Blue Moon - 11/1/14

Or - Several Shots in the Dark!!

It's another Saturday Night and I do have somebody...

I got some money cuz I just got paid...

Teacher and TSA Retirement!! Oh, yeah, Baby!!

So what to do on a Saturday when you've got some money burning holes in your pockets?

Hahaha, of course!! You go out for some fine dining at McDonald's!!

Actually, I had a plan. I've been wanting to visit our park at night for some time now. I've seen it so many times before during the daylight that, for a change, I wanted to see the sights during the night and find a handy excuse to eat unhealthy food.

We were off!!

I was thinking about how important the camera has become to me. I used to enjoy planning my outings with my camera...I was forced by the time available and the money I had to only go out shooting a couple times a month, usually on a family/Scout outing or, infrequently, when I would go on a Photo Safari. That was my cute little way of saying I was heading out to someplace just to spend some time taking pictures. Didn't happen too often, remember what film cost per roll back then? Then there was the developing and the printing expenses? Haha, those little things added up quickly...especially for someone as notoriously frugal as I am.

Those concerns are a thing of the past...along with cigarette ashtrays in cars, pay telephones on street corners, an unbiased national press corps and the ability of a large segment of America's youth to keep their pants up around their waists. Nope, today all I need do is to make sure my rechargeable batteries are fired up and I am ready to go and take, take, take as many pictures as I want!!

What a great thing that is!!

But I digress...we were heading to McDonald's for dinner. 

And here we are at the Snazzy McDonald's on the corner of Rainier and Renton. 

Nothing but the best!!

To show you how nuts this town is over the Seahawks, they've even got the Seahawks Schedule on the side of the cups. Oh, I suppose they do it in other NFL cities but not with the élan, the panache of Seattle. 

Here she is...ready for some good eatin!!

See what I mean!?!

When I say Sea,  you say Hawks!!

Sea.........Hawks!!

Tomorrow those Rascally Raiders get Run Over!!

Diet Coke in a Seahawks cup!!

Mmmmmm, good eatin'

It's been a while since I've had me a Quarter Pounder. Some things should never change.

Haha, Mighty Simple...like me!!

I had a refill of my DC for dessert and this one had her Ice Cream Cone. 

I know you're wondering just where these cones came into being...I'll tell you!! It's kinda convoluted and there are still some questions about it to this day.

Let's start at the beginning; before the invention of the cone, ice cream was either licked out of a small glass (a penny lick, penny cone, penny sucker or licking glasses) or taken away wrapped in paper which was called a hokey pokey.

The customer would lick the ice cream off the dish (uh, icky!!) and return the dish to the vender, who washed it and filled it for the next customer. As you can guess, sanitation was a huge problem. An even bigger problem was that the ice cream vender couldn't wash the dishes fast enough to keep up with the demand on a hot day.

Something was needed to facilitate the easy eating of Ice Cream!!

Enter the cone!! 

Edible cones, or cornets, were mentioned in French cooking books as early as 1825, when Julien Archambault described how one could roll a cone from little waffles. Another reference to these edible cones was in Mrs. A. B. Marshall's Cookery Book, written in 1888 in England. 

In the United States, Abe Doumar claims credit for the ice cream cone. At the age of 16, Doumar began selling paperweights and other items. One hot night after a long day selling paperweights during the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, Abe was struck by great inspiration. Abe noticed that an ice cream stand had to close early when they ran out of paper dishes, the primary way of selling ice cream to go. Nearby, another vendor was cooking up waffles on a single-iron waffle maker and selling his creations, garnished with a dollop of whipped cream. On a whim, Abe bought a waffle, rolled it into a cone and topped it with ice cream. The result: the delicious and unforgettable combination of the warm sweetness of a fresh waffle and smooth ice cream. Abe diplomatically proposed that the ice cream vendor and the waffle maker collaborate so that the ice cream stand could continue operating. For the rest of the fair, Abe sold ice cream in the world's first waffle cones.

Here is Abe serving up a ice cream cone at this Drive-In.

To increase sales, Abe built the four-iron waffle machine that they still use today. In 1905, Abe opened the first of what would become a chain of Doumar's ice cream stands stretching from Coney Island to Jacksonville, FL. Two years later, Abe and his brother George opened a stand in Norfolk, VA for the 1907 Jamestown Exposition selling nearly 23,000 cones in one day alone. This stand is still operating today.

As for McDonald's cones, I swear they're shrinking every year!! They are getting microscopic!!

Hahaha, no ice cream but I have my Large Diet Coke with Easy Ice so I'm happy.

The view out the window near our table.

After our delicious and delectable dinner, we headed on over to our park. 

I didn't think I'd get any good pictures (and I was right but that didn't stop me one bit from putting them in my blog!! Not a whit!!)

And it was interesting...seeing the park, the lake and the airfield at night.

Here's the lake. You might be able to make out some of the boats in the Trailer Park Marina in the left foreground. Mercer Island is left of center.

Here's the moon over the airfield. It's a First Quarter moon, commonly called a Half Moon.

As you know, the term Moon Cycle refers to the moon's continuous orbit around the earth. As the moon orbits the earth, its appearance, the phase, changes and gives us an indication of the moon's progress in the cycle.

Did you know that the sun always illuminates exactly one-half of the moon!?! What's the deal you may be asking...Hahaha, yeah, it's true because we see the moon at different angles as it rotates around the earth. With the naked eye, we can see only the part of the moon that the sun is illuminating. As it orbits, our view of it changes. An example of this would be a Crescent Moon, which is what we call the moon when we see only a small portion of its illuminated surface.

So, right now, this moon is in a First Quarter phase, and is Waxing Gibbous. 

The complete lunar cycle, New Moon to New Moon, is called a Lunation. During this time, the moon will completely circle the earth. 

Hmmmm, I see!!

Looking over at the Boeing Plant, lit up on the right, and Coulon Park, just to the left of the Plant.

Those little green circles are the lights embedded into the concrete fence holding in the lake.

Hahaha, more moon.

Ah, the moon is waxing gibbous, I see.

The Boeing Plant seems to work 24-hours a day. Here's the long view looking south and a bit to the east towards the other end of the airfield. Busy.

Another moody shot looking out over the Trailer Park Marina.

Looking northwest towards Bellevue.

One of the trailers in the park had their porch light on and it made an interesting reflection on the lake.

      Artsy-Fartsy (Unintended but...) Alert!!     

I had to make a new category for this one...the Unintended But Nonetheless Really Artsy-Fartsy Shot. Hahaha, regardless of how it happened, this one definitely belongs in the Artsy-Fartsy group. I like the murky color and the vagueness of the trees. It has an Old Masters (during their dark phase) feel to it.

     Night-Time At the Lake Selfie!!        

Hahaha, I don't know why I feel I have to explain the obvious in these Selfie pictures. 

I'm that kinda guy, I guess.

We had a good time. It was a bit spooky out there with the moon darting in and out with the moon and the night being so doggone black. 

It was worth it, though. It gave me a different look, a different feel for this very familiar place. Sometimes you need to make the effort to see all the sides of something before you can really know it.

Whoa, Man!! Heavy!!

Hahahaha, every so often I get philosophical...then I get a headache.

Even at night, life is good!!

     Hooah!!