Yard Sale and Butterflies

Sunday, September 13, 1998

Today we had a cool Cacophony event, The Cacophony Yard Sale. This was the second time we were attempting the event this year. The first time I was feeling so sick, that I was just as glad that Jayson had already gone home by the time I got there. A Cacophony Yard Sale involves no money; instead, if you want an item, you have to spin the wheel and perform the act of art chosen for you, whether it be drawing a picture, telling a story or joke, writing a a haiku, or performing an interpretive dance.

So this time we again gathered at the small courtyard between the bank and Noah's Bagels. I bought myself breakfast: a cracked-pepper potato bagel, and a sun-dried tomato bagel, both sliced and toasted with a schmear of cream cheese. Yum! I was amused to see the stuff I had donated to our sale two years ago, which Jayson had stored in a box till now. He and Jayson arranged the merchandise (including my donations for today) and the "Wheel of Haggle."

Our first customer was XE! She wanted the slinky that I had donated, which was one of a bunch I had bought for our spring fling a few years ago. Her purpose in going for that was to use it to keep Maven, the cacophony baby, amused. XE's fate as determined from the wheel was to do an interpretive dance, inspired by the chosen item. She managed to do this without dropping the baby on her head, but the baby wasn't as enthralled by the slinky as XE had hoped.

Various people got up the courage to spin the wheel. One man got a fine CD rack, a lady perfomed a physical feat of showing off her double jointed thumb for some napkin rings, and Kirsten imagined and explicated an alternative use for the book she wanted.

I was especially tickled by this couple; first he did a drawing for a tiny blank book with hearts on it, then she did one of him for a large blank book (it must have been created by Jayson at work sometime) made of very heavy paper. It was interesting to see who was eager to participate, who was tempted but resisted, and who hated the entire idea. We would have had more takers if some of our louder or bolder members had been there to act as barkers, but those of us who did attend did our best.

This blond girl was so eager to tell us a joke, she did it without picking out her item! But I think my favorite of all was this young woman who sang an original song, one she had made up with the friend who was with her that day, all about the proto-human Zinjanthropus! "Zinjanthropus, you're the missing link, yadda yadda, whaddya think?"

This event was just great! We'll definitely do it again next year!

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JP, whom I'd had coffee with last Monday, and I had arranged to go do something this afternoon, but we didn't have an exact plan. When I called after gettng back from the Cacophony event, he suggested the special Butterflies and Blooms exhibit at the Woodland Park Zoo. He wanted to take some pictures of the butterflies. This sounded fine to me, so I brought my camera as well!

But first we stopped at Fred Meyer, at the Broadway Market, to get a camera battery for JP, and the Gravity Bar to have a snack. Sun Juice (orange, banana, papaya, ginger!) for me, and a wrap sandwich; celery, parsley, and beet juice for JP (not to my taste, thanks) and a beso de queso toasted cheese and avocado thing. I always like the food there!

The butterfly exhibit was great! It's in a large quonset-hut-type affair, constructed entirely of screening, and filled with flowering plants that butterflies like. They bring in the pupae and hatch the insects there, where they live a few days. No caterpillars here; they'd eat up all the plants in no time!

There was a bit of a crowd, even though it was later in the afternoon, but it was possible to get up close and see the butterflies with no problem. There was tinkly classical music playing in the background at all times, which I didn't really find appropriate. Perhaps it was just there to calm the people and make them move more slowly, for the benefit of the butterflies. That would be justified, in my opinion. But if there isn't a practical reason, it just seems too "pretty-pretty" and sentimental.

JP isn't looking for a serious romance right now, at least partly because he's getting over a tough breakup. This afternoon wasn't a date, then, just an outing. There were various things that sent me this message during the afternoon. But I swear I didn't come to this conclusion just because he walked away from the garden outside the butterfly house without checking to make sure I was with him! I had sat down on a bench while he was photographing some plants, and when I got up and looked around, he was gone! So I waited a while, then checked in both directions on the path right there, then finally went back to the gate where we had entered the park. JP was there, thank heaven. The zoo is big enough that it could be tough finding someone! So we continued on and walked around most of the zoo.

What a fun day! Seattle Indian summer weather, a Cacophony event, and a trip to the zoo to see the butterflies.