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)

2026.10.24-25. 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.

2026.10.19-23. One Ocean Week

I went to a few of 2026 Seattle One Ocean Week, organized by Maritime Blue.

10/19, Monday.

• Quiet Sound annual report at Seattle Aquarium.
An voluntary program for commercial vessels to reduce speed in Puget Sound while the orcas are present (winter-ish). Afterwards, I went to visit the Habitat - the large fish tank in the new building. The most impressive is the large Bowhead Guitarfish.
• Marine Fuel policy
Many choices, no clear winner, due to the cost, volumn, end of life. Many regulatory agencies: International Maritime Org (IMO), EU/US, state, city, port.

10/20, Tuesday.

• Open house at One Island One Ocean vessel, which circled the ocean for 18 months straight. One of the crew showed me inside. She recounted running into hurricane, being thrown out of the boat (clipped in), part of the roof caved in. 4-crew setup, once awhile a 5th slept on the couch. Solar panels.
• Guided tour of the revamped Mytle Edwards Park. 3 government employees (Port, City Park) and me! This renovation took only a few months, all funded by private donors. All 3 of them concurred that if this were a public project, it would take much longer. Even though jut 1 park, we walked through 3 juridiction: Seattle Art Museum, Seattle City Park, Port. Nice signs, streamlined wooden benches and tables, a new cafe owned and operated by the tribe, still plenty flowers blooming.

10/21, Wednesday.

• Sustainable Fishing Industry. First time I heard of SeaShare, a seafood donation program.
• Catch+Create showcase. Catch+Create is an accelarator program organized by Positively Groundfish. It helps early stage small business in US, making consumer packaged goods, using westcoast ground fish (at least 50%). These 5 graduated after a comprehensive 10 months program including mentorship, classes, factory visits. Today they showcased their new products and pitched on stage for a check:
  • LocalOcean Bone Broth - fish broth
  • Fishful - Korean baked fish fries
  • KryoSushi - freezed nigiri sushi
  • Old Jack's Pantry - dog treat: rock fish jerky
  • Ashley's Seafood - I don't remember this one
  I tasted the bone broth, baked fish fries and the thawed sushi. They are all very good. The fish fries won today's prize, they are very fluffy. The bone broth comes both in powder and liquid forms, the sushi rice is surprisingly like cooked rice. The keynote speaker Barton Seaver (the left most on this photo) is fun and enthusiastic. Positively Groundfish also had a table serving 2 other packaged food.

2026.10.18. Lake Ingalls

10/18, Sunday. Fall color is fading fast in the mountain. Headed out to Lake Ingalls to catch the last golen needles. It rained on Saturday, learning from last Sunday, we left Seattle shortly before 9am.

It's a 2.5 hr drive. Of course the parking lot was full, but found a spot right outside with one wheel hanging over a ditch.

The trail zig-zags above the north bank of North Fork Teanaway River. Green all around. Seeing hikers and a few backpackers coming down already. Before the fork to Longs Pass at ~5400', you emerge above the trees (green). Frozen ground, but yesterday's snow had melted. Rocky. Views of Esmeralda Peaks at the other side of the vally, and Fortune Pass to the west. Near the top of the ridge, you can see Rainier.

Only after reached Ingalls Pass (~6500'), you start to see larches, and the imposing Mt. Stuart. Quite a lot north of the pass. However, almost all tall trees were bare on the upper half: maybe blown off by yesterday's wind. Colors were more brown than a week ago. Still lovely, especially lit by sun. Saw 4 maybe 6 goats high up towards Ingalls Peak.

After a short lunch break at the pass, headed to the lake. Took the higher route over. Most hikers took this route to and back. Quite some people at the lake. No larch here, but still pretty.

After another snack break by the lake, we took the lower route back. ~10 years ago, I camped here with a group of ladies from Portland. This route is quieter. More trees. The Headlight Creek is tiny, but still has running water (not sure from where). Back at Ingalls Pass ~3:30pm. The sun had already dipped low enough that most of the basin was in shade.

On our way out, still seeing people heading up. Without the sun, the colors they see would be dull. Smooth sailing. Saw 3 families of deers (mother and children) on the drive out on Teanaway Road.

Filled gas at Cle Elum. Overall, a lovely day out, despite of the fading fall colors.

2026.10.17.The Cantata Trail: Bach's B minor Mass

10/17, Saturday, 10am. Seattle Bach Festival's education lecture on Bach's B minor Mass. Speaker Miguel Rodé talked the history of chant in churches, mass as a musical avenue by itself, structure of Bach's Mass, the arrangement of voices and instrument, and their relations to the text. He also played parts of the recording and pointing at the score at the same time to illustrate the interpretation. He spoke non-stop for over 2 hours.

Here're some notes from his slides:

History of Mass as a music form
Pre-Paroque

• 9-11th centuries: surviving written chants of sections of the Ordinary. Proper also sung in chant.
• 11-13th centuries: first polyphonic settings. Composers' focus on the ordinary starts developing.
• 14th century: first complete settings - Guillaume de Machaut, Messe de Nostre Dame, -1360.
• 15-16th centuries: "golden age" of the polyphonic Mass (Dufay, Ockeghem, Jasquin, Palestrina).

17-early 18th centuries

• Styistic diversity. stile antigo (prima pratica) - stile moderno (or "concerted") (seconda pratica).
• Vienna (Caldara, Conti) and Dresden (Heinichen, Zelenka. Hasse): Mass absorbs operatic and concerto eiements, choral segments, ceremonial splendor. Text starts to get divided into movements.
• Bach synthesizes all these layers.

The tradition continues

• Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven begin to create tension with the use of the musical Mass in the liturgy.
• Romantic camposers (Schubert, Bruckner), and bevond, bring the tradition forward.

Genesis of the Mass in B minor

• "unrelated precedents": Four "Kyrie + Gloria" masses, BWV 233-236. in the early 1730s;
• 1724 Sanctus - standalone composition for Christmas Day in 1724, with repeated performances in later years. Revised in 1748 for inclusion in the Mass
• 1733 "Missa" (Kyrie + Gloria) - presented to Friednich Augustus II, new Elector of Saxony, in hope of obtaining the Dresden "court composer" title (granted 3 years later, in 1736)
• Symbolum Nicenum and Osanna/Benedictus/Agnus Dei/Dona nobis pacem - 1748, 1749

Organized in 4 "fascicles"

1. Missa (Kyrie + Gloria)
2. "Symbolum Nicenum" (Credo)
3. "Sanctus"
4. "Osanna, Benedictus, Agnus Dei, Dona nobis pacem"

I'm not a fan of Bach, but thouroughly enjoyed this lecture. It increased my appreciation of Bach's artistry. I immediately signed up for the next 2 lectures on Seattle Bach Festival's website. Surprisingly the lecturer Miguel Rodé is an IT professional. But his enthusiasm is palpable.