Greetings from Long Franchises

I had a quiet Friday morning getting laundry and paperwork done in gorgeous weather, then in the afternoon we went to see Thunderbolts*, which I enjoyed a lot. It has a good sense of humor, particularly the dynamic between Yelena and Alexei, which really makes the movie -- Pugh and Harbour are perfect together, a really nice balance of embarrassing dad jokes and the fact that when it comes to planning, she's the adult. I wish we got a little more character development for Ghost, whom we don't know more about than we did in the Ant-Man movies, but I was happy to have her here, and the fact that John Walker really wants Bucky Barnes to like him in spite of everything is delightful. The ending gets a little heavy-handed in Marvel comic style but the post-credits scene are really fun. 

We stopped at QFC to get food to bring to the house concert tomorrow and to grab some things for dinner and next week. Then we came home and watched the last four episodes of House, whose larger arc I've known about since before I started watching the show. I expected to be more emotional about them than I was, partly because I've read the theories about whether the last scenes are House's dying fantasy, Wilson's dying fantasy, straightforwardly true, or part of an elaborate ruse in which Wilson's cancer is in remission from the chemo and House knew the only way they could be happy together was a complete break from the hospital so he lied. I'm agnostic on which of these is the most House-Wilson (or the most Holmes-Watson)! The lovely PNW Witches' Market on the Kirkland waterfront: 

Poem for Wednesday and Washingtonian Waterfowl

The Little Black Cormorant 

By C.J. Dennis 

By inlet and islet and wide river reaches,

  By lake and lagoon I'm at home,

Yet oft' the far forests of blue-gum and beeches

  About the broad ranges I roam,

"There's a strange, sombre bird with a hook in his beak."

'Tis the little black cormorant raiding your creek.

And woe to the fisher and woe to the fishes --

  A gourmand I freely confess

When I come a-searching for succulent dishes,

  Arrayed in my funeral dress,

Then the fishermen rave, and in anger they speak:

"There's a little black cormorant coming up creek!"

But I'm quick and I'm cunning, as many a greyling,

  A blackfish, a trout or a bream

Has known to his sorrow when down I go sailing

  To hunt him beneath the dark stream.

To my cavernous maw then they all come alike,

And 'tis death should the little black cormorant strike.

But I am an outlaw.  I'm hunted and harried,

  I'm banned from the havens of men.

And woe is to me if to long I have tarried --

  A shot o'er the waters -- and then,

There is reason indeed for my funeral dress,

For, alas, here's a little black cormorant less.

-------- 

Wednesday was a gorgeous day, low 60s in the late afternoon, blue skies with a breeze. I chatted with Kay in the morning because our other high school friends were not available, then had a yogurt bowl for lunch and watched the final two episodes of Agatha All Along with Kristen -- it's still excellent. After that, Paul and I walked to the beach and the wetlands, though we still haven't found ducklings here. 

After an atrocious day yesterday, the Orioles beat the Yankees, plus the Mariners beat the Angels so it was a good baseball day. We watched The Masked Singer's semifinals (no unmasking but Lucky Duck, nice to see Taika and Rita together), then because Sherlock and Daughter wasn't on here for some reason we watched a couple of House episodes including the one with Michael B. Jordan. Waterfowl at Washingtonian: 

Greetings from Kirkland Marina Park

Sunday was cooler and more overcast than Saturday but still a perfect day to be outdoors, and since it wasn't too warm, I got to wear my Hocus Pocus velvet cape that goes with my Hocus Pocus velour shirt to the Beltane PNW Witches' Market, this time at the marina beach park in Kirkland. This was a big market, lots of tents; I had worn a felt bycocket hat that the wind kept trying to blow off, and one of the first craftspeople I visited was Dainty Jane's Handmades, who had a heavier suede bycocket (with a matching belt pouch made from scraps that she sold me for $10). So I had an adorable outfit as I looked at crystals and walked along the waterfront to see the boats and waterfowl.

 

We went to Redmond Town Center in the late afternoon so I could catch Vanillites for Pokemon Community Day, sitting in Starbucks drinking hot chocolate and listening to teenagers gossip at the table next to us, plus we stopped at Safeway for food for the week. When we got home, we went out on the dock to look for the frog (spotted) and raccoon (had appeared earlier in one of the trees, but moved on) as well as the eagles (hiding in leaves). The Orioles had lost and Mariners won earlier, but we saw the end of the Phillies-Cubs long game before Suits L.A. (really just another mediocre lawyer show, I'm about done with it) and House (better than the former even in its not-great final season).

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 Thursday and Brandywine Falls

Water Falls 

By Jim Jarmusch 

Water falls from the bright air

It falls like hair

Falling across a young girl’s shoulders

Water falls

Making pools in the asphalt

Dirty mirrors with clouds and buildings inside

It falls on the roof of my house

It falls on my mother and on my hair

Most people call it rain

-------- 

We had spectacular weather here on Thursday. I had a somewhat ridiculous morning trying on and photographing potential dresses for older son's wedding, then we had acai bowls for lunch and I did some computer work before we took a walk to a beach suddenly busy with swimmers and kayakers. Behind our apartment, we saw jumping frogs and what we think was a diving otter though it moved so fast that it was hard to be sure. 

We switched between the Orioles (who finally beat the Nationals) and the first round of the NFL Draft before my Thursday night chat (who did not agree with the Facebook consensus on dresses for the wedding). Then we watched this week's Ghosts before finally starting the eighth season of House in prison, which I'm not loving but at this point will stick out till the end. Some angles of the Brandywine Falls in Cuyahoga Valley:

Poem for Tuesday and Zoo Lizards

Lizard 

By D.H. Lawrence 

A lizard ran out on a rock and looked up, listening

no doubt to the sounding of the spheres.

And what a dandy fellow! the right toss of a chin for you

And swirl of a tail!

If men were as much men as lizards are lizards

they’d be worth looking at.

-------- 

My Tuesday was uneventful -- dyed my hair, organized photos, tried to clear up a clusterfuck involving a package with the post office that is still clusterfucked. We were going to take a walk as soon as Paul finished work, but of course the sky opened up just at that moment and it poured for half an hour, so we took a much shorter walk than intended; at least the eagle was out. My Trek group watched DS9's "Babel" which isn't one of the greats but it lets Kira be badass and hits the Bajoran-Cardassian conflict so I like it. 

Then I watched Daredevil with Cheryl, which irritated me more than anything (so once he found out Fisk killed lots of other people but NOT his friend, he decided to take a bullet for him? Like so many vigilante stories, I feel like contrived excuses are invented for escalating violence -- and for making us dislike major female characters). Afterward I watched the Orioles lose, and our fire alarm went off, neither of which improved my mood. Now House is at least making me laugh. Reptiles at the Woodland Park Zoo: 

Greetings from Woodland Park Zoo

Paul wanted to go to the zoo for his birthday, but that was before we knew Adam and Haley (and Pepper) would be visiting. So we put it off till this weekend. The rain forecast for Sunday was originally starting at 4, then 3, then 2, so we got up, brought egg salad sandwiches with us, and went to Woodland Park on the early side, which ended up not mattering because the rain started around 12:30. Still, we covered the entire zoo -- the red panda, the penguins, the flamingos, the big cats, the Pacific Northwest animals, the African savannah, the bird house, even the farm. It was wet but not cold, and we went into the reptile house, insect house, and other indoor spaces when it really rained, so it was lovely.

 

It's just as well we didn't spend any part of the day watching sports, because it was disastrous for my teams. The Orioles lost to the Royals again, the Mariners lost again in the last inning and were swept by the Giants, the Red Sox slaughtered the Cardinals, South Carolina lost to UConn in the NCAA women's championship final. We ate dinner early so we could watch The White Lotus before the internet could spoil us; that was too many deaths for me, though I was more upset about certain things in other storylines (I did like the way the three girlfriends' storyline ended). Then we watched Suits L.A., which still could use better supporting actors, and now we're watching House, where he and Cuddy finally broke up.

Greetings from Snohomish

Saturday was a gorgeous day in the Seattle area -- perfect for people who were outside protesting the Trump administration outrages, as Daniel and Cahaya were doing in Seattle Center and my friend Chris was doing in Snohomish. We met her there after driving through the beautiful Snohomish Valley with a clear morning view of Mount Baker. We went to brunch at First and Union and walked on the Centennial Trail, where we saw lots of flowers and several horses. We also bought local honey at the Snohomish Bee Company before we came home.

 

I didn't think I was very into the Final Four since Maryland lost to Florida, but both games this evening were very exciting. I nominally rooted for Florida over Auburn since I'd rather have had my team lost to the ultimate winner, and I thought I favored Duke over Houston but Emanuel Sharp played so amazingly in the last minutes (and I'm not rooting against an Israeli athlete) that I was excited for the Cougars. Then we watched St. Trinians 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold, which I was in the mood for for some reason, and now we're watching a bad seventh season House episode.