Posted by Adrienne on August 26, 2009 under Photos | 
While canoeing on Lake Washington earlier this summer, we took in this sight:
The Montlake Bridge crosses the Montlake Cut, which connects Lake Union and Lake Washington. These days, the cut is mostly used for pleasure craft, as seen in the image. The bridge itself connects the University District and the Montlake neighborhood. It’s a great place to spend a sunny summer day.
Also, note one of the Olympic peaks is in the background. Who wouldn’t want to live here?
Posted by Adrienne on August 24, 2009 under Baseball, Mariners |
We planned our vacation around the Major League Baseball schedule. And it worked out really well; with the Mariners in Detroit and Cleveland in the same week, we could hit two new stadiums (part of our goal to see all 30 major league ballparks). Awesome! So we booked our flights, planned our routes and waited for August and our trip back east.
The Mariners themselves did not disappoint. On a 6 game trip, they won two games; not a great result, but the two games they won were the ones we got to see, so it worked out well for us. The first one was a mid-week game in Detroit. A packed house in Tiger-crazy Comerica Park greeted us – we were two of about 10 Mariner fans there. As is our custom, we arrived early to take in the stadium itself, and this time, we were fortunate enough to grab spots along the left field wall during batting practice.
As we were standing there, we saw Ryan Rowland-Smith shagging fly balls. Ryan is a starting pitcher, and had outdueled Roy Halladay several weeks previously in Seattle in the hottest baseball game I’ve ever been to which also happened to be our wedding anniversary. So we had very good feelings toward “Hyphen” as he is affectionately known to many fans. We also love that he’s from Australia, and this has occasioned us several chances to give him a rousing chorus of “Australia, Australia, Australia, We love you!” (follow the link here and watch at 2:00 – actually, just watch it all, it’s funny)
Generally, in Seattle, Ryan doesn’t hear us give this chant, as there are too many other Mariner fans around. But in Detroit, we were the *only* Mariner fans in the stand, and Ryan heard our “Australia, Australia, Australia, We love you!” loud and clear. He turned around, saw us waving and cheering for him and gave a wave and a big smile. Brilliant!
But he didn’t stop there. After a few minutes, when he got a ball, RRS, turned around and tossed the ball to us. Glee! Upon hearing my shouted “Thanks, Ryan, you’re brilliant!” he smiled again, and went back to shagging flies. Several minutes later, when he got another ball, he turned around and threw that one to us as well, occasioning another Australian-themed cheer from us: “Hyphen, Hyphen, Hyphen! Oi oi oi!” He seemed to enjoy this cheer as well. So we were able to interact with a professional ballplayer and got a few souveniers, not the least of which is a great memory. Thanks, Ryan!
Posted by Adrienne on August 13, 2009 under Books |
The ‘09 Nonfiction Book Count is up to double digits now!
How Cities Won the West: Four Centuries of Urban Change in Western North America by Carl Abbott
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Most Americans learn about the pioneers and the Oregon Trail at a young age; some even played the classic video game (“You have died of dysentary”). And their understanding of the Western half of the United States is that pioneers settled, farmed, mined, logged or whatever and later the territories became states, and the states chugged along until today, filled with little towns and old homesteading land or something like that.
According to Carl Abbott, a professor of urban studies at Portland State University, the preceeding idea of the West is wrong. The Western United States (and Western Canada, too), Abbott says, was driven by the founding and growth of cities. In fact, the West is proportionally more urban than the East is. In this book, Abbott convincingly makes his case for an urban understanding of the growth of the West. He recounts (in brief) the history of many Western cities, from LA, San Diego and San Francisco to Denver, Salt Lake City, Phoenix and Las Vegas, to Winnipeg, Vancouver, Boise, Spokane, Portland and Seattle. Abbott’s prose is no boring history text – his chapter hooks in particular are extremely readable and made me keep going even when I meant to stop – and his ideas are fascinating. As someone who lives in a Western metropolis myself, I now have a new understanding of my city and of many others that I have spent time in.
View all my reviews >>
Posted by Adrienne on August 12, 2009 under Photos |
Less than a day’s ride from downtown Seattle is some beautiful scenery:
Puget Sound around Whidbey Island is very dramatic and lovely, especially when the sun is shining. The view here is just north of Deception Pass and is really the Puget Sound region in a nutshell: evergreen trees and beautiful blue water. If you only see one photo of Puget Sound this year, see this one! (Although, if you click the link, you’ll see a few more in our album)
This picture was taken during our “daycation” at the beginning of June; we drove up through the Skagit Valley, crossed at Anacortes and Deception Pass, then drove south through Whidbey Island, before taking the Mukilteo Ferry at Clinton back to the mainland. A great time was had by all!
Posted by Adrienne on August 7, 2009 under Soccer, Sounders |
Sports fans are known for bringing props to sporting events. Flags, banners, and signs proclaiming affirmation for a team or certain players are ubiquitous in grandstands everywhere. Sizes can vary, and quality can range from hand-drawn-in-five-minutes to purchased-at-the-team-store to hand-made-with-care.
In soccer, however, supporters often take their prop-making to another level, with large and involved displays requiring huge amounts of effort and co-ordination. Nearly all of these massive undertakings are produced solely by the supporters groups with no help from the team itself, and everything is done by the fans themselves. These displays, called “tifo,” are an amazing sight:
Tifo made by ECS for Sounders vs Crew, Courtesy Point Taken Photos
After being inspired by some of the big displays the Emerald City Supporters have put together, and some of the smaller two-pole banners and one-hand-required flags that have become familiar sights at Occidental Park and Qwest Field on matchday, I decided that I would try my hand at making my very own small-scale piece of tifo.
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