2026.3.15. The Consul - Puget Sound Concert Opera

3/15, Sunday, 3pm. Puget Sound Concert Opera's 2nd performance this weekend of The Consul by Gian Carlo Menotti (both music and libretto).

The plot is sad. A dissident escapes towards the frontier, leaving wife, baby and mom, who are now monitored by the secret police. The wife goes to the consolate day after day trying to get a visa to join her husband. The secretary of the consul is a heartless burreaucrat who demands numerous documents from all applicants. In the end, baby, mom, wife all die, husband captured.

I liked the songs about "tomorrow, tomorrow", and "papers, papers". Some words are clever. Overall I enjoyed it. A pleasant surprise is that they had laid out some food during the intermission.

This is the first time I ever visited Langston Hughes performance center.

2026.3.7. Black Canyon

3/7 Saturday. 13 of us (8 Indians) met in 2 locations, and headed to Wenas Wildlife area for some sunshine. Black Canyon is new to me. Open vista (few trees), gentle slope, a few OTVs, gravel road.

Saw some buttercup and yellowbell in the valley below, 1 single grass widow, quite a lot of buckwheat (all white and small). Also a couple of fainted sign posts, and 1 corpse.

One of our 3 cars is a Tesla, so we parked by the paved N. Wenas Rd, and walked the gravel Black Canyon Rd to a gate. Unlatched the gate and walked inside. I guess if you had a key, you could drive further, as one black truck did.

Almost all flat in the wide canyon. At this trail junction, we waited for S who went back looking for his sunglasses. S is the only person who has been here. It took a long while. 3 of us scrambled up a hill to the right (east), hoping for a better view. But it's too flat up, couldn't see the other side. Soon as we lost the sight of the group below (see them in this photo), we turned back down. There, I found the only grasswidow today. Pretty happy.

Finally S is back, accompanied by R. They were running. We continued forward in the valley, opposite what S suggested. Found some lingering snow. A bit muddy. Finally gained a bit of elevation, and reached Ridge Road, where we saw a couple of ATVs. Decent view: Adams, Rainier, the town of Wenatchee.

We walked long a nice flat ridge following a trail, and then scrambled over to a different ridge. Coming down, a bit steep. Scramble is new to some of us, and their progress is slow. The 3 of us who went up the hill earlier at the fork were the first to come down. Regrouped and walked out on the gravel road together. Some are excited about the scramble, some not so happy.

At the car, they discussed having dinner in Yakima. One guy, N.B., had a date tonight, so begged S (his driver) to skip the dinner. I hopped on their car, went all the way to Redmond, with a 5 min stop at North Bend to charge the Tesla. Then N.B. drove to downtown, after picking up his date near Volunteer Park. Their event is at the library. Perfect for me. I walked home.

2026.3.5. First Thursday at Seattle Art Museum

3/5 Thursday. Two new exhibitions at SAM.

Beyond Mysticism - the modern northwest is quite a large collection, focus on PNW artist or scenary. However, there're a couple of Dalí's paintings. Quite fun to see. I like fanciful imagery. The local artist Malcolm Roberts is new to me, very Dalí like paintings. I'm very disappointed that Wikipedia doesn't have a proper article on him. I also like Reginald Marsh's fun depiction of indoor scenes in NYC.

In the middle of this special exhibition is a "living room" fit with paintings on the walls and books on shelves. Quite cozy.

Another exhibition is a solor show of Samantha Yun Wall. Very stylish, creative, all black and white. Shadows, hands, eyes. I quite like these. Wall is the winner of SAM's Betty Bowen award for Northwest artists.

2026.2.20-21. Color pencil with Sarah Bixler

2/20-21 Fri-Saturday 1-4pm. I went to yet another art class. Day one, first we pick 4 color panels, and 3 color pencils to recreate the 4 colors. See the right side of the photo. Next, we picked a photo or a picture in one of Sarah's books, and using only 3 color pencils. She did a demo: shapes, put down the main colors, then adjust the values. I settled on one painting in Robh Ruppel Graphic L.A. book: a large rock on the beach. I settled on the same 3 colors: orange, yellow and blue. The left top is my target, and left bottom is the sketch at the end of first day.

2nd day, we started on a color wheel, before going back to our drawing. Sarah walked around, answer questions and making suggestions. She just draw on a different piece of paper to illustrate her point. This is at the end of my 2nd day, and the 4 pencils I used: had to add a 4th, brown.

Last, we put all our drawings together, and Sarah did a review. Most of my classmates use smaller paper sizes, many did 2 drawings.

I like these classes. Drawing/painting is quite meditative. The instructors all play some soothing music in the background. This is my 2nd class with Sarah. According to her, she's signed up to do one class per month here.

2026.2.20. Lunar New Year community concert at Seattle Steinway Gallery

2/20, Friday. A Lunar New Year Concert. Every piece is played by different musicians.

彩雲追月 Silver Clouds Chase the Moon  -- Victoria
Li Huanzhi, Spring Festival Overture -- Piano: Melody, Violin: John Shieh
Cecile Chaminade, Caprice Impromptu Op153 - Jiayi

George Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue   -- Oliver
Philip Glass: Etudes: No. 6         -- Jess
越人歌 The song of Yue Boatman       -- Finnie and Aimee
Butterfly lovers concerto 1st mvt : Adagio cantabile -- Annie and Justin

Unfortunately I had to leave at intermission. I quite enjoyed the first half.