The June wallpaper is available for download from Solitary Elegance. This month’s fashions are an 1809 walking dress (on the left) and an 1815 ball dress (on the right). This month’s background comes from part of an embroidery pattern for muslin found in an 1817 edition of Ackermann’s Repository. I don’t have any juicy fashion gossip this time, so enjoy instead a lovely assortment of head dresses from 1811.
Hillary’s family put together a barbecue where both families could meet and get to know each other a little better before the wedding. We could all agree that nobody likes having photos taken of them while they’re eating (and there will be plenty of people pictures from the wedding), so today we’ll focus on the scenery instead.
Our picnic site, Gasworks Park on Lake Union, is one of those must-visit Seattle parks for its quirky mix of stunning views and the post-apocalyptic remnants of a gas manufacturing plant, complete with a children’s play area in the former exhauster-compressor building. Fun!
Thing One and his cousins found a family of mallard ducks enjoying our beautiful weather.
We took the Things and their cousins for a walk up Kite Hill, and had brought along a kite for the occasion. Unfortunately the hill was (1) very crowded with other kite flyers and sunbathers, and (2) the breeze was intermittent enough that we had trouble getting our kite aloft in the limited amount of space we had. A more successful kite-flyer allowed Thing One to fly his kite while The Gimlet helped Thing Two.
Lots of interesting structures to climb on in this park. After we finished with our kite, Thing One joined Uncle B for a game of bocce, and then it was time to go home, clean up the Things for tomorrow’s events, and get a good night’s sleep before the big day.
Sometimes it takes out-of-town visitors to remind us to take a little time to enjoy where we live. This morning Team Gimlet: At-Home Unit was busy vacuuming, mopping, doing laundry and grocery shopping when we were invited to join the tourists for a visit to Golden Gardens. Scrub toilets or spend the rest of the morning at the beach? Decisions, decisions … (more…)
Uncle B’s wedding is only days away, and things have become much more exciting and busy with the arrival of Uncle Q, Auntie Lou, and cousins Grond, Gabby, Gamma, and Scamp. They haven’t made a cross-country visit since Thing Two was a newborn, and it has been fun getting reacquainted with Grond and Gabby, and meeting Gamma and Scamp. Their family blog has been quiet for a while now, so the next week’s posts could count for both blogs.
After rolling in at 11:00 pm Monday night, then surviving a family photo session on Tuesday, it was time for sightseeing in the rare Seattle sunshine, so several of us spent the morning at the aquarium. Dozens of school districts had the same great idea and school buses lined the waterfront for blocks, but even though it was a busy day at the aquarium, there was plenty of room for our little ones to see and do everything they wanted.
The first stop was the dramatic Window On Washington Waters exhibit. This 120,000 gallon exhibit portrays Neah Bay and features diver shows three times daily. Both Grond and Gabby were able to ask the diver questions (Gabby: “What do the fish eat?”; Grond: “Do the fish ever eat each other?”) and as it was feeding time, their questions were soon answered.
The tide pools were a big favorite with our group. Gamma is appropriately a blur in the top photo, as she was on the move throughout our visit. She took a brief break to watch the tide come in with Cousin Thing Two.
Thing Two takes his turn touching the sea stars.
Meanwhile, Gabby and her best buddy Uncle B watched the moon jellies, then searched for the Giant Pacific Octopus (which lives up to its name) in its nearby exhibit. At this point, we experienced a breaking of the Fellowship as all the cousins had their own ideas of where to linger (Thing Two loved the reef tanks, a boy after his mother’s heart) and where to dash off. (Can’t miss the sea otter feeding time!)
All that walking (or running) around the aquarium made us hungry, so Uncle B and the out-of-town crew made their way down the waterfront for Ivar’s clam chowder and the traditional seagull-french fry feeding. We finished off the fish/seafood theme of the day with a Dungeness crab feed for the family dinner.
More reports on the invasion-in-progress as the week continues (and maybe some photos from the wedding, too! ) …
May has been an incredibly busy month at GimletBlog HQ: between WoodBadge, musical rehearsals and performances, scheduling doctor’s appointments for all the medical forms we have to fill out for this summer, not to mention Uncle B’s wedding at the end of the month, and the arrival of Uncle Q’s family next week, who last visited for the Christmas Thing Two was a newborn. Therefore, this was the perfect time for the stove to give up the ghost. We had hoped the appliances could keep working until we can manage a kitchen remodel, but the stove had other ideas. But with the wet and muddy camping gear all washed and stored, the musical finished, and the new stove making the rest of the kitchen look old(er) and ugly(er), it’s a good time to reflect on the things that have staying power and give meaning to life:
Oh, and being married nineteen years.
As was the case last year, Thing One spent most of this spring rehearsing for the school musical, Once Upon A Mattress. This production was set in the 1980s, so Thing One and the rest of the ensemble wore polo shirts and learned the Thriller zombie dance for the ball scene. Unfortunately Thing One was in the back row for the big dance number and can’t be easily seen, but we’re sure he’ll be happy to teach all his younger cousins and their friends how it’s done. (“claws to the left: one, two; claws to the right: three, four …”) Many thanks to Dan Eernissee for providing a great production photo gallery for all the proud families to enjoy; a selection featuring Thing One can be seen below.
Thing One reports: After nine weeks of practicing after school, and a week of rehearsing until 6:00 every day of the week, we performed on Friday and Saturday nights.
Sunday was the Cast & Crew party. It was a potluck, and everybody was given posters of the musical, and for the rest of the time, people not only watched the picture slide show and ate food, we also signed each others’ posters.
What was fun at the musical was getting to know people, and make a production that we know we were a part in. My favorite scene was doing the thriller dance, and when that was played at the cast party, some people (including me) did the dance “For old time’s sake” somebody said. Also, we liked to liked to look at the pond at the cast party and the fish in it. It was fun doing the musical.
The Gimlet reports on completing the second half of his Woodbadge training. As you know, GimletBlog doesn’t usually refer to friends and family by their full names for privacy reasons, but occasionally we make an exception if necessary. Proper credit for the photos in this blog post must be given to Wally Kempe, who sent each participant home with a CD full of 1,600+ photos and a great slideshow covering both long weekends of Woodbadge — many thanks! And here’s a shout-out to the Kohagens, because The Gimlet was surprised and pleased to discover Nathan’s father attending Woodbadge as well.
Woodbadge has been described as a life changing experience. Time will tell if I take what I have learned and improve the way I approach things. The skills I learned certainly are applicable to more than just Scouting. The ticket requirement, essentially goals for improvement, should make me take the skills and start applying them. I hope to make it a habit.
The bottom line is that I had a wonderful time, and learned a lot. The cold and the rain are already fading from memory and only the great feelings and learning opportunities are remaining. Simply looking at the agenda does not put across the spirit of the experience.
I was told by one of the staff that National Youth Leader Training is essentially the same program as Woodbadge but for the boys. I am excited to think that Thing One will have a similar experience at the end of June. My only regret was that I did not go to Woodbadge sooner.
One explanation for the quality of the experience is that there is enough of a sacrifice of time to go to this training that only committed people come. A troop of committed Scouters are wonderful company to keep. (There did seem to be an abundance of Aggies in this troop. There were other schools represented, but there were quite a few Aggies.)
It is interesting to me that the 6 days spent at Woodbadge were so filled with activities and training that it is difficult to provide a timeline of activities. Each hour was something different, something useful, and something profound. We went to bed late and exhausted. I guess I am going to have to go on staff someday to really learn what I started to learn this time. The time sacrifice for staff is pretty intense however. They were there two days before us each weekend. So, a 10 day commitment instead of only 6 days. When you see the staff’s example of commitment, it was really hard to whine about 6 days.
Well, now I am back to taking care of my boys and the Scouts in my troop. I have to believe that the time I spent at Woodbadge will help me work with both groups. I have to work my ticket and then I will get the award. I am busy working it now.
More photos (all by Wally Kempe):
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