Seahawks Send Off!

We live near the Seattle-Tacoma airport. This morning that's where the Seattle Seahawks were making their departure for Phoenix and next week's Superbowl. Of course we joined the Twelves in a big send off.

The access street between the freeway and the airport was blocked off and from early this morning people started lining the street.  We parked up the hill and walked down to find Jill and the kids.

We waited for over an hour for the team buses to come through, so we filled the time with chanting and talking and people watching.
I walked along the street to take some crowd shots.

We bought a big flag!

 It was certainly a colorful scene!

Finally the news helicopters were overhead.  The procession was arriving!

 This was my view of the team bus. 

 Tom stood back and captured us cheering on the team. 

And then it was done.  

 The crowd dispersed into the neighborhoods as the cheering went on down the street towards the airport. 

Done, but fun!

Selma

We saw this Oscar nominated movie this evening.  I am still processing it.

I made some notes on my phone in the car on the way home as Tom and I discussed it.

First, let me say it's a good thing when the subject matter of a film leads to an intelligent discussion.  This is a meaty film.

Here are my notes: Voter restriction even now, such cruelty still exists, gaps in my historical memory of what happened, news coverage so much different now than it was then, my impressions as a young person and what I didn't realize was happening.

As a movie, the script flows smoothly, with enough devices to fill in the background and historical context.  It has a documentary quality to it, and I learned a lot. The acting is very good, especially David Oyelowo as Dr. Martin Luther King. It was a wise decision to focus on just one three month campaign in the civil rights movement in 1965, for the purpose of abolishing the restrictions on voting rights of African Americans in Alabama. There is plenty of conflict and cruelty and courage in just that small portion of the Civil Rights Movement. How horrifying it must have been to have lived through the whole process.  Dr. King reflects that very well in his weary determination.

My lasting impression is one of sadness and discouragement.  Such viciousness still exists in the hearts and minds of some of my countrymen. Whether it's blacks or gays or Muslims or the down and out on our city streets, the capacity for hate and cruelty is still strong. 

This movie focused on the campaign for voting rights, and yet right now state legislatures are trying to restrict the right to vote, to throw up road blocks to this basic right of self determination. Dr. King's truth still marches on, and so does his mission. 

Winter Blooms

We had to make a trip back to the Green Lake area to pick up the lawnmower that had been serviced, so of course we took another walk around the lake.  It was still cold and foggy when we left home, so we were pleased to find sunshine in the city.

After circling the lake, we stopped to check out a winter garden planting on the shore.

Sasanqua Camellias were a bright cheery red.

 This hellebore was loaded with buds.

 Others were in bloom.

 This is a winter blooming viburnum, I think.

 A question for my plant people - could this be a Cornelian cherry just opening? 

 Viburnum and hellebore

 Daffodil bulbs are poking up through the leaf mulch.

 Witch hazel and hellebore.

 Tom investigates a patch of cyclamen 

 Another camellia dropped its blossoms to add to the bouquet of hellebore. 

 The whole area was scented by this clump of sarcococca.

 Is this a daphne, a virbunum, or something else?

We are very fortunate here in the coastal Pacific Northwest to have something in bloom just about any time of the year.