farewell

i fly home tomorrow, so this is a farewell post.
thanks for all the comments and responses. it's been so fun to keep in touch this way.
i will probably start a new blog for everyday stuff and continue to share the things i make and see. or maybe i will keep this one and just continue on with it. not sure.

but i do want to say thanks to all the copenhageners who showed me around, introduced me to people, lent me things, were generally funny, fun and darling. you are all, always welcome in Seattle.

a mown lawn

Mowing is a crucial part of good parks and landscapes. If it's done well, it looks fantastic, much like the photos shown. If done badly it is equivalent of a bad hair day, or rather, a bad hair month. These pictures are from Kastellet, a fortified fortress in Copenhagen right on the harbor. I frequently take walks here as you will see in my next installment of "walks". ha ha! I don't know why I find that funny but it might be due, in part, to the fact that I presented my research to the Center yesterday and was doing a lot of long days to write and then prepare my slideshow. It all went very well and I was so pleased to share what I have done. It has been quite some time since I have really talked to anyone about my work and I was sorely in need of some reflection. I had fun with the slideshow, as usual, and will surely use parts of it when I present in the fall at the UW. You're all invited!

Jennifer and Ryan arrive tomorrow, then Owen comes on Monday. I can hardly wait. It will be such a treat to have my pals here. I am sure the posts will dwindle a bit at that point (sorry Nancy) though I will do my best. But, before you know it, I will be asking you to take me out for a beer back home. So if you start to miss me, have no fear, it's only two weeks!

commuter views

Every day on my commute I am amazed at how great the bike-riders look here. There is such a great diversity of types of bikes, types of riders, bags, helmets, hairstyles, you name it. Sometimes I take sneaky shots of people who are extra cute and this is my collection of spy-rider-portraits. I especially like the older lady with the striped shorts. Her outfit is stylish and screams vacation! And the guy with the cleaning supplies. Love to see a man with a scrub brush on his bike. Oh, and notice the yellow box on the bottom indicating this gal's sleek, biker-business-briefcase. It gingerly rests upon her rack with nothing to secure it. The Danish commute is so civilized, you don't have to fasten anything down and prepare for treacherous urban conditions.

midnight, that's kind of early to go out.

It's true. Copenhagen is a REALLY late-night city. Riding my bike home at what seemed like the ungodly hour of 3:30am this Saturday to find the streets full of people and some bars too full to get seats made me finally accept that if you only visit Denmark for a short period, you might as well stay on Seattle time. The New York Times (ok, I am a little obsessed with reading the paper on-line. btw, did anyone read that great article in the June 1 mag about the Pakistani activist lawyer, Ahsan? Really good.) featured a short article about Copenhagen bodegas a few weeks ago and the journalist weas right on. They are sort of like the plaza--the place where all types meet. That one is the Bo-Bi Bar, darling little trap that is so small it is still legal to smoke in there. (Photo: Jakob Dall for The New York Times)