THEY DON'T MAKE THEM LIKE THEY USED TO

One of the nice things about being a public transportation girl is that I do a lot of walking and it's easy to stop and take pictures when you see something very cool. This amazing Lincoln Continental for instance:
I was walking down 15th Ave. in Interbay when I saw this beauty. Can you imagine the ride this would give? I think it would be more like gliding than driving. A road trip in a car like this wold be a luxury, except of course, I'd want it to be a convertible. But still... So, here are some detail shots - they don't make them like they used to...

HAPPY DANCE

                        Yeah! I love it when I feel this way!
                 Too bad I can't express it the way Coco does.

FENCED IN

Sometimes we have to admit failure. I finally did today, and I feel so much better. No longer fenced in by impossible tasks. I took too many classes this quarter, one being a programming class (not my strength). I finally decided today to take a "fail" in the class and re-take it in the fall or winter. What a relief! Headache instantly gone. Schedule not quite as insane. Peace has descended. Well, not quite.

The thing about programming classes is that you not only have to learn a new language - the computer language - but you have to learn the jargon that the instructor speaks. The teacher would ex-plain something and all the programmers say, "OK". The rest of us say, "What did he say?"

Bothered and Bewildered am I. Not Bewitched.

On now to accomplish reasonable tasks and goals... then some working vacation time... hanging out with the family... perhaps some serious drinking, pool playing and body surfing... maybe even some writing...

SUMMER HYDRANGEAS

For some reason, Hydrangeas always remind me of grandmas...maybe that's why I love them so much. According to Wikipedia, the Hydrangea is native to Southern and Eastern Asis as well as North and South America.

Hydrangeas come in 3 basic styles; the mophead, the lacecap, and a cone shaped flower cluster. The mophead variety is by far the most popular with more than 600 cultivars. It is my favorite, but the lacecap is growing on me. This is a flatter shaped flower cluster with small, fertile flowers in the center, surrounded by larger infertile flowers - much like a lace cap.

Most Hydrangeas are naturally a creamy white but can range in color from deep to light blue, through the shades of purple and into the pinks. The color depends on the PH of the soil: A neutral soil will produce white flowers; an acidic soil will produce blue flowers; and, an alkaline soil will produce pink or purple flowers. Hydrangeas are hyperaccumulating plants, specializing in the soaking up of aluminum ions.

You can change the color of your flowers by amending your soil, however, newer cultivars have been developed to produce specific colors of flowers. You can change these colors a bit or, enhance them with soil amendments, but if you bought a bright pink cultivar, chances are you'll never get it to turn blue. A few years ago I saw a beautiful creamy yellow hydrangea cultivar on Martha Stewart's TV show, but I have never seen it since.

Hydrangeas like a moist, well drained soil and sunlight. They can tolerate some shade and I would recommend afternoon shade. Hydrangeas that have the full afternoon (hottest) sun tend to have faded flowers. Pruning should be judicious - most hydrangeas flower on "old growth" - this years new growth will bear next years flowers. Plants that are severely pruned every year never get the old growth and stop flowering. My favorite way to prune hydrangeas is to cut the flowers for arrangements. If you have a plant with vigorous flower growth, you can easily cut half the flowers in a season and still have a beautiful bush in the yard.
More good news - Hydrangeas are hardy plants and can grow from Nantucket to Florida, from Washington to New Jersey. For more information on hydrangeas, visit the United States National Arboretum.

BACK OF THE BUS

It's a rare thing to get on an empty bus in Seattle, but that's what happened a couple of weeks ago when I snapped this picture. I call it "Back of the Bus" because that's what it is and because I like the song "Back of the Bus" (by G. Love & Special Sauce.
Chorus lyrics below:

Let the wild rumpus start cause it
just can't stop
And all the cool kids in the back of the bus
Cop a feel
Steal a kiss miss
I hope ya won't regret it
And all of the kids in the back I hope you get it

All the cool kids in the back of the bus
Rubba dubba scrubba bubba
Whatchu talkin' bout gus breakin the rules
I hope we don't get caught sha la la la la la la la la

HEAT ~ WAVE

Last week all anyone could talk about in Seattle was the heat. It was a week of broken records. There was no relief; no breeze in the evening, no cooling down in the early morning hours, no famous Seattle rain to wash away the sweat. Or the smog. One of the nice things about Seattle is a lack of smog - most days. In the summer when it gets hot, we might see a thin layer, but last week it was thick. For Seattle. But nothing like L.A. in the summer. It made for a nice sunset though, and I took this picture of the needle on Broadway in Capitol Hill, looking down Denny. I took about 7 shots and couldn't get a clear one; I didn't want to use the flash, and my hand is not that steady. But I like the shot anyway.
Looking south on Broadway we have Dick's and all the hot, sweaty people out for a cheap dinner. It's too hot to be inside, and it's definitely too hot to cook. Besides, it's good people watching on a night like this.

Then panning back we have "Moon Over Dick's". Not exactly Ansel Adams, but I like it! It was a nice night, even though I was hanging out on Broadway becase there was a power outage by the University Bridge so the electric buses weren't running, and the driver didn't tell us in time for us to get off and catch the 43 which was going to the same place, only by a longer, less direct, but fully electrified route.
However, if the driver had told us in time, or, if the power wasn't out, I would have never been on this corner at this time taking these shots. So my irritation washed away, I eventually grabbed a cab, and had an interesting conversation with the driver, a guy named Jojo, from Kenya. I sure like Seattle cabbies. And hot Seattle nights.