Inspire your heart

English sketch club installing an exhibit, 1931

Today is "Inspire Your Heart with Art Day," celebrating art and the impact it can have on our emotions.

There are a bewildering number of beautiful art blogs, more than a person could follow in many lifetimes.  Here's links to just a few I enjoy:

Pre-Raphelites

French Painters 

Art in Eastern Europe

Beautiful Paintings

It's About Time

Super blue blood moon eclipsed

We don't have much chance of seeing it, but a rare, weird-looking moon will set on Wednesday morning at about 5:30 am. The super moon turns reddish brown during an eclipse, hence the name, blood moon.  It's also a blue moon, the second full moon of this interminable month. January has lasted so long, it feels like there should have been several by now!

Never mind, the welcome Ground Hog Day is just around the corner. Not spring yet by any means, but at least to the gardeners, February feels like the start of spring in western Washington.

Her Majesty the Queen(s)

We've had a surplus of Queens on the home entertainment docket.  In January, Netflix streamed season two of "The Crown," a series about Elizabeth II.  Each season will cover a roughly a decade of her life, so Netflix has a long way to go.  We didn't binge watch, but whipped through pretty fast. The actors playing young Elizabeth and Phillip were fabulous, but now a new (older) set takes over for season three.

We're also watching the second season of "Victoria" on Masterpiece Theater, but have to wait a long week between episodes.  Then last night, we watched the DVD "Victoria and Abdul" starring Judy Dench.

John is a real good sport about recording (and watching) all these historical dramas.  Although now and then, he asks me to put a guy movie on the Netflix queue, like the new western called "Hostiles." I'll probably have to keep my eyes closed through most of it.

What else is new in Seattle?  We are sopping wet and unseasonably warm. It hit 57 yesterday and has rained every day for the past 15 days. Every pot and brick in the garden is covered with pretty green slime.   

Warren Miller

The ski movie director Warren Miller passed away this week. Miller’s early films came out when the Colorado ski resorts were first opening in the 1950s and '60s. He helped transform skiing from an elite activity to one enjoyed by the masses.  His films were always lighthearted with corny, with deadpan voice-overs: “You can’t get hurt skiing unless you fall."

Warren made over 500 movies and was an entertainment icon for those of us who grew up in the early days of Colorado skiing. When I was in high school, we would pile in someone's car and drive 86 miles to Breckenridge.  That's a long trip, all across South Park and over Hoosier Pass, but the roads were mostly deserted then and we didn't think much of it. A lift ticket was just $4; you could buy one with your saved allowance. I just checked out of curiosity, and a ticket will set you back $169 today at Breckenridge.  Skiing is once again an elite sport.

Amanda, Tom and the girls are lucky having the Loup Loup Ski Area just 22 miles away from home. I've never been up there in the winter, but the Loup reminds of long gone little ski areas like Holiday Hills   outside Woodland Park.  Our dad worked there on the weekends and we kids all had a blast.  Truly the golden age of Colorado skiing.

Rest in Peace, Warren Miller.

Curiouser and curiouser

January 25th is Opposite Day, the one day of the year you can say what you mean and not mean it at all. Everything you say, do, see, and hear are the opposite. If you say go left, you mean go right. If you say look up, it means look down. Celebrating Opposite Day is not easy.

No one knows the exact origin of the holiday, but Opposite Day is mentioned in Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland."  Of course!

Everyone loves a parade

National Weather Service satellite

Unless it's this parade of storms, headed directly toward the Pacific Northwest. Heavy snow in the mountains, drenching rain in the lowlands, not a dry day in the forecast for at least a week. And that's the dull news for Wednesday morning.  Please pass the pie.

National Pie Day

A la Mode Pies

West Seattle Junction

See those teeny little pies there on the top shelf?  Eight dollars each.  Our moms would be shocked.  In Seattle we're crazy about things like over-priced "artisan" pie shops, which just means they do actual baking on the premises.

I wondered what all the raving was about, so we tried the apple ginger mini (OK) and marionberry ginger (thumbs down.)  The gooey berry filling leaked out under the crust and stuck like glue to the flimsy foil. After I scraped most of it out, we were left with two tiny, messy servings of cobbler.  It was such a pitiful dessert for eight bucks I didn't bother to take a picture.  My, this urban village lifestyle is making me cranky. Thank you, fancy pie shop, but I'll just make my own. 

Today really is National Pie Day, created by the American Pie Council in 1986 to commemorate Crisco's 75th anniversary of "serving foods to families everywhere." At one time, every kitchen had a can of Crisco on the shelf. In the days before olive oil we used it for all frying, and nothing makes better pie crust. I think you can still buy Crisco, if it hasn't been banned in Seattle. Did you know we have a sugar beverage tax now that adds several dollars to a box of soda?  The city council is always finding new and creative ways to tax us.

This would be painful if I drank Mountain Dew. As you know, my beverage of choice is wine, which is already taxed heavily enough.
 

Take your sweet old time, January

The third week of January is sometimes called "Yuck Week," considered the most depressing week of the year. It's dark and cold, and here in the Pacific Northwest, so wet.

But the month rolls slowly on, and signs of spring appear, like bulbs pushing through soggy mulch.  We had intense rain squalls yesterday with short periods of blue sky, so I got outside for a short walk.  I had the neighborhood to myself, I suppose everyone was hunkered inside watching football. John started pruning the fig tree during one of the sunny spells, but got hit by a pretty good shower by the time he was done.

Despite the rain, this has been a mild winter.  Some annoying frost on the windshields, but not cold enough to kill the geraniums or this old jasmine in the stairwell. It looks like it might make it though one more winter.  Of course we could still get hit with a hard freeze, but with each day closer to February, that becomes more unlikely.

"The shortest day has passed, and whatever nastiness of weather we may look forward to in January and February, at least we notice that the days are getting longer.  Minute by minute they lengthen out.  It takes some weeks before we become aware of the change.  It is imperceptible even as the growth of a child, as you watch it day by day, until the moment comes when with a start of delighted surprise we realize that we can stay out of doors in a
twilight lasting for another quarter of a precious hour."
-  Vita Sackville-West

Surf's up

This some incredible video of huge waves on the Washington coast yesterday.  Near Westport, the waves crashed over barriers and rolled right through town.  A buoy off Westport measured a 32 foot wave, as high as a two-story house.

Here's a drone video of the storm near Ocean Park, Washington, with cars getting caught in the surge on a beach access road.

A doodle a day

I forget sometimes what life was like, before we were constantly filming, texting and photographing everything we did. Guilty as charged. I can't even make a nice meal anymore without taking a picture.  First thing in the morning, after coffee, I open my laptop, check the "news," and then write on the blog. Sometimes for a hour or more, an almost daily habit since 2009.  I'm grateful for my little group of dear followers, who have stuck around through many a narcissistic and mundane post.

John and I are among the last people on earth who don't use Facebook, so the blog also helps us stay in touch with far-flung friends and relatives.  Of course, that's just another way to rationalize all the time I spend.  But I like the daily discipline of writing, so guess I'll keep going until they "pry the computer from my cold dead hands."  Ha!

Having said that, in 2018 I'm making an effort to unplug more. We can't expect people to pay attention to us, unless we do the same.

I once enjoyed drawing, but then it fell by the wayside. Like anything you want to improve on, it must become a habit. As motivation, I bought a fancy new sketchbook at Northwest Art and Frame and got out my old box of pencils. And my new pens. The goal is a sketch a day.

There are many scientific studies on the health benefits of making art. Our minds go into a peaceful state (alpha waves) when we're totally engrossed in something we enjoy. These are just simple little doodles, but I'm enjoying it.

PS. Palm trees are easier than birds and foxes.

Jack Block Park

I read in the Seattle Times that 1,000 people a week are moving to Seattle! There must be a good reason so many want to live in this expensive, congested city. I should focus more on all the positive aspects of living here, or I'll drive myself and everyone else crazy.  No one really wants to hear endless complaining about the "good old days."

We've been in West Seattle for almost 40 years, and there are still new things to discover within a few miles of home. A friend told me recently about Jack Block Park on Elliot Bay, and I was ashamed to admit I'd never heard of it.  The park is tucked away on Alki Beach off Harbor Avenue, a waterfront street we've driven thousands of times and passed right by the park entrance.

The 15-acre park has walking paths and an observation tower with great views of Elliot Bay, the Seattle skyline and port operations at the massive Terminal 5. The park was dedicated to former Port Commissioner Jack Block in 1998.

Still, it feels close to nature, and I saw many water birds on this pleasant winter day. The shoreline looks clean, although there are signs in all languages, warning people not to eat seafood or shellfish. The area was once heavily contaminated with creosote from a wood treatment plant, and it was designated a Superfund site by the EPA in 1994.  

The park is adjacent to where the Duwamish River flows into Elliot Bay. After nearly a century of filthy industrial activity, the Duwamish River was also declared a Superfund site in 2001.  The EPA declared it one of the nation’s most toxic hazardous waste sites and cleanup will continue for many years as they dredge the contamination from the river bed. Although as John said, with the current politics impacting the EPA, he wouldn't be surprised if the government soon declared it "clean enough."

All this sounds pretty awful, but the water was sparkling clear, people were walking the beach and big dogs were swimming in icy Elliot Bay. 
 
If you come visit us in Seattle, we'll take you there after a fish and chips lunch on Alki.

 

Mid-winter Spring

"Bound by Nature"

Louise Richardson

Goodness, it was warm Monday afternoon.  Seattle hit 64 degrees, smashing the previous record high for the day of 58 degrees. People go crazy here when it suddenly warms up like that.  Sirens were going off all day with police and fire engines rushing around West Seattle.

I was out running errands and saw a couple of arrests with a big police response. Shoplifters?  This place is starting to feel like New York City. Well, the excitement is over.  Rain is back with cooler temperatures for the rest of the week. Snap out of it!  It's not Spring yet.

"Midwinter spring is its own season

Sempiternal though sodden towards sundown,

Suspended in time, between pole and tropic."

T.S. Eliot

Little Gidding

Many books, little time

Too many books just slip by us unread, like Jennifer Egan's "Visit from the Goon Squad," published in 2011.  I just finished it and in case you wondered, the Goon is Time.

We change, we get old, we die, nothing stays the same as right now. That's the book spoiler.  "Goon Squad" is a collection of interlinked stories, and it won a Pulitzer Prize despite (or maybe because of) its unique weirdness.

I just picked up an old copy of "Terms of Endearment," another book I never got around to reading.  I love Larry McMurtry's writing, especially the westerns like "Lonesome Dove," full of witty down-home characters and funny dialog. "Terms of Endearment" was published in 1975 and takes place in Houston, so it's practically historical fiction now. Everyone has probably seen the 1983 Robert Redford movie starring Shirley McLaine and Debra Winger.

The Aurora character in "Terms of Endearment" is my favorite:  a vain, plump, spunky, sharp-tongued widow lady with a string of "suitors" falling at her feet. A role custom-made for Shirley McLaine.    

We have a pleasantly jumbled used book store at the West Seattle Junction called Pegasus Book Exchange. I've been going there for years; they give credit on your old used books toward new old used books. Not a big money-making business, and I hope the prime storefront they rent doesn't get converted into yet another trendy restaurant.

According to the Seattle Times, the Junction area (about 6 blocks south of us) has added over 2,100 apartment units in the past 4 years!  We don't call them "yuppies" anymore, but you know the type. The streets are teeming with stylish people and young, well-heeled families headed to restaurants and bars.  Add to that a sprinkling of panhandlers and unsavory types.  The streets are packed with cars, and pay parking is probably around the corner.  Our little old relaxed neighborhood has morphed into a big city.

Anyway, I'm getting off track here.  Pegasus has shelves of paperback romance novels, mysteries and thrillers, but they're also a good place to browse for literary fiction hardcovers. They always have a $3 bargain cart outside on the sidewalk, stacked with quality novels a little past the pull date.

Wonder of wonders, last week I spotted a T.C. Boyle novel I hadn't read. Or at least I don't remember it.  I read everything by "T" (as his friends, fans and toadies call him.) To be honest, his older novels like "Drop City" were consistently good, but his newer stuff is hit-or-miss and often quite depressing. So I'm looking forward to "Riven Rock," published way back in 1998, when he might have still been a fairly nice person. They say mathematicians do their most brilliant work before the age of 30 (Einstein) and that's sometimes true with writers.  John Irving and John Updike also come to mind.

The mention of "T" always makes my friend Julie cringe. She refuses to read his books because of his obnoxious personality, on full display a few years ago at a Seattle Arts and Lectures presentation, when he managed to offend an entire auditorium of women with his offensive remarks. I don't blame her, and if I'd been there, I'd probably join the boycott.  Although it's another kind of revenge to pluck one of his formerly expensive hardcovers off the $3 remainder cart.

Loup Loup Ski Area

More fun on the slopes today...

Downhill racer

Amanda enrolled Maya in ski lessons because she couldn't keep up with her.  She is fearless on the slopes-- straight down the hill!  After the first lesson, she was already skiing around cones and taking the rope tow by herself.  Future racer?

Super soaker day

Sewing Machine with Umbrellas

Salvador Dali

1941

This is considered one of Dali's masterpieces: sewing machines with umbrellas casting terrifying shadows in a surrealistic landscape, with fashion models stepping out from the columns.

Your guess is as good as mine. I Googled "meaning of painting," and even the art critics won't go there.

See that blue blob headed toward us? The big news here is rain, if you can call rain in Seattle "news." 

"It is the rain that makes us melancholy-- 

that, and the localities we inhabit." 

I've been saving that quote for a day like today, but unfortunately forgot to note who actually said it.  Speaking of happy climates and localities, the Santa Barbara area is surely the loveliest place in southern California.  Now huge fires, followed by catastrophic mudslides! The pictures are just heartbreaking.  

Bomb cyclone cruise

On January 4, a Norwegian cruise ship with 5,000 people on board sailed right into the worst of the winter cyclone off the east coast.

I'd be too seasick to even lift my head from the bed, but some passengers managed to shoot harrowing video. The weird, jaunty music makes this (almost) enjoyable to watch. 

Fire and ice

Snow fell in the northern Sahara Desert this week, for only the second time in living memory.  Snow on the red sand dunes in Algeria made for some stunning pictures. 

Meanwhile, in Sydney, Australia, it hit 117 F on Sunday, the hottest day in the city since 1939, just missing the all-time record of 118.  It was hot enough to melt asphalt roads, and the beaches were so crowded people could barely move around.

Nothing exciting here in the weather department, just plain old January rain.  Not much chance of another sun-sighting until the weekend.

Here's a relaxing little nature video, shot in the Cascade Mountains.

Plough Monday

Plough deep while sluggards sleep:

and you shall have corn to sell and keep.

Turn out for Plough Monday

Up, fellows now

Buckle the horses 

And follow the plough.

From the looks of traffic headed downtown this morning, it was "get back to work day." Today is Plough Monday in England, the first Monday after Twelfth Night and the end of the long holiday--the traditional start of the agricultural year, when farmers prepared their fields for spring sowing.  In medieval times, the ploughs were blessed at church the day before.

Itinerant field workers returned to the farms, and started to look for employment. The raucous customs of Plough Day varied by region, but a plough was often hauled in a procession by disguised beggars collecting money. 

No such thing as a New Year's diet in those days!  Plough pudding, a boiled suet pie containing spiced meat and onions, was traditionally served.

Stormy weather

This is a mesmerizing little movie by Dustin Farrell.  He chased storms across the nation last year and shot video at the rate of 1,000 frames per second -- the typical video plays at 30 frames per second.

Chaotic spring weather isn't unusual, but the trend now is for weather to get “stuck." High temperatures, record rain, or a lack of rain - whatever- staying the same for longer than it used to. The reason is a subject of debate among climate scientists, but it could be the result of the shrinking difference between the temperatures of the tropics and the temperatures of the rapidly-warming Arctic.  Global warming.

Rain or shine, we're headed to Twisp tomorrow.  There are only so many summer weekends and this seems like a good time to get in a short visit.  I've been promising Nova a trail ride ever since she turned 7, and we plan to do it at Sun Mountain Lodge.  Very exciting.

Pictures coming soon, have a good weekend. 

Poor planet

When the Christmas stuff is finally put away and the house is clean, I always treat myself to some fresh flowers.  Last week Trader Joe had market bunches (18 big stems) of alstromeria for only $5 each.  I couldn't decide on white or red, so splurged and bought one of each.  It's my favorite cut flower because they last so long.

We have the short stemmed pink ones in the garden (see above) and they are super hardy, almost invasive. I should just wait I suppose, and enjoy those in season.

These bunches were grown in Columbia, where most American flowers come from now.  It only takes about 48 hours for flowers to get from a field in Colombia to a warehouse in the United States, and then another day or so to reach a retailer like Trader Joes.  Obviously it's cheap growing flowers in South America, but still boggles the mind how everyone along the way made a few cents. Not to mention the jet fuel.

Speaking of large carbon footprints, I placed a online grocery order with Walmart. They carry a brand of Asian lettuce wrap sauce I can't find anywhere else, and to get free shipping, I had to bring the order up to $35.  That's easy because there's always little things I need-- like spices, corn starch, baking mixes, etc.  My $38 order arrived in three separate shipments, packed in boxes with piles of plastic packing materials!  How wasteful for a few cheap grocery items-- I felt so guilty I won't do that again.  

Go, Dad

We love this photo of our amazing 93-year old Dad, sawing mesquite branches yesterday on Marji's patio in Las Vegas.  

Here's a little poem for you--

"Discipline"
by Meryl Gordon

I am old and I have had
more than my share of good and bad.

I've had love and sorrow, seen sudden death
and been left alone and of love bereft.

I thought I would never love again
and I thought my life was grief and pain.

The edge between life and death was thin,
but then I discovered discipline.

I learned to smile when I felt sad,
I learned to take the good and the bad,
I learned to care a great deal more
for the world about me than before.

I began to forget the "Me" and "I"
and joined in life as it rolled by:
this may not mean sheer ecstasy
but is better by far than "I" and "Me.”

Niagara Falls

Signorina Maria Spelterini was the first woman to cross the Niagara River gorge on a tight rope. A 23-year-old Italian beauty, Spelterini performed her stunt on July 8, 1876, using a two inch wire.  On July 12, she made another successful crossing, this time wearing peach baskets strapped to her feet. She never did it again.

 2018

The frozen photographs of Niagara Falls this week are just stunning.  In frigid temperatures the water crashes down into the rocks below and turns solid.  The the blocks of ice floes can freeze together, forming a bridge wide enough to connect the United States and Canada.

Until some tragic accidents occurred, children rode sleds there and tourists strolled between the two countries. Entrepreneurs sold food and hot drinks from makeshift concession stands. A “sharp rogue,” as the Niagara Falls Gazette described a man on Feb. 14, 1883, built a shanty of boards in the middle of the massive bridge — right on the line between the two countries, where no laws apply — and sold liquor.

1951

 1883

Wolf moon

The left-over super moon is shining through the front window as it sets behind the Olympic Mountains. We had clear weather on New Year's Day evening, and it was spectacular rising.   NASA called it the biggest and brightest moon of the year, 30% brighter than the super moon last July.

The January full moon is called the "Wolf Moon" which seems poetic, since 2018 is the Year of the Dog.

The dog symbolizes loyalty and honestly. Oh boy, couldn't we use more of that?  The lucky people born in the Year of the Dog have all the best traits of human nature: honest, friendly, faithful, loyal, smart, straightforward, venerable and have a strong sense of responsibility. 

We're right at freezing this morning in Seattle, but compared to most of the country the Pacific Northwest is warm.  Actually snowing in northern Florida today and a big storm about to hammer the east coast. The news outlets are calling it a "bomb cyclone," because the pressure is predicted to fall so fast.  I don't remember weather ever being described with such hyperbolic terms-- it's no wonder people are constantly on edge these days.