A Rainy Day in Georgetown

during which I took a lot of pictures. I took a cab to the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market, because flowers WILL play a role in this new adventure, because it's happening in the Pacific Northwest, because the Pacific Northwest is THE place for flowers, if there ever was one. I don't know if I will be growing and/or arranging for others, but I know I will be for myself. And I know I will be coming here often, even if just for their public hours on Fridays. It was EVERYTHING I thought it would be, and here's the thing, there weren't even any bloom blooms yet. Just loads of lovely branches. I mean, when I go back in a month or so, I am going to be OVER THE MOON!

This was pre-any sign of spring in the midwest, so the sight of daffs! And ferns!

I had am impression which turned out to be very wrong that the Grower's Market was in some sort of industrial no-man's land. On the contrary, Georgetown is a slightly gritty, über hip (to the point there are definitely some clichés going on) neighborhood with more than a handful of appealing shops, bars and restaurants. The east side of Airport Way S, the main drag, is dominated by the blocks-long Original Rainier Brewery (not to be confused with the Old Rainier Brewery, different property, different area, but also on Airport Way S), which is now mixed-use, housing all sorts of artists, artisans, small businesses and the Grower's Market.

It's a gorgeous piece of early industrial architecture, just decayed enough, but thankfully not rotting away.

I did learn that this last bit was used by Rainier after actual brewing had ceased for cold storage and ice making, for which the building was never intended nor properly outfitted. The constant freezing temps caused major structural damage and the building wasn't salvageable, in fact was dangerous, and had to come down. :( But they did manage to save a small part of the facade. Searching around I found some great pictures outside here and inside here of the building shortly before it was torn down. Hopefully they did some salvaging in there beforehand. Amazing metalwork.

The General Offices (die for that font) building sits at the end of the complex all by itself now next to the empty lot where the cold storage building used to be.

It started to rain not long after I finished up at the Grower's Market so I spent the afternoon ducking in and out of a few pretty great antique shops.

And had some coffee of course.

In between showers, I spied these lovely gates and then the even lovelier garden and house within and couldn't help wandering in. It turns out that this is The Corson Building, a restaurant with a little different operational model that sounds pretty good to me.   

Spied at the edge of an overgrown lot. Lesson: don't stand still too long in Seattle.

Husband was down in Oregon on business at this point in the trip, so I decided to stay on for happy hour at Fonda La Catrina and to convince the friend we have in town to join me for dinner. Turned out to be a very good choice.

Just two weeks away from moving week. More posts to get caught up on in the mean time with any luck!

Hi, Seattle. Nice to Meet You.

Meeting in a coffee shop followed by a little reading in a coffee shop. That's what people do here, right? At Ballard Coffee Works, searching for the middle way.

I enjoy mastering public transportation in strange cities, so after the coffee shop I headed over to the University of Washington's campus to the Burke Museum via bus.

And then on to Pike Place Market and on the way a little glimpse of the Needle.

It was like 3:00 and lunch had managed to elude me up to this point, so I devoured this duo from Pike Place Chowder.

I wandered around and admired the bounty, especially the seafood. Pretty dazzling when you've spent your whole life in the middle of the continent.

Then I slipped out the back...

and stumbled on the Gum Wall. Have to admit, for something so theoretically disgusting, it was actually kind of pretty.

One of the last shots of the day looking west over what I subsequently learned is the non-Earthquake proof, on-its-way-out Alaskan Way Viaduct towards West Seattle which I subsequently learned is to be our new home!

Be Right Back

Life has had me neglecting my blog, but I shall return with pictures from travels and an update on the state of things: a little crazy, but all good! :) 
In the meantime only two weeks after the last snow of the season (and it was a doozy!) I think spring might be here to stay as evidenced by 70 some degrees today and daffodils finally showing their lovely faces!

Sprung?

Not quite here yet as there were snow flurries floating through the air today. And still more to come apparently. But the bulbs I worked so hard to get in the ground last fall are getting on with it anyway. Crocuses appeared out of nowhere over the weekend and were soon joined by at least the start of pretty much everything else. 

We depart for our long-awaited trip to Puerto Rico on Saturday, so I'm honestly not too upset with the delayed spring, just feel bad for everyone stuck with it. 

House-hunting trip to Seattle had its ups and downs. We settled on West Seattle as our area of choice and proceeded to find our dream house while going around to open houses on Sunday, hours before we took red-eyes, me to home, Greg on with business. Alas, we put in an offer, but were beat out by another. And this week we saw another good candidate come and go without getting the chance to throw our hat in the ring at all. So heading back out there just after our vacation, hopefully to have more luck on the second try.

Share some Seattle exploration pics soon.

People in Glass Houses

is what we were. Almost two Saturdays ago Greg's parents were in town and we paid a visit to Franklin Park Conservatory. We've been a few times. It's wonderful this time of year when one is in need of some green therapy. The amazing installation above is part of an exhibit called Sacrifice + Bliss by Aurora Robson. All of her work is created with what otherwise would be considered garbage: bits of plastic, junk mail, packaging. 

Fairy bunny house. I think there was a train running around here.

 Amazing staghorn ferns.

A taste of the orchid display to come.

An aloe tree and some sort of cactus in the desert biome, quite Dr. Seuss-ish.

Backlit on glass.

In the Palm House.

One of two incredible, (nearly) identical Chihuly pieces.

Every year about this time they do an incredible orchid display.

Air plants for a little interest.

Specimens...

under study.

Great combination.

More Chihuly glass in the Pacific Island Water Garden. 

And koi, koi, koi. I love koi.

Wonderful gift shop too stuffed full of plants and books, two of my favorite things on earth.

Finally, more of the Sacrifice + Bliss exhibit.

Lovely couple of hours whiled away on a Saturday afternoon. :)

After a frantic week or so, our house is on the market. Headed to Seattle on Sunday to meet my new city, explore career options, and do a little house hunting. So excited!