by Maureen | Jan 2, 2012 | Burien, Burien's Walk-n-Talk, Christmas & New Year's Eve, Community, Featured Articles, Incredible Locations, People, Photo of the Day, U.S.A.
Forty-one people showed up under unusually warm, blue skies for the Walk-n-Talk on New Year’s Day! Wow! Rainier was out. It was like a springtime day as people gathered on Town Square’s grassy knoll, having come from near and far to bask in a seasonal glow and chat with their neighbors. Wow. Forty-one people, young and old, plus three pups and many new faces in the crowd. (This was our largest group yet for our monthly walks.)
We started hoofing from Burien Town Square at 2:15, right on schedule, and walked through Gregory Heights’ neighborhoods that were quintessential, classic, and oh-so-retro! The four, patterned cement block homes on 10th garnered much conversation (adjacent to the site of the old water tower).
Everyone walked at the level of their own abilities, so the 3.3 mile route was ribboned with a stream of walkers, some faster, some slower. Back at Town Square at 3:45, Charlene, Amanda and Rosalie, plus little poodle Toby, stopped for a moment to flash peace signs.
“Peace, man, in 2012!”
Happy New Year!
by Maureen | Oct 2, 2011 | Burien, Burien's Walk-n-Talk, Community, Featured Articles, Incredible Locations, Journal, People, Photos, Quips
We’re just a bunch of folks, of various ages and abilities and speeds, out for a nice walk together. We show up once a month, whomever wants to amble on two feet, and we go from here to there in Volksmarch fashion.
Today we walked from Burien’s Town Square westward into and around the Seahurst neighborhood. I grew up there. As a kid, when I wanted some peace-and-quiet away from a busy household (6 kids, Mom, Dad, Grandma, 1 dog, 1 cat), I took off for a walk into these same streets. Today we passed through the intersection where there had lived 36 kids, 40+ years ago. These were the streets that gave me calm… and they still do.
We had another Burien Walk-n-Talk today, with 23 human walkers and 5 canines. Woof woof. We took off walking and soon clustered according to speed and propensity. I like that people end up walking with those they’ve never spoken to before, and the conversations lasted the duration… about an hour and a half. (Whenever else is this opportunity?)
Our westernmost spot was the entrance to Eagle Landing Park. We arrived at precisely the moment when artist Galen Willis (right) and scout Sean Kent (left, Scout Troop 392) were working on the installation site of Galen’s cedar sculpture of an eagle. The sculpture is expected to be installed in the next month. (Keep your eyes peeled and ears open for announcements.)
These walks are scheduled for the first Sunday of every month. We meet up at the appointed place… walk… talk along the way… then bid adieu until the next month. On November 6, we’ll gather again and see where the conversation leads us. Care to join us?
Stayed tuned for details about our next Walk-n-Talk. The route may change. The group certainly will. Who KNOWS who you’ll have an opportunity to talk to!
by Maureen | Aug 22, 2011 | Biking, Burien, Discoveries, Featured Articles, Incredible Locations, Introspection, Journal, Photos, Quips, Seattle
Ignite an early enthusiasm for being on two wheels. Teach “bike sense” and street smarts to little ones. Gather people from the community for fun, conversation, fresh air and healthful exercise. These are the goals of Burien’s Bike “SaFaRis” – Safe Family Rides, launched by the enthusiastic, former Burien City Councilmember, Sue Blazak.
The first SaFaRi was yesterday, Sunday, August 21. One little one, still a babe-in-arms, rode in a bike trailer behind his Dad, while another little guy was in a bike seat behind his Dad. Other kids rode on “trailer bikes” connected to a parent’s bike, or they rode competently on their own knee-high cycles. In all, 19 people gathered at Gregory Heights School for a bicycle tour through the Seahurst neighborhood and around Lake Burien, including a swingset-break at Lake Burien Park. The whole ride lasted about an hour and was generally flat except for a few small hills near the lake.
You see new things on a bike! Along the route, we all noticed things that we just hadn’t seen through our car windshields, and we traveled on streets we’ve never traveled in all the time we’ve each lived here. Conversations were spontaneous and varied as the group mixed along the way. New connections were made.
The group will meet Sundays at 3 p.m. through Sept. 25th. This is a FREE event, and all are welcome (either with kids or without). The group will make variations on a loop around Lake Burien each week, between 2-5 miles. Participants will meet in front of Gregory Heights Elementary, on the 16th Ave SW side, at 16201 16th Ave SW in Burien. ALL participants must wear bicycle helmets (parents included), and riders are taught to follow safe cycling practices and the rules-of-the-road.
An e-mail list was started for staying in touch with interested riders, and notifying people of route changes. For more information, please contact: design (at) RedRedCircle (dot) com. (Write it all out as a standard e-mail address.)
by Maureen | Aug 3, 2011 | Burien, Burien's Walk-n-Talk, Community, Featured Articles, Journal, Quips
Burien’s Walk-n-Talk is being launched this coming Sunday, August 7 at 2:00!
Put on your comfy shoes and come for a casual Walk-n-Talk with friends and neighbors. On the first Sunday of every month, meet up at Burien Town Square with friends, old and new. Enjoy conversations and a walk through town. Grab a local coffee or snack before or after your stroll.
On the day of the recent Olde Burien Block Party, I had dinner with friends Rochelle and Shelley and we talked about the idea of starting a walk-n-talk… So I ran with it! (…or walked with it.)
Intentions for Burien’s Walk-n-Talk:
- “Encourage active living to support physical and mental health.”
(Part of Burien’s new “Vision”.)
- Initiate conversation between friends and neighbors, new and old.
- Nurture the idea of our Town Square as the “living room” of Burien,
our center and gathering place.
- Create our own little “volksmarch“, in the European tradition.
- Support our local cafés and restaurants on Sunday afternoons.
Location: Burien Town Square
Who: Walkers of every level and ability
Date: First Sunday of every month
Time: Meet at 2:00 p.m. Start walking at 2:15 p.m.
Route: A 2.25 mile loop from Burien Town Square, around Lake Burien, and back to Town Square.
- Begin at Burien Town Square.
- Go west on SW 152nd Street.
- Turn south on 21st Ave. SW.
- Go east on SW 156th, 16th and 158th.
- Zig-zag north on 12th, 156th, 11th,
- 154th and 10th, and back to 152nd.
- Turn east on 152nd back to Town Square.
Click on the map below for a larger view:
Burien’s Walk-n-Talk was inspired by my time recently living in Italy for over a year. In Italy, people walk a lot, not just to get from place to place but also for the social connection. In addition to daily commuting and errands, Italians have their traditional “Passeggiata” – the evening stroll. In the evenings, the main streets fill with people making walking tours through town. Not only is it exercise, but it’s also the social hour. Families walk together. Old folks push other old folks in wheelchairs. Sisters and girlfriends go arm-in-arm. Elder men gather and solve the city’s problems.
Additionally, in Italy, every city and town has a central church, in front of which is a large central plaza – the piazza. This piazza is the “living room of the city”, it’s the central gathering place, the place to hang out with friends in the evening, and to meet up before going on to other destinations. The piazza is where the city both celebrates and mourns.
Burien’s Walk-n-Talk is a means to encourage OUR stroll, and to affirm Burien Town Square as our central gathering place, “the living room of OUR city”. The announcement has been picked up by our B-Town Blog and by KOMO News, so it’s possible that we’ll have 50-100 people walking!
by Maureen | May 10, 2011 | Incredible Locations, Introspection, Journal, Palermo, People, Photos, Sicily, South Italy Tour
Traveling here in Sicily, I’ve most enjoyed Palermo because of the people I’ve met, “just plain folks” going about their days. They’ve been open, expressive, engaging, willing to get into conversation about work and life.
Cerainly, there’s Riccardo, the owner of the B&B Kemonia who was so helpful and friendly that I changed my stay from two nights to four. He was right-on with restaurant and itinerary recommendations, such that that it was “worth the price of admission” to have him as a guide.
There’s Giosué, the knife and scissors seller. He took over the little shop from his father and grandfather – their photos mounted on the wall next to the saints – but has no one to pass the store onto.
Marilena and her daughter met me along the sidewalk in the “restoration district”. She drew in two furniture restorers and a city manager to the conversation and talk of Palermo’s history. (We were friends on Facebook by nightfall.)
At the Mercato delli Pulci, I stopped to talk to Bruno in his dusty, sparse, antique shop, one of those wrapped around the tree trunks. I picked up a crystal lamp’s tear drop and told him of a “worry stone” given to me by an elderly, veteran friend… That the stone is symbolic and nice to carry around. He gave me the crystal tear drop and I told him I’d remember him when I saw it. I shot his picture holding it.
Then there’s the young plasterer, feet on his desk, surrounded by white plaster on the walls, fallen to the floor and thrown to the ceiling. He makes plaster moldings and decorative cornices.
In my quest for old signs, I stopped into bright-eyed Vittorio’s sign shop to inquire. His workshop was old and oversprayed, yet tidy. He dug through his old samples and found a new elliptical sign to give to me, then posed alongside his old “pantografo” machine. We chatted, then I left and got l one block down the road when I heard my name being called. Vittorio had run after me because I had forgotten to take the little sign he had given to me.
Increasingly in my travels, my most treasured souvenirs are the faces of the people I’ve met along the way, and recollections of the conversations we’ve had. Without language, this would not be possible.
by Maureen | Apr 29, 2011 | Featured Articles, Incredible Locations, Introspection, Journal, Milano, Photos
Friday, April 29. The Milanese are still wearing their winter jeans, puff jackets and scarves. I’m wearing black linen capris and sleeveless blouses. I arrived in Milano Wednesday at 9:00 a.m., to a morning warmer than Seattle… yet I’m glad to have brought a little summer jacket.
Robin-like birds started singing early this morning. By the time I looked at the clock, it was 5:00 and they had already roused a chorus. I slipped back into sleep, and when I awoke, it was then the doves I heard, cooing in the courtyard trees.
The sky is overcast. There’s a bit of a breeze, and we had both sprinkles and sunshine by day’s end. The church bells just started chiming. It’s a quarter-til-6:00 in the evening. Why aren’t they waiting ’til the hour?
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On Wednesday, the short train ride from the airport brought me to Cadorna Station in central Milano. I caught a cab to the apartment I’ve rented for this week, in the hip-and-artsy Navigli district, just blocks away from my old apartment and one of the grocery stores I always used to shop at.
Late morning, drowsy from the long travel and a little hungry, I went across the street to Trattoria Madonnina with its city-wide reputation… for coffee and lunch served by an unhappy waitress. I sat on the courtyard-side, jasmine-covered patio, with red-checked tablecloths and red, plastic chairs. (The WC is an old-style pit toilet with white, ridged ceramic foot pads for accurate positioning.) The morning was slow and relaxed with a cool, mid-spring sun and Milano’s classic hazy-blue sky. Neighborhood locals passed through the courtyard with their big, round “ciaos”.
I stopped in to the grocery to see my friend, Justine, cutting prosciutto in the meat department. She’s the meat cutter at the store and has the most beautiful smile. It touched my heart that her face lit up to see me and we gave each other an excited, european, two-cheeked kiss and chatted between customers.
It feels as if it’s only been 2 weeks since I was last here. As if I was back in Seattle just to check on a few things and see family, friends and clients. Actually, 9 months have passed since I packed up and left Milano, but it feels like I’ve come home, as I walk these familiar streets and hear the city’s sounds of sirens and courtyard conversations, soccer cheers and scooter accelerations.
In planning these two months, I gave myself the luxury of a fairly unplanned first week here in Milano. I haven’t even told all my friends that I’m here yet, because I haven’t wanted this week to be a full flurry of gatherings. I’ve taken my naps and slept as needed to get over the late-nights’ crush to leave Seattle, the long travels and resulting jet lag. I’ve focussed on getting systems up and running. I reactivated my Italian cell phone with its rechargeable SIM card, unlocked my ancient (1st generation) iPhone (thanks to Luigi) and transferred the SIM card from one phone to the other. I was allowed use of the wifi at the Design School and have spent hours online, sitting amidst design students in the computer lab while I booked air and hotels for Sicily and Puglia for the coming two weeks.
Connectivity-hooked that I am, with no wifi in this apartment, and inconvenienced by only being online when the computer lab is open, I bought a “chiavetta” – little key – from TIM, one of the Italian carriers and the supplier of my cell phone SIM card service. Very patient Valentina at the TIM store on Corso San Gottardo explained my options and then waded through setup with me. I can now use the key modem independent of wifi availability throughout all of Italy (though it won’t work on my iPad because of device power issues).
Logistics. Though vastly less disruptive to my “life system” to come abroad for “just” 2 months rather than packing up and moving here, it’s still a big effort and taxing. How often do I figure on doing this? Once… twice a year? Would two weeks satisfy me? Will I always want a month or two or more? And to what end? Am I naive in feeling I have some sort of tie to Italy and her people, the friends I’ve made here? Am I holding a glamorized, fantasy of living partly in Italy? And where does that come from?
It’s Friday evening and there’s chatter in the courtyard, an enclosed canyon of a space between several of this big city’s 5-story apartment buildings.
Still moving slowly, I’m not compelled to go out tonight. Rather, I’ll make myself a salad of fresh greens, Sicilian tomatoes, long-missed bresaola, scamorza affumicata, some oil and vinegar. Maybe this weekend I’ll head down the bike path on an already-borrowed bike for some fresh ricotta cheese, and then later meet up with a girlfriend to check out the latest art museum show.
Here just two days so far, I’ve shopped for olive oil and intimates, cured meats and internet keys. At a quarter-til-eight in the evening, the doves are cooing again.
I’m back in Milano.
Ciao!
by Maureen | Apr 1, 2011 | Featured Articles, Graphics, Introspection, Journal, Photo of the Day, Photos, Quips, Seattle
On a rainy day in Seattle – there have been so many lately – the car in front of me was branded “Milan” and my thoughts flew around the world. I’m 25 days away from returning to the land of “ciao” and dear friends that I look forward to sharing aperitivo with.
by Maureen | Mar 19, 2011 | Discoveries, Featured Articles, Incredible Locations, Introspection, Journal, Quips
While all around the community people were wearing kelly green and mylar shamrocks on Thursday, a few friends of mine here, and a whole nation halfway around the world, added white and red to their color scheme.
March 17 was the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy. Happy Birthday, Italia! Auguri! Good wishes!
– – – –
From Wikipedia’s entry:
Italian unification (Italian: il Risorgimento, or “The Resurgence“) was the political and social movement that agglomerated different states of the Italian peninsula into the single state of Italy in the 19th century. Despite a lack of consensus on the exact dates for the beginning and end of this period, many scholars agree that the process began in 1815 with the Congress of Vienna and the end of Napoleonic rule, and ended sometime around 1871 with the Franco-Prussian War. The last città irredente however, did not join the Kingdom of Italy until after World War I.
by Maureen | Jan 18, 2011 | Christmas & New Year's Eve, Design, Featured Articles, Graphics, Introspection, Journal, Photos, Quips
Buon Anno. Tanti Auguri.
Happy New Year. Many Good Wishes.
L’anno duemilleundici.
The year two thousand eleven.
Vi auguro buona salute, curiositá e contentezza nel anno nuovo!
Un abbraccio affettuoso a tutti i miei amici.
I wish you good health, curiosity and contentment in the New Year!
A warm hug to all my friends.
– – –
Some would think, “Wow, you found that written on some old paper somewhere in Italy?!” No. It’s a Photoshop collage of close to 100 different pieces. The individual letters and elements were scanned, selected and imported from correspondence, meeting notes and report cards from Italy in the 1940s. While there, I became enamored of the old and very distinctive Italian handwriting and collected penmanship manuals and old journals.
The embossed seal is from a child’s report card. It says “Regno d’Italia“, the “Kingdom of Italy”. Italy was unified in 1861 and on June 2, 1946, it became a republic.
by Maureen | Oct 21, 2010 | Design, Discoveries, Featured Articles, Food!, Incredible Locations, Journal, Meals, People, Photos, Seattle, Shopping & Markets
As a designer and photographer, one of the most stimulating aspects of being in Italy was its visual lushness. Every surface and every structure caught my eye. (Hence, the 16,300 photos I shot in my almost-14-months there!) Before leaving Milano, I told a few friends back home that I was concerned I’d be visually bored once I returned to Seattle.
One friend, David, “The Computer Guy”, offered to take me on a tour of 100 quirky and wonderful things to see in Seattle. It would be a way of seeing Seattle, my birthplace, with fresh eyes. Now that I’m finally coming up for air from resettling, and blessed with blue sky Fall days here, we had our tour last Friday.
David and I met up at the International Fountain at the Seattle Center, ready to begin our 4-hour, fast-paced whirlwind through the city. (This is a tour he used to make with his son when he was little.)
After checking out the rainbow arching over the fountain, we walked through the Center House food court to the Monorail entrance. We bemoaned the absence of the old Bubbleator that used to rise through the middle of the Center House floor.
It’s been years since I’ve taken a ride on the Monorail, and I’ve never made the trip as it now passes through EMP-Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum, designed by architect Frank Gehry.
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The Monorail’s elevated tracks snake the short distance from the Seattle Center in the lower Queen Anne neighborhood, into the city, past the “Darth Vader” building (on the right, below). (Seattle also has the “Norelco Shaver” and “Ban Roll-On” Buildings, named for their evocative shapes.)
After a short ride, we arrived at Westlake Center, a 4-story shopping hub just a few blocks from the Pike Place Market. We wound through the lunch crowd for a quick pit stop before we began at Westlake Station for our ride through the Seattle Transit Tunnel.
Every tourist and every local should take a free ride through this well-rendered tunnel.
From King County’s Web Site: “The tunnel has five stations. One of the first mysteries of station design was which came first, the art or the architecture? It’s difficult to separate the two. That’s because a lead artist worked with a lead architect to develop the distinctive art and architecture for each station.
“Metro eventually commissioned 25 artists to create more than 30 artworks for the tunnel, stations, surface streets, and sidewalks. The artists worked with Metro’s tunnel project consultant-Parson Brinckerhoff Quade and Douglas Inc. and architecture subconsultant TRA. Together they created the ‘art-itecture’.
“Each station is a representative slice of the neighborhood it serves. The architects and artists wanted people traveling through the tunnel to know where they were below the city by looking at the architecture and design features of the station they were in.
“The designers achieved that goal by studying surrounding businesses, buildings and uses, then creating designs reflecting those elements. Some features are subtle, and others much more noticeable.”
Design and aesthetic details found in the Transit Tunnel are too numerous to list. The roster of artists and architects, and their contributions, is lengthy. There is both “Art with a capital A”, as well as visuals inconsequential to most but artful to me.
(Click through the left-hand side navigation on this Station Art page to read discussions about the art and treatments of each transit station.)
At the University Street Station, beneath Benaroya Hall, is “Saccodoscopoeia” by Bill Bell, perhaps the most intriguing thing I saw all afternoon. Easily dismissed as just a granite wall with vertical rows of LED lights, with a little further exploration, this piece surprises the mind and eye with imagery and words revealing themselves through a “persistence of vision” trick. Move your head back and forth quickly and Seattle-specific icons appear, hovering in front of the wall. David’s trick is to stand 20 or 30 feet away from the wall and twirl on your toes a couple of times. The resulting dizziness causes the eyes to flicker and the images appear readily! (I was amused to think of the security cameras capturing our spinning in circles.)
Here’s the wall, at a glance. When I stood close to the lights and held my camera up, the images flashed quickly in my screen several times, but I wasn’t successful at getting a shot.
We saw big clocks, distinct at each station and all set to high noon. I appreciated the stenciled compass roses painted on the roadway. How appropriate and helpful for knowing “which end is up”.
Benches, of course, are all “sit but don’t lie” in their design, discouraging naps and nighttime lodging by those without a better place to sleep.
Though each station features distinctly different artwork, one element that unites all stations is the sandblasted braid created by artist, Norie Sato. It’s meant to be part of the cueing system for the visually-impaired, but I found it so subtly low-relief that I question its effectiveness for that purpose. I loved it’s visual addition to the tunnel stations, though. And the varied, patterned stone paving reminded me of what I’ve seen in Italy, France, China and Nicaragua. I’m all for visually-rich floors, sidewalks and roadways instead of monotonous gray concrete expanses.
We rode Metro through the tunnel from Westlake Station to the International District, popping up at the other stations along the way. Rising up out of the tunnel at “Chinatown“, poetry was sandblasted into the stair risers. This word “venture” seemed appropriate for our day’s tour.
Immediately out of the station, we were greeted into Chinatown by the 45 foot high Chinese Gate, completed in December of 2007, and adorned with the characters saying “Zhong Hua Men”, meaning “Chinese Nationality”. It is typical of the traditional city gates of China and reminded me of a gate I photographed in Xi’an, China, years ago.
We were on a mission, heading to one of David’s favorite spots in Seattle, Liem’s Pet Shop in the Maynard Alley. Unfortunately, they were closed, so there was no visiting with the diverse menagerie.
We wandered around, smelling good food, but not stopping to eat. (Why?) We passed the relic of an old dim sum shop and stepped into an art studio and gallery on Jackson Street. The painter’s calligraphy had a sort of Parkinsonian jitter to it, which made it quite distinct.
Though contemporary, this poster harkens WAY back.
We returned to the station, reboarded Metro, and headed north back through town. Intending to get off at University Street, we overshot our stop and so, got off back at Westlake Center. We arose to street level and walked over to the Rainier Tower, designed by Minoru Yamasaki. It was completed in 1977, and I remember that people were freaked out because it appears to be like a pencil standing on its point; all were convinced it would fall over.
There is a long tunnel under the Tower, filled with historic photos of Seattle, Boeing and the local neighborhoods. After coming up from under the Rainier Tower, we started walking toward the waterfront along Union Street. One of the most ridiculous things I saw on our tour was a pair of pants displayed in the window at Brooks Brothers. They were embroidered with silly little doggies from top to bottom! Tell me, WHO would buy such pants? (Who would conceive of them and put them into production?!) Seeing these pants in the window stopped me in my tracks and had me laughing. Looks like this dog has his leash and is ready for a walk.
Here’s a job for the not-s0-faint-of-heart… We looked up and saw window washers on a beautiful afternoon.
At the west end of Union Street is one of hilly Seattle’s many stairways, this one leading down toward Western Avenue and the waterfront. We climbed down, arriving at the Seattle City Light power station with its metal, floral-reminiscent barrier (instead of razor wire), and then stepped into the south end of Post Alley.
Arrive at… The Bubble Gum Wall! David had told me about it months before leaving Milano, so I was looking forward to seeing it, to which he responded: “You have blown it up beyond all expectations. It is only a 20 foot section of a brick wall between two doors on a brick roadway, with 30,000?? bubblegum wads up to thirty feet from the ground, in every color imaginable, with sculptures of gum and inserted objects. That’s all.”
The Bubble Gum Wall is at the south end of Post Alley at the Pike Place Market, accessed through a short “tunnel” roughly under The Pig by the flying fish stall.
It’s grown since David last saw it, and far outmeasures his 20 foot estimate. It’s a draw for tourists and locals alike. One girl was taking a picture of her friend who wanted to LOOK like she was licking the wall, but was terrified of accidentally touching her tongue to the wall in the process. This is THE place for portraits, cell phone cameras always at the ready.
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What is any city without it’s share of graffiti? Love it or hate it, there are times when it’s just plain gorgeous. This is rich like fabric, with its step-and-repeat stencil.
Of course, after covering Seattle, end-to-end, on foot, it was time for another pit stop and the Market was a perfect spot. There are several public restrooms hidden in the rabbit warren maze that is the Market. We went to the two that are just down the stairs from the flying fish. Black and white tile male and female figures stand outside the doors. Inside the doorway, the icons become more scientific: “XX” and “XY” figures indicate gender. (I wonder what percentage of the population knows the significance of those letter combinations.)
And it wasn’t until I was leaving that I realized that the wall tiles inside the bathrooms form Morse Code! Too bad I didn’t photograph the whole message.
(Update, December 21, 2010. The last time I was at the Pike Place Market (a couple weeks ago) I went back into the restroom and wrote down the full morse code message. I had only photographed the first portion of it before, which was enough to guess the meaning, but my second visit confirmed it: “Meet the producer.” Ahhh. That’s what it says over one of the fruit stands, regarding meeting and buying directly from the growers. How many people have 1) ever noticed that it’s Morse Code, and 2) if they’ve noticed, have decoded the message?)
Time for a mid-afternoon bite to eat while we strolled: a half-dozen deep-fried morsels from the Daily Dozen Doughnut Company (right across from DeLaurenti’s). They tumble directly out of the hot oil, and into bowls of powdered or cinnamon sugar.
Gobbling piping hot doughnuts, we wandered to Tenzing Momo… a neighboring toy store… the belly dancers’ clothing store… and the Magic Shop. I’d been wanting to buy one of those trick balls that won’t roll in a straight line but rather wobbles aimlessly. (It’s a physical representation of how I’m feeling these days, still needing to re-establish my direction.)
This was my second Magic Shop in less than a year! The other one was Mayette Magie Moderne in Paris at Christmas time. Don’t you love the drawers of treasures in an old magic shop?
As a teenager I used to go to the Pike Place Market and wander its historic “bowels”… the many unlevel walks, ramps and stairs leading to tucked-away shops selling oddities. I still have the long strand of glass African trading beads that I bought for a quarter each. They’re worth a fortune now.
The Giant Shoe Museum is marked by a great example of the classic circus-style bills.
I’m amused by the visual treats that we encountered from one end of our Seattle tour to the other. Look at this light fixture near one of the Market stairways. These touches add humor and visual flavor to a city.
After our doughnuts had settled and we had walked past the endless food, craft and flower vendors, it was time for a real lunch. David took me to the Piroshky Russian Bakery, where we bought smoked salmon piroshky.
We walked to the wall-mounted tractor seats and perched there to eat and chat.
The tour was winding down, and we walked back over to Westlake Center where there was a giant chess game in progress. The fountain (to the left, below) was now flowing, so we both splashed through the tunnel of water. It’s a good thing I had put my camera away beforehand! It was much wetter than David had remembered, and I was drenched afterward.
We had lucked out with a sunny, fresh Autumn day in Seattle. David and I stood on the south balcony of Westlake Center’s food court and watched the people go by.
The paving pattern is derived from a Northwest Coast Salish basket from the collection of Dr. Allan Lobb, first executive director of Swedish Medical Center (now deceased). He was the one that let me walk out of his condo 20 years ago with 4 of his 100-year-old baskets to use as photographic references for my paper models. I am thrilled every time I see this broad and beautiful paving that enlivens this plaza and roadway. (It reminds me, again, of the foreign pavers I’ve loved.)
OK. Tell me. WHY would a woman be walking through the middle of downtown Seattle carrying a lifering?
Seattle cops have two types of saddles to choose from.
We rode the Monorail back through town, hovering over the city streets, and emerged again through EMP. The afternoon light bounced off the deep violet tiles of the museum, and colored the structures across the way. The tour was finished with a slow amble around the Seattle Center, viewing the scattered artwork in the shadow of the Space Needle.
I was leaving town on a Friday evening at 5:00, getting onto the Viaduct with the rest of traffic. It reminded me of why I’m glad I no longer commute, but also pleased me with the waterside view, looking up from the roadway.
And my impression of Seattle after the day’s tour? There’s ART everywhere! “Art-with-a-capital-A”, and art in small, informal, spontaneous ways. With Seattle’s awareness of and commitment to Public Art, the city has created a visually rich flavor. Go for a walk with eyes wide open.
– – –
For those of you needing computer disaster prevention or rescue, get in touch with David. He’s saved me and my friends countless times over the years!
David Anders – The Computer Guy, Seattle
TEL: 206-286-8438 • davidanders@gmail.com • webpresenceseattle@gmail.com
