Dance, Dance, Dance

Tuesday night we went to Isaac's dance recital.  He was in first year Tap along with his friend Jack.  He looked very spiffy in his sequin vest and had all of his routine down smoothly.  

This is a very large dance academy, and I had no idea of what to expect on ballet night tonight.  We were quite blown away actually with a full production of Alice in Wonderland.  The preschool kids were adorable, and the older girls were very skilled dancers.  

In between were lots of very cute young ladies in lovely costumes.  Irene was a Pink Flower and she seemed to know what she was doing too, enough to be giving direction to some of the others on stage with her.  Hmmm.  The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Oh, and she lost another tooth today too.  It was a big day.


I am not that much of a connoisseur of dance or ballet, but I have to say I was very entertained by this production tonight.  Bravo to all!

The Affordable Health Care Act

Call it Obama Care if you must.  I call it a good thing in the making.  And so I am relieved that the Supremes decided to uphold it.


There are many provisions in the Act that most people really like.  They seem to be most divided over the mandatory aspect of purchasing health care insurance.  That, and given the fact that it is President Obama's achievement.  Haters will hate.


This act is not ideal.  It would have been better if we could have achieved a single-payer plan, and not a for-profit plan with insurance companies still having so much power.  But this act does put limits on the most despicable actions taken by insurance companies in the past.


Many provisions will have to be worked out and adjusted as we go along.  But that was also true of Social Security and Medicare, and most of us seem to like them just fine now.  Even the Obama Care haters will tell you to keep your hands off their Medicare!  And yet they are deathly afraid of socialism???  Ignorance is ugly.


Stay calm, everyone.  The air waves are full of fear mongering right now, but it will be worked out. We are not going to kill Grandma.

Lunch In The Garden

While it has been a beautiful day, it was still a bit cool at noon, so the advertised "Lunch In The Garden" started out in the dining room.


The invited guests were my friends, mostly retired, a few still on active duty, from my old school, McMicken Heights.


I did not photograph the food, provided by Tom and me, with a few lovely contributions from guests, and I did not photograph the guests, although they are certainly a lovely bunch of ladies.  All I can show you are the garden flowers that filled the house.

After the meal we adjourned to the garden, where we toured and talked and sat and strolled, until we all ended up on the patio, in the sun, for dessert and coffee and more conversation.


Irene was here yesterday and had time to replenish her supply of flowers in her flower shop.  Yes, her playhouse now houses her flower business.

It is officially closed today, but she gave me permission to show it to the ladies.  It was greatly admired.

This is where I  am now. 

 Josy has just joined me.  Tom is napping in his recliner, and deservedly so.  He was an amazing host today, helping with the preparation and set up, preparing and serving the beverages, doing almost all of the clean up, and adding to the conversation.


Thank you, Tom, and thank you my friends, for making this such a wonderful day.

Willamette Valley Roses

While in Oregon for my high school reunion and the Seattle/Portland Soccer match, we spent some time on Saturday exploring in the valley.


We began and ended in antique stores, but in between we visited a farmer's market in Canby and a rose garden in St. Paul.




We bought a pint of local strawberries from the market.  We had them with our breakfast the next morning at the hotel.  I had a great strawberry waffle, thanks to the Best Western waffle maker.

We have been to this rose garden before, a long time ago now, and we purchased some of the roses we still have in the garden there.


Now just enjoy.  Raindrops on roses.  You'll have to imagine the fragrance.

Fun? In Portland

With my high school reunion in the Portland area on Saturday, it just made sense to get supporter tickets to the Sounders/Timbers soccer match at 2:00 on Sunday. 


Portland and Seattle have a huge rivalry in soccer, going back many years.  For this reason, there is some paranoia over security.  We are told that we have to be at the gate two hours ahead of the match to go in as a group through our secluded gate, into the far corner of the stadium, where wooden bleachers still exist, and there's nary a cup holder in sight to secure your open container and lidless Coke bottle, because... we are being protected from the Timber Army.  The Portland supporter group is known to be rabid and rowdy.


Tom and I headed into town early, parked at a shopping center and took the light rail into the stadium.  There we walked the gauntlet of Timber fans, who booed and chanted "f" bombs at us, along with that so friendly one finger salute.  Actually that part was the most fun I had all day. I smiled and waved as I went by.

 We found our "safe" gate and milled around for a while, awaiting being let in, and the arrival of the buses carrying the rest of the 800 traveling Sounders fans.  When they arrived the singing and chanting for the blue and green took off in earnest, and never stopped.


Our view wasn't bad before everyone arrived.

 This is the Cascadia Cup, awarded to the winner in the Portland, Seattle, Vancouver B.C. derby.  As of now, we have the cup, and the bragging rights.

 Son Jake and daughter Jill are in their places.  A mother watches, you know.

 The Timbers Army is now ensconced, and the competitive singing and chanting is in full voice.

The PA system produced a loud and unintelligible squawk where we were sitting, so I have no idea what is being said.  There were a few pre-game ceremonies, and a Boy Scout carried the flag to salute.  I never heard the introduction of the players.

 The Timber Army unveiled a huge tifo display, very impressive in size and engineering, but I have no idea what they were trying to say with it.  Maybe someone will read this and explain it to me.

 This was pretty much my view during much of the match, including the final 15 minutes, when all kinds of stuff erupted on the field, but the people in my area saw none of it.  Oh, and did I mention that the only video screen in the stadium was hidden to us?

Singing and chanting continued throughout the match, as it always does in the Emerald City Supporter section.  That's fine.  I know most of the chants.  And sometimes we could actually see the play on the field.

 Unfortunately we saw this several times, the Timber Army celebrating their two goals.

The final score was Seattle1 - Portland 2.  And we were all exhausted, and needing to pee as we were held for another too long time as the stadium cleared out, for our safety, you know.


We got more jeers and finger greetings as we left to go to the train, but there were friendly Portlanders too.  


It was an interesting experience, one that would have been a lot more fun if our team had played better.  


Now I have done it.  I have attended a soccer match in enemy territory.  Now I'll wait for them to come to our house, where I can see and hear and let them jeer, while walking through my city and riding my train.