAQgwEyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAOgQIABBHOgUIABCRAjoHCAAQFBCHAlDtngFYw7ABYM6xAWgAcAR4AIABV4gBzAmSAQIyMZgBAKABAaoBB2d3cy13aXo&sclient=psy-ab&ved=0ahUKEwiGt9qB0Z3pAhUqGDQIHZj_BWgQ4dUDCAw&uact=5

It's a Small World

HOME SHOW: Hope you're not getting tired of photos of our doings 'round the campus, because that's about all we got (to use bad grammar) right now.

Our seeds-to-sprouts continue to grow. I find it kind of ironic that the ones going gangbusters are the cherry tomato plants (above). While the bigger tomatoes were so late to show and are slow to grow. 

I had about given up on all of our Romas when they finally started to show signs of life. Now, they're getting to a point where we have to separate them soon. (We always hedge our bets and plant more than one seed per little pot.)

We mowed the lawn today. I stopped a couple of times to snap a photo of little spots of interest in the yard. I kind of love these succulents in a random wire basket affixed to a lichen covered, broken-down old fence. 

 And what have we here? Future figs!

Meanwhile, in the bay window by the kitchen sink, our Christmas cactus is putting on a show in May!

 And irises continue to bloom. This one is a sunny, showy flower.

KUDOS: CJ received a grade back today from one of his first submissions in his History of Rock class. He'd written about a song from the barely-pre-rock era, " "by Goree . The professor heaped praise upon CJ for his song choice and the thoroughness of his discussion about it. And, he asked if CJ if he could use his write-up as an example for his future students regarding how to craft a post. Nice!

This week, CJ was supposed to spotlight an early rock song for his classmates. Here's what he chose. 

Song title: Rip It UpArtist name: Little Richard (né Richard Wayne Penniman, he later legally changed his name to his stage name)Year produced: 1956Artist Information: What are three things that you find the most interesting about this artist? Little Richard is often credited with starting the "wild man" persona that was pursued and imitated by hundreds of rock musicians after him. Taxi Blues, Little Richard's 1951 debut single, is one of the first commercial rock and roll recordings. Though Little Richard eventually ceased to record secular music and became a gospel singer, his early (1951-1957) output influenced rockers for years to come. This fact is evident in artists ranging from Mick Jagger to Jim Morrison to Iggy Pop to Prince, all of whom owe at least part of their “bad boy” image to Little Richard’s persona.Song analysis:Narrative: Who is the songwriter? Where does this song fall within the early years of rock and roll? Rip It Up was written by Robert Blackwell and John Marascalco. (When researching them, this song seems to be their biggest claim to rock and roll fame). Rip It Up is an example of a R&B-derived early rock and roll song.What is the form of this song? Rip It Up is in contrasting verse-chorus form.Is this song a cover song? Or, was this song covered by another artist in the early years of rock? Though he did not write the song, Little Richard was the first to record Rip It Up. Interestingly, the song was covered the very same year Little Richard’s version was released, by Bill Haley and his Comets, who were better known at that point, with the hit Rock Around the Clock to their credit. Bill Haley’s version of Rip It Up is somewhat similar to Little Richard’s version, though the recording quality isn’t as good, and it has a more country/western flavor.Why did you choose this song? What specifically drew you to it? I chose this song because I think it does an excellent job of embodying the "wild man" character of Little Richard's famous work. The persona Little Richard adopted stood in stark contrast to the “squeaky clean” image of white pop stars like Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, or even earlier rock and roll artists like Fats Domino. Even without visual accompaniment that could be seen on TV or in concert, teenage listeners could tell that Tutti Fruitti and Rip It Up were not their father’s pop music. The chaotic energy of the latter and sexual suggestiveness of the former were absolutely nothing like Moonlight Serenade or White Christmas.It’s likely that there was a racial component to the label “wild man” associated with Little Richard. According to the textbook What’s That Sound? by John Covach and Andrew Flory, “While this [persona] made [Little Richard] attractive to white teens, it also made it more difficult for him to advance his career in the mainstream pop market.”

Yesterday, CJ told us he could get extra credit this week for watching a biography about Sun Records founder Sam Phillips. The video quality of this YouTube post isn't the best, but the subject matter was super interesting. We watched both parts 1 and 2, and learned a *lot* about not just Phillips, but the emergence of rock and roll in America. If you have some time on your hands and nowhere to go (hahahaha), we encourage you to check it out.



LET THERE BE LIGHT: We're still working on our new storage space. This weekend we cut a hole in the brand-new roof! In the photo below, you can see sawdust starting to rain down.

 And just like that, a little window to some blue sky.

We had to build a "curb" for the skylight to sit on. Look at this handy tool that Christian fished out of the garage. It holds boards nicely perpendicular when you're trying to fasten them. 

Fragile

COME AND GO: These unusual beauties appeared in our garden over the past couple of days. I know their appearance is fleeting, and to appreciate them for the too-short time they're around.

When I look at something like this, I can't help but wonder why it exists. It's so delicate - how is it that it evolved in this way? How did they come to be, and why are they so different than sturdier flowers?What advantage does this structure and appearance give them from an evolutionary standpoint? 

It just so happened that someone posted about this particular flower in a Seattle Backyard Gardening group I'm a part of on Facebook. I learned it's Centaurea montana, a species of Centaurea endemic to Europe. Per Wikipedia, "It is widespread and common in the more southerly mountain ranges of Europe, but is rarer in the north. It escapes from gardens readily, and has thereby become established in the British Isles, Scandinavia and North America."

And can we talk about irises? What's up with them? They're so weird. I mean, look at this thing.

It's ridiculously showy on the inside, which is often almost entirely shrouded in huge, papery petals that curl in crazy ways.  

The iris above almost looks like a little butterfly inside a bigger butterfly.

The white iris is kind of a mess, petals every-which-way for a handful of days before they start looking past their prime. (Actually, they're not all petals. I learned today that irises .have six 'lobes.' The three inner lobes are petals, while the three outer lobes are sepals.)

ON AGAIN: Last night I blogged that we were sad Gage Art Academy's complimentary Art to Go classes were kaput. 

This morning, I spied a Facebook announcement that the classes were being extended. There is a full calendar of classes for the month of May! I signed Annabelle up for all eight. She'll be painting twice a week for another month, so yay for that!

Today's class was a how-to-paint-feathers session.

I couldn't help but suggest that Annabelle use blues and greens as a nod to the Seahawks.

I thought even her blotchy napkin was pretty.

I thought all of her creations were really pretty.

A fine feathered painting!

CANDY CLEAN: So if you can't find hand sanitizer anywhere, where do you look? A candy company (IT'SUGAR), of course. Not sure how I even came across it (likely a pop up ad on the Internet), but I spied these little personal hand sanitizers for sale for a good price a couple weeks back. Today, they were delivered. The packaging sure is sweet. The kids and I took the tops off and took a whiff. That was a bit disappointing. It just smelled like hand sanitizer - that unmistakable, overwhelming alcohol scent. 

However, a bit later, Annabelle reported that she actually used some of the Smarties sanitizer, and that after the alcohol flashed off, she could detect a Smarties scent.

CRUSHED: Can we all agree that 2020 has pretty much been a Dumpster fire? It seems like a tsunami of bad news swirls around us, and it can be totally overwhelming.

We made a donation to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline today. They do important work. 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

Arts Aplenty

TO GO GONE: Annabelle had her last Art to Go class compliments of Gage Academy of Art yesterday. I'll have Annabelle tell you more about it.

Gage Art Academy’s “Art to Go” classes were offered as a way to connect with others and learn new painting techniques without leaving the comfort of our own homes. The classes have focused mostly on watercolor painting techniques and landscapes, how to blend colors and use different styles to accomplish a completed image. The most common used technique I learned during the different classes was ‘wet-on-wet,’ which means wetting your watercolor paper with water before applying the paint. This causes the paint to spread and fade slightly, giving the image the signature color variation and soft gradients that watercolors are known for. The opposite of this method is ‘drybrushing,’ where with a minimally damp brush, you apply just a tiny bit of paint to a dry area of the paper and let it pick up the rough texture. This works best on proper watercolor paper, since it has the toothy texture that you’re usually looking for. It’s common to use these two techniques in combination with each other to end up with a finished piece, and the contrasting shades and textures really makes the overall image look more interesting. I found the classes very educational and relaxing, especially in this distressing time.

Below is a warm up painting from her last class. 

 And below is a later painting, incorporated from things learned during the draft.

ENDLESS DEBATE: This morning, my email inbox had messages from Paul McCartney and The Rolling Stones. I couldn't help but smile at the timing, as just yesterday the kids and I were talking about the loooooong Beatles vs. Stones beef.  Those bands are now both 50+ years old, and Paul and Mick are still chirping at each other about which band was better.

In a recent interview, McCartney was asked that age-old, oft repeated question, which band was better, the Stones or the Beatles. He responded, “(The Rolling Stones) are rooted in the blues. When they are writing stuff, it has to do with the blues.  We had a little more influences. ... There’s a lot of differences, and I love the Stones, but . . . the Beatles were better.”

A couple of days later, Mick Jagger weighed in, responding, "There’s obviously no competition. ... The Rolling Stones is a big concert band in other decades and other areas, when the Beatles never even did an arena tour . . . That’s the real big difference between these two bands.  One band is unbelievably luckily still playing in stadiums, and then the other band doesn’t exist.” 

Ouch. I like The Beatles better, but score on for the Stones.

Right now, would you believe the gathering-no-moss group has the number one song on iTunes? It's their just-released pandemic-inspired tune "Living in a Ghost Town." Not bad for a band where the average age of the members is 75.88.

The comments on the YouTube page for the video are comic gold, most at Keith Richards'expense. A couple of gems: 

"If Keith Richards met the Coronavirus, the Coronavirus would need to self isolate." - Alan Antimatter

"The vaccine is within Keith's DNA." - Golden Cube

Speaking of pandemic music, one of our favorite bands, twentyone pilots, recently dropped this video.

I suppose in the not-too-distant future, someone(s) will be studying pandemic-era art. Lord knows there's a crap ton of it being produced, what with all the live-streamed concerts, free writing and painting and drawing classes and so on.

SPACE SONGS: This evening we tuned in to a live broadcast (via YouTube) Space Songs: Through the Distance. It was really pretty special. 

A number of artists and space industry people shared songs and stories about space and isolation "to celebrate how extreme situations can bring out the very best in us all and why there’s no challenge we can’t face together," per the Smithsonian's description on their YouTube page.

This concert, recorded in segments all over the globe, was hosted by Tested’s Adam Savage. Musicians featured included Clipping, Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast, Dan Deacon, Ben Gibbard, Valerie June, Lukas Nelson, Grace Potter, and Vagabon.

Appropriately, the just-over-one hour show closed with Sting singing "Walking on the Moon."

If you missed the live show, you can watch a replay. ...

Settling In

THE NEW GUYS: Today we've checked in on our new guests multiple times, the new guys being a swarm of bees rounded up yesterday, about a mile away from our place. We want to make sure they're enjoying their new digs - a hive in our side yard, alongside the 'old' guys - a swarm we caught last week.

ROCK IT: CJ is really enjoying his Rock History college course so far. The discussion forum for the all online class has been lively. This week, students were asked to post a song from the 1900-1950, pre-rock era.

Here's what CJ posted. ... 

Song title: Rock Awhile
Artist name: Goree Carter
Year produced: 1949











Which category would you say this track falls into and why? I think this song falls best into the "Race Music" category. This song follows a typical R&B structure and timbres, and was written and performed by a black musician. The song prominently features a piano and saxophone, both associated with the R&B of the era.

Interestingly enough, the song even contains elements of traditional black gospel, such as the tempo (though the lyrics are clearly not religious). A good point of reference in terms of sound might be Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s 1945 R&B gospel single Strange Things Happening Every Day.

What is the form of this song? Rock Awhile is in simple verse form. It does not feature a chorus.

What is this song about? Listeners have noted the lyrical simplicity of this song. The main refrain goes, "Feelin' good this mornin' / now I feel like I wanna rock a while." One of the only other lyrics says, “Come on, boogie woogie baby, come and stop this steel in style,” adding a noticeable sexually suggestive element.

Even though the song follows a bluesy chord progression, the lyrics are the opposite of the downbeat subject matter that is typically expected from the blues: In Rock Awhile, a man expresses excitement that his lover is returning home.

The lyrical content referencing “rocking” also foreshadows much of the 1950s' rock and roll, most famously Bill Haley's Rock Around the Clock.

Why did you choose this song? What specifically drew you to it? This song is notable as it is sometimes considered to be one of the first rock and roll singles (though it’s still very primitive). Considering the musical elements present, as well as its primitiveness, a more accurate descriptor for Rock Awhile might be “rollick-and-roll.”

After recording two more singles for the short-lived Freedom Recording Co., Carter was drafted in the Korean War. While Carter recorded little other than this single, its influence on other musicians was palpable. I recall reading an article that quoted Carter as saying, “With Rock Awhile, I got a minor hit, and Chuck Berry got a career.” Unfortunately, I was unable to find the article in question with a Google search.

KITCHEN KAWAII: Early Sunday morning, Annabelle and I masked and gloved up to visit Uwijamaya, a local grocery store with lots of great Asian cuisine items. We bought COVID essentials like shrimp chips and Japanese mayo and a couple of Popin' Cookin' kits ...

OK, so the latter weren't on our list to begin with, but when we saw these cute little kits where you make your own gummy candies that look like other foods. How could we not?!?

Last night, the kids gave the 'Tanoshii Ramen" kit a go.

Inside the box, it was basically just a bunch of packets of powder, some kind of confusing directions, and some molds.

On the outside of the box, 'warnings' let you know it wasn't going to be a walk in the park.

I'm going to go ahead and say that if Annabelle and CJ weren't award winning cake decorators, the candy meal likely would have looked *nothing* like the one on the box. 

They worked hard, and together, and were pretty darn successful.

I wish I'd put something in one of the photos for scale. These things are darn TINY!

How cute is that egg in that ramen? And the "mango pudding" dessert was also well done. 

They have one more kit to go. The one above was the 'easier' one.