Mari's Memoirs of the Macrocosm: June 2010

21.6.10

Sunset at Alki

After enjoying fish and chips, ice cream milkshakes and a little mezcal (but not in the shakes), we blissfully enjoyed a sunset on Alki beach. Life is wonderful.

So, the sun is shining, my Mom invited us to the ballet. We saw Coppelia, which I had never seen before. The main character Franz, was a crack up and totally a fool in love. Overall, the dancing was spectacular and the little girls in the last act were adorable.

After the ballet, we sauntered and skipped through the Pacific Science Center (which he had never visited before). We went to the EMP which was really fun. Of course, the music section was hooked up. Si played in the drum room for a spell. He said the drum set was really cool, as he jammed and jammed. My ears hurt, so I only stayed inside for a few minutes.

My most favorite exhibit in the museum (which I have no pictures, of course) was the Supremes! They had several costume sets from their performances and they were magnificent! The detail and design was so gorgeous, classic and truly made music history. My most favorite piece (just try to imagine) was a midlength dress with a full skirt that had sections of oranges, reds, and maroon all beaded, then like pretty flames, the beading continued up to the top, which was hot orange. So amazing!

Guitars, guitars, guitars

This amazing piece of art is the first thing you see when entering the EMP. You can stare at it for hours, just letting the eye move from guitar to guitar.

Sun!

Earlier this month, there were a few rare days of sun (that are no long gone), we enjoyed the Seattle Center's fountain and watched children get wet, share picnics and enjoy our beautiful city. Viva Seattle!

Baby!

We live on a fairly busy street. My friend dL, while journeying to our home, watched this cute little dog nearly get run over by two different cars. She scooped up the little pooch and brought her to our home. We searched high and low for this dog with no collar. dL even took her to the Humane Society to see if she was chipped- no dice. The dog stayed with us for one night and we dreamed of many names for her- Chloe was my favorite.

At 5am the next day, I took her for a walk, half asleep and this man stopped his car. It's her neighbor! He said her name is Baby and she lives across the street from him. After a day of phone calls and babysitting Baby (her owners work nights), she went home! Apparently, she had a bit of an attitude when arriving home as if to say "why did you guys let me get away"?

She was so sweet and definitely missed her home. We enjoyed being a dog owner- for one night.

New garden!

My grandfather came over with his roto-tiller and assisted Simon is preparing the soil for our new garden. My grandfather is the BEST gardener I know producing a very successful garden each year- lettuce, tomatoes, squash (of several kinds), radish, herbs, carrots, corn, peas, beans, broccoli, cauliflower, karabi, onions and so much more, but I digress.

He has been quite involved in the design, creation and assistance in our yard. Grandma stayed in our home with me, helping me with chores. We finished with a great Chinese dinner. We are truly blessed to have such a supportive pair of grandparents.

Japanese maple garden

All of my life, I have loved Japanese maple trees. When I was growing up, we had one in our backyard. So, my hope is that we'll have many in all of the homes we live in (later on in life). In an effort to remove some grass (which is such a waste of water and energy), we'll plant gardens! Er, I should say Simon will take out the grass and we'll plant together. So, this little garden has a beautiful Japanese maple tree ("Crimson red") and surrounding the tree (although hard to tell at the moment) are batches of black mondo grass and batches of brass buttons, which are also a New Zealand plant.

Near our home, we have Mintners Nursery and it is such a gem. It can be a little pricier, but it's great for special plants. Ask for Eddie and he will give you such great knowledge, help and is a bit fun, too. He helped us design this area after we put some ideas together. Simon also helped A LOT.

Clematis!

This beautiful plant will grow and grow (hopefully soon) and not only distract the eye from our ugly, yet effective chain link fence, but also give our neighbors some beautiful flowers to enjoy. We have many neighbors that walk down our street, Roxbuy.

9.6.10

Beautiful sidewalk!

Four clematis plants line the sidewalk, thanks to Simon's hard work and dedication. There are *many* bags of bark committed to this project; we had to go to the hardware store a few times to finish the project. Already, I have seen one of the Chinese grandma's in our neighborhood, who walk down our street daily, marvel at the young pretty plants.