Kids' experiences

Our recent visit to Seattle to stay with family members there for nearly 4 weeks made many impressions on us. And one of the stand-out observations was the richness of experiences obtained by modern children in well-off households. I compared such observations with my own experiences of growing in post-war Britain at a time of slow recovery, rationing of goods and services, and long tradition.

Our grand-kids, Ella and Flynn were involved in a huge range of activities even though their combined ages only amount to 14 years! For example, both are involved in gymnastics as you can see from these pictures, with Flynn sitting on the ground and Ella performing movements.


Their carefully choreographed and supervised classes were attended by scores of kids on the evenings we there. And almost everyone seemed high spirited and enthusiastic.

 And Ella spent quite a while practicing here hand stands at home.  Flynn plays soccer once or twice a week despite only being 6 years old.
















And here he is wearing team colours. During our stay he acquired a smart new bike











And this machine got a good workout while we were visiting.



Flynn also goes to Jujitsu classes and here he is dressed in the right attire.








Then both kids attend swimming lessons, and while Ella is highly accomplished, Flynn is also doing quite well.

Again, the popular classes are well-organised and conducted by specialist advisors. For her part, Ella practised pitching, catching and striking baseballs

Both kids also have great imagination. For example, rather than eat breakfast from kitchen stools, they constructed themselves an "eating box" reserved for themselves!

And Ella acquired a hover-board - presumably for her birthday. And she spent quite a while coming to grips with riding the device unaided. One of their friends across the road ably demonstrated how it was done and I'm sure Ella ... and perhaps eventually Flynn will master the device. They're both so young and so accomplished.




















On another occasion, Ella and Flynn headed to an unusual class where kids competed against each other on various tasks like racing through an obstacle course which involved climbing and jumping.

And on yet another occasion they went to a play-centre where they play dodge-ball, bounce into pits of foam and so on. Again, they both had an excellent time.

So, you can see that they led a highly varied, challenging, exciting, and energy-packed existence occurring multiple times a week - far different to the way I was brought up. Good luck to them!

AS

Armidale Cloudscapes

This post is a short diversion from my discussion of our recent visit to Seattle. It comes about because of my frequent walks either in the morning or evening and my celestial views of dawn and dusk, which are often very attractive. The images posted here date from the last two months and I'm sure you will find them attractive.


These first two pictures were taken near home one evening and I was taken by the sky aflame.













On another walk one morning to the hills just north of where we live revealed a morning fog enveloping the valley in which Armidale sits - together with autumnal colours. Autumn came late this year because of the hot weather we have had and deciduous trees had still retained their glorious colours even into May (November in the northern hemisphere).

And today I took these three images . The first two show clouds lit up by the rising sun and you'll have to agree that these images are spectacular.


























And, a little further into the walk way out into the countryside north of where we live, I was taken by the lighting effect of the sun trying to peek through the same cloud formations we've just seen above. Again, I think the image is rather pretty!

 AS

Back to the Olympic Peninsula

On our way to Hurricane Ridge, which I reported upon earlier, we called in at two picturesque small places. These were the town of Port Townsend and the village of Port Gamble, both dating back to early European settlement, the latter occurring in 1853.

Port Gamble had plenty of old wooden buildings and, as you can see below, an old cemetery that was worth a visit. It had lovey views out over the surrounding waters.

And there's no guessing the flag proudly flying over the scene.

As you can see from these pictures Port Gamble was a relaxed and somewhat touristy place. One of the pictures shows a ferry terminal with the mountains of the mainland in the far distance,




























From Port Gamble it was just a short drive to Port Townsend, a much larger, but attractive little town with a lot of older buildings dating back a century or so.

Recognise any of these dudes?






























Some of the old buildings sported murals advertising this that or the other, but slowly decaying.

However, it was the waterfront that captured the attention of the youngsters in our party, Ella and Flynn.

There were some interesting, but constructed, rock formations, which attracted them. These are shown on the right and below.

And both Flynn and Ella had a lot of fun scrambling around some 'sculptures'.



We then explored an old lighthouse and some nearby foreshores strewn with logs and timber that the kids also explored.

Then we headed off to visit a disused army base with its gun emplacements  and now empty barracks.






















Again, Ella and Flynn has a great time roaming around the facililty







I can't quite place the last picture shown here - a nearby trailer park, but again it underscores the important tourism base of the local economy.

 AS

A Basket Case?

Emily is a great host and on several of our visits to the US she's booked us passage to major sporting events, whether baseball, American football or, on our recent trip to Seattle, basketball. And, over the years I have become accustomed to the hoopla of such events: their ramping up of the players and the teams; video replays of scoring occasions; the entertainment between sessions of play; and so on.

The basketball was no exception. Here's the view I had of the stadium just after our arrival, with a large noisy audience making their way to their seats

Players were introduced one by one to the audience and we could just make them out from some distance away. Or we could watch them close-up on the screens handing from the ceiling.

Then the teams got together for, I guess, instructions from the coaches and the stadium itself  was more clearly lit up. All this took quite a while.

The home team's Mascot was apparently this 'fake' bear which roamed all over the stadium floor greeting people. Isn't the US full of fake news and people right now?

And while all the introductions were in progress people kept arriving and buying food or other goods.

Yet more parades, introductions and instructions still followed

This included the bear, as you can see here.

And, finally, after quite a while, the audience was in place. Do you recognise any of the people close-by?

Strangely, I didn't take any photos of the play itself. I guess that it was too fast and remote from where we were sitting. However, I might just add that the hoopla continued whenever there were intervals in the game - and, wow, there many. Play was suspended to exchange those on the court with those seated on the side benches or at intervals when the sides exchanged ends. Likewise, when the home team scored the event was replayed to much applause.

Still it was an enjoyable experience and, at least, Seattle won.

AS