Melissa and Brendan joined us in Vancouver to celebrate the city's Mural Festival. On our walking tour of the works, we thought that the four year old street fair and mural painting celebration had matured, offering quality public art with a serious party. Banksy wasn't there (his art style was!), but a substantial number of the participants have an international reputation. The exuberance of the event was captured by a mural called "Selfie" along an alley in the center of the fair. It's about the height of a doorway. Across from it was a newly painted oryx, more than three stories tall.

"Selfie," A Mural Near Sixth & Main in Vancouver BC

News & Notes

• Many of the Mural Festival works exhibited ingenuity or cleverness. Our group's favorite was painted in two parts. The man's face is on a FLAT wall that has a vent in it. The truck is a good reference for its size. His hand is painted on a small block building in front of the wall; the five gallon bucket shows its scale. (The artist's aerial lift platform is also visible.)

  

  A Very Three Dimensional Man by a Loading Dock

  New this year was a "Community Mural". Along a blank wall by a bus stop, the organizers outlined a mural and annotated the lower half with numbers. A docent passed out small bottles of paint and brushes so passersby could paint-by-number a small region of the work. It was very popular.

  

  Everyone Can Be A Muralist

  The murals are very much an organic part of Vancouver. Murals we enjoyed in earlier years are gone as buildings are torn down for new construction, though most remain. And our fave from last year has since been tagged, an appalling act of vandalism.
  
  Let us know when you're next in Vancouver. We'll send you the map!
  
  

• We visited Jim and Julie in Libby MT. Among the activities was huckleberry picking. This is a very enjoyable pastime because huckleberries have the good sense to grow only in beautiful country. Plus they are amazingly tasty.

  

  One aspect of huckleberry picking that adds excitement is the fact that grizzly bears, formerly an endangered species, have recovered nicely in MT. So the berry picker must be vigilant in case the berry patch has already been spoken for. Jim prefers the incognito technique.

  

  There's Nothing To See Here

  We tried to fish on Montana's Lake Kookanusa with friends Tom and Alvira. It was windy and as Tom says, "It was good fishing, but not good catching." To everyone's delight, Alvira caught a small kokanee, a fresh water salmon, that we called 'The Minnow.' Two years ago, Alvira was mentioned here as a Coho Master because she caught the largest coho salmon at her fishing camp in Alaska.

  

  When No One Else Is Catching Fish Even A Minnow Wins the Prize!

  
  

• Our big mystery this summer has been the steaming submarine. Submarines pass our house occasionally, coming from or going to the Bremerton Navy Base. Normally, they travel under their own power with a small craft escort. This time, the sub was being pushed by a large tug, and it was venting a substantial amount of (we think) steam. Unusual. There was no explanation in the media. It was curious,

  

  Submarine in Distress?

  
  

• We have a rubbing we made 45 years ago of a pre-Revolutionary War tombstone we discovered in the Green Cemetery in Glastonbury CT. It captured our interest because it was filled with mistakes - the husband's and wife's names have different spellings - and also, because of the description of her death. It reads:

  	HERE LYETH
  	THE* BODY OF
  	MARCY HALLE
  	THE WIFE OF THOMAS
  	HALE JUNR WHO
  	DECESED AUGUST
  	THE 21TH 1719 AG
  	ED 38 YEARS
  	HERE LIES ONE WH
  	O'S LIFES THRADS
  	CUT ASUNDER SHE
  	WAS STRUCK DEAD
  	BY A CLAP OF THUNDR
  	* Notice that all TH pairs use the left vertical of H for the stem of T.

  On August 21st, 300 years after her demise, we toasted Marcy at Hale's Ales, a local brew pub.

  

  Three Hundred Years Ago

  
  

• As has become our tradition, we visited Shelley and Ken at their Lopez Island home for Labor Day. The artists of Lopez Island open their studios over the long weekend, and we took our time over two days to see their work, which we deemed especially engaging this year. As in the past, there was excellent food, including a huckleberry pie, and fascinating conversation while looking out at the San Juan Islands in the sunshine.

  

  Ken and Shelley

  
  

Tombstone photo, Frank and Shirley Hankins, Find A Grave