5 July - Concert at Benaroya Hall

Last Saturday, we made the trek into Seattle to Benaroya Hall to see the Ensign Orchestra and Chorus performing with Alex Boyé. It actually wasn't quite what I was expecting, but not in a bad way... I'd been thinking that it would be an Ensign Orchestra and Chorus concert, with guest performances by Alex Boyé, and the first part was. They did mostly patriotic pieces (since the concert was the day after Independence Day) in the first half and then, after intermission, it became an Alex Boyé concert, accompanied by the orchestra and choir (plus some child soloists for some of the songs, like "Let It Go," that really needed it... and wow, were they good too). Phenomenal evening, all around, with some great performances... although rackham complained a bit that the selection the orchestra played from the 1812 Overture was missing "the best part" (aka the cool cello part from the beginning).

( The Ensign Orchestra and Chorus on stage. )

Crossposted from my Livejournal.

6 July - Sharing the Trail

Sunday afternoon, after church, we drove up to the north end of Lord Hill Regional Park and went on a rather rugged hike... 3.5 miles in about an hour and a half. Lots of hills, which just absolutely undo me but definitely worth it! Oh yeah, and we found three Geocaches!

( Out for a ride. )

Crossposted from my Livejournal.

7 July - Little Green Hitchhiker

Monday's photo isn't quite as exciting... I ended up with a little hitchhiker on my car who just wouldn't take a hint.

( Tenacious little guy. )

Crossposted from my Livejournal.

8 July - Back Deck Garden

A month or so ago, my piano teacher gave me some zucchini starts and some onion starts... so we picked up a few large containers at Costco and stuck them on the back deck, where the zucchini proceeded to absolutely go crazy. We've actually already got one zucchini ready to eat with a ton more not far behind. I wasn't sure how well they'd do in a container, but it seems to be working just fine (the cucumbers next to them aren't thriving quite as well, but are still growing) and the onions are surprising me, as well.

( Enjoying the greenery. )

Crossposted from my Livejournal.

9 July - Sunset Shadows

On Wednesday evening, we went for a hike up some old logging roads across the valley. It was *really* rugged going (it took us about an hour to do two miles round trip), because large sections of the road were completely washed out and it was a bit more like hiking up a riverbed chasm. But wow... the views were worth it! As were the Geocaches. :-)

On the way back, the sun was going down and ( I had to snap a shot of our shadows. )

And, as a bonus, here's a shot I took back down along the powerline right of way ( on our way back from one of the caches. )

In retrospect, this hike was probably a bad idea... I was already developing a bit of a cough and the next day it blossomed into what feels exactly like bronchitis. Bleh.

Crossposted from my Livejournal.