2026. June-Oct. Made in SLU

Almost every other Wednesday this summer is Made in SLU craft event, held outside of Amazon at lunch time.

 6/24 — A playful mini soccer field crafted with preserved moss, sand field lines, and tiny goal accents.
 7/08 — Guests carve their own botanical-inspired stamp and print floral patterns onto paper goods.
 7/22 — A fragrant, minimalist wreath made from fresh eucalyptus.
 8/05 — A small tropical plant arrangement using tropic foliage plants.
 8/19 — Botanical Tote Bag: using botanical stamps and fabric ink.
 9/02 — Decorative handmade pennants to place in houseplants.
 9/16 — A small staghorn fern mounted on a wooden plaque with moss.
 9/30 — Pressed flowers arranged between clear panels to create botanical art.
10/14 — Press dried flowers onto a simple pillar candle that glows when lit.
10/28 — Floral & Moss Pumpkin

I went to a few of these. Made a much of crap. The ones I liked and will keep are:

● A tote bag with stencil (it's harder than it seems: too much ink, it smugs; too little, it takes forever. Need to clean the palette after each color...)

● A candel with dried flowers (it's easier than it seems: just press hard, push the flower onto the wax. I broke quite a few delicate flowers.)

● A mini pumpkin with dried flowers and moss (glued on top)

2026.10.13+27 Author talks: Doshi + Stuart

10/13, Egrets, While War: An Evening with Tishani Doshi at Cornish's Raisbeck Auditorium. "Egrets, While War" is latest collection of poem by Tishani Doshi. She danced (more like poses) while reciting some of her poems. In the background, a video of 3 masked women moving slowly on the screen. I'm not sure about the dance, film, or the poetry. But it's different.

10/27, Douglas Stuart spoke of his new novel John of John at Seattle Public Library. I've heard of this book, not the author, from NYTimes' Book Review. Even though I'm not interested in any "coming out" story, I really enjoyed this event. Stuart is very candid, well spoken, and funny. He jokingly contributed the start of his artistic journey (fashion design as profession) to needing to draw his own body parts and posted to his (potential) dates before the smartphone era. Shaggie Bain, his debut book (won Booker prize 2020), is said to be rejected by 30+ publishers. Stuart said that his editor just stopped telling him about after ~30 rejection. That book was set in Glasglow where Stuart lived. Now he lives in NYC. For John of John, he actually moved to an island of Outer Hebrites briefly for research. He talked about small town life. I'm also interested in the Hebrides after my trip to the Scottish Isles this past spring.
A large turnout this evening. Many in attendance read Stuart's previous 2 books.

2026.10.24-25. Polish Film Festival

This weekend is the 34th Polish Film Festival in Seattle. I only had time to watch these 2 films: Good Home and Wild Wild East.

10/24, Good Home (Home Sweet Home as listed at SIFF) is about domestic violence. I didn't like the movie, even though it has an important social message. I like the Q&A after the screening with 2 actresses in the film. Apparently, more women are asking for help since the movie's release. Characters are thinly drawn, cookie-cutter. Storie is told non-linear, sometimes 2 lines of trajectory. From the Q&A, I learned that the script was written non-linear. The actresses also shared their working experience. They both speak good English. One UW professor of Polish Study talked a bit before the screening (totally unnecessary), and served as the moderator of the Q&A. I didn't like her. I do like the audience questions.

10/25, I like Wild Wild East. At first, it looks like a detective story, then a thriller, in the end holocaust. The short discussion of art, and the gold teeth in the end, are 2 of the touching details. No Q&A after this screening.

2026.10.25. Virginia V cruise on Lake Union

10/25, Sunday. Once a month (last Sunday? summer only?), historical steamship Virginia V hosts two 1-hour pulic cruise on Lake Union for free (11am and 1pm). I knew about it, but I thought it would be too busy, so never tried to attend. Forecast this Sunday is rain in the morning, so I took a chance.

I arrived ~10:50, and was able to board right away. Being so close to Holloween, the boat was decorated with spiders and pumpkins. Many participants were dressed up. Good photo opp.

The boat goes by all the floating homes, stacked boat docking sites. It went under I-5 bridge to the ship canal. It turned around before reaching Lake Washington. Some fall colors left.

Virginia V is a true steam engine powered boat, the only still operating boat left of the Mosquito Fleet, which ferried passengers across Puget Sound at the begining of 1900s. We were able to go down to the engine room (by batches), and one of the engineers answered our questions.

It never rained. The one hour passed quickly. It turned out that these people with large animal suites belong to an amateur costume group. They took a lot of photo on the boat. Here, they took one last group photo in front of MOHAI.

2026.10.24. Kendall Peak

10/24, Saturday. Cloudy. Left Seattle shortly before 9am. Went up to Kendall Peak from Commonwealth Basin, 2nd time this year. Too late for fall colors. Even too late for mushrooms. Too many people picking, or the soggy ones. The ground was frozen (wet last week). Instead of crossing the Commonwealth Creek, I opted to scrambling up the slope towards PCT. This turns out to be more problematic than it looked. On the way, saw some black velvet bolete.

Once I was on PCT, it was smooth sailing. At the junction of Kendall Peak, went up. The view gets better, the higher you go. The track is more defined each time I am here (2nd time this year). Not much fall color left. Didn't see anyone on the way, maybe because of the cloudy weather? Saw one near the summit. On my way down, met a couple. That's all.

Had my short lunch break at the summit all by myself. It was rather cloudy today, but still great view all around. No wind, so warmer than I expected. I think earlier in the season is prettier, because it would have more snow.

Followed the trail all the way back, including crossing the creek. It was not a trouble. Saw a grouse, and later a grey squarral on PCT. Back at the parking lot by 3:30pm.

Got back in Seattle early enough to see Earth Creative 2026 Showcase. Multi-media climate-focused art. The 2 paintings on the left use UV pigments. 2 pairs of ChromaDepth Glasses were provided to see the 3D effect. The effect is weak, but definitely there.