Heart Run and more -- April 25, 2015

The fuzzy jazz band that plays at the Heart Run every ran -- in real life, it's sharp in every sense of the word. One of the great things about the Heart Run is this group, the Crow Creek bagpipe and drum group, and the belly dancers, all providing entertainment along the way.

Not many photos of the Heart Run --  sadly, I forgot the memory card for my camera  and had to rely on my phone. It is not an up-to-date phone with a fabulous camera, as you can see. Marla and I walked the "Timed Run," and did well. Sunny cool day, with about 6,000 people. It was so pleasant that we walked back to her car at our house, for a total of about 5 1/4 miles.

Kids are another great thing about the Heart Run -- lots of them.

Sprint to the Finish line.

Neighbor's tree, dripping with catkins.

A dish of dill, ready to go on the salmon for dinner.

Ikebna arrangement by a friend.

Carnations for the house, because we don't have any other flowers that we can bring in yet.

Culinary contestants at King Career Center, April 22, 2015

Chocolate cupcakes for $1 donation each, at Heart Run registration. Jim found a website that said that the average cupcake has 250 calories, so if you do the Heart Run, you might come out just about even.

In recent years, registration for the Heart Run takes place at King Career Center, and students in the Culinary Arts program there sell cupcakes and pastries to raise money for an annual trip to compete at Skills USA. This year we bought cupcakes from four of them, and got a quick rundown of what the two who will be competing will be expected to do.

For the baking portion (young woman on the left in the photo), the tasks are to make pumpkin bread (a quick, no-yeasted bread), frost a cake, bake a loaf of braided yeasted bread, make yeast rolls, bake sugar cookies, make cinnamon rolls, puff pastry, and bake a pie. That's a lot! The contests are timed, and for the high school students, the ingredients and recipes are supplied, although students are allowed some creativity. They can ask for more of an ingredient, but it wasn't clear how far afield they can range.

I didn't get as much information about the culinary arts section because the contestant (the guy on the right) was talking with someone else. The other students said that he would have to cut up and cook a chicken and make a vinaigrette. The website says that the contestants have to show knife skills, food safety, presentation, etc. in a four-course menu.

Not a chocolate fan? Delicious white cupcakes are available too. We got one of each.

We walked from our house via Chester Creek Trail over to the King Career Center to pick up my bib for the Heart Run. The sky looked like the set designer got carried away with fake white puffy clouds, and buds on the branches.

A mallard showing off for his mate at the small lake along the trail.

Baseball. A sign on the fence said "No softball allowed." I wondered why -- can someone who knows about these things enlighten me, please?

Speaking of cupcakes -- this food truck lives in our neighborhood. But we know enough about food trucks to realize that all of the cupcakes are spending the night somewhere else (or aren't made yet), so no point in thinking about a raid.

Crocus blooming along Lake Otis.

Driving east on Fireweed this evening -- more of those fake white clouds, and my favorite church, the white structure (the Church of the Light of the World) to the right side of the photo.

Phyllis the Amaryllis in full bloom.