Three different ways to get sticky

[wendyzski]

First of all, this weekend is only the second time all summer that we've gone over 90 degrees, so nobody is used to the heat yet. It's also Lollapalooza this weekend, as well as the first Bears practice at Soldier Field, which meant large crowds headed to the lakefront in sudden heat and humidity. Busses were packed and I'm curious about the casualty levels from stupid drunk people in the heat.

So by the time I arrived at the Aquarium to meet [Bad username or site: ashtalet, @ livejournal.com] post_toastie, rose1thorn and miridearie I was already thoroughly sticky.

As our primary goal was the Oceanarium (recently renovated) we headed straight in there and watched a bit of the training/enrichment session with one of the belugas. I took a couple of pics and we headed down to the new Polar Play Zone. They've done some really cool things down there, adding some ice caves, a play submarine and a 'Be A Penguin' area, complete with little costumes, eggs and rubber fish.

Now ashtalet was the one who wanted to go see the sea lion so back we went - and thus this next bit is entirely his fault.

I'm short, so I have a lot of trouble seeing in a crowd. My usual strategy in places like zoos and aquariums is to get up close to the barriers/fences/whatever and crouch down so that taller people can still see over me. Thus miridearie and I were up against the netting watching the sea lion when PLOOOOOOOOOOSHHHHHH!!!!!

You know how when you watch a sea lion in a documentary they slip seamlessly without a splash into the ocean? Yeah - apparently not always. Also, they apparently have a sense of humor.

Because this one suddenly threw himself backwards into the tank, raising a really impressive wave that threw spray several feet into the air and over the walkway. I got it full in the face, and ended up wet from head to toe, with my skirts particularly soaked. The only 1/4 of my body that wasn't drenched was where little miridearie was standing.

And to make matters worse, as I'm blinking salt water out of my eyes and trying to find a dry spot on my clothing somewhere in order to wipe my glasses, the bloody sea lion swam back, stuck his head up directly where I was standing, and barked at me.

Of course the aquarium is fully 'green' and as such has no towels in the ladies room. I got some rather odd looks in the ladies room as I wring out my dress in the sink and stuck my head under the hand dryer. I wasn't able to rinse or get really dry, so I spent the rest of the day sticky and smelling faintly of seawater.

We spent a few more hours there before the family had to head out to another event so ashtaletand I headed over to the Ginza Festival at the Midwest Buddhist Temple.

I'd always meant to go but the timing with faires never worked out. This was really cool. They had displays of sumi painting, ikebana, bonsai, and some other crafts that I can't spell inside, as well as lectures in the temple itself (where the incense set off my asthma). There were 4 waza - traditional crafters from Japan, showing and demonstrating their work. There was a dollmaker I watched for a while, a potter, a bamboo craftsman and a textile designer who worked in "towel art" - basically textile prints or paintings on cloth the size of a traditional towel. I bought one of his less expensive ones for my bedroom as it was the perfect size for the wall above my closet.

They also had booths selling a variety of imported or handcrafted items and some really good (though pricy) foods. The teryaki chicken is famous and justifiably so (and was #3 on my "ways to get sticky" today), but I also rather enjoyed some nice chilled udon which was more suited to the heat.

But for me the highlight was the performances. We arrived in time to catch the local taiko group who were very good. They had some folks from the group from the Twin Cities that came down to perform sit in with them, and then later during the Twin Cities group they has a couple of locals solo with them, including one guy that was literally dragged up out of the cookline with his baseball cap and apron still on! It was interesting to see the differences between the two groups, especially as they both played different arrangements of the same piece. The MBT group played a more traditional style with a cleaner sound, while the MN group played with more passion and stage presence, occasionally at the expense of precision.

But I was very excited to see the dancers. I have read extensively about geisha and thus know a fair amount about traditional japanese music and dance. However, it's all from books - I'd never had a chance to see actual live dancers up close. The first group were folk dancers, which gave me a sort of basic vocabulary of movements - how certain hand movements and gestures go, as well as how the traditional dances are affected by traditional clothing. What you wear affects how you move, and there were a lot of good examples.

What I really wanted to see, however, were the classical dancers. First out were some children, being basically walked through the moves by their teacher from behind - sort of a combination of dance and puppet show, actually. There was a young girl who danced solo with a folding fan and then an umbrella, then an older woman and younger girl danced with round fans. There was a solo female dancer whose performance included basically being stripped of layers of costume by her dressers on stage to reveal different colored kimono underneath - I guess it's a stage convention that you ignore the people kneeling sideways at the back of the stage until they are needed, when they do their job and then leave. I also didn't know that sometimes dancers will pull off one sleeve of their kimono and let it hang behind them, to show an under robe of a contrasting color. It's quite pretty. Then there was another woman in a very elaborate kimono who danced again with umbrella and then a fan - I saw wisteria among her hair decorations and I think that's a spring thing, but I'm not sure about any of the other imagery she used. But the highlight was the male teacher who danced wonderfully in a relatively plain kimono and hakema, with a fan. His dance had a lot of work with his sleeves as well - I wish I knew more of what it was about. It was certainly impressive.

I headed home after that, getting in just after dark. I had gotten a great deal on fresh strawberries at Sams Club earlier this week, and had some of them sliced with some sugar in the fridge since last night - perfectly ready when I came home to make some wonderful fresh strawberry ice cream. However the machine overflowed a bit once it firmed up, adding yet a fourth way to end up sticky as I was forced to slurp up the excess - a difficult job but someone had to so it.

Comments

[stealthbunny.livejournal.com]

I remember being at Sea World when I was a teen and there were some dolphins in a pool where you could go up and touch them and feed them. There was this one jerk who kept holding out a fish and yanking it away at the last moment, and everyone was kind of grumbling about him.

But I swear, that dolphin GRINNED, right before he rolled over and hit his flipper against the water HARD and DRENCHED the jerk.

Everyone cheered and ran to give the dolphin their fishies.

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

This was clearly "I'm bored - I think I'll play with those loud two-legged things. Look at them squeak and run!"

[katexxxxxx.livejournal.com]

I am getting sticky weight-lifting in a Turkish bath... Actually, heaving boxes of fabric about in the loft, but that's what it feels like!

[lisagems.livejournal.com]

I had a birthday party that I needed to attend. Otherwise I would have spent then entire day at the Ginza fest. I love taiko drums.