10:27 a.m. [Click on sketch to view larger] [Sketch location]

I couldn't think of a better purpose for a park: happy celebrations, or, in Chinese, "Hing Hay," which is the name of this park at Maynard Avenue S. and S. King Street in the International District.

While quiet this morning, I'm sure it will live up to its name as it becomes the gathering spot for Saturday's Lunar New Year celebration. On the schedule: lion and dragon dances, Japanese taiko drumming and a children's parade and scavenger hunt.

Add to that calligraphy drawing and I think this sketcher is ready to mark his calendar!

Feb. 4, 6:04 p.m. [Click on sketch to view larger]

Coach Melani Young makes ice skating look easy and also fun (see Friday's post.) On a quick break after teaching a 'learn to skate' class at the Comcast Community Ice Rink in Everett last week, she talked about how it can inspire people to get physically fit, to be active and have fun at the same time.

Originally from Colorado, Young moved to the Seattle area almost a decade ago and said she loves living here. She is a member of the Everett Silver Blades, a synchronized skating team of the Everett Figure Skating Club.

Young's children have also taken up her passion. Cody, 19, teaches a Saturday speed-skating class at the Everett rink and has competed at the national level. Amy, 16, wants to compete in synchronized skating when she's in college.

Talking to Melani made me more interested in paying attention to the Vancouver Games. Now I will certainly turn on the TV to watch. Young said I shouldn't miss the men's and ladies' free skate. Next on her list, short-track speed skating, bobsleigh and luge.

Link
Full coverage of the Vancouver Winter Olympics at seattletimes.com.

Feb. 4, 5:45 p.m. [Click on sketches to view larger]

With the Vancouver Games just days away, the Comcast Community Ice Rink in Everett is busier than normal. Coach Melani Young said they see an increase in participation every four years "because everybody wants to be Apolo Ohno." People come here to take speedskating, figure-skating and first-timer classes all year round.

I certainly could use one. My first time on the ice last month didn't go so well and I turned in my skates after 30 minutes.

But this week I was encouraged seeing 5-year-old Makenna Reed zoom around effortlessly. Stu Reed said it was just the fourth time his daughter had been on the ice.

I also learned that there's more to skating than just mastering the sport. For instructor Sandya Nath, ice skating is a lot like life. "No matter how many times you fall, you get back up and try again," she said.

I may have to put those skates back on.

Feb. 2, 1:50 p.m. [Click on sketch to view larger]

You might wonder, as I did, what a float plane is doing among the 1,000 boats at this year's Seattle Boat Show.

According to Neal Zimmers of Arlington-based Glas Air Aviation, it's the first time a plane has snuck into the event, which is open through Saturday at Qwest Field Event Center.

Zimmers said his company decided to display the aircraft here because there seems to be a correlation between people who like boats and people who like planes.

The $225,000 float plane features folding wings for easy storage or to put it on top of your boat.

That sounds good, but where am I going to put the Sealegs now?

Jan. 27 [Click on sketch to view larger]

The first Thursday of the month means free entrance at many Seattle museums, including the Northwest African American Museum in the Central District. The museum has been in Seattle for less time than I have -- it opened in 2008 at the old Colman School -- but it already has a unique permanent collection and an interesting exhibit called East by Northwest that focuses on Seattle's East African community.

I learned during a visit last week that many Ethiopian refugees came here in the mid 70s, drawn by relatives in the area who had come to study here in the late 60s and couldn't go back when a communist state was established in their country in 1974.

A gallery with personal objects donated for the exhibit is particularly moving. These are objects that new immigrants treasured because they reminded them of home, explained Barbara Earl Thomas, the museum's executive director. Lemma Walde, for example, brought some cassette tapes with music to listen to. For Yeshi Shiferaw, it was a golden necklace given by a relative.

In addition to the exhibit, which also includes a replica of a tukul, a traditional Ethiopian hut, you can also visit the permanent gallery, where an illustrated timeline features some of the first African Americans who settled in the Pacific Northwest, like George Washington, who founded Centralia.

With its location next to Jimi Hendrix Park, it's only fitting that a hat Hendrix wore at a concert in 1968 welcomes you as you walk into the museum.

Feb. 1, 12:37 p.m. [Click on sketch to view larger]

Now that I've seen it, the chapel of St. Ignatius on Seattle University's campus has immediately risen to the top of my list of favorite Seattle buildings. Sorry Smith Tower!

I was on campus Monday to talk to a journalism class and did a quick sketch afterwards. The sketch is not enough to do justice to the architectural gem designed by Bremerton architect Steven Holl, but that gives me an excuse to come back.

Braden Van Dragt, one of the students in the class I spoke to, photographed me while I took a snapshot of the sketch to share via twitter. He is the photo editor at the university's student newspaper, The Spectator at SU.

Photo by Braden Van Dragt