May 2, 2010 Joint Haiku Meeting at Padilla Bay
Join us on Sunday, May 2, 2010
Please join us on May 2 for our fifth joint meeting of the Seattle and Port Townsend haiku groups, and also welcoming the Bellingham haiku group. At Padilla Bay, near Mount Vernon, we’ll enjoy socializing, a naturalist’s talk, nature walks, writing time, and haiku sharing and critique. Here’s our schedule for the day:
10:00 a.m. Meet at the Farmhouse Restaurant near Mount Vernon for brunch (not marked on the map below, but located at the intersection of Route 20 and La Conner–Whitney Road).
Farmhouse Restaurant
13724 La Conner–Whitney Road
Mount Vernon, WA 98273
Phone: (360) 466-4411
11:50 a.m. Rendezvous at the Breazeale Interpretive Center at the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Preserve (http://www.padillabay.gov/). For those coming from the Farmhouse Restaurant, head north on the Bayview Edison Road. It turns into the La Conner and Samish Road, then returns to being the Bayview Edison Road. The Breazeale Interpretive Center is less than a mile past Josh Wilson Road and Bay View State Park.
For those who do not come for brunch, here are the directions to the Breazeale Interpretive Center: take I-5 north from Seattle or south from Bellingham to exit 231, near Burlington. Just west of the freeway bridge (near the State Patrol Office), take Josh Wilson Road west toward Anacortes for about six miles. At the end of Josh Wilson, turn right onto Bay View–Edison Road. Drive north less than one mile, past Bay View State Park. The Breazeale Interpretive Center will be on your right (see picture below), a quarter mile past the State Park.
12:00 p.m. A naturalist from the Interpretive Center will give us a half an hour presentation on the flora and fauna of Padilla Bay, after which we will be walking or carpooling to Bay View State Park for a ginkō walk (dress for the weather and bring your binoculars if you’d like).
12:30 p.m. Ginkō walk.
1:30 p.m. Gather in the upstairs meeting room at the Breazeale Interpretive Center. Since this will be the first gathering of all three of our haiku groups, a representative or facilitator of each group will speak for a few minutes about each group and how its meetings function. After that, we’ll have a round of introductions. Along with your name, where you’re from, and how you became interested in haiku, please also share a favorite haiku or senryu written by someone else. You’re welcome to mention why it’s one of your favorites, but you don’t have to. We’ll just be sharing these for the listening enjoyment of all.
Following introductions, we’ll have another round of reading, this time of your own poems. They can be haiku or senryu that you composed on the ginkō, or ones written earlier. Again, we won’t be critiquing these, just sharing them.
2:15 p.m. Brief break to stretch our legs or to admire the view. Also, we’ll be passing around note cards on which to write haiku for the anonymous critique session.
2:30 p.m. Anonymous critique session with focuses on the use of two-part structure and objectivity versus subjectivity. We’ll also have snacks!
3:45 p.m. Second ginkō walk. This might be a good time to explore the Breazeale Interpretive Center itself, or wander outside. There are a few trails in the woods, as well as a path down to the water.
4:30 p.m. Return to the meeting room to share poems.
5:00 p.m. Leave the Breazeale Interpretive Center. Some folks may wish to head home at this point, but for those who want to linger, we’ll be having dinner at La Conner Thai Restaurant.
La Conner Thai Restaurant
110 1st Street
La Conner, WA 98257
Phone: (360) 466-9999
To get to the restaurant from the Breazeale Interpretive Center, head south back toward the Farmhouse Restaurant on Bayview–Edison Road. (It continues as the La Conner and Samish Road, then returns to the Bayview–Edison Road, and back again.) Cross Highway 20 and continue south on the La Conner–Whitney Road for about four miles. Bear right on Morris Street and continue for 0.4 miles, and then turn right on N. 1st Street. The La Conner Thai Restaurant is on your right.