Saturday Ramblings (Long!)

This past Saturday, the skies looked overcast and a tad iffy, so I threw Truman in the car and headed to the University Bookstore to browse a bit, and I threw in my sketching kit just in case it turned nice enough to wander the campus.

Here is Truman admiring Easter bunnies at the bookstore:

The weather did improve, and we strolled over to the campus.  I had no intention of visiting the Quad where the cherry trees are in bloom, because I knew it would be swamped with tourists.  I wanted to find something to draw -- but felt uninspired by the various views and gave up on that plan.  Then I remembered that I had wanted to take photos of the grotesques that grace the upper stories of several lecture halls -- which happen to be on the Quad where the cherry trees are in bloom.  Sigh.

I tried to ignore the crowds, though it was difficult:

I decided since I was there anyway, that I might as well snap a few artistic photos of cherry trees, all aimed upwards to avoid getting any tourists in the views:

And of course, I found a bird to include:

 And as usual, Truman was unimpressed.

The magnolias are also in bloom:

Now for the grotesques -- these date mostly from the 1920s and no two are alike in their oddness:

You can't see them in this pic (just a bored Truman), but it gives an idea of the buildings.  The grotesques are above the third floor windows.

There are lots more of these.  I intend to return someday to try to get all of them photographed.

After this adventure, I still had an itch to do some drawing somewhere, just not on campus.  Truman was most annoyed when we drove off and did not return home, but stopped instead at Magnuson Park.  There he reluctantly accompanied me to the duck ponds, where I finally got a little sketching done (though nothing worth sharing here).  We also got to admire a pair of Tree Swallows there:

It had turned quite warm and I was reluctant to leave, but Truman was giving me the Stink-Eye, so we headed off.  On the way home, much to his displeasure, I remembered that it was Saturday afternoon and that's when I used to do a volunteer shift at the Seattle Audubon Nature shop.  I always worked with a woman named Marilyn who I liked a lot, so I stopped in to see if she was there.  She was, and we had a nice chat.

While I was chatting away, Connie appeared from the depths of the back office.  She was delighted to see me, for she had a favor to ask.  She has been hard at work on producing the commemorative book for Seattle Audubon's centennial (this year!), and was in need of extra help in researching the society minutes.

So guess who now has a volunteer gig?

At least it is short-term and one-time, and it's for a great cause.  I get to cull the minutes (which go back to 1924) for significant events and actions taken, and try to construct a timeline of some sort.  I shall hope for lots of rainy days so I can focus on it.

Finally, I took poor Truman home.  I had no intention, when I left that morning, of doing anything other than book shopping and possibly a small sketch.  Five hours later, I returned home with one new book, lots of photos, a lovely birding/sketching outing at the park, and a volunteer job.

You just never know what the day will bring!