Masks and St Ed's

Seattle Mask Brigade delivery

I picked up a few masks to deliver to the Seattle Mask Brigade collection point near Greenlake.  It's hibernating now that PPE production does not seem to be so problematic; the last few weeks it had all been handmade masks anyway, still useful of course.
From there I went around the top of the lake to St. Ed's for my (roughly) annual walk.

Trail to lake is well kept up

Bike Care Station, a nice Eagle Scout project

Lots of people at the lake;
I had to work to minimize people in the photo

Grotto edgewall

Grotto still cool

Me and the old place

Lots of picnic areas, few people in them

The community built this wonderful play area
currently closed due to COVI19 I suppose

Likely the stump of the big tree at the lake
as wide as this picture. I heard it blew down long ago

I don't know whether construction is paused due to
COVID19 or the economy

Trailhead to lake

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My walking buddy/Time Bank pal Julie is looking for a home for a Murphy Picnic Table of another Time Bank pal. I offered it to Heather for her new situation in Enumclaw. Here's photos of this interesting gadget

In the evening we had our D+D game. I'm enjoying the time hanging out and being creative, but I think I can be even more creative if I keep that in the forefront of my mind. Still, it's fun!

Rose Hippy Friday

The Rose Hips Dance

Hannah is a champion gleaner. As she and Julie and I get our morning multithousand steps, she will sample likely plants. From this I have learned that rose hips are quite edible (assuming you get them from bushes unlikely to have been sprayed - such as at the Highpoint Water Tower). To me, these tasted like a cross between an apple and a mild bell pepper - not really like either. Now I am inspired to harvest the hips on my plants, when they ripen!
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Today I used my email account as a work sorting tool. Earlier in the week I had thanked Amy Higbee for some peas that she had purchased for me early in the pandemic, when people were minimizing going out; the peas supplemented those I had saved, dried, from a prior year; I'm very happy with my crop and passed that on. Due to family obligations made more intense with the COVID, she won't be able to do Toastmasters any more. That's the way it goes, although I hope her husband can keep going at the club he was working on - I think through Brig.
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I responded to an inquiry on the Low Bono listserve from Sart about a retainer explainer. I may not know a lot about that area of the law but my plain language writing skills are pretty good
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I got an email from Emilia of the Seattle Mask Brigade:

Hello wonderful Mask Brigadiers,

When we started the Seattle Mask Brigade back in March, we wanted to fill a temporary gap while the need for PPE was critical and supply chains weren't up and running yet. We couldn't have imagined how great the need would be, how many masks we would distribute, and how long we would be doing this. You probably felt the same way when you first signed up to volunteer! Yet here we are, five months and over 50,000 masks later.

I don't have to tell you that we're nowhere near finished with this pandemic, but our region is now in a much better place in terms of PPE supply. Requests to the Seattle Mask Brigade have been slowing down for some time, and our government and nonprofit partners have been able to provide more masks to folks in need.

So we are winding down our operations, at least for now - hibernating, not closing. Should the need for PPE pick back up and start getting ahead of supply again, we'll be ready to spring (or at least lumber) back into action.

I saved the most important thing to say for last, which is, of course, THANK YOU! Thank you for signing up to help week after week or even just once, for driving across the county to pick up a handful of masks that made a huge difference to a nurse who didn't even have one, and for delivering carloads of PPE to overwhelmed hospitals, shelters, clinics, and nursing homes. Thank you for generously giving your time and energy to get masks to people on the frontlines, when literally no one else could. There's no doubt you saved lives.

It's been an absolute privilege to be part of the mask brigade with you. As always, don't hesitate to get in touch with me if you have any questions. And keep an eye on the Seattle Mask Brigade website - seattlemaskbrigade.org - where we'll be posting ongoing opportunities to donate masks and volunteer with other organizations.

Again, thank you so much. Be safe, and take care!

Emilia

I am proud of working on this project, and found it especially interesting as an example of community action - all done without much personal contact. (Then I got an email for one last pickup, which I'll do Saturday. Yay!)

Do Small Things With Great Love; Pig Quest

Today we resolved to find the pig, rumored to live in Hannah and Julie's neighborhood. We walked all around the streets of rumor, seeing many sights of interest, such as this twisted sunflower, and a display of rocks with the sign: "Do Small Things With Great Love". At last we resorted to asking someone watering her plants. She gave us directions to a house near that sunflower, where we did not see the pig but did observe the chute by which it climbs the steps into the house. A passer-by confirmed it was the house with a pet pig.
Back at home, I harvested Oregon grapes and was delighted to see I had a few currents as well!

Tomatillos and Avalara

I like to look at Hannah and Julie's garden before or after our walk. Tomatillos in particular are strange and wonderful.
At noon I participated in the Avalara Toastmasters meeting. It was very charming and well organized. I have to think of ways I can be useful to this club. It was particularly striking to me that that club could function as a staff development element for the company, but OTOH that might be the reason the company might support it.
I tried listening to the District 34 Democrats August membership meeting but it was hard staying awake.

Walk, Food, Raccoons and Politics

As we walked, I saw bees at work. It's just interesting.

Around noon, I saw the Climate Reality Project's zoom presentation "Spotlight On: Indigenous Leadership in the U.S. Environmental and Climate Justice Movements".

Free Food Bank 8th Ave

Laura Marquez had some extra food from a distribution (I think from HPIC), so I took some to put in the 8th street free food bank.

In the evening I heard, then saw, racoons squabbling in my tree.

I felt inspired to cheer Harris' nomination. It's not quite grammatical but it serves.

Monday Walk, Mostly Flowers

For the morning walk we headed more into downtown West Seattle (or the Junction). 

Black Lives Matter pavementsign

Little Rock Library

Drunken Night in Lockdown - on Poetry Wall

Poetry fence

WYSIWIG Urben Farm flowers 

WYSIWIG Urben Farm flowers2

Sunflower goes strolling

In the evening I had my laptop set up in the living room for zumba. It helped having the larger image. I captured a few short videos of me dacing ot post for Reema's contest but I'm not sure.

The Purr Channel

I put on the Purr Channel for the cats. Technically, it's just one youtube video but I call it the Purr Channel, hoping this will encourage them to interact calmly. Normally they are pretty chill but Shadow and Arthur are willing to take a few swats over favored couch position, or maybe just because.

 

Today we would normally have our monthly Time Bank Communications Committee meeting, but we had nothing to work on at the moment so, when asked, I agree we could skip the meeting. Afterwards, I realized I enjoyed the social contact even over Zoom! Next time I'll suggest meeting briefly just to say hi. This is especially important in this era!

I was happy to get a "thank you" from Leah, for mentoring her on her speeches and also contributing to her cause. It's quite a worthy cause, and I am proud to be a small part in promoting it.

 

lease consider donating to support Familias Unidas por la Justicia through Community Alliance for Global Justice's solidarity campaign!