Welcome to my blog. I document my adventures in travel, style, and food. Hope you have a nice stay!
Our first full day in Vancouver was going to involve quite a bit of walking around Stanley Park, but we got an unexpected treat in seeing a few orcas working their way out to the ocean.
Each year, Melody and I try to take a train trip to either Portland, OR or Vancouver, BC, since Amtrak offers coupons for reduced-price tickets. This year we went across the border for a few nights, and even fit in a quick walking tour after we got into town.
Last night, Melody and I went to a recital at the University of Washington which had two parts. The first was Robin McCabe playing Ravel, and the second was a set of pieces for eight hands and two pianos.
Melody and I play the piano a bit almost every night, and while that's not really a lot of use, it's enough to warrant having it tuned a couple times a year. Sometimes, however, a bit more work needs to be done.
Today we said goodbye to my Aunt Teru, the middle child of my dad's family. She passed away on February 1st, a couple months shy of her 95th birthday. Auntie lived in Norwalk for over a half century, after which she went to Ohio to be with my cousin Arleen for the past seven years.
For the last few years we've gone to the annual Seattle Times Pictures of the Year presentation at the downtown Seattle Public Library building. Each year the work of a couple staff photographers are highlighted, and they get to tell the story behind some of their favorite shots. This year's event was a couple nights ago, so of course we went.
We celebrated Noël's birthday last night, the most recent occurrence of our birthday dinner tradition. While the details change every now and then, the central idea of us getting together to share a meal on the occasion of a family member's birthday.
While we were in the Los Angeles area last month, Kellen, Noël, Melody, and I did a lot of playing tourist, which involves a lot of taking pictures. Kellen took a few of me, and I thought I'd take the opportunity to show his photos, what I was photographing, and say why I eventually didn't decide to use the shots
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.
