Great B'day Weekend

Owen came for four days to visit Debby and me and to help me turn another page. We ate well and did some hanging out, punctuated by activities. The first evening, we went to a good place for rack of lamb, my official birthday meal. We went to an engagement party at Dori and Richard's Saturday night (feting Richard's brother and fiancee).

We went sea kayaking around the north end of San Juan Island, observing eagles, seals, large purple star fish, jellyfish, and kelp beds while getting a good 2.5 hour upper body workout. It was raining slightly, but no wind left the sea glassy smooth, except for the very visible currents that we mostly avoided. Debby sat in the middle and Owen took the rear seat and worked the rudder with his foot pedals. I was the fearless stroke leader at the bow.

Fortunately there were no video cameras trained on our ungraceful exiting of our three person kayak. 

It is an hour drive to the Anacortes ferry, an hour ferry ride to Friday Harbor, and a 20 minute drive to Roche Harbor, our kayak destination. We were ferry walk-ons, expecting large holiday crowds and vehicle lines that never materialized. We returned home and Debby did us a steak BBQ on our new outdoor gas grille. She has mastered outdoor cooking in the rain, so is now a fully certified resident of the NW Coast.

We spent half a day at the annual Northwest Folklife Festival at the Seattle Center by the Space Needle. Occasional drizzlies did not dampen our spirits. We attended performances by a Belorussian singing group, and by a local group that has learned to sing old music from the Republic of Georgia, considered the oldest polyphonic western music tradition (Owen says they misrepresent homophony as polyphony.) The Belorussians in authentic 19th century garb were outstanding in their renditions of music of the slavic tradition. In the chanting style and unusual harmonies, it reminded me of the music performed by the Bulgarian Women's Chorus. Georgian music uses a tuning even more unfamiliar to western ears. Although not a professional group of singers, we cut the Georgian music group a lot of slack because of the difficulties presented by the music.

We enjoyed both performances and then hit the food stands for some Indian chicken tikka masala kebab plates for a picnic by the big fountain. The sun shone on our outing. Then, while Debby preused the craft shops, Owen and I sat in on a 45 minute Afro-Peruvian drumming workshop, getting another good workout. In the picture, I appear to be almost a beat behind the others, but be assured that is only an artifact of camera angle. The smell of weed pungently wafted around this venue. Damn hippies. (j/k)

We put Owen on a limo back to the airport at 5:30 this morning. We miss you O, and your energy.