Raincharm’s Weblog

And so it begins.
Opening weekend in Seattle in April.
Unlike some other cities it did not snow, and didn’t even rain. (Of course the weekend is not over yet but no rain is predicted. Friday was in the 70s, yesterday the high 60s, and today the mid 60s. Hard to complain.

Friday was great fun. Carl and I walked downtown, and had to stop to buy sunscreen. (Turns out there was a small tube in my backpack that I missed.)

Our regular stop for refreshments and restrooms.

I look a little worse for wear, but it was a hot walk.

Between posting the above picture on Facebook and texting a few we gathered the usual suspects before the gates opened.

And so did everyone else. The crowd was reported at over 47,000.

Part of the draw was Ken Griffey Jr throwing out the first pitch.

We should see him again in a little over 100 days.

The games are ready to begin.

To be continued.

And we’re off.

We watched parts of the three games yesterday, and Carl watched the Mariners today.

It was a day game, and I was unaware of the outcome until after our Board meeting (6:30 PM). Felix was okay, 6 strikeouts, but not infallible, 5 walks, and neither were the field players – 2 errors – behind him. It’s only the first game, so no worries.

I just got home (9:30) after writing up the minutes from the meeting because the Executive Assistant had an unexpected medical issue to deal with. Maybe at this rate I won’t need to burn a vacation day on Friday for the Mariners home opener.

Sunglasses are a day thing most of the time. I have heard there are more sunglasses per capita sold in Seattle than anywhere else in the country. That might seem odd given our deserved reputation for clouds and rain. Instead I think it has something to do with the sun being low in the sky and closer to the horizon.

Yesterday the sun did burn through the morning clouds and when we left for our evening event the sun was bright and dipping low in the sky. So I put on my sunglasses.

We headed towards the Seattle Center for the Men’s Chorus show. Turns out it was only one of many events at the Center. The most heavily attended appeared to be Elle Goulding. (We did not know who she was, some popular English singer.) There was also an ultimate frisbee game and the normal tourists at the Space Needle, EMP, and the Chihuly Glass museum. The conjunction of events drove the parking lot prices northward, so we headed west to look for a street spot. Found a car vacating a rather small spot, but figured our car was no longer and proceeded to parallel park successfully on the first try.

We trudged up the four block hill to the Center and through the folks arriving at the aforementioned concert. About that time I realized I still had my sunglasses on and my other glasses were in the car. We had time but I did not relish the uphill trudge again. (It was a steep hill, not a mere incline.) So I stayed with the sunglasses.

The show was muted, but not impossible. Bright lights of Broadway and all.  The walk back to the car was just plain dark.

This morning was sunny, so yard work beckoned. Our lawn had not been cut yet and parts were reaching 6 inches. Carl wrangled the push mower out of the garage, and then he and our neighbor agreed I should use her electric mower instead. I finally agreed to give it a try, and I am sure it did a much better job. Believe it or not this is the first time I have used a power mower of any kind.

At one point I thought I had run the charge down and plugged it in. While waiting I battled dandelions and other various weeds. I am not sure anyone will notice my effort, but I know. Turns out I just needed to approach the tall grass a bit at a time, and not try to power through all at once.

I noticed this bit of fungus among us.

I like the way it mimics the grain of the bat.

It’s Saturday and we rose at the same time as Monday through Friday. Coffee in hand we headed to the end of the block and the 67 bus.

This is our first ride on the new business route. The 66 used to head down Roosevelt to Eastlake and downtown. Now it heads to the university light rail station, where you can transfer to get downtown. The university station is at Husky stadium, which was our destination this morning. No light rail needed.

And the 67 was packed, before 7 AM on a Saturday morning. Most heading to the same event. An opportunity to walk the new 520 Bridge before it opens for traffic. Just us and 13,000 others. And that is before the middle of the day event with STEM activities, food trucks and a ribbon cutting.

The crowd.

Are we having fun yet?

Old and new

At the halfway point, before crossing back over.
More new bridge still under construction

Exposed aggregate on the old bridge
6.2 miles later

Bonus
When we crossed back over the Montlake bridge, the UW vs Brown crew race was in its final moments, with UW pulling away.

We continued our walk to a bus stop and rode back to the neighborhood where we had breakfast at the Olympic. We shared some of the pictures from the morning with the family that operates the restaurant and listened to them discuss whatever they were discussing in Greek.

I ate a tremendous amount of breakfast – French toast, english muffin and hash browns and sausage. Oh, and coffee.

Lounging a bit now. Later tonight we are going to see the Men’s Chorus. A few hundred gay men singing Broadway tunes. Should be awesome.

Last night we went out to dinner and a show. Janis Joplin. The show traces her life and influences from a kid to her rise to stardom. And especially the influence of the blues on her music.

We believe the character identified as “Blues Singer”, as opposed to Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, Bessie Smith, Etta James, Odetta Holmes or one of the Chantels, had a voice that was transcendent. While we all know how Joplin’s life ended, the show was not sad. It was all about the music.

Midway through the second act the singers that performed everyone but Janis sang Kozmic Blues and I Shall be Released. It was over the top and I started crying when the song ended.

I am not prone to tears, and it was quite unexpected. But sometimes the music just moves you.

If you go back through the blog archives you will find several references to eagles hanging out on the bridge signs and light fixtures.

As we were driving across the old bridge I noticed a bald eagle perched on one of the new bridge light fixture.

Progress. But no picture. Unexpected sighting.

This morning was all about the democratic process. We caucused with several hundred neighbors. Even ran into a few that we had not seen for a while. They were not in our precinct, so we had to part ways when they finally got things moving. It did not seem quite as organized as the last one, but they started with 16 precincts in one gym, and a huge turnout. But eventually the process took place and everyone got to have their say or vote anyway.

Post caucus was spent getting ready for a Kingdome memory shindig.

That’s Carl up to bat, and Griffey perched on the bench in the dugout.

A new plate, and a repeat of the Kingdome meatloaf.

Puff pastry domes for dessert.

(With Nutella) and eggs for Easter.

This was all shared with some friends. Kingdome memories abound. Fun seeing pictures of the kids, parents and players growing up. And this day in 2000, when the Kingdome came down in a matter of seconds.

Probably both today. Definitely the latter as it is ten minutes to work time and at least thirty minutes to get there. The occasional result of a carpool.

But it’s Friday and I probably am past 40 hours this week already. Not too stressed.

And I was able to put receipts into the family spreadsheet. And deposits to balance out the receipts. (Just realized I only put one of the paycheck amounts in out of four. Try to remember to add the others tonight. At least it would be an error that would not hurt us. Like finding 20 dollars in the pocket of a jacket you have not worn for a while.) Family arithmetic.

A view of spring.

A view of the new bridge from the old. Walking on the new in a week. Driving on the new a week or so later.

Well, it is 8:00 now, so I should start thinking about work stuff.

Happy birthday to the front row, second from the left. Shown here with her family.
I always associate mom’s birthday with the first day of spring. Spring flowers. And gardening is a passion. It all fits.

So, here are our current spring flowers.

With a plastic flamingo butt.
And the bats heralding another activity that starts in the spring.

It sounds as though mom and the local family will celebrate mom’s birthday this weekend with a dinner out. We also have a celebration planned and will raise a glass to one who raised me. (And this will not be at the caucus. I think they frown on toasts. But maybe not toast, it is in the morning after all.)

Our first ride from the U-link station. Crowded, but not uncomfortable. Faster than the bus, except for the hall hour walk to the station. Next weekend the bus routes change and there will be a pretty direct run from our block to the station. We have not figured out the bus stops on the station end yet.

And this should not reduce our walks to downtown, we have always had a bus option.

As crowded as the light rail was, the UW campus was more crowded. Not with students, but with families and lots of folks with cameras. The cherry blossoms seemed to be the draw.

Rainier in the distance.

We did make it downtown, wandered a bit, and then ate our salad during the pre-game warm up.

Good game to watch, but some poor calls let the other team win.