Bi and Bi...

Omaha and I went to the annual Bi-Net picnic. Well, we tried to. We tried to arrive "in Ravenna Park" (which is all the instruction we had) at 3:00, but we didn't actually find the place until almost four because Ravenna is a big freaking park and "in Ravenna Park" is not a location, dammit.

But we did find them, and the kids had hot dogs and went and played with other kids who'd shown up, and let the adults alone to chat under the beautiful day with its hot sun and cool breeze.

And, y'know, we were hardly on the cutting edge of human sexuality out there. We were mostly middle-aged (and showing it), mostly comfortable if not successful, and most of us were, well, oriented more or less out of convenience; very few of us had same-sex partners at the time. One or two.

Still, I don't think there's anything in particular to draw from that. It was a mostly quiet and pleasent event with good people who have, for the most part, "Been there, done both," as George's (the organizer) t-shirt put it. Eventually, we collected up the kids and walked back through the park to the playground. On the walk, I couldn't help but remark about how odd Ravenna is. It's a small water-carved canyon in the middle of the city, big and deep enough that it's actually hard to hear the noise of the city and overgrown in a wild and untamed way, with rough paths cut through it. For all you can tell, you're hundreds of miles from the nearest civilization. It's very cool.

Sunday Morning...

Omaha and I recently added yard waste removal to the list of services we buy from our local, Brooklyn-accented Waste Management-managed garbage company. Our end of this bargain is a grey 70-gallon bin with big stickers that read NO GARBARGE on the lid and all four sides. We have, understandably, a lot of yard waste, a significant amount of which we have been unable to add to the compost bin because it's filled with weed seed, definitely not something you want in your compost, your future land. We have enough weeds as it is, thank you very much!

Omaha performed topiary on the bushes that had encroached on our driveway while the girls climbed the oak tree in the front and I swept and shoveled the piles of weed-filled greenery into the bin. We then went into the back yard where the girls helped us snap up a huge collection of fallen branches and twigs, letting them use the topiary sheers which they thought was cool.

The slide. Wanna buy it?
Hosted on Flickr!

I also cleaned up the toddler slide, which we're trying to sell or give away. It's too small for either girl and has been for a long time and it's just cluttering up our yard. But it's robust and solid. Anyone in the Puget Sound want to come and get it? If nobody grabs it, I'm going to put it up on Craigslist for $10. [Edit: edichka2 got it.]

Then we headed out for Bite of Seattle.

Bite of Seattle

We took the girls and went to Bite of Seattle. The gardening had taken longer than expected, so we headed straight for Bite to grab lunch. Bite of Seattle is (rather, was) a place where the restaurants of Seattle could have a big showing and give out samples of their wares, $1.00 a taste. Not this year: very few of the outlets had samplers, there were more bands (but few buskers), and it really came down to a city-wide celebration of advertising, rather than food. Still, there was one corner where nine of the higher-end restaurants were giving out samples of their work for $9.00, and Omaha and I tried that.

One of the restaurants where I had a sample was O². I went up to the chef and said, "I saw your place yesterday, during the parade, and my first thought was that oxygen bars were so 90s."

"They were! We were hoping nobody would make the connection." He sighed then and said, "Everybody has." Poor fellow. Apparently the name is an homage to Ovio, the restaurant that used to be in that space. It moved into a bigger space, and the owners have given this chef a chance to create something new in their old home. Still, his lentil and banana salad was amazing. Or was he the guy with the wild mushrooms and polenta? [Edit: fallenpegasus reminds me that O² was distributing a two-spill sampler of borscht with cream fraische. The one thing I didn't really like, as cold soup is not my style.] Still, it was all good, and Omaha and I enjoyed it, but the girls decided they would much rather have corn dogs. Philistines.

The girls at Bite of Seattle.
Hosted on Flickr! Click to enlarge.

fallenpegasus and amythis found us and we took the girls over to the International Fountain, where we let the girls wander around in the massive spout of water, liberally re-applying sunscreen over and over. We spent over two hours watching the girls run about in the water while the four adults caught up on conversation and compared notes about who running about in the International Fountain was attractive to the eye. The twenty-something with no bodyfat and Alice-in-Chains beards was definitely hot, as were the two women of South Pacific decent. Eye candy, indeed.

I was very disappointed with the Bite's lack of sampling, though. That really defeats the purpose of the event. If they brought that back, I could live with the cell phones, chiropractors, and whatnot hawking their wares.

Two weeks with Yamaarashi-chan

Over the past two weeks, I have had the pleasure of watching Yamaarashi-chan emerge from her usual shell and become an amazing, happy, healthy girl. It has at times been something of a struggle, but I've had a lot of help from my family and I'm really appreciative for all of them. But best of all has been watching the joy on Yamaarashi-chan's face as she's hurtled from one activity to the next.

( It got a little long... )

An image I did not need!

Jesus' General is one of those blogs you have to have a sense of humor to read. It's written from the point of view of a true man among men, a Bush-loving (in all senses of the word) manly man who signs his letters "heterosexually yours" and finds way too many laughs in being politically beyond over the top.

There is some question about why Alberto Gonzalez waited 12 hours between notifying the White House that there was an investigation into the Plame leak and notifying the White House that they should not destroy documents. Today, the General offered his timeline. One collection of excerpts is just icky:

8:01 pm - The Special Political Electronic Surveillance team patches Karl Rove into the audio portion of the call. He immediately begins drafting a plan to safeguard important evidence.

8:30 pm - Rove calls Jeff Gannon, White House journalist, and asks him to meet him at the White House.

10:00 pm - Rove has spread out all the important evidence onto the floor of his office. He asks Gannon what he thinks is the best way to protect it. Gannon suggests vasoline. He and Rove strip off their clothes and begin protecting the documents by smearing their bodies with vasoline and then rolling on the evidence.

10:01 pm - Rove is heard to scream, "get along little doggie."

10:02 pm - spent and exhausted and covered with documents, Rove and Gannon collapse onto the floor and share a smoke.

11:00 pm - Gannon sets off for his next White House journalist appointment, a meeting with Scott McClellen about the best way to preserve important Plame-related documents.

There are other disturbing images, including Ari Fleischer in a cub scout uniform and the waxing of Dick Cheney. Read it all. Report to The General!</