JulieLeung.com: a life told in tidepools

Because others can respond to you and change your mind: I’m going to BlogHer!
Susan Mernit commenting on my previous post, made me a generous offer I couldn’t refuse. I’ll be helping her with the Blogging 101 session, one of many fun and exciting opportunities on the updated schedule.
Hope to see you there!

My Mother’s Day indulgences included oatmeal scones with loganberry jam. The scones are a new recipe I created, using soy butter instead of butter, and adding wheat germ and rice bran for extra nutrition to the oatmeal and flour. I found the Swedish loganberry jam on a shelf at T&C and brought it home as a treat. Yes, the plates too were a small indulgence, something I searched for weeks to find. Sunday afternoon I took time off from my usual endeavors of gardening, blogging and desk tidying to read Song of the Azalea. Although I didn’t know it at the time, this autobiography of a former Communist in China turned out to be an appropriate story for Mother’s Day. More review of this book to be published later…and time for my morning indulgence again today…

Capra hircus is proud to announce and distribute the debut album of the local improvisational, progressive, slightly a capella band Triach Trio & Ivan Sly.

Don’t click this link unless you like addictive ditties describing expensive bakery goods. This mp3 plays less than 4 minutes but will last much longer in your mind. I played it for my family on Saturday night to see if anyone knew how to describe it. Progressive and acapella were words that came to mind. Someone else thought it was a fugue, with three parts. Whatever it is, we adults and kids, captivated, spent the rest of the evening discussing $2.00 bagels, $100 bagels, 50 cent bagels, laughing and imitating the chanting. All I have to do is say two dollar to my kids, and the rhythm begins again. I have no idea who these musicians are other than they are probably acquaintances of Adrian Sampson. But the music is fun, revealing the intense creativity of TTIS and at the same time teaching me to consider the simple power of syllables and the natural music of words. Click this link and you’ll never think about the cost of bagels the same.

inspired by this picture of Adrian’s I saw this moment and took out my camera while on my one hour date with Ted Saturday afternoon.

What to do while your children are at a birthday party in Poulsbo? Grab an almond moo at a creative coffee house, sit on the sofa together and talk about life for a while.

From amba’s post listing goodies she discovered on a logophile’s paradise the Phrontistery , I learned ombrophilous, defined as tolerant of large amounts of rainfall. While amba says this word describes those of us who live in Seattle, I beg to disagree. Maybe it was the move to California that spoiled me. I grew up in the Seattle area and moved back here five years ago. In total, I’ve lived in the Puget Sound region for a majority of my life. Enough to know that natives don’t need umbrellas. I never did. A raincoat suited me fine all my childhood years, including commuting miles on the bus to school. Maybe it’s my age. But I’m becoming less tolerant of rain and the lack of sunlight that accompanies it. Ombrophilous I am not. And Seattle is receiving less rain fall, preparing for the possibility of drought and less rain and snow, not only this year but on a regular basis. I like my blue sky. After all, the bluest skies are here. Perhaps I’m becoming heliophilous. This spring we’ve had alternating weeks of sun and rain. I don’t know whether it’s time to put the flannel sheets in the closet. Some days are warm enough for shorts and ice cream. We’ve moved our summer wardrobes into the drawers and bought cartons of frozen goodies. Other weeks like this one seem determined to restore our reputation, or perhaps in imitation of the groundhog seeing his shadow, indicate the weeks left until true summer arrives (after the fourth of July).

The girls and I have enjoyed the sunny weather by adding field trips onto our errand trips. Apple blossoms bloomed bright against the blue sky at Bellevue’s Kelsey Creek Park a couple weeks ago. More farm pictures are below and on the girls blog.

Philotherianism is a word that described me years ago as a child at this same park, and it still describes me now…and my kids too. My daughter is philhippic, and that’s Abigail, the horse lover, not Michaela the hippo adorer. Halophile, psychrophilic, thalassophilous , anthophilous and theophile are good ones too. Philocaly lover of beauty is a true adjective for me and perhaps even logophile might be one too.