The girls were busy doing something underneath the slides and climbing area of the playground. I went over to tell them it's time to go, and I asked "what are you doing here?" "We're making pizzas."

Now that we have Winter behind us, I do love where we live, here in the NW. I almost feel guilty when I'm watching the evening news and weather reports from the rest of the country, almost... These creatures were near the driveway to our apartment complex yesterday morning. I was leaving around 6:30, headed out on my morning walk, and the temperature was 57 degrees. Nice walking weather. It's only a 10 minutes walk to our little downtown area. They must live in the densely wooded area north of our complex.

Video on my FB page, re "Charles Reinholz" for Friends The above post about our deer neighbors reminded me of one night on Lopez Island. I walked out onto my porch late one night. It was very dark being out in the countryside, and after a few minutes, after my eyes adjusted, I saw 4 or 5 deer standing in front of the house. We just quietly looked at each other for a few minutes, and then they went back to their grazing.

I loved this image, but I thought maybe I should include the whole advertisement: https://www.yiume.com/blogs/pieces-of-wearable-art/the-great-wave-off-kanagawa?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=23856610548510725&utm_content=olivia&fbclid=IwAR0V0UQoxOpXVZDgppRwtASPD4G1P9iDbrEs0YokasoWk18-YxxFDIXKags

Lots of nostalgia yesterday, when I wandered through this year's Bellevue Arts Festival... Being a long ago veteran of the University, Bumbershoot, Point Roberts etc crafts fairs in the 1970s, I epecially liked the woodworkers. Actually, there were all kinds of wonderful craftspersons and artists. Talking with the vendors, the materials, the colors and mixed mediums were the highlights for me. http://bellevue.com/arts-week.php

Walking with the twins in the Landing Park, on two different days. The photo with the tree reminded me of Robert De Niro's "you looking at me?" (Taxi Driver)

Walking with the twins in the Landing Park, on two different days. The photo with the tree reminded me of Robert De Niro's "you looking at me?" (Taxi Driver)

Hood ornaments from a car show 7 years ago, 25Jul2016

From an article in the Seattle Times this morning: ‘Not for machines to harvest’: Data revolts break out against AI "Loffstadt stopped posting her creations after she learned that data company had copied her stories and fed them into the artificial intelligence technology underlying ChatGPT, a viral chatbot. Dismayed, she hid her writing behind a locked account. Loffstadt also helped organize an act of rebellion last month against AI systems." This article was in the morning newspaper, and it brought up a sad memory for me: the beginning of the end of my box-making days. Back in the 70s, I supported myself, more or less, with my "carved and inlaid boxes made out of hardwoods". One day I walked into the Washington Bookstore on the "Ave" (University Avenue in the UW district). On a special display table near the entry, there were these small blocks of hardwoods with intricate, LAZER produced etchings on them. I can't remember if they were boxes. It was like someone hit me in the stomach, and I thought "what am I doing?" I remember "burning out" with my month to month lifestyle in the early 80s, even though I loved my wood working. I was living up on Lopez Island in the San Juans then, and what I did was slowly burn all of my wood in the fireplace as I thought about what I want to do. I ended up with two to-dos: go to Japan, and learn out to play a saxophone. This was one of the early Bumbershoot Festivals at the Seattle Center.

Having a "monkey-mind", and forcing myself to leave my camera at home so I don't interrupt my exercise, I'm trying to compose "Haiku" in my mind when I walk. Haiku is a Japanese form of poetry, with a 5-7-5 syllable format. This is from my walk this morning: I still like walking - but my gait is less steady - more body over mind now

When I was a boy, the optometrist looked me in the eyes and said "what you have son is a LAZY right eye". That's when I started wearing glasses. 77 yo now, and I guess my right eye decided to semi-retire. I'm very grateful that my left eye is 20/20. If I close my left eye now, what I see with my WMD is sort of like a Francis Bacon painting.

Mini-rant: I hate Rite Aid I don't know why I even bothered to go to Rite Aid this morning. They Never have what I'm looking for! I Loved Bartells, before the family sold the business to Rite Aid. "Bartell's was believed to be the nation's oldest existing family-owned drugstore chain until it was sold to Rite Aid in 2020." Bartells always had stock on hand, good Sales, helpful Pharmacy people, friendly staff (my sister's Mother-in-law was a longtime Bartells person in the small community where I grew up) etc. I miss Bartells.

Color, and black and white...

this is one of my favorite walks along the Sammamish River...

I forgot to upload a photo of the river. The path shown here is on the other side of the distant treeline in the upper left center

walking in Cebu - a big change for sure, coming - daydreams while walking

our beautiful NW Summer weather has returned, and I'm enjoying my morning walks here in Bothell again...

5 photos that appeared in my FB Memories folder this morning...

When I was editing these photos, I thought about the song "The Green Leaves of Summer" by The Brothers Four. From Wikipedia: The Brothers Four is an American folk singing group, founded in 1957 in Seattle, Washington, and known for their 1960 hit song "Greenfields." Bob Flick, John Paine, Mike Kirkland, and Dick Foley met at the University of Washington, where they were members of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity in 1956 (hence the "Brothers" appellation). Their first professional performances were the result of a prank played on them in 1958 by a rival fraternity, who had arranged for someone to call them, pretend to be from Seattle's Colony Club, and invite them to come down to audition for a gig. Even though they were not expected at the club, they were allowed to sing a few songs and were subsequently hired. Flick recalls them being paid "mostly in beer".

morning walk, meandering thoughts #1 - 17Jul2023 - Earlier this month, Fred VanFleet of the NBS's Toranto Raptors signed a 3 year contract with Houston that will have him making $550,000 for every game he plays for the next three years. Yesterday, Rory Mcllroy won the Scottich Open golf tournament yesterday, and collected a $1,403,725 paycheck. Not bad...

These tree shots were from a walk 6 years ago along the Green River in Tukwila WA. Gotta love that bark!

I've been going to car shows forever, and this post fits in with my recent car show photographs. This was from 7 years ago, on 15Jul2016.