Winging It

FLIGHTY: I'm still trying to catch up (and catch my breath!) from last week, which was oh-so-busy.

Friday afternoon, we had a chance to pay tourist, hanging out at The Museum of Flight with some family, including an East Coast-dwelling guest. We spent the bulk of our visit in the always-entertaining air park portion of the museum. It's outdoors, but entirely covered, making it comfortable to visit year-round. 

The photo above in the belly of a 787. We couldn't help but notice it has "hips" (see the bulges on the body near the landing gear?).

Visiting the first Air Force One jet is always a highlight. Here, CJ and Annabelle mug for the camera along with former President Richard Nixon and China's Zhou Enlai.

The jet is a specially-built Boeing 707-120, also known as SAM (Special Air Missions) 970. It was delivered by Boeing in 1959 to replace then-President Eisenhower's Super-Constellation. 

The flying Oval Office featured what was then a well-appointed galley and sophisticated communication equipment.

An "oval office" within the flying Oval Office. Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon almost certainly sat here once upon a time. Those were the good old days, before presidents sat on a toilet and posted nasty Tweets.

A peek out of the window of the Concorde gives you an idea of just how packed the air park is with aviation attractions.  

Inside a vintage 747, we learned that the "black" box is actually orange.

Below, CJ and DB (Cooper, that is) strike a pose.

Below is a shot of the building where CJ and Annabelle spent most of their private pilot ground school hours.

We did spend a little time in the museum's Space Gallery. I had to laugh at the IKEA-instructions like stickers on the Soyuz capsule, instructing people how to open it. I suppose it's there because the Soyuz could inadvertently land in a remote location, and some local with no aerospace training would have to let the cosmonauts out. 

Artsy

PROJECTING: Busy week last week. We were up to our elbows in fondant, buttercream, Perler beads and spray paint. 

After checking out the Birthday Dreams' list of request for cakes for homeless kids, CJ found a child who wanted a Super Mario Bros.-themed cake. We *had* to take that on. (As you may recall, in our last place, CJ's entire bedroom was painted in a Super Mario Bros. mural.)

Annabelle was busy on another project (more on that later), so CJ and I had to do most of the heavy lifting on this cake. 

We made mushrooms and Goombas (pictured at the top of the post). We had to call Annabelle in for Mario's head and body, however. 

The cake was three layers of chocolate brownie cake with vanilla and mini chocolate chip filling, covered in marshmallow fondant. 

We put the birthday child's name on top of the cake in a Mario Bros. font. The name is rather clumsily obscured in these photos, for privacy purposes, but it looked really cool! :)

Meanwhile, Annabelle was busy with another 'little' project. About three weeks back I'd sent her notice about The Museum of Flight's Space Art juried art show/contest. She ignored that  info, but last Wednesday morning, I asked her, "Are you really not going to do anything to try to get into the art show?" Well, she had a change of heart and then spent hours and hours and hours the next two days creating.

It had to be a 2D/on the flat entry, so she decided to do a melted Perler bead creation on canvas. She settled on an astronaut's helmet, with a starry scene in the visor.

The toughest part was getting it to scale and getting it outlined properly.

 Filling in the middle was more fun.

After the beads were on the boards, it was all carefully taped off and pulled off the boards and then melted together via an iron.

She spray painted a canvas (using techniques she'd learned by air brushing cakes!), and then glued the astronaut on it.

It turned out great, and she found out that the work was one of 18 that will be featured in the museum's art show this coming weekend. How about that!?

SATIRE-DAY:  Friday night, we made our way to the Paramount Theater for a show (our second of the week). This time it was Weird Al as the main attraction. 

Billed as his "Strings Attached" tour, Al was playing with a 40+ piece orchestra. 

In fact, the opening act was the orchestra, which played a stirring selection of John Williams' movie themes. I would have gone to the theater just to hear that!

Afterward, there was a short intermission, and then it was on with the show. Annabelle will tell you more about it. ...

On August 17th, my family and I attended a concert at the Paramount Theater featuring “Weird Al” Yankovic and a full symphony orchestra; many would think this is quite the odd combination, but it definitely works in its own ridiculous way. During this show, Weird Al played many of his more popular parody songs, including “White & Nerdy,” “Amish Paradise,” and my personal favorite, “Word Crimes.”

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8Gv0H-vPoDc" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> 

He also sang a few original songs, such as “Jackson Park Express” and the 26-second long “Harvey the Wonder Hamster”.

The showmanship of the concert was astounding, and every single part of it was punctual and well executed. The opening act with the orchestra’s warm up sounded very good, and the acoustics of the Paramount worked well with the nature of the instruments. The only improvement I could think of was that the singers’ microphones sometimes felt a bit too quiet in comparison to the orchestra and instruments, making it difficult to hear certain lyrics. Aside from that, the show was amazing! More information on the tour and future stops can be found at weirdal.com/tour/.

Al ended with a couple of Star Wars songs: "The Saga Begins" and  "Yoda" (sang to the tune of The Kinks' "Lola."

We enjoyed our 'cheap' seats in the first row of the third (and last) mezzanine. Whoever filmed this had a *much* better view.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c7abXNaPCoo" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Gathering No Moss

GIMME SHELTER: Wednesday night we rode the rails to the stadium district. Our mission: To finally see one of rock and roll's most iconic bands, The Rolling Stones.

I'd never been to a concert at Century Link Stadium (home of the Seahawks) before, so I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. Following the directions of staff standing on the street on the south side of the stadium, we ended up entering the stadium through the parking garage. Eventually we wound our way to three security lanes and breezed through there no problem. We were then pointed in the direction of a stadium entrance, but it was for suite guests only - definitely not a spot our nosebleed seat tickets would grant us entry.

Eventually we found some doors leading us to an elevator. Here's a photo of our view from there. 

That particular little patio was packed, but we waited a few minutes and eventually hitched a ride up to the stadium's top level. There, we had no trouble walking around and checking things out. (Mercifully concession lines were short and fast moving, and bathrooms weren't too bad a wait.)

It was about 7 p.m., and the crowd was still making its way to their seats.

On the concourse, we had to stop for this photo opp. It is the Seahawks' stadium, after all.

Soon enough, we made our way up to our seats. That was the first real "Uh oh" of the night for me. Turns out our seats were smack dab in the middle of a 30-seat long row. Ick. They were also right in the middle of a huge section from a top-to-bottom standpoint. Double ick. For a number of reasons, I *really* deplore being fenced in in the middle of a huge pack of people. (I much prefer to have my escape options more open). So, pretty much as soon as we sat down, I was looking for a Plan B - no easy feat when it's a sold out show and I don't know the stadium well at all.

We sat through the opening act, Lukas Nelson, who likely almost *always* has his name followed by the descriptor "son of Willie Nelson." That would get old, I'll bet.

Lukas plays a mean guitar, has shampoo-commercial hair and performs with a ton of energy. His accompanying band is Promise of the Real, BTW. They play what you might call American country rock. Fun trivia: Lukas Nelson was hired as an "authenticity consultant" to Bradley Cooper for "A Star is Born." He co-produced the music for the film, writing songs with Lady Gaga. His band appears in the film as lead actor Bradley Cooper's band. Nelson won a BAFTA Award for Original Music for his work for the film.

After the opener, there was the standard set-the-stage time, and then at 9 p.m. sharp, the Stones took the stage.

Wow - within the first measure of the first song, there was Mick doing his thing. At age 76, with a brand new heart valve, the guy most certainly still has the "moves like Jagger"! That guy can dance!

After four songs, the Stones moved to the foreward-most part of their stage and did an acoustic set of bluesy songs. That's when Annabelle and I struck out into the night to stake out a better place to watch the show.

We wound up wedging ourselves into some standing-room-only space at the south end of the stadium. It was a better view, and it was nice to have a solid concrete wall behind us to lean on (and to keep people from leaning on us!). Soon, Christian and CJ joined us down there.

CJ can tell you a bit more about the show. ...

In 2019, the Rolling Stones, arguably one of the single most influential and important bands in rock 'n roll history, embarked on the North American leg of their No Filter tour. The North American leg of the No Filter tour primarily stops at National Football League (NFL) stadiums, such as CenturyLink Field in Seattle, Washington. Due to the band members' age, it is likely that the No Filter tour will be their last major tour.

On August 14, 2019, the Rolling Stones made a tour stop at CenturyLink Field, in Seattle, Washington's SoDo neighborhood. The opener for the concert, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real (a band led by one of Willie Nelson's sons), played a (relatively) short set driven primarily by folk rock. I wasn't terribly impressed, but clearly a lot of concertgoers begged to differ. After about 30 minutes, the Stones began their set with Street Fighting Man, a cut from their 1968 LP Beggars (sic) Banquet. For the fourth song on the setlist, the Rolling Stones let the crowd vote (using the band's website) which song to play. The song that won was Beast of Burden, a major radio hit that came from the band's 1978 release Some Girls.

The Rolling Stones played acoustic renditions of Sweet Virginia and Dead Flowers on a b-stage in the center of the stadium, before returning to the main stage. Once the band returned to the main stage, they played Sympathy for the Devil (another cut from Beggars Banquet), one of the Rolling Stones' biggest radio hits. Afterwards, the band progressed through more of their radio hits, such as Honky Tonk Women, Paint it Black, Start Me Up (which I missed part of because I had to use the bathroom really bad), Jumpin' Jack Flash, and Brown Sugar. After the crowd demanded an encore for long enough, the band returned to the stage with their two biggest hits, Gimme Shelter and (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction. 

Even though we left as the last chord of the last song was fading away, we managed to see the band being whisked away from the stadium as we were leaving. I can't believe how quickly they got out of there. We practically ran for the exits, but the Stones' egress was faster, because we had to wait on the sidewalk for their police escort to pass.

All in all, it was a fun night, and I'm glad we made the effort to see some rock legends while we still had the chance.

Fina11y

ALL ABOUT EDGAR: For our family, Saturday was pretty much all about Mariners' hitting legend Edgar Martinez.

First thing Saturday morning, we headed to the stadium to have an opportunity to view the newly-minted Edgar Martinez Hall of Fame plaque that will be on display in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in perpetuity.

Guess who wound up being the very first people to view the Hall of Fame plaque? Yup, it was us. :)

I have to say, I don't think the bronze bust on the plaque looks a whole lot like Edgar. Guess it's the thought that counts? 

On our way back to the car, we stopped by to say 'Hi' to the statue of Ken Griffey Junior out in front of the stadium. 

Fortunately this larger-than-life tribute is a very good likeness of "The Kid."

Saturday afternoon we were back at the ballpark. This time there were a whole lot more people there.

It was an early-arriving crowd as people were hoping to snag a replica Hall of Fame plaque. Our party of five came home with them. But I have to say, the plastic replica is an even worse "likeness" of Edgar. Yikes.

We spent a little time down in the 'Pen (the lower level of the field), and then headed up to the centerfield fence. Eventually we made our way up to our seats (our favorite, top row of the stadium, along the third base line perches).

From there, we watched people ready the field for the pre-game ceremony.

 Glad they spelled it right. :)

 There was a big ol' Hall of Fame banner on hand, and chairs were set up in the infield.

Eventually, Edgar made his way from centerfield to his infield seat.

Then, one by one, special guests were introduced. No surprise, Ken Griffey Jr. received the largest round of applause.

Below are a couple of short clips from the ceremony.

Edgar gave a thoughtful, sentimental speech that was thoroughly appreciated by those on hand.

The night before, we were at Seattle Center. There, we got to see a special #11 flag atop the Space Needle to honor Edgar, who always wore the number 11.

All in all, it was a special day, and I'm glad we had the good sense to leave the game right before former Mariner Mike Zunino - who doesn't hit hardly anything, ever - hit a three-run bomb that led to the Mariners' loss. 

DARK HUMOR: Friday night, we headed to Seattle to check out a performance at Seattle Children's Theater. One of Annabelle's friends was in "Heathers The Musical (High School Edition)," and so we decided to check it out. We're sure glad we did!

Annabelle can tell you a bit more about it. ...

On August 10^th, my family and I attended a showing of Heathers: The Musical – High School Edition. This production was put on by the Seattle Children’s Theater as part of their youth drama school program, which encourages middle- to high-school aged students to explore the arts and drama. One of the major reasons we attended this particular production was not only due to the Seattle Children’s Theater’s history of good performances, but also because one of my friends from a former school was performing! The show itself was very well done. All the actors seemed very comfortable with their roles and the choreography for major songs was extremely well done. While the background music sounded quite muted at times, it was definitely made up for by the singers’ great voices and emotional performances. Despite having to tweak some of the lyrics (and even cut whole songs) to make the show more age-appropriate, it definitely stayed true to the original soundtrack and story.

Even though their three-day run is now over, I’d like to congratulate all of the actors and actresses on their amazing performance. The best way to support SCT and help create future performances like this is by donating and attending shows. For info on future performances and how to support them or apply for drama school, you can visit their website at www.sct.org.

Working It

HOMEFRONT: Apologies for the lack of posts as of late. It seems like our hands are continually covered in mortar, grout, joint compound, or wallpaper glue this week.

We *FINALLY* finished the tile installation in the downstairs shower. Hooray!
Honestly, it really wasn't much of a shower before. It had a drain that leaked, regular old drywall for its walls (who does that?!), and a broken shower head. 

So, we ripped out the drywall, resloped the shower floor so that water would actually get to the drain, surrounded the shower with cementious backer board, and installed a hundreds of subway-shaped tiles floor-to-ceiling.

And because one project begets another, new flooring is going down in the bathroom soon, and its adjacent hallway and bedroom. And before you put new flooring down, well, it makes sense to paint the walls. However, there was a 'small' problem: The hallway walls were covered in dark, dingy textured wallpaper. Worst-case scenario was that we'd paint over it if it was impossible to pull up. However, we found with a couple of test patches that we could pull at least the top, textured layer off without too much trouble, so then we had to remove the backer layer by scoring it, spraying it with some nasty chemical, and then painstakingly scraping it off one square inch at a time.

However, with CJ, Annabelle, sometimes Kennedy and I working together, we knocked the peel job out this week. The painting will be the fun part! (Also, yes, I know we need a new light fixture. The one in the photo is super dated and not in the cool funky-retro way that I like.)

Yesterday, CJ and Annabelle assembled a bath vanity from IKEA. It's a good exercise in following written, sequential directions.

Suffice it to say, we're nowhere near finished with the renovation(s), but we definitely made some serious progress this week. 

FIRE IN THE SKY: Speaking of this week, I've noticed "not normal" looking clouds bumping up against the east side of Mt. Rainier. 

They were stacked clouds, cumulus of some sort, but I didn't know what sort until I happened upon a post by KING 5 news about pyrocumulus clouds and Mt. Rainier. 

So there you have it, our meteorlogical lesson of the week.

BEES, PLEASE: Another story from our newsfeed this week involved burgeoning beekeeping in the heart of urban Detroit, Michigan.

A non-profit, Detroit Hives, is buying vacant land in the still- city, and setting up scores of beehives on them, where minorities are encouraged to learn about beekeeping. Talk about a win-win!


MEANWHILE, ON JUPITER: NASA's -year-old Hubble telescope continues to amaze. At least once a year,  Earth-orbiting Hubble turns its eyes to all our outer solar system planets to check on their weather. This week, new photos of our solar system neighbor Jupiter were released. (The photos were taken on June 27 of this year.)

Did you know that Jupiter's great red spot, an enormous storm, has been shrinking for years now? While it is getting taller and turning more orange, it is shrinking in diameter. Once upon a time the Great Red Spot was believed  to be large enough to cover the width of three Earths, but as of April 2017, the storm spot was just a little wider than one Earth (a diameter of 10,159 miles, according to NASA.

Using the latest Hubble images, NASA compiled an animation of Jupiter's rotation. (In case you were wondering, Jupiter completes one rotation every 9.8 hours.)

A few more fun Jupiter facts from the folks at NASA ...