2026.11.12. SEFW 2026 Fall Lecture: Salt Lake Temple Seismic Retrofit

11/12, Thursday. Went to Town Hall at 7pm for the SEFW fall forum lecture. I don't remember how I stumbled on to this annual lecture of Structural Engineer Foundation of WA. It has been THE talk I look forward to every year since 2023.

Today's topic is seismic retrofit of The Salt Lake Temple. State-of-the-art base isolation systems, post-tensioning of the stone masonry walls, and extensive structural reinforcement of the roof and supporting elements. Scheduled to reopen in early 2027.

Brent Maxfield, structural engineer for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a decendent of Joseph Smith, talked about the significance of the Temple, and the history of various JCL' temples and some historical photos of the original construction of the Temple in late 1800s. The goal of this renovation: make it safe for centuries to come, as well as some extra spaces underground and above.

Rene Vignos, Principal at Forell Elsesser Engineers, then, walkthroughthe techinical details, and some onsite photos. They put the building on 2 reinforced foundations, and between the two, almost 100 of these giant base islators.
You can see more detail on its website about this retrofit. These are some actual photos of the base transfer. The shear scale of this project is mind boggling. The amount of steel, the calculation and recalcuation. Just getting the pipe under the building took over a year.

Once the base is done, they also drilled vertical tenstion rods throughout the building (need to avoid the doors and windows!), and reinforced the ceiling, as well as the ornamental spires.

After the technical presentation, Brent, showed some recent photos of both exterior and interior. Then, they took a couple of questions. The cost was asked, but not answered. Another fabulous tour-de-force of human enginuity, and educational and entertaining 1.5 hours.

2026.11.7. Diwali + Camino

11/7, Saturday. Went to Diwali festival in Seattle Center, ~4:30pm. Still a lot of people. I arrived at the end of some drumming performance. Only got to see the choir of Swaranjali school.
A lot of people, maybe due to the free vegetarian meal offered on site, or maybe a Kraken game just finished. Quite some vendors, hanna painting on the hands, paper flower making ... I found this spice recipe, which may be useful. 2nd floor has 3 baby cows from Goloka Farm in Redmond. They are a hit with kids. A long queue to pet them.

At 7pm, I went to a potluck at St James' outreach center, organized by the Puget Sound chapter of the American Pilgrims. I brought a bag of mandarines. Since I already ate, only tried the soup with baccala, and one slice of the 3 Santiago cakes, because it was made by a lady on my table. She just came back from her walk in October. About half of the people here are retired. Very few hadn't walked. There're 3 who walked Camino Primitivo this year, and I chatted with one of them, Anne, who walked in August! She and I are, maybe, the only people who did get the camino bug. The organizers announced their regular events (2nd Sunday walks, 4th Friday coffee, beer chat), hospitalero training. One lady mentioned that they once did Olmstead Park walks, spaced over a few months. That sounds interesting. They'll do another Camino 101 at REI next Feb. That's actually how I got onto walking my camino this year.

We sang 3 songs at the end. I had never heard of any one. The first song is Somewhere Along The Way, by Dan Mullins. The 2nd is a French song, during which the light went out. A storm was brewing outside. The 3rd is I'm gonna be 500 miles, by the Proclaimers. Here's the lyric:

When I wake up, well, I know I'm gonna be l'm gonna be the man who wakes up next to you
When I go out, yeah, I know I'm gonna be I'm gonna be the man who goes along with you
If I get drunk, well, I know l'm gonna be l'm gonna be the man who gets drunk next to you
And if I haver, hey, I know I'm gonna be l'm gonna be the man who's havering to you

CHORUS: But I would walk five hundred miles And I would walk five hundred more Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles To fall down at your door.

When I'm working, yes, I know I'm gonna be I'm gonna be the man who's working hard for you
And when the money comes in for the work I do I'll pass almost every penny on to you
When I come home (When I come home), oh, I know l'm gonna be l'm gonna be the man who comes back home to you
And if I grow old, well, I know l'm gonna be I'm gonna be the man who's growing old with you

CHORUS: But I would walk five hundred miles And I would walk five hundred more Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles To fall down at your door.
Da lat da (Da lat da), da lat da (Da lat da) Da-da-da dun-diddle un-diddle un-diddle uh da-da
Da lat da (Da lat da), da lat da (Da lat da) Da-da-da dun-diddle un-diddle un-diddle uh da-da

When I'm lonely, well, I know I'm gonna be l'm gonna be the man who's lonely without you
And when I'm dreaming, well, I know I'm gonna dream I'm gonna dream about the time when I'm with you
When I go out (When I go out), well, I know l'm gonna be l'm gonna be the man who goes along with you
And when I come home (When I come home), yes, I know l'm gonna be l'm gonna be the man who comes back home with you
I'm gonna be the man who's coming home with you

CHORUS But I would walk five hundred miles And I would walk five hundred more Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles To fall down at your door
Da lat da (Da lat da), da lat da (Da lat da) Da-da-da dun-diddle un-diddle un-diddle uh da-da
Da lat da (Da lat da), da lat da (Da lat da) Da-da-da dun-diddle un-diddle un-diddle uh da-da

It was a welcoming and cheering evening. The light never came back. I walked out and into the storm outside.

2026.11.6. PNB: Ghost Stories

11/6, Friday. First show of PNB's Ghost Stories. I even went to the preshow lecture by Doug Fullington. 4 acts, 2 intermissions.

• Silent Ghost - Alejandro Cerrudo
• PACOPEPEPLUTO - Alejandro Cerrudo
• World Premiere: The Raven - Kyle Davis
• La Sonnambula - George Balanchine

My favorite is PACOPEPEPLUTO. 3 very short solo dances. Very funny. My 2nd favorite is La Sonnambula, very classical, beautiful costumes, large ensemble, traditional dances, except for the middle where the woman in white sleep walks. The other two are ok. Interestingly, the Raven uses a long forgotten piano concerto called Morceau de concert, Op. 27, 1843, by Alexander Dreyschock. I really like it. It's fun to read how Davis tracked down its score.

I stayed on for the after show Q&A.

2026.11.5. First Thursday at Seattle Art Museum

11/5, free first Thursday. I stopped to check the 2 new exhibitions:

• Not My Circus: I don't quite understand these sad clowns. It's at least different.
• Monochrome by Tara Donovan: I really like this one. It's huge. God knows how much effort to roll these mylar films into a cone and glue them together. Her slinky on the wall is also interesting.

SAM did some renovation since my last visit in March. The ticket counter has disappeared, now 3 automatic ticket machines. The 3rd floor exhition space is now a large community room: a musical stage and a craft section. Today, it's Trio Guadalevín playing. Craft is ink printing. Seems lively. Not sure why it's here, instead of the now empty lobby. I'd rather keep the exhibition space.

2026.10.23, 31, 11.1-2, Day of the Dead (All Saint's Day)

Throughout the city, many decoration and celebration of the Day of the Dead. Back in early Octobor, these giant skulls were display at Westlake Park.

10/23 Friday, Art Love Salon participated Downtown Art Walk with Day of the Dead theme. A DJ, a couple of dancers. Quite a lot of people.

The same night (actually starting from noon), Pike Place Market hosted its first ever Dia de Muertos Festival. Jam packed when I walked by ~8pm, when the procession of horses and a painted cattle arrived. They drew all the attention, no one paid any attention to the stage.

The weekend of 10/31-11/1, Town Hall Seattle has a Catrina Festival. I went last year. This year, I only went to Seattle Center. A lot of dances and singing. A lot of flowers, skulls. A cemetery. Many altars with photo of deceased loved ones. Traditional music instruments. Almost all dancers had their faces painted, exaggerated hair dress. So much color. Very fun.
The performances I watched over the 2 days are:

• Joyas Mestizas
• Mariache band from Evergreen High School and PSU
• Banda Gozona
• Trio Guadalevin
• Bailadores Bronce
• Huehca Omeyocan

11/2 Monday. Mass of All Souls at St James. Full choir. Gabrielle Fauré's Requiem. I liked its Santos. I arrived a couple of minutes past 7pm. The procession of priests in white had started. The guy who received me, said "good morning" to me and handed me the program. He immediately realized his mistake, and corrected it as "good afternoon". Not sure what he was smoking. Otherwise, pleasant. A lot of people in the church already. There are multiple doors, and multiple pews. A few people were still filing in. Many seemed to know what to say and sing. I left a little past 8pm. Liked the experience. Maybe I'll come again for another large mass with the full choir. The sound is quite good.