Blue Angel Watchers

 

8/2/26 Maple Leaf Park

I enjoy going to Maple Leaf Park for the Blue Angels’ annual Seafair show, but not to watch the planes. Greg and I always enjoyed doing it together: He went for the planes while I went to sketch the viewers.

Things we used to do together still bring me joy, but now they’re laced with sadness. That seems to be my definition of grief.

My snack while I waited for the watchers.

Seafair Weekend

 

8/3/24 Art in the Garden at Ballard P-Patch

The best part about attending Art in the Garden was buying a whole peach pie
at the bake sale supporting the P-Patch. Yum!

Seafair weekend (and all the events leading up to it) is probably the biggest summer event in these parts. Hydroplane races on Lake Washington and the annual performance of Blue Angels are the key highlights. Call me a curmudgeon, but fast, noisy boats and even faster, noisier planes are not really my thing. (Well, the Angels are OK, but their noise is deafening.) Even less my thing is fighting all the traffic trying to get to those events.

Much more my speed was attending Art in the Garden, an annual market adjacent to the Ballard P-Patch. Artists and other vendors sell their work, musicians perform on the beer garden stage, and visitors get to stroll around in the community garden, which was filled with colorful blooms last Saturday. It was calm, relaxing and colorful.

8/3/24 Maple Leaf Park

OK, I admit I did walk up to Maple Leaf Park around the time the Blue Angels were scheduled to do their thing. Miles away, their muffled roar wasn’t bad, and if I squinted, I could see the tiny dots fly by. As I have in years past, I sketched the small crowd rather than watch the Angels. I wanted to stay longer, but it was partly sunny and 82 degrees with no shade.

Moriyama Sushi

 

8/2/24 Moriyama Sushi, Eastlake neighborhood (Although this is hardly worth mentioning, if I have anything critical to say, it's to question that small compartment in the center of the bento box that was left empty. It seems natural that the ginger and wasabi would go there, but the generous servings came on a separate plate. The sketch kit organizer in me wants to fill that space!)

The Seattle Times recently gave a favorable review to a restaurant that was new to me – Moriyama Sushi. Even though Eastlake is only about four miles away, during rush hour (which is apparently all day except maybe midnight), it can take half an hour or more, so I rarely go that way for a meal. I had another errand in Eastlake, though, so I decided it was my opportunity to give Moriyama a try.

As noted in the Times review, it was pleasantly quiet on a Friday for lunch. After ordering, I used the restroom, then thought I’d still have plenty of time to sketch the sushi chef making my bento. He was so fast, though, that I barely caught him before my food came!

So lovely! A sketcher like Mike Daikubara would do this colorful
bento justice. Me? I was too hungry to do more than scribble hastily.

Though pricier than I would typically spend for lunch, the Deluxe Chirashi Bento Box was a splurge that was absolutely worth it – and beautifully presented, too. I was so eager to dive into it that my sketch is a quick, wonky mess (as all my food sketches tend to be). The server, however, made a bit of a fuss, which is how I came to be photographed with sushi chef Richard (for their Instagram).

I’m happy that they like the sketch, but honestly, I felt a bit like I had blown my cover. Seriously! I have never yet been caught sketching an individual, and I rarely get caught sketching my food, either . . . I must be getting cocky. Still, that fantastic meal was worth it!

Sushi chef Richard and me

If you’re not a sashimi fan, you probably wouldn’t want to go, as I don’t recall seeing anything on the menu that’s cooked. However, considering that, they have an impressive number of vegetarian and vegan sushi options that looked lovely. I might even try one next time (unless they have otoro bluefin on the menu again, in which case, forget it).

Across the street, I added a tiny sketch of some orange public art that looked like Calder having a bad day. Suddenly, the Blue Angels roared overhead, prompting me to stop and hold my hands over my ears. Ahhh, summer in Seattle!

I like a restaurant with a sense of humor.

Blue Angels Non-Viewing

8/4/23 Maple Leaf Park

Like last year, the Blue Angels performed for a huge crowd at Maple Leaf Park – a crowd of about a dozen. While everyone else had to stand in the full sun and heat so they could see, I stood in the cool shade to sketch them.

Angel Spectators

 

8/13/22 Maple Leaf Park

While the rest of the city rejoiced the return of the Blue Angels after a two-year COVID hiatus, my attitude was bah-humbug. Call me jaded: I grew up on Lake Washington, hearing the roar of hydroplanes and seeing the Angels fly past my face from our back deck. Driving through summer-weekend traffic to bake in the sun for hours to get a good viewing spot doesn’t appeal to me much.

Greg still enjoys seeing them, though, so we lazily walked the few blocks to Maple Leaf Park, where the Angels were visible as tiny dots with contrails. The last time we did that was in 2018 on a much cooler day that had attracted a small neighborhood crowd. Last Saturday afternoon the temperature was in the low 80s with no shade anywhere. Although the center of the park was busy with a large volleyball tournament, the south end where the jets could be seen attracted only a half-dozen or so. Curmudgeon that I am, I was more pleased to see Her Majesty quietly in the background.

I prefer to sketch Mt. Rainier from the north end of the park, where the view is unobstructed by trees, and I also prefer the morning light. But in any light and from any direction, Her Majesty is grand.

Blue Angels

8/5/18 Blue Angels viewers at Maple Leaf Park

Seattle’s annual Seafair festival is a weeks-long summer mashup of community parades, food events and other crowded activities that culminate on the first weekend of August with hydroplane races. The highlight of Seafair weekend is the flight of the Blue Angels. Having grown up on Lake Washington where the racing and flying take place, I don’t get as excited about these events as the rest of the city seems to. I like to watch the Blue Angels, I suppose, but it’s not that big of a deal to me.

Greg and I walked up to Maple Leaf Park, where a small crowd had gathered to see them. Several miles away, the angels were not exactly roaring past our faces. While everyone else watched the tiny dots dip and fly, I stepped back to sketch the spectators.

8/5/18 Maple Leaf water tower

White Water

8/2/12, Copic Multiliner SP pen, opaque pen, watercolor, S & B sketchbook

The last time I sketched a fountain, I used a white pencil to draw the streams of water coming down and splashing up, but I wasn’t completely happy with the results. This time, I tried sketching a fountain at University Village with the help of a Uni-ball Signo white opaque gel pen, which I think is more effective.

These crows and I heard the roar of Blue Angels above us as I sketched on this beautiful afternoon.