So this is 40.

At the end of August I turned 40 years of age, it is a landmark age so I've been meaning to jot down a word or two about how I feel. But end of August also brought a new job, a trip to Colorado to visit D. family, and not a lot of free time. Despite some inquiries about whether I am dreading being 40 and growing older there is no dread. These lyrics from Massive Attack seem to pretty much sum up how I feel: 

"I feel like a thousand years have passed

I'm younger than I used to beI feel like the world is my home at last

I know everyone that I meet"

Sly. Massive Attack

To be honest physically the changes that have occurred are pretty minor and not all negative, those half-a-dozen or so gray hairs are not anything to loose sleep about. No, I don't look like a fresh faced 20 something, but I am not exactly the matronly old lady I was expecting to see in the mirror at my age. And really that is what it comes down to is the expectations we have of certain ages. 40 as far as I can seems to be portrayed by either the frumpy housewife or the over-sexed cougar who is trying just a little to hard to hold onto youth. Now I certainly see people who fall into those stereo-types (& if they are happy good on them) but age isn't as ridgedly defined as it once was, even if media has a bit of catching up to do. Looking through the web I stumbled on this article on stylish women in their 40's and looking at the photos I wouldn't have thought any of them were older than 30, which just shows how good I am at telling age, but also how hard age is to define as we get older. Maybe we really are just as old as we feel, act and think. Anyway, I am excited for the next decade!

Japanese Garden

feeding the Koi

I generally work Saturdays, so when I got it off last week D. and I used it as an excuse to head over to the Japanese Garden at the Arboretum. It is one of my favorite gardens in Seattle, partially because I like feeding the Koi (and turtles). It is a stunning garden, and the neighboring arboretum is also quite lovely. They also have a tea house where they occasionally do tea ceremonies and tea classes, unfortunately never when I have time off. One of these day!

After we had strolled and lounged around the parks for most of the day, we decided we were ravenous and tried out Jae's Asian Bistro . It was lovely to sit out side in the patio and the food was great! (In fact I want some more now!)

Tea House

Yum!

Long time ago in an Ape Cave far, far away

I have been meaning to write something on here for months... in fact this particular post is actually about a trip I took in early May. Sad I know. But I've procrastinated long enough, so here is my tale of my journey to the APE CAVES!

First of a bit of background on the caves, they are lava tubes near Mount St. Helens, in fact they are the longest continuous lava tube in the continental United States at 3,975 m, and in fact one of the longest in the world. The cave got its name from the cub scout troop who first explored them in 1950, the Mount St. Helens Apes. (It was discovered by a logger, who had the misfortune of falling in a sink hole while in his truck.) The have some interesting geology, you can read about it a HERE. Oh and the site also has a reputations for sasquatch sightings, in fact one legend has it that it was near here that there was a confrontation between miners and sasquatch in 1924. (another reason to call them the Ape caves!)

We headed out to the caves on a particularly warm and sunny May day, since really what is a better way to spend such a day than in a cold dripping dank cave! The drive from Seattle was about 3 hours so when we saw the first sign to the Ape Caves we were rather disappointed to see a sign that stated closed. I decided that we could at least continue to the caves and if they were indeed closed, just hike about above ground. Lucky for us they were open, though their was a sign up that stated that you shouldn't enter if you had been spelunking in other caves due to possible contamination of a bacteria that had been killing bats. None of us had, so we figured we posed no threat. (In case you were wondering there were no bats in the cave). 

The Entrance to the Ape Caves

The Entrance to the cave really is just a gaping hole in the ground, though there is a stair way that leads you down to the bottom. Once there, you can either go to the lower tunnel, which is a relatively short and easy trail, or head to the more challenging upper trail which is about 1 1/2 miles long. We chose the upper trail. Though it starts out pretty easy going, I would not recommend it to anyone out of shape or children. We made sure to have plenty of lighting, I had my head lamp and a back up flashlight and D. and N. each had flashlights plus back ups. 

N. in the beginning part of the cav

One result from going pretty early in the season, was other than a couple people at the entrance, we had the cave completely to ourselves. When we all stood still you could just hear the dripping of the water (everything is very damp) and occasionally a gust of cold wind blowing down the tunnel. It was pretty eery, especially considering even with our lights it was quite dark. 

the path gets narrower.

The path also quickly got more and more challenging, the path narrowed and often times you would have to climb over large piles of boulders. Occasionally it was hard to tell which way to go. At one point N. struggled through a small crevasse only to discover an easier path just on the other side (lucky for us he went first!). As mentioned before it was very damp, as in constant cold slimy drips from the ceiling, but in places there were what I'll just describe as cave ponds. The biggest you had to shuffle around on a rather narrow ledge and was probably a foot or two deep.

cave pond

tight fit!

 However the most challenging aspect was the Wall. The Wall had been described in several things I read prior to going up, so I was a bit hesitant as to whether I'd make it up it, not good at pull ups! It was indeed a challenge at it is really an 8ft wall made of sharp, slimy rock with only one place for a foot hold and not much as far as hand holds. I scuffed up my elbows pretty badly even through my jacket, but made it! There was a strange white eyeless spider climbing with me, and I figured he was my moral support! (wish I had gotten a photo, but he disappeared once I dug my camera back out)

D. climbs the wall

The Wall is somewhere around 3/4ths of the way in to the tunnel. Not much further is a hole in the ceiling, this is NOT the exit (don't try and climb out), but nice to see the sun nonetheless. I had a hard time knowing distance and time in the cave, but it wasn't too far past this that you saw the light of the exit. I am happy to say they supply you with a nice (if somewhat rickety) ladder/metal staircase to get out!

The place where we exited was quite lovely too, with an abundance of chipmonks, pika and some pretty birds that seemed to glide and hop more than fly (Clark's Nutcracker??). I am not sure what happened to the photos I took, maybe I was just distracted by all the critters! Though it is only a 1 1/2 miles, it was quite tiring and I think it tooks up at least 2 hours to get to the end. To get back to the car we took the surface route, which was quite beautiful and still snowy.

we made it through!

Light at the end of the tunnel

If you ever have a chance to do these caves yourself I highly recommend it! Just remember come prepared, bring warm gear & rain coat (it's about 45 F all year) and flashlights. I highly recommend a head lamp as you can have your hands free. Also the ground is sharp, I tend to wear thin soles no matter what (think I wore my converse), but I was definitely happy to walk back on the soft trail... so maybe opt for some shoes with decent soles. Oh and gloves, as I said the basalt can be sharp and on top of that it is slimy from the moisture and possibly mold/fungi/who knows what. Oh and as for the Sasquatch... on our way back there was a large crash like a large animal breaking through the brush or a tree branch falling. We thought nothing of it but just a few yards later there was an other one closer to us, as if something were following. D. thinks he saw something large and brown moving off into the trees, now it was most likely an elk... BUT you never know! ;)

the trail back.

Vampire Masquerade Ball

A couple of weekends ago I took a trip down to Portland, OR for their annual Vampire Masquerade Ball, this being the 10th year and my first. I was a bit worried it would be hokey, but had quite the blast and was quite blown away at the attention to detail of the people who put it on, especially Lady Raven. There was a midnight waltz with live music by several members the Portland Baroque Orchestra, trapeze artists, various vendors and free food, including a chocolate fountain. D. and Jamie came along and I couldn't have chosen better travel companions. Jamie and I attempted to waltz, but it ended up a bit more improvisation as she knows Viennese and I have a rough memory of the box step.

D, me & Jamie at the end of the night

Despite originally having chosen completely different outfits, we both ended up in silk velvet 1930's dresses, great minds think alike I guess! Even D. danced, which I haven't seen him do in 10 years! There were some great outfits there that night and I am hoping they add a photogallery to the website soon as I didn't take that many photos as I was too busy dancing*. (you can see some more that I took on Flickr).

*Jamie actually took a great one of me and D. dancing but unfortunately I can't find it right now.

Window shopping

Earlier this evening I went to the dress rehearsal of the ballet, it was great fun and I love the more modern pieces. Also on the bus ride home a jolly drunk sang me a catchy song about a gold fish that he had composed at 3 years old. It was quite amusing, especially when the guy next to him wanted to sing too and there was almost a sing off. There is really nothing like public transport! But that is not what this post is about... nope it is about me wasting time window shopping on the internet! So here are are a few of my (current) favorite things!

First of: Modcloth (I've never bought anything from them, but they do have pretty dresses). For example these:

 Unfortunately the ones I like are always out of stock, which I suppose is good for me pocket book.

Next up and in a different style: VirginBlak
They are a Korean mens wear store, but a lot of the clothes are rather androgynous and slim cut so good for women too. Their style is probably closer to my daily style than pretty dresses. I actually bought the top from them (though it hasn't arrived yet). I almost got the pants (I want some checked pants) but wasn't sure about sizing.
 

 

And now on to etsy for jewelry (my friend Jill introduced me to these guys, one of these days I'll break down!): Screwpulous Jewelry (HaremRoyal)

This piece is just amazing!:

All the pieces are stunning and they state that: "The materials are sourced from ethical outlets, keeping things as eco friendly as possible. All of the organic materials are either recycled or come from reliable, legal sources or they are antique. It was ensured that no animals were harmed for the sake of the jewelry." Which is good as I'd rather not have something killed just for fashion.


And lastly: Face Lace. These are lace-like face appliqués by Phyllis Cohen, they'd be so fun for a fancy dress ball or just going out! Unfortunately they aren't on sale yet and I am not sure if they are shipping to the US. Here are a couple of my favorites:


















For now maybe I can try duplicating with eyeliner and a very steady hand (though I have a feeling that will be a disaster!).


The witching hour has come and I ought to step away from this glowing screen, so good night!

Lazy Sunday

Today the clocks sprung forward, but not I. No springing for this lazy lass, instead indulged in utter sloth. (I did go grocery shopping & for a short walk. Would have walked further, but feared the wind would blow me away). I am hoping to kill the early signs of a cold with copious amounts of tea, food and lots of naps. Time will tell if it works!

waiting for the movie to start.

For now I thought I'd post a short update on life since my last  post, or some of it at least. Mainly I have been incessantly checking my emails to find out if I have gotten in to any of the grad schools to which I applied, so far the verdict is... check again later. *sigh*  Last month in February, the lads and I went to one of Trader Joe's Silent Movie Mondays at the Paramount. First off that place has the most beautiful bathrooms ever (sorry no photo). Actually the whole place is quite stunning and beautiful setting for a silent movie. Also this is one of the few events in Seattle where the average age is probably over 50. Anyway the movie was Wings starring Clara Bow, the music accompaniment was on the historic Mighty Wurlitzer organ by the very talented Jim Riggs.

The silent movie night start back up in April, not sure what the theme is, but will try and make it out again!





Oh and if you have been curious about my sugar free experience: I am off the wagon, though I am trying to keep it on the lower end (ideally around 40 or so grams a day). Though I did lose weight, my skin did not noticeably improve. I think the flushing was a little less, but that is hard to tell and it certainly didn't clear up while I was sugar free, in fact it is clearer right now. Still I think keeping my sugar intake at a more reasonable level will be a benefit in the long term and not only for my waist line. Also the very expensive skin cream sample (copper peptide stuff) was nice, but not any better than some drugstore brand, which is good as it means I don't feel the urge to run out and spend $80 on a tiny tube of it!

Also picked up an issue of Zipper Magazine at Kinokuniya book store. I'll claim I bought it to improve my Japanese reading, but really I just look at the pictures. It came with a ridiculously cute (& pink) bag... I had hoped it was a t-shirt, but obviously my Japanese needs a lot of help! Speaking of street snaps one of favorite sites to peruse is: fashionsnap.com 
(it is in Japanese, but you can use Google to translate or just realize that at the bottom 次のページ will navigate you to earlier pages. 次の (tsugi no) = next). One of these days I'll post some of my favorites, for now I'll just say I love all the fun patterned tights! I wore mine yesterday and received a lot of comments, mainly good though a few were a bit out there (but hey I work in Pioneer Square, a lot of people there are a bit out there!)

That's all for now, need more tea! (& maybe a snack...)
こんばんわ！

Norwegian Wood and Ludus Sanctus

new shoes!

Tuesday, D. and  I went to go see SIFF's showing of Norwegian Wood. Visually it was just stunning and it followed Murakami's book pretty closely. D. had been a bit hesitant to watch it enjoyed it as well. I thought the acting was very well done and was happy that the dialogue was minimal as I could follow along a little with out having to read subtitles. (Or I should say I was happy I could follow anything at all, my Japanese is pretty shabby). Anyway also bad at reviewing movies! If you liked the book by Murakami or just like visually lush movies I highly recommend it! Oh and I wore my new Jeffrey Campbell wedges which I am very happy with.  The only downside to the experience was the movie theater was FREEZING! We were both shivering by the end of it, despite wearing our coats and in my case gloves.

Tobi in front of her art

dancer

Today, I went to see my friend Tobi's visual art and performance night, Ludus Sactus, at Capital Hill Art Walk. Tobi shared the walls with another artist Rae Diamond. I wish I would have gotten a close up of some of Tobi's pieces as you can't see them to well in the photo. There was also a performance of harmonic singing and gamelan with traditional classical Indian dance. There were several little kids in attendance, as it was held in a funky kids clothing store, I was really impressed at how generally well behaved they were. They did seem to like the part of the dance where he was the Monkey King! The dancer (who's name I did not catch) was quite expressive and it was interesting seeing the story danced out. At one point he was an old man and his whole face and body transformed, I was too busy watching to take a photo. He gave us a quick walk through of what the different gestures meant and a brief translation of the song, which helped.  The singer and musicians were also quite talented, I just tend to focus on dance as I understand that more!