Reasons 5986 and 5987 Why I Love Seattle

One of the places I don't get to NEARLY as often as I would like is the Fremont Sunday Market. There is an incredibly eclectic mix of everything under the sun, including some amazing jewelry and seasonal (generally organic) fruits and vegetables. If you want something a little more...unusual....just keep looking. We saw everything from vintage men's platform shoes to pants that (apparently) make you think you're naked. I'm not totally sold on the advertising for those, but I guess if that's what floats your boat, so be it. Fremont itself prides itself on their collection of free public art, and it is everywhere you look. This particular piece was part of an installation outside of a Quizno's restaurant.

Another place that I love is the Center for Wooden Boats, on the south end of Lake Union. Although you have to pay for parking, the center itself has no charge and consists of an absolutely beautiful collection of sailboats, rowboats, and a few tiny (5-6 seater) steamers. Also parked nearby are some much larger ships, including the Duwamish fireboat and the Virginia V steamship. If you pass a test, you can rent sailboats to take out on Lake Union and every Sunday afternoon, the center offers free rides around the lake. I call this "boat candy."Seriously, doesn't this place look awesome? Seriously underappreciated, in my opinion.....

School starts in a week and a half, and staff development starts this coming Thursday....Summer is almost over.

Home Sweet Home

Here in the Northwest, we don't get out of school very early. Late June is when we finally kick the kids out the door for the last time, specifically, June 22 in our district. But....to break up the loooooooooong stretch between Christmas break and summer break, we have a midwinter break in February (one week off) and a spring break in April, which is another week long break. So this week is mid-winter break and I am here for a few days with my parents in Oregon. Just to taunt you a little more, here are some pictures taken from the backyard of my parents house this evening.

Well, ok, this one below was actually taken out the window of the car. I may or may not have been driving at the time. Heh heh.In addition, I had to bring one of the cats down. NOT BECAUSE I AM A CAT LADY. But because this particular psychotic feline, if left to her own devices, will eat all of her food in 24 hours or less, then throw it up all around the house, lock herself in the bathroom, shred the toilet paper, and do all kinds of mayhem as punishment for me leaving her. So, I brought her down. And this was her contribution to the four hour trip:

No, I did not shoot this while driving. I stopped for gas before leaving Seattle and while waiting for the guy in front of me to quit maneuvering, I shot this. She did get louder and softer, depending on how rough the road was.

Have a good day everyone, while I enjoy home cooking and free maintenance on my car!

A Taunting Post for my Texan Peeps...

I have been grading all day (BOOOOOOO!!!!) so I finally left around 5:30 to walk around anad take some pics of the leaves. That's right, the leaves change color here! No really, it's true! No 90 degree October days for us! And fall? Yeah, it's more than one day long! So.....I took a break. I had noticed there were three trees by the entrance to my apartment complex that had turned completely yellow, and were lit up by the sun until they glowed. Of course, by the time I got down there with my camera, the sun was starting to go down, and was off of the trees, but....

No photoshop on any of these. Just FYI, I have a Nikon Coolpix (which I LOVE) and I have had it since July.

Coffee and Chocolate...and Leaves

My 3rd period class is my favorite class. They are fun, cheerful, hard-working, and sweet. There are several girls who are friends in there. They are cheerleader types, but in a good way....perky, consistently cheerful, and just fun. Today, one of the girls came into class MUCH perkier than usual. In fact, she was bouncing off the walls - practically vibrating with energy. She was so bouncy that several of the kids asked if she was tweaking (on meth - a big problem here in the northwest). She was definitely not tweaking, just hyper, but REALLY hyper. She was vibrating so much she couldn't even write in a straight line and definitely couldn't sit still. I finally asked her what was up. It turns out, she tried coffee for the first time today...and not just coffee, but a DOUBLE SHOT WHITE CHOCOLATE MOCHACHINO.

In other news....here are some pictures for you...

A ghosty leaf...photo not retouched at all.....

These are played with a little.....=) But only with online photoshop, nothing special.

Homecoming Parade and Game

That's right, a parade. The school I teach at is almost 100 years old, and the stadium is only about 3 blocks from the school, so every year there is a parade down to the stadium. The band plays and marches, the cheerleaders march, the choir marches, and each class creates a float on the back of a tow truck that incorporates the theme from the walls and their prince and princess. Then everyone marches down to the stadium where the Alumni Association sponsors a free tailgate party, and then, of course, the game.

Here is the senior float. Their theme is Sleeping Beauty and they made a cardboard bed.
This is the junior class, their theme is The Little Mermaid...but they didn't plan particularly well, and everything kept falling over. Imagine that, here in Seattle and all, that the day might be windy and things made of cardboard and tape, roughly the shape of sails, might blow away.
The sophomore float, obviously their theme is Snow White.
The freshman class, whose theme is Beauty and the Beast.
The game was COLD COLD COLD. It is supposed to be about 22 degrees tonight and it was hovering about 35 at game time. Some of the girls were wearing short dresses and heels, but the seniors have figured out how to work the system....this one was wearing jeans and boots under her dress. =)

We lost the game to a decent team. I will say this though, there were 5 calls against my team for 12 men on the field (those of you ignorant of football, there can only be 11). It is ridiculous for a team to get 5 of those calls in a SEASON, much less in one game. Ah well.

Dance tomorrow night....VERY small cheer. EXTREMELY SMALL. I hate going to dances. I have to stay up WAY past my bedtime.

Fall!!!

I love fall!!! The air turns crisp, the leaves start turning colors and falling off the trees, and we have these beautiful Indian summer days that are the perfect temperature with clear, gorgeous blue skies. I am of course, rubbing this in the faces of those of you readers from Texas....mwa ha ha!!


Today on the way home, I stopped at Carpinito's, an awesome fruit stand in Kent, and they had pulled out all their gourds and so on for fall...it was so pretty!!! I took some pictures, just for you!

I can't totally take credit for this, I was inspired by the Seattle Daily Photo blog picture from Sunday.
These gourds amuse me, they are the possibly the most heinously ugly vegetables in existence...including the ugli fruit.

Squash blossoms...which remind me of an old joke from elementary school...how to you make watermelon into squash? Answer - throw it up in the air and it comes down squash. =)

These are like little white pumpkin ghosts.
The sun just looked pretty on the corn husks. Ah the memories of spending HOURS husking corn. Blah.

Free Boat Rides!!

One of the things that had caught my attention at one time or another while I was researching things to do in Seattle was the Center for Wooden Boats. So dad and I finally went down there today, and it is totally worth it, especially on a Sunday! First of all, it's free! Secondly, it has some really neat wooden boats (obviously) that are incredibly well finished, and absolutely beautiful. Thirdly, on Sunday afternoons, if you get there early enough (at least an hour early) volunteers will take you out on a sailboat for a ride around Lake Union. For free!!! We did not get there early enough, but instead, we ended up being able to ride around Lake Union and the canal towards Lake Washington on a big diesel boat. It had been used as a fishing boat in Alaska for like 45 years and now the captain is retired and just does this for fun. It was an absolutely beautiful day and we had a great time. Afterwards, we drove around Lake Union and ended up in Magnolia by accident. Then down through downtown and to a great toy store called Magic Mouse Toys, which is hands-down my favorite toy store of all time. Then back home through Columbia City.... and a good time was had by all.

This is the workshop at the CWB where they make the boats. No one working today, although the website states that some guy works there on a log canoe most days.

This boat was built in the 1890s (I think) and is late stages of decreptitude. Still kind of neat looking though.

This is a canoe that was made by the students at the CWB. It can be yours for $2300.

I just think these flags looked pretty flying on the mast of this sailboat. I took 16 pictures to get this one where most of the flags are showing.

I found some boyfriends for all my friends. Loving the socks.

The boat we rode on was really nice...and bigger than my apartment. There were 10 beds on board, a kitchen, bathroom, shower, relaxation area...and a piano.

We saw some neat houseboats on Lake Union. I would like to live in one someday. No yard to take care of. Perfect. Recognize this? It is the house in Sleepless in Seattle. It also can be yours for a cool $2.5 mil.

Fire and Water

Yesterday my dad called and wanted to know if he could come spoil me for the weekend. I said, um yes, so he came up on the train today and we hung out for the afternoon at Flaming Geyser State Park, which is sort of south and east of Kent/Auburn area. It was pretty nice.

The infamous flaming geyser. I personally feel that the word "geyser" was somewhat inaccurate. A more accurate name for this park would be "Flaming Small Puff of Methane State Park," but that probably wouldn't get as many visitors and wouldn't fit very well on a wooden Forest Services sign.

Ha ha, I live in Washington, suckas!! It's pretty here!! Mwa ha ha!!

This creek was called Christy Creek. No, I did not discover it. But it rocked anyway.

Christy Creek flows into the Green River. It's green, yet clear. Very cool and pretty. I did not go wading, but some other people were floating around in there.

Some people can't appreciate nature. Like you should EVER have a silver tree, but to paint one that is still growing seems a little ridiculous.

Some people can't follow directions. Seriously. Come on now.