A Day on the Shore of Lake Washington

The first full weekend of August is SeaFair Weekend in Seattle. 

While there are SeaFair events all over the area all summer, this weekend is the culmination, with the boat races on Lake Washington and the air show over it. 

When I say "boats" I mean these boats. 

These are hydroplanes. They fly on/on top of the water. 

These two hydros won't be hitting the water, and neither will those two old people posing with them, but others will.

After finding parking and hiking to a shady spot on the shore of the lake, we set up camp about 11:00. Then we went on a pit tour. Here we got up close to the boats and the people who live the boat racing life. 

These are the small F1 Powerboats, with big outboard motor engines. 

 Pretty paint jobs. 

 Here you see the Powerboat next to the H1 Unlimited hydroplane. 

 Those big boats are powered by helicopter turbine engines and by these seemingly small propellers. 

 I love the name of this racing team. 

 Part of SeaFair is welcoming the US Navy into town. This sailor, a lovely young woman, is getting a special tour. 

 Hydroplane racing is a dying sport. There are only nine big boats racing this year, and many fewer races than there used to be. Many Seattlites remember the old days, and the old boats powered by thunderous piston engines, like this vintage boat from the Hydroplane Museum taking a turn around the lake. 

 But Seattle hangs on to the tradition and makes a big summer party out of it. 

We checked out all of the vendors selling merchandise, chances to win prizes, and food, of course. 

 Meanwhile the air show had begun. This pilot, in his biplane, is amazing. 

 Amazon, a Seattle company, showed off their new Prime Air plane, Boeing built, of course. 

 Large crowds began to gather on the shore in anticipation of the performance of the Navy Blue Angels. 

 And here they come!

 Flying low over the pits. 

 The solo pilot takes his F/A-18 Hornet straight up, spinning as he goes, then rolls over and plunges earthward. 

The solo pilot makes his plane stand almost motionless on its tail.
 The Blue Angels are flying with only five planes this summer, after the crash in June that killed the other solo pilot. They have had to retrain for the five formation. 

 The final salute to Seattle, one of their favorite venues, especially when we give them blue skies. 

 Friday is actually a practice day, and a free day. But the ski racing is for real. 

 Yes, ski racing. I don't know why. I just know that there are water skiers behind those power boats going about a hundred miles an hour, round and round for 15 minutes. 

 Then it's time for the Powerboat racing. Those little guys can really move, and can slalom sharply around the buoy markers. 

 On Friday afternoon the big hydros take to the water to qualify for the big race that takes place Saturday and Sunday. They have to meet a minimum standard of  an average of 130 mph over a 2 mile lap. The fastest qualified at just over 150 mph. 

 That little prop throws up a lot of water - a rooster tail - as the boat skims over the surface. 

 As the boats went back on the trailers, we packed up and worked our way back home. It was a little after 5:00.

 We went out to dinner and were back in our chairs in time for the opening ceremonies of the Rio Olympics.

We didn't make it all the way through, and still haven't watched the rest of the ceremonies that we set to record before we went to bed.

Since then there has been some Olympic sport or other on any one of three TVs in the house as we go about doing other things. Now that I've finished this post, it's time to go sit in my recliner and pay better attention. I just sort of watched the men's team gymnastics, and I actually really like that event. 

A Walk in the Park

We woke this morning to a clear blue sky. By 8:45 we were out the door to begin our exercise walk. 

We have a 3.25 mile route along neighborhood streets and into a small neighborhood park. We can make it longer by adding loops in the park. As we walk be both listen to something on our devices. I usually listen to a news/talk radio station on my iPod. But yesterday at 11:00 in the morning I stopped listening to the news. I couldn't stand another news report beginning with "Donald Trump".  In fact, from now on I will just refer to him as DT. Ugh!

This winter my old iPod Nano wore out and I replaced it, but I was never able to get my iTunes program on my desktop computer to communicate well with my new device. Much of my music was missing, most noticeably my Beatles and Beach Boys tunes. I have tried several times and given up. Yesterday I decided to devote the afternoon to figuring it out. It took about an hour, but I did it! 

And so this morning there as a bit more spring in my step as I bounced along to the beat of the Beach Boys!

Yes, indeed, the Sounds of Summer!

We had company in the park. A park maintenance man was mowing. A homeless man was sleeping in his car in the parking lot. Two others were cooking their breakfast in the picnic shelter. An older woman we see often was walking her big, blond, beautiful, bushy-tailed dog, and a young mother was with her young child who was riding joyously on his tiny bike.

Good, good, good, good vibrations!

Back at home, I stomped down mole runs so Tom could mow our lawn. Then I picked new bouquets of sweet peas for the house, as overhead in the blue sky Blue Angles performance jets roared as they took off and landed at Boeing field, giving lucky passengers the ride of their lives. It's SeaFair week in Seattle. More about that in a later post. 

 My sister Laurie gave me this little old figurine for my birthday when I attended her birthday party. She gave our sister Ilene one too, for August. We are the girls of summer. My birth date is July 17, Laurie's is July 20,  and Ilene's is August 3. We have a brother in there too. Don was born July 21st. 

 This is Ruby, with her little bouquet of birthstone centered flowers.

 She looks quite lovely with her own little bouquet of sweet peas. 

Sending good vibrations to you all!

Projects and Other Stuff

Tom is stiff and sore today after spending too much time under a bathroom sink.

The basin in the guest bathroom was leaking and had been chipped when we had the roof replaced. I know, that doesn't make sense, unless you know that there is a skylight right over the sink. It was replaced too, but in the process the workmen dropped some of it through the hole and chipped the sink. That was  a long time ago. 

Saturday we went shopping for a new sink. On Monday Tom began replacing the old sink. He had to shut off the water at the main line out by the street, and it didn't seem to shut off. He called the water department and they sent someone out Tuesday morning.  It was just a matter of letting the line drain long enough. 

So back in business. Out with the old sink, shut off the water, hook up the new cut off valves.

 Oh oh. Something is not working. Check the instructions. 

Damn. He had the wrong size cut off valves. Take out the sink, remove the caulking, go buy the right size valves. 

 More crawling under the sink. Shut off the water. Check for leaks. (I was on standby, on the phone with him, just in case there was a gusher.) All was good. Get the cut off valves in place, hook up the sink plumbing, all underneath the cabinet, of course.  Then clean up all the messes.

It's done, and looks good. Tom will recover. I think it will be awhile before he takes on another plumbing project, however. 

Meanwhile, I decided to make raspberry syrup. Since we don't have kids here anymore, the raspberries we grew and put in the freezer haven't all been eaten. I had seven quarts from two years ago, plus some from last year. I decided to thaw out the oldest ones, extract the juice, and make syrup. That was a two day project also: thawing the berries and putting them through a fine mesh sieve, then wrapping the rest of the pulp in cheese cloth in a wire strainer, weighting it down and letting it drip over night. 

 I added sugar to the juice and boiled it about 30 minutes, reducing it down a bit. I scalded fruit jars and lids - I just happened to have several wide mouth and a couple of regular size canning lids- and filled the jars with hot syrup.

 Yay! They all sealed. I'll give most of it to Jill and Jake. It is delicious in club soda for raspberry spritzers, on ice cream, over sliced fresh summer fruits, and even on pancakes!

The tomatoes are beginning to turn red. I picked the first one yesterday to save it from gnawing critters. Squirrels, rats? Not sure, and not nice. 

Late in the afternoon I saw these thunder heads forming. We had a few showers during the day,

 But the storms headed for the mountains, where the rain will help with the forest fire danger. 

Now we're back to sunny weather for a few days. We'll take it!

August

As we enter into late July and early August here in Puget Sound country, we experience a phenomenon we call "nature's air conditioning". 

You see, we sit on the shore of the large inland sea, or fjord, if you will, that is Puget Sound, and we are separated from the vast Pacific Ocean only by the Olympic Mountain Range. 

All of that cold salt water creates our "marine climate".

And so, as the heat of mid summer starts to rise it does battle with the onshore flow of the prevailing westerly winds, and we get fog.

Every morning now we are waking up to cool temps and white sky. It's great for walking.

 And then, sometime between 10:00 and noon, the sun overpowers the fog, and it burns away to clear blue sky. However, with the cool start to the day, the temperature stays in the mid seventies. 

Yesterday it was still overcast as we boarded the light rail to attend a Sounders match at the stadium.  The match started at 1:00 and the sky was just beginning to clear.

 By half time, the sky over Elliot Bay was bright blue.

 When the game ended at 3:00 the crowd streamed out of the stadium to enjoy a lovely late afternoon. 

Today, as I type at 1:00 the sky has cleared and the temp has reached 67, heading for about 75.

Some people dislike our natural air conditioning, and I admit, waking to bright sunshine is a true pleasure around here, but we true North Westerners also enjoy the cooler temps, and I appreciate being able to exercise and work during cool mornings.

Of course there are some other unwelcome aspects of August here in our yard.

Since we water our yard and nobody around us does, by now the moles have fewer options for easy digging and finding tasty underground morsels. They come to the Reeder Restaurant, and as they tunnel just under the surface, the raccoons come at night and dig up the runs, also looking for goodies. The result is a mess, and one we will battle now until the fall rains.

But we live with it. Our garden takes on a less than perfect look now, and we put up with that too. 

We do still have pretty.

Happy August!