Thank you all for your help finding a good kite-flying spot.

Vassault Park and its grassy knoll have proved perfecto.

I can even get in some prime swinging at the playground after the kite sesh.

Happy cell phone pic. Yay summer.

In summer, I'm prone to nostalgia. I've written about it before.

Lately, I'm all about Frisbees in the park and the flying of kites. That City Up North is blessed with a stupendous kite hill, and that's where I spent Saturday, working on my sunburn and breaking for a scoop of balsamic strawberry ice cream for sustenance.

Bliss, no?

So that's where you guys come in. Help me recreate this experience closer to home. Tell me the hills with the best visibility, the best wind velocity, the ones with a precise combination of warm breeze and clover to send me back to my childhood. If you're extra nice, I'll let you hold the kite string during my ice cream break.

They mowed the grass in front of my building today for the first time this year.

Ah, spring.

Anyone doing anything especially seasonal this weekend? There's an arts walk Saturday down Alder Street beginning at 6:30 p.m. Here's the schedule:

6:30 open mic
806 N. Alder

8 p.m. acoustic set
3114 N. 12th St.
featuring: Ellen Wondra, Molly Hamilton, Allan Boothe, Eleanor

10 p.m. electric set
3120 N. 8th St.
featuring: Flock, Kusickia, Happy Birthday Secret Weapon, Nextdoor Neighbors, Banners

See art! See music! Dip your toes in the grass!

On the way to the meet 'n' eat at Frost Park today, GritPup and I walked through an empty Fireman's Park. The giant totem pole whispered to me that it was lonely. How sad!

Maybe we should have progressive park lunches?

Anyway, it was fun to finally meet some people I previously knew only as a screen name.

Here are some other Tacoma parks that the dog and I have "taken back" by leaving our mark. Actually, the dog did most of the marking. Most.

In this last one, we're taking back Wright Park from dog molesters.

You'd need quite a few caddies to carry all the political baggage that seems to accompany Chambers Bay. But after seeing all the magazine covers and tournament talk and hype from the golf world, GritDad and I decided to give it try.

Is this a world-class course or just a large version of The Putting Zoo, but with fewer windmills?

=> Read more!

Meet Ronald and Christina:

Photo from Amazing Race

This father-daughter duo from Tacoma is participating in this season of Amazing Race.

Here's a bit about them:

...Since Ronald was constantly traveling for work throughout much of his daughter's formative years, Christina hopes the Race will allow her father--a self-proclaimed workaholic--to stop and smell the roses and provide them with some meaningful time together.

Christina, I empathize. Not with the whole not-being-close-to-your-dad thing, because Brian Sullivan and I are pretty tight. I'm talking about the "Who's your Daddy" pullover that Ronald's sporting.

Allow me to have a flashback. It was my junior year in college, and my Dad, in town for Dad's weekend, attempted to purchase a shirt that oh-so-cleverly played on the Got Milk? campaign. How? By replacing "milk" with OSU's mascot.

It said:
Got beaver?

I said:
No. Not near me. Not ever.

Christina: Only you can stop your dad from wearing inappropriate T-shirts. Then, we're all winners. Good luck.

Here are some before and after pictures of a tree on Sixth Ave. and Tacoma.

Photos by Brett Santhuff. Photo on left from 2006.

I don't know why it was chopped. Maybe the tree had shallow roots and city officials were afraid any amount of rain would cause it to topple. Maybe they'll cut the whole thing down and it'll make a nice banister in someone's home, and generations of children will slide down it. Or maybe they got confused about pruning...

Whatever the reason, it seems a little sad. I like big green trees, and this one in particular looks like something I'd like to climb.

Here's a little bit of information I wish I would've known before Sunday: If you're trekking around the Chambers Bay trail clockwise and you find yourself needing to use the restroom, don't be tempted by the porta-potties at the bottom of the hill. (No hand sanitizer. Need I say more?)

A little over a mile (and one treacherous yet shaded hill) away, there's an actual brick and mortar restroom. As I did not have this information before Sunday, I can only assume that it has soap and other necessities of what we've come to appreciate as a First World restroom.

Another hint: Don't get all self-righteous about running the trail until after you've gotten up the hill.

It's hot. And sunny!

I wish I were going to spend the night playing tennis at Jefferson Park and splashing around in the water park there, but I'm not. Instead, I'll be running for like 3 hours. And by running I mean shuffling.

As much as I love Point Defiance Park, I need a break from running there. Going around Wright Park and down to Ruston also seems a little worn. The hill from Titlow Beach just looks painful.

Any other suggestions? I leave in two hours and am looking for something that's downhill in both directions.

Also, if anyone is interested in shuffling along, let me know. Only slow people welcome.

Forget counselling, play dodgeball!

Starting next Monday (Aug. 6), the Morgan Family Branch of the YMCA (The one on Pearl) will host Dodgeball. If you're a member who's 18 or older, show up at 6:15 p.m. and get ready to channel your worries into a red rubber ball.

The only other scheduled match is Monday, Sept. 3, but we can only hope that, if it's popular enough, they'll think about hosting more regular matches.

For more questions, contact Anna Parsons at aparsons@ymcatacoma.org.

Today at exactly 12:59 p.m. we'll be at the peak of one of the lowest tides of the past two years.

So if you're unemployed (or get an extra long lunch break), you might want to head to the beach this afternoon.

If you need some ideas on where to go, or a schedule of other unusually low tides this summer, check out this story.

At the lovely farmer's market opening today, we spied Daniel Blue, who filled us in on his newest project: A 20-banner poetry walk through downtown.

He was supposed to unveil the banners today, but there was a snag in the printing schedule, so they'll officially be up on Monday.

There will be four or five (I wasn't taking notes, folks) poems, split up between the banners. Walk around town to put the lines together.

If you'd like to write a haiku to celebrate (celebrate anything - summer, banners, walking, unicorns), please do so here and now. Laura?