2025.4.3. Ai, Wei Wei at SAM

4/3 First Thursday. Special exhibition at Seattle Art Museum, titled Ai, Rebel". Anticipating crowd, I reserved the very first entrance to the exhibit: 10:20am. It didn't disappoint. Here are some of the objects that I liked. The stools are joined by a leg, without any glue or nail. The snake is made of backpacks. I'm not sure about the bikes, but I really liked the wooden map of China. Made of verticle columns joined together without glue or nail. Looks like a single wood. This large room is pictures made of simple legos. Other items are old vases painted with automative paint, bricks from old houses, bike parts, a real side of a house with bullet holes as large as my hand, a replica of the room where he was locked in and interegated. A pile of ceramic sunflower seeds. Lots of video footage documenting his house arrest, illegal immigrants crossing ocean, ...

I left at 11, because I had to go to a Zoom meeting. By then, there were already a lot of people. May go again next month.

Before the art museum, I went to UW's Quad again for cherry blossom. It is much better today, even though it was cloudy. A lot less people. Some pedals are already on the ground. Maybe another week of glory.

2025.3.30. UW Cherry Quad + Issaquah History + Tiger Mt.

3/30, Sunday. Supposed to be sunny, but it wasn't. Grey sky. I reached The Quad at ~9:50am, already full of people. Cherry blossoms were peaking. I was here last Tuesday afternoon, when it was sunny and blue sky. Here's a comparison. Note the color of the right photo on Sunday has been doctored by Google's AI.

I had a guide book with me, so found a place to sit and read. Then I heard a familiar voice. It turns out it is my roommate at UW. She was out strolling with her husband and grandson. She moved back to Seattle at the beginning of the COVID work-from-home craze. We've only met once since she was back. What a pleasant surprise.

Back home, quickly chowed down some food. Repacked, and transferred to bus 554 to Issaquah. First, walked to the library to use the toilet and to fill my water bottle. It so happened that Issaquah History Museum was starting the first talk in a series called "Let's Talk Local History". So I sat down and listened. A few interesting tidbits:

• Issaquah is named after the Squak Valley - this area of flat fertile land south of Lake Sammamish.
• Issaquah's very first commercial product is coal (in Squak Mountain). 2nd is hop.
• Before the railroad put in by Gilman et al. (1888 Lake Shore and Eastern Railway), transporting products to the market took 20 days via this circuitous waterway.

When it finished, it was already past 3:30pm.

Walking to Tiger. Too many people in front of Jakob, that I didn't stop to take a photo. But it's always good to see his giant smily face.
At the lower elevation of the Section Line (above the powerline field), saw these flowers. This may be White Butterbur. Quite some moths on them. Saw 3 trilliums, first this year. Saw maybe a couple of yellow violets and stinking robert.

By the time I reached Tiger 3 summit, it was already 5:15pm, but the sun was still too high to wait for sunset. Dark clouds looming to the south. It's supposed to rain this evening. Continued on to Tiger 2. Somewhat windy. Better view. On my way out, it was dusk, many robins on the trail at the lowest elevation.

Waited for the bus for an hour! The bus I was waiting for either never came or left early for more than 5 minutes. That ruined my otherwise perfect day. Filed a complain to Sound Transit. Didn't get home until past 9pm. Rain had started.

2025.3.29. Lake Aerene

2025/3/29, Saturday. Rain in the forecast. Attended a flower talk by WA Native Plant Society at Brier Library, we headed to Lake Serene in the afternoon.

Parked at the lower lot, ate lunch before the hike. First, as always, took the spur trail to Bridal Veil Falls. After a few days of rain, the waterfall is full of force. A true delight. Need rain jacket here.

Back to the main trail, continued towards the lake. The high water (multiple creek crossings) and this fallen tree made the otherwise easy trail more interesting. Only 8 miles, 2000'. Many wooden stairs to ease the ups and downs. No snow all the way until almost reaching the lake basin. Saw a short rainbow across the Hwy-2.

Lake Serene is now thawed on the edges: the prettiest time IMHO. All around is still snow covered. Mist shrouded Mt. Index, making the peaks more menacing. A short trail over a bridge to a small overlook. Some used microspikes. We brought them, but didn't use. 2 boys camping here.

A light hail started as we turned around. Then, rain. But in 15-20 minutes down the trail, we were out of the rain. Near the bridge crossing the creek, took a short detour via a beaten but unmarked track to the other side of Bridal Veil Falls. The last ~1 mile of the trail is a flat logging road, bordering salmonberry bushes now already in red flowers. Some skunk cabbages in flower, not stinking. Some yellow violets. Near dusk, a lot of birds singing. Robins on trail.

Driving back through Gold Bar ~7:30pm had no traffic! A perfect day.

2025.3.26. Seattle Reads 2025 kickoff

Seattle Reads this year chose a poetry collection: You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World.

Today is the launch party, featuring Laura Da’, Claudia Castro Luna and José Luis “Pepe” Montero. Each shared a poem in this book and talked why they liked it.

We were given a book. Surprised to see snacks.

2025.2.21, 3.10, 17, 24, NEA Big Read "The Cold Millions" by Jess Walter

Folio at Pike Place Market hosted a series talks about this year's NEA's Big Read: The Cold Millions.

2/21, I went to Folio, received a paperback of "The Cold Millions". I didn't know that the author Jess Walter was present. He's one of my favorite local authors. Not too local. He's based in Spokane. I read 4 books of his, but not yet this one. I lined up for him to sign my newly acquired copy. I told him that his books are often too "sad".

3/10, Labor Connections Between Seattle and Spokane in the Early 20th Century" by Dr. Betsy Pingree. She talked about temp labor, the so-called hobo, bum, tramp. Fun to know about songs like Hallelujah, I'm a Bum, and The Big Rock Candy Mountains.

3/17, Radicals in the Community: Wobblies in the Pacific Northwest by Dr. Aaron Goings. He talked about the labor movement in the early days, the IWW, especially in Grays Harbor The helpful and mostly the swindling job agents between the labor and the employers. The lady in the photo is Jannie Sipo, a union organizer.

3/24, Jess Walter talked about this book. He mentioned that a class of the community college near his home decided to use his book as a teaching material. Later the same class would do a mock court trying. I brought my old copy of Beautiful Ruins to have him sign it. He recognized me. Maybe because I complained that his books are too sad!