From sea to shining star

Catch a falling star

And put it in your pocket

Save it for a rainy day...

We've been having some good times with "our Italian girls." (I don't know if they like being referred to thus. They are women, not girls, and they certainly belong to only themselves, but we can't help feeling a little possessive!)

I could write for hours about all they've been up to (EMP, SAM, parties, visitors, shopping), but I don't have hours, so I'll just share a couple of highlights.

Sunday, we caught the free ferry (a thrilling 90-second ride) over to Jetty Island and hung out on the beach for a while. The tide was going out, so they got to experience the incredible feet-swallowing sand/muck of the tideflats. What a treat! They also got to enjoy one of Puget Sound's rare sandy beaches. In the sunshine!

We came home on the second-to-last ferry back and decided our sea proximity had put us in the mood for sushi. Well, Chiara, Derek, and MJ were in the mood for sushi, Elena and Chloe were game, and Frank and I knew we could find something delicious and cooked to enjoy. So, we piled back in the van and went to Daruma, a nice little Japanese café right there by the Everett Marina. Yum!

Last night, Frank made us another delicious dinner, but with fish from the river this time. Trout! My very favorite! Our meal was accompanied by the very nice white wine Elena's dad sent to us. (And we still have a nice red to look forward to!)

After dinner, we went in search of some dark. It seems August 8th is the Feast Day of St. Lawrence, traditionally celebrated in Italy by watching for shooting stars. After being cloudy all day, the weather cooperated nicely and provided clear skies. There's too much light pollution in the city, though, so we piled in the van (we do that a lot!) and headed east. A park on Lake Stevens was our first stop. It wasn't perfectly dark there, but we saw an amazing meteor—with long, luminous tail—before we got kicked out of the park by the cops. (Yeah, we knew it was closed, but we took a chance moonpie.) Once they realized we were a family group rather than (only) a pack of "dangerous" teenagers, they were very nice and turned off their blinding spotlights. Then they directed us to Lake Cassidy a few miles to the north. It was significantly darker there—and creepy with mist rolling off the lake and making us all think of every slasher horror movie we've ever seen—but we didn't see any meteors to rival that first amazing flasher.

It was really fun, so we'll probably head out for more stargazing when the Perseids come through about August 12th.

And that's the news from Party Central!