Ed. note: Laura posted this this morning while Rosemary's blog access was down, but Rosemary wrote the post. here goes:

Well, folks, the wait is over. The Monkeyshines have finally been put out around Tacoma: if you don't know the story, read my post here. This year, the Monkey crew upped the number of floats to just short of 600, and it took two days with 16 glassblowers each day to make them. (Thanks to City of Tacoma, whose grant paid for the glass and hot-shop hire.)

Having been (apparently) stalked, hunted down and otherwise pursued at 4 a.m. on Chinese New Year by savvy Tacomans wanting their glass New Year floats, organizer Ms. Monkey and her crew decided on a different time: 8 p.m. Sunday evening. I was invited to ride along, so I showed up at Ms. Monkey's studio gallery, along with around 25 other artists, glassblowers and general Monkeys, to get the briefing and two boxes of floats per car.

Number 1: Be discreet. Don't be seen. We all chose our Tacoma-wide locations.
Number 2: Be original. Avoid those Easter Egg-hunt spots please, like planters and front steps. Duh.
Number 3: Be nice. Pick a house that needs "a little love," said Ms. Monkey, to receive the Monkeyshine gift.

Because it sure is a gift--the floats are gorgeous this year, swirly oranges, greens and blues, with an elegant ox design on the seal.

So I tagged along with a certain concrete artist who shall remain anonymous (the Monkeys operate under a strict code of secrecy) to the Proctor district, and saw exactly where all those lovely floats got hid.

And guess what? I'm not gonna tell. Except to give hints: if you attend Mason Middle or Hoyt Elementary schools, if you like to look up at trees, if you operate a backhoe up near the electrical substation or if you were having a bang-up party just east of UPS last night, you may get lucky.

I went around at 9am this morning with the camera, and only one of four balls had been found. (The one at Hoyt. Only the woodchip nest remained.) At the top of this post is my favorite. Here's another, near Mason:

And another, with a shot of the house in whose garden it is hidden. Is this your house? Your neighbor's?

And no, we were never seen. In fact, my team have never been seen in all their Monkeying years, they say. Nor have they ever broken a float, which is admirable especially considering they're wandering around in complete darkness with frozen fingers.

It really was a fun thing to do, with that oh-no-are-we-gonna-get-caught thrill I haven't had since I was around 10 years old. Even better, though, would be to see the faces of the people who discover the Monkeyshines: wish we could hide a camera also.

So -- if you find one, let me know!