Seeing Seattle

It's been a gorgeous sunny day, melting away old memories.

This morning we met up with Tamara, Evie and Lyla for a tour of Seattle organised by Evie. Quite a lot of chocolate and candy eating was involved. Then we met Amir at Amazon's downtown HQ, a disappointingly anonymous building but one that does have a viewing gallery on the 72nd floor. He had to go back to work (?) but appeared late afternoon, after his weekly team "happy hour", and we went to the Real Networks headquarters. There Anna, another Haasy in Seattle, had booked the company's private bowling alley for a party! While I'm missing the tranquility of Uni Village, this city living isn't all bad...

Looking up in downtown.

Evie and Hannah at the aquarium window.

Lyla, pink Jelly Belly beans, and Tamara.

The assorted goodies of Pike Place Market.

Hannah negotiates hard over 2lbs of cherries.

In the sun in Harbor Steps.

Evie and her most treasured possession - an M&M coated marshmallow on a stick.

Playing in the fountain.

Upstairs at Amazon Towers.

Looking one way...

...and then the other.

The headquarters of another company I've heard of. Cool!

Bowling in the basement as Dana and Amir look on.

Sleepy in Seattle

We're up north again this weekend, staying with Dana and Amir. Flights in the USA are too cheap and too convenient, and our carbon footprint is too small now Hannah's working for an oil giant. I came up this morning and enjoyed a day of cappuccinos and walking in the sun (and sunburn - surprising, given that we're above the Arctic Circle here) and we've just picked Hannah up from the airport. Unfortunately Amir has to work tomorrow, but we are planning to kidnap him for a quick coffee.

The good stuff.

Enjoying my first cappuccino (of this trip).

"So is your company more corrupt than mine...?"

Study never sleeps

It may be the holidays, but one of our number is studying hard for another exam. In order to remain qualified as a doctor, Elise has to take a medical test every seven years. Does medicine really change that much? The good news is that it's multiple choice and, as every schoolchild knows, if you pick b) for everything then statistically you'll score enough to pass.

I joined Elise in a cafe today as she studied, but left after she started showing me the picture section of the practice test (if the questions had been "which diseased part of the body is this?" I couldn't have helped). So good luck Elise! You're the only medical insurance most of us in the village can afford.

a) Ronald Reagan, b) Penicillin, c) Guatemala, d) Westham United

All the fun of...

There are experiences here in California that fill in little pieces of the puzzle that is American life. Today another piece fell into place as we visited the Alameda County Fair.

This is the annual gathering of all things agricultural (and otherwise) in our local county, held over the mountains in Pleasanton where, away from the beautiful Pacific breeze, everything was around ten degrees warmer. Cages and pens of livestock jostled for position with fairground rides and food sellers.

A big attraction was the plethora of competitions available for the general public to enter. Everything (everything) was being put up for judging: quilts, cakes, pickles, rabbits, gardens, place settings, flowers...and everything seemingly won a prize.

After perusing the competition halls we made our way to the main event (in my opinion). Pig racing! Some pedigree pigs had been brought down from Alaska and were more than happy to run crazily around a small track while an excitable crowd cheered. Unfortunately we didn't pick the winner (a pig called Yukon) but as you weren't allowed to bet it didn't matter.

That was enough fun for one day, and we stopped for a funnel cake - the least healthy food in the world - on the way out before driving back over the hills to cooler and far more sensible Berkeley.

A sun-baked celebration of agriculture or a way to make lots of money on a holiday weekend?

My favourite category of the competitions - the box of rubbish. Or maybe it was something to do with collections. Anyway, this one got third place.

Hannah and Christine are unimpressed.

My personal favourite collection - sugar packets of American restaurants. This won first, naturally.

Yes! Finally someone serving proper popcorn.

Another great display from the garden section. A giant mosquito sitting on a picnic table! How can you top that?

Missy's best in show white chocolate banana cake. Sadly you could only admire it from behind glass.

The jams and preserves competition.

A live demo of how to make tamales. I'm still not 100% sure what they are...

If these are the prize vegetables I'd hate to see the losers.

But everyone's seemingly a winner here in Alameda County!

A tense face-off in the best bunny competition.

Not a flag you encounter very often in Northern California. I didn't try speaking Welsh to him.

Here we go, time for the good stuff.

Under starters orders.

And they're off! The winner doesn't get roasted...until tomorrow.

They decided to make things progressively more difficult for these porkers.

But they performed admirably in front of a crowd baying for sausages.

A different (and better) kind of pig.

This was the exhibition hall. Not much exhibiting going on, but plenty of "as seen on TV" selling.

Credit where credit's due to the Americans. Ranch dressing was available for dipping on request.

Big wheel.

"I'll have a helping of deep-fried batter and a heart attack before I'm 40 please."

And here it is! With extra sugar.

A pair of simple country folks...

And their big city cousins.

Life, liberty, whatever

Today was the big day itself. Strangely it fell to us again to arrange the party (the British Empire was always well organised) and we gathered for a traditional barbecue before heading to see the fireworks at Berkeley Marina. Unfortunately the police had other ideas and had blocked every major road, so we watched from a bridge while Patrick played patriotic music from his iPhone.

Staking out our spot on a busy day for the village barbecues.

Hannah does the honours.

Vive la revolucion!

Grillmaster David takes control of the barbecue. Did you know the British invented that too?

A mini patriot celebrating her first Independence Day (although her parents claim she stated her independence a lot earlier...)

Christine's amazing Freedom Cake! Is that the correct number of blueberries?

Ooooooh. Unfortunately the Americans refrain from burning anyone in effigy. Maybe that's a tradition we can introduce.

Welcome the oppressors

Tomorrow is July 4th, Independence Day. What better way to celebrate than to hold a party on July 3rd commemorating the last day that America enjoyed civilised rule? Strawberries and shortcake were served with lashings of cream and there was Pimms enough to satisfy everyone. Unfortunately genuine US Americans were in short supply, but that just made it all the more like 1776.

For Queen and country.

Ooooh yes.

The closest we could find to a British flag was supplied by Dan and Fiona, who wanted to show the advantages of staying in the Empire (cricket, mainly).

Just like Wimbledon - somewhere else the British lost today.

Spot the US citizen (you'll be here a while...)

All quiet

I've had some complaints that nothing has happened on my blog recently. That's mainly a reflection of nothing happening in real life (wait, there's real life outside of my blog?) But don't worry, as it's 4th July weekend coming up.

In the meantime, here's a pic of the guacamole burger that I enjoyed at today's Partners' Lunch in Barney's Gourmet Hamburgers. Yes, it tasted as good as it looks.

All the major food groups.