Out West

Mimi at the window of our hotel room--not a bad view, is it?


So we went west, we saw the Seattle U campus (seemed nice enough), really liked the nearby Capital Hill neighborhood, especially the record store Everyday Music. That's where we got the Junior Boys album (Now Playing) (after hearing them at Pitchfork, we had to go for it; oh if you could have seen the size of that store's electronica section, reader!).

Hopefully we'll find a place in Capital Hill, but we're still waiting for word on Mimi's job. She had her interview (5 hours!) (including a tour and lunch), and it seemed to go well, but we're still waiting. . . .

And we met the chair of the Phil. dept. at Seattle, and his wife; they seemed cool. And we walked, and walked . . . had some good food (thanks, Fran & Dave, for Mimi's birthday present! (dinner at the Dahlia Lounge; delicious crab cakes!)); had some coffee. Got rained on, but not too much.

Even made fun of tourists from the south ("Does this bus stop at Mine street?" driver: "Ninth Street?" "No, Mine street" (and then more like that); turned out it was Main street she was after . . .).



On a bench on some pier



Hotel window at night



Trying to take a picture of ourselves at Olympic Sculpture Park, in front of Eagle, by Alexander Calder. Nice write-up on that park recently in Sunset Magazine (yes, like the Wilco song). Why the squinting? First time the sun had been out all day; and we're looking right at it. . . .



At the sculpture park: Typewriter Eraser, Scale X, by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen (yes, that's right: they did the big shuttlecocks at the Nelson-Atkins in Kansas City! way to stay with me, reader!)



Speaking of arists & such, the Seattle Public Library is a pretty recent architectural wonder designed by Rem Koolhaas. We spent some time there (really fun building, with wacky escalators, a beautiful reading room, great views; plus it's out of the rain, and the Wi-Fi's free). There's a pretty good slide show on their website, if you've got the time. (Photo courtesy of the library's website.)



So Merrica's been living in Japan, in the Akita Prefecture (秋田県), which, among other things, is famous for it's rice, its sake, and its Namahage festival. When we saw that Saito's had a sake called Namahage, from Akita, we of course ordered it! Tasty stuff. And the sushi at Saito's was also quite good.



Emily, not expecting to be photographed


Speaking of Emily, she recently found out that an essay she'd written won third prize in the annual competition by the Theatre Historical Society of America. Her essay is called "Into the Brick and Mortal and Marble: A History of the Fort Armstrong Theatre," and it offers a pretty cool discussion of a place just a couple of blocks from our apartment in Rock Island.

I'm not sure, but I think the Society's journal, Marquee, will publish the piece; until I figure out the copyright details, you'll have to take my word for it when I say it's a good read. (Anyone especially interested in obtaining a pre-release copy is encouraged to contact me or Emily personally.)


Well, that's all for now. I'll let you know about Mimi's job as soon as I hear. All best, reader.