You Had Me at Rabbits on Tricycles

Saturday evening I had the weirdest run. Weirdest run ever, to be specific. If I had taken an energy gel I would have questioned whether or not they included hallucinogens. GU: Now with LSD!

I was running at Greenlake and I had almost completed my first lap when I looked off to my right and noticed something at the end of one of the docks. Something large and white that I quickly realized was a white canopy bed with all white bedding. There also appeared to be some musical stands and some lighting equipment nearby so I surmised this was some sort of wedding that would be taking place later. A wedding involving a large white canopy bed was kind of weird but, eh, no biggie.

As I rounded the next bend I noticed a group of men in black tuxes, tails and top hats standing by some row boats tied up next to the dock. "Oh," I said to myself, "they are going to row to the next dock for the wedding. How quaint". And away I trudged.

Further on around the lake I noticed another man in tux, tails and top hat videotaping something on the outside of the lake. I glanced to my left to see what he was filming. Then I did a double-take. Then a triple-take. Coming down the hill of one of the side streets were five women dressed in long, white dresses wearing what appeared to be large white mouse heads. If this was a wedding it was one I had to see.

Thoughts of what kind of event (wedding or performance art) was about to take place occupied my mind while I ran most of my second lap. While I was deep in thought, imagining how cool a mouse head wedding would be there appeared more tuxed, tailed and top hatted people. This time coming towards me on roller blades carrying silvery-white balloons. They handed me a card and wished me "Happy New Moon". It was a performance vignette later that evening and sadly not a mouse head wedding.

But wait. What is that coming this way in the bike lane? Why it is three large white rabbits in old-fashioned white tuxes riding old-fashioned tricycles. The kind with a huge front wheel of course because what else would you expect rabbits to be riding? I am now totally in at this point. I am coming back to the lake in an hour to see what this was all about.

Right near the end of my run I passed more tuxedoed, tailed and top-hatted people sitting on picnic tables playing beautiful old-timey fiddle-ish music. And the women with the mouse heads? Silly, why that was just your eyes playing tricks on you. It was actually three horse heads, one cat head and one owl all wearing long white Victorian style dresses, white gloves and currently being quietly ferried around the lake in the rowboats with the tuxedoed men at the oars. These weren't some cheesy furry costume character kind of animal heads either. They were all white and looked like porcelain although clearly made from a softer more pliable material. Stunning. The sun was beginning to set, the lake was getting quiet and these beautiful creatures with their stylishly dressed rowers created the most magical image on the lake.

The card I was handed told me that the people responsible for this surreal, magical spectacle are Lucia Neare's Theatrical Wonders. They are doing this "Lullaby Moon" performance around the city of Seattle every new moon for an entire year. It was ethereal and whimsical. Odd and beautiful. If you are in the neighborhood for a future performance do yourself a favor and go. You will be surrounded by weirdness, whimsy and wonder. You won't even need a hallucinogenic GU.