Welcome to my blog. I document my adventures in travel, style, and food. Hope you have a nice stay!
The only way to start a New Year is with o-zōni. Following that, we went to my cousin's house where lots of family gathered to talk, eat, and play games. The next day was when we returned to Seattle
Having had a few full days, we were ready for a less hectic one. We checked out this year's Downey entry to the Tournament of Roses Parade, then down to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. The best way to end the day was with a New Year's Eve dinner.
An uneventful morning was just fine with us, as we checked out of the hostel and went to Griffith Park. At the end of the day it was time to celebrate my dad's birthday again at Dal Rae.
Monday started with a rude awakening, but most of the rest of the day was spent in Los Angeles at LACMA and the Farmers Market
Having finished making mochi, it was time to venture to other parts of Los Angeles to give Noël a taste of the surrounding area. First on the agenda was The Getty Museum, followed by Santa Monica.
Our usual New Year's trip to the Los Angeles area had a twist this year; Kellen and his fiancé Noël went along with us. Kellen had an opportunity to meet her family about a year ago, so turnabout is fair play.
This is the year of my dad's 88th birthday, 米寿 (beiju) in Japanese. Since it's a significant year, we got together to celebrate the occasion at his favorite restaurant, Dal Rae in Pico Rivera, CA. His sisters, most of the Fujimoto cousins, and my mom's sister joined us for a memorable evening.
Melody and I were more intrigued with Tim's Vermeer than we expected to be. It was amazing the detail Tim Jenison went through to just try to recreate "The Music Lesson" as accurately as possible, even though he had never painted before. In the same vein, photographer Drew Gardner has been recreating paintings using descendants of the subjects.
During October, there was an art installation at the University of Washington called Mad Campus. It involved a dozen works scattered throughout the campus.
When The Martian was released earlier this year, it created quite a stir in the tech podcast world. Lots of podcasts have Audible (an audio book company) as a sponsor, and many of those which have an "Audible pick" during the sponsorship read recommended Andy Weir's first published novel at one point or another. I agree that it's a great read, and definitely recommend it, especially if you're into hard science fiction.
Last weekend was Sweet Week Seattle, where several stores offered $5 desserts. Some of the desserts in the promotion were cookies, sundaes, and fudge. We returned from the Bay Area the day the event started, but were able to cover several places over the next couple days.
On the day we traveled home, we had a couple extra hours to walk around the Guadalupe River Park and Gardens.
Our last full day in Santa Cruz, and we decided to take it more slowly than the previous days. We went to the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum in the morning, wandered around the downtown area for lunch and early afternoon, then walked down to the Boardwalk for the late afternoon.
After spending the previous afternoon along the ocean, it was time to head inland towards Felton to go to the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park and the Roaring Camp Narrow-gauge Railroad.
After spending the morning in Saratoga and taking my mom to the airport, we drove down to Santa Cruz and walked around the water for the rest of the afternoon. It was a nice introduction to the city.
Melody and I are taking a quick trip to the Bay Area, in two parts. The first is in Santa Clara/San Jose where we met up with my mom for the first part so we could visit family and friends. After mom flew home, we started on the second part by driving down to Santa Cruz.
Melody and I took a quick day trip to Bainbridge Island last weekend. It was the first time I'd been there, and was a fun getaway.
Irene Winkle (Melody's grandma) passed away in April, and this past weekend we celebrated her life on what would have been her 100th birthday. Other than one grandson who was unable to make the trip, all her surviving descendants were present, as well as her nephew and his wife.
Of the pieces I used to play, my mom's favorite was the last movement from Bach's Partita No. 1 in B flat Major (BWV 825), the Gigue.
Melody's cousin called the other morning and gave us the sad news that their Grandma Irene had passed away, just four months shy of her 100th birthday. When I met her in the late 1990's she was strong of will and wisdom, and I still saw that part of her when we last visited in November, 2013. During all those years, she always made sure that you saw her smiling and that you felt included.
