Show Me What Democracy Looks Like...

This is what Democracy looks like!

This morning we got up at the crack of dawn for soccer....we came home, and made some signs,


.....met up with my friend Sonia (aka SuperGirl), and headed downtown for the Peace Rally. It was not as crowded as I expected, but plenty of people there, from every walk of life, protesting the stupid war. We showed up at the park with "thousands" of other people.

The kids really liked the giant Earth ball....they got interviewed for local cable, and when they asked Caroline why was she at the rally, she sweetly informed them that she just was really sick of this war. Miles piped in to say he doesn't like all the money being spent on this war by our government, for making money for corporations....Hey, we are for peace, man.

I would love to make a giant paper mache head someday....
Hey there she is, SuperGirl!

The 3 counter-protesters.....Had to explain the Canada sign to Miles.

Here are some of the sights of the 2.38 mile walk....
SuperGirl was a Super photo -op. Tons of people wanted their picture taken with her, plus she was super easy to spot in the crowd. Always go to a protest march with someone dressed as a superhero.

Atlas here....
Caroline made a friend with a cute 4 year old named Zian. She was getting tired of walking and reached out to hold Caroline's hand, and then talked her ear off for the entire walk.Cops.... act cool. The anarchists were out in full force, Miles was rather perplexed by their slogans...."Wait, no laws at all?" Someone gave me a pamphlet about what to do in case of nuclear war or Marshall Law, apparently we all go down and meet at the Space Needle to organize...
I somehow missed my photo, but I saw a lot of signs supporting Ehran Watada. And other random stuff..Stop violence against women, Sally Soriano for School Board....
There were also signs comparing the cost of the war to the cost of education. Very Scary.
That one in the back says One day of Iraq war equals 84 new Elementary Schools. Egad.
.
Well we made it to the end, in Pioneer Square, milled around a bit and then got out of there.
We took the bus home, and behind Miles and Sonia was a guy who got into a conversation with them, and I looked over, and Miles was giggling, and said, "Mama, that guy just told me that scientists are really close to proving that God is the 11th dimension!" Of all the information he gathered today, he can add, there will always be crazy people on the bus.

Miles and the Mushrooms

Saturday, my resident fungus enthusiast and I went to the Puget Sound Mycological Society (PSMS) annual Fall show. Here he is on the way in....
SO excited. We went in and saw rows and rows of tables of every mushroom you can imagine, and some you cannot!! Miles doesn't even need to read the signs, he was just telling me about them, he has been studying them for so long.

I learned that Chanterelles that we eat have veins, and False Chanterelles (which are poisonous) have gills. That is how you tell the difference. Miles has been eating his eggs scrambled with Chanterelles all week.

A mushroom as big as your head!

So pretty.So weird.
Who knew there were purple mushrooms? (well, Miles did)
There were celebrity chefs there cooking mushroom dishes, and we got to taste a fritatta that had black trumpet mushrooms in it. Oh yum.
It was held in the Center for Urban Horticulture at the U, so afterward, we walked around a bit, it has really nice gardens. A gorgeous fall day...

I love Fall

The trees look so pretty.....
I also love cooking in the fall, there are reasons every day to make soup!! This one is black bean:

Finishing up the "harvest". Here are 3 of our 6 ears of corn. It was really good.
Here are some garden carrots, I just thought they looked nice in the blue dish.

Caroline gets in on it,
This one is lentil and swiss chard, it was really delicious.
Excellent loaf of bread from the Grateful Bread Bakery....
Roasted veggies!! Squash, yams, taters, parsnips, onions and carrots. I went a little crazy here and ended up eating this every day for lunch for a week....
Did I mention how pretty the trees are getting??

A Little Project

On Friday, Caroline was reading a book called "Get Out"and decided she needed to do a project. So she gathered up materials and made a twine-and-straw bubble blower,

whipped up a concoction of Dawn detergent and sugar (?)
and blew some gigantic bubbles!!
She said, "I should tell the Bubbleman about this!" I said I think he might already know....

Garden Tour

Well, while we were in France, the garden went totally haywire. I heard that it rained a lot while we were gone. Here is mom, helping me to get the climbing rose under control. It helped a lot, but as soon as it starts raining again, I am in trouble...

Clyde, the helpful wonder kitty.
Tomatoes are not nearly as tall as in years past, we seem to have the dwarf varieties....We still have more tomatoes than we can eat, I may have to make sauce this weekend.
Nasturtiums...
Chard...
And lots of pumpkins coming in!!
Caroline and I were already discussing jack-o-lantern faces today. I don't think I can make a scarier one than I did last year...

Fun with Hillyers

Mom and Dad got up here on Saturday night, and we were supposed to go hiking on Sunday, but it was raining, and only supposed to get worse. So we decided to go bowling. Half the lanes were under construction, which is a good thing because the lanes we were on had a very definable tilt toward no one getting a spare. (have to blame something!)

Dad in action!
Stefan and Owen and Caroline keep track of the scores...
My sister, tearing it up...
My mom, showing us her League Form from the 70s. Miles is excited for her...
The whole gang!