Raincharm’s Weblog

When it rains it pours. But not today. Except that we had more activities in one day than we often have in a week. 

First up was the 3 mile Refuse to Abuse walk at Safeco Field. Except we did not attend. Carl’s heel has been quite sore this week,  so we decided to spend some time hanging out with our weekend guests instead.

That is until we left them to watch Carl’s baseball team from last year in a game at the UW. Another old player (80-some years old) that has moved to AZ was also in attendance,  so there was a lot to talk about in addition to watching the game. 

From there it was on to our guest’s soccer tournament. Their team is a U16 team from Eugene, Oregon. Their first game was on Friday. Unfortunately, several players were delayed by traffic on the trip north, and had to jump out of their cars and start playing with no warm up. The coach arrived around half time. The other team scored 5 goals before they were able to come back with 2. The Saturday game was much better, a 3-0 win, and a more cohesive looking team. Their game today will decide whether they play any additional games. Also whether we get any more house guests beyond the two players  (and one dad, Dan). Apparently some of the parents have to be back to work in Eugene on Monday. 

Parker, our friend Dan’s son, is number 9 in the black uniform. 

The evening found another spectator event at a Gilbert and Sullivan show,  H.M.S. Pinafore. It was quite good. The Lord Admiral was especially funny. There’s a song between the Captain,  Lord Admiral and Josephine where the Captain and Admiral got into a bit of a one-ups-manship with the Captain first ringing a small bell, the Admiral then going to his triangle, the Captain winning a struggle to ring the ship’s bell, and the Admiral coming back with cymbals. No justice done by my explanation, but it was funny. 

It’s shaping up to be an interesting work week. The big boss is gone for the week. This is both a positive and a negative. 

The negative is that almost all of Monday was spent filling in for said missing person. The positive is that I spent almost half of Tuesday working on my big project. 

I hope to repeat Tuesday for the rest of the week. 

A little time out with an office buddy. 

Felix is on the mound and it’s a beautiful day. Keep the complaining at bay.

Wolcott threw out the first pitch. He’s a player many fans don’t recognize in the 1995 photo of Griffey scoring to get the Mariners into the post-season. [I probably have this a bit wrong. I remember 1995, but I am not a historian. )

Felix made it through 6 innings, with a 3-0 lead. At 100 pitches, he is probably done. The A’s are on pitcher number 3. Actually number 62.

Game over. Both teams used 5 pitchers, and the Mariners prevailed, 4-0.

Time for the all-star break. 

And what’s left of the afternoon doing “family arithmetic.”

We’re in the midst of our double header.

It started with a walk to Capital Hill, around 3.6 miles, and a quick light rail ride downtown. Our first venture into the Capital Hill station. 

The Sounders played Eintracht Frankfurt in a friendly. It’s the first game for us this year. I enjoyed the game,  partly because it was not quite as intense as regular games.  

Then it was over to Safeco for the baseball half. It was Season Ticket Holder day, with early entrance. We were on the early end, simply based on the soccer game timing, but not the first.

That’s Carl in the Waits jersey. I am hanging out in the shade.

And the Mariners decided to not take batting practice. So the Mariners tried to pull something together for their early arriving STHers. A picture hitting?

I wish I had one of Carl,  but the person that had my phone didn’t realize we were together.

Carl did get a brief moment with Frances. She’s always been nice to Carl. (Used to be his ticket person,  but has moved up the ladder.)

About time for the game. 

And the concluding act of our day out and about.

Happy 4th of July. Happy Anniversary. And Happy getting to face another day. 

We went to the Mariners game. But that’s not unusual. 

Wayne Drop did have a Fourth of July engagement, but it was before he got the hat.

For our anniversary we skipped the baseball game and went out to dinner instead. We got a window seat at Ivar’s Salmon House and were entertained by boats coming and going. And the food was so good. 

This weekend looks to be busy. We have a double-header on Saturday with both a Sounders and Mariner game. Our first Sounders game this year.

And trying to keep up with the raspberries and not letting our fledgling plants dry out.  I think we have done more yard care this year than the last several combined. 

Carl even made a heart shape out of the blackberry vines he trimmed after they came over, under and through our neighbors fence.

Of course the most important history of yesterday was the birthday of Mariner Nelson Cruz and Carl Harms.  And Cletus Elwood (Boots) Poffenberger. And 150 years of Canada.

It was also the day of this year’s Backyard Baseball Film Festival. It was well attended for this gathering  (24), with many arriving early enough to grill a dog or burger. 

The venue.

In addition to the baseball education films and baseball news items from the 1930s to the 1950s, there was a silent home movie from 1928 of an extended family gathering,  including a ball game. It was interesting to see period clothing that was obviously authentic. The funniest was a 1927 film called College,  featuring Buster Keaton as a freshman playing on the baseball team, who doesn’t really understand the game. Hilarious. 

This screen shot is from Magic Moments in Baseball I think.

And, of course,  desert.

Earlier in the day Carl and I walked to Mohai for a presentation called, “A Bite Sized History of the Pike Place Market.” Very informative and tasty as they provided samples from some of the current vendors. 

Today we went out to breakfast with Dennis, film archivist, and Anne, Oregon film historian. It was nice to just spend some time hanging out. After they departed for points south we spent some time cleaning tarps. They have been shoved in the garage for a few months now, and today’s sun provided an opportunity to rinse and dry before folding. (And then back to the garage.)

And finally, the fushia is blooming. 

This was April 16th, early in the Mariner season. Paxton, the Mariner pitcher, is Canadian. Instead of “Ks” for his strikeouts, we chanted “Eh, Eh, Eh, Eh.” And hung an Eh sign in a maple leaf on the railing for each strikeout. 

Paxton pitching again at today’s game. We were back with our Ehs. 

And the Mariners must’ve liked the idea, and incorporated it into their scoreboard. 

Counting his Ehs in the upper right. 

By the way,  the Mariners won after the Tiger’s Verlander pitched 5 innings of perfect baseball. Paxton had 8 strikeouts, but Verlander had 11. A bunt single started the rally, and the door opened. A fun game, especially after having my head firmly implanted in databases all day. I do enjoy the analysis,  but after several hours my neck is soar and my head is spinning.  

Carl has had a congested head most of the month. He keeps hoping it will clear, like rain clears humidity from the air. 

And it has been humid, for Seattle. I even had a day of pouffy hair over the weekend. 

I am not complaining about the weather. I will take our lows in the 50s over highs in the 100s any time. I can’t fathom the 110 plus temperatures predicted in the southwest. 

This week is predicted to improve every day in sunniness and temperature. I hope Carl improves too, especially because we have friends of his arriving on Thursday. 

So good to see…

Chicken turnovers. A pot pie you can hold in your hand. [As Carl said, “Jay is cooking,  so puff pastry must be involved. “]

Our father’s day revolved around food and phone calls. That’s because our family is very far flung. And we need food to survive. 

We started our day with a walk for breakfast at the little Greek restaurant a few blocks away from home. We were pleasantly surprised to see they had multiple tables filled. We are frequently the only table filled in the early morning. 

After eating we ran a few walking errands on the way home, and were treated to a parade on the way. 

Saturday was the Fremont Solstice Parade. This parade features only non-motorized entrants. It’s always a fun and very creative event. We had planned to walk over to watch, but got to involved in a project. 

The parade we saw yesterday would have fit in from the artistic standpoint,  but they were definitely motorized. 

Art cars! Back in the days of the little brown Honda I flirted with thoughts of a little Civic art.

The day ended with the chicken turnovers. Not too bad for a first try.

Both Carl and my Dad are approaching 90, and still looking good.

[This picture gets to serve two fathers since along with Bob, Carl is also one of my favorite fathers. ]

Harry and Gene, enjoying a Michigan summer that appears to be similar in temperature to a Seattle spring. 

On the home front the grass has been mowed, again,  it turns out we have some strawberries on one side of the backyard. We hope they can out-compete the blackberries.