June in Seattle

The Tuesday Night Duck Dodge Races start up on Lake Union, it is more like a huge Sailing Party.

Two of my adult students, Eric and Erin, learning to single hand dock under sail, well their are no motors on these vessels!

Stayed all June but left in July

Momma Canadian Geese guarding the young

Flora everywhere in the PNW 

Sure wish I could sail my favorite of the vessels at  the Center for Wooden Boats, this flagship greets everyone.

R11 Pirate

Outboards sell at a premium up here, and there are lots of really old ones still running and they are not cheap either!

This one is still for sell but they sold lots of their donated inventory at the July 4th weekend Wooden boat festival.

Take your choice they are all Bristol

Drew loves the Seals and the Ottors at the Seattle Aquarium

Low tide about 12'

The Adventuras was giving out free rides

Finally got My daughter and her Husband out for a day sail , We sailed across Puget Sound to Hidden Cove on Bainbridge Island.

Always surprised when I see a Florida boat here.

See what I mean about low tide, always the lowest with the full moon, A great way to clean you bottom every month!

The Meadow Point Green Can that is our race mark for the Thursday night Capri 22 races , I got 6 points last night so I amup to 9 now.

Yikes, Well when the Admiral and I  got back in from a day sail the tide was up and the boat was off the breakwater.

How about a Briggs and Stratton engine for your boat?

Shifter

Perfect for Lake Union 

I want to take this class!

Orcas reminded us of the very small planet we all share

This is the North view of Eastsound with Sucia Island in the back ground from Lia' and Russels Orca's property where they hope to build a summer home.

To the West you can see the Wasp Islands and San Juan Island in the background.

We were invited to the Neighbors of Lia and Russells' who have lived on Orcas several years and the 94 year old father who lives with them water paints and graciously gave us two of his works of the East Sound

My kinda of water colors!

June was filled with great Sunset, this one must have been a Thursday.

June in Seattle

Well when the sun is out the pace picks up, we have been  busy just choosing among all the things available to do in this region that seems to really celebrate life when the Sun is out. June had almost no rain and lots of days in the 60-70's. Still needed a light jacket if you were out on the water or morning hours. Even though the official Day of summer is the Summer Solstice, the Greater boating season officially starts July 4th up here. Not sure why since all the cruise ships start up June 1 and Seattle is full of 6 full ships of tourist every few days as they empty 3 ships and then fill them up again the same day, that's like 6K-10,000 people coming and going every 3-4 days. Along with that is the Seafair calender http://www.seafair.com/. I always thought Seafair was like a 1 week summer event but the June Seafair events really begin to fill the calender so you hear more about Seafair. It is actually a year long thing that has more or less events every month, its just that the summer calender fills up with some really major event June- August. There are all kind of events but the big ones are Marine and water related.
We have been here long enough now to understand this region takes on a new persona with each season. Just as the Season changes so do the lives of these people. You go from extremely long winter nights with 15 hours of dark and 8 hours of light often strained through fog and mist to 15 hours of sunny weather and just 8 hours of dark. We filled those long winter nights by volunteering at the symphony giving us a nice indoor environment but now forget that, we enjoy being outside for all the other stuff to do up here. I am sure the natives up here do not even think about it just as we never really thought about our two season life in Texas but this is so different to us it definitely has you examining the differences.

2014 Seattle Pride Parade and Festival

Representin'n

We were not prepared for what followed. http://www.seattlepride.org/pride-parade/

40th year, lots of practice!

Well if you have ever been to ROT rally in Austin, nothing new here, lots of scooters and motorcycles celebrating.

Can't count all the bands, they just kept streaming through.

The Boy Scouts of Americas up Front

Leslie's Dad again

All the GLBT Politicos turned out + the straight ones who want to stay in office in Washington State.

George Takei best known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the USS Enterprise in the television series Star Trek was the Grand Marshall

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray and his husband

Macklemore Loving his City

If you have any business at all in this state you better show up here or it is all over.

Every band from every culture.

Well they have direct flights to and from Austin

Seattle Police representing

Can you imagine this in small town USA?

The Issues facing this community begin to pile up.

First responders who save your ass representing

The Truth

Mind, Body, and Spirit

Love on the inside and the outside.

Can you see me know?

That is what the T is for

Seahawks!

They come in all sizes baby.

If you can't see me we will fix it.

Treat your Brewer right!

Good but they have nothing on the pirates in Key West

Royalty

Microsoft has supported the LGBT community since the early 70's and one of the few who provide 100% insurance for AIDs and other issues facing this community.

Novel concept

Who sends your stuff?

If you removed all the LGBT where would you go to the theatre?

Maybe it's the Water?

Never Seen Seattle Center this crowded for any other event.

We did not make it everywhere but we saw 4 stages packed.

These Guys were Crazyn funny:  http://youtu.be/nQVmGbTXLkQ

What better MC for LGBT?

2014 Seattle Pride Parade and Festival
http://www.seattlepridefest.org/

We planned on checking out the Pride Parade since we heard it is a pretty big deal in Seattle. The Center for Wooden Boats was short a sailing  instructor so I signed up for the early morning shift and told the Admiral I would catch up with her around 12:30, the Parade started from downtown at 11:00am. As I was walking down to the CWB there was a steady stream of colorful folk headed the opposite direction toward the Parade route which is just a couple of blocks from where we live in BellTown. I figured that by the time I got back up to the parade it would be near the end of the parade. As I neared the Parade route on 4th Avenue on my return from the CWB, I could hear the celebration blocks away. The sidewalk along $th was so dense it was difficult to get a good view of the parade (there's a lot of tall people in the PNW!). I needed to cross the parade route so I could meet up with the Admiral so I had to make my way to the front and wait for a opportunity to dart across. There was so much going on and the atmosphere was electric and full of love all at the same time with this crazy energy just vibing throughout. I saw a couple of others make there way across the street and so I jumped on the train, it took me another 20 minutes to find the
Admiral who was just a couple of blocks away. She found a spot where is was not so dense and had a good view of the whole parade so she was getting some good pics. We were both totally consumed by the human kaleidoscope passing in front of us. We watched the parade for about 2 1/2 hours then decided to call it quits and go see whal all was happening at Seattle Center, not sure when the Parade ended.

We both grew up from the 50's and over the course of time we were naturally exposed to Gay and Lesbian moments. My mother owned a Beauty Salon so besides the occasional high school students that you suspected were Gay I was also introduces to the Adult Gay world by the male hairdressers who worked in her Salon, they were always the top money earners and in highest demand by the clientele of the Blue Bonnet Circle Hair Salon. Times slowly changed through the 60's and 70's. My younger brother who had become the Director of Zachary Scott Theater in Austin, Texas came out and announced he was Gay after a short heterosexual marriage.  sometime later when we were attending one of Dave's shows we were at the after party and one of the actors asked me what is was like to Straight and have a Gay Brother, I just told him, "He ain't Heavy, he's my brother". The little smartass would get a different answer today. Being a High School Teacher in a 5A inner city High School in Austin called on helping young students deal with their own Gay/Lesbian issues of growing up in a intolerant world. The 80.s and 90's continued the positive changes to support the growing tides of open LGBT who wanted to live their life on equal terms. We were lucky, we lived in the most accepting city in Texas and we celebrated differences instead of denying.
After the Parade the Admiral and I had the same realization after this incredible display of Issues that just passed before us in the most amazing fashion. Even though we lived with acceptance and love for those Gay and Lesbians in our own community we never really understood all the issues that these communities face in their quest for equality. If you think a minority population like say, African Americans have had it rough getting to the New Millennium, just think about a community that is  discriminated against not only by the majority population but by every minority population as well. The list of issues passing in front of us that day included, health, welfare, age, parent/family, community, religious, sports, military, school, work, recreation, business, political, housing, etc, etc, etc, barriers and discrimination. I am sure there are other places on the planet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_demographics_of_the_United_States  but Seattle is the first we have lived in where this community is the most equal and celebrated. Seattle has the first openly gay Mayor and his husband is constantly at his side.
We have a much deeper appreciation for the battles this community has taken on to get to 2014, but they have a long way to go in most other communities. For those who have not yet come to terms with the LGBT community just know that they surround you. They make your sandwiches, they safe your lives, they fight your wars, they make sure you can retire in comfort, they entertain you and they live like you should with total acceptance of differences., and if your lucky enough to have some as your neighbors they keep your property values up since they have the nicest homes on the block.
The older participants in this event, those our age and older seemed the ones most at peace. For them they never thought they would see this day come in their lifetime so they are content,  But for the young ones, the battle is just beginning.