Ask almost any person who doesn't live in Seattle about our weather and you're almost always going to hear the word “rain”. In reality, we don't get a lot of heavy rain but have many days where there's at least some. This past week, however, was very different, as we had a historic heatwave.
Read MoreEvery year the Seattle Times holds their Pictures of the Year event, not only celebrating favorite photos and videos for the previous year but also highlighting two staff members who can talk about not only the past year but the path which led them to their current career. This year the presenters were long-time photographer Alan Berner and videographer Corinne Chin.
Read MoreThis past Sunday was mostly taken up with spending time with Kellen and Noël before their move to Germany. Saturday, though, was a whirlwind of activity for us. We left the house mid-morning, and didn't get back home until late at night. In between we went to a food festival, saw giant boots, took a café break, wandered through sculptures, dropped by to see how Kellen and Noël were doing with packing, had dinner, and went to a concert (complete with pre– and post–concert activities).
Read MoreFamilies experience losses all the time, but the impact of losing a family’s matriarch is different.
Read MoreSometimes people pass away suddenly, sometimes you know in advance that their remaining time is short. We've had several years to prepare for losing Mrs. Evans, which doesn't make her passing any easier.
Read MoreI previously wrote about how we went to the KUOW Front Row Center event at the Seattle Art Museum, and a couple weeks ago was another event, this time at the Seattle Symphony. It featured a piano concerto we're quite familiar with performed by a pianist we're also quite familiar with.
Read MoreWe heard an interview with Virginia Wright last week at the Seattle Art Museum. She’s well known in the area for her art philanthropy. The interview was part of KUOW’s Front Row Center series, and Melody is a big fan of Marcie Sillman’s work on the series of events.
Read MoreAfter over a quarter decade, my parents and aunt retired from the art supply business this week. It's hard to imagine them not going to the store full time, but at ages 80, 84, and 89, it seems amazing that this was their encore careers.
Read MoreWe found out last month that the two birch trees in our back yard were infested with the bronze birch borer, so we had to decide what to do about them. They came down today, and it's surprising how much that changes our yard.
Read MoreToday was the first Seattle Ice Cream Festival, so Melody and I decided to check it out, grabbing lunch beforehand.
Read MoreSeattle's King Street Station is where we usually go when we take a train trip, but until now you could only go through the main floor and the mezzanine. Just recently, the top floor has been converted to an art space, where the first exhibit is Giant Steps: Artist Residency on the Moon.
Read MoreAs we have for the past several years, Melody and I went to the annual Seattle Times 2015 Pictures of the Year presentation, which continues to be a fun event.
Read MoreLast 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.
Read MoreDuring October, there was an art installation at the University of Washington called Mad Campus. It involved a dozen works scattered throughout the campus.
Read MoreLast 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.
Read MoreMelody and I had a gift certificate to the Seattle Symphony. Given the opportunity, we looked through the schedule and decided to go to the performance of Tchaikovsky's first two piano concertos, part of “TchaikFest!”
Read MoreWe enjoyed last year's Seattle Times Pictures of the Year presentation so much, we made sure to go again this year. Not only are we glad we did, but we remembered to get there early enough to grab good seats. In fact, we sat very close to where we did last year. The highlighted photographers this year were Steve Ringman and Erika Schultz.
Read MoreMonday was Opening Day for the Seattle Mariners, but even though they were playing in Oakland, Safeco Field held an Open House where people could get into the stadium for free to wander around and watch the game on the new video screen. Great idea, well executed.
Read MoreEvery year the Seattle Times gathers what they think were the best pictures they published. The 2012 Pictures of the Year collection covers a wide array of topics, but was just a launching point for the discussion held at the Downtown Branch of the Seattle Library where the Times talked about a couple of the year's big stories.
Read MoreMelody and I went to see Tom Douglas speak at the University Bookstore the other night. Most of his dozen properties are restaurants, but one is the Dahlia Bakery; he was at the bookstore to promote the new Dahlia Bakery Cookbook. As can be expected he was very personable and entertaining. He recently won the James Beard Award as Best Restauranteur, and that day had found out he was the Puget Sound Business Journal's Executive of the Year. Tom started with some remarks and then took questions from the audience. It was the latter part where he really showed his people skills, and was interesting because was able to circle back and touch on the topics in his remarks.
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