Sunday Salon, January 18th

Mt Rainier, view from Rainier View Winery on Jan. 16, 2015

Weather: Rain. Hail. Wind. Miserable.

Australia week: My guest, Claire, from the Melbourne area of Australia is still here. It has been a fun and busy week. Three of the school days she had to supervise her students as they took day trips around the area to sightsee and to shop. Two of the days the students and teachers stayed at school to attend classes, or in the case of the teachers, to teach classes. Claire has come home every afternoon pretty tired. Friday was Australia Day in the library where the teachers and a few students showed off cultural items. The most popular being the video of Australian Football, a fast paced game that for some reason reminded me of quidditch. Ha!

Australian guests and their hosts at Rainier View Winery

Claire and Amanda with Mt. Rinier in the background.

Wine Tasting: after school Friday the Australian teachers and their hosts went to a wine tasting at Rainier View Winery not far from our school. Mt. Rainier was actually visible. The winery is owned by one of our fellow teachers and her husband. He makes all the wine in an old European tradition which uses very few chemicals. Therefore the wine tastes more like fruit and has a higher alcohol percentage than what is available at the stores. It was a lovely afternoon.

Hammering man at S.A.M.

Seattle Art Museum, Asian Art Museum, and Conservatory: I overheard Claire telling a friend yesterday that at long last she got to do something to her tastes, going to museums. We started the day at Seattle Art Museum (SAM) which has a very eclectic collection with art from every continent and era. We were delighted when we rounded the corner to find Aboriginal art from Australia. After a quick lunch at the restaurant at SAM we raced across town and made it to Volunteer Park in time to run around the conservatory for 10 minutes before it closed. Our SAM admittance allowed us free access to the Asian Art Museum at Volunteer Park so we decided to pop in for a quick look around.

Claire and I in front of Aboriginal art at SAM

I was over-awed by this over-large manga painting done by Mr.

We popped in to enjoy the Japanese pop art exhibit: We were all wowed by the pop art exhibit, especially the large paintings of manga. Claire and I were just gobsmacked (speechless.) Too bad our high school students who love manga couldn't see this. In addition to the pop art, there was an exhibit of Persian art done quite exquisitely and minutely that it really required magnifying lenses to appreciate the details. My very favorite piece of art in the whole museum was the photograph of the finches. It is a black and white photograph that is so exquisitely composed it looks like a painting. I could have looked at it for hours.

Can you believe this is a photograph of a photograph?  I am enchanted by it.

Books read this week: 

• Half Bad by Sally Green---I finally finished it. It took me over two months to read it. I guess you can tell it wasn't my favorite but it certainly has an interesting plot that appeals to teens.
• Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater---third book in the Raven Cycle series. This one ends on a cliffhanger. When is the next book due out?

Currently reading:

• Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin---an odd story about a woman who goes missing in Seoul, Korea. Chapters represent the back story as seen through the eyes of different family members. Oddly it is almost impossible to tell who the narrator is as the book is written in 2nd person point of view. Book Club is Tuesday, we'll see what the other ladies think of it.

Seahawks win! In one of the greatest comeback games of all times. They were down 0-16 and ended up winning 28-22 in overtime. On to the superbowl again! Yay!