Butterfly House

T and I were out running errands on Sunday, and decided to swing by the Butterfly House, which I hadn't been to in years and years.

 

The Butterfly House is a satellite of the Missouri Botanical Garden (as is Shaw Nature Reserve, which itself I haven't been to since L came to town a couple years ago).  Anyway, the Butterfly House is beautiful (if somewhat warm), and there are butterflies all over the place!  Really, I was afraid I might step on one.

There's also a little outdoor garden, as well as some bugs (including roaches - ick!) in indoor terrariums (terraria?).  A nice outing on a lovely morning!

The garden

 Surrounded by butterflies...

 ...and sometimes they'll even come talk to you.

 The lovely habitat

Caterpillars are "the teenagers of the insect world," due to their voracious appetites.

The Butterflies in the Mist shot

Hurricane Irene? Perhaps not.

For those of you who don't know, sister E lives in North Carolina.  Our recent exchange:

E: Ahoy!
Me: What up yo?  Are you drowned?
E: No.  It was a pretty disappointing showing here.
Me: Ha! "I was disappointed by the noticeable lack of hurricane."
E: It's true.  We even had a party in its honor, to no avail.

Another sign with extra emphasis

Remember when I posted the "No Trucks" sign?

Here's another humorous (although sad) one - which unfortunately I didn't see myself.  It was on the KWMU website:

What I Watched -- Blue Valentine

Blue Valentine is another one of the many movies that got Oscar buzz  last year which I never got around to seeing.  It stars Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling as Cindy and Dean, a working-class couple stuck in their crumbling relationship.  There's an odd disconnect between them; it's as though Dean sees the marriage changing but doesn't want it to, and Cindy thinks it's not changing but needs it to.  You see all that too, as well as flashbacks to the beginning of their clumsy but loving relationship

A first for me here, I'm going to quote another review (from the San Francisco Chronicle), because I think it sums up my feelings so well after having finished the film, which is both crystal clear and totally confusing: "[It] shows a woman who has fallen out of love with her husband, even though he is a loving man, and even though he is worthy of love. At the same time, we see why she would fall out of love with him - and why, if we were her, we wouldn't want to be married to him, either."  You sort of hate her for how she is, but you completely understand it as well.

The movie was originally rated NC-17 by the MPAA, but they changed the rating to R when the filmmakers appealed.  You can read the discussion about the ratings yourself; there are a number of sex scenes and of course some nudity to go along with them, but I'd imagine most of the controversy was about a scene which raises the issue of the complicated emotions men and women - even married ones - have about sex, and how those play out.

Mostly, this movie is just sad.  It's sad to look back on their relationship and see Cindy and Dean as the completely different people they were when they met.  They still have flashes of their old selves, but life, jobs, and a daughter have gotten in the way.  And it's sad now, to see the decay that remains.

Bottom line: this movie is seriously depressing, and especially depressing in its normalcy.  There is nothing spectacular about either of these characters; you can imagine this happening every day, in every small town in the country.  It's a real downer.  Fabulous acting, though.

52 Weeks of Dresses -- Week 14

Otherwise titled: St. Louis Gast Haus

I learned of the existence of St. Louis Gast Haus when I was investigating dinner options to go with K's Austrian/German themed birthday party.  An opportunity to go presented itself when a group that I'm part of arranged a dinner there on Monday night.

T and I went, and we met some strangers.  And it was an experience.  That's all I'm going to say about that.

As far as the food goes, it was good, but nothing particularly stood out as being awesome.  I got meat loaf with mashed potatoes and vegetables (a fairly neutral choice, I know).  Good, but nothing I couldn't make at home.  T got the three sausage plate (drie wurste teller); I don't do sausage, so I couldn't have made that one.  He was kind enough to share, and we independently came to the conclusion that two of the sausages were quite good, while the third was pretty bland.

Next time I want to have some food from the cold and dreary climes of the world, I'll hit up The Scottish Arms.

What I Watched -- Black Swan

As with most of you I'm sure, I'd heard lots about Black Swan before I saw it, most of it laudatory.  There were a few critical reviews, as well, of course, but mostly good.  Although for my part, the last awards season made me loathe Natalie Portman's annoying self in a way I never thought I would after her wonderful turns in Beautiful Girls and Garden State.  Turns out, I can.

The plot: Nina (Portman) is a ballerina who's just scored the lead role Swan Lake at Lincoln Center.  She's perfect as the innocent white swan, but has to discover her inner demon in order to perform the twin role of the black swan.  Helping her along her road to discovery are Lily (Mila Kunis), the easygoing ballerina from San Francisco with a wild side; Nina's mother (Barbara Hershey), a former ballerina who gave up her career to have Nina, and with whom Nina has a very uncomfortable relationship; and Thomas (Vincent Cassel), the director of the company whose adoration of his ballerinas is a little creepy.  And let's not forget Nina's own crazy, mixed-up, paranoid mind.  It's that last one that does most of the work.  Was what she just saw really real?  Did she imagine it?  Did she dream it?

And the funny thing is that starts to work on you eventually, too, or at least it did on me.  There were ballet scenes where I found myself wondering: was that part of the dance?  Is that just Nina going crazy?  Interesting to watch a movie when you don't know what's going on.  What's more, mirrors are everywhere in this movie.  There's always the question of whether what you're seeing is the literal reflection - sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't.  But there's also the figurative issue, you know how it goes: reflections of various parts of your self, the dark side looking back at you, yadda, yadda, yadda.

After my back-stage tour of the Peabody Opera House, it was really interesting the sets in this movie.  I always had this idea that dressing and prep rooms for the principals in various shows would be lovely and glamorous.  Actually, they're usually kind of shabby, compared to what I had in mind.  Cement block walls, bare (but bright) light bulbs, cramped.  I guess it was surprising to see that's (more or less) true at Lincoln Center just like everywhere else.

Mila Kunis is both gorgeous and goofily likable as Lily.  Winona Ryder has an appropriately crazy part as the former lead ballerina who has been replaced by Nina. 

Bottom line: good flick.  It's both predictable (the ever-increasing craziness) and unpredictable (the details of how that plays out). Worth watching and being perplexed and transfixed by once, but I probably won't watch it again.

Our new customers

It's possible that I've commented on and/or complained about my work in retail before (here, here, here, and here).  But I have to say this: due to changes in the market, we've been taking on a whole slew of new customers lately, and they are a new caliber of bad.  The store is always a mess, they come in, sit in the cafe, leave huge piles of books and magazines behind them, and rarely buy anything.  (Obviously, there are exceptions to the rule.)

On the plus side, I suppose the fact that they're making a mess of our store means job security for me, as long as at least a few of them buy a book here and there.  But the problem now is that I'm not really sure I want to work there any more!  I love being around books and lots of my co-workers, but I'm a bookseller, not a babysitter.

Roller Derby

I'm now a roller derby pro!

Okay, that's not actually true.  But I've been to two matches.  My first one was in Oakland in February, and I went again a month ago with T and R to see the Arch Rival Roller Girls play the Grand Raggidy All Stars.  R's wife plays for the Roller Girls, which made it even more fun than watching a bunch of random people to whom I had no connection.

 I feel the need...

...the need for speed.

And then I fall down.

 

R, being a good and supportive husband.

I've (clearly) been meaning to write this post for a while, but what spurred me was a round at trivia last night which was all about roller derby!  The losing trivia team each week gets to pick a topic for one round in the next week's trivia game, and (not surprisingly) one of the guys on this team plays for the Gatekeepers, a local team.

What I'm Reading Now -- Mockingjay

This third book in The Hunger Games trilogy is why I'm hoping things will pick up a bit.

The second book, Catching Fire, from what I can tell so far, was the eye of the storm.  In Mockingjay, it appears that the violence and bloodshed (hooray for kids' books, right?) are going to come roaring back as the rebellion in Panem reaches full swing.

Let's not forget the love triangle!  The question all the teenagers want answered (okay, and me too): will Katniss choose Gale (her longtime childhood pal, confidante, and hunting buddy) or Peeta (her fellow Tribute, and the Capitol's choice for her)?  I'll soon find out!

Catching Fire -- Take 2

As with most of my posts for the last month or so, this one is way overdue.  I actually finished this when I was in Seattle - I sat in a chair in Elliott Bay Books and finished the last two chapters!

Catching Fire continues the saga of Katniss Everdeen, our hero from The Hunger Games.  And, while a hero she may be, the mantle doesn't fit well on her shoulders.  She's awkward and angry and frustrated by the whole experience, with good reason.

In this installment, Katniss begins to understand the impact her actions during the Hunger Games have had on the people of Panem; everything is hush-hush, but she pieces together clues to figure out which districts are starting to rebel against the Capitol.  Without realizing what she was doing, Katniss made herself the symbol of the rebellion.

I didn't like Catching Fire quite as much as The Hunger Games.  It seemed a bit slower and more formulaic.  But I'm hoping that things will pick up again!

Kenny!

I realize that I've been using lots of exclamation points lately, but I've done lots of cool things! (!!!)  And K and I have discussed the importance of exclamation points, so I know she understands.

Anywho, way back before Seattle, all the way back in July, I went to see Kenny Chesney!  Can you believe that for all these years of loving country music, and all the other concerts I've been to, I've never been to see Kenny?  It was an abomination.  But it has been remedied, so you can breathe easier.

So, here was the deal: K had been in Florida for approximately 100 years, and was due to return to StL on the night of the concert at 10pm.  There was some behind-the-scenes conspiring going on between K and T, and I'm sitting at the show, listening to Billy Currington (one of the opening acts), and up walks K!

All I have to say about the concert is this: Kenny plays a frickin' awesome show.  His energy never flags, and even the slow or melancholic songs are still jamming, despite their beat and tone.  I totally get why he's won something like 1,496 Entertainer of the Year awards!  T says it's also awesome because he performs his songs just like he records them, which makes it more fun to sing along.  Probably true.

The set list from the show is available here.  The concert tour wraps on August 28, but if you have any chance at all to see the show before then, do it! (And tell me how the drive out of the parking lot is, because I don't remember.)

Moonlight Ramble

All these years of (a) living in St. Louis, (b) biking, and (c) needing fun things to do, and it's a little hard to believe I had never been on the Moonlight Ramble before.

Now I see why.  But having been on it, I also know how to do it better next year.

This year's Ramble unfortunately coincided with a trip to Oklahoma City, so I flew back into town on Saturday night, landing at 11 p.m., for the ride.  I had been up since 5:30 that morning.  I was tired and cranky.  Not a good start.

Also, there were a lot of people.  Strike 2.  And many of those people were children.  Strike 3.  And many more of them were asshole twenty-something overgrown boys.  Strike 4?

Now, I totally support kids riding bikes (with helmets, people!).  You gotta learn sometime, and when you're little, you have much less distance to fall.  But when you have 15,000 people trying to ride down Market Street and your adorable six-year-old is still trying to learn how to ride without weaving all over the road, you're just asking for trouble.

So the solution to most of these problems for next year, as I see it, is this: get there earlier!  This trip, I was precluded from early arrival by my flight time.  But next year...  Even if there are a few kids at the front of the pack, it won't take long to get out ahead of them and have a clear road.  Alternate choice: take the short route (which we did this year, and it helped).  Even though the proportion of young riders is probably higher on the short ride, there are fewer overall riders, hence much more room to maneuver.

As for the overgrown boys, that one is still TBD by society at large, I think.

Seattle, Days 4 and 5

Last night after our sticky rice and mango, I inquired of the others what our plans were for the morning.  Working backwards from the time that we needed to leave the hotel for the day would allow me to determine what time to get up and go for yet another run.  Unfortunately (or fortunately?) I fell asleep while they were trying to decide what time to get up, so I skipped the running and just slept in a bit.

E had gotten a breakfast recommendation for a place called Toulouse Petit, which just happened to be across the street from our hotel, and boy was that a good idea!  Happy hour for breakfast!  E and I each had a Katie-Mae, which was a positively delightful a.m. concoction made from Fris vodka, St. Germain, grapefruit juice, and prosecco.  Another?  Yes, please!  (Actually, not really.  But it sounds awfully good right now.)

We all four shared a plate of beignets, which were not as good as mom's, but a solid effort.  I think their oil was a little too hot.  For my main meal, I had a classic egg breakfast, but instead of potatoes (which were darn tasty; I had some of E's) and toast, I had a plate-sized pancake.

After breakfast we needed a little break to laze at hotel, then walked down to the Olympic Sculpture Park, which was very near our hotel.  From there, we caught the bus to Chinatown and the International District.  There were plenty of restaurants and the most enormous Chinese/international market/food court I had ever seen, but because we had just eaten such a scrumptious breakfast, nobody was hungry for lunch.

 

The train left the dock and rolled through town while we were waiting for our bus.

Our back-up plan was to meander over to Pioneer Square, but along the way, we were sidetracked by the Last Resort Fire Department's collection of old fire engines.

Check out the license plate: "horseless carriage." I love it!

The Blue Angels were all over the sky that week, sometimes singly, sometimes in packs.

Someone on the sidewalk pointed us toward the art/craft fair at Pioneer Square, where E got a lovely gold bracelet, and there were lots of other goodies.  I even got a few ideas in case I'm every feeling particularly crafty and adventurous!

K was amused by the "Honey Bucket" port-a-potty!

I managed to squeeze in a short run when we got back tot he hotel, and snacked on last night's cupcakes before another hour or two spent at Caffe Ladro doing some reading and enjoying their refreshing iced tea.

We had just enough time before dinner to take a spin around the Space Needle, and - touristy though it may be - the views were amazing!

Mount Rainier in the background.

People doing yoga in the park at Seattle Center!

Lake Union

Between the railroad tracks and where that ship is docked is my running path.

Sailboats and cargo ships.

Dinner this night was our big outing.  We met up with our cousin S and her husband L at the Dahlia Lounge, another recommendation from E's friend, and one of the many restaurants run by famous Seattle chef Tom Douglas. Between the six of us, I can conservatively say we ate enough food for half again that many people.  Conservatively.  It was great! For my part, I shared L's appetizer of potstickers, as well as had my own of beef brisket.  The entree portion of my gluttonous fabulousness was a pork chop with lots of garlic, and dessert was a cherry almond tart.  Oh, and fresh-made doughnuts.  Lots and lots and lots of food.  It was shameful, but not so bad I can't write about it! And delicious!

Dinner was late (8:30), so by the time we left the restaurant at 11, it was straight back to the hotel for bed.

And I wish I had more to say about day 5, but it went like this: run down to the fishing pier (it was overcast and "spitting" [as L says] for the first couple minutes of my run, but then stopped); eat breakfast at the hotel; shower; pack; ride to the airport.  Not too interesting.

Seattle, Day 3

Knowing I needed to stay in shape, I started out another day with a jog along the Elliott Bay Trail.  I was impressed with a couple of things: 1. I went running two days in a row; 2. the weather was lovely again; 3. The day before, it looked like someone had recently broken some of the glass coverings over the lights that line the trail (there was still glass on the ground, and yellow caution tape).  But by the next day, the lights were fixed and all the glass had been cleaned up!  True, they could have been broken weeks before and I would have no way of knowing, but I got the sense that whomever it is that's responsible for taking care of the parks was really on their game.

Our big activity for the day was a trip out to Bainbridge Island, for some shopping and generally relaxed living.  Seeing as how Bainbridge Island is, well, an island, the easiest way to make the trip is by ferry. It was an easy ride, probably about 30 minutes, but it was awfully cold and windy up near the bow.

 

 

Qwest and Safeco Fields

Along the way, though, I saw Hephaestus going back out to sea!  More accurately, I think it was actually anchored in the bay waiting to be reloaded.  But still, it was kind of fun to follow this one ship through the process of docking, unloading, and reloading.

When we arrived in Bainbridge, we began our shopping with a plan: up one side of the street, eat lunch, back down the other.  Our first stop was a kitchen store called The Berry Patch, then next door to a little boutique called Blinx, where I got two rings.  Mom had a ball in Churchmouse Yarns & Teas, while K and I enjoyed the paper products and home furnishings in Dana's Home Store.  E and I then ventured over to Sweet Deal, where I found the perfect shirt for her (a Porky Pig t-shirt that said "Vegetarians do it better," except that it was a little big.  I also managed to score a totally wild necklace for myself.

The huge lilies that greeted us

On the way down to Doc's for lunch

Lunch was at Doc's Marina Grill.  The menu was a mishmash of all types of food from Cajun to Greek; I opted for something with at least a mildly local flavor: lobster mac and cheese with a Spire Mountain cider.  It was a good choice.

After lunch we began our return trip to the ferry with a stop at a little store I can't remember the name of, but where I got a super-cute new hat.  Predictably, we found mom at the Eagle Harbor Book Company, and we met up with E again at Mora for some ice cream.  I had a scoop of dark chocolate and a scoop of peppermint, and it was so refreshing!

The end of our trip was a tad disappointing.  We tried to go to the Bainbridge Historical Museum, which had a small exhibit of Ansel Adams photographs called "A Portrait of Manzanar."  Unfortunately, we arrived at 3:45 and the exhibit closed at 4:00, so we just called it a day and headed for the ferry.

From the monorail, we had to walk through a park called Seattle Center in order to get to our hotel, and all week we had been looking at the flags for various events: CroatiaFest, TibetFest, TurkFest, Seattle Bites (a celebration of food), the Seattle International Film Festival.  K spoke up to make us feel better: "Well, we didn't miss every cultural event. We made Fleet Week!"

We also learned what it takes to be a hero.

I met up with  my friend M for sushi at Blue C in the U-Village.  While we were waiting for our table, we wandered across the street to shop at The Confectionary, and I nabbed some delicious sour peaches and Mariner-themed malted milk balls.  When it was time for dinner, I discovered that Blue C is a conveyor belt-style restaurant, and it was the first one like that that I had been to.  How fun!  Whenever you want something, just grab it off the belt!

For dessert, we tried to get doughnuts at Top Pot, but unfortunately they were closed.  So we opted for the next best thing: cupcakes!  (According to E, cupcakes are the most efficient vehicle for getting icing to your mouth.  And you have a good cake-to-icing ratio.)  M steered us to Cupcake Royale, where I got snacks to take home: a Kate, a Lemon Drop, a Salted Caramel, and a Coconut.

I got home to discover, however, that K and Mom also brought home dessert: sticky rice and mango!  So we ate that and saved the cupcakes for the next day.

Seattle, Day 2

I started out my day with a - wait for it - jog!  From our hotel, it was a quick jaunt down the hill to the Elliott Bay Trail.  I ran for about 40 minutes, which is about 40 minutes farther than I'd had run to that point this calendar year.  I'd call it a success, although walking down hill (which there are many of in Seattle) or stairs did become a bit of a challenge for my sore muscles.

The park and trail were so very Seattle, though.  It's organically-maintained, and has separate biking and running paths, which is a wonderful thing!  There is a lovely and delightfully delicious-smelling rose garden that I ran past as well.  Almost at my turning around point, I came upon the Hephaestus, which was sitting in port being unloaded.  The flag on the Hephaestus (in Greek, the god of craftsmen and artisans) was Moldova, and I have to say that I was pretty sure Moldova was one of those European postage stamp countries that only exist in the movies to be made fun of.  Turns out (at least according to Wikipedia, and it knows everything) that Moldova is in fact a real place. Who knew?  Either that, or someone has taken a practical joke very far.

We braved the bus system (which was actually fairly easy to figure out) on our way to the Pike Place Market.  K and I had skirted the edge of the market when we got lunch the day before, but what we saw was nothing compared to the bustling crowds doing their shopping and gawking on this morning. 

In the heart of Starbucks Country

Wait...I thought we had left St. Louis?

The beautiful market flowers

I don't think I've ever actually seen fresh garlic spears for sale about them before.  They were an urban food myth until this day!

Ha! I know the feeli...

I stopped at a produce stand and got a delicious mango which we all shared.  Mango = delicious.  As K and I were leaving the market stalls to have lunch, Mom said, "Hey, there are some cute chicks!"  K and I both turned around to see whom she was talking about, before we realized it was us!  K said "Oh! I was unclear whether we were looking for girls or chickens. Because in a place like this, you never know."

Really?  Does it get much cuter than that?

E's ideal yard art

We had lunch at a place called Matt's in the Market, which had been recommended by a friend of E's'.  I had a delightful pulled pork sandwich, although there was a little too much liquid in the sauce; the bread basically dissolved.

So, we're sitting there having lunch, and out the window behind K I see a warship passing by the market, headed into port.  A little courtesy of the all-knowing answer box informed us that it was the USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), which was in town for Seattle's version of Fleet Week, Seattle Seafair.

After lunch, we wandered through a bit more of the market, and we made certain to stop and see the fishmongers throwing fish.

See that flying silver thing?  That's a fish.

I spent the afternoon at Caffe Ladro drinking iced tea in the lovely sun, catching up on a few e-mails and some reading while everyone else napped.

That night, we ventured down to Safeco Field to see the Mariners host the A's (T: "Sorry, but both those teams suck.")  While that may be true, it was an interesting game, dubbed "a night of odd happenings" by the Seattle Times.

First inning...

 Lots of empty seats.

And lots of hot dog...hats.

Oh, and I caught a foul ball!  Well, I didn't so much catch it as I watched it bounce through three other people's hands and land at my feet.  But whatever.  I caught a foul ball.

When the team stinks, you've got to entertain the crowd somehow.

E and I rather enjoyed keeping tabs on the Cardinals' game

...Ninth inning

The weather was lovely the whole evening, probably about 75 degrees when they closed the roof at the end of the game.  And the Mariners won!