sun, 10/31...day 304

Halloween 2010!
In a classic battle of Good vs. Evil, the mighty knight fends off the Grim Reaper before the duo amicably trick-or-treat around the neighborhood. :D

By the happy expression on the knight's face, we presume that he believes he won the epic battle. :P

sat, 10/30...day 303

Rally to Restore Sanity!

The Comedy Central guys, Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert, held a big rally in D.C. today to promote moderation in the political discourse. I don't know that it will have one iota of impact, but I took the boys downtown to participate in Seattle's sattelite rally, to show my support for stopping the insanity.

It was crowded and drizzly (then rainy!), but we enjoyed the bus ride (a rare treat), got McD's at Westlake to refuel, and got to hear some of the singers, comics, and speakers (including a live feed of Jon & Steven debating on the other coast) inbetween. When it really started to rain, we headed back to the bus tunnel and caught the 255 back to the Kirkland Park & Ride.

Tynor came with us, but hung out with his friend Laura and came home later. Kellen & Josie were there too, but the crowds were so thick, we couldn't ever find them. I was happy that we were all there supporting the cause, though. :D

fri, 10/29...day 302

Cory was glad that Charlie was at Break Camp today at TLS. They have a great time together. Such goofballs! :-)

In the mid-afternoon, I picked up the boys from camp and we headed over to Microsoft to treak-or-treat in my building. First we stopped at the Commons very briefly (too many crowds, not enough activities), and saw this enormous pumpkin.

Kellen and Josie joined us, and then came home with us for dinner. Nice to see them! It had been ages and ages.

thu, 10/28...day 301

They're adding new paths at the school, to encourage people to avoid walking behind cars in the parking lot on their way to and from class. (A fine idea, I might add).

Here Ken is busy with a Bobcat, clearing and flattening a walkway, while the Extended Day kids enjoy the show.

wed, 10/27...day 300

Niall, Cory, and I headed over to the PSCS Fall Potluck this evening after work. We got there about 20 minutes early, the way it worked out with picking them up from Extended Day, getting some dinner, and then driving across I-90 to Seattle.

When we walked in, Steve was there and few other people, and I enjoyed chatting with them a bit. But the boys were immediately drawn to a table near the entrance with cool science stuff - moss, petri dishes growing things, pinecones - and various microscopes. Soon Tanya (staff member/science teacher) came over and began to gently explain to them how to use the microscopes, opening experiments so they could see what was inside, and generally delighting them with science.

The crowning touch was a big fat grub that they got to hold and look at under the microscope. So cool!

It was so heartwarming to see Tanya and the boys exploring science together. Let me just say again how amazing and wonderful the PSCS staff members are! Love them.

Later I caught a cute shot of Tynor and Juliana. Awwww... :D

tue, 10/26...day 299

We don't get many Big Leaf Maple leaves in our yard anymore, now that the Wheats' maple trees are gone.

But one strayed over from somewhere, looking very Fall-like among the dead branches.

mon, 10/25...day 298

Hands down, my favorite Halloween tradition is roasting pumpkin seeds. Ok, I don't like sorting and cleaning them, and it's tricky to get them roasted just right.

But when you can mange that trick, the result is just out of this world.

sun, 10/24...day 297

The light was so pretty on the Japanese Maple out front this morning, I grabbed my camera and took a few pictures.

One of them turned out really nice. Lovely bokeh and everything.

And then...I looked at a full screen version. OH NO! The ISO was still set to 3200 from when I was taking pumpkin carving photos indoors yesterday. Waaaaah. :-(

It was still a pretty photo but MAJOR grain in the nice, blurred background. Sigh.

So I went back outside, with my ISO set properly this time, and took more photos. Of course, none of them was *quite* as good as the first one. But I'm sharing one here anyway. To remind me that it's just not going to be the perfect photo every time. :-)