06.29.08
A Long weekend at Long Beach
Long Beach, at the southern tip of WA state, was in fine form this weekend, with sunny skies and wind for kites, woods for camping and a charming main street for strolling.
The water being gaspingly cold, the kids ran right into the swirling surf while B. got the kites put together and I took a run along the incredibly long stretch of clean, hard-packed sand. There’s little else that gives me a feeling of being so burstingly alive–my teeth were salty-sandy from smiling so much as I ran along the shore.
Besides flying our delta wing and box kites, we visited the World Kite Museum where we learned some cool stuff and the kids made their own kites.
We made a brief detour through Astoria, OR this morning before heading back. The Columbia River is so huge at this point!
On Sundays, Astoria has a great street fair/farmer’s market to rival Pike’s Place, with four or more blocks blocked off as a pedestrian zone. I’d like to see B.I.’s farmer’s market grow a little, and this one would be a great one to pattern after.
It’s nice to be home again, with piles of smoky laundry but lots of good memories.
06.22.08
Seattle Symphony with Joshua Roman
Or in other words, my best birthday present ever.
The program itself was music from a century ago; beautiful and very much to my liking: Hindemith for strings and brass, Bloch’s Schelomo, and then Franck’s Symphony in D minor.
Joshua struck me as a very self-possessed sprite on stage. I love the way he cradles his cello between his knees and rocks it as he plays, conveying an utter oneness with the music. He is physical and restrained at the same time.
Schelomo, the Hebraic rhapsody, is supposed to convey the themes of Ecclesiastes–a quite dark book of scripture–with the cello being Solomon’s voice. Joshua’s performance was deeply compelling, enveloping, sonorous and enchanting.
Clapping until my hands hurt, he walked out again and again and finally sat down for an encore. And guess what he played?
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Minuets in G major, the very same pieces I immediately loved and the ones I began learning earlier this week.
The only thing that made the evening better was the great kindness of a couple in the lobby during intermission–they had to leave early, and gave us their box seat tickets. So we enjoyed the Franck symphony close enough to see every expression on Gerard Schwarz’s face.
Cello lesson #19
On Thursday, C.F. and I continued working through the Telemann duet and the first 3 pieces in Suzuki book 4. I really love the Bach minuets in G major, so C.F. played them for me and then with me, slowly.
My goal is to play them for my family reunion in July–perhaps a bit delusional, but deadlines are very motivating for me, and simply taking lessons doesn’t provide that sense of an urgent need to practice!
One of the things I really like about C.F.’s approach to teaching is the way he encourages me to find what I like, and practice that.
06.20.08
Solstice and solace
I’m feeling sentimental. Tasha Tudor has died, and I’ve been sitting here thinking of the many heroines I’ve adored, and still adore.
Isak Dinesen, aka Karen Blixen—we watched Out of Africa last night, and cried and cried. No wonder I’m feeling sentimental.
Others that come to mind:
Virginia Grainger–first owner of our house in Okanogan and the first schoolteacher in the Okanogan valley, WA.
Minerva Teichert, painter, Idahoan.
06.17.08
First Day of Summer Break
It was a half-day, so the girls came home early, bearing end-of-year report cards and huge grins. After lunch, we walked to a copse of cottonwood trees and picked all the cotton our four bags could hold.
Our gleanings will be the raw materials for making paper later on (this week, or later on this summer, who knows–it doesn’t really matter! I’m giddy and high on sympathetic freedom 
).
It’s nearing the end of cottonwood season (allergies, I will not miss you) so I was relieved to find these pods still draped over some of the further bushes.
This was S’s best find.
Tea-time today was a picnic of sorts at Battle Point Park. We went to the grocery store beforehand, and I told the kids they could each choose whatever they wanted. After nixing a whole sheetcake and an entire apple pie, I okayed this stuff:
Guess which treat is mine!
06.13.08
The June garden’s a-buzzin’ and a-buddin’
First, the most delightful thing of all: we just got a porch bench, and sitting there quietly, one can hear the almost constant soft buzzing of hummingbirds swooping from branch to branch. I didn’t realize how many there are, or how often they feed (hmm, is there a hummingbird Heisenberg principle?)–just today they took the full feeder down to the last drops.
Now for the abundance of buds: (abudnance?)
These will be Concords later on; all three grape plants are still in buckets, waiting for me to decide where to lodge them for good. They don’t seem to mind so far.
Did you know that’s what asparagus does if you don’t cut it? Rather pretty, I think.
And pea flowers, just because I’m so delighted that they finally decided to get on with it and bloom.
These second-year rhubarb crowns are doing quite well, considering the deer ate them down to nubbins last year, poor things.
And finally, the beautiful strawberries that rise triumphantly from the soil–these are not the strawberries I’ve grown in other gardens. Bred specifically for the Northwest (I’ll have to look up their name), they furl their oversized leaves early and bear their berries high. They’re my starberries, if you will.
06.09.08
B’s birthday in Seattle
Saturday saw us on a great walking adventure, B’s idea on the morning of his birthday. We walked rushed to the ferry–the stroller still comes in handy for the little one. It’s also handy for hanging 8 or 10 bags from on the way back! From the ferry dock, we walked to the International District and had lunch at one of our favorite places, Uwajimaya.
Sometimes Seattle looks positively Parisian:
That would be rather empty for a Paris street, no? Well, it was raining a bit.
Almost to the ferry again. On a misty day, the sailboats in Puget Sound take on a painterly quality that never fails to entrance me.
06.06.08
A wonderful night for a gallery walk
After days of rain, rain, nothing but rain, the clouds skulked away and let the sun out for an hour or two tonight.
As usual, I was inspired by the art we saw. Plus, I heard some really good music: guitarist Cesar Medel was playing something Spanish and classical at A is for Artists that brought tears to my eyes as we walked in.
And over at Island Gallery, we caught a bit of Ranger and the Rearrangers warming up for their gig tonight. Gypsy jazz–it’s got to be good!
Sound wordplay
I am so addicted to Boggle it’s not funny. Look at all the words Seattle makes: sea, seat, settle, let, lea, leas, least, set, lets, tea, teas, eat, eats, ate, late, latte, lattes, lest, seal, teal, teals, steel, eel, eels, sale, ale, ales, tale, tales, last, taste, tat, tats, teat, teats, sleet, stale, sat, slat, slate, see, tee, tees, tease, ease, stat, sate, state
The weird and wonderful thing is that these words have an uncanny relationship to the city of Seattle.
My obligatory Boggle poem:
Seattle Tales
Teal sea,
Slate leas.
Sale! Eels, ales, teas, last stale latte.
Let(’)s eat late.
Cello lesson #18
I had a good lesson yesterday after a three-week gap in lessons. It’s nice to get back in the routine, and my suspicion is confirmed: lessons at two week intervals is ideal for me, but if I go any longer, I’ll fall down that steep slope of wavering intentions.
Still trying to get that first flashy piece in Book 4 up to speed; I spent nearly 2 1/2 hours just on that piece yesterday. C.F. was complimentary as always, and most importantly, he corrected my technique.
On another note, I heard about a Seattle band called Blue Star Creeper–they have a cellist in their group, and I’d love to hear them sometime.
