Raincharm’s Weblog

Started by picking some raspberries to take with us.
Since they are about a month late, we are now going to miss some of the harvest.

The bus was not too crowded, and the train had plenty of places to sit.
The plane, on the other hand, was full.

We arrived at the airport a bit early, and saw that the USA vs. France game in the Women’s World Cup was just at halftime, USA 1 – France 0. I tried to get the game streaming on line in the waiting area, but was stymied in my normal methods. A woman across the aisle had it going, and when they scored I would run over and check out the replay. Along with me were several rather tall women who were sitting in the next row of seats. It wasn’t until I looked one of them in the eyes after watching the replay, that I realized I was looking at Sue Bird, and the tall women were the Seattle Storm WNBA team.
(Final result USA 3 – France 1.)

It started a bit late, but we seemed to be making up time.
The seatbelt sign was lit for most of the trip, and in the second half both Carl & I thought a trip to the loo would be in order. But there was the small matter of the seatbelt sign and the rather large person sitting between us and the aisle. We had just decided to manage the trip the next time the seatbelt sign turned off, and the loudspeaker asked for any medical personnel to make themselves known.  And could everybody stay in their seats so the people who need to move around, can move around.

As it turned out, a young girl (teenager I think) had come out of the loo ashen white, and then swooned. And further, her seat was directly across the aisle from us. They eventually led her back to her seat with an oxygen bottle in tow.

And when we landed, everybody waited in their seats so the paramedics could get through. They led her off, and then deplaning began.

There was a rush for the bathrooms by all of us that had been waiting for a couple of hours by then as we hit the terminal. The terminal had a fair amount of plywood in evidence. When we found our hosts waiting with their new steed, they reminded us of THE TORNADO from a few short months earlier. We then noticed that there really was a large amount of plywood at the airport. Inside and out.

Note the brown windows - except one transparent pane.

Dropped the bags and out to dinner at Blueberry Hill. We passed a new statue of Chuck Berry on the way to the restaurant. And who was playing at the restaurant later that night? Chuck Berry himself. We did limit ourselves to dinner, and then a walk around the area.

Bob Gibson's star in the Loop Area

Oh – the weather. We thought we were going to double our temperature from 55 degrees in Seattle to 100 degrees in St. Louis. BUT it was only 88 when we landed.

Tomorrow is supposed to be equally “cool” so we should survive.

That is what several of Carl’s friends call him.
It is mostly based on his encyclopedic knowledge of minutiae that only a select few will want to hear. But many of those select few (is that possible) have found him, and like to hang out with him.

This occurs most of the time at Mariner games.
But there is another side, that is much closer to his heart – playing the game.

After a few years layoff, followed by a comeback – including a dislocated elbow, followed by another layoff, we are now in yet another comeback year.

Here are a few, slightly blurry, pictures of Sunday’s game.
The windup, and the pitch.

This was followed by a snag of a line drive back up the middle. YER OUT. But I was not fast enough to catch the catch.

Tale of Carl’s part of the game:
7 Innings, 14 hits, 4 strike-outs, 1 walk, 2 hit-by-pitch. 4 runs scored, of which 3 were earned runs.

It really is good to get out and play games. It is a great place to get to know people that share your love of that sport, but maybe nothing else. Good exposure all around. And even the old geezers can make some pretty nice looking plays from time to time.

And then it was off to work – desk work.
Today I got to spent half a day visiting sewer lift stations.
And it was nice out. And the adventure was not too odoriferous.
I will admit after almost 24 years in the business I am not grossed out by looking at sewage, but it usually smells more to me than it did today. Even Inglewood was not too bad (that’s for Ashlan).

We spent the morning and afternoon working on our our various projects. Laundry, dishes, work. So in the late afternoon we took a break for a walk. It was nice out, although only in the low 70’s by my reckoning. (Goose bumps when not in the sun, with a little breeze.)

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Many will have already heard, but little one found a job.
In fact, she found two. From zero to two in one day.

First on the W2 is Macy’s. Tried and true.
Second is Potbelly’s Sandwich Shop. New and hopefully yummy.

The transition from job hunter to job holder is always a good one.
This one was, however, slightly dampened.

By rain.
Apparently a good hard rain, complete with thunder.

As little one was relaying to me her good fortune, she let slip that it was raining, and in fact she was dripping. (All this while trying to find a subway entrance.) And she noted that when the rain started, everyone else stepped back into storefronts to wait it out.

Not our intrepid Northwesterner. If you are in Seattle and try to wait out the rain, you may wait a month or so. We don’t let our rain keep us indoors.

Little one is learning the difference between the rainstorms of the northwest and summer thunderstorms of the east.

But isn’t that what trying out new places is all about – learning how to be a local.

Dennis is visiting. Actually he is almost leaving – tomorrow. He arrived in his old white truck, carrying a rider from Portland along with a mattress for another person. He is currently looking for stuff to make the return trip.
His truck’s name is The Great White Hope it Doesn’t Break Down.
Kind of a long name, but well earned by years of service.

It’s our anniversary today – 26 years. Almost half of my husband’s life. Not quite so close to half of mine.

And it is also mysisty-uglers anniversary. They were kind enough to share the day.
And a few days off of at least a few cousins.

So – to make today special, we will both be responsible and go to our respective jobs. And hopefully meet for dinner between my Board meeting, and my husbands baseball practice.

After a long weekend together, it doesn’t seem like we are missing too much, and can manage to share our day with others.

Taking a cue from another blog – for our then and now post.
For a really recent picture go back to the July 2nd post.

We just added a walk to our 4th itinerary.

A few errands, and a stop at a local Red Robin to share a salad. (Energy for the 3 mile return)

This walk is marked by long uphills and then long downhills. Going the uphill is longer, but steadier. Coming back it starts steeply, and lasts a while, but then you get the long downhill.

On the way back Carl stopped to figure out a blot on the road.
At first he thought it was a dead baby bird.
Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a full grown hummingbird.
Green tail feathers, but no, I did not take a picture.

At NE 100th we started counting American Flags, and bikinis.
Final tally at NE 56th.

1 bikini (on a 12 year old or younger)

26 flags.
3 were on schools.
6 were the small plastic variety.
1 was ours.

It is sunny, and I am in shorts and a tank top.
When we left it was just under 70 degrees. Now it is showing 80 degrees.
Time for water.

The weekend is over, except that it is not.

That’s a bonus, except that I really need to put in some work time today. People have been giving me the disapproving look when I say that. But I need to get stuff done, and there is nothing else scheduled today, except of course the fireworks. And before that, maybe a soccer game on the computer.

Yesterday was our day of activities.
Carl hit baseballs, then Carl watched baseball, the we went to a screening in the Paramount of West Side Story. (It is still a great movie, even if some of the lines sound a bit dated. The ending is powerful, and powerfully done.)  The Paramount is a big theatre, usually used for live acts and off-Broadway shows. We saw the Lion King there.

The we retired to a friend’s house for a follow-up to Carl’s birthday that includes showing movies in the backyard. Yesterday’s fare included Cities – Chicago by Studs Terkel, and an episode of the Bob Hope Show sponsored by Chevrolet. And the guest stars were Diana Dors (the British Marilyn Monroe, sort of), Don Larson (2 days after he threw the perfect game in the World Series), Jimmy Cagney, everybody from I Love Lucy (Lucy, Desi, Ethyl & Fred), the Chevrolet Deb-Stars.

We are flying the colors today, for the first time since we have lived in this house.
We don’t have a flagpole mount, but a couple of zip-ties and there she flies.

Happy 4th!
(And yes, it is still garbage day.)

Well – yesterday was Carl’s birthday.
It started like many days. Carl working to get me ready to go to work.
Including a latte. (Of course that meant that he got one too, but he had to do the work.)

I was feeling a bit bad for not trying to make it more special, but have been focused on my own needs. I have to get way to much stuff done in the next two weeks, and a holiday weekend that includes birthdays, baseball and almost anniversaries was just being a bit too much.

So what did I do to prepare?
Bought a phone that I don’t know how to drive, and now also don’t have the time to learn about. Doing the simple things seems to take a long time, and it keeps asking me questions.

Off to work – taking the bus. No carpoolers around, and I did not want to have two cars at the Mariners game tonight (or have to drive in rush hour pre-game traffic, and then park). Carl gave me a ride to the bus stop. (He’s so nice.)

I arrive at work – no closer to having a special birthday idea – other than being enthusiastic, and running whatever errands he might want at the ball game.

And then a cake arrived! Actually, a co-worker arrived and told me she had baked a cake to celebrate the holiday – to share with co-workers. I immediately thought – I should take a piece to Carl.
I looked at the cake – a bundt style white cake – with a red-white-blue frosting and interior. So I asked if I could buy the whole cake from her, and told her why. She gave it to me – so now I am totally in her debt. I found a box and grabbed some napkins.

The bus ride after work was more fun, balancing the box while carrying an overful backpack. I tried to read a book too, but it was more important to keep the cake level and safe. I managed to get it to the game, and stored it under my seat.

At the end of the second inning I pulled it out, and started cutting. (I had waited until the sun left our seats.) As our friends started singing Happy Birthday to Carl, several others in the area chimed in. So I doled out the cake to our friends and those in close proximity, until it was gone. [There was a bachelorette party group a little behind us (from Canada – Happy Dominion Day), but I am not sure any pieces made it back that far.] The mood was festive – Mariners were already ahead.

What was really helpful was that we were playing the San Diego Padres, and the numbers in the crowd cheering for the Padres was significantly less than the numbers that cheered for Atlanta, and while I do not mind folks cheering for their team, it was just a fun atmosphere. The team continued to play well, and the Mariners WON.

It was also 80’s Night. Throwback uniforms to 1984. That happened to be the year we moved to Seattle, and started attending games. Carl wore an 1980’s M’s jersey, that fit him in 1984. If this were Milwaukee it would have worked well as a sausage costume. And then there was the rainbow wig, although we did not have the John 3:16 sign. Apparently if Carl wants to get on the TV broadcast, all he has to do is don a wig. Somewhere in the 5th inning (I think) both Carl and Jimmy Wright’s telephones started to ring, from folks that saw them on the broadcast. Jimmy was attired as a Miami Vice character.

80's throwback birthday

Really, the picture was taken just trying to figure out how to use the phone camera. So the staging is what it is. If I could figure out how to get to the broadcasts of the game, I would get a screen shot. As it is you will have to make do with this. (Jimmy is in the background, behind the vendor, but you can not see his natty attire.)

So – all in all it was a fun night. A good celebration, and in the end we did not end up with more “stuff” for our house. Well there were some new baseball cards that were gifted to Carl, but I guess they won’t cave in the ceiling. ….. Or will they.