Raincharm’s Weblog

This year’s Memorial Day weekend is aligned within the longest Homestand of the Mariner season.

It started off well, I got a ball tossed up to me in batting practice by the eventual losing pitcher. Yesterday Carl went to the throwback to 1979 game, and had some fun.
First we went to view some retro artwork, and came away with this gem.

Lockwood Dennis is the artist.
Then Carl decided to recall the days when his hairline was fuller.

The cameraman was involved in setting up at least one of these shots, but Carl went willingly.
Today I have been convinced it is Saturday. I put this down to work.
I think they need 2 of me. I have wondered if I did not take any new work, how long it would take to finish everything already in front of me, or more likely to the side of me in one of the piles of files.
As we were driving to the ballpark today, I was trying to come to grips with my day of the week issues and casually noted that I thought we were going out to Ivar’s  Salmon house in the coming week, and what day might that be. [This brings to light the loss of my weekly white board calendar to the remodel. With the schedules gone it seemed something we could do without.] Carl said he thought it was a weekend dinner, and could it have been Saturday? If I had thought it through it would not have made sense to be yesterday, as it was a night game, but I panicked a bit, because our current paper calendar was at home. Then I remembered the on-line reservation and confirming e-mail. Good thing the “Smart” phone doesn’t deal with aging memory issues. Turns out we are going out to dinner TONIGHT!
On the kid’s end …
Ashlan got an A from the NYC Health Department. (Note to all kids, the grading never ends.)
And Rey somewhere encountered a bug that would give a food establishment a failing grade. Some poor timing (is it ever a good time to feel poorly) added to his misery. He did get to try out his new health plan through Obamacare, although that final grade will wait for the bills to arrive. Good news is that, while some symptoms persist, he is feeling better.

Back to baseball. Today is a Little League day. Best team seen walking was from Nanaimo. Vancouver Island, from another country even.

Now to enjoy the rest of the game.

We walked down to the stadium today for the Mariner’s version of a day at the park. In addition to giving mothers a white baseball hat, it is little league day and the kids get rope necklaces (choke chains per one of the ushers).

I don’t think either of my kids are making a surprise appearance today. Rey showed up last year, complete with his arm in a sling. This year he is taking a day off in Tennessee. But I did get a ball tossed to me by Tim Collins (KC Royals)

Ashlan is heading to the Cloisters. See the May 1-2 post for a picture of her there last year with her door. I asked her to take another picture there today to see if she has grown any. (You know how you make notches in doorways to chart your kid’s growth.)

We upgraded our seats today and are directly behind the plate. The one drawback is that we will be in the shade on this sunny day.

I am almost tempted to suggest we walk home as well, going up the left side of Lake Union. A billionaire is refueling his ginormous yacht there. I did not take a picture of it from our vantage point east of the freeway this morning. (Is it odd that ginormous is in the cell phones dictionary of word suggestions?)

Carl has set a precedence by walking to the last two Mariner wins, and driving to the loss. He may get into really good shape if this holds true for a few more games.

Happy Mothers to all you mothers out there, but especially to Doris and Gene.

A weekend in Seattle!

Carl has been diligently trying to get some long walks in.
And the rain gods have been following his efforts closely.

Yesterday he got about 3 miles into a 7 mile walk and called for the support Prius.
It was dumping buckets.

Getting wet on a walk is not the end of the world (or we would rarely walk in Seattle) but this particular walk was to be followed by a 2 hour stand in the elements.

Yes, a Seattle Sounders game.
It is best to start these dry – just because it is more comfortable.

We spent the last few rainy hours before the game eating dinner at a nearby establishment, and then hanging around the interior of Century Link Field. That is the dry interior part.

the DRY part of the stadium

Which brings us to the game.
One of our rules about living here is to never say, “It could not rain any harder.” The rain gods only like to show you that yes they can make it rain harder. I am not sure whether either of us said these words before the game started, but one of the 38,516 in attendance surely did.

Luckily we had brought our 2009 vintage Sounders ponchos. That means that the third layer of clothes down stayed relatively dry.

The Sounders prevailed over the Philadelphia Union, 2-1, and all of the goals were scored in front of us.
That is to say at our seat’s end of the pitch, which means we can see what is really happening. Fun for us, except when it is the other team scoring.

And this morning, as the clothes from yesterday were drying on the rack in the basement, Carl set out again. Just a short 3-mile jaunt around the lake.

But the rain gods found him and turned him around, twice.
Instead of risking a 3rd wetting he made an executive decision and went to Starbucks.

I wonder if Starbucks makes more sales on a sunny or rainy weekend?

[Trying to make my peace with the weather, I read for a while in the car. Listening to the rain on the roof reminds me of the cabin. Car reading/working is an old habit of mine that started in at CSU in 1981.]

Little one turns 25 today. In about 1 hour from now to be precise.
And as she noted yesterday, this will really be May 2nd where she is currently located, so which day really is her birthday.

Ashlan

Regardless of that, she got to see the Mariner’s beat the Yankees!
Happy Birthday!