2020.2.29. Charlie Parker's Yard Bird - a new opera

2/29, Sat. 7:30pm. Seattle Opera stages the new opera about Charlie Parker, a commission by Opera Philadelphia. Music by Daniel Schnyder (also a saxphone player).
Libretto by Bridgette A. Wimberly. 90 minute without intermission. Still feels too long. There's no real plot. The libretto is empty and repetitive. The orchestra score is pleasant, with some jazz elements, but the arias feel disconnected to the orchestra, usually sit too high without much melody, or jazz. A small piece of dance in the asylum, which is not bad, but doesn't fit in the narrative. Stage design is 8 pieces of cardboard (each letter of BIRDLAND) + about 4 bar tables and chairs. Lighting is effective. Overall, I'm very disappointed.

After the opera, a small ensemble of Jazz ED student musician lead by a teacher played in the lobby for quite awhile. They were quite good. 2 on saxophone, 1 on keyboard, 1 on bass.

I sat inside for the after-talk and Q&A today with the conductor, the flute player and the choreographer. They all enjoyed playing this new opera. Especially the flute guy who said he has more freedom in playing his part. They also mentioned that McCaw Hall is the largest venue this opera has been staged. So instead of the original string quartet, this string session has 6 on first violin, 4 on 2nd, and 4 on viola, one on base. I certainly appreciate this change. Jonathan Dean was the moderator in this Q&A section. I thought he left Seattle Opera. When we finished, the kids were still playing jazz in the lobby.

2020.2.29. Padilla Bay Reserve

2/29, 1-3pm. Went to Padilla-Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve for a wildlife photo skill talk by Bart Rulon. Equipment, locations, field techniques, camera techniques, camera settings, and a lot of photos + a few stories. Very enjoyable. On the way, saw 20+ herons in the shallow muddy shore. After the lecture, walked the underpass to its beach via a circular staircase below this viewing platform.

Visited the nearby BayView State Park. It's maybe the smallest state park I know of. Nice picnic ground with a shelter, beach access, and potentially a lot of heron. Rained a bit, with the sunshine.

2020.2.23. Children at Seattle Rep.

2/23. Sunday. 7:30pm. The single act play Children of Lucy Kirkwood is about an afternoon visit of an ex-coworker in a British seaside home of a retired couple, a month or two after a disaster of the nearby nuclear power station where they used to work. This is maybe my favorite play since I moved back to Seattle. Witty, philosophical, poignant, meaningful and relevant. It even makes me think.

Great acting and stage as always with Seattle Rep. Almost a full house tonight.

2020.2.21 Eylene Pirez on Aconcagua

2/21 7:30pm. Fjällräven hosted Eylene Pirez for a celebration of her recent summit of Aconcagua. She became the first Cuban woman to summit this mountain (unbeknownst to her at the time). She actually climbed solo, because her partner gave up at base camp. She talked about and showed video of her trip (via Polish Glacier - devoid of snow this year). She's cheerful, amicable, open. She brought her pack with the gears/clothes she used (most not yet washed). We were welcome to try carry her pack. Not too heavy. One girl asked her why she climbed solo, instead of joining a guided trip.

Cuba Libre and Paseo sandwiches, fried banana and yuka was served at the store.

I didn't know that she has a Ph.D. in astrophysics.

2020.2.20. Pacific Flyway - a book event at Burke Museum

2/20, Thursday, 7:30pm. Burke Museum hosted today's book event for Pacific Flyway, organized its publisher Sasquatch Books, co-sponsored by the Center for Ecosystem Sentinels. Authors of the book (Audrey DeLella Benedict - biologist and founder of Cloud Ridge Naturist, Dr. Geoffrey Hammerson - research zoologist for The Nature Conservancy and NatureServe, Dr. Robert Butler - ornithologist at Simon Fraser University, chair and co-founder of Pacific Wildlife Foundation), along with wildlife and conservation photographer Gerrit Vyn (a senior fellow at Conservation Photographers) spoke and showed stunning photos of the book, videos and sounds of migrating birds from Arctic to Tierra del Fuego. This book and a few others were on sale in the lobby. Ecosystem Sentinels also had a table. One of the prime locations for birds is Izembek NWR (thanks to eelgrass), which is now threatened by the possibility of excavation and road development. Another such place showcased in Vyn's video is Yukon Delta NWR.

Doors opened at 6 p.m. A buffet dinner catered by Off the Rez Café. Beer and wine for purchase. Not enough seating area in the lobby. Quite a turn out.

I checked out the new museum before joining the crowd for food. Airy. Seems too much space, long hallways. Many locked rooms for research or education purpose. Large skeletons, one giant ground sloth, a mastodon, dinosaurs, and many fossils.

2020.2.15-16 Orcas Island

2/15, cloudy. Took the 9am ferry (it was late) to Orcas Island. Drove to the south TH of Turtleback Mountain for the short loop. First we hiked up to the flat and forested summit, over 1500'. The trail goes by the summit, but not to the summit. Not sure where the real summit is, since it's a flat top. No view. A nice meadow on the other side of the trail, with many swallows dashing around. Ship Peak has much better view, but at only ~900'.

On the way to the hotel, drove by the cute little town of East Sound, which is in the middle of the island. After checking in, drove to Obstruction Pass State Park at the end of the east half of the island. On the way, multiple "sale" signs for Olga, which is just junk in the community house. Stopped at Buck Bay Shellfish Farm at Olga, which is closed. Not sure what's this "U-pluck Chicken".

Obstruction Pass has a nice walk-in campground. ~A dozen sites, overlooking the shore. Picked some small oysters and sea snails. There's this house completely surrounded by the state park. Drove to the small community east side of the park, like Lieberhaven Marina (a bit rundown). On the way back, saw many deer. Don't drive fast on the island, or you'll hit a deer!

Back at Rosario Resort just past sundown. Missed the weekly organ concert at 4pm. Walked around the main house checking out old furnishing and photos of the Moran family. Most hotel rooms are in different buildings. Ours is up on a small hill next to a small but fairly loud waterfall. Our 1-bdroom kitchenette is spacious, overlooks the bay, large balconies, very nice, but with old appliances (the fridge has thick ice in the freezer compartment). A Murphy bed in the living room, separate dining and sitting area. 2 TVs. 5 bath towels in each bathroom. It's not that big to sleep 10 people!

Made dinner. However, didn't find a tool to get the meat out of the sea-snails :(

2/16. After checking out, drove up to Mt Constitution in Moran State Park. The snow started as we were walking up the tower. The visibility dropped, still quite nice. There're timed photos inside the tower about its construction. Walked along the trail towards Little Summit. Turned around at the viewpoint. By then, it was snowing pretty hard. On the drive down, the snow dissipated. Stopped briefly at Summit Lake. Walked along a boot track at the roadside viewpoint. No more snow. Quite nice, grassy bald.

Headed back to the west half of the island. Failed to get to Point Doughty, the NW corner. All private drive way with "no trespassing" signs.
Visited Camp Orkila instead. Part of Seattle YMCA. Not summer, so no one here. Very large ground, with many large and small cabins, playground, a shooting range? Could hear gun shots from time to time.
Visited North Beach's small public access east of the airport. Picked some clams. Later, West Beach. Another resort and marina.

Last stop is Deer Harbor. Maybe due to its proximity to the ferry terminal, saw a few tourists here. Muddy water. A bald eagle. Many charter boats. Drove to a small public access viewpoint south of the harbor for sunset before heading to the ferry.

A pretty relaxed weekend for winter. Weather turned out better than what was in the forecast.

2020.2.12. Turn of the Screw with Book-it

2/12, Wednesday, 7:30pm. Book-it Theater presents The Turn of the Screw of Henry James. I don't understand the story, nor why it's ever staged, let alone many times, in various forms. What's the point? What was James wanted to say? A governess was sent to a countryside estate to care for two children, one of them was expelled from his boarding school. She encountered 2 ghosts: the previous governess and another employee of the mansion (yes, both dead). The play ends with the girl took ill and was sent back to London, and the boy died in the Miss' arms.

This production is played entirely by a female cast (of 5). Good acting. Stage set is just a couple of pieces of furniture and a big doll house. It would be nice to add some projection, shouldn't be too hard?

2020.2.11. Tech Perspective in Buildings

2/11, Tuesday. Microsol Resources hosted this half day conference at Seattle Art Museum.

9:00     Emilio Krausz, President | Microsol Resources
9:30     Maria Mackey, Real Estate Director | Vulcan Real Estate
10-11:00 Salla Palos, Director of Transformation Services | Microsoft
         Angus MacGregor, Principal | Olson Kundig 
         Robert Otani, Principal | Thornton Tomasetti | CORE Studio
         Josh Rodgers, Integrated Construction Manager | Mortenson
11:30    Donna Laquidara-Carr, Industry Insights Research Director| Dodge Data & Analytics
12:00-1  Nicholas Desbiens, Head of Digital Practice | KPF
         Scott Crawford, Principal | LMN Architects
         Burt Goncalves, Studio BIM Leader | NBBJ

Lots of glamorous photos of beautiful architecture and installations. Lots of software to view (3D, VR), export, tune parameters, in design as well as construction. Learned this new term BIM (Building Information Modeling). I enjoyed most of the presentations, except for Palos/Microsoft (no substance) and Concalves/NBBJ (reading the slides). I especially like what Crawford does at LMN, playing with circuit board. Seems odd for an architect.

2020.2.9. Dirty Harry

2/9, Sunday. The forecast-ed sun didn't break the fog until ~noon. A late start for a short hike, not far from the city. Chose Dirty Harry's Balcony. A good size parking lot with an outhouse. Discovery Pass is need here (maybe part of the Olallie State Park). Quite a few cars. The mountains are mostly green, with dust of snow only on the upper reach. We left snowshoes in the car. The trailhead map shows a climbing route with eclectic names like Squishy Bell, Shangri-La, Grit Scone. I took this bad photo on my way out, with flash light. Another curious point on the map is Dirty Harry Museum, which we decided to check out.

A short connecting trail to walk over a road and bridge over South Fork Snoqualmie River. The water is green and clear. The first mile of the real trail has access to the climbing rocks. A lot of freshly made signs for the trail and the climbing spurs, as well as later, the cliffs (or rather the viewpoints). I like the 4th on Gaia. It's the 2nd obvious side tracks that merit a cliff sign, about 1.5 mile in, ~2400'. From then on, it's mostly flat in the woods, a bit ups and downs. A bit of snow now. The trail is rocky or muddy this time around. The Balcony itself is a side track with clear signage. Quite a bit snow here, even though only ~2600'. I didn't like this as much as the previous viewpoint.

Feeling fine, and still early, we decided to look for the "museum". Didn't see it on our way or down. Snow became consistent soon after the Balcony. The trees were dropping snow incessantly. Didn't bring my umbrella:( There's one section where a creek flowed over the trail. If you want to keep your boots dry, needs some dexterity. Later, from what I read, this is probably the turn off to see the Dirty Harry's Museum, where he had abandoned a truck and some logging equipments. This little creek is probably "museum creek". Oh, well, next time.

2 more viewpoints over some clearing. None as good as before. Both have a log carved for a bench, now covered with snow. Turned around ~4:15pm, at ~3450', with some opening. Short snack break here, where we were not bombarded by the falling snow. Dirty Harry's Peak needs another hour (at 4662') or longer (may need snowshoes).

Coming back on soft snow was quick. Met a guy with a little white dog going up asking if the "museum" was close. He abandoned his search quickly. Went to my favorite viewpoint for this sunset shot. Probably a good goal for an after-work hike, short enough for sunrise or sunset hikes.

Met a group of 3 young guys going up around 5:30pm, already pretty dark, about a mile from TH. Soon after I turned on my headlamp. Reach the car ~5:50pm.

Update. Hiked to Dirty Harry Peak later in the spring. The peak is somewhat wooded. Might as well: too cloudy to see anything when we got there. Did find Harry's Museum. A bit of detour. The boot track wasn't too hard to find at the lower end, flagged by pink ribbons. But once we reached Harry's truck, lost the track. Had to bushwhack to get to the upper connection to the main trial.

2020.2.8. Dvorak Symphony 8 with Seattle Symphony

2/8, Saturday 8pm. Dvorak's Symphony no 8.

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky  Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture
Mieczysław Weinberg       Violin Concerto (Gidon Kremer)
Antonin Dvořák            Symphony No. 8

Weinberg's music is too modern for me. Kremer did an encore. It's more melodic, still too modern. I much prefer the other two pieces, especially the last one, which is full of sunshine.

Thomas Dausgaard, the new music director of Seattle Symphony, conducted today. First time I see him perform. Very energetic, almost jerky at times, quite effective and fun to watch. Looking forward to his reign in Seattle.

2020.2.7. Sheila Levrant de Bretteville speaks at SPL

2/7, Friday 7pm. Design Lecture Series starts this year with graphic designer and educator Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, organized by Civilization. Sheila looks a lot younger than her age, sharp and quick thinker. She showed slides of her work since the 70s, emphasizing women and diversity. Her talk went longer than expected, so Q&A was cut to the moderator's 2 questions only, none from the audience. A very good turnout. The free tickets were sold out. I didn't have a ticket, but was allowed in.

Each seat at the library auditorium was laid a large canvas bag with some design magazines and notepad. The bag is so large, not sure if it's intentional (the magazines are big). A very windy day, I felt that I was holding a kite.

2020.2.3. Catholic Highschool Choir Festival

2/3, Monday. I bought the ticket without knowing this is a high school choir event. Should always read the details. Audience are mostly the family of the singers. There were 9 choirs, each sang one song in the first half of the program. A lot more girls than boys. O'Dea is boys only, and Holy Names is girls only. Bishop Blanchet has over 100 kids in its choir (mostly blond). Forest Ridge from Everett is mostly Asian. Songs were short, kids filing in and out of the stage seems took longer.

The 2nd half sees the combined voices, conducted by Jim Papoulis, performing his composition. First, girls only, then, boys only. The last song is with everyone, all the school music conductors included. Very festival.

I really like Papoulis' song Imbakwa. Found a much more elaborated arrangement on Youtube.

2020.2.2. Deception Pass

2/2. Surprised by the sunshine despite of the rainy forecast. Drove to Deception Pass for some short hikes, since we started late. On the way, along I-5, saw quite a few Trumpeter Swans on their way north.

First, went to Goose Rock. Probably the highest point you can reach via trails within the park. On the way down, took a longer route to the Park HQ, now closed for the season.

Cross the road, walk the now-closed park road to the beach. Thanks to the closure, road walking is quite pleasant. Didn't see anyone else.

Going back on the bridge, headed to Lighthouse Point. Saw a bald eagle from the bridge. This part is new to me. Walked first down to the narrow between Lottie Bay and Bowman Bay. Lottie Bay is muddy, smells faintly like sewer. Bowman Bay is bigger, nicer, has a long deck and boat dock. The trail on Lighthouse Point is small, with good (small) grassy spots to have a picnic. The fun part is some rocks to scramble. The rock where the actual lighthouse is on requires some daring. There're two ropes. One on the slope going down from the "mainland", and one on the rocky slope to get up to the lighthouse rock. The rope on the "mainland" is not necessary. There're nice roots you can grab on. The one on the lighthouse rock is necessary. The rock is slippery, not a lot of foothold. It's not to our nature to let go and rely on a rope.

Download the official park map.