the girly who shall end all girls

when we bought flowering spring bulbs last year, i left them in the planter after they had finished blooming, in hopes that they might come back - i figured that they had been forced and probably wouldn't return but the worst that would happen is that the other plants would feed off of them.

today i cut back all the foliage that had been destroyed by the recent frost, and holy shit there are tulips and daffodils coming up. also, for some reason the verbena didn't care about the frost, has a lot of nice leaves and is growing new foliage? IT'S COLD AND DARK, I have no idea why some of the plants are happy. (the geraniums' leaves are all limp and slimy like i expected everything but the wintergreen to be.)

back in March we bought a box of costco outdoor lights. (If you're in the US, you know the ones, they look like a string of oblong incandescent bulbs but they're LEDs.) the other day I knocked off work "early" after staying up to support a launch in Europe, and we hung them on the balcony.
this being a rental, that involved spring clamps and zip ties. so I got to go to the industrial hardware for spring clamps, and C got to stand on a stool right up against the balcony railing while I held his belt.
I am well-pleased with the results. Next up, new flowers for the planters.

some years we do lights and greens for solstice and some years we don't. i've not traced how the decision gets made but it's some calculus of mood/time/financial situation; this year i have Hallmark movies on tap and vacation time, so i was going to at least see if our old icicle lights still worked and string them on the balcony.

by the end of the day, i had:

• cleaned the entire balcony

• replaced the old and hung some new icicle lights

• got some random star-shaped lights and hung them

• made an electronics recycling plan

• taken a load of propane canisters and empty spraypaint cans to household hazardous waste disposal

• bought a tree and wreath

• found my missing thimble

• decorated wreath and tree

• set up all the lights with timers

and C had vacuumed the living room carpet, vacuumed the couch (finding a lost stitch marker and a lost sock), and washed all the pillows and throws on the couch.

i probably would have done less with the balcony, and C wouldn't have touched the living room, but we had a string of party lights (the sort with round incandescent bulbs that are a little larger than a golf ball) clipped to the tops of the windows, which provide pleasant illumination if you hang out outside in the evening. unfortunately the clips failed when i gently moved the extension cord and five bulbs EXPLODED when they hit the floor, sending little shards of glass not only all over the balcony but in a spray into the living room because somehow i had left the door open. the good-ish news was that i had exactly enough bulbs from its previously damaged companion string to replace all the broken ones. anyway, everything on the balcony got swept and wiped down, and the dog was fortunately in another room.

the balcony (especially in cold weather) can end up storing things that we need out of the way or don't have a place for, like said household hazardous waste. so i did some research and got a car and we went on a little adventure to SODO and got rid of that shit.*

we had extra time left on the car, so we went to the Boy Scouts tree lot, ostensibly to look for a wreath but they didn't have any. i was able to sell C on getting a wee tree because Boy Scouts (and i think he secretly wanted one too). then it turned out the nearby store had a wreath.

what we didn't have, it turns out, is the tree stand. i have absolutely no idea where it went. i would be shocked if we got rid of it, it's just in the storage unit...somewhere. so the tree is in our large stock pot. at least i won't have to add water very often?

since we won't be hosting dinner this year, the tree is on the end of the table. it's very shiny and i do love the ornaments we've accumulated over the years. some are from my childhood, others we bought together, others gifts. every one of them has some memory or story attached.

*if i ever physically assault C, it will have been over something like the bag of empty propane tanks or the box of Darn Tough socks with holes in them that have not been sent for replacement. i'm still pretty shocked that "hey they're open again, want to go on an adventure?" worked yesterday because normally any suggestion that i resolve or help to resolve the situation turns into a fight.

on a clear day i have a view of Mt Rainier peeking over top of Queen Anne hill from my balcony. today i can't see Queen Anne hill or anything that is more than a couple blocks away due to smoke.

our AQI has now improved to 229, after a peak earlier today of 242. we have air filters on order for our planned redneck air purifier - box fan, merv 13 filter, duct tape - but they won't arrive until Sunday (local stores were sold out). they'll still be useful then, but tomorrow is going to be miserable. the dog does not understand why we won't open the door for her.

that said, today is our Seattleversary and i remain happy to be here, smoke or no. the cascade of events following 9/11 brought us here - i have no idea who we would be (or where) if budgets hadn't frozen in 2001, cancelling academic programs that were starting in 2002. i am especially relieved that i'm not working in theatre anymore this year; it's a tough profession always but 2020 is going to be a devastating ending point for nonprofits.

we placed an order with Geek Chic at PAX 09...and we are finally in the milling queue. the delay has given us plenty of time to sock away money, so we were able to get more than our original bare-bones plan...and they have more wood options now, so bamboo drawers ahoy.

turns out we're in the first production run for the Codex. eep.

soon many piles will disappear into orderly hardwood goodness. and it only took a year! *knocks wood*

the nice weekend continues in spite of the weather.

Saturday, mimerki came over and helped me to shop victoriously for balcony furniture. (a "5 pc conversation set" which translates to two chairs with footrests and a little table to hold drinks.) then patio dinner at Madame K's and the first run of the courtyard hot tub. it's lovely. part of me still does not understand how i get to have such nice things.

i think July 4th dim sum is now a tradition. i was surrounded by a wealth of friends and a wealth of things filled with delicious, delicious egg custard. pretty much everything that has carbs on the outside and creamy yellow stuff on the inside is my favorite. i was so full that i couldn't finish my serving of soft tofu. the lions outside the crazy furniture store were wearing festive traffic cone hats.

later C and i joined Pirate B (and his K, and later we cajoled out Pirate A) at Gas Works for the fireworks. they were there around 3:30 to secure a spot and had a wealth of gear. our job was to bring wine. (surreptitously. thanks Platypus.) the location was astonishingly good - directly in line with the barge, near the top of the kite hill. B texted us that they were just south of the head. we didn't understand until we arrived. it was like a happy Planet of the Apes.

we did sit through some gentle rain, but it passed and we were properly attired. this is the first time we've watched from the park proper, and it was particularly sweet considering that there might not have been any fireworks in Seattle this year. (backstory: Washington Mutual sponsored the Lake Union fireworks. Washington Mutual also rented office space from the art museum that paid a good chunk of their budget and employed thousands of people downtown. Chase killed the fireworks, left SAM high and dry, and cut something like 5000 jobs. yes they were crooks, but they were our crooks. between that and a lot of policy changes, we've moved our bank accounts.) the crowd was entirely friendly and cheerful, the announcers were all "we looooove you because you all made this happen", and hey, the Presidents of the United States of America played before and after the fireworks, and they are always fun. (highlights included the pause during Kitty before the one verse - "we know this is the Family Fourth, so it's important that you explain to your children that profanity is acceptable in the context of rock and roll" and the cover of Video Killed the Radio Star.) someone on the Capitol Hill side of the lake had a green laser and harassed ducks and highlighted a balloon. the fireworks themselves were gorgeous. later we had rootbeer floats.

this morning the breakfast special at the High Life was crabcakes.

soon we will go to the zoo. meerkats!

regular Friday game night was cancelled due to the holiday weekend (the group is majority local, so they have family stuff going on) so C and i went to see the Atomic Bombshells at the Triple Door. it's been some time since we've gone on a date of the dinner and a show variety, just the two of us. the venue was brilliant as always, plus there were "mostly naked" ladies. i've seen better dancing (the Can-Can folks are all about the dancing) but the overall quality of movement + great MC + actual singing + quality costumes makes for a great experience. recommended.

on the way to meet C, i passed The Lusty Lady. the neon in the window is gone, most of the marquee is off to MOHAI, and there is a sort of shrine out front: notes, flowers, stripper shoes.

i'm on the balcony beside C, looking at sparkly Queen Anne and the flower boxes i planted this week. looks like most everything has taken, and what isn't flowering already is setting buds. i'll take pictures once they fill in. (i expect after next week, when we'll have had some sunny days.) now if i manage to not overwater them (or piss off the folks with the second floor patio where the overflow falls) they should be nice. alyssum, lobelia, nasturtium (salad!), torenia (these are new to me, they're related to snapdragons) and calibrachoa (also new to me, like wee trailing petunias).

we came home to a sign stating that the hot tub is officially open. i'm saving that for tomorrow.