Northwest Folklife Festival

Saturday we walked down to the Seattle Center to mingle with the good people (and sway with the hippies) at the 37th annual Folklife Festival.

The first thing we did was join the crowd at the drum circle. There is just something so wonderful about such a variety of people coming together to make music together.

It was such a warm and beautiful day, we decided to cool off a bit by dodging random shoots of water at the International Fountain. If I wasn't 9 months pregnant, I would've been running around with the kids. But I think I look kinda funny when I run these days - so I just took my flip flops off and waited to get sprayed instead. Maybe it's just my perception - but it seems like people are always staring at me and my belly these days. Jacob says they just think I'm a cute pregnant girl, but in my mind they are silently saying 'what is she doing out here? we don't want her to have the baby in the middle of the folklife festival!' I must admit, though, that while I know some pregnant people don't like it when random people come up to touch their belly - I don't really mind. I think it's kinda sweet when some stranger walks up with a huge grin on her face and says "congratulations" or asks if she can feel the baby. It's like no matter what a crazy world we live in, there is something very special and sacred about welcoming a new little human to the race. Which is pretty special, if you ask me.

We got to listen to a lot of great music at the festival. We saw about 5 bluegrass bands and even a flamenco band. Even though I am not a fan of "country" music - I do LOVE roots music, and especially the joyful noises of the fiddle, banjo, and mandolin. The picture above is of the toe-tapping feet of 3 bluegrass musicians. (for you, Minna).

On our way home, we saw Transit Man at the bus stop. He is doing his part of saving the world by using public transportation. The kids were quite awestruck. They were doing an interview with the little girl above, and when asked what special powers the super-hero has, she said "he can fly (because he has a cape, of course), and he can save the world." To which he replied "my magic power is in riding the metro bus."

To end our perfect day - Jacob took me out for some marvelous Soul Food at the Kingfish Cafe. We topped it all off with this fresh and delicious strawberry shortcake. We couldn't even finish it between the two of us. And that's how today was - it left us so full of good stuff, we were overflowing. Happy Memorial Day Weekend to All!