Raincharm’s Weblog

We are in recovery mode from a lovely, but short, trip to Colorado. The focus of the trip was getting together with people we don’t see frequently.

This started off with an airport rendezvous, and we all, Becca, Rey, Ashlan, Carl and myself, left said airport together.

We immediately moved into a bonus round. My sister and her husband were in Boulder for a few days. So we stopped to have lunch. I used to live in Boulder, but barely recognized anything. There was a Safeway that I used to walk to, but my path was now filled with an office building. We did not explore further to find my basement apartment.

Lunch and tea was held at the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse. It was lovely. The building was shipped from a sister city in Tajikistan, and reconstructed here. Please excuse my few excuses of pictures, they don’t really capture the beauty.

Teahouse ceiling

Sorry, no pictures of the bonus folks, but I have purloined a picture of the immediate family taken by Mark, the photographer extraordinaire.

Next up was the fun Fort and our seat of operations for the next few days.

Again, being with family is our focus.

Three generations

We took a drive up to Horsetooth Reservoir.

And down into town.

Because it is baseball season, we had to fit in a Rockies game.

Coors Field pre-game

An original staff member with original uniform patch

Mr. Beard (yes, really)

Colorado is usually dry. But of course, it started raining in the 3rd or 4th inning. We moved up under cover and the game continued. The Rockies prevailed and we skedaddled to a shuttle that delivered us close to our parking spot.

A weather side note. When we rented the car the rental agent pressured us to at least get the liability insurance that would cover hail damage. The joke became me always scouting for cover where I could move the car if it started hailing. My little brown Honda had hail dents from my time living in Colorado, so they are a real thing. While we were in Fort Collins there was a substantial hail storm in Denver. But we dodged a bullet and the hail this trip.

The next day started at Snooze, a breakfast eatery.

Then it was on to the Denver Art Museum. I enjoyed their mixture of modern and older.

The final outing, after a tasty Thai lunch, was City Park. We walked around, one mile high,

dodged geese

and hung out at a water spray park. The highlight was watching a toddler chasing the water spouts. He stayed dry for longer than you would expect, probably because he kept moving towards where the water had been. Even when he was finally doused, he did not get visibly upset.

The car rental return was incredibly quick. They must be schooled in checking for hail damage. We were whisked to DIA, where we hung out waiting for our respective flights. One last round of hugs and we were off for home.

This was a good trip. Catching up with family, spending a bit of time together.

The pink camellias came and went. We currently are enjoying the pink rhododendrons. We also had pink tulips, but the daffodils were yellow, with a little white.

Pink was never my favorite color, and I probably avoided it for a long time. But then there were the 3-day walks where pink was the primary color and I collected a few pieces of clothing, that I still wear. I like to think of them as a shade of purple, which may be my favorite color.

And then there is translucent brown. The color of coffee. A morning favorite. Blue plays a big part too. Not just in clothes, but in happy skies. At least skies that can make me happy.

I don’t know where I am going with this. Oh yeah, to work.

Work, work, work, work, work.

And the Mariners are actually ahead. At least for the moment.

And on that note they just tried the whiffle ball play, hitting the runner in the back. But he is out?!? So either we are playing whiffle ball or he was out of the baseline when he was hit.

Pause

So the Mariners won. I have been at work all day. It’s now, finally time to go home.

Pause

So the Mariners lost, 10 to 9. But we were busy watching Perry Mason reruns. It was a particularly funny one, at least for the lines fed by Paul Drake to all the pretty women. We also paid bills and prepped for future meals.

Sleep

Laundry folded, coffee made, carpool arrived, and we are driving through the sprinkles to work.

I will start today with an affirmative statement to get some project moved forward.

Yes, we are in the carpool lane, although the general purpose lanes are pretty open.

Work, work, work, work, work.

See you on the flip side.

I think I have the correct reference.

But who knows.

It has been hectic. Work continues at a hot pace, and the Mariners are back in town.

My life in a nutshell.

Not necessarily a bad thing. But sometimes I long for sleeping in, yet still being doing things by 7 am. I like the weekend days when necessary activities are getting accomplished and it’s only 10 in the morning.

The weather is being very springlike. Lots of wetness, but not bitterly cold. This means the garden area will quickly get out of control. Why didn’t I weed more when it was nicer? I could have given up a walk or two.

My prioritization skills can be sorely lacking.

On that note, it is time to figure out today’s priorities. I have an inkling these will really be somebody else’s priorities.

It is back to work after a nice weekend. I was even able to read the Sunday newspaper on the back deck.

Today was even warmer. Into the 70s. It may hit the 80s by the end of the week. Of course I will spend most of the daytime in the office. And a loud office to boot. Work on our tank has about 3 or 4 loud pieces of equipment. The sand blaster, vacuum, generator, dehumidifier, etc. And it promises to get noisier when the blasting moves to the exterior.

I will admit to being impressed by the workers putting up the scaffolding. And this to will pass, in about a month.

First up was Friday night’s Seattle Style at MOHAI. A bit of everything, and a lot about the history of Eddie Bauer. He patented the first down jacket in the 1930s, if I recall correctly. It’s not all flannel, but some is, and a lot revolves around rain.

Today was opening day of boating season. The Windermere Cup and boat parade. There are lots of races in different age classes. The invitational had teams from UCLA, Boston College and Germany. I think the Huskies won the Men’s 8, the only race we saw.

We did get to see all of the crews make their way back through the Montlake Cut, the first parade.

As soon as the races are through they raise the Montlake Bridge for the boat parade. Several boats would not fit under the bridge.

The more formal groups, and several not so formal groups participate.

These pictures were all around the bridge, for us land lubbers. The real party was out on the water. The races went through the log boom, and the boat parade heads back out through the line of boats, watching the other boats.

You may be able to tell, it was a gorgeous day. In the end it was about a 5 mile wander.

I am obviously getting older, but she just keeps getting better.

Happy Birthday.

And a few more, just because it is a milestone!

Both shows we went to over the weekend were great, but very different.

Surrogate Cities was an avant-guard presentation about the incessant change in cities. One day there is a place, and the next day it’s gone, or different. The music was a mix of melodies and cacophony provided by at least five percussionists. And two singers. The woman had a beautiful voice and the man had a voice that he could manipulate. He did have lyrics sometimes, and other times it was more like scat, but not jazz. David Moss is his name, and one quote on his website describes him as Jim Carey imitating Ella Fitzgerald while being eaten by an alien.

The picture was taken well before Saturday’s horrible crane collapse.

Yesterday’s show was rock and roll with the Women’s Chorus. Sarah Rudinoff led the show; emceeing, soloing and singing with the Chorus. Also had an appearance by Ayesha “Musicbox” Brooks. Not that I knew who they were before the show, but local performers of note.

Both shows had inherent energy. The Mariners, not so much. Both Friday and Sunday we left well before the game ended to get to the other venues. They did pull out a win on Friday. I skipped Saturday. Carl had an invitation to sit behind the dugout and I just needed a little down time. Apparently, so did the Mariners, losing Saturday and Sunday by a combined 29 to 2.

On a sunnier note, as we walked and transited our way around town we found these visions.

During all other hours you must be normal

We have had places to be almost every night this week, and it continues through the weekend. The Mariners started a homestand yesterday, so that accounts for several events. They won 14-2 last night over the Texas Rangers. We did feel a little bad for their starting pitcher who was making his major league debut, and only managed to go 1/3 of an inning.

And there was the play on Tuesday, and a meeting on Wednesday. I could swear there was something on Monday, but I can’t remember what it might have been.

Tonight we are double booked. We start with a happy hour with the Mariners. Really, they are providing appetizers and drinks. This will likely be dinner. Then it is off to the light rail to travel into downtown to Benaroya Hall. We are seeing a show called Surrogate Cities with the Seattle Symphony.

Our tickets say Saturday, but it was rescheduled a few months ago. We also had Saturday tickets to see the Seattle Women’s Chorus, also at Benaroya Hall. They were rescheduled to Sunday afternoon at 4. We also have Mariner tickets on Sunday for a 1 PM game. We should be able to see most of that game. And dinner out with friends after the show.

Saturday is just the Mariners.

I am hoping for reasonable weather as I think most or all of these activities will be supported by transit.

Happy earth day.

And now we are out on the town. Judging by the audience demographics, this show is probably from a book read in school.

I am not familiar with this story. It’s entertaining. The sound system is a bit heavy on the band, sometimes obscuring the lyrics. But enjoyable and a very energetic crowd.

We walked to the light rail and transited downtown. The Drumheller fountain on the UW campus is having a bit of work done, allowing us to see under the water.

That sort of ties in with the show, son of Posidien and all.

I just hope the Gods of water are pleased enough with the show to hold back their precipitation.