That's right, summer has finally graced us with her presence. It took long enough. Today Seattle hit a hot 92 degrees with full on sunshine. I spent the day in West Seattle. Biking over the West Seattle Bridge for the first time, to climb California Ave to the Hamilton Viewpoint Park at the top to practice yoga. Soft grass and cool winds comforted us as we practiced in the bright sunshine. Feeling the ground with my bare feet and balancing on the uneven ground was a lovely challenge. Megan has become such a refined yoga teacher, she is the friend who has turned me on to yoga, and I am so grateful. After practice we had a hearty breakfast at the Heartland Cafe, where they serve kielbasa, polish sausage and tater tot casserole, a Midwestern diner (only drip coffee). I headed straight to Alki beach afterwards.
After spending the afternoon lounging in the sun, painting with watercolors and taking frequent plunges into the cold Sound water for refreshment, I decided to do some rock collecting for the rock rugs I've been making. A few weeks ago, I found a gasket company that does ship flooring where I was able to buy a large quantity of thick wool blend felt for my rugs.
Up until now, I have just been making rugs for friends, but I think I'm going to try to market them to Eco friendly home stores. My favorite part about making them is going to the beach to collect rocks!
Since I've decided to go to Portland for grad school, I have realized that there are so many things I still need to do before I leave Seattle, one of them was biking to West Seattle. Another one was taking the West Seattle Water Taxi. It leaves from Alki Beach and goes to Pier 50 downtown, near Yesler and Alaskan Way. Even though it is only a 10minute ride, it costs $3.50 one way. At least your bike rides for free.
This summer has been so busy, but wonderful. Last weekend, my friend AC and I went to Pickathon, a music festival outside of Portland. We saw an array of bands including but not limited to: The Water Tower Bucket Boys, Blind Boy Paxton, Frank Fairfield, Martha Scanlan and Modal T Ford( a 90-year old blues guitar player from Mississippi). It was a camping festival with some of the BEST festival food I've ever had. They had a Sicilian Pizza oven making fresh pizza with all natural ingredients. Also, they had fresh corn on the cob with butter and Corn dogs!! They were THE BEST corn dogs I have ever had, hand dipped individually, made with grass-fed, no-hormone, organic beef. They were served with a spicy ketchup. I think I might go back to this festival just for the food. Needless to say, the music was exceptional and eclectic. Dancing and jamming also happened during the weekend. Unfortunately we did not get such a level campsite and were sliding down the hill at night, but it was an awesome weekend.
Seattle is one of the most beautiful cities. I feel very privileged to live here in the mountains, near the ocean and forests. I will miss it here, it is a really special place. I will be moving at the end of September. In two weeks I will be down in Portland looking for apartments. Graduate school starts on September 27Th. I have been speaking with my fieldwork supervisor, an art therapist from NYU. I will be placed at a mental health agency that serves homeless adults in the downtown Portland area. My job will be to facilitate art groups/workshops for them. I'm really excited about the work and experience I'll be receiving.
Highball Whistle, the string band I'm in has been playing many gigs lately, including the Pioneer Square first Thursday art walk, the Madrona Alehouse and other art walks. We will be recording again next week. Our myspace page has some of our earlier recordings: www.myspace.com/highballwhistle/ Check it out!
I hope all who read this are well and enjoying the summer months. Peace.