Question time: Let's ask the 'Memo' blogger

Question time / Ask the blogger.

I enjoy the art of conversation with my friends on Facebook. It's a great way to get to know this diverse and inclusive group of people better, and I can do so from the convenience of home without having to worry about how I look or to shout to make myself heard in a noisy café.

Think about it. What's not to like about enjoying a cup of French roast coffee, creating an ambient music soundtrack to fill my chat room, and catching up on the world events around me that my Facebook newsfeed sees fit for me to read? And, best of all, I can learn what's on the minds of my friends near and far. It's the kind of multi-tasking I truly enjoy and derive a tremendous amount of benefit from.

Often, I am asked a lot of personal questions, especially by newer friends who want to get to know me better. Some of these questions are about my blogging or other writing I may be engaged in at the time. Others are about what I majored in at university (the answer: American History) and, especially from friends where English is their second or third languages, how to improve their English-language writing skills. I don't mind because I'm usually the one asking a lot of questions of my friends. I guess, it's the natural reporter's instinct in me. And, it's only fair to turn the tables every once in a while.

So, here are my answers to five questions I'm often asked:

The book currently on my bedside table is: The Tao of Travel by Paul Theroux, published in 2011. The New York Times called it "part gossip, part philosophy, it covers a lot of the angles on literary travel." Like the author, I cannot imagine myself not traveling. I bought the softcover version of the book last year while visiting Seattle.

An unforgettable place I've travelled to in the past year is: Seattle. My wife and I have been regular visitors to the Emerald City since the mid '90s. We have longtime friends who live there and enjoy hosting us. Often, our visits are timed in conjunction with the annual Bumbershoot music and art festival that takes place each year over Labor Day weekend. We have a list of favorite restaurants and cafes we enjoy dining at when we visit; favorite walking trails; even a favorite bookstore, Elliott Bay Book Company, which is one of the country's outstanding independent booksellers. And, if it's clear enough to see Mount Rainier on a nice day, that's a magnificent bonus.

What kind of wristwatch I wear: I wear a Swatch watch I bought while on holiday in Amsterdam in 2003. I like the way Swatch watches look on my wrist and, over the years, I have bought several in different styles and colors. To me, Swatch watches are always fashionable and in style.

In my fridge you'll always find: A half-gallon carton of low-fat milk and a half-gallon carton of orange juice sans pulp, both usually purchased from Trader Joe's. I like to start each day at breakfast with a small glass of orange juice and a bowl of cereal -- usually a mixture of oat squares with a dash of pecan praline granola served with milk. The milk also comes in handy when I have a cup of French Roast coffee, too.

Music that always leaves me in a good mood: Of many albums, one come to mind: 'Horowitz in Moscow' (Deutsche Grammophon, 1986). The piano virtuoso Vladimir Horowitz returned to his native Russia after an absence of more than 60 years, and he gave the recital of his life at the Moscow Conservatory in April 1986. It was broadcast live in the United States on CBS Sunday Morning. I remember waking up early on that spring Sunday morning to watch the lovely joy on the pianist's 82-year-old face as he played with both subtlety and with great power. "He gave the crowd pastel rainbows and crashing thunderstorms," wrote Charles Kuralt, the late host of CBS Sunday Morning, in the album's liner notes. And, indeed, a climax of memory and emotion, of pasel rainbows and crashing thunderstorms, could be found in Liszt's "Soirées de Vienne: Valse-Caprise No. 6". Lots of bravos and lots of tears everytime I listen to this album.

Dateline Seattle: All the world's a fair in the Great Northleft

Left ...

Right ...

... and Center

Art in the Great Northleft. That's the description for this year's Bumbershoot, Seattle's annual showcase music and art festival, that wrapped up on Labor Day, just as it has every year since 1971. Bumbershoot is held on the grounds of the 74-acre Seattle Center, home of the iconic Seattle Space Needle.

Sunday at the Starbucks Stage /
Enjoying the Duke Robillard Band.

At this year's Bumbershoot, over the course of two days, my wife and I and friends enjoyed music by Death Cab For Cutie, Ra Ra Riot, Mates of State and the Duke Robillard Band and stand-up comedy by 30 Rock co-star Judah Friedlander, with whom we later enjoyed a serendipitous, five-minute conversation while walking about the Seattle Center grounds on Monday afternoon.

Also, we gathered for "Nerdprov", which crossed the streams of geek culture with comedic improvisation, as performed by the Seattle Experimental Theater; and we viewed a trio of Seattle International Film Festival Jury Award-winning one-reelers from Australia, Canada and Spain.

Bumbershoot at twilight.

I've visited Seattle nearly every year at this time for the last 20 years, and I never tire of going to Bumbershoot, drinking Seattle's best coffee, or taking photographs of the Space Needle, which was built for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. As it happened, this year I could have left my umbrella at home for it stayed dry throughout the four days we visited the Emerald City.

Seattle's given us Starbucks in the seventies, grunge rock in the eighties and Amazon.com in the nineties. It's home to the Elliott Bay Book Company, one of the country's outstanding independent booksellers. There's a certain geeky, caffeinated quality to this northwest city that I enjoy, and it's only a two-hour flight up the Pacific coast from San Francisco.

"To some extent, Seattle remains a frontier metropolis, a place where people can experiment with their lives, and change and grow and make things happen," wrote Tom Robbins, the American author whose best-selling novels are "seriocomedies" that are often wildly poetic and told with strong social and philosophical undercurrents.

Indeed, all the world's a fair in the Great Northleft.

All photographs by Michael Dickens, copyright 2013.

2010 ~ My Year in Pictures

Self portrait / Me and my iPhone camera.
At Macalester College, 12/27/10.

As most of you who follow this blog or are friends of mine on Facebook know, I'm an avid photographer.  As picture taking has matured from film to digital, the hobby of photography has become easier and more affordable ~ no more buying and storing film ~ and I make it a habit to bring my camera (a Canon PowerShot A570 IS) with me wherever I go or travel. Thanks to the recent addition of an iPhone, I now have two sources for taking pictures.

As a digital photographer, I have become my own editor. For instance, if I take a photo that I'm not happy with, I can easily delete it and re-shoot the photo, then edit it for clarity. Now, thanks to social media like Facebook, uploading and sharing photos with a large group of friends is fast and simple.

During the past year, I've taken more than a thousand photographs of people, places and things.  In revisiting the photo albums I've shot over the past 12 months, I've pulled together a group of 65 photos, including the above self-portrait (taken with my three-week-old iPhone), that I'm pretty excited about.  They cover a variety of things important and interesting to me: Flowers and nature, sports, music, urban landscapes in cities like San Francisco and Seattle, as well as pictures taken during the summer and winter seasons.  And, there's also a few selections from the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, B.C., a first-time experience for me.

You may recognize some of these photos, such as the Queen Elizabeth roses, that appeared in my blog during 2010.  No two Queen Elizabeth roses ever seem exactly alike.  Others, like Claes Oldenburg's "Cupid's Span" ~ which is a very visible public art display along the Embarcadero in San Francisco ~ always fascinates me no matter the time of year.  Last month, I photographed "Cupid's Span" on an unusually warm, December Tuesday morning. Returning four days later, I captured it on a foggy, chilly Saturday afternoon.  It's the same public art display, but the weather radically changed its color and appearance.  That is why I always tote my camera along with me whenever I visit San Francisco.  You just never know what you may encounter that is worth photographing.

Now, presented in chronological order from January to December with identifying captions is:  2010 ~ My Year in Pictures.  I hope you enjoy the exhibit and I welcome your comments and feedback.

Cheers and Happy 2011!

1/14/10 ~ An early bloom in our garden: A Pristine rose.

1/14/10 ~ One of the season's first Calla lilies in our garden.

1/23/10 ~ Oregon State coach Craig Robinson (President Obama's
brother-in-law), standing, observes his team against Cal at Haas
Pavilion, Berkeley.

1/30/10 ~ Winter sky, afternoon southern exposure, 2:28 p.m.
I took this photo standing on our deck where there's always
a great view of the sky ~ day or night.

2/2/10 ~ The Ferry Building, San Francisco, 11:31 a.m.

2/14/10 ~ Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, 10:29 a.m.
I took this photo standing across Taylor Street from
the cathedral in Huntington Park.

2/14/10 ~ Grace Cathedral labyrinth, 12:21 p.m.
The Kei-Lun Martial Arts troupe welcomes the
 Lunar New Year of the Tiger.

2/17/10 ~ Apolo Anton Ohno (front) in a 1,000 meter heat race
during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, Vancouver, B.C.

2/18/10 ~ Women's curling at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games
in Vancouver, B.C. was our ticket of the day.  There were four
matches going on simultaneously during our session.

2/18/10 ~ Canadian skip Cheryl Bernard puts the curling stone
into play for Team Canada during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
Our seats were right on top of the action at the curling rink.

2/19/10 ~ Opening face off of the Belarus-Sweden
men's hockey game in the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
There were many NHL players on both squads.

2/19/10 ~ The Olympic Flame, Vancouver, B.C., 5:54 p.m.
We waited in a queue line for about an hour to get an up close
and personal view of the Olympic Flame.

2/20/10 ~ Riding a water taxi under the Burrard Street Bridge to
Granville Island in Vancouver, B.C. during the Olympic Winter Games.
The bridge beautifully frames the snow-capped mountains.

3/6/10 ~ Battle of the Bands outside Haas Pavilion
following the Cal-Stanford women's basketball
game. This is the Stanford drum major.

4/29/10 ~ Our orange roses are in full bloom in the backyard.

5/8/10 ~ A Queen Elizabeth rose in full bloom in our backyard.

5/15/10 ~ Two-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher
Tim Lincecum of the Giants versus Houston at AT&T Park.
Who knew in May the Giants would go on to win the World Series?

5/15/10 ~ Claes Oldenburg's "Cupid's Span" along the Embarcadero.
We enjoyed a post-game walk from AT&T Park to the Ferry Building
after a Giants' victory.

5/19/10 ~ A Queen Elizabeth rose in full bloom in our backyard.

5/24/10 ~ Another Queen Elizabeth rose in our backyard garden.
Throughout the year, our Queen Elizabeth rose bush was our most
 prolific one.

5/30/10 ~ Puget Sound as seen from Discovery Park, Seattle,
12:04 p.m.  Exploring nature in Discovery Park is one of my
favorite things to do when visiting Seattle.

5/30/10 ~ Busker fiddlers at the Folk Life Festival on the
Seattle Center grounds.

6/6/10 ~ Window display and an interesting reflection in front of
Article Pract, Telegraph Ave., Oakland, Calif.

6/19/10 ~ Bay Bridge and beyond.  I took this photo looking out
from a parking garage on Howard St. near the Embarcadero.
That's Oakland in the distance.

6/27/10 ~ Indoor labyrinth at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco.
I took this photo at 10:36 a.m. prior to the 11 a.m. Eucharist service.

6/29/10 ~ Alliums.  They start as delicate, airy globes ... 

7/7/10 ~ Target Field, new home of the Minnesota Twins, Minneapolis.
The team was on the road during our summer vacation, but
we took a guided tour.

7/9/10 ~ Aftermath of June 18 tornado, Albert Lea, Minn.

7/10/10 ~ Painted Lady butterfly, photographed during a picnic at
my in-laws' house, Albert Lea, Minn.

7/12/10 ~ A little squirrel, a big tree, a tall climb ahead ...
I took this photo in my in-laws' back yard, Albert Lea, Minn.

7/13/10 ~ Sunset on Lake Minnetonka, 8:25 p.m.  I took this photo
from the pier at Maynard's in Excelsior, Minn.

7/21/10 ~ Artisan breads by Mike the Bejkr at the Pop Up General
Store, Oakland, Calif.

7/30/10 ~ Portraying Degas in the Ballet Studio.
I took this photo during the run of  the "Birth of Impressionism"
 show at the De Young Museum of Art, Golden Gate Park.

8/1/10 ~ Blue Bottle Coffee Co. kiosk at the Temescal Farmer's
Market held on Sundays throughout the year in Oakland, Calif.

8/1/10 ~ Sailboats on San Francisco Bay, 2:23 p.m.  I took this
photo from Fort Mason, San Francisco.

8/1/10 ~ Sea gull along the waterfront at Fort Mason, San Francisco.

9/4/10 ~ The Seattle Space Needle, 9:59 p.m.
I took this photo while attending the
Bumbershoot Music and Art Festival.

9/5/10 ~ Ichiro Suzuki at bat in the bottom of the first inning for
the Mariners in a game against Cleveland at Safeco Field.

9/6/10 ~ The Clientele perform on Labor Day at the Bumbershoot
Music and Art Festival, Seattle.  This British band has been a longtime
favorite of mine.  It was my first time seeing them live. 

9/6/10 ~ Jenny and Johnny perform on the Mural Stage at the 2010
Bumbershoot Music and Art Festival, Seattle.

9/23/10 ~ San Francisco City Hall at night, 7:29 p.m.

10/14/10 ~ Queen Elizabeth rose against a backdrop of
the blue sky and clouds, 8:27 a.m.

10/15/10 ~ The No. 2-ranked Cal women's volleyball team:
All for one and one for all.  The Bears reached the NCAA
championship match for the first time in school history.

10/27/10 ~ San Francisco City Hall at night during the
2010 World Series.  The outside lights were filtered orange in
honor of the Giants playing in the 2010 World Series.

11/3/10 ~ Giants rookie catcher Buster Posey during the team's
World Series victory parade in downtown San Francisco.

11/13/10 ~ The front door at A Verb for Keeping Warm, a new knits,
textiles and accessories store in Oakland, Calif., that grew
into a brick and mortar store from a website.

11/14/10 ~ 2009 Black Mountain Vineyards Merlot.

11/18/10 ~ Almost full moon, 6:15 p.m.  I took this photo
standing on our deck.

11/25/10 ~ Thanksgiving Day, Oakland, Calif.
We enjoyed our Thanksgiving Day meal at Lake Chalet.

11/25/10 ~ Thanksgiving Day, Oakland, Calif.,
walking along the shore of Lake Merritt
after our meal at Lake Chalet.

11/26/10 ~ At Haas Pavilion, Berkeley, Calif.  It's match point
 as the Cal women's volleyball team wins its first
Pac-10 volleyball championship.

12/7/10 ~ Along the waterfront of the San Francisco Bay, 11:23 a.m.
That's Yerba Buena Island and the Bay Bridge in the background.

12/7/10 ~ Another view of Claes Oldenburg's "Cupid's Span" while
walking along the Embarcadero in San Francisco.  That's the
Ferry Building clock tower in the far background.

12/10/10 ~ Maestro Michael Tilson Thomas leads the
San Francisco Symphony in concert at Davies Symphony Hall.
Our seats in the First Tier provided a good view of MTT conducting.

12/11/10 ~ Venerable Red's Java House, along the Embarcadero.
Red's Java House is a short walk from AT&T Park. 

12/11/10 ~ A view of "Cupid's Span" on a very foggy afternoon.
I took this photo at 3:09 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon walking along
the Embarcadero from AT&T Park to the Ferry Building.

12/11/10 ~ The F-Line street cars connect Fisherman's Wharf with
the Castro by running along the Embarcadero and up Market Street
in San Francisco.

12/14/10 ~ Badly Drawn Boy (aka Damon Gough) performing at
the Swedish American Hall on upper Market St. in San Francisco.
I was impressed with this quaint and ornate music venue.

12/18/10 ~ Christmas tree ornaments.
I took this photo at the Palace Hotel in
downtown San Francisco.

12/19/10 ~ Inside the Nave at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco on the
Fourth Sunday of Advent.  I took this photo just minutes before the
start of the 11 a.m. Eucharist service.

12/25/10 ~ Christmas Day, Albert Lea, Minn.
I shot this photo during a post-breakfast walk my wife and I
took in Lakeview Park.

12/25/10 ~ Christmas Day, Albert Lea, Minn.
I was impressed with the fresh snow that adorned many outdoor
trees and made for a most festive winter atmosphere.

12/26/10 ~ Fountain Lake, Albert Lea, Minn.
Minnesota's 10,000 lakes freeze during winter and Fountain Lake is
no exception.  At the center is a hut used for ice fishing.

12/27/10 ~ Old Main at Macalester College, Saint Paul, Minn.
This was always my favorite building on campus while I was a
student.  Most of my history courses were in Old Main.

All photos by Michael Dickens, copyright 2010.