Sunday and Beyond

Last Sunday, I caught up on my posting, but failed to write about the day itself. In the afternoon, I picked up a friend from the ship who's getting out of the Navy soon, and together we went to the Virgina Symphony in Virginia Beach. It was a short, kid-friendly, afternoon concert called "Up, Up and Away" with space and flight-themed music. They acted as if everyone was on "Virginia Symphony Airways" flight, and the conductor even wore a captain's uniform. "Flight attendants" came out in the beginning to show us where the exits were and how to use the program. They started with Ride of the Valkyries, which caused a delay in our taking off the runway, then Flight of the Bumblebee, as the captain conducted with a fly-swatter. Suddenly, we were in space for the Star Wars Suite (Rebels, Yoda's Theme, Imperial March) then came back down to earth's atmosphere to come across E.T. on a bike, and a floating house from Up. They finished with the Suite from How to Train Your Dragon. Goodness! How fun is that?!

From the symphony, we drove directly to church, at the new one I was introduced to last week. We were very early, enjoyed just sitting and listening to the worship band's rehearsal while we talked. Kristin and Dan came and sat with us, and afterwords, they had a huge potluck for everyone... pulled pork or beef sandwiches and baked beans. It was very delicious. And the sermon was wonderful too. More on Colossians about God's will for our lives, firstly, that we belong to him, and then that we surrender every area of our lives as if everything we do for family, work, friends or society is for him; and how that compliments those areas in the end.

This week I've taken it pretty easy... finished up my last two puzzles and watched lots of movies (Jarhead... I was forever curious... now no more, Guys and Dolls... which I heartily enjoyed, and to follow it up, On the Waterfront... which has to be Karl Malden's best role ever, and to finish, Toy Story 3... which I missed in theaters because I joined the Navy - and still hadn't seen for some reason - ... who knew an animated story could be so moving. I actually cried in the end... they did a great job wrapping up that story.) Tonight I've got Virginia City (Errol Flynn, Randolph Scott, Humphrey Bogart, 1940) to try. I also managed to stop being lazy today, and actually did a workout at the gym on base to see where I'm at for next month's test. I did the best I've ever done... 132 calories in 12 minutes... which is an Excellent, I think.

Nothing too exciting in the way of food this week, except for last night when I treated myself out to the Ship's Cabin for scallops and hot bread. I got to sit outside, it has been so warm here! I loved hearing the ocean as I read more in the Caine Mutiny while I waited for the food.

Oh, and after I mowed my lawn Monday night, I found this toad trapped behind the wire under my fence and set him free... so glad I didn't hurt him with the mower!

And while driving around this week, I've listened to the first half of 1776 by David McCullough. I love it! I'll have to get John Adams on audio as well sometime.

Jw  

Made It to the Weekend

Wednesday I only had a couple hours at home, due to Duty. I had brought dinner home from Jersey Mike's and watched a biography on T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia). I remembered seeing the Peter O'Toole film a long time ago, but documentaries are so much easier to follow and are much more wide-ranging. So I re-learned a bit of Middle Eastern history and enjoyed it very much. Decided to watch it that day because it was due that night. I did a little bit of shelving, and then stopped by the community room just outside to listen to the rest of the Peninsula Singers concert. They were singing American folk songs... I especially loved their slow, soft rendition of Dixie. Very meaningful and sad for me after watching the Civil War series.

Thursday I got home late due to the GMT, but I had time between that and class to go to Panera for a quick lunch. I worked at the library again, but this time just to kill time before heading out to Clairemont for a forty-foot film... Some Like it Hot (1959). Never had seen the film before, so it was a lot of fun. Laughed my head off a few times. Loved how it was filmed in San Diego at the Del Hotel on Coronado. I stuck to my guns and only got a small popcorn since I had a bowl of noodles, chips & guac, and a scoop of ice cream beforehand.

Yesterday, Friday, I slept for a solid 4 hours after coming home from my final test. Watched an episode of Foyle's War, then had a nice dinner at Sammy's Pizza, then drove up to Sunset Cliffs Blvd to watch the ocean for a while. I needed some rest, and since it was cloudy, it wasn't too crowded. On my way back home I finished listening to the final disc of Watership Down, an epic saga about bunnies. Had always been interested in it, but never could keep going in such a long book. Very glad for audio versions!

Today after eating breakfast at home (and fighting another battle with ants in the kitchen) I intended to go to the library for just a minute, to turn in and pick up, but when I got there, they were in the middle of a crisis... lol. One of the clerks asked me if I wanted anything from the coffee shop across the street, I was helping her so much. Worked for a long time on the holds, then on a couple of carts that needed sorting, then I re-shelved a cartload of audio downstairs and put the disheveled movies back together again. The general public can sometimes behave like a tornado... at least in the media room. Turned out I stayed for 4 hours! I chuckled to myself that although I had wanted to go straight to the zoo, I ended up working in one!

I decided to go to the zoo afterwords anyway. It was about 2:30ish that I got there, and I stayed till 5. Saw lots of baby ducks, had a chili dog, saw a very active grizzly bear and a feeding panda (and a romping panda), then continued on to see the lions, capybara, tapir, lamas and elephants. I saw a gorilla from the gondola... :) my feet were so tired there was no way I was going to walk all the way back. Good thing the $45 entrance fee was free for me... I bought a panda t-shirt, a model okapi, and a very cute, cuddle-able red panda stuffed animal.

On the plate tonight: mac'n cheese and asparagus at home! And chat too! I think I'll give my friend Julie a call too!

Jw

It's Friday!

Once I got going after class today (around 2pm) I went for a sandwich at "Jersey Mike's Subs" next to Chipotle after hearing my instructor and classmates rave about it. Took it (along with some veggie snacks from home) up to Cabrillo National Monument in order to sit, rest and read in my library book, "Sea Star: Orphan of Chincoteague" (this is my 4th Henry book). I was delighted to watch four different kinds of birds flit back and fourth in the bushes around the secluded little seating area below the visitor center and grab the little crumbs I dropped (or threw!). There was also a speckled squirrel running around begging for tidbits. Two of the birds were cute, but very nondescript. The other two, however, were beautiful. One slim, tall blue/grey & white one and a small black one with orange breast and white speckles on its wings. The freshly sliced turkey and provolone on the wheat sandwich were very good.


After finishing eating, I moved up to behind the visitor's center with the grand overlook of the city and bay. I think it was the same squirrel snooping around. I read more than half-way through the book while I was up there, and got to watch the pair of F-18s come in for a landing, the destroyer and frigate come back to port, and the submarine start cruising out to sea as it got to be 5pm and closing time. What beautiful weather! I could see all the mountains... even stretching into Mexico!

Stopped by Stump's Market on the way home for dinner: chicken enchiladas for $4 and two small avocados for 67 cents total! I got my new Navy Fed check card in the mail (now everything is changed over!), but the checks that came along with it were still in my old name... pointless! And this morning I had to re-order the Medieval Times tickets because they put it in as the week before we're going... thankfully that's fixed now... I'm glad I noticed. Got the Disney ones printed out though... and my "Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter" (authorized edition, softcover, & new looking... for $7) was waiting at the base post office for me. :)

Jw

The Wild Blue... Ocean

After a very good church service this morning with David and Charlie, I joined them and David's minemen friends on a snorkeling trip across the bay at La Jolla. Charlie and I rented wet suits, fins, masks & snorkels, and that was the first time in a wet suit for me. Very tight to climb into, but altogether, it was easier than I thought it'd be. It turned out to be about a mile swim, the way we went straight out and the made a right turn for the sea lion cove. Only five minutes in the water (at around 15 feet deep) we saw a couple dark, very large and sleek sharks swimming beneath us. The guys said one of them was about 7 feet long! It made me nervous, but I realized I was alright. :) The two-foot long white jellyfish frightened me more. People were pointed excitedly when we found it (hard to talk with snorkels), so I dove down to look. And then I kicked wildly to get back to the surface as quick as possible. :)

The rest of the trip we saw lots of kelp coming up from the very deep parts of the bay, and lots of little fish. Once we finally made it to the cove, there were bunches of fishes in the safety of the eelgrasses... and sea lions barking on the rocks, and cormorants and pelicans skimming the surface or diving nearby. I loved it! But when we pulled ourselves out, we found it was only 40 minutes before the suits had to be returned (the shop closed at 5). After pondering what to do, we asked the lifeguard and ended up walking back around the bay in our bare feet! And we made it just in time. Whew!

Got our stuff on the beach and then sat down at Jeff's Burgers. I had a 1/2 lb hamburger and a strawberry shake. Mm Mmm! What a day! Drove back to base and talked early with Mike so I could get a shower in before bed without staying up late. And that worked too.

The Weekend (18-21 MAR 11)

This is from the last day... sunset on San Diego Bay. The city is behind us and my base is a ways down the beach to the right.

Since my instructor was nice (and I did well on the test), he let me go early last Friday in order to meet up with Mike. It was 1130 when I walked off base, and I soon found out Mike had just picked up the rental car. We met outside the Starbucks, across from the front gate on Laning Rd. and had salmon at the Greek Cafe next door. Mike's hotel was within walking distance from the base, so he checked in next... and we were both pretty wiped out. He hadn't gotten much of any sleep, and I had gotten up at 4ish myself for a two-hour watch that morning. We spent the majority of the day just lazing around... and it was really nice.

The scheduled event of the day was a symphony concert downtown. So we rode the trolley (to avoid having to park), had dinner at a burger place, then enjoyed some delightfully soft and beautiful tunes (including one of Haydn's London Symphonies). Near the end, I couldn't keep my eyes open, but I think I was able to drink it all in anyway. Mike drove me back to the base and we shared a moment together on the water's edge, where you can see the lights and skyline of the city straight ahead, across the bay. And we had a full moon!

Saturday morning I walked to the motel to give him time to wake up after I called (this worked out very well for Sunday too). :) And then we had breakfast at Denny's (a block or two away from his motel... it was a great location!). The rest of the day was spent at the illustrious San Diego Zoo... and we were both duly impressed. We worked our way through practically the entire place... in around 7 hours... :)

Loved the flamingo pond (with the ducks and peacocks), the aviaries (with the pheasant-peacocks, and lots more), the polar bears, the pandas, the tiger, the capybaras (and their baby), the elephants (near where we had dinner - and where we had a close-up hummingbird encounter), the tapirs, the okapi, the giraffe, the bears, the hippos (and a baby), the rhino, the many monkeys & apes, but most especially the pair of lions... the lioness was rather upset. As we were walking up, we heard some roaring, and I assumed it was the recorded sounds, like they had for the tiger. It was the real thing! At one point I got up right next to the glass, leaning on the side. The crowd was taunting her, partly because they were excited... and partly to get interesting pictures... and suddenly she stood up on her hind legs and pawed the glass a few times right on top of me. Never had I pondered how big lion's paws are... :) Thank the Lord for the glass! We all would have been mauled that day.

It was much fun to share my laptop for chat back at the motel. It was almost as novel as the one from Chicago, the weekend I graduated boot camp.

Sunday morning we started out a little later. Went to Ocean Beach for breakfast at an old-fashioned diner... mmm! I'll have to go back! I had some delicious corn beef hash and eggs and a biscuit with sausage gravy. When we finished, we kept walking down the main street to their landmark fishing pier and walked all the way out to the end watching the pelicans and cormorants go diving for fish. It was incredibly windy, so we didn't stay out there very long. :)

Back in the car again, we headed directly for Balboa Park again... this time to explore the Art Museum (which I hadn't seen before) and then to have a fancy dinner at my favorite place... a treat for my birthday. I had Atlantic cod, and Mike had the roast duck. MMM! It was a shame that they canceled the Globe's play... but it just meant more time talking and relaxing together.

Saying goodnight wasn't hard because we still knew we had one more evening together after school on Monday... we started new material, so I was able to pay complete attention. :) But as soon as we marched out, I was gone and getting ready to meet Mike again. We went and spent a few minutes walking along the bay front...

... went to In & Out for some old-fashioned hamburgers, then spent our time watching an episode of McHale's Navy, reading in our book together and talking before the time came for our final goodbye.

I'm not sure if "fantastic" well enough describes the good time we both had... but it sure was like the stuff that dreams are made of.

Jp

Um, Last Weekend

I meant all week to sit down and write about the great time my roommate and I had in Chicago last Saturday the 22nd, but somehow it's already Saturday again. :)

A lot has happened... On Monday I had to check in with the transfer folks at school to get my paperwork in motion for leaving Tuesday, February 8th for San Diego! Needless to say, now that my date is confirmed (and I would have to replace an unused airline ticket out of pocket) I have to be done with school on schedule. Every moment of liberty this week was used doing extra school... as of last night, it was about 14 hours. So I am keeping up and am a little bit ahead. If I finish the next module today, I will hang out with Robert & Julie one more time tomorrow, Lord willing.

But last Saturday! We left a little later than the week before, since we had to muster and do sweepers at 0800. Caught the next train just in time, got off for breakfast two stops before downtown... The Golden Nugget Pancake House has exceeded my esteem for Denny's. I had a 3-egg omelet with squares of ham & onion cooked in. Lots of cheddar cheese too. Along with that came two of the fluffiest, biggest pancakes I've ever had. Let's just say we didn't have lunch.

We took buses from the transit center to the Planetarium down by the stadium. Admission was free for us, but the shows had an extra cost at discount. First up we saw a "Night Sky" show on a dome screen... Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Polaris and then the circumpolar stars in the north and the constellations and planets we'd see on a given night this season. Narrated live, and it was super fun!

Looked around the museum at the Gemini XII capsule from 1966 (on loan from the Smithsonian) and their featured exhibits on the moon program... and then downstairs I loved their displays on the history of telescopes. They have some neat stuff! Upstairs they had neat facts about the planets and the sun... and then it was time for the 3D movie about 3D technology and using it to observe mars and the sun. But after that it was 3pm or so... :)

So we walked up the pier to the natural history museum across from Soldier Field... the Field Museum. They closed at five, so we didn't have nearly enough time to see everything. I am very glad we decided to go on the Nature Walk, right by the entrance on the north. We saw the "World of Birds", the "World of Mammals" and "Messages from the Wilderness". We didn't have time for the Reptiles & Amphibians because we went upstairs to look at the dinosaur skeletons. I really loved them, but the encompassing displays on evolution sickened me. But I really do need to come back some time to see what we missed! :) Goodness! They had every bird and western animal I could think of, and then some! All of them were real-life specimens... they had every bird, from 15 different species of sparrows to the ostrich and condor. Incredible! And there were mammals in there that I had never heard of before, much less seen.

We caught the bus right out front and went to a famous local pizza place for dinner. "Gino's East" had deep dish pizza, with cheese, pepperoni and tomato sauce on top! We needed our forks! Got a cab for the few blocks back to the transit center and made our way home. Julie and her daughter Lisa picked us up at the train station in Great Lakes, bless them!, and took us back to the barracks (at least a 20 minute walk in snow & in the dark) where they waited for me to get my stuff for the night.

Stayed up really late chatting on Dalnet & talking, but I loved it! Woke up without a wake-up around 8ish, and we went to church. They go straight through books of the Bible there and were just finishing up 1st Kings. There were lots of nice snacks to be had afterwords, including a great rice & bean casserole. And after that we stopped by the house and headed off to enjoy the Packers-Bears playoff game at a local sports bar/restaurant. It was quite an experience to be with so many crazy fans during a game. Pretty loud in there! I had a lamb gyro with rice and coleslaw... and it was the best I've ever had.

What a weekend that was! Today I have duty, so there is no gallivanting around allowed. :)

My roommate is really swell and just offered before muster this morning to switch watches with me. So instead of midnight to 0400 pier sentry (look in people's bags), I'll be Petty Officer of the Watch (allowing people to leave or come in) from 1600 (4pm) to 2000 (8pm). We'll have 2000 muster and sweepers, and then I'll be done! Much better! What a sweetheart!

Jp

PS... and happy 97th birthday to my Gramma Payne today!

Post-Weekend Photos

Because I have too many Facebook albums...

Friday night's Mariner's game...

With my sister and brother-in-law...

and Sunday's wild animal adventure at NW Trek...

and a few more...

and finally...

Jp

Updating

I've been busy as heck these last few days... busy having way too much fun.

And I suppose the Navy had some role in keeping me occupied on Friday (I passed the IFA - click the icon) and today with just a regular workout and some more Navy knowledge review with my recruiter.

But right after I got home from the Navy on Friday, my sister Andrea was over because they were having Mom & Dad look after the kids while they went to the Mariner game on free tickets from Nathan's work. She immediately asked if I wanted to come too, since they had an extra ticket. "Sure!" So I had a second free game to the Mariners this month! :) We took the bus from the Kingsgate P&R. I hadn't eaten much all day, so by the time we got in our right field seats I glommed down everything I brought with. After the National Anthem, I got Ivar's clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl, and that took care of it.

The game itself did not go as well as the last. We lost 6-3, but we were playing the Twins, who are one of the best teams. Ichiro had a triple and ended up scoring, so that was neat. It was an awfully late night, but we had a fun time together.

Saturday I slept in, and then busied myself by organizing all my dvd's. This will help me (and my family) make sense of them when we want to watch one. I made a salad for dinner and watched one during chat.

Yesterday, Sunday the 29th, I spent with my friend Becky. I visited her church with her and then we took off for an excursion to North West Trek, an outdoor wildlife park an hour-and-a-half south of here. It's partly like a zoo in a woods, and then mostly an hour-long, open-air tram ride through five miles of wilderness. We saw caribou right away, deer, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, a herd of a dozen bison lazing away on a grassy plain, a bull moose! right outside my window about 10 feet away, and a little herd of bachelor elk sitting by a small lake. At one pond, we saw a mommy raccoon with three babies getting their paws wet.

In the zoo part, I especially loved the river otters and the beavers, since they were very active, putting on a show. And of course, because they were so cute.

Becky and I had a Mexican buffet for lunch and after the park went for a drive and a little walk in the park along Lake Washington in Renton. On the way back we stopped by Denny's for dinner. A perfect day, really!

Jp

Last Full Day

The plan was to meet after ten and go back to La Baguette for breakfast pastries. Except we slept in a little past that :) It was eleven-thirty by the time we got going... so our breakfast was more of a brunch. I tried an apple strudel and a ham & cheese croissant, very good of course. Meg wanted to take a look in the used book store next door in the little strip mall. So we went in and poked around. I found a big book of Bill Mauldin "Willie and Joe" comics, including a bunch not included in "Up Front".

Mike and I spent most of the day to ourselves again. After checking on Charlie and Patty, we went to the zoo, like last year, to see some of the things we missed. The petting zoo was completed, where there was a small parrot house. Moments after walking in, Mike had one sitting on his shoulder before it jumped on his head :) ...even though we didn't buy the little cups of nectar they sell to entice them to do so. Also got to see the gorillas this year, and they were very close up to the glass. Very cool. The zebras and giraffes were missed last year as well, due to their lack of any kind of shade. :) The weather was much cooler than it had been and it even sprinkled a bit, causing me to wear Mike's other ball hat instead of my straw hat; and thankfully he had an umbrella. Very pleasant, even though I was wearing a Yankees hat. :)

On the way back we meant to stop by the pond by the botanical gardens in OKC like last year, but sadly they had torn everything out in order to make "improvements" (I am skeptical). So while we were there in Bricktown, we thought it would be nice to try a new restaurant. Decided on the fondu place across the street from the spaghetti place. Wow! It was fancy! We had Swiss cheese and the waiter prepared it in front of us in the pot on the stove built into our table. The experience was completely unlike anything else I've ever done. And it was exactly what we wanted. Always wanted to try one and it was light enough to suit us. Dipped bread, apples and veggies in the pot with long poker forks. So cool!

On the way back we drove scenically through Moore and saw his first apartment and the little building where the newspaper was that he worked at. Back in Norman, we went shopping for dinner at Homeland and for some essentials at Walmart (I found a Sooners shirt).

Once Meg and Jason came over we boiled some water for *lots* of corn-on-the-cob, and Mike grilled a fillet of salmon for the four of us to share while we watched "The Thin Man Goes Home", our 2nd favorite Thin Man movie. And after that (and while Meg & Jason went back to the motel) we walked Charlie around the neighborhood for a nice long while, talking and deciding not to be sad yet about leaving the next day. The whole evening was simply perfect and I think I'll remember it, like this trip, forever.

Jp

Drained

Yesterday was highly emotional for me... and I suppose the 90 degree weather didn't do much for me either; last night I felt rather wiped out. Sleep was magnificent, but I woke up at 6:30 this morning anyway. In a burst of activity, I drove over to Carkeek park in North Seattle on Puget Sound to walk on the beach. It's a lovely park, and nice and quiet at 8:30 on a Saturday morning. There's a pretty trail along a salmon spawning creek to the beach over a bridge across the coastal railroad tracks. I only had an hour to spend, but I enjoyed every part of it. Even getting splashed on my left leg by a sea squirt! :) There are lots of little tidal pools there and at one I saw quite a few baby sculpin fish, tiny crabs, inch-long krill-type animals and bunches of feeding barnacles. They had a nice place with lots of florescent green seaweed for a canopy. On my way off the beach I saw a molt of a male red rock crab just sitting there.

I tore myself away from the beach in time to get to the event and reason for driving out here: the Husky Alumni Band was leading the parade for a small community summer celebration in Queen Anne, which is up the hill from downtown Seattle. I had never been there before! Gosh, it's steep getting up there! We had a small band of 17 show up (I was the only mellophone, of course). We stayed in the shade of a tall tree for the hour before the parade started, and the parade itself only lasted 15 minutes... only once through our list of five songs. The community center paid us $600 for our trouble, and that all goes to the scholarship fund for the varsity band.

It's a good thing the parade was short! I forgot to drink water before going, and although I had a glass of orange juice with my eggs this morning, I was seriously needing a drink. I saw a few stars on the beach, once or twice even. So immediately after the gig, I found my way to Safeway and got a cold bottle of water for free with a purchase of a tasty turkey & bacon (and avocado) sandwich. Yum! And they had free Wi-Fi and I got online for a second with my iPod touch that had come in the mail Friday afternoon. I got it for mobile Internet, free digital books and an application called "starmap" that uses GPS to show you what you're looking at in the night sky. So totally cool!

After getting back home around noon-thirty, I read a bit in my War of 1812 book and then slept sitting up on the couch for about 45 minutes. So good. The dog wanted a walk... but we only were out for little bit. It's so oppressively hot and sunny... poor boy.

Mom and I are just now going to go visit the FC at their new place for a bit and then I might lay down again when we return. I was thinking about doing a run just to boast that I could do it, but I figure it's not worth it. There will be better days for that. :)

Jp

What Can I Say?

It's difficult to convey how wonderful today was.

We had two flights today with a short layover in Oakland. Got to see San Francisco and Alcatraz when we took off for the second flight... the first flight only had roughly 40 people on it, so it was very comfortable with lots of room. This was my first time on Southwest, and I was pretty impressed with their service.

After waiting about a half-hour for our rental car pickup (we were given a bright blue PT Cruiser), we drove north on I-5 to La Jolla (la hoy-a) and got there around 3:30. We were looking for dinner... and we didn't know exactly where to go. I knew I wanted to go to the beach to see the sea lions, so I'm very glad we passed up Subway (which was the first thing we saw) and kept driving until we found a very hip street right near the beach-front park. We ate at "The Crab Catcher" which had been rated in the sky magazine I read on the way down as one of the best seafood places in the country. Well, they were right! Not only were some dishes half price because it was during "happy hour", but it was so good! I had crab nachos and a fish taco and Meg and I shared some cheesy bread. She had calamari and a fish taco. I don't normally like calamari, but I tried a piece or two of it, and it was excellent.

It turns out that right outside the restaurant (there was a fabulous view of the bay) was a walking trail right out on the little cliffs above the ocean. The first thing I saw was all the pelicans... and the other water birds... and then we saw all the sea lions! My! There were a lot of them! We walked back to the car to get my camera and our coats:


And some of the animals:




And us (yes, those are hundreds of sea birds sitting on the cliff behind us):


The light was soon fading... so we figured our way back to I-5 after a bit of guessing, and went straight to Balboa Park. We changed into our play clothes and went to The Prado restaurant and had my favorite salad: mixed greens with avocado, cucumber and tomato. That only took a minute and then we crossed the street and picked up the tickets for the play "Lost in Yonkers" by Neil Simon. What a show! It was about a grown up, German-Jewish family that could barely get along with each other in 1940's New York. It was both hilarious and touching... a real treat. All the actors were quite superior.

Ms. Naughton played an aunt who had a speech problem: she couldn't finish a sentence without sucking in air and becoming quite unintelligible... which was so silly. She spoke with a shrill voice and looked exactly like Betty Roberts. And do I mean exactly! Long brown hair nicely done up in a simple '40's style and pretty, period dresses.

Meg had the thought to ask the house manager to get a message to Ms. Naughton asking her if she would meet us afterwords out front of the theater... so we waited after all had left, and soon a big, black car came to a stop on the street by the theater and I saw a figure coming at us, waving! She was so very friendly, and spoke to us about the play, how hard it was to speak while sucking in air... lol... and about Seattle (she was wearing a hat from Seattle!) and about Remember WENN. She had been to Linda's site, and was glad to hear it was still up and going... she very much wanted to do an out-of-station scene and talked about how they thought Queens could be similar to side streets in Pittsburgh... she said she didn't have a favorite episode, but asked me mine... she said she thought very much like Betty about who Betty should have been with (she said it depended on what episode they were doing :) and she seemed to like the idea of Doug and Betty... LOL! She said she was in California doing a musical when she heard of the cancellation, and that she heard it from Hugh. She also mentioned that she only had a few episodes on TAPE. Sigh. Yeah. VHS. Oh, she also said she had a lot of fun doing the Casablanca episode... making everything look different on the same set and getting to play Ingrid Bergman. :)

















Tomorrow we're driving to go see my brother in Yuma.
I'm beyond happy. :)
Jp

A Modern Whaling Story

All of a sudden, my friend that went with me on the Aquarium Adventure to Oregon in March, invited me to go whale watching out on the Puget Sound today. Now yesterday was pelting rain for most of the daylight hours, but all of a sudden, today was perfect skies and calm out on the Sound! A perfect day for a boat ride!

I woke up a little late, but made it out the door and to her house in Bothell fast enough (say, 15 minutes), lol, and we absolutely cruised up I-5 all the way to Anacortes, WA, where we sailed with Island Adventure Tours... and ended up going out 100 miles into the Straight of Juan de Fuca (between Port Angeles and Victoria, BC) where we feasted our eyes on a real, live cousin of George and Gracie. :) Yes, a Humpback whale! It dove at least three times while we were watching from a respectful distance and showed us his tail! The last time he came up before we had to head for shore, he rose not even 40 yds from the boat! So cool! And on the way out to this spot, we saw a Steller sea lion feeding on fish, two bald eagles, several harbor seals and a pair of harbor porpoises along with hundreds of sea birds...

...all I can say is I have a lot of picture processing to do... tomorrow... that, and I didn't need a life jacket (because there were railings all around the boat up to my waist :)

On the way home, we went to my friend's church in Ballard (north Seattle), where the pastor taught about God's attributes using Mary's song in the first part of Luke. Very nice indeed! I really like that church.

Unfortunately, it's 11 pm, it's 11 pm, it's barely enough time to sleep before 5 am... and I think I'm still swaying from the rocking of the boat... or is that... go to sleep, go to sleep... zzzzz

Night, night.

Jp

The Rest of the Day

Horseback riding after work! It was just for a couple hours, but it was great to be back in the saddle again! The weather was perfect for riding... as mentioned earlier... it was cloudy and cool and oh, my gosh! I wore a sweatshirt! Gosh! That was nice!

We rode out to the overlook (of the Cascade Mountains) and ate lots of blackberries at various times. The horses must have been confused at how many times we stopped, and got on and off. But oh! On the way back, we saw a red-tail hawk flying away from us... and then he perched in a tree not far off, we rode up to him and stopped, and after a moment, flew away again, deeper into the forest. Now that's even cooler than seeing the coyote we saw a few months ago.

And for most of tonight, I am by myself! What a change!

Yesterday I started reading in Mere Christianity again, and am amazed at how clear and concise it is... If I can stay awake, I might read some more of that, I think.

How I do love Fridays.
Jp

The Nature of Things

I picked up my frames and mats yesterday evening in downtown Woodinville. As I was stopped at a stoplight (what else do you do in Woodinville?), I saw what looked like a crow nose-diving and circling something that was obviously a great bird perched on a telephone pole. I could only see it's outline because it was back lit with the setting sun. I didn't hope to guess what I knew it could be... and what it turned out to be... a majestic bald eagle, trying to ignore its constant pest of a companion. Unfortunately, I was on a road with other cars (darned shame) and I had to keep going once I drove beneath the pole.

Saw a squirrel in the backyard today at noon... live it up, fellas! Your nemesis isn't coming home for another five days.

Jp

Woweee!

76 degrees at quitting time today! Beautiful sunshine with an unheard of cloudless sky, all day long. Today was exquisite... just perfect... and now we're hearing the birds really go at it! Ah! I love the cool spring air: everything fresh and green, cherry blossoms popping out everywhere before the hardwoods get their leaves; and the little girls are practicing softball again at 132nd square park, on the way home from work. It reminds me of all those Little League evening practices more than a decade ago.

Here in the Seattle area, we've been blanketed by clouds and rain (and snow!) for much longer than normal... it seemed that winter lasted forever... It's like I just woke up today and found out I was alive. Ah! It's almost like I forgot what the color blue looked like. And it made me happy!

Another letter from my brother! And I wrote him today too... our letters are crossing in the mail.

Tonight, after dinner, I put on my new biking pants and jumped in my car to go enjoy the last few moments of perfect weather. I biked for an hour, going 12 and a half miles round-trip on the Sammamish River Trail. The crickets were singing their guts out, the Canadian geese honked as they flew in for landings, all sorts of varieties of birds chirped and a wild bunny scampered across the path in front of me on my way back, getting out of the way just in time. Just a mile into the ride, I saw what I thought was a duck swimming in the river. But I realized it couldn't be, since there wasn't anything where the duck's head should be. It turned out to be a river otter, swimming briskly upstream! But my favorite encounter of the evening was the bald eagle, perched high on a young, bare tree, just on the river's edge. Lord, I love Willows Valley! What a beautiful place! As I returned, it was getting dark. The sun had gone over the west ridge, but the sky was still a deep, bright blue, and it reflected brilliantly off of the glassy surface of the water, accenting the crisp images of bare trees painted on the river.

I am in love with this place.

I returned right at 9 o'clock, and in order to completely avoid an episode of 24, my sister and I watched two episodes of MASH downstairs. What a day!

Jp

Zoooooooooo!

Sunday:

After a good sermon that included a description of the Christian perspective on history, Becky and I headed over to Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo, for nearly six hours of fun. I hadn't been there in over ten years, so many things were brand new for me.





















My favorites were the lions, the giraffe barn, the African elephant, the budgerigar room (where we were able to hand-feed them with little seed bunches glued to a stick) and especially the Komodo Dragon. I've always been into dinosaurs and dragons, ever since I was a kid; I have nearly the entire Carnegie Dinosaur Collection.


http://www.carnegiemnh.org/









I think my interest must have been sparked by going to those Creation conferences with my parents as a kid. Creation science helped my mom understand Christianity for the first time since she had been very confused on the macro-evolution issue when she did wildlife biology in graduate school. So we were often exposed to fun facts about dinosaurs and the like. Very cool stuff.

We were able to take in the entire zoo. The weather was great - there were a few drops, and many clouds, but after a couple hours the sun broke through and it felt like it really was fall! What a glorious day! It was probably around 60 degrees. I must be some sort of an animal nut. The zoo store is incredible! I got a realistic-looking stuffed elk and a few plastic models, along with a couple patches.


When we returned, we picked up my sister at home and went out to a fabulous dinner at a family owned and operated Italian restaurant in our neighborhood, called Pizza Bank (the building had previously been a bank). I had spaghetti with clams in clam sauce and it was delicious. Especially when they add that huge hunk of garlic bread and that yummy home-made salad! Mmm! What a day.

Jp