Trolls!

Sweet Hubby recently showed me an article about troll sculptures which have recently been created by Danish environmental artist  Thomas Dambo and placed around the Pacific Northwest.  So a few days ago, I decided to visit one of them, the closest.  

The one I saw is named Frankie Feetsplinters.  He is both grotesque and cute, menacing and friendly.  Even though there is a rather ragged, crude look to him, there is also a fair amount of detail, such as toenails and fingernails.  I found myself smiling as I looked at him.  Even as big as he is (maybe 18' tall?), there is a goofy childlike quality about his face.

I plan to go see all the trolls at some point.  If you are interested, check out the website here: https://www.nwtrolls.org/. 

Blooms and braids

Two days ago (Sat.) I decided to do something that has been on my Someday list for several years: go see the  famous cherry trees on the UW campus in their magnificent bloom.  I was very happy when Sweet Hubby surprised me by wanting to go with me.

We took the light rail (love love love not having to find parking!) and then strolled onto campus.  It was a magnificent day, the air so crisp and transparent, the mountains clear and white in the distance; just cool enough, just warm enough.  The trees were not quite at the height of their bloom, so I plan to go back a little later this week, but still, the sight even of the half-bloom was thrilling.

From campus we walked back onto the main avenue and found an Indian restaurant we had never been to.  In honor of the cherry blossoms, this restaurant was serving cherry milk, so of course we had to try it.  Delicious.

There was one sour note to the day.  As we were walking through the campus, one of the actors in my full length play (currently in rehearsals) called to say his wife had broken her leg and he felt he needed to drop out of the play in order to take care of her.  The director and I were immediately in touch about re-casting that role, and already had some strong ideas.  However, later that day, one of the actresses also dropped out because of an increased workload.  So now the production of the play is being postponed until an unknown time in what I hope will be the not too distant future.  The director and I are not giving up, but I know he's feeling pretty down right now.  I'm actually okay about it because I trust that it's still going to happen, and maybe be even better than it would have been this time around.

One funny note from the day: At some point, I caught a glimpse of myself in a window.  I had worn my hair in braids that came down over my ears along my face, these ridiculously long braids.  I had my sweatshirt tied around my waist and a daypack on my back.  And I suddenly saw that I looked like an eccentric old lady, which made me laugh and laugh and laugh.  No one had treated me as either eccentric nor old all day, and I don't really care much any more what other people think.   But I did get a sense of seeing myself as others might, and thought I looked marvelously absurd and silly.  As I was laughing, I could barely choke out to  SH "How could you let me leave the house like this?"  He was much too diplomatic to respond, but I saw a wry smile which confirmed in my mind that he, too, had thought I looked silly but would never say anything and loved me anyway.

Inside the arena

Yesterday Sweet Hubby and I did something I didn't even know until recently was available to do.  We took a tour of this city's big indoor sports and concert arena.

Yesterday was our 18th anniversary, so I had signed us up for the tour to give us something special and interesting to do.  And it was,  indeed, very interesting to be given a glimpse into stars' dressing rooms, press rooms, equipment rooms, private lounges, upscale restaurants, passageways; to see the arena from below and high above.  When we walked from one dressing room down a hallway that led to the arena itself, I got a strong sense of how it might feel to be somebody like Tim McGraw (the next concert act on the schedule), a normal sized person walking into a gigantic open space full of up to 18,000 cheering people who have paid and gone to some logistical effort for you to entertain them.  No wonder stars have big egos.  You would have to have a strong sense of yourself in order to believe that you can give all these people their money's worth; that you can hold their attention and deliver value.  Wow.

The tour took about an hour and a half, and we got about 6,000 steps on our Fitbits.  Our tour guide was working way too hard to be entertaining, which was a bit annoying until we realized he is a trainee and that the man who was trailing us, supposedly just to make sure we didn't get lost, was actually the trainer.  Then I became more compassionate for how hard the guide was trying to get it right and not embarrass himself.  He, too, was someone who was doing his best to give us value for the money we had paid.

I came away from this tour determined to go back to the arena as an audience member, to attend an ice hockey game and women's basketball game, to cheer on my city's teams.  One of each sport might be plenty, but I'm more interested now than I was before I got to know this gigantic complex, which is widely known for being the first net zero certified arena in the world, setting a standard for climate action with a commitment to be at net zero carbon by 2040.  It is even called the Climate Pledge Arena.  I'm proud to live in the city that is home to such a forward-thinking business and business model.

What a day!

Yesterday morning, Leap Day, Sweet Hubby surprised me by deciding to take the day off from working on the house, and gave me an Us day.  I was thrilled, although I hadn't had a chance to plan anything, so we made the day up as we went along.

First we went out to breakfast.  Something New #1 was that I ordered oatmeal with raisins and bananas.  I am a bacon/sausage/eggs/toast/pancakes/waffles/sweet roll/hash browns kind of person, but lately I've been wanting to clean up my eating, so I went with a bowl of oatmeal (along with a few bites of SH's biscuits and gravy - I'm not an aesthete, after all).  It was actually quite satisfying.  As we ate, we talked about possibilities for the day, which were somewhat limited because of the rain.  I mentioned an Alexander Calder exhibition at the art museum, so that became the plan.

SN #2: Except for a giant red sculpture titled The Eagle in Seattle's outdoor sculpture park, I had never seen a live Calder.  I very much enjoyed getting to know his whimsical, graceful work.  I especially liked his animals: Crinkle Crocodile, Bird, Rat, and Vache.  We explored other parts of the museum as well, then headed back to the train.

One significant moment before we left the museum.  I went to the ticket counter to ask why we had not gotten the $3 discount I had read on the website comes with buying tickets online.  The ticket vendor wasn't quite sure, and as he struggled to explain, I interrupted him and was mildly, uncharacteristically belligerent.  After that, SH and I went to the museum store to nose around, but that moment at the ticket counter kept itching, so I finally went back upstairs to the counter and apologized.  I'm so glad I did that (and so was the vendor).  I know about myself that when I don't clean up a bad moment, a mistake, a misunderstanding, it will continue to haunt me in odd moments, sometimes for years.  I was embarrassed to have to humble myself like that, but it was such a relief once I had. 

So, on to SN #3.  On the train ride home, we talked about where we might want to have dinner.  I remembered a place we have passed countless times but never gone into, a restaurant called Aurora Borealis.  (The manager told us that a lot of people seem to think it's a marijuana shop.)  It got an excellent Yelp rating, so we decided to try it.  And it was great!  I want to go back again and again to try more dishes on the tempting menu.  I ordered SN #4: a Jalapeno Popper burger, constructed with pickled jalapenos, cream cheese, and raspberry sauce.  (I know, I know, what happened to cleaning up my eating?  But this was my only other meal of the day and I had a salad instead of fries as my side dish.)  SH had a garlic mushroom burger.  Both really tasty, although very messy to eat.  

After dinner, we asked for a tour of the downstairs event rooms, and learned that there is live music at this place almost every night.  We've already decided to go back for the Blues Bash, which happens to fall on Mar. 12, our 18 year anniversary.

All in all, it was a wonderful day, going to new places, trying new foods.  And best of all was that we spent it together.  A whole day with my Sweet Hubby.  Am I lucky or what?