Having To Wear A Mask Is The Worst Violation Of My Rights That I Have Ever Experienced #Priviledge

There are some words that just don't sound like they are spelled, and "privilege" is one of them. My meme spelled it "priviledge" which is how it sounds to me, and it gather some dozens of likes before my friend Lily asked me on a side chat if that were my intent. What are friends for?
Today was the Toastmasters District Conference and International Speech Contest, all by Zoom, hooray!
I had been preparing for weeks, polishing my speech and practicing my delivery. The competition was amazing and I didn't place, but I enjoyed the whole process and .... wait til next year!
For the first day in a long, long time I took no photos. After the contest and the interminable business meeting I napped, caught up with mail, cleaned a little and then joined an online d-and-d game (which I'd just started last month) playing an impulsive halfling rogue - just about the opposite of my IRL personality - finishing up at midnight.
All in all, this was an enjoyable day. We all deserve that now and then, right?

What I Saw On My Walk Today

Today we walked down to Lincoln Park, then up past the Solstice Park P Patch. It has some good stair climbing!
Late in the day I turned into Stage Time University live coaching, just to listen. I was not prepared to submit anything, which is my loss, but I did very much enjoy the 2nd speech, both the original and the analysis, about climbing inside a jet engine and coming out a different person.
I swear, I have so many projects going on, it is a full time job just keeping up!

At first I thought this was a bluenose joke,
But then I saw it was a mask

Classy Front Yard

Frog And Toad Are Friends

Another Fun Arrangements

Clever Reuse Of License Plates
Into House Number Signage

What Spirits Inhabit This Tree?

Solstice Park P Patch

Bamboo Trellis Gives Me Ideas

A Lovely Time Of Year

Thursday Walk And Talk

It was a sloppy morning but we walked anyway. The ladies had spent much of yesterday picking caterpillars! When I got back home, the street was taken up by the pole crew but that's o.k.; I parked on Henderson which felt funny but was really ok.
The FEEST shop went quickly. Milo pointed out that the family I'd been assigned had asked for only a few items but had 9 members, so recommended I fill the shopping cart as seemed reasonable. I felt rewarded when I returned to the car and heard on of the children express delight at my choice of cereal. Ha!
I am happy that all but one of the hen-and-chicks plants set out to be taken is gone; the last one is not as spectacular as the others, perhaps. If it's still there by the weekend, I'll just plant it somewhere and reuse the pot.
Noon I attended a Toastmasters meeting at an Amazon club, using Amazon's "Chime" utility. It appeared similar to Zoom but did not work with Microsoft's "Edge" browser. I had tried it a few days ago, just in case there was a problem, and it seemed to work; but in the meantime Edge gave itself an update and today Chime kept locking up, even when I ran it from the download utility. Finally I ran it on my cellphone, which seemed to work ok except that I could not see myself, so I was not sure of my screen boundaries, although I checked with the audience. I gave my contest speech which was well received, This is the 2nd time I've given this speech to a newer club, and both times the evaluations were a bit shy; they just liked the speech so much they had nothing but praise. Praise is nice but I'm looking for improvement myself, and the club needs to practice evaluation; perhaps the next time I visit a newer club I should be joined with a model evaluator too. I'm not complaining, just thinking it over.

Here Comes West Seattle:
Farmland, Bungalow, Condo

Even the Dog Statue Is Masked

My Road Is Closed
It Really Was Not Hard To Walk Around The Block

Raised Bed, Green Leaves, Purple Petals

The Littlest Monkeytail Tree

Caterpillar Defense

A Day Of Miscellaney

Today's walk was mostly through alleys looking at great gardens and chicken houses. Afterwards, I picked up masks from a couple of Seattle Mask Brigade collection points and took them to the North Seattle main point. I repotted my tomato starts in yesterday's found pots. I cleaned and did paperwork and practiced my speech for Saturday.

OMG Coronavirus Bush!!!

Biggest Dandelion Leaves Ever!

What Is That Peculiar Building?

A Chicken House Of Classy Found Bits

All This Belongs To The Rooster.
Just Ask Him!

Great Garden But Look At That Shed!

Nutcracker house

Paint House To Match Cat

Cool Little Tree House

Snailville

A Lovely Lunch for Many Snails

On the morning walk we saw some beautiful bushes thoroughly overrun with snails. I'd never seen so many snails all munching away. Maybe yesterday's rain made is moist enough for them.
I stopped by William's to pick up the music books to give away. When he showed me the landscaping books he wanted to sell, I realized there was a problem: these were mostly the kind of books that sat at thrift stores for a dollar and rarely sold. No need to go into that now; I posted the music on Buy Nothing and there was immediate interest.
I subbed for a FEEST grocery shop along with 2 other people. It's especially hard to remember people's names when they wear masks but of course I know Leigh; there was another shopper who was tall and blonde.
Toastmasters executive committee meeting.
Late in the day I got Maxi's mail and it did not look like I needed to take any sudden action.
Just before the Toastmaster's executive committee meeting, I put my mask and gloves in the dishwasher for the daily clean. During the meeting, I smelled something bad, real bad. The gloves had fallen to the bottom of the machine and the heating element which ran the dry cycle was melting them. Losing the gloves was not so bad since they'd far overperformed, but there was melted vinyl goo on the heating element and its strut. I had to use running alcohol to take it off. I hope I've learned my lesson haha!

We All Liked This Sign

Chive Flowers Are Nice!

Gowing Peas

New Pole Going Inn

Tuesday Walkabout And Stuff

Today's morning walk went through alleys north of Hannah and Julie's house, avoiding most hills because we were all beat from hauling dirt yesterday. Back at their place, a neighbor cat was sitting in the pot of catnip, just as cute and stoned as could be!
I stopped by William Knute's and picked up the last of the irisses to take to the hospital. When I called Cyril about dropping them off by the garden gate (so no contact) he said he'd talk to the people in charge about figuring out a time.
It's definitely warmer today than earlier in this week so I may have napped more than usual. I also got a couple of topical meme ideas.
Later, William called about having some music books to give away, and some landscaping books he needs to sell. I'll chat tomorrow.

After Zumba, Cyril called again to see if I'd talked with Maxi and while we were chatting she called, so I talked with her.
Now I'm recording notes and trying to hit bed on time. We'll see!

So much art! Almost compensates for closed Library

TODAY'S walk

This piece was signed by the artist

Every garage needs a window

Monkey Tree So Cool

Greenhouse from repurposed bus: magic!

The rhody loves the tree, the tree loves the Rhody

Love Alley

Hannah/Julie's neighbor cat found the catnip!

Julie gave me a catnip sprout which I set down of a short time and ...

The Restaurant Open On Mothers' Day Seemed Odd

We Should Never Forget This Moment