Tuesday: A Three Bus Morning

Katelyn goes to school late this week, so GraMary is escorting her by bus so Mom and Dad can put in a full day's work. Walk to the 33. Hop on! Then off and across the street. Wow! The 31 is coming around the corner! Into Fremont. Hop off. And just a short wait for the 62 to take us the rest of the way to Katelyn's school.

We looked at some of the fun stuff on the bulletin boards, and then Katelyn hippity-hopped away.

And I made the return trip with far less luck on good bus connections. But after a little work at home, I headed out again.

This time to the MoPOP, Museum of Pop Culture.

The big draw for me was the Star Trek exhibit, though everything else was great too.

They had many of the original uniforms and costumes worn by characters in many of the series.

Nichelle Nichols, Lieutenant Uhura, has aged beautifully. I loved seeing a woman in a position of authority and decision making back in 1966 even if it was in space and in the future.

What a cool picture!

They even had a mock-up of the bridge. To see the control panel up close...It was so hokey! Lots of clear plastic, non-functioning buttons with multicolored lights shining through them from below...blinking, of course, because there was always some emergency on the bridge!

Captain Kirk's chair.

They even had a Jefferies tube to crawl through. These were the inner conduits of the ship where much of the mechanics of the ship were accessed...and many of the exciting escapes and phaser fights took place. How fun!

I have loved all the different Star Trek series because the intent of the creator, Gene Roddenbury, was to expose our society to issues of diversity, racial and gender equality, and social justice. When topics are too volatile or tender for society to look at them head on, setting the stage in space and a future time with beings that are not necessarily human allows for an examination from a distance, and often an "Ah-ha!" moment. It also helped get a lot of issues past the censors of the time: the first inter-racial kiss on TV (1968), torture and imprisonment for differing ideas, discrimination for being oneself in a culture that expects social conformity, the folly of war, same sex love, gender blurring, xenophobia, to name just a few.


There was also a Rube Goldberg exhibit. He actually didn't build many of the contraptions we think of when we hear his name, but he dreamt them up and  drew them and was also a satirical cartoonist, among other things. This was from many years ago, but speaks to today as well.

As I left the MoPOP, I caught a glimpse of the Monorail leaving the station. Yeay for Seattle!

I came home to find this... a kale chip monster!

And obviously more than one!

I guess I'll make more tomorrow.

Monday: Happy Birthday, Katelyn!

Come join me for a trip to the Burke Museum on the UW campus. Take the mud trail/short cut down to the locks.

The railroad bridge is up. There must be a boat nearby.

Good morning, Crows.

Pass the heron rookery.

Check out the workers maintaining the dam.

And the tug going through the locks.

Then through the gardens...

Good morning, Geese!

And on to the 44 (a purple electric bus!)...

... to the University of Washington in full bloom.

 Today I learned about the shrinking wolverine territory.

The North Cascade's glaciers have shrunk 56% between 1900 and 2009.

Mt. Baker's Coleman glacier 2003-2015

And the discovery of these 12,000 year old giant ground sloth fossilized bones when the Sea-Tac Airport was being built in 1961.

I was appalled and saddened by the images in this exhibit by photographer, Jan Becket, and artist, Carl F. K. Pao, of the destruction of the island of Kaho'olawe, a small island in the State of Hawaii. Unexploded bombs remain from target practice by the US Government after Pearl Harbor was bombed.  This has made restoration of the island's ecosystems difficult, though dedicated people are creating raised bed gardens of native grasses and other plants.

This giant crater was made by exploding TNT.

There were two Tlingit weavers giving a demonstration. Unbelievable work!

And my favorite smiling seal.

Then back toward home for a birthday celebration. The bridge is down. We must be expecting a train soon.

Seven strawberries on a pink lamb cake!

Happy Birthday, Katelyn!

Fun Days

Over the last three days, we've had lots of fun. A walk on the trail with a visit to the dinosaurs,

and the geese. Can you believe how green the grass is?

Fun times at the playground...

and the beach. Beware, these are some rough pirates sailing toward us!

We had Katelyn's 7th birthday party with her friends at Carkeek Park. The forecast was dismal, but amazingly, it did not rain at all while we were gathered. We made home made ice cream, played soccer, and played on the giant salmon slide.

After taking my turn as line monitor at the top of the slide, I was encouraged to join the fun. Here are my "catchers" helping me out.

One of Katelyn's gifts was a new pair of rollar blades. Travis has inherited her old skates. They're both pretty good. I'm going to need to drag out my roller blades and get practicing!

All this fun wears me out! Cocoa understands. We make good napping buddies.