Your Sunday Squirrel

I've seen quite a few films at SIFF over the last few days, so there hasn't been a lot of time to post or photograph squirrels. Apologies, but for the time being, please enjoy this shot from the archives.

Your Sunday Squirrel

The best thing I did this week - besides taking pictures of fuzzy geese - was to go to a funeral. Yeah, it was one of those weeks. Here is a squirrel. He was very nice. Enjoy.

Geese!

I was at Lake Union yesterday, as usual, and there were several families of geese there. The youngsters were quite fuzzy. And this is what they looked like.

Your Sunday Squirrel

Today I was out in Snohomish, celebrating Mother's Day with my family. This involved me doing yard work for my mom and watching shows about asteroids crashing into the Earth with my nephews. I also tried to befriend their squirrels. It was pretty hopeless. The country is a pretty bad place for squirrels, I guess. They have dogs, cats, hawks and owls always hassling them, so they're not friendly. They don't suddenly become nice when you're waving a peanut at them. Fortunately, that's exactly what they do at Denny Park. And here's an overhead view of a fellow who is enjoying a peanut.

Another Week, Another Running-Thing

OK, so last week it was the March of Dimes. And that was quite nice. This week it's the Color Run. From the hastily-snapped photo above, you can tell there were many people. Yes, and they were quite supportive. So very supportive. OK, I was already up, but next year, maybe an hour later with all the supportiveness might be best. Perhaps all of my 2nd Avenue neighbors would agree. Nobody's gonna argue that it's for a good cause - Ronald McDonald House - and that people had fun and colors of some kind were sprayed on them, but maybe later next year, as 8:00 on a Sunday morning is a bit early for this kind of activity, yes? I look forward to the next opportunity for people to wear t-shirts and cheer each other on. And I hope that it will begin at 9:00.

Your Sunday Squirrel

I've been working this temp job on Dexter Ave., so I've been able to visit Denny Park a lot. The only problem is that the weather was so lousy last week that I'm sure most of the tree residents are probably contemplating becoming indoor squirrels. I don't blame them at all. Consequently, they were nowhere to be seen most of the week. This photo is from a few weeks ago. I'm quite fond of it and I hope you are, too.

The March of Dimes Gets a Marching Band

Each year at about this time, 2nd Ave. is closed for the March of Dimes walk. This usually involves lots of strollers and people wearing visors and such like. I'm guessing that a good time is had by all. Well, this year somebody finally got the brilliant idea of getting a marching band. Actually, it was just a band that moved in a disorganized mass at a leisurely pace. There was no marching that I saw. But still, it was nice that they provided some kind of roving music ensemble. I was totally hucking dimes at them (just kidding). I'd like to see more bands next year. That would be fun.

Bye-Bye, McGuire!

Well, the McGuire is finally dead. Maybe good riddance; maybe not. Funny thing, I started this blog in part to keep track of the scaffolding on the building way before it was condemned. It became a running joke for something like two years. And of course, the irony is that if you look at the top photo from several days ago, the scaffold was the last thing to go. I have no doubt that they'll build on the site again. That's a given. All I ask is that they put up something nice this time.

Igor Goes to the Opera!

OK, so going to the opera is nothing new for me. I do it fairly often. I've been reviewing them for Artdish for lo these many years. But this is the first time I've seen one at Key Arena. Let me tell you, it was quite a fine experience. You know, I expected mullets, flip-flops and huge obese families with squalling children. Nothing of the sort. Fine, upstanding people actually got dressed up to watch an opera at a sports arena. I also expected for people to be on their phones for the entire show. That also didn't happen. You know what else didn't happen? A full house, that's what. Tickets were free and all 8,000 had been reserved a week in advance. The real attendance was probably around 2,500; still respectable, but just slightly more indicative of Seattle's innate lameness or perhaps that 5,500 people find even opera for free to be too daunting. I don't know. Anyhow, I settled in on the 200 level and what you see above was my view. The photo below was an attempt to portray the size of the crowd. I also managed to capture a scene from the Bugs Bunny cartoon "What's Opera, Doc?" Yeah, they showed that. It was wonderful.

As for Madama Butterfly, I'll say this: it was very well sung. Butterfly, that cad Pinkerton and Sharpless were fantastic. The sound inside the arena was remarkably clear and the camera work was quite good. The orchestra, on the other hand, had its share of troubles. Sure, they stayed together, but the first act seemed like a competition between the strings and the woodwinds for who could play the most out of tune. The strings won and carried the second act, too. They got it together by the third act. So despite that, I think everybody should see this production. There's nothing new or innovative about it; Cio-Cio San still gets burned by Pinkerton and still kills herself, the scenery is traditionally minimal and both Americans and Japanese communicate in perfect Italian, but it's still quite enjoyable. I'd love to see more productions like this. I always have a touch of claustrophobia in McCaw Hall. I don't know why. It's just always been that way. The Key Arena setting made that totally disappear. And believe it or not, seeing Speight Jenkins' 50-foot-tall head on the giant screen before the show and during the intermission wasn't that alarming.