Seattle

Gray, but dry.  And well above freezing.

Start of Daylight Savings Time

Caught a ride to the UW with Rosh and Ginger, who were headed for the early church service. Then sat down in front of the Burke and made a sketch.

And found that cleaning the screen well doesn't prevent the stylus from scratching the screen guard.  Bummer.

It wasn't as cold as predicted, but it was still too cold to sit still for long, so I quit after the one sketch and headed over to the Ave and caught a 72 downtown, getting there in time to try a sketch of some of the old plasterwork in the station.

Tablet

Clear and cold.  Turning sunny and mildish in the afternoon.

Loaded my tablet in my bag and headed into town, picking up a latte on Thurman and dropping off a book and a movie at the library.  I stopped at Good Sam when I found a bench in the sun and tried a sketch.

It worked quite well.  One unexpected offshoot was that the stylus scratched the protective film.  I wonder if the disc has a rough spot on it.

Toshiba AT100.  10-inch tablet that I got refurbished and cheap.  A nice resolution of 1,280 x 800.  But despite that I bought it specifically for sketching, it's a bit big to drag around for long.

Mushrooms, and me

Dry, with some sun, in Philomath

Rich crops of mushrooms growing.

Took a whole bunch of blind snaps of my face with my phone, to try to get a few where I'm both in focus and in the frame.  Couldn't find any that actually made me look good though.  My hair, which used to be brown, is now steel-gray, and my cheeks and jowls are drooping.

Played with my sketching apps, using up the battery.

Japanese Garden and Washington Park

Sunny during the day.  Warm, so long as you managed to stay in the sun.  Clear and cold at night.

Stuffed my sketchbook and some extra clothes into my bag and took off, climbing to Cornell and then heading south.  I crossed Burnside and stopped in at Zupan's, hunting until I found the deli and bought a wrap for lunch.  (I'm reminded of why I hardly ever go there.  There's a sidewalk in, but it dead-ends in a dark corner of the parking lot, next to a service entrance.  The only other way in or out is to use the driveway, which is full of, well, cars.  Who aren't expecting to see people.)

Climbed up the old carriage road into Washington Park, started up the MAC Trail, then cut up through the Rose Garden, then zigzagged up the trail to the Japanese Garden, getting there not long after it opened.

A women stopped to admire my pencil set, and to wonder where she might be able to find such.  Sadly, I had to tell her that I'd had it for decades, and that the store that I bought it in has been closed for nearly as long.

Walked through the exhibit of traditional peasant clothing, woven from plant material (including kudzu) and even paper, or quilted together from scraps.

South on the Wildwood Trail, winding around and hearing at intervals both real trains from across the river and the little toy steam engine that plies Washington Park.  Diverted off the Wildwood near to the zoo, to walk the ridge and get my fill of mountains.

Then spiraled down the wrong way through the Vietnam Memorial, coming out in the zoo's parking lot.  Headed for the MAX station and caught a train to the stadium, and then caught a 15 home.

Meeting doodle

Cloudy and cool, with at least one drizzle.

Milwaukie Sculpture Garden

Sunny, turning quite warm in the afternoon.

I packed a sketchbook and took off, walking into the Pearl, and getting to the bus stop a minute before the 33 was due to leave.

We drove up the bus mall, then crossed the river on the Hawthorne bridge and turned south, heading for McLoughlin. (The east side streetcar tracks have made it all the way to where they turn to go over the new bridge. The new bridge, on the other hand, does not yet exist.)

I got off at the Milwaukie Transit Center (one block long) and sat down for a sketch in their sculpture garden.

Director Park Fountain, three ways.

Overcast and cool in the morning, turning warm and muggy by afternoon.

I found that it's damned hard to see the screen of my phone in bright sunlight.