Mother's Day Part 2-Emerald Downs

The track seemed to me a bit odd as a place to spend Mothers' Day, but my ninety-seven year old mom seemed excited to go, as much from nostalgia as anything else. She and my dad used to go to the tracks occasionally and it was, after all the day after the Kentucky Derby. It turned out not an odd choice at all for the thousands who showed up. 

Emerald Downs opened just twenty years ago in June of 1996. It's predecessor, Longacres, had been the longest continually operated track on the west coast. The Muckelshoot Indian tribe bought the land , then the building and facilities in 2015. 

                   

 


The Kentucky Derby had been the day before anomy brother thought "Hangover Day" would be relatively empty. Wrong. It's one of the most popular days of the year, and despite the weather being cool and cloudy, moms were in abundance.

The picnic tables near the paddock and right next to the track are a fun way for families to enjoy the horses and save a little cash for betting. 

I got a chance to chat with Dan Harrington, the track bugler, a classy dude dressed in navy blue tails, black leather riding boots and top hat. When asked how he came by his position, "Well, I'm just a  trumpeter." His 15 year pin hinted of a different story. 

Winnings of the day: $1.60 (minus my entry fee), but way ahead with a fun experience. 

King Street Station Departures

For our sketch outing this May Urban Sketchers Seattle met at King Street Station. After so many nice days earlier in the month, this particular one rose wet and cool. Topping that off I couldn't talk, the result of a bad cold. So, even though the skies hadn't opened up yet that day, I stayed inside the station, thinking I would take a stab at the beautiful classic interior, but the morning train was getting ready to depart and people starting lining up.

It was all too compelling. I just like drawing people. We make such interesting shapes. 

Mother's Day Part 1

I had stopped at Wright Park in Tacoma on one of our unseasonably warm and sunny Sundays we had during April this year. I chose the park because of the classic WW Seymour Botanical Conservatory built in 1907. I wanted to contribute to Sketch Out/Loud, a month-long celebration of landscape architecture organized by Urban Sketcher and New York landscape designer, Richard Alomar to promote on location sketching as a way to observe and document the landscape. 

While I was researching the conservatory I learned that they hold concerts on the second Sunday of every month. So....

Mother's Day happened to be the second Sunday of May. On the way to meet my own mom we stopped at the conservatory and listened to a lovely concert by Gina Belliveau, an acoustic singer/songwriter. 

 We got to sit about 3 feet away from her as she serenaded us. 

Surfers' Paradise

Sayulita used to be a sleepy fishing village just nothing of Puerto Vallarta in Nayarit, Mexico, until a surfing journal published an article about its consistent curls. Twenty years later it is a surfer's Mecca, the Malibu of Mexico and a great place for a family vacation.

Our "board" son, so named for his attraction to boards of all kinds- skate boards, snowboards and surfboards, led the enthusiasm for this destination. We concurred and headed south in early February.







The beach is, of course the main attraction. Thick with sun reloads especially on weekends. Loads of foreigners slather on the sunscreen and happily support the many local, but not pushy, vendors. Doughnuts, silver jewelry, beach blankets are among the many local s lectins you can make. Don't want to buy anything? A simple "No gracias" usually does it he trick.




This beachfront surf shop is owned by Patricia, a northwest native hailing from Portland, OR..She and her family have been coming for most of the year for over 20 years. Her son is now on the international surfing championship tour.








Papaya/strawberry smoothies, wood-inlay surfboards, aqua water dive excursions, hand-woven Aztec designed textiles, locally grown coffee, vegan bowls with a fried grasshopper option--you can find pretty much anything you might want in one of the closely-packed shops or stree-vendor tables.

The houses stack the hillside sin an uneven checkerboard of gold, blue and pink.





Turreted tombstones laden with plastic flowers and touching epithets populate the local cemetery that leads, appropriately, to Playa de los Muertos - "beach of the dead". Ironically as a swimming beach, it surpasses Sayulits's beach.



Don Eduardo's Palapa, a grass-roofed structure perches on the hilltop above both beaches giving a spectacularly expansive view- perfect for the morning yoga class I attended.


A word of warning to us tender bellies from the States: take your time easing into the local cuisine. Or as my son put it #donteatthefishtacos.

Processing through town celebrating the earth ... and the heavens

One of my kids' teachers had the whole class dress in orange. They made green plumed hats. She connected the hats to with a brown sheet, had the kids put on the hats and voila - a carrot patch! That was my first experience with the Procession of the Species, a 20+ year old event celebrating Earth Day and held on the weekend closest to April 22. 

In 1995 a group of local residents came up with the idea as a way to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Earth Day and to support Congressional renewal of the endangered species act. The decided on a procession. They established three rules: 

No written words 

No live pets 

No motorized vehicle

Also, being a family event and a celebration of life, nudity and sexually suggestive behavior is prohibited - a fact that distinguishes the Procession of the Species from the Fremont Solstice Parade in Seattle. 

It's a procession, not a parade, to give it some distinction from military parades,and it draws tens of thousands of people into Olympia's downtown for a spectacularly fun experience. 

A whale, two octupuses a flamingo and, of course, a geoduck!

Impromptu chalk artists use chalk handed out by the procession organizers to leave their mark on the street. 

The sun leads the procession - spiting the raindrops

Participants and viewers adopt signature poses. 

Composed of dancers and musicians, Samba OlyWA is the heart and soul of the procession. This year, dressed as red-headed woodpeckers they drummed, played and pranced through the streets with unfailing energy. 

Jewels in the night - Luminary Procession honors the earth and all its jewels

While the Procession of the Species celebrates the elements: earth, air, fire and water, the Luminary Procession held the night before the Procession honors the fifth element: spirit. 

Neither words, nor my drawing do full justice to this spectacular event. Hand-made luminaries in an array of shapes and colors light up the night as the creators process through the streets of downtown Olympia. It's really such a unique event and a mixture of beauty and fun make it magical The event is one of a kind. Jewels in the night.

Jules the Juggler

Fire shooting up from the intersection of 5th and Washington is a regular event on the two semi-annual arts walk evenings in downtown Olympia. The flames are lit by Jules the Juggler, a regular at Olympia's semi-annual arts walk. He grew up in Olympia, went to school with my kids, actually, and true to the free-spirited reputation of Olympia (the home of one of the most liberal colleges in the country) he has developed his performance skills and become a true one-man-show. 

Along with his impressive juggling skills he's become a master of working the crowd.

First he draws the crowd with flamboyant announcements and promises of a spectacle. Then he ups the ante by adding acts each more skilled than the previous- spinning a pilates ball on his finger while tossing it up in the air, behind is back, under his leg.  

   

"Hey kid! Hold this!" He thrusts a pin ad an unruly 10 year old, then starts juggling 2 pins, then 3, then 4, then 5. He takes an exaggerated pose for effect, then pours charcoal fluid on batons and starts juggling with fire. He calls for a volunteer who is "less than 50 pounds and no taller than this" holding his hand about yay high.  Picking a smiling toddler - with grandparent's consent, thankfully - and he juggles the kid and two pins, while making local references and double-entendre jokes that engage the crowd. Going back to fire and he finishes his act by balancing a burning scythe on his chin while juggling burning pins. 

I may have gotten the order all wrong because I was scribbling away, trying to catch the grandiose animations of this talented performer, as he passed the hat, but next time this impressive performer with local roots, gets double from me.