Welcome to my blog. I document my adventures in travel, style, and food. Hope you have a nice stay!
All in Oral History
The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing is getting a lot of deserved attention, and there is a lot of media coverage and documentaries. Even in just the past ten years, a lot of great items have shown up in various media forms.
I only met Don Nakanishi a couple times, but the first time we met (for only an hour or so) he very nearly changed the course of my entire adult life. He passed away early this week.
Kokeshi (こけし, which literally translates as "limbless wooden doll") is a kind of Japanese doll collected by many. The one I have has been around for quite a while, and I haven't seen another one like it.
Chopin's Waltz in D♭ Major, Op. 64, No. 1 is titled Valse du petit chien is better known as the Minute Waltz. I decided to try to record it for my mom's birthday.
My experience with computers exists in two parallel tracks, personal and professional. I saw some of both when I went to the Living Computer Museum in Seattle. Not only does the museum have a lot of computers and artifacts on display, but many of the computers are running which you can try. There's also a computer room (complete with raised floor) running the larger systems.
What's not to like about the sound of ginkgo leaves with wind blowing through them? I also enjoy their shape and how that adds to the look of the trees.
I've had an interest in genealogy for quite a while. It started with an informal gathering around a table, and while I consider myself to still be a novice, I'm getting better at doing the research. I enjoy learning about the process, and see it as a puzzle to solve.
It's been a year of passages for my family. This past weekend we said goodbye to my Aunt Ida, who was healthy for almost all but the last couple weeks of her 95 years. Uncle Mas, Aunt Ida, Norman, and Kay lived not too far from us in Downey (my Uncle Easy's place was on the way). Because of the proximity, I ended up visiting them pretty often. Auntie was always very welcoming.
We were doing a bit of spring cleaning yesterday (well, I guess it’s spring in the southern hemisphere) and I bundled up the piano cover to wash. That simple action reminded me about the cover’s history.
When I spoke with my cousin earlier this year and she told me that my Uncle Bob had cancer, I felt, in quick succession, surprise, sadness, confidence, and respect. It's easy to understand the first two emotions, but the latter two underscore how I saw Uncle.
Whenever my family gathers is special, but this past week has been more so as we fondly remembered my Aunt Toshi, who passed away earlier in the month. To say Auntie was a force of nature wouldn't come close to the impact she's had on family, friends, and community.
A couple years ago I mentioned that I used to help my Uncle Easy with Christmas shopping. I've been going through my old pictures (as part of changing photo management software) and running across pictures of him made think back on my favorite uncle.
Melody and I were in the car the other day and I instantly recognized that the radio was playing Mozart's Concerto #19 in F, which I had played when I was in high school. I have lots of memories with that piece.
Melody and I are heading east to Spokane this morning to see not only her relatives and friends there, but to meet up with the Knopefls from IL, who are there this week too. We've been fortunate enough to have seen them all within the past couple years (Brian and Frances last year, Kevin, Joanna, Jenny, and Hans the year before) but don't want to miss an opportunity to see them again.
Even though we fill up the car perhaps once a month, we need to do more planning than you would think at first. For example, this past weekend we were thinking that the car was pretty low on gas and we should fill it up, but we're planning on going to Spokane next weekend. We decided it was low enough that we should fill it, and it'd still be close to full by the time we leave. But that's not where it ends.
When Melody and I met to walk home after work last night, she noticed that there was a line of people at the Häagen-Dazs near where I work. Ends up the people were waiting for free ice cream, so we got in line (which wasn't all that long) and we each got our free scoop.
This past weekend the Seattle Times had an article about how the Iraqi-bound 34th Division honored Japanese-American members of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The 442nd was a Japanese-American unit of the US Army during WWII which highly decorated, while many of the soldiers had families in internment camps at the time.
There will be a Ten Grands Concert this Friday at Beneroya Hall in Downtown Seattle. As the name suggests, there will be ten pianists each playing a grand piano, all on the stage. They'll be playing a variety of music, both classical and modern. There will also be individual performances, but people definitely go to see all those pianos being played at the same time.
Seems we normally get one pretty good snowstorm every winter, with perhaps a second one. Some years we've gotten no snow. This year, however, has been truly different, with at least a couple times when we've had several inches on the ground, a couple other times when we've had an inch or so, and a couple others where the ground was at least white. The weather is warm enough now that even if it does snow, it doesn't hang around very long.
Melody and I had Shabu Shabu for dinner last night. It's a little like fondue since everyone can put whatever kind of food they want into the pot, but instead of cheese (or chocolate) the liquid is a sort of broth (my mom used to do a fish stock, but I did a chicken stock last night). This picture is from 1987, and shows my dad getting ready. You can see several kinds of food on the trays and if you look closely, you can see a second pot on the near side of the table (there were several people at dinner that day).
