Happy Halloween

Toulouse Petit for happy hour after Bizet's Pearl Fishers at Seattle Opera.
It's bittersweet to take myself out to the Opera. So I'm taking myself out, properly, with frites, a glass of Mouvedre Rose and some exquisite lighting.

Halloween nearly here

It was a sunny day yesterday so I biked to work in the dark so I'd have the afternoon to enjoy the fall colors. I stopped at the Shoreline Central Market but I doubt I'll be carrying one of these home by bike any time soon. Over 4,000 pounds!

Shilshole Marina 5:30pm

I've not noticed the sea monster at the marina not that far from where I live. My own Nessie. A fun thing to find on a lovely fall afternoon walk after work, near Golden Gardens Park. I am blessed to have this in my neighborhood.

The flowers of fall

I missed these last October, because I was teaching English in South Eastern China. I took a friend to a place I know. You can go back to the past, but it's never going to be the same, for neither chanterelles nor for the life that you sorely want to keep. Still, if you can trust yourself, and look in a new place, there is a different type of joy. You just have to commit to the uncertainty and try again.

Learning to draw

When I travel I like to take photos. But it's too easy and superficial. I look at everything but what do I see? I want to draw well enough to use a small sketch pad as my diary. I'm learning to work with still life. It's very hard. But, I feel pretty proud of my first attempt to draw an apple and give it three dimensionality through shading. All the other people in my class are more skilled, but I have to start somewhere.

Thursday October 8

I picked these roses from my yard this evening. They are the last I will have until next May. There is a time for everything: to grow, to die. I hope that next May I can welcome back my roses with optimism and hope for a happy if completely different life from the one I expected to live. To the past I say, thank you. To the future, I say yes.

Mint green morning

I picked up my bike from the shop and am back in the saddle once more, commuting to my classes son a lovely fall morning. I stopped for coffee at Coyle's Bakeshop in Greenwood, to grade my students' first assignment and enjoy the pretty decor. Reminds me of places in the South.