Greetings from Ballard

Sunday was a very pretty but very cold day with wind chill near freezing. We had a quiet morning watching the Orioles preseason game, ate an early lunch, and went to Golden Gardens Park, which has a long beach on the Sound and wetlands with a beaver dam and many ducks. We saw a few small crabs and anemones, plus a few parasails and boats, but it was too chilly for many people in the tidepools. 

Since we were nearby, we went to the Hiram Chittenden Locks in Ballard, where the main lock was closed for maintenance so there weren't any boats, but there were dozens of herons in the nests above the fish ladder and a couple of seals in the water, plus lots of daffodils in the garden. Since we were in Ballard, we stopped at Scandinavian Specialties for cheese and lingonberries on the way home.

 

We just finished watching Ridley Scott's Napoleon, which has performances considerably better than its screenplay (I see why the French were so pissed off) but is paced pretty well and has elaborate city and battle reproductions. The movie makes Napoleon out to be a loutish idiot yet ignores some of the worst things that happened under his command. At least Phoenix and Kirby have good chemistry!