Month: October 2023

Boise Sights Autumn 2023

Here are a few things from my Boise trip.

That feeling when you are sitting at the intersection that you won’t get your camera out fast enough to capture the wonder of the nearby car. Thankfully, I didn’t miss this one.

15 seconds of googling has not uncovered what this sticker is about.

And then I went to see the Eras Tour at the Flicks! It did not disappoint.

Look at this menu!

I had some wine, but no TS-themed drink.

I also enjoyed looking at these fun rice crispy treats.

Here is my commemorative poster I got as part of my (rather high) admission. There was a girl sitting behind me that didn’t get one because they ran out, so I gave mine to her.

I’m pretty much only Taylor Swift fan via what comes on the radio. But this concert was enough to make me into a Swiftie (a slight Swiftie). The pageantry! The dancing! The effects! The walking back and forth on that huge stage! It’s three hours that are well worth your time.

Also, I dearly love excited teen girl energy and there was a ton of that.

Barbara Kingsolver at the Keller

After some ticket shifting due to a partner surprising someone with tickets to the event that said partner had already arraigned to go with friends and bought tickets for (and also an absence due to covid), I attended a talk by Barbara Kingsolver.

I was amused thinking about Jess Walter’s preparation for the conversation. While I bet he prepared many questions, he asked maybe four. Kingsolver’s responses were lengthy (like 15 minutes) and engaging.

She talked about how she came to write Demon Copperhead (it involves Charles Dickens’s desk) and how her Appalachian community was very proud that it won the Pulitzer Prize. She also had observations about how the rest of the country feels about Appalachia and her thoughts about those stereotypes.

New Thread: Perle Cotton

When I started embroidering, I swore it was going to be a low-cost hobby. After all you only need some material, floss, needle, and a hoop, right?

Oh, but there are so many other things one could also “need.”

I’ve been a DMC floss girl my whole life, but today, I branch out to perle cotton. These are from Dropcloth Samplers. I also got some yarn-type stuff that will be great for couching.

I can’t wait to use it. Stay tuned.

SKS: Postcard from Austria and Paris

Two postcards from Sara arrived today.

Sara sends greetings from Austria with this picture of the gorgeous hotel they were staying in. Look at the fun stamps that came with it:

The postcard was dated 9/26/23. That’s a reasonable amount of days for an Austria to Portland, Oregon journey.

Sara bought this postcard in Paris, but sent it from Arcata. You will note the postmark on the front. There is also one on the back. It’s in the opposite corner from the stamp.

Ain’t Misbehavin’ at the Broadway Rose Theater

I attended a matinee performance with my mother and aunt.

This featured the music of Fats Waller and I especially appreciated Antonia Darlene, Troy A. Jackson, and Jai Shane’s singing.

I didn’t, however, love the song “Fat and Greasy.” It was also the song in the play where they encouraged the audience to sing along. There were a lot of fat people in the audience. I wonder how it sat with them?

The Partial Eclipse at OMSI

Matt had the good idea to head down to OMSI to see the partial eclipse. Though the forecast was overcast, OMSI promised livestreaming in the planetarium.

Here we are waiting for the doors to open. We got there quite early and were about fourth and fifth in line. Someone who worked for OMSI was confused why a line was forming at eight on a Saturday morning. The people at the beginning of the line explained what was up.

The view from inside the planetarium. I enjoyed that timeanddate.com was the livestreamer. They are my online source for calendars and have for years.

We got views from across the country.

At some point, one of the people who had posted themselves outside announced that the clouds had cleared enough to see the eclipse, so the planetarium emptied. Here was the view without glasses.

Here was the view with glasses.

Here was my fun self portrait that was one of my favorite photos taken this year.

Crowd pictures.

I really loved this coat! So event appropriate.

The fun of photographing people watching eclipses is that they can’t see you taking pictures.

Some glasses adjustments are necessary.

I like to think it was one of these fellows who came in and said that the eclipse was visible.

Portland Center Stage: Hair

Matt and I attended PCS’s production of the iconic 60s musical. I had only seen the movie, and that was a late night viewing that I didn’t retain too much of.

The production was well acted and the musical numbers were great. However, the discussion we had in the car going home was why we found the musical itself so annoying.

We concluded that what we mostly felt about the hippies was that they were annoying and that perhaps they needed to be annoying to throw off the dominant paradigm. While we enjoy the fruits of their actions, that doesn’t make them any less annoying.

I most identified with one of the tourists (played in a delightful scenery-chewing fashion) who, when looking at the group said, “Where are your shoes????”

Shoes are needed sometimes, Like in New York in the fall, winter, and spring.

Also, I saw a backstage photo, and all the actors put on flipflops when they come off stage.