Briefly, briefly, briefly

Putting aside any pretensions of profundity for the moment, let me give my vast audience of blogophiles -- that stalwart army of literati that sweeps out of the back lots of Hollywood, marches up the hills of western Colorado, and flies over the sea to the barracks of Stuttgart, Germany -- a down and dirty summary of recent events as seen up here in the Northwest Corner ...

• The globe may be warming, but not so here in Seattle. We reached a balmy 79 yesterday -- mothers pulled small, scared children out of doors and showed them the Sun -- but quickly the thermometer reverted today to a breezy, cloudy disgruntling low 60's.
  
• But the first of the season's cruise ships pulled into port, portending warmer days and summer tourist hordes soon to arrive. (I watched this Alaska-bound pride of the Celebrity Cruise line come lumbering slowly into Elliott Bay from my office window on Monday. My god, it looked like an ungainly white elephant walking across a mud puddle. Why the @#$%&@ can't we have cruise ships that look sleekly nautical and sea-worthy -- rather than hulks that resemble floating wedding cakes or maritime monuments to Wal-Mart?)
  
• You read the blog (but you didn't comment on it!). You've begged for the update (but you begged in silence!). Ok, folks, I hear you! You asked for it! Here it is: Tomorrow the painter finally finishes his labors and leaves me alone -- alone and in peace, in my own house! A mere 32 days after he began, I'll actually be able to walk across a room without stepping into a paint bucket or slipping on a tarp. I'll be able to come home and not have to be pleasant to a trespasser. Friends and family, who have stood steadfastly beside me in spirit (but not in person), whilst I bore up bravely beneath this yoke of oppression are now welcome, nay begged, to visit me this summer. Free food, free drink and -- for reasonably sized groups -- free beds. In return, you need only utter to me those magic words: "Oh man, it looks wonderful! What an improvement!"
  
• I was a moot court judge at the University of Washington law school last night. Participants were all first year students (1L's in law school jargon). Students are getting brighter, more articulate, and more poised every year. The future of the profession will be in good hands. I only hope their idealism will always match their professional skills.
  
• Seattle Art Museum reopened its downtown venue a week ago. It has expanded from the small rather peculiar post-modern building that Philadelphia architect Robert Venturi conned Seattle into building 15 years ago, and now flows into an adjacent portion of a just completed 16-story, sleekly-designed glass tower. At present, the museum occupies only the first four floors of the new addition, with WaMu renting the floors above. Eventually, the museum will grow into occupation of the first 12 stories of the building. It seems kind of a peculiar urban facility, unlike the more horizontally designed museums in most cities. We shall see how it all works out. The signature piece as you enter is a group of automobiles (real ones), suspended from the ceiling, apparently exploding off into all directions.
  
• And speaking of SAM, the museum's sculpture park opened earlier this year. Large outdoor pieces of, well, art (think 25 foot high typewriter erasers), are scattered across a beautiful stretch of brand new parkland, built from scratch on former industrial wasteland, and extending all the way down to the water. Views of Puget Sound and the Olympics are fantastic. SAM has reconstructed a small stretch of primordial beach on the waterfront, bringing in sand and driftwood and boulders -- a place that kids love. The park is built over and around a main city arterial (Elliott Avenue) and the northbound mainline tracks, heavily used by Amtrak and Burlington Northern. Surprisingly, it all works. It all pulls together. It's all wonderful. I love it!

And that's how it is, briefly, in the Northwest Corner. Good night ... and good luck.