Goodbye little red house; Goodbye 2014.

January 11th 2015

Seattle, Washington. 

Dearest Family & Friends,

Happy New Year to you all. I hope this letter finds you healthy and well.  Today is my 7 year anniversary of living in the Pacific Northwest.

As I write this, I realize that I have not blogged since August of 2013. Wow. A lot has happened since then. My year has been filled with adventures, family, love and travel.  2014 began in the windy city of Chicago at below freezing temperatures and piercing winds.  Hans and I spent New Years Eve in Chicago with my family, ringing in 2014 with family and  friends. Anneclaire and Steve, Philadelphia transplants, who previously lived in Seattle, flew to Chicago to meet us for New Years Eve.  My mom had her bi-annual new years eve bash with old-time, swing and some jazz music, piano and accordion tunes included, with a keg from Begyle brewery.

Me, mom and Brendan, NYE 2013, Chicago.

             My brother Brendan owns a successful brewery in the neighborhood of Chicago (www.begylebrewing.com) They kindly donated a keg for the party: a Midwest pale ale.  New years day was spent relaxing after a failed attempt to polar plunge into the lake with my dad.  I think we were all secretly relieved as the high that day was 15 degrees Fahrenheit.  The temperatures dropped as the week progressed.  Hans did many house projects for my mom, including fixing her snow blower, helping with the delivery and installment of a new washing machine, fixing an antique mirror and shoveling endless amounts of snow. Welcome to January in Chicago.  When we flew out, it was 0 degrees outside and 80 degrees on the airplane. Talk about climate control.
Ravenswood

2014...

All City Coffee, Georgetown

Red Ped paintings.

  On January 11^Th, 2014, six years to the date after moving to Seattle, I had my first solo art show in Georgetown: Red Peds: Moped Paintings from Photographs.  I began this series of paintings in 2008 when I first moved to Seattle and lived on Capitol Hill. One of my housemates was a guy who restored mopeds. I was able to photograph them during the repair processes.  There were eight pieces done in oil on canvas, ranging from small to large, all square in format.  They were displayed at All City Coffee, a local, Seattle coffee shop.  The opening was during the Georgetown Art Attack (www.georgetownartattack.com). That evening was memorable, as I randomly ran into another friend of mine in a different gallery who invited me to see Black Queen, a metal band at Slim's Last Chance: quite a divey bar, as the name may suggest.

B.Blume, 2014

         






The following weekend my mom fly to Seattle to visit me and join me in heading down to the 15^Th Annual Portland Old-Time Gathering (www.bubbaguitar.com). It was my 7^Th gathering and my mom's 3^rd.  We had a blast dancing, jamming and visiting friends in Portland.  My band Peckin' Out Dough played a square dance; it was one of the best dances we've ever done; high energy and enthusiasm.  

 

Peckin' Out Dough during dance calling break at the Portland Gathering, 2014

                 We headed back to Seattle on Sunday afternoon to catch the end of the Seattle Seahawks vs. San Francisco 49'ers game: a playoff game in which Seattle clenched the division title and headed into the Superbowl. My mom was stoked to be at the rowdy Barking Dog in Ballard, cheering with the other Seattle fans. Hans and his friends had scored us a great spot in the corner. Many of the fans were dressed in lime green and blue, with number 12 jerseys.  I even had to get a photograph of my mom with a guy who had a wild Mohawk and painted face.  We left the bar just in time to not hit traffic coming south on the 99.  We did see the fireworks at the stadium and the Ferris wheel lit up with Seahawks colors. I probably should have been driving, as my mom was quite distracted by the spectacle of lights. 

Mom with some Seahawks fans.

               If January hadn't been quite full enough, I left the country on January 25^Th. I spent nearly a month travelling around Austria, Germany and Switzerland.  It was one of the most diverse and exciting vacations of my life.  I was able to purchase a plane ticket using frequent flyer miles to fly to Munich, Germany on US Airways.  Hans drove me to the airport and we said our goodbyes.  The first flight to Philadelphia was just over five hours, the second flight over the Atlantic was about seven hours.  Of course, flights from the US seem to always arrive in the morning in European time. So I left in the morning of the 25^Th and arrived in Munich on the morning of the 26^Th, though because of the time change, I was not in the air for 24hours, thank goodness. Flying has become less comfortable as I get older.  Perhaps my body is not quite as flexible or self-reparable as it once was.  I called Julia from the airport, as I did not see her after clearing customs and exiting through the security gates.

Andre & Julia, Berchtesgaden, Germany, 2014. 

Julia & Innsbruck, Austria. 2014

 
In case you do not know Julia, she is my best friend in Germany. We met in 2001 when I was an exchange student living in Bad Homburg, Germany.  We had math and English (Literature) class together.  We have been friends ever since.  She visited me in Chicago twice: once for a few weeks with our ex-boyfriends and once for a month by herself. The month-long trip was awesome, as she was able to take a language course and we were able to spend two weeks travelling about the US. We took a trip to New York City and a road trip to Nashville and Memphis.  Julia and I go way back.  I always stay with her family when I go back to Germany.  I was even able to spend Christmas with Julia's Oma, for the last Christmas of her life.  Since we've met, we have been consistent and diligent about keeping in contact; first it was via email and phone calls, now it is via email, phone calls, skype and viber.  Technology has made our relationship seem as if it is not so distant.  I am so thankful for this.

Innsbruck, Austria. January 2014.

So, I got off on a tangent, though I felt it was a necessary one.  Back to the trip.

Stadtturm (City Tower) Innsbruck, Austria.  

If you haven't experienced German culture; Germans are quite terrified of being late for any sort of scheduled appointment or date. Being late makes them anxious, nervous and stressed out.  I have some of that trait instilled in me. But when I am in Germany, I feel very lackadaisical and laid back about time in contrast to the natives.  My friend was not at the airport when I walked groggily out of the security gates. I waited for a bit, then wondered to a different gate thinking "She can't be late, she must have the gate mistaken." After about 15 minutes of wandering about, extremely exhausted and jet-lagged, I decided to change some money to get some snacks, a coffee and some Euro change for the payphone. Unlike in the US, one can readily fine a pay phone that takes change at the airport and in most other public places.  I called a left a message on her voicemail.  Because I have an iPhone I was able to connect to wifi (pronounced WIH-FEE in German) and check my email.  Julia had sent me an email, in which she explained that she confused the times and thought my plane landed in the afternoon.  I could sense the embarrassment she felt via that apologetic email.  It was a two hour drive from her mountain town in southern Bavaria to the Munich International airport.  

Julia and Andre, her fiancee as of this year, live in Schoenau am Koenigsee, the southeastern most town in Bavaria. In fact this Berchtesgadener region is so far south, that it is a small chunk of mountains and national park surrounded by Austria on three sides.  To get here from Munich by train, one must take a train to Freilassing and then transfer to a smaller train to Berchtesgaden.  Then it is about a 10 minute drive to Schoenau am Koenigsee.  This area is mountainous and beautiful.  I was in this region once before, visiting my host brother Sven when he was completing his military duty after high school.  Julia decided to move out of Frankfurt when Andre got a job as a bobsled coach in Berchtesgaden for the German national team.  The bob sled course is about 1 mile from their house.
That's Julia's neighborhood now.

The bobsled course in Berchtesgaden, where the German team trained before heading to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sortie, Russia. 

More to come on Europe and the rest of 2014.............