Blog du Wren

Small Town Shows

Of all the program elements of a given stop on the Chautauqua tour (parades, workshops, community shows, etc.), my favorite by far is the "a rip-roaring, balls o' fire, all the bells and whistles, vaudeville variety show", esp. when it is in a small town at a tiny theater packed with an enthusiastic audience. The 2013 tour had only one such stop (as it was more focused more on the institutional/community shows which were more outdoors, etc.).

Our show in Concrete was just plain fun. The theater was awesome, the audience was enthusiastic, and the Big Juggle totally hit (except for the complete yard sale* by Zack and Clay up front.) It's a bit of a bummer that Della and I couldn't do our rope act due to her torn calf muscle, but there will be other shows in other small towns.

Yes, big shows in small towns is what attracts me to Chautauqua tours. I look forward to many more in the future!

Wednesday August 14 2013

File under: circus

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Chautauqua 2013 Part 1

As expected*, there hasn't been much blogging time since heading out on tour with the New Old Time Chautauqua. And, as with the past years, only when trying to post about it do I realize how woefully bad I've been at taking photos. But I shall not let that stop me from posting about what a great time we've been having.

Almost as a warm-up to tour (party/community/fun/more!), Della and I headed down to Bobland for and Bones fest. We had a great time and dusted off a our for the upcoming tour. Unfortunately, however, our musical accompaniment wasn't scheduled to tour with us.

After Bobland*, we headed Chumleighland on South Camano Island where the first half of the tour was to be based. Chumleighland, milieu if the old time vaudevillian Rev. Chumleigh, is a pretty awesome place. When not hosting itinerant circus folk, he does an outdoor cinema with old time movies and hosts performance workshops. Oh, and there's a great tiny .

Overall, tour has been going great. The shows have been good and well received*. Della and I have been performing our rope piece and I've been heading up the (prev. coverage here or rehearsal video here). I've been trying in the parade which has gone...okay.

Anyway, we're ducking off tour for a quick few days to do the Happy Little Farm party (prev. coverage here) and to give Della a bit easier time in recovering from an injury sustained in the most dangerous act ever, the Chair Dance*. To keep up on the happenings of tour, check out the tour blog which does an infinitely better job of covering tour than BdW*.

Friday August 2 2013

File under: circus

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Chautauqua Does Western Washington

It's that time again, time for the summer tour of the New Old Time Chautauqua. This year's tour is exciting for a number of reasons. For one, it is my 5th tour which feels slightly like a milestone. And to celebrate said milestone (at least for me), Della and I actually auditioned an act! It's my hope that we make it to stage a time or two at least. But more importantly, it is exciting because the tour is right here in my backyard*. With stops in Bellingham, the Quarry, Mount Vernon, Camano Island, Olympia, Arlington, and more, this feels like a melding of two worlds close to me: circuslandia and my real world.

Since I know at least a few readers out there are Western Washington based, I wanted to pass along a few of the details before we head out. More information can be found at Chautauqua's website.

Mt Vernon: Friday, July 26 - Show partnering with the Lincoln Theatre [FB event]
Camano Island: July 27 - Show at Chumleighland [FB event]
Bellingham: July 28 - Show as part of Community Food Coop's Community Party
Concrete: Thursday, July 31st - Show at Concrete Theatre [FB event]
Rochester: Saturday, August 3rd - GRuB Farm Show
Seattle: Sunday, August 4th - Foolfest Family Picnic at Volunteer Park
Olympia: Thurs, August 8th - Show at Capitol Theater [FB event]
Arlington: Sat-Sun August 10-11 - Festival of the River - several shows

Outside of the totally public schedule, we are also doing a collaboration with the Lookout Arts Quarry (whoop!), a day of workshops, swimming, mingling, potlucking, and a fun fun show. It's going to go down on Monday, July 29 with workshops at 1:00 and the show at 6:30. The goal of this show is to give people an excuse to come to the Quarry (if for nothing else than swimming and hanging out) and also come see Chautauqua. This is my highest hope for the tour, to get the Chautauqua community and the Quarry communities together. And I hope that you will be there for the fun.

I think it's going to be a great tour with lots of great acts, great music, and great fun. It'd be great to see you out. If you have any questions, I'm thinking I might have limited internet from the road, so give a shout if you have questions. Otherwise, I hope to see ya'll on the other side with great photos!

Sunday July 21 2013

File under: circus

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More Quarry Craft Time

Between my time working on the cabin out at the quarry*, I spend a bit of time working on various other projects, some for fun and some for function. Above are a few of the latest endeavors.

The first picture is of the info booth I built to house a donation box*, notices about upcoming events, a "private property" sign*, and more. With summer in full swing, we get lots of visitors, many of whom barely know anything about the quarry except that it is the best swimming hole around*. The second picture is a close-up of the roof, my first experiment in license plate shingling. I'm super excited about how it turned out!*

Project #2 is, well, aptly named. With the number of residents climbing for the summer, we were filling up the port-a-potties faster than was preferable. The solution? A good old fashion pit toilet. The pit part was easy. The throne took some doing. But it was fun. And how often can I say "look at my shitter!"?

With the cabin getting so close to being inhabitable, I've turned my thoughts toward furnishing it. The above stool was my first attempt at rough cut furniture. I think it turned out pretty dang good. Now all I need is a counter to sit at with it.

All the projects above are at least partially made from raw wood, i.e. never milled, from the stump to the workshop. It's been great fun splitting large logs when a beam is called for, etc. It's a bit of a pity that I'm not so details oriented so the stuff actually comes out nice. But I'm function oriented so the stuff always comes out functional...and that counts for something.

Saturday July 6 2013

File under: quarry

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FC 174 - Whoa Whoa Whoa

It's been over seven months since I last released a Friday Comic. Oddly enough, very few readers have lamented the loss. Well, I shan't be discouraged. A comic idea struck me that I just couldn't pass up (mostly because I like trying to draw butts) so here it is.

It's been an interesting experience diving back in to the comic creation scene. I had forgotten how long they take and how poorly drawn they often turn out. Alas. Knowing that I don't have deadlines, quotas*, and possible book inclusion (copies still available of Friday Comics 2 here) does help the whole thing be a bit more fun.

Does this post remind you how much you like reading comics? If so, spend a little time browsing the archives*. Does it remind you how much these comics feel like space filler? Don't worry. It most likely won't become a regular thing.

Friday June 28 2013

File under: comic

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I Bought a Car!

After over 6 [wonderful] years of not owning a car, I decided it was time. Between housesitting at non-public transportation accessibly places, transporting to the quarry, and always bumming a ride to trivia, the time is right.

This yet to be named steed is a 2000 Toyota Echo. I'm pleased to say that the buying process, something I haven't done in 18 years, went smoothly and there was very little run around. As long as the transmission doesn't fall out in the first couple weeks, I consider it a successful purchase.

The last 6 years of being without a car have been a wonderful experience, one that I wish many many more people went through. It helped me learn [and love] public transportation, develop a consciousness and deliberateness in transportation choices, and so much more. Someday I will have to write up some thoughts on my carless years to share all the wonderful aspects.

But for now, I get to explore what it's like to have a car again. Hopefully I'll retain much of my biking/public transporting tendencies. But I'm guessing that I won't be missing a trivia due to lack of transportation any time soon.

Thursday June 20 2013

File under: transportation

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Cruise-Europe-Morocco Trip Financial Breakdown

I really like, after a significant travel adventure, to put a little time into reviewing it's finances; to get an idea of overall costs after so much time of looking at finances from a one hotel room to the next view. And since I find it so interesting, I thought maybe other folks might too. So here's how the money panned out for this last trip. (Oh, and if you like this kind of stuff, you might like previous trip recaps here and here.)

(Interesting side note: I spent over $55 in "international exchange fees" from my stupid bank on top of bank withdrawal fees. This 3% on all non-domestic expenses is worth keeping in mind (and is going encourage me to look for a new bank for my next travels))

Major Transportation Expenses
Flight Seattle -> Puerto Rico	$188
Cruise Puerto Rico -> Portugal	$452*
Ferry Spain -> Morocco	$50
Flight Casablance -> Amsterdam	$122
Flight Amsterdam -> Vancouver	$515

Day to Day Expenses (hotel, food, domestic travel, sights, etc.)
Place	Duration of stay	Total Cost	Cost/day	Notes
Puerto Rico	2	$70	$35	This was just bare bones hotel and food. We didn't do any internal transportation (except for a city bus or two) and no sights/museums/tourist activities*. I imagine if I was to visit in earnest (rather than a cheap as possible layover with trips to the beach), these numbers might be higher.
Cruise	10	$452	$45	For the caliber of food, lodging, entertainment, and more, this was a spectacular deal. The fact that it covered transporation as well* just made it all the better a deal.
Portugal/Spain	9	$425	$47	For Europe being one of the more expensive places in the world, I feel like these totals aren't bad at all.
Melilla (Spanish Morocco)	2	$125	$62	I used this time to huddle up in a hotel with wifi to do some work, so I imagine I could have gotten by slightly cheaper. But Melilla doesn't have cheap hostels*, so housing, at €35, really makes it an expensive stopover.
Morocco	11	$465	$42	Morocco was quite a cheap place. A bit of an extravagant 2-night trip into the dessert at $130 greatly up the per day.
Amsterdam	3	$195	$65	Again, lodging was the culprit for such a high per day, but again, I'm pleased with being able to visit a European city for such a relatively low cost. And since this 3 day stopover saved me $200 on airfare*, I consider it pretty much a free stop in an awesome city

Overall
Total cost	# of days	Total cost/day
$2653*	38	$70

Saturday June 8 2013

File under: travel

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Leftover Pictures of Cruise Europe Morocco etc

While the best photos from any trip I take usually makes it into a blog post, inevitably some slip through the cracks. So, just like so many times before (SE Asia, East Coast, Grenada, Taiwan/Japan, Mexico, etc., NYC, etc.), I threw a bunch of the better leftovers together with a word or two of explanation and am calling it a slideshow. Enjoy!

Sunday June 2 2013

File under: travel, pics

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Cabin Work - Season 3

With my world adventures* out of the way for the year, it's time to settle into life in the northwest for a while. With the weather [mostly] warmed up, it's a beautiful time to be here and a beautiful time to get some outdoor work done. And while the tarped plywood roof on my cabin keeps the rain out, I still very much consider any word there to be outdoor work.

First on the agenda of projects is getting the floor finished up. In the deep of winter, I poured a concrete slab in preparation for a fancy stone floor. This week, I started on said fanciness with some gorgeous blue stone flag stone (not from the quarry, although the occasional split Alger green stone is peppered in). It is quick work and looks great. Hopefully I'll have it all finished up this week and can move on to the next project.

My goals (at the beginning is as good a time as any to state them) are to finish the floor, shingle the roof, sheet the walls, and hang the windows all before Chautauqua this year. I think it's doable and with it all done, it will practically be livable. Maybe not quite ready for a cabin-warming party, but livable nonetheless.

Tuesday May 28 2013

File under: quarry

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My New Favorite Travel Pastime

When I was in Paris a couple years ago, my travel partner had a city guide by Rick Steves that turned out, despite my hesitation to be one of those kinds of tourists, to be really insightful and interesting. Being that I was back in his domain, I decided to see what he had for offer. What I found heightened my travel experiences in Amsterdam incredibly* and gave me a new way to explore on my travels (besides and aimless meandering.)

The Rick Steves Walking Tour podcasts are what the name implies: a podcast that leads you on a walking tour of various places. It points out architecture, talks about history, customs, etc., and leads you to areas of interest for tourists. Each seems to be about an hour or so and cover a distance between 1 and 2 miles.

For Amsterdam, there were 3 tours and after trying out the first one, I was hooked. My favorite, by far, was the Red Light District Walk. Along with architecture, history, and cultural context, it dove pretty deeply into the logistics of how the area's drug and prostitution worked, which I couldn't help but find incredibly fascinating. In fact, I would suggest giving it a listen even if you weren't walking the narrow canals of Holland's most notorious district.

So while I'm sure I'll continue my tourist meanderings just like always, I'm super stoked to have found another great way to get to know a city. Now if only Mr. Steves' empire expanded beyond the bounds of the world's most expensive cities. City Walk: Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Now we're talking.

Wednesday May 22 2013

File under: travel, Netherlands

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