Christmas with Judy and Frank
This year we went up to Seattle to celebrate Christmas with Judy & Frank. The above picture is their living/sitting room.
------------- But before we get there a brief interlude from the 50's -----------
This is a picture of a Christmas Ornament from a town called Richland, WA. You've heard of Richland before- it was where the U.S. goverment secretly built the first nuclear warheads. This town is about as polarly opposite from Eugene as you can get. Richland is located in central Washington at the Washington/Oregon border. After the goverment built it as a nuclear lab in the 40's they continued on in this vein using it as a research site, nuclear disposal site, nuclear powerplant site etc. Recently, Richland has been in the news as they've been threatened with wildfires and there was media concern that it would be a radiation hazard. I can't imagine why in a town that has a radioactive tumbleweed analysis & disposal squad (I'm not kidding.)
Anyway, once they had a town they needed a high school and every high school needs a mascot right? So they went with the Bombers (I'm still not kidding) and to do it right they needed a logo - what else would do but the Mushroom Cloud? (Y'all do realize I'm still not kidding.) The really odd thing is no one in this town thinks that this is the least bit unusual or funny. After all what could be odd about a town that decorates their high school in mushroom clouds and B-1's? (If I start kidding I'll let you know.)
Now why would we have a Christmas Ornament from this town? Well, two of our friends from Eugene (Arthur & Michelle) moved to Richland this year after Michelle got a job (CS) at the goverment labs. Jim really likes towns that are frozen in the 50's (Titusville, FL is another one) and likes things from Richland. I asked Arthur & Michelle if the next time they came down to Eugene to visit if they could bring something with the school logo on it for Jim. This ornament says it all. And yes, that is a garland of bombs ringing the mushroom cloud.
----------- Back to Christmas with Frank & Judy -------------
A view of Mt. Rainer as seen from I-5 between Olympia and Seattle.
Christmas Evening pictures at the Rhodes.
The Rhodes follow the German tradition of decorating the tree with candles and lighting them on Christmas Eve. Once again we did this and once again didn't burn down the house. As usual the tree did catch on fire though (a little.) It's amazing that Germany doesn't burn down every Christmas. They must grow fireproof trees.
Note the candles tilting. This is not a perspective issue, they generally tilt (hence the fire threat.)
This shot was taken from the Rhodes front porch. Their neighbors topped their house with a Disco Ball (looks like a light spot) at the point of the house. The reflected light scatters over about a block.