Tacoma – Page 3 – Retreading for Retirement

Three Things Thursday

Thanks to Nerd in the Brain for the weekly challenge Three Things Thursday:

three things that make me smile: an exercise in gratitude – feel free to steal this idea with wild abandon and fill your blog with the happy

Last Saturday was the first non-rainy weekend day we’ve had in a long time. The absence of rain and a temperature in the high 50s brought lots of people, including us, to the beach area of nearby Point Defiance Park. As we walked along the beach, we watched a dog swim out to fetch a ball thrown into the water and four children work a see-saw made of a flat log placed perpendicularly over a round log at the water’s edge.

Here are three things from our walk. Although there was no rain, the day was overcast, so these pictures are somewhat subdued. (Click on any photo to see a larger version.)

(1) Long Live Harry Bosch

A couple of weeks ago Amazon Prime released the second season of its show Bosch based on the mystery novels of Michael Connelly. When I tweeted that we were spending the day watching all 10 episodes, I received a message from Connelly’s web master offering me a Bosch ball cap.

Our walk on the beach was my first opportunity to wear my spiffy new cap. Fans of Michael Connelly’s Los Angeles Police detective Harry Bosch will smile at what’s on the back of the cap:

(2) Horsetails

Vegetation is beginning to break through. These things that look like striped asparagus are the earliest growth of horsetails:

Later the stalks will branch out and look more like what they’re named after. Here’s a photo of some plants that are further along and have already begun to stretch out:

Horsetails love wet areas. Here are a few more interesting facts about horsetails from Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast by Jim Pojar and Andy MacKinnon:

(a) Ancient Romans ate young common-horsetail shoots as if they were asparagus. They also used the shoots to make tea and as a thickening powder.

(b) Common horsetail is one of the most widespread plants in the world and often turns up as a bad garden weed.

(c) Common horsetail was the first vascular plant to send up green shoots through the debris of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.

(3) Fog Bells?

We’ve seen these things in Point Defiance Park before, right near the water’s edge, but aren’t sure exactly what they are:

All we can figure out is that they may be fog bells. Here’s a close-up of one:

It looks as if the curved pieces swing back and forth, allowing the protruding rods to strike the clapper (the thing that looks like a long fire extinguisher).

A Google search turned up no information about these things. I did, however, discover that fog bells have been used since about 1850. If that’s what these things are, fog gongs might be a more appropriate term.

If anyone knows what these are and how they work, I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

In the meantime, have a good week.

Three Things Thursday

Thanks to Nerd in the Brain for the weekly challenge Three Things Thursday:

three things that make me smile: an exercise in gratitude – feel free to steal this idea with wild abandon and fill your blog with the happy

(1) Porter Doughnuts

When in Ireland a couple of years ago, we had Guinness beef stew, a dish cooked with a generous helping of Guinness Beer. In fact, a splash—or even a big glug—of beer can improve the flavor of a lot of things.

Even doughnuts. For the month of March local bakery the Original House of Donuts is adding some Grit City Porter, made by local craft brewery Pacific Brewing & Malting Co., to its traditional cake doughnut.

Today was our day to indulge. We drove downtown to pick up a half dozen of these gems. The rich, malty taste that the beer gives the doughnut is offset nicely by the sweet, creamy icing. My husband and I devoured all of these quickly, as they went down nicely with some strong, extra bold coffee.

Next week we plan to go back and get some of the shamrock-shaped, green-iced, Irish-cream—filled St. Patrick’s Day doughnuts. They’re not made with beer, but I’m sure they’ll be just as delicious as the porter doughnuts.

(2) Downton Abbey Finale

NOTE: This bit contains some spoilers, so if the final episode of Downton Abbey remains unwatched on you DVR, you might want to skip down to item #3.

Call me sentimental, but this is one series that I truly wanted to see end happily. And happily, it did. Everybody got the best possible ending. Edith’s happy ending—marriage to her beloved Bertie—provided the occasion to bring together a lot of the characters. Even Rose, whom we hadn’t seen for a while, arrived for the wedding with photographs of her own three-month-old baby. Mary had her own happy news, and for once she was woman enough not to try to overshadow Edith on her big day. Even Isobel and Lord Merton managed to work things out, to the delight of everyone, even Violet (Grannie, the Dowager Countess).

And I’m not the only one to have a sentimental reaction. One of the reviews I read said that, on the first rehearsal of the scene in which Edith comes downstairs in her wedding dress and her father says, “You look so lovely,” both actors burst into tears. I don’t blame them. This has been a great series, and I’m glad the writers brought it to a proper closure.

(3) Even More Spring

I’ve posted some earlier photos of the first signs of spring. But time marches on, and now lots of trees and shrubs are blooming. Our neighbor has some beautiful purple azaleas in front of her house, which we can see from our kitchen window:

Since we get so much rain and so many dreary days here in the Pacific Northwest, it’s only fair that we get all these beautiful blooms to enjoy as compensation.

I hope you all have a good week.

3 Things Thursday: Christmas Tree Edition

In honor of Christmas Eve, here’s a Christmas Tree Edition of Three Things Thursday, the purpose of which is to “share three things from the previous week that made you smile or laugh or appreciate the awesome of your life.”

(Click on any image to see a larger version.)

(1) Teacup Tree

One of the dining rooms here at Franke Tobey Jones features this Teacup Tree, adorned with old-fashioned teacups glued to their saucers.

Here’s a close-up of a cup:

(2) Seahawks Tree

This one is from the Festival of Trees:

We take our Seahawks football very seriously here. The 12 flag is in honor of … Well, it used to be in honor of the 12th man, but apparently some university has that phrase trademarked and the loudest fans in the NFL can no longer be called that. So now we are just The 12. But we’re still the loudest and proudest.

(3) Gingerbread Tree

I love gingerbread men:

This one is also from the Festival of Trees.

There were so many beautiful and clever trees at the Festival of Trees that I wish I could include all of them here. But I’m limited to three, and I always follow directions.

For all who celebrate Christmas, I wish you a very cheery Christmas Eve.

Three Things Thursday: Fantasy Lights at Spanaway Park

Here’s yet another holiday offering for Three Things Thursday, the purpose of which is to “share three things from the previous week that made you smile or laugh or appreciate the awesome of your life.”

Fantasy Lights at Spanaway Park

Ever since moving to Tacoma we have heard about the huge, beautiful holiday lights display in Pierce County’s nearby Spanaway Park. When our retirement community offered a bus trip to see the lights, my husband and I immediately signed up.

Spanaway Park
14905 Bresemann Blvd. S.
Spanaway, WA

Fantasy Lights runs annually from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day. It features more than 300 separate installations of lighted art spread out along a two-mile roadway that winds through Pierce County’s Spanaway Park.

The event has its own Facebook page, although the latest activity there is from December 2014. At that time several people posted that they would not be attending because the nativity scene had been removed. Also, the prices listed on that page are apparently also from a year ago, as they have gone up slightly.

One of the big draws of this event is that you drive through rather than walking, which makes it a perfect activity for a retirement community. The Pierce County official web site warns that there can be a wait of an hour or more to get into the park on weekend nights and advises a mid-week visit instead. We went on Tuesday night. Our bus driver tuned in to the FM station that broadcasts holiday music performed by a local high school to add to the holiday experience.

I took a lot of pictures and had to throw out most of them. The possibility of getting good photos is small for several reasons:

Your vehicle is moving, albeit slowly.
It’s dark, and you’re too far away to use flash.
The road winds back and forth, which means there’s always another display farther away behind the one you’re trying to shoot.
When you try to take photos out of one window, you also have reflections on the window of displays on the other side of the road. Individuals in cars can eliminate this problem by opening windows, but people on our bus didn’t want to do that. We saw another solution to this problem in the car ahead of us: They opened their sunroof and stood up to take pictures.

For all of these reasons, my photos aren’t very good. Because they look better at smaller sizes, I’ve kept most of them smaller than my usual blog photos. You can click on photos to see a somewhat larger version, but you probably won’t like it any better.

Here are the best of my photos:

(1) Santa’s Sleigh and Reindeer

(2) Octopus

He’s not particularly Christmasy, but I’m partial to the Giant Pacific Octopus, which is native to these parts.

(3) Pirate Santa

This is the best one of the many photos I took.

Bonus

I leave you with this holiday admonition:

Three Things Thursday

Another Thursday, another episode in the continuing saga of Three Things Thursday, the purpose of which is to “share three things from the previous week that made you smile or laugh or appreciate the awesome of your life.”

Tacoma’s Festival of Trees

I love learning about the history, culture, and traditions of my new hometown, Tacoma, WA. Today it’s the Festival of Trees, which I had heard of but never attended before. The event even has its own Facebook page.

Festival of Trees is an annual fund raiser for Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital here in Tacoma. The hospital opened in 1955. One of only three pediatric hospitals in Washington, Mary Bridge has been designated by the state as the Level II pediatric trauma center for this region. In 2012 Mary Bridge was named one of the country’s top hospitals by the Leapfrog Group for providing the safest and highest quality care to pediatric patients. Mary Bridge is the only pediatric hospital in the Pacific Northwest and one of only 12 children’s hospitals in the country to receive this recognition.

Mary Bridge Hospital came into being through the efforts of a group of women known as the Tacoma Orthopedic Association, which began in 1921. Recently renamed the Mary Bridge Brigade, the group in 1987 organized the first Festival of Trees to continue raising funds for the hospital. Each year local companies and individuals donate their time, talent, and funds to produce gorgeously decorated holiday trees that are packaged with other significant prizes and auctioned off at a black-tie Gala extravaganza. For those of us whose contributions to the effort must be more modest, there’s a gift shop at the Festival offering holiday merchandise. Purchases benefit the hospital.

But seeing the decorative trees wasn’t the only benefit of attending the festival. Orchestras, bands, and choruses from local schools provided entertainment. When we arrived, an orchestra was just finishing up its presentation. Later, as we sat in the cafe area drinking coffee (husband) and hot chocolate (me), we heard the chorus from St. Patrick’s School perform. The director explained that the kids range in age from nine to fourteen years, with an average age of about ten and three-quarters years. They practice before school, at 7:30 AM, four days a week. And I could not believe the beautiful sound that they produced! They were pitch-perfect, even when they sang in two-part harmony. Having been a choral singer myself in high school, I appreciated what these young kids have accomplished by working hard. Better yet, they seemed to be enjoying what they were doing.

I saw so many beautiful creations that choosing a mere three to share with you here was difficult. The exhibits were set up in a huge room at the downtown convention center. Each was roped off. Taking good photographs was challenging because of the ropes and the people moving around. I chose these three primarily because I was able to get in position to get a reasonably good shot of them.

Click on any photo to see a larger version.

Update

Here’s an article on the Festival of Trees from the local newspaper, The News Tribune:

Bangles, baubles — and vinyl — star at Mary Bridge’s Festival of Trees

Three Things Thursday

It’s time again for Three Things Thursday, the purpose of which is to “share three things from the previous week that made you smile or laugh or appreciate the awesome of your life.”

Earlier this week my husband and I stopped in at a nearby store, Tacoma Boys:

5602 6th Ave
Tacoma, WA 98406
(253) 756–0902

Tacoma Boys describes itself as “like a treasure hunt of good things you won’t find in big box stores.” We almost always find something unusual there, but this week interesting produce was abundant. Here are three examples.

1. Hachiya Persimmons

According to the folks at Specialty Produce, the Hachiya persimmon, also known as Beekeeper, is one of more than 200 known species of persimmons. When fully ripe, the skins of Hachiya persimmons are a deep orange, and the flesh is an even deeper orange. The fruit is very sweet.

Hachiya persimmons are available in winter. They are one of the most widely cultivated persimmon varieties in California.

2. Rainbow Carrots

While not as exotic as the Hachiya persimmons, this bunch of carrots caught my eye. I had seen purple carrots a few times before, but I had never seen this variety of colors assembled into a bunch. Aren’t they pretty?

3. Buddha’s Hand

This was the most unusual find of all.

I had never seen or heard of Buddha’s Hand. Once again, the folks at Specialty Produce have it covered: “Buddha’s Hand citron, AKA bushukan (Japanese) or fingered citron, produces deep lemon yellow fruits that vary in shape and size.” Their description says that the flesh is inedible but the oily rind, which is “powerfully fragrant and aromatic,” is valued for its zesting properties. “Buddha’s Hand citron flavor is described as a unique blend of bitter and sweet, similar to kumquats and tangerines, with lavender notes and a bright lemon highlight.”

The peak season for Buddha’s Hand is late fall to early winter. The plant developed within the lower Himalayan mountains and was introduced into California in the late 19th century. However, it did not begin to demonstrate commercial success until the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

An article in Smithsonian Magazine, appropriately titled What the Heck Do I Do With a Buddha’s Hand?, gives a short history of the fruit and offers several suggestions for how to use this “creepy lemon hand.” The suggestions include links to recipes.

Until next week, I wish you all a huge does of awesomeness in your lives.

Lunch Bunch: Chambers Bay Grill

We’ve never been to nearby Chambers Bay Golf Course, though we have seen in on television. When a trip to the Chambers Bay Grill came up on our monthly Lunch Bunch schedule, we welcomed the chance to go see the place for ourselves. A lot of other people had the same idea, as we had a group of 28—enough that we had to use both of Franke Tobey Jones’s busses.

Chambers Bay Grill
6320 Grandview Dr W, University Place, WA 98467
Phone:(253) 460–4653

When our activities director called to ask if the Grill could handle that many, they told her something like “That’s nothing after the U.S. Open.”

My experience, though, was that our large group was a bit too much for them to handle all at once. We took up about two-thirds of the small dining room. My husband and I were at the table whose order was put in last. People at one of our group’s other tables were having their dishes cleared away just as we began receiving our food.

Another woman at my table and I ordered the salmon. It was a nice piece of fish but was overcooked and therefore dry. My husband had the marinated skirt steak, which he said had a good flavor.

I see that others’ experiences also vary widely. Chambers Bay Grill gets the following ratings on major social media sites:

3.5 out of 5 stars on Yelp
4 out of 5 stars on Trip Advisor
2.9 out of 5 stars on Zomato (previously Urban Spoon)
4.6 out of 5 stars on Facebook
6.9 out of 10 stars on Foursquare

Many people will tell you that you go to Chambers Bay Grill not primarily for the food but for the view. The place is beautiful, as we had seen on the TV broadcast of last summer’s U.S. Open golf tournament. I was hoping to get a few more scenic photos after lunch, but since we were among the last people to finish eating, I didn’t get a chance. The only photo I got was the one at the top of this post, which I took as we arrived. But if you do an internet search for Chambers Bay, you’ll find lots and lots of beautiful photos.

I think my husband and I should return to Chambers Bay Grill on our own sometime to check out both the beautiful view and food that isn’t prepared under such rushed circumstances.

Lewis Army Museum

Tacoma has a large military presence in the form of JBLM (Joint Base Lewis-McChord), a combination of the former Army’s Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base. Visible from I 5, which runs through JBLM, is the Lewis Army Museum, housed in a distinctive historical building. Every time I drive by the museum I think that we should visit, but we hadn’t yet made it there. So when a Franke Tobey Jones outing to the museum came up, we signed up.

There was so much information at the museum that, to avoid getting overwhelmed, I focused on two areas: military history of the Pacific Northwest and women in the military.

I apologize for the quality of some of the photos here. The artifacts were well lighted, and it was impossible to photograph many of them without the glare of a light off the reflective surface of the protective cases and picture frames.

Click on any photo to see a larger version.

Military History of the Pacific Northwest

A significant part of this history is the Corps of Discovery, also known as the Lewis & Clark expedition (1804–1806). According to a sign at the museum:

Contrary to popular belief, the Lewis and Clark Expedition was a military mission. Lewis and Clark were both officers in the United States Army and most of the men were soldiers who volunteered for the journey.

The figure in the photo wears a replica of the uniform worn by the infantry privates of the Corps of Discovery:

Here are replicas of the trade coins Lewis and Clark exchanged with the Native Americans they met along the way:

In August 1849 the U.S. Army established Fort Steilacoom, a short distance away from current JBLM, at the request of settlers in the Puget Sound region who feared both the Native Americans and the British. The post protected local settlers during the Puget Sound Indian War of 1855–1856. When the Civil War began in 1861, most of the regular troops left Fort Steilacoom and were replaced by volunteers from Washington, Oregon, and California. In 1868 the land was turned over to Washington Territory.

In 1904 the Army held training maneuvers, known as the American Lake Maneuvers, in an area near Tacoma. The maneuvers were so successful that a group of Tacoma businessmen offered to donate 140 square miles of land if the Army would build a permanent installation. On January 6, 1917, Pierce County voters approved a bond to purchase appropriate land. The land had not yet been legally acquired when the United States entered World War I on April 1917. The landowners agreed to let the County “borrow” the land so that building of the military post could proceed. Pierce County officially transferred title to the land to the U.S. government in November 1919.

Construction of the camp, originally known as Camp American Lake, began in July 1917. The name was changed to Camp Lewis to honor Captain Meriwether Lewis later that month.

After World War I ended, the number of troops at Camp Lewis began to dwindle. By 1925, Pierce County residents began to feel that the U.S. Army had not kept up its end of the bargain through which it had received the land. Public sentiment developed that the Army should keep up the military installation or return the land. In 1926 Congress approved money for a 10-year building program at Camp Lewis. In 1927 the War Department announced that Camp Lewis would become a permanent installation thereafter designated Fort Lewis.

Today, it’s obvious that the military is a large part of the local economy. But I had no idea that Fort Lewis had started out as a business deal as much as a military one.

History of Women in the Military

Not surprisingly, the museum contains a lot on the history of women in the military. Here’s a display about women in WW I:

On the left is a 1918 Red Cross nurse’s uniform from Camp Lewis. On the right is the uniform of a telephone switchboard operator with the U.S. Signal Corps, also from Camp Lewis in 1918.

And here’s a display about women at Fort Lewis during WW II:

The Woman’s Army Corps (WAC) adopted Pallas Athene, the Greek goddess of victory and womanly virtue, as their emblem:

Here are more photos attesting to women in military history:

Finally, I cannot leave out this beautiful piece of artwork:

The note on the bottom left corner reads as follows:

This artwork was crocheted by the mother of a soldier missing in action in Vietnam. It is decicated to all our service members who are “Missing in Action.”

Presented to Fort Lewis, May 1991

Northwest Sinfonietta

For a small city, Tacoma has a surprisingly vibrant arts scene. In fact, October is Tacoma Arts Month. On Saturday night we attended our first performance by one of the region’s outstanding arts organizations, the Northwest Sinfonietta (NWS).

The NWS originated with a group of musicians who came together for a one-time special concert honoring the 200th anniversary of Mozart’s death in December 1991. It has now grown into a chamber orchestra comprising 35 professional musicians.

What is a chamber orchestra?

Definition: Musical group that is larger than a chamber ensemble but smaller than a full-size orchestra, creating a perfect balance between intimacy and power.

—from the concert program

The NWS performs a season of concerts in Seattle, Tacoma, and Puyallup. We attended the performance at downtown Tacoma’s Rialto Theater, one of four venues in the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts.

public domain photo of Rialto Theater from Wikipedia — public domain photo from Wikipedia

The Rialto was built in 1918 as a movie theater. It gradually fell into disrepair but was rehabilitated as a performing arts venue in 1991. It was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

On Saturday night we heard the orchestra perform the following pieces:

Music for the Theatre by Aaron Copland (1925)
Piano Concerto No. 20, K. 466, by Mozart (1785)
Symphony No. 8, Op. 93, by Beethoven (composed 1812, premiered 1813)

The Rialto now, since its renovation, has 738 seats. Because the theater and the orchestra are both small, patrons get an intimate, up-close-and-personal experience much different from that of attending a symphony orchestra performance in a large hall. The conductor, David Lockington, increased this personalized feeling when he turned to face the audience and explained the upcoming music before both the Copland and the Beethoven pieces. In all my years of attending symphony performances in St. Louis, Tanglewood (summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra), and Seattle, I’ve seen a conductor do that only once.

I’m looking forward to our next two NWS performances, next month and next April.

Three Things Thursday

Another miscellaneous list for Three Things Thursday, the purpose of which is to “share three things from the previous week that made you smile or laugh or appreciate the awesome of your life.”

1. Potty Parity?

I had never seen a pink PortaPotty. As you’d expect, this one is labeled Women.

Photographed in the parking lot at the Washington State Fair.

2. Water Conservation

This sign happens to be on our front lawn, but we’ve been seeing them all over town since Tacoma joined the cities of Everett and Seattle in a voluntary water conservation effort.

According to Tacoma Public Utilities, “Over the last six weeks, the region has collectively cut back water use by 14 percent.” This conservation effort has been especially important now because salmon are swimming up river to spawn. Both lowered levels of streams and warmer-than-usual water temperatures can adversely affect the salmon run. The Green River, Tacoma’s primary water source, is home to chinook salmon, a threatened species.

Because we’ve had a bit of rain recently, our lawns don’t look as bad as they might have otherwise.

3. Profound Philosophical Pondering

It’s so hard to find a really good T-shirt nowadays. Many of them are just plain raunchy. I was delighted to find this one on our recent trip to Leavenworth, WA.

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Fantasy Lights at Spanaway Park

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Tacoma’s Festival of Trees

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Military History of the Pacific Northwest

History of Women in the Military

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