Greetings from Bellevue

Running late because I had a lot to get done on Thursday, though it was mostly successful. My next door neighbor, whose son is getting married next week, wanted me to make her earrings out of beads she had to match a necklace, so I did that. Then I folded the rest of the beach trip laundry (while watching Pokemon Concierge, which is extremely fun). And we went out to roll over our CDs at the bank and to get our flu and covid shots at Walgreens, plus we stopped in Trader Joe's since it's next door and we needed more nuts. Daniel and Cahaya have left Seoul for Malaysia, where her father lives, and he sent me photos of lizards and turtles that I looked at in between my usual Thursday night chat group, a place of calm since social media is a shitshow right now. 

Then I watched the season finale of Strange New Worlds with Paul and Cheryl. Spoilers: I really appreciate that Marie's arc after so much damsel in distress crap ends with her first basically being Dehner from the original series, then an Emissary fighting Pah-Wraiths after a turn in the Nexus with Pike, so while everything I love about it is derivative of the first three Trek series, it's a fusion of so many things I've missed that I don't mind. Also, Pelia was one of the Doctor's companions! And all the Kirk/Spock interaction, from the intimacy discussion to the mind meld to the flirting (come on Kirk called it a date), was a thing of beauty. And the Mariners won in extra innings again. From the Ocean Shores Coastal Interpretive Center, part nature center, part history museum:

Greetings from Kirkland

The weather on Sunday was gorgeous, so after a quiet morning reading, watching baseball, and catching up on some email, we went to Juanita Bay and Juanita Beach Parks for the afternoon. We watched several eagles fishing in the lake, plus ducks and ducklings, dozens of turtles, half a dozen enormous bullfrogs, a couple of herons, a gaggle of geese, and lots of robins, red-winged blackbirds, and songbirds. There weren't a lot of people and there were a lot of wildflowers. And we had Indian food for dinner. 

We watched the season finale of Doctor Who, which had one huge thing happen that I'd seen predicted based on network and performer schedules and another huge thing happen for which I'd managed to stay unspoiled; I will just say that Bad Wolf is how I became a real fan of the franchise, so although yet another Huge Doctor Sacrifice For One Person We Barely Know drama no longer moves me, I loved the last five seconds. Then we watched more Rebels and Veep and now we're going out to look for the aurora. 

Greetings from the Woodland Park Zoo

Quick note because we're watching Fountain of Youth, which is a not-great Indiana Jones-Da Vinci Code-National Treasure-type faux history/archaeology movie but I like Natalie Portman and John Krasinski enough that it's entertaining, especially since she gets to be a mom as well as an art expert. This after watching this week's quite good storytelling-themed Doctor Who and the start of the third season of Star Wars: Rebels, which has overall been excellent. 

The earlier part of our day, though, was all outdoors, driving downtown in perfect weather and parking several blocks away to walk to the Woodland Park Zoo, where in addition to lots of great cats, African savannah animals, reptiles, birds, and a surprising number of bunnies not strictly invited to live at the zoo, there's an exhibit of animatronic dinosaurs in the Habitat Discovery Loop. We got to enjoy popcorn, and mountain views, but these photos are us being goofy with the dinos:

Greetings from Gene Coulon Park

Sunday had lovely weather as a break between rain Saturday and Monday, so in the midst of the atrocious Orioles game, we went out to enjoy it. We thought there might be ducklings and goslings by the bird sanctuary in Renton, so we went to Gene Coulon Park and walked on the pier and along the lake. We did see goslings and ducklings, and herons and eagles, and a wide variety of other birds, plus some turtles. The salmonberries are starting to emerge and there are flowers around the lake. 

We went to Issaquah in the late afternoon, picked up cacao nibs at Fortunato and a couple of tiny accessories at Bricks & Minifigs, the used Lego store. Then we came home, walked to the lake, and saw the end of the day's disappointing baseball. After dinner, we watched this week's Doctor Who, which along with news headlines put us in the mood for the Eurovision movie, which is what we have on now, but earlier we started watching Star Wars: Rebels with Cheryl, which is great fun!

Greetings from Green Lake

Cahaya is working on an MBA and has an exam on Monday, so we had a fairly low-key Mother's Day in Green Lake, walking from her and Daniel's house to the Greenlake Bar & Grill for brunch, then picking up the dogs and walking them around the lake with Daniel while Cahaya studied. We stopped for drinks at Chocolati and saw several families of geese with goslings, plus some turtles, squirrels, ducks, and many other people walking dogs. 

It was Pokemon Community Day, so Daniel and I caught pink Pawmis before we took the dogs back to his house and talked to my parents, Adam and Haley. We came home for dinner after the big brunch, this week's Doctor Who (I appreciate how meta this season is and references to so many earlier seasons), and the season finale of Watson (a little disappointing but I'm glad it's getting another season). Family photos of my Mother's Day:

Greetings from Maris Farms

We had thought about going to Skagit Valley for the end of the tulip season, but Paul discovered that Maris Farms in Buckley not only had tulips but also baby animals and a Star Wars celebration this weekend. So we had a very fun May the Fourth there, petting lambs, feeding goats, walking among tulips, meeting Kylo Ren and Princess Leia, and other fun farm activities. There were vendors and selfie stations and iced coffee, too.

 

We stopped at Safeway on the way home, watched some baseball (all of which ended unfortunately for my teams), ate dinner, watched Doctor Who's practically Doctor-less "Lucky Day" (Ruby always deserves better), and now we're watching Another Simple Favor, which I am finding obscenely entertaining and I love Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick together (I don't have to love Blake herself to believe her over Justin Fucking Baldoni).

Greetings from Bellevue

Saturday was a gorgeous day. We had intended an early brunch then a visit to Kelsey Creek Farm Park, which was having a sheep shearing event, but the parking lots and shuttle buses were so packed that we decided it wasn't worth the long wait just to get into the farm and went to nearby Bellevue Botanical Garden instead. The azaleas and rhododendrons there are beautiful and we saw lots of other flowers.

 

We stopped at Crossroads Mall, where I got my manicure refreshed and we visited Daiso, the Japanese household store, as well as QFC. When we got home, we went to see the eagles and turtles (and found a frog), then watched Doctor Who (I like the actors but the stories feel derivative) and the glorious Mariners 14, Marlins 10 game (the Orioles game once again didn't end well). Now, more final season House.

Poem for Wednesday and Ohio Birds

Tarot Readings Daily 

By Joy Ladin 

They’re reading Tarot cards right now,

in the little pink house with the sign in the yard.

Shadows spider across still-green lawn

whose fate, so far, defies the frosts.

Someone asks the right question,

draws the right card.

Many cups in the immediate future;

radiance pouring down.

They know the future,

the creatures in the yard:

night, thirst, frost.

Only the sapiens in the house believe

fire, water, air, and earth

would bother to reveal

when to fear and love.

The one who’s paying

draws another card.

Outside, in the yard,

a squirrel noses seed that fell

like radiance, from above.

-------- 

I had a fairly typical Wednesday, which is always enjoyable. My high school friends all made it to chat in the morning, then I had yogurt bowls with Paul for lunch, then Kristen and I watched my favorite two episodes of Agatha All Along: the one that starts with William's Bar Mitzvah and gives us Billy's history, and the one with the witch costumes, the Tarot reading, and Lilia's backstory. The Orioles lost to the Nationals again. 

We watched the first two Doctor Who episodes of the season long distance with Cheryl; I liked "Lux" better than "The Robot Revolution" because it was creative visually and fun. My neighbors stopped by to see us and the cats, then we watched tonight's Masked Singer, which had nostalgic songs, and Sherlock and Daughter, in which I like Amelia better than Sherlock. From Ohio, Carlisle Reservation Nature Center birds: