Raincharm’s Weblog

I really should remember to take before pictures when I am doing work where progress is visible. But I didn’t, so all you get is an after. I also did some general between house weeding, including a rather large blackberry vine removal.  It will come back, I could not get enough of the root.

I also paid for a certified copy of my grandmother’s birth certificate. I’m not sure I will need it, but I had requested it a few months ago – and they did their work. The cost was presented in Candian dollars, and I paid with a credit card. Seeing the actual amount charged it appears the exchange rate is about 70 percent!

Carl took his friend Chris hitting with the old and then older guys. Chris qualifies as old, but not older. It sounded like he had a good time, but may need an ice bath later. Especially after 3 hours in the car on his drive south.

We are not in or near the Washington fires, but still close enough for the smoke to have arrived. Tuesday night’s block party was postponed due to the air quality index. It will likely happen on Friday, but we are going to the Mariners game that day. Yesterday and today we largely kept the windows closed to limit the smell indoors. It has been coming and going, and we hope it really goes soon.

This has been the only damper on a visit from Carl’s college roommate.

They have managed to get to a Mariner game, an Aquasox game, and generally hanging out. We did take a long walk this morning. Up the long incline to the Maple Leaf neighborhood, home to Macrina bakery and a hardware store.

I have been busily watching the first three years of Ted Lasso in preparation for Season 4. One episode from Season 3 to go.

We took a walk yesterday, again. This time we paralleled Green Lake for a while. If I find a little free library, I often stop to browse.

This time it wasn’t so much what was in the library as the library itself.

Old news: Mariners lose, again. But that was so yesterday, they won today. We were at the loss, not the win.

Yesterday wasn’t a total loss, we got a good walk in before the game. It was a beautiful day so we took light rail to the north downtown station (Westlake), and walked through the Pike Place Market, down to the waterfront, and along the waterfront to the stadiums. And finally to the line to get into the game. The perk of this line waiting was watching the Blue Angels. It was a much better view than from our back yard.

New Neighbors: Today almost everything was different. The Mariners won and the Blue Angels were grounded (wind). We did take a long walk, this time to a community center for a birthday party.

Our neighbor, S, turned one. Our neighbors, the parents, are from southern India. In their culture, the first birthday is a big celebration, like a wedding. And the parents and S did stand together with a cake and each fed each other small pieces. S was more interested in the knife than in eating cake. It was a fun gathering with other neighbors, good food, and cake. The food included pizza with Indian toppings, such as tandoori chicken pizza.

On the walk home we managed to get across the University Bridge before it opened.

All in all a good day. Even two days.

I walked to the Museum of History and Industry this morning to see the Freedom Plane National Tour. This included seven documents associated with the founding of the USA.

The most awe-inspiring, to me, was an engraving of the Declaration of Independence. The Oaths of Allegiance signed by Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, and Aaron Burr were pretty cool – declaring what you believed. No hiding behind masks. I think I liked the markup of the Bill of Rights the best of all.  Seeing a work in progress, editing in action.

What I would have liked to do is have the time to really try to read the works. The dim lighting, others wanting to see, and the distance to the documents coupled with my less than stellar eyesight made that not realistic.

Being the first day of the exhibition they even provided some entertainment.

The gift shop had postcards and other items celebrating our Country. After I got home I sat on the back deck listening to the sounds of the Blue Angels – mostly heard them with a few sightings. And then I voted. We’ll drop off our ballots tomorrow.  All mail voting for us.

A very patriotic day.

Very few walking. A bit more clearing out started, and paperwork processing proceeding.

Hopefully by tomorrow mid-morning an exercise mat will be with a new owner.  Had a few inquiries on our cross-country skis and even one for the crib.

I also managed to upload several documents for consideration and confirmation of my heritage. Also made an appointment for required pictures, although given timing requirements I may be jumping the gun.

Both clearing and processing will require additional steps, but they’re moving forward.

Long walk today, between lunch and dinner. In theory I could have gotten something done this evening, but I thought it would be a good idea to stop and share a beer about a mile from home. Let me just say that after 8 ounces of 8.2% beer it was good that we were walking. Fun, but not conducive to getting anything else done today.

We decided to walk because the temperature was temperate. We decided on the zoo because there have been some changes and new/updated exhibits, and it has been a while since we’ve been. It’s a few miles to get in, and then we wandered about before heading home.

A nice Saturday summer afternoon. The zoo was quite busy. Many kids, and lots of different languages.

We will return soon, perhaps on a less crowded day. It’s handy to live close.

Soccer is done, for us anyway. The Ballard men’s team continues to play, but not in Seattle. They need to win two more games to be national champions. And MLS Soccer is starting up again, but we only attend occasionally.

Now back to your regular station.

My Dad broke out of rehab and is back in his favorite spot in his apartment. His querencia, as he calls it. He looks very pleased.

In less important news, we finally switched back to baseball. The Mariners won and are back in first place in the American League West! (Albeit the worst division in baseball)   They batted around in the 7th inning, including a grand slam home run. It was a fun game to attend.

At the beginning of the World Cup I predicted Spain would win. I’ll admit to not trusting my pick through the tournament, especially after Spain was tied by Cape Verde. And today Spain came through, although they needed the overtime periods to score the winner.

It was a fun last gathering with Carl’s stuffed peppers and garlic bread for lunch at halftime.

We’re currently at today’s game 2, Ballard FC men’s team playing for the right to go to the USL2 western division championship.

I don’t have much else for today. I’m a little  tired.

For those who wanted a high-scoring free-wheeling game, the World Cup 3rd place game between England and France is the one to watch.

The game last night between Ballard FC and Utah United was epic. By that I mean epically long. Both teams wanted badly to win to move on to the quarterfinals on Sunday. There was no score through the 90 minutes of regular time, so they played two 15 minute of overtime. At the conclusion of those 30 minutes the referee said 2 minutes of extra time. Ballard scored after about 1 minute. YEAH, game over right? No. The referee kept adding time. Some extra would be expected, but it just kept going. And after 5 minutes of extra time Utah scored in the final second apparently, because then the referee blew the whistle. Penalties  – and Ballard prevailed when their goalie saved 2 shots.

Tonight’s local game is the women’s team, Salmon Bay vs Vermont Green for the national title. These are generally college aged kids.

Outside of soccer, the day started with my weekly Weight Watchers meeting, held in a hotel meeting room. Driving into the parking lot there was an unusual vehicle,  although I have seen it before.

The Seafair Pirates perform at neighborhood and citywide fairs throughout the summer. “Terrorizing kids all summer long and handing out sweets.”

I got to our meeting room, and

The Seafair Pirates have apparently been using this room all week. I thought it was a test.