SEND YOUR SNOWPLOWS & SALT TO SEATTLE!

Is 18 inches of snow really THAT big of a deal??? In Seattle it is. The city is paralyzed by a winter snow "storm". It's totally ridiculous. They've cancelled all outgoing flights due to "weather conditions". What they need to admit is that it's because they cannot deal with mother nature. Seattle owns a handful of plows, if that, and I have not seen a single salt truck. I feel as though I am living in pioneer times, getting of a hill and onto the next is dangerous because the ice is layering the roads and snow has caked over that. There are unnecessary accidents, because the city hasn't gotten it through it's thick skulls that a couple of snow plows might actually help. I was hoping global warming would help government change their ways.... I guess not.

On a more positive note, the third day of our Winter Arts Camp went really well. We made Luminaries and made a snowman at Cal Anderson park. The kids named her "Lady Winter Arts". Tomorrow is the last day of camp; we'll be weaving cedar bark baskets and making clove oranges.

Thundersnow & Sledding

So last night around 5am, the thunder woke me up and lightning struck twice pretty close to my house. The light actually illuminated my room. After that it started snowing like crazy. I found out today that this phenomenon is known as thunder snow. Below is the wikipedia definition of "thunder snow".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thundersnow

Waking up later at around eight, I realized that it would be my fourth straight snow day of not going into work, because there were at least 3-4inches of snow on the ground. This amount of snow is really rare for Seattle.

I decided to spend my snow day sledding with a friend of mine. We walked down to McClellan ave, a pretty steep hill going from Beacon Hill down to Rainer Ave. It was closed off for car traffic, but there was already a group of sledders trying out the slope as we arrived. Also there were people with snowboards and skis. We tried using the plastic lids for garbage cans and containers, but those didn't really work. Others there had brought some Masonite boards that were coated in white on one side, making them really slippery.

The sledding was absolutely amazing. I have never gone so fast in my life down the hill on a sled. My favorite rig was the strip of Masonite, which was about the size of my torso. I layed with my belly on it, face first, arms and legs up and just glided down the hill. It was kind of like doing yoga, using my stomach muscles to keep my arms and legs off the ground.

This street is a series of about 4 hills all in a row and at the bottom of the second one the kids built a jump out of a pile of snow. I did that jump, my sled stopped, but i kept flying and landed flat on the ground. It was the equivalent to a belly flop in the snow. My thighs now feel as if they've been sunburned. Despite the aches I might have when I wake up, I am quite satisfied with my sledding experience here. Maybe, I'll try it again tomorrow...

Snow Days

Seasons Greetings from Seattle!

It is snowing and cold here! Today we reached a high of 30F, a very cold day for Seattle.

Yesterday and today I had snow days from school! The first ever in my life! Living in Chicago, they wouldn't even cancel school at 2 feet of snow. Here in Seattle, only a few inches of snow are necessary to shut down the schools. I don't think Seattle owns snowplows or salt for the roads, so they are still icy, which makes going down steep hills very dangerous.

There has been abundant sunshine, which is awesome, so I decided to attempt sledding yesterday with my friend Stephanie. We basically scooted down the hill. I bet after tonight's snow, we'll have better sledding. They don't even sell sleds here, so I was using the round plastic cover to the garbage can. It kind of works like a saucer sled.

It's been so fun to bundle up in the many winter clothes and leg warmers I own. Cold, frosty, crisp winter weather is fun when it doesn't last for 4 months. I think 4 weeks of this weather would be great.

Some of the most beautiful creations happen when ice freezes over the living green grass.

3-5 inches of snow are predicted for tonight! I am excited. I missed the snow.

Breaking Up Christmas

Last night, the Seattle Subversive Square dance Society had its first square dance in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle. There were three bands, three callers and plenty of dancers. The Tallboys, Goat Ass, and The Burrs, my new band, each played the a set. I played banjo for the Burrs, Bronwyn on fiddle and Charmaine on guitar. This was the first square dance for Bronwyn, she played so well. It was my first time playing for a Seattle square dance. The last time I played for a dance was about 10 years ago. Playing for this dance was so fun, the time seemed to fly. I think The Burrs will be doing future dances and maybe some busking.

Charmaine, Tony and Bonnie were the callers for the dances. The dance floor seemed to be filled for every dance, the waltzes included. Gabe's dog even got in on the action.

Ada fell asleep next to the band, listening to her dad play with Goat Ass.

Before heading into the snow to drive home, some folks decided to stay to jam and clog.

In addition to it being the first Subversive Square dance, it was also the first Seattle snow of the season! The plan was to have a fire outside, instead we did some snowball throwing. The snow made it very festive.

Thanksgiving on the River

This year I spent Thanksgiving in a cabin on the Wenatchee River with my friends. Charmaine, a friend I met earlier this year in Portland, invited me to come up to the cabin outside of Leavenworth to spend Thanksgiving with friends. There were 12 of us, not including Pixie, Charmaine's cute doggie. This cabin was close to Leavenworth, which is about 1 1/2 drive Northeast of Seattle in the Cascade Mountains. I drove up the night before Thanksgiving with my friend Bronwyn. We got lost on the way and ended up getting there a little later than we expected, but we made it safely.

When I woke on Thanksgiving day, out the front door of our cabin was a beautiful river, trees, and train tracks and mountains in the distance. It was beautiful. Bronwyn and I took a long walk before we started cooking the meal. We made our way through brush and branches to the bank of the Wenatchee river, looking out across we could see a painted tepee. Sunshine was abundant and the air was crisp and cold. The kitchen was filled with great smells, surprisingly though not crowded with people wanting to cook. Everyone took turns preparing their dishes. I was assigned to make a green bean casserole. Since i have never before eaten this dish, or prepared it, I found a recipe online, that used no premade ingredients. Brownwyn and I snapped 4lbs of fresh beans and I sliced about 1lb. of mushrooms. They turned out so savory. Along with a great big turkey there was homemade cranberry sauce(not the kind that's shaped like a can and cut into slices), glazed carrots, mashed potatoes, yams(which I think are the same as sweet potatoes), nut loaf w/cashew gravy, roasted veggies, salad, cornbread, whole wheat rolls, pumpkin pie, brownies and this AWESOME Mayflower cake! We also had plenty of great vino and beer.
All I have to say, was that I wish my stomach could have held more. The cuisine this year was probably the best I've had for Thanksgiving, most of it also being organic and local. Everyone was so full and the ambiance was festive and cozy. We had a log fire going in the fireplace and a kiddo playing under the table. Toby, 3 1/2 year old, was having fun playing with us and was really excited about the cake. I understood why after I tried it. It had this frosting that tasted like marzipan, delectable. A while after the meal, I decided to go take a dip in the hot tub, which was right outside the backdoor. We got tons of jamming time and played many tunes. I switched between banjo and Uke, but mostly played my banjo. Bronwyn, Charmaine and practiced some tunes for an upcoming square dance we're playing for. Lavender & TobyJustin with the steel head he caught. He had to throw it back, pretty impressive though.
On Saturday Bronwyn, Charlie, Charmaine and went hiking along Icicle creek, in the late afternoon. Above is a photo of the creek before we began the hike. It was about a 4 mile hike round-trip, a meandering to gigantic boulders.


Bronwyn and I on the bridge.

The light at dusk was perfect for capturing the beauty and magic of the mountains and forest.
Charlie, Charmaine & Bronwyn about half way up. Above is a photo of the 1,000 piece black and white Hitchcock puzzle we completed. There was no picture to reference, so it was mind boggling, but I think puzzles always require a certain degree of patience.
This is us destroying it after our hard work. All good things must come to an end

Halloween, on the East Coast

I decided, a few months ago, that I would spend my least favorite holiday with my most favorite person. Lisa lives in Baltimore Maryland now. She is attending graduate school to become a community art organizer. Her absolute favorite holiday is Halloween. We both agree that the Fall season beats the Spring seasons because of it's tastes. Anyways, I took a 12 hour long journey across this country to visit her for a few days.

Baltimore is really far away from Seattle, not only physically. I had not been in this city for more than two hours, when as I was walking down the street with Lisa and a plastic bag flew out of nowhere and hit me in the face! Lisa said "Welcome to Baltimore". This happened, by the way, right after I witnessed the road kill, pictured above. I don't know why, but the first photo I took in Baltimore was of road kill. I could anticipate that this would be extremely different than the clean la-la land of Seattle.

We went to the Lexington Market, the oldest market in Baltimore. Lisa insisted that I try Berger's cookies. Do you want to know why they are so famous? They are shortbread cookies covered with a heavy portion of frosting. Not cookie frosting though, it's more like cake or cupcake frosting you buy in a plastic container! Ridiculously good, and probably laden with calories.

After exploring what little Lisa wanted to show me, we were off to DC on the Amtrak. A one hour trip for $7, not bad.


The train station in Washington DC is grand. It reminds me of a Roman edifice with columns, marble floors and vaulted ceilings. There are also numerous statues looming above. This was our very first time to our nation's capitol. The sun was shining, illuminating the gorgeous colors of the leaves on the trees. I was amazed at what sun can do to a city. I am reassured that Lisa is not lacking any sun on the east coast.

After we got a giant unfold able, but not refold able, street map, we headed out, walking towards the museum strip. All museums in DC are free and there are so many of them, you'd really need a week to be able to take advantage of it. We made it to one, the Hirschorn. Modern art museums are funny things. We walked through it in about an hour, a few pieces were interesting. Lisa loves figuring out what the pieces are made of, I was in desperate search of Kandinsky paintings. NONE exist in this museum! We managed to photograph ourselves by this 2d design artwork, to which we said "I hate this shit"(If you couldn't tell by our disturbed expressions). It's amazing what gets purchased by museums.

This video installation below was an American Flag. It took me awhile to figure that one out. I am not a political artist.

Below is some sidewalk or crosswalk art that we did enjoy. These funny guys were also painted on the crosswalks in Philadelphia.

After stuffing ourselves with amazing Indian cuisine, I decided that since we were both in DC, not knowing when or if we'd ever be back, that we must go see the White House. We trekked across the city, grabbing some hot cocoa and Jameson along the way to arrive at this rather small fenced off governmental building. Just like seeing the Mona Lisa, there is great anticipation for quite a small wonder. Nevertheless, I needed a picture of myself in front of it.

Halloween 2008

I woke up at about 1pm on Halloween day, to find bright sunshine and a warm 75 degrees in Baltimore, perfect perfect perfect. Lisa had to work in the morning and when she got home I was sitting on her front porch looking out on the street. I had been drinking my coffee there in the sunshine, observing the block and her neighbors. In Baltimore people live in row houses that are all stuck together, which means no gangways. This is strange to me that they only have windows in the front and back. They tend to be long and narrow. I guess it saves on brick, because there is only one wall between the houses. I would have been lost on her block, if it were not for the crazy stuff Lisa has on her porch, because all of the porches and houses seem to appear the same. Watching the mailman deliver the mail was also interesting. Instead of walking up and down the stairs, he hops over the railings that divide the porches. Lisa had a kind of roadblock up, so he actually had to walk down the steps and up the next set. She is going to fix that.

We headed out to get our Halloween supplies, not leaving the house until we had made ourselves a list. Lisa and I do not operate without lists. Anytime there has been anything URGENT that we had to get done, a list gets made. Even when it doesn't seem a list is necessary, we make one.

Our first stop was the thrift store. The place EVERYONE goes to on Halloween to attempt to throw together a costume. We bought so many wonderful things, including red blankets, golden Hawaiian bed skirts, and teal tights! Oh yes, there were a plethora of teal tights, unopened packages at this thrift store. I have decided that this has been the year of teal. After that stop we had to get candy. I almost didn't find my favorite Halloween candy. Luckily at the last stop, Lisa found that autumn mix that has the miniature pumpkins mixed in with the candy corn. Those are so good.

Above is a photo of Lisa's basement after we began to rip and shred the fabric and make our costumes. All in all, these costumes took about three hours to make.
Below is me sewing the masks on our headdresses.

Below is Lisa in face paint. Scary right?
We made Lisa's dream come true, a Kabuki Nightmare.
Me in my costume next to my cow skull. I gave it to Lisa as a going away present, when I left Chicago. The awesome thing about our masks was that we could see people, but they could not see our faces. I believe that this was the BEST, MOST AWESOME Halloween costume I ever wore.

Lisa in full costume.
After we were in costume and had ran out of candy for the trick-or-treaters, we headed out to multiple parties. Lisa's favorite thing to do is to hit up as many parties as possible on Halloween night. The first one was awesome. The entire house was decorated, hanging skulls and spiderwebs and cool light. A tree was hosting the party. Below is a picture of us that some people too at a hipster warehouse party. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

After Halloween, we woke up super early the next day to join Lisa's grad schoolmates on a field trip to Philadelphia. The trip was planned around community art. We were able to listen to a talk from Linda Day Clark, a Baltimore photographer who worked for the NY Times photographing the people and quilts of Gee's Bend, an independent community in rural Alabama. That was held at the Philadelphia museum of art. We also spent time looking at murals and helping a community with a mural they were painting.

A GIGANTIC PINATA!! I wonder if it was filled with candy....probably NOT the day after Halloween.
Lisa sent me back to Seattle with the amazing breakfast above in my stomach. Pumpkin pancakes, with fresh strawberries, walnuts and maple syrup.