STAR WARS READS DAY

Members of Garrison Titan of the 501st (Imperial) Legion and Alpha Base of the Rebel Legion pose for a picture during Star Wars Reads Day on the Southcenter Barnes & Noble children's stage.

I know the heavy artillery Stormtrooper and his two sons (the Jawa and GNK (gonk) droid). He made their three costumes, as well as many others that are not pictured.

FROST PARK: ANATOMY, GEOGRAPHY

"Anatomy, Geography" by Troy's Work Table. Frost Park Chalk Off Challenge 6:27. Friday 04 October 2013.

The piece was four panels long and I couldn't get a decent photograph of all four together, so you get them in pairs.


Panels one and two: "Color bled from clouds / leaving silver and slate."


Panels three and four: "In that same moment / my bones sang!"

The pink "halo" in panel three consists of seven giant Pacific octopuses swimming around my head. In panel four they become either (a) absences since octopuses are invertebrates, or (b) ink clouds as the octopuses flee. You decide which you like best and stick with that.

FROST PARK: UNACCEPTABLE

"Unacceptable (After Goya)" by Troy's Work Table. Frost Park Chalk Off 6:26. Friday 27 September 2013.

The Earl of Lemongrab (from Adventure Time with Finn and Jake) poses in the manner of Goya's Self-Portrait of 1815.

PUMPKIN PARADE

Fall means pumpkins. Pumpkins mean one of my favorite beer styles hits the store shelves: pumpkin ales. I headed down to my independent and local beer store, 99 Bottles, and stocked up to get me through fall (or at least the first part of it).

Here is what I picked up…

PUMPKIN ALE 

Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale
Once my standard pumpkin ale (and perhaps more my “gateway” pumpkin ale) was Buffalo Bill’s Pumpkin Ale. Then I had Night Owl and I find I can no longer drink the former. Buffalo Bill’s is now too sweet for my palate and too heavy on the cinnamon, almost as though they brewed pumpkin ale with Red Hots cinnamon candies. Night Owl has a good solid pumpkin flavor as its base.

Uinta Punk’n Pumpkin Ale 
This pumpkin ale is another solid pumpkin ale. I know I liked it, but can’t quite remember how it fared against Night Owl, which is one of the main reasons I picked it up. I think Uinta has a strong stable of beers and want to compare Punk’n against Night Owl.

IMPERIAL PUMPKIN ALE

Elysian The Great Pumpkin Imperial Pumpkin Ale
If my memory serves me, The Great Pumpkin is Night Owl exponentially expressed. It may be too much for me. I will have to drink it and jog my memory.

Southern Tier Pumking Imperial Pumpkin Ale
Likewise, Pumking. I remember it as heavy-laden with pumpkin and spices, but without being overbearing; I hope I remembered correctly. As with Night Owl and Punk’n, the plan is to compare and contrast The Great Pumpkin and Pumking to notice similarities and differences.

PUMPKIN PORTER/STOUT 

Elysian Dark O’The Moon Pumpkin Stout 
This is one of my all-time favorite beers. It is chocolate cheesecake pumpkin pie, with a spectacular graham cracker crust flavor. I am looking forward to this bottle perhaps more than any of the others.

OakShire Big Black Jack Imperial Chocolate Pumpkin Porter 
I’ve never had this, but I’m hoping that it is a comparable companion to Dark O’The Moon.

PUMPKIN WILD CARDS

Anderson Valley Fall Hornin’ Pumpkin Ale
I chose this one to have another inexpensive “regular” pumpkin ale in the mix. I’m interested to see how it fares against Night Owl and Punk’n.

Justice Brewing Belgo Pumpkin
This is the beer that I am most looking forward to exploring. I know what Dark O’ the Moon tastes like simply by writing about it. I’m having trouble even imagining what this Belgo Pumpkin tastes like. Is it a sour pumpkin saison? Is it a Belgian dubbel or tripel with a hint of pumpkin, spice, and tartness for good measure? We will soon see.

Two Beers Pumpkin Spice Ale
Two Beers has been making some great ales, and I expect that this will be another solid offering from them.

The plan is to post tasting notes of each of these over the next few weeks. Get ready for the pumpkin parade!

WILDWOOD

Sun through leaves, early dusk, Tuesday 20 August 2013. Wildwood Park, Puyallup, Washington.

CUMULUS

Cumulus cloud, afternoon, Monday 19 August 2013. Edgewood, Washington.

OCTOPUS

"Octopus" by Troy's Work Table. The first place winner at Puyallup's Chalk the Walk, sponsored by Valley Arts United.

This one was really fun to chalk. I hadn't chalked an octopus for quite some time.

There was no time limit. (There really was, but it was far enough off to be irrelevant.) The sun was warm. People were milling about and watching and stopping and making their own chalk art. A mariachi band played nearby. It was a rather relaxing and somewhat sublime moment.

And the chalk adhered like butter to a warm griddle. Smooooooth!

INTO THE FORBIDDEN ZONE

"The reason that I unalterably oppose nuclear power is so obvious to me that I remain astounded that everybody on earth is not likewise against it: Dangerously radioactive nuclear wastes must be stored and guarded for periods insanely in excess of any civilization's frame of reference." 

—page 21, Into the Forbidden Zone: A Trip Through Hell and High Water in Post-Earthquake Japan by William T. Vollmann.

Read an excerpt from the book HERE.

FROST PARK: SLEESTAK TEST PATTERN

"Sleestak Test Pattern" by Troy's Work Table. Frost Park Chalk Off Challenge 6:19. Friday 09 August 2013.

Sleestak, Sleestak, Enik (the Altrusian).
Time portal crystal control pedestal panel.

OUR GUIDE TO THE ABYSS

"Boys and men like Huck [Finn] don't write, they're too busy satiated by life itself, a life in which one fishes not for whales but for catfish in the river that splits the United States in two, to the east the dawn, the civilization, everything that strives desperately to be history and to be storied, and to the west the clarity of blindness and myth, everything that lies beyond books and history, everything that we fear in our innermost selves."

 —page 297, from "Our Guide to the Abyss," as found in Between Parentheses: Essays, Articles, and Speeches, 1998-2003 by Roberto Bolaño.