Poem for Thursday and T-Mobile Park

Dancers Exercising 

By Amy Clampitt 

Frame within frame, the evolving conversation   

is dancelike, as though two could play   

at improvising snowflakes'

six-feather-vaned evanescence,

no two ever alike. All process

and no arrival: the happier we are,

the less there is for memory to take hold of,   

or -- memory being so largely a predilection   

for the exceptional -- come to a halt   

in front of. But finding, one evening   

on a street not quite familiar,

inside a gated

November-sodden garden, a building   

of uncertain provenance,

peering into whose vestibule we were   

arrested—a frame within a frame,   

a lozenge of impeccable clarity --

by the reflection, no, not

of our two selves, but of

dancers exercising in a mirror,

at the center

of that clarity, what we saw

was not stillness

but movement: the perfection

of memory consisting, it would seem,   

in the never-to-be-completed.

We saw them mirroring themselves,   

never guessing the vestibule

that defined them, frame within frame,   

contained two other mirrors.

-------- 

We took my parents to the airport on Thursday morning for their flight home -- they were originally supposed to go from Seattle to visit our relatives around L.A., but one of them has covid, so my parents are taking no chances of catching it. While they were flying, we came home and did a bunch of work and chores, then walked to the beach for the first time in a week -- there are merganser ducklings now and adult and juvenile eagles. 

My Thursday night chat group was in a good mood because of Trump's convictions, though we talked more about Doctor Who and new Trek. Then Paul and I watched the season finale of Hacks, which reminded me of the first season in some brutal ways but was excellent, and now we're watching the last episode of PBS's Pompeii: The New Dig. Some photos from the Mariners game against the Astros on Tuesday, which ended better than today's:

Greetings from Bellevue

Another quickie after watching the Mariners win again, this time on TV in extra innings. Wednesday was a mostly rainy day, quite hard at times. So apart from a visit to the Bellevue Botanical Garden in the late morning, where some of the rhododendrons and other flowers were still in bloom, we spent most of it indoors, starting with lunch at Bellevue Square and a walk around the mall that ultimately ended with Ben & Jerry's. 

We came home for a little while to hang out and feed the cats, then we went back to Bellevue, where we met Daniel, Adam, Cahaya, and Haley at Cactus for chips, enchiladas, tacos, and various other food and drinks. A Pokestop had told me that there was a Chihuly installation in nearby Lincoln Square, so we walked over there after eating to see it before saying goodnight to the kids and taking my parents back to their hotel.

Greetings from T-Mobile Park

Quickie, got back late from the Mariners game. Tuesday was my father's birthday, so we had lunch with my parents at the Cheesecake Factory in the Bellevue Square mall near their hotel, then walked around in the mall a bit and went back to their suite to hang out before leaving for the game -- I even got to drop in on my Tuesday Voyager group. 

At the stadium, we met the kids, picked up our Snoopy and Woodstock bobbleheads, watched my father's name flash up on the scoreboard among the birthdays, ate various stadium food, and watched the Mariners win 4-2 over the Astros (great 8th inning). We dropped my parents off at their hotel and now we're watching this week's Dark Matter.

Greetings from Pier 57-59

Seattle had spectacular weather on Memorial Day, so we spent a lot of it downtown. First we picked my parents up and had lunch at Nordstrom Cafe in Bellevue Square Mall. Then we parked near Pike Place Market and walked to Miner's Landing and around the pier with the Seattle Great Wheel before meeting Daniel, Adam, and Haley at the aquarium, where we all saw the octopus, the sea otters, the fur seals, lots of tidepool animals, fish, and birds, and -- lounging on a nearby pier -- a big wild sea lion. 

From the aquarium, we walked to the market which was closing after the long weekend, and from there to Noa Thai, where we had eaten previously with a friend and our kids had eaten with Paul's brother Jon and his wife. Adam took us all out to dinner, then we took my parents back to their hotel and came home to feed the cats. We saw the end of the Mariners win over the Astros -- hoping for the same tomorrow, when we have tickets -- and now we're watching the rerun of the Memorial Day concert. 

Greetings from Seattle Center

We met our kids at the Portage Bay Cafe in Green Lake for brunch with and courtesy of my parents, where we had assorted eggs, potatoes, pancakes, and piles of fruit and nuts from the toppings bar. Then we went to Daniel's house so my parents could see it (and meet the dogs). Cahaya had some chores to do, but the rest of us drove to Seattle Center, where the Northwest Folklife Festival was taking place with lots of music, food vendors, and crafts on display. We walked through the festival to the International Fountain to take photos. 

But our main reason for being downtown was to visit the stunning displays at Chihuly Garden and Glass, which had a lot of guests, yet didn't feel overcrowded, so we were able to take a lot of great photos. In the late afternoon, Adam and Haley went home to walk Pepper. The rest of us got sodas at the Armory with Daniel before bringing my parents to our apartment for bagels. After we dropped them off at their hotel, we watched this week's Interview With the Vampire and the end of X-Men '97, both very enjoyable since I'm flexible with canon.

Greetings from Volunteer Park

We picked up my parents from their hotel and brought them back to our apartment for bagels and a walk on the dock to show them the goslings, herons, and turtles, then we drove to Volunteer Park to meet the kids at the Seattle Asian Art Museum. After visiting the galleries there -- some amazing ancient pieces thousands of years old from many regions and cultures of Asia, arranged thematically rather than by era or nation -- we walked a bit among the rhododendrons and park ducks. 

Then we went to Adam's apartment for an hour to drink tea, eat M&Ms, and relax with Pepper, who couldn't decide whether she wanted to hide under a blanket or try to steal food. At dinnertime, we went to meet Daniel and Cahaya at the Greek restaurant Mykonos, where we ate lots of tyrokafteri, tzatziki, Greek potatoes, and a wide variety of entrees. Afterward, we took my parents back to their hotel and came home to feed our cats and watch some X-Men '97. There was a beaver in the lake this evening!

Greetings from Fremont

Quickie after an evening with my family, including both my kids and parents, the latter of whom we picked up at SeaTac this afternoon and took to Adam's apartment before going to meet Daniel at Cafe Turko, along with Cahaya and Haley. Earlier Paul and I did a bunch of chores and went to Trader Joe's and Safeway, both of which have lots of flowers for sale. 

Adam gave me belated Mother's Day presents, including a glass bird and Taylor Swift Mad Libs, and we ate a lot of Mediterranean food, including four kinds of hummus, dolmas, two kinds of eggplant, pides, and baklava. We got back late and watched this week's Doctor Who, which was weirdly devoid of the brand new Doctor, and now we're watching the not-very-good Atlas.

Poem for Thursday and Top It Titanic

The Titanic 

By Aleister Crowley 

Forth flashed the serpent streak of steel,

Consummate crown of man's device;

Down crashed upon an immobile

And brainless barrier of ice.

Courage!

The grey gods shoot a laughing lip: -

Let not faith founder with the ship!

We reel before the blows of fate;

Our stout souls stagger at the shock.

Oh! there is Something ultimate

Fixed faster than the living rock.

Courage!

Catastrophe beyond belief

Harden our hearts to fear and grief!

The gods upon the Titans shower

Their high intolerable scorn;

But no god knoweth in what hour

A new Prometheus may be born.

Courage!

Man to his doom goes driving down;

A crown of thorns is still a crown!      

No power of nature shall withstand

At last the spirit of mankind:

It is not built upon the sand;

It is not wastrel to the wind.

Courage!

Disaster and destruction tend

To taller triumph in the end.

-------- 

I did morning chores while watching the Mariners play the Yankees, a game that started at 9:30 in the morning on this coast...unfortunately, the Mariners didn't score a single run, though at least the Orioles beat the White Sox much later in the day on an infield fly rule interference call that I still don't understand. We went out at lunchtime to get Blazing Bagels and some things at Whole Foods, came home to get some work done, then walked to the park and out on the dock, where the turtles were celebrating World Turtle Day and the ducklings were following their mom. 

I talked to most of my Thursday night chat group (one was traveling), then we watched this week's two episodes of Hacks, which were excellent, as this whole season has been. Now we're watching X-Men '97, in which Magneto is extremely hot and the world is unfortunately familiar. These are pictures from the windows of Top It Yogurt Shoppe in Snohomish, replicas of the stained glass windows in the first class smoking room aboard the RMS Titanic, which also has a full size replica of the largest recovered part of the ship's hull and some display artifacts from the ship and salvage: