Victoria's Symphony Splash

This Sunday the Victoria Symphony takes to the stage, or should I say the barge? Join the Victoria Symphony and Maestra Tania Miller for the annual "Symphony Splash," the largest outdoor symphony event in Canada and one of the largest in North America.

If you attend you'll be in good company. Up to 40,000 people attend the "Symphony Splash." It's definitely a family affair. There's a kid's splash zone on the lawn of the legislature with an instrument petting zoo, face painting and more.

The "Symphony Splash" begins at 4:00 with the Vic High R&B Band and at 7:30 Maestra Tania Miller and the Victoria Symphony take the floating barge, for a concert that includes "O Canada," "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 4" of Sir Edward Elgar, "Tara's Theme" from Gone With the Wind, "Rhapsody in Blue" by Gershwin Christine Wong, 2009 Young Splash Soloist and much more!

If you attend the splash I'd love to hear about it and see your photos. You can e-mail me at rilette@wsu.edu.

Warrior Librarians Go For The Gold!

Okay, so the cart's a library cart spray painted gold but it's still a prize, right?
And the winning team did it to Wagner!

Here's the story that ran on this contest on All Things Considered on July 13th.

And here's that same music used so effectively in Apocalypse Now.

Staycation Kitsch!

This afternoon on All Things Considered there's an interesting story on
Searching For The Soul Of L.A. Through Kitsch, which includes a 1920's building shaped like a tamale. If you're not sure of the definition of "kitsch" here's one.

Personally, I enjoy a bit of kitsch and when I find something kitschy that I like I consider it to be neither tastless or worthless. "One man's junk is another man's treasure!" So I started thinking about Mary Lou's Milk Bottle restaurant in Spokane pictured above and then the Dog Bark Park in Cottonwood where you can actually sleep in the dog's head!



Then I found this cool building in Ocean Shores.




If you're looking for something fun to do and see during your staycation check out some of the other suggestions from Northwest Public Radio listeners.

Check out this site on windmill buildings including one in Ellensburg and several in Lynden.



Here's a famous Tacoma landmark.



I've eaten a meal or two at The Bomber in Milwaukie.



A glass house in Boswell, B.C.



Or how about the Hat n' Boots in Seattle?



An old photo of Dusty's In-N-Out in Wenatchee.



And check out these cool houses on unusual-architecture.com!



A picture of the "Toe Truck" in Seattle from Bill in Wenatchee. Thanks Bill!

If you have know of any weird, unusual or kitschy buildings in the Pacific Northwest send a photo and link my way and I'll add it to this post.