July 4th at the 2012 Lake Union Wooden Boat Festival

2012.7.4. Last day at the Wooden Boat Festival. A beautiful day. Warm and sunny. Quite fun. Lots of people. Kids running around in dancing fountains, or testing out their newly built little boats in the big pond. Lots of wooden boats that you can walk in and chat with the owners. I liked schooner WN Ragland the most, who earned my token. Its interior has some fine pieces of furniture and fun decoration. Kitchen counter top has slots built in for knives. Carol M let's you wonder in its twin engine room. Steamship Virginia V's engineer room IS the main floor, huge. 4 pistons, a fuel-injected boiler, and many pipes and valves. There was a guide happy to explain how things work. Tug boat Arthur Foss also opens its engine room. You have to take shoes off to walk onto Zanzibar, a very nice yacht. M.V.Lotus is draped like a floating B&B. Orion sail boat runs overnight school programs. Of course, half of the boats were just moored there for the show and the fireworks. They don't let you in. But enough to look around, and I only visited those parked to the west of MOHI. 4 canoes were being built in a hut near the Wooden Boat center. At 4pm, 3 small semi-finished boats built in less a day did their run (Quick and Daring Boat Building contest). The 3rd one (made of cardboard and duct tape!) tipped when launched. Both guys fell in the lake. One of them knocked a hole on the side, which disqualified the boat. The other 2 (made of cheap plywood) finished the round, managed to put the sail on the way back.

Fireworks started ~10:20pm on Lake Union. A bit chilly. The roof top of my building was somewhat crowded, even though each unit was limited to 2 guests. A couple of fun designs including smiley face, half balls, cubes. Too far to have the real experience. Colorful nonetheless. Elliott Bay didn't seem to have a fireworks show this year.

2012.7.1. Granite Mountain

Overcast, cold. Partially snow covered. Trail was lost close to the top. Didn't get to the lookout. A bit cold. Beargrass, lupines are coming. Only a little paintbrushes. Cloudy. Could only see the neighboring snowy mountains near the pass. Good view if it would be sunny.
Granite Mountain:
Roundtrip 8.0 miles
Elevation Gain 3800 ft
Highest Point 5629 ft
I-90 exit 47. North of highway. Turn left. Share the trailhead with Pratt Lake,

2012.6.28. Matrix with Seattle Symphony

Movie Matrix with live orchestra conducted by the composer of its original score: Don Davis. Unfortunately, the movie is so gripping, even though most of us have seen it at least once before, that the presence of the orchestra is often forgotten. People applauded loudly when the intermission sign showed up, as well as the end before the credit, even though music was still playing and the poor conductor was struggling against the drowning noise of the applause. In my opinion, this was very rude. I don't remember if I ever watched the movie credit with such attention. The music accompanied it is quite powerful. Now that the movie was over, at least the audience could enjoy the music for its own sake. Overall, it was fun. But a very expensive way of watching a movie.

2012.6.23. Seattle Men's Chorus "Sing Out"

Seattle Men's Chorus performs at McCaw Hall. Not very funny this concert. A bit too political: trying to urge the audience to vote in November for the new proposition that'll grant marriage to homosexual couples. Eric Lane Barnes' For the Straight Guys has quite funny lyrics. Circle of Life is very well done. I also liked the costumes for Do, Re, Me and Dancing Queen. O Magnum Mysterium by Morten Lauridsen is beautifully done. Seattle Women's Chorus also sang. Both did I Thank You God for Most This Amazing Day music by Eric Whitacre,
lyrics by E.E. Cummings, but it's a bit too somber and complicated. I didn't enjoy it as much. Local voice group Esoterics sang a set of 5 songs based on Simpson characters. A youth group called Diversity Harmony say one song, not nearly as good as the few we heard in the lobby before the concert. Two general public competed on stage solo, selected from 40 some entries. The lady won by 2 votes, which is to my surprise.

2012.6.14. Seattle Symphony

Ludovic Morlot conducts
Stephen Hough on piano

• Bernstein: Overture to Candide
• Ives: Symphony #2
• Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto #3 in D minor

Morlot spoke at the beginning of the concert, honoring Jack Benaroya who passed away in May. An extra piece was played. It's at the end of the first season with Morlot as the music director. I was away most of this season. This is my 3rd concert conducted by Morlot, and he spoke in all 3. He likes the word beautiful. It was used at least 5 times today.

This month program notes mentioned 3 departing members, Luce, Williams, Du. The youngest of these, Du, has served with Seattle Symphony since 1986. I hope they didn't leave out of any discontent during the transition. I truly hope our new music director gets along well with the members of the orchestra. Today's concert was close to full. Outstanding for a noon performance, even though a rush hour discount was offered.