Greetings from Fireworks Night

I had a chatty online Wednesday -- talked to my high school friend group right after lunch, then watched the first half of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl with Cel and Laurie in the late afternoon. In between I did some chores and some writing, and afterward Paul and I took a walk and saw a tiny toad on the cul-de-sac with the pair of baby bunnies. 

We watched the season finale of Lucky, which was pretty satisfying; the women made good decisions and most of the men got what they deserved. It was a wild baseball day: the Red Sox lost to the Diamondbacks in extra innings, the Orioles were robbed of a home run by a bad call and lost to the Yankees, the Mariners came back from their worst-ever loss to beat the Brewers. 

Now we're watching Futurama; this week's episodes are "Our Flag Means Medical Coverage" which has pirates, yay, and next is "Lords of the Ring" which is a promising title. Here are some photos of the fireworks at Polar Park after the Woosox game last weekend; if I had known Mickey Gasper was going to play so well when he got to the majors, I'd have taken a picture of him!

Greetings from Polar Park

Another quick post because we got home late after tonight's Woosox game, which we decided to go to this morning so we headed out to Polar Park when Paul got home from Boston. There was a forecast for some rain but that lasted maybe 45 seconds, and otherwise it was a magnificent not-too-warm evening. We parked a few blocks away, walked to the stadium, I got a quite-good Beyond Burger and fries with (of course) Polar cola, we ate it during the national anthem and Puerto Rican Heritage Night events with Roberto Clemente's son. 

The Woosox were playing the Buffalo Bisons. Gage Ziehl, who pitched last week when Adley Rutschman was catching, was the starter. Unfortunately the home team only led for one inning and lost 6-2 (not as bad a night as the Red Sox had, they lost 8-4; at least the Orioles won), but we got to sing "Sweet Caroline" and watch mascot races and t-shirt tossing and, after the game, there was an excellent karaoke fireworks show mostly to 80s and 90s music. We got home just in time to save the cats from starvation, and now we're watching this week's Silo.

Greetings from T-Mobile Park

Just back from the Mariners game -- it was both Grateful Dead night, for which we were given tie-dye jerseys with dancing bears plus a concert, and Ichiro Suzuki Funko Pop night, for which we were given Hall of Fame Funkos and photos with life-size Pops. Our morning was disrupted because we lost power for a couple of hours, but it was a lovely evening after a day of rain -- we got to watch them open the roof while we were waiting to go inside -- and the smoky air has mostly cleared. 

We had annoyingly drunk Grateful Dead fans sitting in front of us pouring bottles of water over their own heads and splashing us, but we got to see Naylor and JRod hit home runs, Raleigh get some RBIs and score, and the Mariners relief pitching make the game far too interesting before ending it in the top of the 9th. The delivery of veggie burgers to the stadium was late, so I had Ballard Pizza for dinner instead and it was quite good, one of the better pizzas we've had on this coast.

Poem for Wednesday and Mariners Home Run

Roar Shack 

By Alice Fulton 

Many see a flutterby when they look into this

omniscience I see as a skinniness too densely drawn

or a mystery unhinged by its own symmetry, a twinning

I think of as a listener that thinks along

with me, fused in a tweed, a red herringbone

weave in the dazzling darkness

and bleached afterness some see

as a necklace of brilliants curved in gift. As if!

A color visible only in ultraviolet

light or a source beyond mathematics I think

of as a second self, an underhum. Or thought. Till I saw

innocence tortured by a force

beyond kindness, an unconditional indifference

or wick for wickedness that wanted trauma dolls.

I tell this as a clock tells time but telling can't diminish it

as clocks can't dwindle time. Am I still alive?

Birds that sing behind a waterfall, horses kneeling

Christmas Eve are what others see in what I see

as us delivered up to this chill that searches me.

-------- 

My trip laundry is still not put away, but I had a nice Wednesday, starting with chat with Linda, Hildy, and Kay on Google Meet, then lunch with Paul (we're almost out of yogurt and need a trip to the food store). I did some computer work before meeting Kristen online to watch the first half of the first Hunger Games movie together, one of my favorites. Paul and I walked to the crowded beach in the late afternoon, sparing us the terrible end of the Mariners game (they lost 10-2) and the start of the Orioles game (they lost 3-2). 

Rather than torture ourselves with more sports, we caught up on The Gilded Age (atrocious writing of George Russell and all the Newport women), The Buccaneers (still more soapy and wildly anachronistic for a Wharton novel but better acted than The Gilded Age and less wishy-washy about the state of American heiresses in England), and Resident Alien (not as ha-ha funny as some episodes but D'arcy's arc is really good). Since today was a bad baseball day, here's Cal Raleigh hitting the game-winning home run last night! 

Greetings from Everett

Quick Independence Day post after coming in from fireworks over the lake from all sides -- Sammamish, Issaquah, Bellevue, Duvall, and illegal ones right off the dock next door. We went earlier to Everett to the Narbeck Wetland Sanctuary, where we saw frogs and other creatures, then drove past the Boeing Factory to Mukilteo Beach, where we saw seals and lots of parties. We stopped at Whole Foods before coming home for burgers. 

Cheryl and I watched the last episode of Ironheart, which I still wish had a little more science, less magic but the arrival of [you-know-who predicted since Wandavision] played by [Pirelli Borat Thenardier] makes up for a lot! Then Paul and I watched the last two episodes of The OA around fireworks, which is absolutely insane, utterly riveting, and brave enough to write its own RPF. A few July 4th photos:

Greetings from Jurassic World

Paul only had to work half a day July 3 for the coming holiday, so after a quiet morning -- well, the cats would disagree with that assessment, since we had our dishwasher panel repaired, so there was a repairman with a drill and a lot of beeping -- we ate lunch and went to see Jurassic World Rebirth. I love all the Jurassic movies, and this one is no different: it reminds me more of 2, 3, and 6 than 1, 4, or 5 given that it's largely set outside of parks and big scientific facilities, but it has lots of callbacks to earlier movies, especially the original Jurassic Park, it has a great cast with good chemistry, it has about the level of violence you'd expect, and no adorable dinosaurs are harmed in the making of the film. I wish there had been women scientists, not just women who can kick ass, but I always like Scarlett Johansson and I like the two young actresses too. 

We stopped at Bartell Drugs (which will be CVS the next time we're there) for a picture frame, and picked up dinner from Yummy Pho which is next door to the movie theater, which we came home to eat after a quick walk to see the eagles and ducks. (We always get large servings of pho so we can get two meals out of it!) I chatted with three of mu usual Thursday night group, then Cheryl and I watched the fifth episode of Ironheart -- it's a little jarring how quickly it went from being a show about black girl science to being a show about black girl magic, but at least it's focused on the black girl -- then this week's episode of The Buccaneers. From last night's Mariners game, Arozarena's home run, Cal Raleigh acknowledging cheers for his All-Star votes, the J-Rod Squad, and the NBA's Isaiah Thomas, who grew up in Tacoma (Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard and Nick Harmer were also there, and UW's Moll sisters threw out the first pitch):

Greetings from T-Mobile Park

Very quickly, just back from the Mariners-Marlins game, which unfortunately the home team lost 8-4, but it was a beautiful evening to be at the ballpark (temperatures in the high 60s, spectacular sunset over the Olympic Range) and they were giving out captain's hats to the first 10,000 fans, so it was well worth going. We left in the middle of the afternoon to make sure we got the hats, ate dinner in the stadium, briefly met the Moose who was supervising a stuffed salmon fishing contest, saw the actual salmon race, and generally had a lovely evening though some fans were so frustrated that they went to watch the NBA finals on a screen by the food deck. More tomorrow!