2024.5.5. Red Mountain South Peak

5/5, Sunday. 70% precipitation. 8 of intrepid hikers convened at Issaquah at 7am, went to scramble a peak no one else would have bothered (well, so it would be new to everyone). Here's the Red Mountain proper, the north peak (highest).

We parked 3 cars by the road. T.C. the organizer weighed everyone's pack. He demanded 20lb minimal. We started on a decommissioned road. The road is in bad shape, well on its way back to nature. A creek crossing or rather a big ditch crossing that's not too easy. At some point (~1.8 miles in), we need to scramble up to connect to decommissioned Red Mountain Rd, which is in such bad shape where we hit it, we just continued scrambled, up on the ridge.

Once we reached the top of the ridge, continuation doesn't look good. We scrambled down south, ~200', all on steep-ish rocks, then traversed (right) west to below Red Mountain, before scrambling up, soon in snow.

Once reached its ridge, it is flatter. A few trees on the summit. Light snow, windy. T.C. produced 2 bottles of wine, a bottle of whisky! All glass bottles. Didn't stay long, as it was chilly, too cloudy for a good view.

Heading down south straight, hitting the decommissioned Red Mountain Road after losing ~1200'. Followed the road, ducking branches here and there. The group overshot the road, had to return to scramble down to the lower unnamed decommissioned road. There, we decided to cut straight down. It was okay for awhile, but soon ran into thick willow or alder. It was pretty bad, slow progress. Finally down to Copper Road. Walked the road for a bit back to the car.

2024.5.4. Martha Washington Park restoration project with David Perasso

5/4, Saturday. WA Native Plant Society, Central Puget Sound Chapter, organized an open house at Martha Washington Park to see the result of a multi-year project by David Perasso and his team (see David's talk last year: restoring the oak understory with native plants. Some lessons I learned (of no particular order):

• build a fence and plant brushes outside to hide the fence.
• don't plant too many varieties, or too many seedings;
• when you order your seeds, you may not receive what you ordered, so better propogate yourself;

• difference between common camas and great camas, other than the height. Quamash (left) is lighter in color, the seed is formed while petals are open; Leichtlinii (right) is more indigo, the petals curl around the seed. Both bulbs are edible, but requires long cooking.
• Camas are easy to grow. If too many, harvest when flowering, before seeds were formed. Camas seed will form root and dig down for 3 years. Then, it'll stop and form the flowering bulb;
• Paintbrush is parasidic, needs grow with something else, and that could be snowberry.
• Rhododendron wood is poisonous, don't use as firewood. Honey made from some varieties of rhodies can be hallucinogenic.
• don't rely on student helpers. They still have a life, and will abandon you :)

The park itself has a flat lawn and the slope has some oaks and a tall madrone, before it goes down to Lake Washington. Some dog poop. The oak area is small. Other than camas (the highlight of this season), there're chocolate lily, columbine, thimbleberry, red-stem ceanothos (leaves have a faint smell, quite nice). Not much to look at.

One of the participant today highly recommended everyone to visit Glacier Heritage Preserve next Saturday on Prairie Appreciation Day. They talked about the golden paintbrush. What a conincident.

I met up with Yoko who's a horticulcurist. She gave me a ride back to downtown. We were planning climbing before, but had't met for over a year.

Today is the Asian and Pacific Islander Festival at Seattle Center. I quite enjoyed it. Especially the martial art, the Chinese yoyo, Kpop dance, Kahoot (trivia) at the end, and all the colorful costumes. The announcer is funny. A large turnout.

2024.5.3. Orquestra Northwest - celebrating spring

5/3, Saturday. Orquestra Northwest's spring concert featuring music from North America, and a young directing student.

• American string quartet - Antonin Dvorak
• Fantasy for a Gentle Man - Joaquin Rodrigo
  Mark Wilson on Guitar
• Pueblito Viejo - Jose A. Morales
• La Gata Golosa - Fulgencio Garcia
• Mi Buenaventura - Petronio Alvares
• Kalamary - Alejandro Tobar

• Dance - RimaWayNina Cumbe

This concert is better than the previous one I went in Town Hall. Quite entertaining, less toddlers. There were students on stage, but mostly adults. Wind section is not as good. The dancers brought color to the auditorium. 5 on percussion. Not sure why attendance was poor.

2024.5.2. First Thursday at UW Arboretum

5/2. A first Thursday. Monthly (except for December) guided walk. I had always enjoyed these walks. Lately, seems to be the same guides.

This time, the highlights are:

• yellow peony
• azalea and rhododandron are nearing peak. In Greek, rhodo = rose, dandron = tree.
• yellow or orange rhodies or azalea often have a faint fragrance
• a woodpecker with red hair (there's a nest close by)
• new(ish) art installation mimicking the cells in the leaves (I didn't like it much, because all the crooked wires, not smooth, rather clumsy)
• golden English oak is now in its most glorious bright yellow
• common comfrey's dark purple bud and white flower color contrast

Biked to arboretum this time. Much faster than the (2) buses.

Afterwards, I biked to Japanese Garden (free first Thursday) that's less a mile south. It's a good time to come here, because azalea was blooming very well.

2024.5.1. Margaret Cho at Town Hall

5/1, 6:30-7:30pm. Not sure why UW Public Lecture series features a commedian, but I'm glad that they did. This event is hosted at Town Hall Seattle, which is convenient for me (20 min walk). The event was sold out, when I registered for the whole series. But later, it became available. The reminder email warned us that 15 minutes before curtain, the tickets would be released to those who hadn't signed up. I heeded to the warning and arrived early. The auditorium is quite full, but you can still squeeze a few dozens in.

Cho is funny. She wore black top and bottom, comfy fit. Seems lost some weight compared to her photos I can find online. She touched on these few topics:

o her beginning of career was bandished by the Korean community elders.
o comedians she likes.
o welcome menopause.
o non-binary gender.
o her immigrant parents owning a gay bookstore in the 60s and 70s.




Another interesting things is how Q&A is gathered. You can ask question by emailing
lectures@uw.edu. So, more anonymously.