Fall Greetings!
I am freshly home from a visit to the Pacific Northwest where fall color was just beginning to emerge, Seattle is a beautiful destination. Because Dale was in town for business, we spent much of our time in the city, down town in fact. The first couple of days I explored on my own and visited the Museum of Doll Art in Bellevue. The web site is very granny, so do not be deterred by this as the museum is charming and the collection a must see if you love dolls. They also have a nice gift shop, which features some hand-made artisan paperdolls by Sus Devnani, as well as antique dolls. Even better than the museum shop is Rosie's two, a second museum shop at a separate location in down town Bellevue, where they have a large assortment of antique dolls, as well as parts and accessories for creative folks like us who know how to incorporate them into assemblages and other artwork. Here is a pic of some tiny little frozen Charlottes which I found reasonably priced at Rosie's. 
Next stop was the Pike Place Market. I had a pretty good idea of what I might expect to see, but it was so much more colorful than I had imagined. You can purchase big bunches of fresh flowers for ten dollars, the freshest and prettiest local produce and seafood, and there are many quaint coffee shops and patisseries everywhere and the air is warm and wafting with cinnamon. It was nearly 3 pm before I finally stopped for a respite. Seattle is a culturally diverse city and consequently you can find nearly any variety of international food to nosh on. On this cold dampish day, I wanted something hot and comforting, and found myself at Beecher's I ordered a large order of macaroni and cheese and sat down to enjoy my lunch, and to watch them make cheddar cheese from curds and whey right on the premises. If you can't make it to Pike's Market, you can always try their Mac & Cheese which is sold in supermarkets in the frozen food case.
After my late lunch, I discovered Watson Kennedy, "purveyor of fine goods," a gift shop which is very French and 
very attuned to the 
natural world. The web site is nice, but doesn't capture the essence of the shop. I went back to visit three times, it was so beautifully appointed with antique papers, sheet music, and lovely pieces of art and Paris flea market finds.
I covered so much ground my first day in the city! I walked until I nearly dropped and then made my way back to the hotel to get ready for a late dinner. This is usually the case when I travel with my dear husband. We tend to fill our days and our evenings with so much. But, life is short and this was not a long visit. There are just so many wonderful things to see and do in Seattle.
Day Two: A visit to Pioneer Square, where I had read there would be some antique shops. So off I went down first avenue and along the way discovered the SAM (Seattle Art Museum), and yet another location for Watson Kennedy, before I reached the square. The Pioneer Square Antique Mall is an extensive labyrinth of underground shops, and among them I discovered a postcard booth with an extensive collection of antique French postcards. Antique postcards, particularly French post cards, offer a wealth of inspiration (don't you think?). You can incorporate bits and pieces of the handwriting, postmarks, stamps and photographs into your collages. I was really delighted to find twenty to thirty antique postcards, color tinted, depicting Marie Antoinette and Versailles, and most of them only fifty cents. They looked like they had been there forever, just waiting for me to discover them.
Another long day and late evening. Back to the room to rest and dress for dinner, we were invited to a cocktail reception at the Space Needle and then dinner with an old friend at the Flying Fish who was also visiting Seattle. The Seattle skyline is breathtaking, day or night, and we took some nice pics of both.
Day Three: Dale is finally free to join me and I take him to the Market for site seeing and lunch at Beechers, and then took the Monorail over to The Experience Music Project, a music museum, where we spent the remainder of the day. Dale loves music with the same passion that I love visual arts, so he was over the moon!
Day Four: For our final day in Washington, we ferried over to Bainbridge Island for the day. I had read that there was a winery on the island. There are actually a number of wineries, but only one that actually grows their own grapes (Pinot Noir). So this sounded like a nice relaxed final day, a little tasting and a little stroll through town, and then ferry back to the city. So, we taxi over to the winery, which was about a $20 fare from the ferry terminal, and once we turned off the main road and started down the dirt road to the winery, we couldn't help but wonder about the ramshackle appearance of the property. We've been to a number of wineries in the Santa Cruz mountains and for a place like Bainbridge Island, well it seemed inconsistent. We then learned they only have tastings on Fridays and Saturdays, which was actually a relief because I can't imagine what kind of grapes they would grow on a farm that was so obviously neglected.
Plan B was to visit the Bloedel Nature Preserve and Garden. This was the highlight of our trip, a bit of peace and comfort after several days of the hustle and bustle of city life. Once a private residence, the grounds were beautifully sculpted by a gardener's hands into landscapes of forests, ponds and meadows. Just walking along the loamy earthen trails was a comfort, but the quiet was absolute and the only sounds were those of the birds and other native creatures. The walks have been carefully planned so that you never find yourself among more than a handful of visitors (visitors are asked to make a reservation in advance). 
Bloedel is a sanctuary. Dale and I both decided the reflection pond was our favorite stop 
among the garden pathways, a culmination of a perfectly planned space, a perfectly sunny day, and allowing ourselves time to slow down and enjoy the moment. We enjoyed lunch later by the water at Doc's, and then strolled through down town Bainbridge, had tea and pumpkin bread at the Blackbird Bakery, and then took the ferry back into town. 
