Just Another Day in Bellingham WA, 7

Okay, technically this was a day in Deming, but the Subdued Stringband Jamboree is Bellingham's beloved hometown folk festival.  We started going in the early years when it was so small it hardly seemed like it could survive.  I reemmber one year there was a wedding going on in a different part of the Deming Log Show Grounds and there was plenty off room for both events.  No way that would be true now.  In it's eleventh year the Jamboree has spread out magnificently, taking over the place with hundreds of tents owned by eager camper/jammers.  As an old codger and lifelong folkie I just love seeing so many thirty-somethings there with their kids.  Makes one feel like the future has a chance somehow.

I don't know if the focus is so local because the festival doesn't have the money to fly in a lot of people from around the world (like, say, the Vancouver Folk Festival) or because Robert Sarazin Blake, who dreamed this thing up, wants it this way, but it works beautifully.  Sure, there are a few performers listed in the program as being from New York, Texan, Portland, but most are proudly declared to be from: Sehome, Fairhaven, Lettered Streets, and other Bellingham neighborhoods.

Some of my favorite performers this year: the Gallus Brothers (of course), the Shadies, Kit Nelson, Giants Causeway, Mike and Makos Marker, Laurel Bliss and Cliff Perry, and Bent Grass.  (I hope someone recorded Bent Grass's hilarious song about Whatcom County.)

May the jamboree keep subduing us for many years to come..

Just another day in Bellingham, WA 6

Today was the first Summer Ride organized by Everybody Bike.  About 100 of us met at Woods Coffee downtown and rode through the trails and Taylor Dock to Fairhaven.  It was great fun and the weather cooperated for once.  Only problem was no one knew what to do when we got to Fiarhaven.  Ride back?  Meet somewhere?  

To make things more complicated, this was Dirty Dan Days in Fairhaven, celebrating the founder of the small town which is now the southwest corner of Bellingham.  (Dan made his money transporting goods between Fairhaven and Victoria, BC - by rowboat.  If that doesn't amaze you, pull out a map.)

It was fun to hear the Gallus Brothers on the Village Green, but I can't bear the idea of standing in a line of 20 people for a free sample so we skipped the Chowder Festival, much as I love it (there were lines like that in front of every booth.)  Instead we visited two new stores in the neighbordook: Papa's Sweets and Drizzle Oils and Vinegars.  My wife's comment: the lemon vinegar was a perfect salad dressing all by itself.  

Then we rode away.  Lovely day.

Just another day in Bellingham, WA 5

Last night I was taking a friend to an excellent concert by Cindy Kallet and Grey Larson at the Roeder Home and she complained about the weather.  "Raining again?  Boring!"

I laughed.  "You want exciting weather?  Maybe tomorrow it'll hail.  Or snow!"

The photo above shows the view out my door.  April 14th.  My wife said "time to reboot the calendar."

Just another day in Bellingham, WA, 4

Unidentified: (Underpass--Binghamton, New York), 1934
Originally uploaded by americanartmuseum

Yesterday we went to the new Lightcatcher Building of the Whatcom Museum. Certainly one of the finest buildings in Bellingham, and a terrific exhibit from the Smithsonian. 1934: A New Deal For Artists. In late 1933 FDR set up the Public Works of Art Project, paying artists to create works about the American Scene. The exhibit has about 100 amazing works from this blossoming. My favorite is this stunning painting by an unidentified painter, of a new underpass in Binghamton, NY. To me it looks mysterious and classical, as if the other end of that tunnel could be ancient Athens. The gold miner is another masterpiece. (The Roosevelts chose to hang it in the White House). And my wife's favorite is a picture of cotton workers by an African-American painter who died at age 23...

After that we rushed over to the Episcopalian Church on Broadwat to hear the release concert for the third CD by Bellingham's premier klezmer band, What The Chelm. Great show and I am eagerly waiting for a chance to open Til Chem Freezes Over and pop it in the player.

Just Another Day In Bellingham, WA 3

Bike to School and Work Day 2010
Originally uploaded by teecer

May 21st was the 13th annual Bike To Work Day. We have had rainier Bike To Work Days, and windier, and even sunnier. But we have never had a colder one, and I hope we never do.

I was part of the crew running the downtown Celebration Station in front of Starbucks. I had to go in twice to buy a tea, not because I was thirsty but because I needed the warmth. Yipes.

Nonetheless a couple of hundred brave bikers and walkers stopped at our station, and an equal number biked past without stopping. (We also had skateboarders, a unicyclist and a wheelchair user.)

All got treats and chances at prizes provided by wonderful sponsors like Haggens, Mallards, Sweet Art, the Bagelry, Starbucks, and VIllage Books, to name a few.

In the attached picture by Teecer i"m the chilly guy on the right in the hoody. Next year, let's hold this thing in May instead of February.

Just another day in Bellingham, WA 2

Bird on Bicycle!
Originally uploaded by brettbigb

The first Saturday in May is the Procession of the Species. A parade for anyone who comes dressed as an animal or plant. Three rules: No engines, no words (written or spoken), and no live animals. I believe that last rule was violated, or there were some VERY convincing dog costumes.

Photo of my friend Doug as raven by brettbigb

Just another day in Bellingham, Washington

WWU students at Bellingham Farmer's Market
Originally uploaded by wwu.admissions

Went to the Farmers Market downtown. Since it was the first Saturday in April I made sure to get there for the opening.

Later I ran into G., a friend who moved to town last year. "Were you here for the cabbage toss?" I asked.

"What cabbage toss?"

I explained that, to officially open the new market season, the mayor of Bellingham ceremonially throws out the first cabbage at 10 AM on the first day.

G. gave me a look that said "SURE he does."

Well, it's true. That's life in Bellingham.

Later I went over to Kulshan Cycles to pick up my bike which was in for a tune-up. The wheel wonders at Kulshan have set my vehicle up for another year on the trails and commuting routes.

I pedaled over to the Upfront Theatre. When Ryan Stiles (of The Drew Carey Show and Whose Line Is It Anyway?) moved to Whatcom County he founded the Upfront to indulge his love for improv comedy. This was the day of the annual Improvathon where a group of young actors do 27 hours of comedy, just for the hell of it. For ten bucks I watched two hours of it. The highlight, for me, was a lengthy story of a quest, which involved a knight having to defeat several monsters at Yahtzee.

After that I wheeled over to the Public Library where I ran into my friend E, who was looking for some new female novelists to try out. I recommended THE BAY AT MIDNIGHT, my favorite novel by Diane Chamberlain, who happens to be my sister. Keep it in the family.

After a hurried dinner I went over to the Mount Baker Theatre, our city's big house, built in the 1920s, and caught the national touring company production of Cabaret. I lost track of people saying "The plot of the movie was completely different." Yup, and much better. But the music is great.

Then it was home to bed. Just another day in the City of Subdued Excitement.


Photo by Layna Bennehoff, taken on a much warmer and sunnier Saturday than yesterday.

Old-fashioned Saturday night

Mary Pickford
Originally uploaded by twm1340

Last night my wife and I went downtown to take in a movie. Then we walked over to the ice cream parlor for dessert.

And it occurred to me: my grandparents, either set, could have done that in Plainfield, NJ, eighty years ago. We even saw the film at the Pickford Cinema, an independent theatre named after Mary Pickford.

Of course, I don't think my grandparents would have appreciated a dark and hilarios film like A SERIOUS MAN, and I'll be their icre cream parlor didn't have huckleberry, white pepper, or cardamom flavors like Mallard does.

Taylor Dock

Taylor Dock, Fairhaven - Bellingham Bay, WA Summer 2008
Originally uploaded by andorasredroom

My last entry found me riding my bike on Taylor Dock. Here is a photo of part of it. This wooden trail connects Boulevard Park near downtown Bellingham, with Fairhaven, Bellingham's southwest corner. It is a new addition to the Bay, and gets a lot of use. Last fall I saw a group of teenage boys riding their bikes down that incline you see, riding up onto an inclined board and somersaulting into the freezing water - with their bicycles.

I didn't join them.

Sunbow Warrior

The sunbow ring!
Originally uploaded by British Mac

On Monday I was riding my bike along Taylor Dock (see next entry) and renewing my love of Bellingham, when I looked out over the Bay and saw a sunbow. I didn't have a camera but this photo by British Mac tells you pretty much what I saw.

As I rode along the Dock I said to each person I passed "See the Sunbow?" and pointed. Some ignored me. Some looked like I was trying to sell them a bridge. But some looked up and said "Where is it - ohm my gosh!" or words to that effect.

So there I went along the wooden road, a meteorological messenger. "Have you seen the sunbow? See the sunbow?"