in case the Peeps posting didn't delight you...

One of my choir members loaned me this tonight.

I was in tears by page three.

Peeps and then some

 The official deadline is past, but there's no reason you cannot use your free time this week to express yourself in Peeps Art.

mail delights

32 seconds of sunshine and two surprises in the mail--a much needed gift card for this week's caffeine and a darling shower curtain.  The packet of sugared ginger appeared on my music stand yesterday in appreciation for some cookies I had given away.  

Either that or a large hint that more cookies are needed.

A close-up of the shower curtain details.

March misc.

The Central Library hosted the Baltic Spring Celebration yesterday; an intriguing mix of folk dances, the debut of a local Lithuanian choir as well as brief geographical/travelogue powerpoints.  

A long escalator ride to the 10th floor of the library for a shot of the train station clock tower.

Interesting pod-like office space on the upper floors of the library.

Then, tasty tart apple pierogies from Pike's and another wander through the Sculpture Garden, marveling at the eerie 70 degree weather.

 Today brought more typical March weather--two of the three Palm Sunday services were huddled inside, while one was in the bright sunshine.  It is now bucketing down as I type this.  And I am preparing to sleep for the next 48 hours to shake this cold and brace for the week ahead.  Happy to know that in seven days, all Easter candy will be 50% and I can find my annual fabulous spring shoes.

And while standing in line to get a Sunday paper, a woman--giddy with seeing a person with an armload of music,  handed me a card to join the Seattle Women's Chorus.  We'll see.  I do need to be joining some performing groups, but not sure I want to sing with a choir of 200.

neighborhood poetry

from my local poetry mailbox this month:

A brightening is near
the coughing up of light from earth
the pink so dear and given
with a fight and sigh but let to us
pastel from primary
a minus to a plus revealed
to you and me
slow-handedly but true
begin to smell our hill
delight in it
drink dew and shape it to
our will with purpose
sweat and eye turned
to a warming sky

Guy Holliday

hillside trudging, transcendentally so

As we're three days out from holy hell, oh I mean, Holy Week; I leave you with good words from one of my favorites.

3-D wonderment

After forty years of living, I finally saw my very first movie in 3-d.  I was surprised by enchanting it was--both the visual effects and the story itself.  Now I will have to go back and re-read the original story.

And the final delight of the day was another outing to a Blue C Sushi restaurant.

I don't know why I think it's so cool to have food gliding past my table, but I do. 

gone native

After all the years I've been in the area, I hadn't walked Green Lake, until today.  And now I see why it's a favorite for all the locals.

Penny found helps to make up for the cold shoulder that Bogart is still giving me for his morning ablutions.

Sunday's outing

Endymion (extract)

by John Keats

Book I

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases, it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits.

(the algae-covered pond--very cool looking)

Spent the afternoon at supposedly the largest collection of rhododendrons in the US.    It is a gorgeous site, however my visit was marred by my fellow guest who talked NONSTOP for three hours.  It actually was more impressive than annoying.  I look forward to returned alone or with people with whom I enjoy spending the afternoon!

Okay, maybe these aren't a 'joy for ever', but I grew up around here and think tadpole eggs are very cool.  Besides the rhodies weren't blooming yet.

Yup, more frog eggs.

Blurred wee 'shrooms.

The courtyard of the Weyerheuser headquarters--love the green roof.

contrary and gardening

Cousin J's last trip to the Elliott Bay Books in Pioneer Square; it moves in April to my 'hood!

Hard to see, but this shot is taken staring straight up at a corporate building.

Delightful lunch of sushi whizzing past the counter--food and entertainment!

UW is abloom with yellow and it must be said, is breath-taking on this first day o' spring.

Garden beginnings.

The middle box contains the beans and squash that I planted a mere week ago!

My splurge of the day!

When I bought these on Friday, I had no idea the middle had gorgeous orange streaks; I go to a flower stall at the very end of Pike's and they give me tightly budded stems because they know I'm a local.

Little Luke is now looking like a boy, not a baby.

waterfalls of good things

Don't know what is going on--if planets are aligned or the gods are smiling, but the past few days have brought good things my way.  Starting with some gorgeous skirts from a friend.

One of my sopranos is cleaning out her house and when she found out that I like old music, she brought this stack of wondrous sheet music from the 1910s-1920s!  She said more is coming next week.

I thought I ought to water my dirt and was shocked to find all these seedlings when I removed the lid--everything is up except the poblanos.

Have just discovered soba noodles--yes, they've been around for a couple of centuries.  They're a very fast and healthy lunch.  And delish.

The asparagus dish that is listed in the blogs to the right:  Feeding My Enthusiasms.  Big hit at dinner last night.

Perhaps not quite as healthy as the previous dishes, but OHSOTASTY...double ginger, chocolate-chunk cookies.  New recipe that is a keeper.

Penny and job possibility found at Pike's this morning.   Stay tuned...today's adventures include a final trek to the current Elliott Bay bookstore and a visit to a local plant sale; my cousin and I are plotting our balcony gardens for this summer.

serendipity

I am so pleased when events happen, people cross my path, or words or music shows up at the exact time I need to experience, meet, read or hear whatever it is.  It can be the smallest thing--my pennies or something that changes life.  I felt that zing when I read this poem earlier this week; it's one of those that will be posted on the fridge or used as a bookmark for years.

Trust

by Thomas R. Smith

It's like so many other things in life
to which you must say no or yes.
So you take your car to the new mechanic.
Sometimes the best thing to do is trust.

The package left with the disreputable-looking
clerk, the check gulped by the night deposit,
the envelope passed by dozens of strangers—
all show up at their intended destinations.

The theft that could have happened doesn't.
Wind finally gets where it was going
through the snowy trees, and the river, even
when frozen, arrives at the right place.

And sometimes you sense how faithfully your life
is delivered, even though you can't read the address.

walking

From the fabulous The Lost Art of Walking:

"Over the years you can come to recognize aspects and details, down to the smallest particulars, and incorporate them into a larger sense of the whole.  That's really what walks are about.  As well as hoovering up information, it's a way of actually shifting a state of consciousness, and you get into things you didn't know about, or you begin to find out about, and that's the interesting part.  Otherwise, it's just reportage."

"And as I went, I realized that walking away is one of life's greatest pleasures, whether it's walking away from a bad job, a bad relationship, a bad educational course, or a bad psycho-geography festival (what the author was leaving)....my needs and expectations weren't their responsibility....I was too cynical, too unhip, too much of a sourpuss, a loner, a solitary walker.  And perhaps it's absurd to call yourself a loner and a solitary walker when your chief walking pleasure involves exploring the streets of major metropolitan cities, but that was how I felt about New York, that it was a city crammed with solitary walkers, just like me."

another blossomy hike

Saw these on my walk over to the bookstore at the Cathedral....music for my Easter brass finally arrived.  If you're ever in need of fascinating conversation, go linger in any independent bookstore.  Fun and calorie-free.

These cool green flowers are everywhere right now.

Tried to capture the entire row, but with the wind whipping around today, didn't turn out so well.

One of my favorite bus stops--the pouring rain and blasting wind did not help the focus!  And now that my errands are run, I shall loaf and digest Keillor's latest delight.