dusk is on it's way...

I couldn't ask for a better week. Lot's of fun bike riding around Lake Washington starting at Seward Park, having friends over to the house for the first time, cooking pupusas - food that reminds me of the brief year I spent in San Francisco and to top it off, a trip to the Average Joe Cat Show.

There's still more to go - the weekend is jam-packed with activities & friends in town. We're going to do a maypole celebration tomorrow, then off to Whidbey Island (the Whidbey Institute) for a Mevlevi event - then days of talking with friends from Portland/Hawaii/etc.

Jason gave me the greatest gift today - time to think about storage for the art studio. We got one shelf of a set that we'll get over time. He's out buying corn for the Chicken Corn Chowder he'll be making tonight for the potluck portion of our weekend (I'll help with the dumpling-like rivels) and I'm heading out to put the shelves together. It's been great working together - with folks coming to stay, it's good to know we've got each other's backs.

Twighlight is here. It rained today, leaving drops on all of the leaves, blossoms & veggies in the garden. Beautiful, but cold. I got a few shots before the sun dispersed & now the inky gray clouds are all that's left of the day.

Mostly done

We got further along than we expected after seeing what we were up against. Still a ways to go, but not as much as we first thought.

Here are the pics, right this way.



Splendid day.

I should really just check the weather before I post

Beautiful sun is what we're having in Shoreline this weekend. Which is good, because we're pounding to get all of the mulch into the garden by the end of the day. This was the recommendation we got for managing our over 400 sq. foot veggie garden - cover most of it, while enriching the soil & killing all of the weeds at the same time.

The difference between the garden as we saw it in Oct. & yesterday's first swipe is pretty amazing:



We still have a bit more cardboard to collect & of course the whole wheelbarrows full of mulch thing is going to kick our butts today, but it feels really good to take care of the yard. Not to mention that we're already enjoying the food from the garden.

I've always really (& really secretly) admired horticulturalists (my Grandfather was the guy who took care of the cherry trees along the tidal basin in Washington, DC and my friend Richie has worked with plants the entire time I've known him) so getting to do my own landscaping and gardening is a real treat.

Well, I guess I better get the last of the morning coffee drunk & get out there.

Weekend plans

The rain has returned, and J and I are expecting a delivery of 8 yards of compost mulch to cover the part of our roughly 400 square foot garden that we want to keep free of weeds while we get our bearings as gardeners. We've already benefitted from the vegetables that were planted before we arrived here. Fresh asparagus is a treat & I guess we can harvest it twice more, if we're lucky.

My job today is to corral enough cardboard to cover the grassy areas that are encroaching on the beds that we've not planted yet. I'm also heading over to D.D.s to help out with her launch party for her new business. I'm glad everything is indoors today - I'll be working in the rain this weekend, so this will be my treat.

Well, just got off the phone & it looks like I'll be prowling around Home Depot, Costco, etc. to corral enough cardboard. Ah well, I guess having it delivered woulda been a bit too much to expect.

Art studio update: Nothing to report here, but wanted to post that I'm still doing art, still have art on the brain.

Have a good weekend, everybody.

Sunny after all

Sunday brought plenty of sun - a lovely accompaniment to J's return home. Hope everyone had a good Easter - Passover - Mohammed's birthday and other festivities of this season.

Saturday's performance with Ahmet Ozhan went very well. The dervishes joined in two separate sections - Avery Fisher hall was full, tickets sold out and Ahmet Ozhan's performance was met with a standing ovation & encore requests.

We sent four local dervishes & were regaled with wonderful stories from their experiences in New York on Monday. I've been looking for reviews & will post when I find one, but so far - no luck.

J & I are gearing up to take on the garden this weekend. This week has so far been very pleasant, although it's grey again today. I've been getting out more & even made a trip to the zoo yesterday. An early visit was they way to go as most animals were out to have their breakfast. Photos here.

My neighbor, Margaret, invited me over to play scrabble any time I want. She's going to be 103 this year & I got to spend an hour or so with her yesterday. It's really something to spend time with someone who has decided to live on their own for the long haul. Margaret is very companionable & terrific to spend time with - I'll definitely take her up on her offer!

Pouring again...

It's dumping rain today and was the same yesterday.

J called to say everything went really well in New York. He didn't let me know when he'd be arriving today, though. I can't wait to hear how it was to be in New York like we were in Turkey - there's nothing like Turkish hospitality & that counts no matter where the visit takes place.

Dinner tonight was a treat. Five of my favorite women, potluck style, all foodies and all have plenty going on. More potential bike riding & walking dates & a book to read. This was very satisfying. Also fun to hear the joy & trials of raising teenagers - two of our number have new drivers in their midst.

Potential stuff reduction happening today. We have an insane bookshelf/queensize fold out bed. It's a terrific & fun piece of furniture - but we're done with it in the new place and it would be nice to feel less crowded in the living room. Folks are coming by today to see it.

Happy Easter everyone!

Booking time

Terrific fun this week, that I can truly use. J left this morning for NYC & called just an hour ago, having finally arrived at the hotel around 2am local time. Effendi was sitting out front he said & I thought about the time difference between NY & Hawaii - it's not even 10pm now (around midnight in Seattle).

This morning's trip to get J & others to the airport was sweet. There's nothing like dropping off three guys who are focused on spiritual goals. Combine the excitement that they will be appearing at Lincoln Center & the sky is really the limit. I'm very happy to help them & proud.

Then, after a nap this afternoon, I joined Brian & Yann for a dance extravaganza featuring the music from the 80's. J has caught me up on what I missed of the music of that decade, while I was a bike courier, letting me know the significance of Guns'n'Roses, among others. I was told that while the dance themes would be broad, this time they would be shallow & the performance did fit that description. Considering that the last dance performance I attended was conducted in pitch black darkness, with the audience viewing via night vision goggles & monocles, it was useful to have my expectations reset.

The show was fun & surprising - the sensibility was very much "14 yr old dancing alone in front of a mirror", but done professionally. When the show ended, I dropped Yann & Brian off, heading home to see if J had called.

Now I'm sitting at the computer, while Jema the cat tugs at her scratching post. I keep saying that her "sap is rising" because for a cat she's being really demanding these days. Spring is completely sprung and that's got to affect a cat, even in her late 80's.

I'm hoping to make it to the zoo tomorrow, to get shots of the animals - but it's very cold & rainy, so I'm not pinning my hopes on that. Later, I'll meet with friends to talk about volunteering - although it may be a wake up call for me as my friends are all parents who do heaps of things for their various aged children, not exactly heaps of free time there, but still I get tremendous amounts of good things from being with them.

Then Sunday, I think early, J comes back. I forgot to ask him if he'd like me to meet him at the airport, but it's likely that if I get the final flight info, I'll just head down there unasked.

I've had such a wonderful time this week. Jessica and I took a long bike ride along the Burke Gilman trail & Richie let me take time to walk through the Elizabeth Miller Garden. He also came by to help us figure out what to do with our yard & so I've been a bit plant-drunk as a result. Fortunately, he reminded me that the garden he works at is especially beautiful because it has a $4k/annual budget, 2 full-time gardeners & a team of volunteers -- which is distinctly unlike, um, my yard. The week, though, was fantastic.

Anyway, I feel like I'm seeing the shift toward work & am filling time with lovely & productive projects until I can finish the construction of a useful week, month, year...

Good news from J & local friends!

Jason is going to NY this weekend to turn at Lincoln Center with Turkish singer, Ahmet Ozhan. More information on the performance is here and Ahmet's singing here.

Brian Murphy won the well-deserved Behnke Foundation Award in this year's painting category. To hear a review of his work, KUOW. The discussion centers around Rhododendrons and azaleas & so I'm letting y'all know that before you select the audio - I loved it, but I believe my plant geekiness is only beginning to show.

My accomplishments today include clearing more of the bed in the front yard, deadheading the daisies that my sister got for me on her recent visit and getting vacuum bags from the store. I did get info on a possible part-time job, which is loverly. I'm getting jazzed now about the little jobs associated with gardening - there's something very bouyant about working with plants.

Oh, I did do well at yesterday's turn class. It's been a while since I've even turned in class, though I've attended class more regularly this year than in others. Last night, I hit a speedbump & had tremendous energy with which to turn. Fortunately, the ateshbaz - or teacher - wanted to turn a lot to prep for Saturday & so we turned to two songs - about 20 minutes or so of turning.

Since our Sema in Turkey, I have recalled that a semazen I turned with in Galata was praised for turning in very the tight space that we turned in. It's difficult to not bump into someone, while turning, in general and the number of people turning at Galata was a bit large for the space we had to turn in.

The dance we do is best if it looks effortless - but the experience is rarely that way. There is a certain grace to the movements - but if you add other people and try to move in a circle while turning, it ramps up the number of obstacles to reaching that grace.

Finding a groove between two people who are also turning is a job of constant observation & an ability to start and stop on a dime. My turn is evolving, so I'm still paying attention to where my center is & how many movements I'm using to accomplish the turn (three steps should do it, I tend to add a few to compensate for losing my balance).

The yoga I used to do helped, because those slow, still stretches & odd positions emphasize strengthening the overall body. That helps in turning because there's no physical equivalent to the movements you make. In day to day life, you're not going to turn yourself around on your left leg. The same could be said for "the pigeon" or "downward dog". I mean, c'mon...

So when Scott (our ateshbaz) suggested the lengthy walk turning, I focused on keeping my spot, between J & Michael. I had to stop and start & I couldn't tell if we would ever develop into the groove. But that happened & I felt fairly even in the turn as a result.

Ok, time's a wastin'. I'm heading back out into the garden.

An evening of saints

A few threads are converging as I go through my evening: I am watching Sister Wendy & the history of painting, in which she reviews the European works from Lascaux to the renaissance.

The sister's tone is frank, she doesn't avoid any detail of the pieces and doesn't skip over anything to make the work more palatable, unusual, considering her religous devotion. There's also something to her habit/formal appearance & disposition that provides a deeper understanding of the work - as many of the pieces from the works she reviews were sponsored by the church. I really enjoy her take on art & am looking forward to seeing the other dvds that she's done.

One of the topics she covers is the renewal of passion for the Catholic church in the 13th century, an effect of St. Francis' approach to religion. She said of him that "everybody was inspired by the little poor man from Assisi, who called the sun his sister & the wolf his brother" and mentioned a paradox, the richly painted Basilica that was built to commemorate this man who rejected material things for a life of poverty.

That reminded me that my mother has had a statue of St. Francis from the time we kids left home in the 80's through the time she lived with my brother & his kids. My experience of her Catholicism is that she practiced it in a very ego-less way. I got the feeling that the desire for money, fame or prestige was less valuable than the desire to pick up a stranger stuck in the rain or giving shelter to people, even if it sets you back a bit. That separation from the drive to achieve for the goods it will get you has remained with me, sometimes causing odd tangents in my behavior, but I think it's been mostly for good.

My mother also attended a parochial school named for another saint, St. Frances Xavier - apparently, the patron saint of immigration. This brings up for me the struggle this country is having with how we will accept folks from abroad. The antipathy toward immigrants that has overwhelmed the country in the last 4 years or so worries me. I understand that I'm not privy the scope & difficulties of the immigration issues, but the richness of this country is derived from the multitudes of folks from all over. Maybe that's my DC upbringing talking - I loved it that I could have lunch in high school with my best friend from Pakistan, another from French New Guinea, another from Mexico and another who was an American Black Muslim. We all enjoyed it. I don't know a lot about Frances Xavier, but I think it's worth it to check him out now.

I have been going through our trusty file cabinet, specifically through old personal papers. As I've meandered through writings from the past, I came across a card for Martin de Porres House of Hospitality, where I volunteered while living in San Francisco in 1987. This saint was noted for his mixed race (although he is not the only saint who is not lily-white), and his compassion for people & animals. His story is here.

The story of the House of Hospitality is also very generous. From the large interior space, the small but beautiful landscaped grounds and to the mod-cons like free showers within a safe, gated area in the Mission District, San Francisco. The deal with Martin de Porres was that folks coming in for meals were fed as many servings as they could eat & left with a bag of food. There were clothes for folks who needed them. With the art covered walls and music in all of the dining areas -the environment was strikingly different from the streets outside.

I remember an example of how different it was being the resolution of a fight between guests of the soup kitchen. They were fighting over a loaf of bread. Two women from the kitchen (I was one) went over to them to ask them to stop fighting. We brought more bread and reminded them that they didn't have long to enjoy the peace and quiet, soon they'd be back tussling on the streets. We urged them not to waste this time & reminded them that they'd get the boot for disturbing other folks ... although I didn't expect it, our tactics worked and they went back to hanging out after their lunch. The idea that we could actually create and enforce a safe space for a group stuck with me.

I'm always up for saint stories - or I guess stories of any kind - so I couldn't resist tossing these thoughts out there, loose as they may seem and as inconclusive as my observations appear to be.