October 2014 in Seattle

This Mega-Yacht was in Seattle, I took a few pics of it from the Seattle Ferry but did not get a chance to walk down to find out where it came from before it departed Seattle. I knew I would see something about it sooner or later in one of the yacht magazines. Yep, just a couple of weeks later it was features on one of the On-line Yachting emails. So I was able to Google and found the name is "A". turns out it is owned by a Russian Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrey_Melnichenko. And here is the Wiki on "A" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_(yacht). This is the second Russian Mega-Yacht to visit Seattle since we have been here, guess it is just a short jump from the motherland.

October was a great month to teach sailing at The Center for Wooden Boats.

The Symphony season has opened and we are planning to do some more volunteer work there to break up the long winter nights that are about to begin here in just a few days as we lose Daylight Savings time. I have been wanting to attend one of the Organ Recitals there ever since we first toured Benoroya Hall during our volunteer orientation This Organ is one of a few in the world. The majestic 83-stop, 4,490-pipe tracker organ weighs in over 30 tons. The construction of the Watjen Concert Organ took C.B. Fisk, Inc., a total of 50,000 hours of labor after it's arrival from Gloucester, Mass where it was made by C.B. Fisk, Inc. See  http://www.seattlesymphony.org/benaroya/press/watjen.aspx
We got to hear Isabelle Demers who just happens to be a Organ Professor at the University of Baylor in Waco Texas. 

The fall colors started a bit early, being in an environment where you are living in a deciduous forest provides a unique opportunity for us to see the daily progression of colors.

Drew likes watching birds so we stop and watch the bird feeders.

There is no place like Austin when it comes to music but Seattle beats Austin when it comes to the Jazz Scene. The Earshot Jazz Festival is a month long annual event that features talent from everywhere in lots of venues across the city and about 50 different concerts. This year the Admiral found out how to volunteer and so we have been to three events, two as volunteers. 

The Opening night of the Earshot was a tribute to Thelonious Monk. He was the Jimi Hendrix of Jazz, just as Rock and roll was changed forever due to Jimi, Thelonious changed Jazz. 

The Town Hall is a very interesting venue, Looks like a huge church, and I wondered if it was ever really a Town Hall? I found: "The Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist, built this edifice in two stages, 1916-1922. It was built at the peak of the Christian Science movement, when the church could afford generous spaces and fine finishes. The congregation was the sole and continuous occupant of the building until it was sold to Town Hall in 1998." see:  http://www.townhallseattle.org/about-town-hall/

The Cowboys were coming to 12 land, The Cowboys have always been our team but over the last several years I have lost interest due to Jerry always interfering with the coaching staff resulting in years of  frustration. We got caught up in the incredible fan support of the Seahawks and of course being here for the Super Bowl win was another unique experience. We have joined the 12's and went  down to Century link Stadium to experience the 12 world full blast. 

Every single animate and inanimate object in this town is sporting Seahwaks colors.

t think I heae Blue Thunder http://www.seahawks.com/gameday/blue-thunder/ 

This huge Glass Condo building is just a short distance from the North end of Century Link Stadium so they can all just watch the games from there.

See a little Blue Thunder : http://youtu.be/8wiCXWqUP5Q A very nice couple from Dallas took this photo for us, Good to see some Texans.

A little Foot Reflexology http://www.enjoyrelaxingmoments.abmp.com/foot-reflexology in the International district. 

This bike share program just started in Seattle. There are 50 stations around the inner city where you can rent a bike and either return it or leave it at another station. 

A group tried a free bike share program years ago in Austin called the Yellow Bikes but it never really worked like they thought it would. They painted donated bikes yellow and put them all over town hoping they would develop into a free ride share program but to many people just kept the bikes. But they have evolved and continue to exist as a non profit to promote bike riding http://austinyellowbike.org/

This one is much better organized and the bikes are locked up till a registered user uses a programmed key.

You see these trucks going around doing maintenance and making sure there are bikes in each location. The Cars are slowly being  pushed aside in the inner city of Seattle and more room taken for bike lanes so I think Pronto will be a successfull venture see: https://www.prontocycleshare.com/ 

Unlike the huge Yellow cranes seen all over town there are a few of these smaller ones for the smaller buildings going up. First time to see one up close.

It was interesting to see that the entire tower rotates on these smaller cranes. 

We attended the opening night for the latest Exhibition at the Seattle Art Museum "Pop Departures" The Curator gives a lecture on the Exhibit as you drink a little wine then you go visit the Exhibit. http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/exhibitions/pop

The photo Booth gives you a chance to participate in the Pop Art culture.

A cool Scene as we were leaving the SAM

Best Damn Happy Hour cause they have great Door prizes.

The Turk Fest

Traditional cultural music provides the listener with a glimpse into the challenges and struggles of past and present day struggles in their every day lives.

Wonder what Tony Lama thinks? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Lama_Boots

We have had so much of the different cultural foods at these festivals we are now getting a little picky and passed it by this time.

Whoa, is that some guy out in the water?

It's a dummy, I soon spotted a Seattle fireman nearby and I told him I came very close to dialing 911. They were doing some drills and had three dummy bodies floating out in Elliot Bay.

Where is the perfect spot for the Space Needle Pic?

Three unidentified flying objects hovering over the Space needle, you will have to click on the pic to enlarge then zoom in to see the three orange saucers flying overhead in a hoovering pattern.

The first nine days of October were uncommon, they soon gave way to typical fall weather.

October 2014 in Seattle

The first week or so of October was just as nice and rain free as September. One of the students I had teaching sailing at the Center For Wooden Boats told me he had lived in Seattle for 40 years and never had a October like this. October has always ment the start of rain, fog, and gray days.Here I am writing this on the 28th of October and the last several days have certainly been wet, rainy, windy and some fog. The second of two big back to back fronts is passing through right now. It is funny though as surrounding areas received over an inch of rain in two days and Seattle got only 0.3" due to being in the "rain shadow" of the Olympics. It's funny how moisture can fall from the skys for most of the day and you only get 3 tenths of an inch. If it rained that long in Texas you get floods.
No road trips this month as we just settle into doing the Seattle things that are nearby including Octobers Earshot Jazz Festival where we started out by going to the opening nights Thelonious Monks birthday where Seattle's finest jazz musicians came together to interpret his legacy their way. We then volunteered at The Town Hall and sold t-shirts and CD's but we got to see the full concert of Joe Lavano & Dave Douglas Quintet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o0z6oukmC4 and then at the Seattle Art Museum's Auditorium we tokk tickets and got to see the debut of Daniel Berry's Celestial Rhythum Orchestra http://www.barrymusic.com/announcements They will have a youtube video of this Orchestra soon as they were taping the Debut for that purpose. Earshot is celebrating 30 years as a nonprofit promoting Jazz and the Arts in Seattle. I am sure, due to their organization, that is why there is so much Jazz talent here. Austin just can not compare to the scene going on here. http://www.earshot.org/
We are also gearing up to do some more volunteering for theSeattle Symphony but we had some free tickets left over from last year so I have been wanting to hear a Organ recital there but the dates never worked out. So we checked the schedule and we put that first on the list. I had no Idea who Isabelle Demers was I just wanted to hear that Organ without the full symphony in front of it. She was amazing and to learn that she is a Professor at Baylor University in Waco Texas was almost confusing. What is a world class talent like this doing in Waco, Texas? Teaching Organ I guess. Benoroya Hall is huge and it takes a lot of people to just make it looks like someone is there in the audience. This night there were just a light sprinkling of faces in the Audience but they all loved this woman's' talent for sure http://isabelledemers.org/ .
The other big event for us was to just walk down to Century Link Field the morning of the Seahawks VS Cowboys game jut to experience the Seahawks 12 pre-game Crowd. Century Link Field is adjacent to the Historical Pioneer Square http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Square,_Seattle
Just walking through Pioneer Square which is full of restaurants and Bars where the 12 are jucing up for the big game is pretty electrifying. Then you get to the stadium and the tailgaters and crowds on the streets are thick, all kinds of antics, partying, and just stuff is going on. The drumline Blue Thunder Gets the crowd ready to enter the Stadium pumped up and ready. Unfortunate for the Seahawks on this day the Cowboys have continued their recent winning streak.. Stilll a Seahawks fan but I am glad to see the Cowboys doing well, Hopefully Jerry will let his coaches do their jobs.


Post Script:
For those that may have just started following our blog, I would suggest you may want to see where all this started. Just scroll down on the right hand side of the page and click on 2010 in the BLOG Archive, then click on July and choose the first post, or follow this link: http://svwandrinstar.blogspot.com/2010/07/corpus-christi.html