Thursday, December 20, 2018

From Seattle to Texas November 2018

From Seattle to Texas November 2018

The first half of November was spent in Seattle where were having a historic dry spell, Normally November is when the rain begins and it is a good time to be in Texas. The dry weather allowed me to get started doing a few cosmetic repairs to SNOWBALL's deck and hull where there were several gel coat cracks and dings. I decided to just tackle all of them at one time. There is a process where you have to Dremal out the cracks first, then lightly sand the small areas. Then you gradually build up new gel coat with a light sanding between coats. The whole project I knew would run into the rainy season but there is usually a sun break between the winter storms so my plan was to rush out and use those times to continue the project hopefully having it finished by the new year. 
The MLS Seattle Sounders had our full attention for our other discretionary time as it seemed as if nothing would stop them from reaching the Championship game for the third time in the five years we have been here.They had 9 straight wins, a MLS record and made it into the playoffs first up against their rivals the Portland Timbers. 


We learned you can score cheap tickets on SeatGeek, a ticketing app for events at Century Link, often at half price or even lower. 

We missed the March to the Game with the Supporters but the lights were nice in Pioneer Square.

Go Sounders!

#9 Raul Ruidiaz from Lima Peru has provided the scoring void left by Clint Dempsey"s retirement
see: https://www.soundersfc.com/players/149/raul-ruidiaz

The excitement is running at an all time high as ocer 67,000 show up The first touch of the game sends the flames flying and streamers streaming.

The Game goes to Penalty Shoot outs as the teams are tied for points to advance.

The Sounders score here but Will Bruin's attempt hits the post and the Sounders are out of the playoffs. All of a sudden the 67,000 are very quiet.

But there are more important things to do like take your 5 year old grandson to a small beach in his neighborhood., that is Elliot Bay Marina over there.

A nice day to throw some rocks.

And enjoy the Sound.

And look at a crab on the rocky beach.

When I was in Boy Scouts it was discouraged from throwing rocks into the water, but it is different here for a reason. First there are plenty of rocks to throw, and second, all those rocks you throw in come right back to the beach from the wave action that is constant in the Sound. Check out this video as I attempt to show even small waves pushing the rocks ashore, you can here all the rocks clicking together as they are gently pushed towards the beach:
 https://youtu.be/OBJMrOOB34Q

Our son Graeme  had an evening planned for us when we flew into Austin. Just in time as the rains just started the day we left Seattle. Happy He had planned a Old and New Austin evening for us beginning with Happy Hour at the Saxon Pub

The Saxon Pub is one of the few original venues that help build Austin into the Music Capital of the world. 

David Grissom,  and they sounded great even through the ear plugs we carry that are required for us these days.

Graeme, Mom, and Dad



Spending Thanksgiving at the Saxon looks fun, perhaps next year.


Then it was off to the New: Loro's for dinner.

My sister ginger caught up with us and we loved seeing and tasting some new Austin

Having time at our sons family allowed us to catch up on some other Interesting Texas Music History through the Cinemax series Tales From A Tour Bus. If you were into progressive Country music ie Waylon, Willie and the Boys then this is a must see.

This is Ian, not sure why it took him so long to make it into this blog.

This is the Crockett Lunch Bunch, a Group of retired teachers from Crockett High School  in South Austin. They meet monthly at some Austin restaurant and relive the teacher lounge days. I knew sooner or later my Texas dates would line up with these South Austin Stars. Real live Tex-Mex too!

We absolutely have to spend time on long walks on the Hike and bike trail at Lady Bird Johnson Lake, actually its the Colorado river that runs through Austin dividing the city into it's well known North and South sides.
This is Looking West towards Lake Travis.

The Sky line continues to develop and redefining Austin 

A walk through our Sons Northwest neighborhood gives views West overlooking Hwy 360, the begining of the Texas Hill Country.

We drove up to Cowtown and had a great visti with The Admirals Aunt RoseAnn who just turned 94 and her dad Big Dave 86 years, both are still running striong doing whatever they want to do. 

Fall seems to occur a little later in Texas but the colors are beautiful over the entryway to RoseAnns home. 

And Guess what, Fort Worth is home to one of the Federal  National Archive buildings and if you need to do some research such as some family ancestry then you can just pop in.  


The clerk at the front desk points us to a computer lab where a fine young gentleman met us and spent three hours with us as we learned to use their system to research. In The Admirals case she had a grandmother that was 1/2 Missouri Indian so having this resource helped us to find records that could help us learn the history she was looking for. 

Walking is a great way to get some exercise on a sunny November day in Ft. Worth. Here we took a walk around my old Fort Worth neighbor hood, Arlington Heights. I remembered this old home on the corner but now it is a Historic Home, The William J Bryce:
  A native of Scotland, William J. Bryce (1861-1944) moved to Fort Worth in 1883 and developed a successful brick contracting business. In 1893 he constructed this house, which was designed by the prominent architectural firm of Sanguinet & Messer. The Mayor of Fort Worth from 1927 to 1933, Bryce lived here until his death. One of the rare examples of a Chateauesque dwelling in Texas, Fairview features Richardsonian arches and gabled dormers. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark-1983. 


Back in Austin we help my sister Ginger learn to wax her own car, something you have time to do when your retired, hopefully she will join our ranks soon.

Thank God gas is just $2.29 in Texas, You spend a lot of time in a car driving around Austin or our tip to Ft. Worth.  Living in Belltown, Seattle is way different by enjoying walking to the store or taking mass transit here in Seattle. We do drive some here but not near like we have to in Texas. I can find gas a little cheaper than this here but it doesn't matter much since we rarely need to fill up anyway.

Friday, November 30, 2018

October 2018 Seattle Our First Sunset Puget Sound Sail

October 2018 Seattle Our First Sunset Puget Sound Sail

Well several things were notable in October but one of the greatest achievements was our first sunset sail aboard SNOWBALL with all the accompanying sunset photos of course. October was dryer and warmer setting historic records just like all the other years and months we have lived here so we got to enjoy the Sound at every opportunity we were not otherwise scheduled. 
Recently I decided to do the ancestory.com thing and dive into family history. There was mention from some relative years ago that we descended from Norseman in Scandinavia. Supposedly Steakley came from STEEKLEY which the document said Steek means cattle and Ley means pasture. The Steekley's were said to be cattle rustlers that went up and down the coastline in their little viking boats stealing cattle. How did they get the cow into the boat? 


It just so happens that there is a tribute to Leif Erickson at our marina and all the Scandinavians in the Seattle area can have their name engraved upon the plaques that adorn the rocks. So I spent some time looking for any of the surnames we descended from and close but no cigar. So my next step is to visit the Nordic Heritage Museum here in Seattle to see if they can help me find any supporting data. My work on Ancestory goes only back to the mid 1500 to 1600 and I run into a dead in in Somerset England as well as a few other European towns. 

Not here that I can tell.

This Peace Plant Bloom opened the 1st of October and graciously faced us all month long bringing optimism and hope.

Then UT beat OU

Having work done on our Austin home long distance is always a little concerning but it appears they did a fine job on the new fence. We got to check it out in person in November.

We take advantage of the close proximity of Golden Gardens Park to our marina and take long walks along the beach. 

The Ballard locks are also walking distance from the marina so we continued to seek out Fall colors along the way.

Cloudy or sunny the beauty is always here.

Exploring our marina on the South end reveals a dock for small cruise ships.



And then of course we spent several evenings at the Earshot  Jazz Festival where I took this picture out a third story window.

We left the dock around 17:30 for our first Sunset Sail.

There is always a different angle to see Mt. Rainier

When we first came to Seattle I asked our Son in law if there was a way to identify the peaks of the Olympics and the Cascades and he found this for me so I keep it on my phone for reference.

West Point Light house with fall colors

Click onthis photo to enlarge it, see that tiny fishing boat just feet away from the passing container ship?


That's Golden Gardens Park



The Sunset begins.







Excellent forethought when we were at the Ballard Farmers Market earlier in the day and I bought this fine Lager from one of the vendors. Completed the Sunset with just the right flavors after we settled in at the dock for the evening.


Recently an old timer in Ft. Worth asked me if Seattle is still the suicide capitol of the world due to it being so dreary and depressing.


Our almost two year old Clara is now getting her turn to explore Pocket Beach.


These huge Red oaks line the play ground where Big D plays with his neighborhood buddies after pre-school. The Leaves and big acorns were raining down.

We went to a couple of Sounders games and they won both. We decided that they must be winning since we were there so we just kept on going to the games and they just kept on winning.


And being Grandparents for the Incredibles filled all the rest of our time in October

Hope your Halloween was Fun Fun Fun