Bicycle Riding Along Alki!

Kouryou-chan Frolicks

Omaha, Kouryou-chan and I went bicycle riding along the four-mile stretch of beach that is Alki point, all the way from more or less the turn-off from the freeway all the way to the end of the bike path, and back. Since we had to park a ways in on Harbor Ave, call it 7½ miles round trip.

It was fun. Kouryou-chan was a little grumpy in the beginning, but I bribed her by reminding her that there was an ice cream shop along the beach, and she cheerfully rode the rest of the trip in.

The whole waterfront was packed with people, this being the third beautiful day of summer we've had so far, and of course the Fourth of July. Some people were setting up tents on Hamilton Parks that look over toward Seattle, where tonight there will be the annual massive fireworks for our American Independence Day celebrations. We passed a line of beach volleyball courts, about half of them filled with excessively lovely young people playing hard. They say that faces have styles as generations come and go, and I saw a young woman with the kind of face we haven't seen since the 1970's. It was hard to describe, but she was very pretty.

Kouryou-chan dabbled her feet in the water, we stopped for ice cream and a smoothie, and then we rode back. The ride back was easier, since Kouryou-chan was now assured how far the trip would be and she knew she could make the whole trip.

We got quite a bit of sun, and the day wasn't over. We had slathered ourselves with that thick, purple sunscreen stuff that REI sells but, even so, I think I got overheated in a few spots. We went home for lunch.

The Burien 4th of July Parade

Omaha at the Parade

Today was the Burien 4th of July Festival, when our whole little city gets together and celebrates, well, being a city and surviving yet another year not succumbing either to the forces of chaos that is South King County, nor being swallowed whole by the behemoth that sits across the northern border, Seattle. Omaha, being cat herderchairwoman for the 33rd District Democrats, was obliged to go stand out in the hot sun with a sign and wave to crowds that, surprisingly, waved and cheered back.

Kouryou-chan at the parade

Of course, Kouryou-chan was there. And it's traditional at the Burien parade to throw candy at the crowd, which sometimes squirts back with water guns (a welcome blessing, believe me!), so that was her incentive to walk-- one for the crowd and one for her. She had fun until we ran out of candy, but she toughed it out and walked the entire two-mile parade route.

( Lots and lots of photographs. First: Democrats! )

( And now, scenes from the parade itself. There were no Republicans. )

Gardening!

Gardening

Tomatoes

Zucchini

Herb Garden

One of the things I do enjoy every year is the patient wait through July and into August for the garden to get going. Ripe tomatoes, fresh apples and pears, off-the-leaf basil and mint.

We planted Stupice tomatoes again this year. We did that two years ago and it worked fabulously. Stupice is a local heirloom variety that ripens early, with moderate-sized fruit that's amazingly sweet, so I'm very much looking forward to those. We also planted Cherry and Roma varieties. I'm not sure why Omaha likes the Romas; those are mostly used for making sauce, so while I'd love to have one fabulous truly home-made batch of sauce (with oregano, basil, and rosemary from the garden as well), I don't view Romas as worth all the effort. It doesn't have the ecstacy of a fresh tomato-basil-mozarella sun-warmed sandwich.

I also have one zucchini plant. I was warned not to plant more than one; one will produce enough zucchini to last through September, so we just planted one, and we'll see how that works out.

The herb garden refuses to die. Lemonbalm, oregano, sage, stevia, and even the rosemary bush we thought was doomed have survived three winters and is still going strong. The oregano has passed through its pollination period, but for the previous two weeks this smell of meat! hung in the air everywhere within ten feet of the herb garden.

Paranoia and Fireworks!

Fireworks

As if the bicycle ride, the parade, and the gardening weren't enough, we also went to state legislator Dave Upthegrove's (D-33rd District) place for an after-parade dinner and get-together. I drank beer and talked to a number of people. Is there some rule that people who get involved in politics must be necessarily kooky in some way? One of the people I talked to was from the 34th district and he had this long, drawn-out conspiracy theory about how a nebulous "they" were close to figuring out how to command the weather and he was worried about what would happen when they did.

Dave was charming. It was held at his parents' house, which is on the waterfront of a small local lake, and Kouryou-chan stood by the water's edge and moaned about wishing she had her swimsuit, ate hamburgers, and actually had a good time.

After that, we stopped at the house and then drove down to Des Moines beach. On the way, we saw seven police cars from three different jurisdictions blocking off a section of street while four officers stood in the front yard of one house and two approached the front door. We had no idea what was going on. Protip: If you're going to be a criminal, don't live in the same subdivision as the state's police academy.

The City of Des Moines is small but, with its waterfront views and large yacht club, quite wealthy, and can afford to put on a modestly large fireworks show. Nothing quite so big as Seattle or Bainbridge (holy chao, Bainbridge, which is across the Puget Sound from the rest of us, put on a show big enough it rivalled Seattle's even when viewed from Seattle!), but still good enough for the kids.

We sat on our blankets and ate cookies that Omaha had brought, and listened to Jr. Cadillac (no, really, those guys are still around), until the fireworks started. Some guy must have made a killing selling "light sabres" (little plastic toys with leds along the length of them) because there were hundreds of the damn things lighting up the night.

The lightsabers took a toll on me. I have a neurologically-based form of color blindedness (it's mild enough that it rarely interferes with my design work) that makes me sensitive to some monochrome hues, and the pure blue LEDs were giving me my least favorite flavor of headache. I spent a lot of time covering my eyes.

At least when the fireworks stared everyone put their damned lights away. There was oohing and aahing and a couple of shouts of "Lame!" from the high school kids behind us, but all in all it was a good show, pretty and noisy and just the right kind of spectacle for a summer night.

Birds of Prey...

Eagles!

This morning, as I was making pancakes, Omaha swore that she saw the falcon that frequently hangs out in our back yard up on its usual perch (where the bottom bird in the picture is now), when one of these two eagles came swooping out of nowhere, hit the falcon and (probably) killed it. She said she saw the body of the falcon fall to the ground, and then an eagle took its place on the perch. A few minutes later, after I had fetched my camera, a second eagle took up position on the higher perch, and they stayed there for at least half an hour, watching and grooming.

One of them is still there, two hours later, just watching idly. It's vaguely creepy. And it's freaking out the local wildlife; the birds are just going nuts, screaming and flitting about in a panic.

Itch by misadventure!

Omaha suggested that we go and try and find the dead kestrel. This sounded like a wonderful idea. We tromped out into the backwoods, following a crude trail forged by our neighbor's backhoe, to get as close to the tall, bare tree as we could.

The trail toward the tree got rough; it hasn't been cleared in over a year. We brushed through some nasty undergrowth, and then I noticed it. My right arm was itching. My left hand too.

I'd forgotten that much of our back yard is covered in stinging nettle. Ouch! Omaha and I ran back to the house, quickly washed ourselves off, and applied the appropriate calomine and hydrocortizone. Damn, that sucks.

Ah, well. Other than that adventure, today has been much, much slower than yesterday's. Just taking care of the garden and doing a few chores. I am not going to work myself to death, not after yesterday. Today, we're just going to take it easy, have a few friends over this afternoon for a D&D game, and relax.