Wednesday Field Trip - To The Cily

If it's Wednesday, it must be excursion day. At least that seems to be when we've done most of our trekking. For today's field trip, we followed up on an add we saw for the Seattle Art Museum. They are hosting a small exhibit of Andrew Wyeth, mostly "Helga" paintings, and on Wednesday afternoons at 2:00 they have a short gallery talk about Wyeth. That was reason enough for us to plan a day around. This morning about 10:00 we drove the one mile distance to the new Link Light Rail station. The only rain in sight was this one giant drop, our 1% for the arts dollars at work. Here comes the train.

Over the tree tops on the elevated sections, through the Capitol Hill tunnel, and there is the city looming ahead.

We got off at Westlake Center, the end of the line for now.

I love this waterfall in the plaza. We headed west to the Public Market.

There are so many interesting shops in this area. Here you could watch cheese making from the sidewalk.

There's our target.

The original Starbucks is a favorite tourist stop. But they only sell coffee and souvenirs, no goodies.

The market flowers were glorious.

And the chili peppers were just as beautiful.

The balcony petunias were still looking good.

There were wonderful displays of vegetables, and vendors were offering up tastes of yummy fruits. The honey crisp apples were like candy.

We stopped at the old Market stalwart, the Athenian, for lunch.

We watched the ferry boats on Elliot Bay as we dined.

Tom had an oyster poorboy and yam fries.

I had the Athenian salad with sliced apple, blue cheese and hazelnuts.

No fish were flying today at Pike Place Fish, at least not when we stopped by.

Then it was time to walk to the museum. Hammering Man guides the way.

I love natural wonders, like mountains and forests, but I also love the canyons and skyline of the city.

Hammering Man apparently had the day off. No hammering.

We enjoyed the Wyeth exhibit, and strolled through some galleries of amazing Native American and African traditional art. After looking through other galleries,we decided we liked old masters better than modern "installation" art.

And then we returned to the market area for a refreshment at one of the older Starbucks in Seattle, just across the street from the market entrance. We enjoyed lattes and goodies as we people watched.

And then the Link took us back home.

With the convenience of the light rail, I'm thinking we are going to see a lot more of downtown Seattle. Today we didn't even make a dent in the exploring available.

A Last Hurrah!

We stopped by the local nursery, Furneys, last Saturday to see what was on sale. With all of our gallivantin' around farther afield, we hadn't been there recently. Oh my! What a riot of petunias! We've had lots of sun and heat this summer and they loved it.

Now that the weather has turned, this will probably be their last hurrah. But what a display!

Transition Day

We have been having summer like weather, so that even though the calendar said Fall, we weren't convinced. But today that changed. It was 45 when I got up this morning, and only 50 when we went out for our exercise walk about 9:30, even though the sky was still clear blue. The weather man said that would be changin'. When we were back home at 10:30, the wind was blowing. We decided it was time to collect most of the outdoor furniture and get it stowed in the shed. I collected "yard art" and put it away. I picked dahlias for another round of bouquets. This afternoon the clouds arrived to obscure the sun. We turned on the furnace for the first time since June. I got out my sewing machine and set up to work on a project. It looks like we got a bit of rain after dark this evening, but now we have the drapes and blinds closed as we settle down in front of the TV. The times, they are a changin'.

The Family That Watches Sports Together.......

....watches it separately. I know, it's supposed to go something like " The family that ________ (you fill in the blank) together, stays together. But my family is spread out. I was raised in a family that was interested in sports. So when I had my own kids, I got them interested, too. Our first blind devotion was to the Seattle SuperSonics NBA team. With them we won a championship. But they're gone now, off in Oklahoma. Since then we've added the NFL Seattle Seahawks, the MLB Mariners, and this year the Major League Soccer Sounders FC. A few years ago the Seahawks went to the Superbowl, the Mariners were in the playoffs, and our Sounders got off to a great start this year as an expansion team. Son Jake, off on his own in Seattle, is way into the Sounders, and will be watching the Seahawks today from an as yet undisclosed location. I'll text him to find out where. Daughter Jill moved to Colorado, where the Broncos roam, but she has purchased an NFL package so that she can watch her Seahawks, and her kids will be dressed in their Seahawks shirts, too. Husband Corey will have to go find another TV to watch. No doubt we will text and/or call each other during the game. You see, we are watching it together, just in different places. It looks like Dianne's Jets are getting it done out on the other coast! Gotta go. Game time!

Checking In

I am here, but I have nothing to say. I'm hard pressed to even remember what I did this week. I guess I called my mother and my sister, talked to my son and daughter and grandchildren. I took exercise walks and got back into my exercise routines. I read the newspaper, worked the puzzles, read Newsweek and Time, watched Keith and Rachel on MSNBC, watched a few new TV shows and the new season openers of "House" and "Grey"s Anatomy". I am full of information, much of it disturbing. I rant at the TV and radio, but it's all being said out there and my voice would only add to the din. Two words: health care. I'm trying to have patience admidst the insanity. Here's news! The mayor of Mount Vernon, a city north of Seattle, is honoring a native son by giving him the key to the city. Glen Beck! OMG! I started a new book, To Kill A Mockingbird, which is really an old book, but one I have never read and thought I should. I helped clean house, cooked meals, paid bills, and picked flowers. Just the ordinary stuff. The sun is still shining, and I'm sort of lazy, still. Maybe next week it will rain and I'll get busy on something.

Autumnal Equinox

Today we say good bye to summer for another year. They seem to go by so quickly. Today the day and night, the light and dark are in balance, are equal in amount of time. Tomorrow is the first full day of Autumn. Here in Seattle we are getting a reprieve. The forecast is for 87 today and 85 tomorrow. Of course now it takes most of the day for the thermometer to rise to it's peak and then the warmth is fleeting, cooling down quickly as the sun goes down, too early now. In the garden, the signs of fall are still subtle. The shadows are much longer. Spiders are now decorating the shrubs and vines. You must be careful where you walk in the mornings!

The hardy fuchsias are still putting on their show.

The entry is still decorated with Tom's geranium collection,

but the cuttings for next year's plants are already in the greenhouse.

On this equinox I'm all for equality, but when it comes to seasons, I like the balance tipped to the light.

Black Diamond

After our walk along the Cedar River trail yesterday, we followed the river through Maple Valley to the old coal mining town of Black Diamond. Black Diamond was established by 1885 as a company town of the Black Diamond Coal Company of California. Through several owners, coal was mined here until the decline in demand after WWI. Some historic buildings still remain, and the area is riddled with old mine shafts. The only building still serving it's original purpose is the Black Diamond Bakery. The center structure still houses the old brick oven which is still in use. A restaurant has been added, as well as some gift shops. And it was our destination for lunch.

Breakfast, for which they are famous, is served until 2:00. Tom ordered a sausage scramble.

I wanted something lighter, so I ordered half a sandwich and a cup of soup. You see, I was saving room for dessert. I did share with Tom.

On a clear day there is a magnificent view of Mt. Rainier from the restaurant, but the clouds were playing peek-a-boo this day.

After a leisurely lunch, we wandered next door to this book shop.

The interior was very charming, and the browsing was great.

And, yes, we did - buy more books.

Farther down the street was the Fire department and the city jail.

The old train depot is now a museum. I wanted to know where the coal mines were so we went in to ask. The volunteer at the desk pointed down to the floor, and said "Under here"! He showed us on a map that the whole town is undermined with tunnels and shafts.

We spent some time enjoying the museum displays.

They have done a good job of collecting items for display that reflect life as it was during the mining days.

And yes, they did use canaries in the mines.

These old ringer washing machines reminded me of one my own mother used when I was a little girl. For the first five or six years of my life we did not have indoor plumbing in our little house in Oregon's Willamette Valley. How far we've come in my own lifetime!

This chain saw display also reminded me of my father, who used a big old yellow Mcculloch chain saw when he worked as a logger in the forests of the Cascade foothills around Molalla, Oregon.

A car load of "black diamonds".

As our day was winding down, we made one more stop, at the Smoke House.

The owner showed us his smoker full of pepperoni.

And, yes, we did - buy some smoked salmon. Come to think of it, now would be a good time to go try some!