a record of what i am learning|thinking|creating
Fall is in full swing here, with all its wonderfully saturated shades of yellow, red, orange, and copper. And to top it all off, the sun shone nearly all weekend! A twenty-minute stroll through the neighborhood and I was reminded of God’s brilliant creativity – so many hues, pigments, and textures. Yum.
I have been getting a good dose of the arts lately – orchestra concert last week, Phantom of the Opera this week, and plans to enjoy Seattle’s art walk/gallery night next week. I do love living in the city…
The orchestra concert was fantastic. Shane has been developing a taste for classical music, being the sophisticated man that he is, so when our friend La Verne informed us that she would be playing with Orchestra Seattle downtown one evening, we jumped at the chance to attend. The “headliner” was a Chinese violinist who totally blew me away. In an instant, he could go from touching the strings with such perfect, light gentleness to playing them with a force that was almost violent with power and emotion. I enjoyed the music so much that I was nearly inspired to go home and pull out the flute I’ve neglected for the last 12 years. But I thought about it some more and chose not to attempt to relive my junior high band days – those were rather dark times for me… I’ll leave the music-making to the people with talent.
Last night was “Phantom” night. Emily and I headed over the Paramount for some good musical drama while our husbands headed over to Safeco for a baseball game. And I have to say, those guys missed out. What a show! The staging was absolutely incredible. Falling chandeliers; extravagant costumes; a candle-lit, smoke-filled scene to replicate the Phantom’s eerie underworld… This was a top-notch production, no holds barred. And I was so impressed by the caliber of the singing. The woman who starred as Christine Daae hit notes that made my ears ring (in a good way). The only drawback was that the sung dialogue was a bit hard to decipher at times, but the emotions behind each scene were so evident that it was easy enough to follow the plot. I do say, I should try to make it to the theatre more often. Rather.
And next week is gallery night, which should round out the art appreciation kick that I’m on. Good, good stuff happening in Seattle these days.
Today could not have been more beautiful. We knew that we had to take advantage that of the last bits warm sunshine that summer is bestowing upon us, and so we rented a canoe and spent the afternoon paddling around Lake Washington. We weaved our way back into the arboretum and found ourselves in a wonderfully green, perfectly serene, little corner of the world. There was a point when Shane turned back and said to me, “Don’t you feel like we’re in Lord of the Rings?” Yes, I did! The beauty of it all was almost surreal. On days like this, my love for Seattle is so strongly reaffirmed. Lovely.
It’s tempting on Friday evenings to come home from work, put on the sweats, and spend the night vegging out on the couch. Embarassingly, it isn’t that uncommon for me to crash out by 9 on a Friday (yes, I am self-admittedly lame). But tonight the sunshine drew us outside and we found ourselves at the lawn bowling green just up the street from our house. Friday night is free “open bowl”, and anyone is welcome to come use the clubhouse balls and grab a lane on the green. Shane and I did this once last summer and had a fantastic time – I don’t know why it took us so long to get back. But it must have been pretty apparent that we weren’t regulars, because a very friendly woman approached us as we started to set up our lane and asked if we’d like a lesson. She gave us a refresher course on the basics and we were left to begin our lawn bowling dual. Such a great game (similar to bocce ball, but played on a smooth green) in such a great setting (the course is on Beacon Hill and has an amazing view of the city). The best part? I think I might have actually found a game in which I can hold my own against Shane. Finally! We had a pretty intense head-to-head match going. Thank goodness our friends J and J showed up to relieve some of the tension. I’m a competetive player and a terribly sore loser, especially when it comes to losing to Shane (I have been known to throw pieces of sporting equipment or even video game controllers when he really starts to get a lead on me), so it’s always a good idea to have someone else in the mix to mediate the competition. We switched to pairs mode, which was even more fun, as there were more balls in play and more chances to knock each other out of the way. Fun stuff, seriously. This green is such a great little neighborhood jem. Check it out.
Shane and I took advantage of the Seattle Art Museum’s extended hours on Thursday night and spent some time wandering through their new Impressionist exhibit. The title of the exhibit is “Inspiring Impressionism” and it explores the links between the Impressionists and the significant European artists that preceded them. After perusing the galleries, Degas’ “Visitors to A Museum” (shown below) was the one painting I was drawn back to. This is what I love about the Impressionists – Degas wasn’t afraid to leave things rough around the edges, slightly unfinished, sketchy. The hem of the woman’s dress isn’t delineated by a hard line – it’s left as a blurry streak between light and dark. I wish I could paint with such freedom. I have such a strong tendency to paint/draw with solid, crisp blocks of color – everything has a definite edge. Degas imparted an underlying sense of emotion into all of his work. I look at pieces like the one below and can just imagine him painting with his quick, free brushstrokes. Striking.
Shane and I headed over to Georgetown this afternoon for the annual Artopia festival. It was an interesting mix of music, art, food, and just plain randomness. The art was so-so, the kiwi gelato was amazing, and the powertool races were amusing (contestants are asked to convert bits and parts of powertools into moving, race-worthy machines. saw blade wheels seem a bit dangerous to me, but what the heck…). I am so happy to see Georgetown developing into such a fun, vibrant, creative community. But I hope that this neighborhood’s “revitalization” doesn’t translate into it losing all of its original character. The old brick warehouses and junk-filled lots are beautiful (and photo-worthy).
Big stuff happing in the ‘hood these days… The fun began on Tuesday at 4 am when I woke to sound of crashing and crackling. My eyes flew open and I was startled to see what looked like lightning flashing outside of our window. A storm, I thought? Couldn’t be. I stumbled out of bed, fumbled for my glasses and peered out the window just in time to see another intense flash of light – in the midst of a pitch black neighborhood. Power was out for as far as I could see. I tried to wake Shane, who seemed to be much more concerned about sleeping than he was about the crisis that was throwing me into a panic. Everything was suddenly eerily silent. So I got back into bed, perplexed and unnerved, but helpless. The sound of fire trucks just a couple of minutes later drew me to the front of house, where I quickly understood the cause of the crashing and flashing. A power pole was laying in the middle of the street, in the midst of a mess of smoking wires. Our neighbors lined the sidewalk, shivering in their pajamas. Shane assured me that the fire department had it under control (“Kelly, I’m so tired, just come back to bed!”), but being the busy-body that I am, I had to go out and get the details. Turns out a car had come down the hill too quickly, lost control, and crashed right into the power pole. Crazy. I went back inside and attempted to go back to sleep, but that seemed to be a lost cause. I laid there for over an hour, worrying about all the food in our fridge that would spoil if we didn’t regain power soon. And how would I blow dry my hair in the morning? And how much battery power did my cell phone have left? I should have recharged it the night before. It’s embarrassing how neurotic I can be when I’m tired and it’s the middle of night… Nearly 30 hours later, power was fully restored. Thank God. I just enjoyed a hot shower and am contentedly sipping my night time tea, made with water quickly heated in our fully functional microwave. Dinner by candlelight and the absence of electronic distractions was nice for a night, but the novelty of it wore off when we woke to an unheated house and 40 degree temps outside. It’s nice to be warm and in a well-lit room, with the internet at my fingertips as I type on my plugged-in laptop (my battery is dead). Part of me is ashamed of my dependence on electricity and all the modern comforts that are associated with it, part of me is just glad this “crisis” has been averted.
The teaser of a sunshiny day that we had yesterday has been followed by a cool, gray day today, and so I am foregoing an afternoon at Seward Park for an afternoon in a previously unexplored cafe. And I might just have found my new favorite hangout – All City Coffee in Georgetown is sweeeet. Natural light floods in through the big storefront windows and reflects off the crisp white walls and rough concrete floors. A lazy dog lays by the door, occasionally lifting his head when a person enters. One woman sits at a table sketching in her notebook, a couple of people are tuned into their laptops, several others are intently reading books and newspapers, two women next to me are knitting some fantastically colorful scarves. There is a very hip-intellectual vibe in here (and whether I fit into that or not, I am still very comfortable sitting here with my latte and my chocolate biscotti). I don’t know why I don’t make it over to this neighborhood more often – it’s only 2 miles from our house and filled with gems: beautiful old brick warehouses (some of which I hope will remain intact through Georgetown’s “revitalization“), industrial yards filled with all kinds of wonderful rusted-out junk, and a few trendy-but-not-overdone eateries and boutiques. It will be interesting to watch this place change over the next few years – I certainly hope it is able to retain some of its original character. This cafe was a good, good find (gray skies actually worked out pretty well for me today).
For the first time in months, I opened all the windows today and enjoyed the feeling of a fresh breeze flowing throughout the house. Heaven! The joys of spring can officially begin: walks along the lake after work, barbecues in the backyard, tending to my new little herb garden… Days like today make the months of gray drizzle all worth it. I hate to let my mood be dictated by the weather, but my God, this sunshine is making my happy! Is there such a thing as a Vitamin D high?
I think Spring is nearly upon us, as evidenced by the cherry blossoms that are in bloom throughout Seattle. We took a nice stroll through the UW campus with my parents yesterday to admire the flowers as set against the beautiful brick facades of the old buildings there. The sun was shining, people were lounging on the grass, the sky was blue. And then… it started to rain, and gray skies ultimately prevailed. But at least we had a glimpse of what’s to come, hopefully in the near future.
