Greetings from the Ecotarium

I spent a lot of Friday in the garage organizing things -- I had a bunch of papers that had been in a plastic under-bed drawer which then ended up in storage and are now in cardboard file boxes, plus I found a bunch of things I had no idea I still owned (oversize theater programs from our honeymoon, 1990s Pre-Raphaelite calendars, Princess Diana stuff my uncle collected) that need to be sorted. I also started reading The Book of Air and Shadows, a conspiracy theory around a lost Shakespeare manuscript that's kind of if Dan Brown had a great sense of humor. 

The Orioles beat the Royals with some eighth-inning heroics, then we watched Apple's excellent Friday night lineup: Sugar (a bit too violent for my film noir taste but very tightly written), Silo (I'm really enjoying the past-present split in this season's episodes, though I, like her friends, want the real Juliette back), and the season finale of Star City (still very dark and well done, and it better come back for a second season, though I did not expect the love story!). Here are some of the New England animals who live at the Ecotarium:

Greetings from the Flamingos

Tuesday was just as rainy as Monday. I spent the morning doing chores with a break to run out and catch Squawkabillys, then we had lunch and in the afternoon I talked to Chris for an hour and a half. Then we went for a walk as the drizzle slowed before dinner. My DS9 group watched "Destiny" -- I love the Emissary episodes though I don't love Kira in this one, and I love that the smart Cardassian scientists are all women and really want peace. 

Apart from baseball, the rest of the evening has been watching some episodes of The Agency, which I wish had more Martian and Samia, though I enjoy Gremlin's story (I can't say I like her -- she's a sociopath, whereas Martian's weaknesses as an agent are also what make him sympathetic). I love when I go to a zoo and a wild animal has snuck into an exhibit, so here is the groundhog swiping food in the flamingo exhibit at Roger Williams Park Zoo:

Greetings from Massachusetts

Very quick post after Thursday night chat, following very quick dinner after annual neighborhood meeting at which we met several neighbors, talked to people about various house and deck repair issues, and heard long-term road and trash plans, after having brought acai bowls to son and his wife for lunch because we had to be in their direction to get a notary to notarize a thing. We saw the end of the Cubs victory but missed the entirety of the Orioles win. It was a nice day but busy! Here are a few photos of the chipmunk who hangs out on our neighbor's front steps:

Poem for Tuesday and Muskrat Love

Ceremony 

By William Stafford 

On the third finger of my left hand

under the bank of the Ninnescah 

a muskrat whirled and bit to the bone.

The mangled hand made the water red.

That was something the ocean would remember:

I saw me in the current flowing through the land,

rolling, touching roots, the world incarnadined,

and the river richer by a kind of marriage.

While in the woods an owl started quavering

with drops like tears I raised my arm.

Under the bank a muskrat was trembling

with meaning my hand would wear forever.

In that river my blood flowed on. 

-------- 

Tuesday was a lovely day here, sunny but not too warm. I had a bunch of work and chores to get done in the morning, but we took a walk in the afternoon and saw ducks in the newly seeded grass at the park, osprey and eagles in the trees, and a pair of little muskrat right off the dock in the water lilies. We got home for the start of the Orioles game, which went into extra innings but ended well.

 

Two of my Trek group couldn't come tonight, so we watched "Melora" out of order -- good on futuristic treatment of different abilities, bad on romance. Paul made cassoulet for dinner, which we ate as the Mariners game started; it was also dicey at times, but Seattle won and pulled within one of the Astros. When it ended, we watched this week's philosophical, Blade Runner-esque Alien: Earth.

Greetings from Redmond

A lot of our Monday was about writing and calling people and places in regard to Paul's mother's funeral. It will probably be at the beginning of next week because the church can't accommodate a memorial service on the weekend and all the people who want to come can't get there earlier, though we may go Thursday or Friday depending on a bunch of factors. 

We had lovely weather, walked to the beach, ordered dinner from Bangkok Basil because we ran late after a family Skype call about the memorial arrangements. Now we're watching The Boy and the Heron, perhaps not the best choice because a mother's death is a major issue, but beautifully filmed and an interesting perspective on family. The water varmint we sometimes see in the lake:

Greetings from Juanita Beach and Marymoor

We had a drizzly Saturday but we still wanted to see spring parks, so after a quiet morning and a quick lunch, we went to Juanita Beach Park. We thought we might see ducklings or goslings, since we always see ducks and geese there, but while the babies must have been hiding, we did see several bunnies, lots of turtles, a couple of frogs, a couple of herons, an eagle, and a muskrat. Then we stopped at the PCC for some produce and frozen vegan pizza. 

We stopped at home to put the food in the freezer and headed to Marymoor Park, whose ducklings were also hiding from the rain, but the baby and adult great blue herons were quite noisy in the trees. We came home for the successful end of the Orioles and Mariners games and have spent the evening watching VICE's show about the Star Wars Holiday Special, which had lots of funny stories and amazing clips (Donnie and Marie! Bea Arthur!).

Poem for Tuesday and Sammamish Beavers

Beaver 

By Tom Hubbard 

Eident indwaller o that wilderness

Reddin and guidin it fir your domain:

Smaa pioneer, makar miraculous,

Frien beaver: tak this haun’s-turn o my ain.

Frae birk or sauch, poplar or quakin-esh,

You chaw your biggin-gear, forby your meat;

Deep in the swurlin waters you enmesh

A routh o logs and brainches, ticht and neat.

A crannog reeks intil the winter air:

Your fowk byde in their chaumer het and hale.

Swimming up throu a bore ti jyne thaim there,

You beat a ferlie music wi thon tail.

The Indian hunter kent you fir a God;

His squaw has taen your kitlins ti her breast …

Your clan – and his – were bi the mongers caa’d

Doon fir mass slauchter. Few wad spear, wha’s neist?

Syne we hae cried you back: oor governaunce

Had fund a gairden, left it as a muir.

Whit is your secret, beaver, as you daunce

At the lochside wi your feres? Whit is your pouer?

Eident indwaller o thon wilderness

Reddin and guiding it fir your domain:

Smaa pioneer, makar miraculous,

Frien beaver: tak this haun’s-turn o my ain. 

-------- 

Paul took the van in for routine servicing on Tuesday morning, so I had a quiet morning at home doing thrilling things like cleaning toilets and laundering the new comforter (the old one had shredded in the washing machine, possibly helped by small rips made by cat claws). When he got back, we ate lunch, then walked to the beach since the weather had turned lovely. My Voyager group watched "Live Fast and Prosper" -- fine till the ending!

Then Paul and I watched this week's Shogun (more seppuku! ahistorical seppuku! every week we get new seppuku! Despite the cast, I'm actually glad the show is almost over). Now we're watching the second episode of Mr Bates vs the Post Office, which is brilliant, well-written and enraging, and I can't believe how little coverage the story got in the U.S. Evidence of beavers in the Sammamish River last weekend:

Greetings from the Sammamish River

We had a fairly nice day here on Sunday -- no rain, though it was overcast -- but we got a late start going out. We put on the Orioles game over breakfast (which they lost in a walkoff, boo), then we watched the women's NCAA final (which Dawn Staley's undefeated Gamecocks won over Iowa despite Caitlin Clark, yay). 

Then we went out to Redmond Town Center, which had both the Bath & Body Works sale and Cold Stone ice cream, though we sadly learned that Mac and Mabel is closing its physical store. From there we went to the Sammamish River Trail, where we saw flowers, beavers (or maybe nutria) in the river, and protected trees on the bank!

 

We had deep dish pizza for dinner and saw the first episode of Sugar, which I really liked; I know it has a huge twist coming up, but after Ripley, it's a more engaging approach to the noir genre. Now we're watching Wish, which is gorgeous though predictable, with another heroine far too much like Rapunzel from Tangled.