Good news! There was a mostly silent airship in the skies for this weekend's Seafair festivities. It was the Soaring Dreams Airship, a blimp covered with art, and an icon for the philanthropic partnership of Portraits of Hope and Ameriquest Mortgage Company.
Does this mean that we might be phasing out the yearly cacophony of the Blue Angels? President Bush has told us that we are at war. While only the Congress has the power to declare war - well, that is another subject. My current concern is the scarcity of fuel and why we expend it, with such profligacy, for four days in the jets that create very disturbing noise over our communities. Just today I forgot about the timing of this noise and had to rush out to the garden to find my aging kitty after the Blue Angels had roared over the treetops on Queen Anne Hill. Poor Cleopatra, obviously frightened beyond our human comprehension, rushed into the house in a crouched position.
As annoyed as I can get over the noise and cost and militaristic aspects of our local Seafair celebration, I hate to be a naysayer. All communities have some sort of summer frolic. It seems petty to complain about a series of events that obviously brings much enjoyment to a large, local community tradition of the region's populace. However, times change - we no longer get mail two times a day, dairy products are not delivered twice a week to our back doors (remember that thick cream at the top of the bottles?) and we have no need any longer for the iceman and his blocks of ice.
Logging on to the Web site for Soaring Dreams Airship (www.soaringdreams.org), I discovered that they launched this vessel April 3 of this year. Ameriquest Mortgage Company, in its mission statement, includes the phrase "to foster healthy communities through education and economic opportunity." In a public-private partnership, they are partners with major-league baseball, the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation and the National Football League. Again their phrasing, they state that they are "combining community outreach with the values embodied in professional sports - dedication, perseverance and teamwork." Additionally, through churches (unnamed) they are sponsoring 100 families in order for them to own a home for the first time.
I can't help but believe that a child or an adult, looking skyward this weekend and seeing the blimp, had a quiet moment with their dreams. It can be like flying a kite or watching a twig or stick float downstream - they bring a quietness to our roaring culture.[[In-content Ad]]
