Sunny Sunday

Jet lag?  What’s that? 

A stack of blueberry pancakes, a cup of spiced “Market Tea” and a view like this – can there be a better way to begin the day?  I don’t think so.

We wished the fish good morning and went on our way, admiring the reflections in the Seattle Art Gallery windows as we passed.

We planned our day, exploring the suburbs of the city and Lake Washington.  Yes, we knew the Sketchbooks were in town, but read originally that Sunday was to be “invitation only” during the very short noon-4pm opening.  By the time we read that this was an error, we’d decided to do other things – and anyway, did I really want the reminder that I failed to complete my sketchbook?  No, not really.

So, with blue sky overhead we drove out towards the eastern part of the city and found ourselves in Kirkwood, where I left a surprisingly small number of dollars in Michaels in return for an equally surprisingly large bag of goodies!  With sets of alphabet stamps on sale of $1 each, I couldn’t leave them behind, could I?

Next stop, Redmond, where we stopped for drinks and had a reminder that Starbucks isn’t the only coffee shop in town!

From there, it was only a step to the Columbia Winery.  This beautiful place was quite at odds with the remainder of the area – with another winery opposite, the two opposing mansions faced each other across a remarkably busy road.  Five tasting glasses of the same Cabernet Sauvignon later (each was from a different year of production), I would have loved a plate of the cheese from yesterday!  Delicious wine, it was rather enlightening to sample the different vintages – 2005 was the star, undoubtedly, but the $48 bottle of “Peninsula” blend beat the lot.  However, at that price, we chose not to bring home a souvenir!

Back across the bridge then, for a late Sunday afternoon on the terrace with the papers.  Like weekend papers everywhere, they were light on news, heavy on adverts but at least we resisted the temptation to snooze!

Tonight, we’ll return to the Steelhead Diner across the street, where hopefully I’ll be more awake than I was last Friday!

As for the Sketchbooks, well, the reports say that there were queues to view them (with such short opening hours, is that a surprise?) so hopefully I wasn’t missed.  I’ll see them in Brooklyn sometime.

One book down

It was a good one, too.  Set in Seattle, during the Second World War when Japanese residents were interned, the story was such a satisfying read and fitted the bill perfectly.  My only small niggle was that the very short chapters led to a stop-start telling of the tale rather than a longer swoop of fiction.  But it’s a small niggle indeed and The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet was another of Jane’s recommendations which has hit the spot!

In the city

We decided to leave the car in the garage today and spend the day exploring the city.  Our hotel is just across the road from the Pike Place Market, making it a clear choice for the second stop.  First was a delicious breakfast at Bacco, next door – our usual American fare of corned beef hash with eggs, sunny side up for he who loves that kind of thing and French Toast for me, who doesn’t. 

Over to the market, then, a mere step away…but oh, look, on the corner there’s a cheese shop where they’re actually making cheese.

Yes, another unscheduled stop to take a look, to taste, admire the wonderful selection and giggle at the sight of the people watching the cheese being made.  Definite photo of the day material!

Oh, and a few doors down there’s the original Starbucks shop, not that we were ready for coffee already, since we’d only just had breakfast.  Still, we had to take a look and see what’s what…say we’d been there and all of that.

Finally, finally, we made it across into the market.  So many interesting things to see – first of all, the most gorgeous flowers.  Lupins, iris and popplies in abundance, many made up into lovely, colourful bunches.

Then of course, there was fish.  Lots of fish! (some of it flying…)

Wouldn’t this be a great staff training event?

The vegetable displays were also interesting and not without the occasional (plastic) surprise.

On then to the old part of the city, Pioneer Square, where the trees are wearing woolly jumpers.

After a mooch around, looking for the Elliott Bay Bookstore which we later found out has relocated, we stumbled upon this waterfall garden on the site of the original United Parcel Service depot.  Beautifully planted with maple trees, this was a haven of peace in an otherwise rather bleak urban landscape.

There were some great manhole covers in this area, though.

We didn’t linger in this area for long, finding it less interesting than we all remembered from previous visits.  Instead, we wandered back downtown, to the “retail core”, as described on the maps.

I loved the Tiffany window display, minimal though it is.  Shame about the reflections.

Then it was back to the hotel, to sit in the afternoon sunshine on the roof terrace overlooking the bay.  As the ferries sailed to and fro, three large cruise ships left for Alaska and we sat quietly reading our Kindles in a small oasis of calm.

This evening, we returned there after our fish and chip supper (gelato for pudding) and all agreed that it’s been a great start to our holiday.  Here’s hoping the sun will shine tomorrow, when we plan to explore a little further afield.

Saturday in Seattle

We spent way too long at Gate C64 yesterday afternoon, because though they’d managed to check in themselves and their luggage, a couple of people didn’t make it to the plane at the new C wing of Heathrow’s Terminal 5.  Sitting on the plane whilst their bags were offloaded, the captain’s reassurance that our flight would have a tail wind the whole way didn’t really placate us.  But, eventually we were off on our summer road trip, starting in Seattle.

By the time we’d arrived, met Mary and picked up our vehicle, we were trying to convince ourselves that it didn’t really feel like gone midnight, that we were fine and didn’t really long for our beds.  After all, it was only 7pm here.  Fortunately there was a great restaurant directly across the street.  The Steelhead Diner fitted the bill perfectly and when we turned up without a reservation to find that a booth was instantly available, we knew it was meant to be.

The fishing flies in the divider between our table and the kitchen were lovely and would have provided plenty of interesting distraction were it not for the fact that we had a fair bit to catch up on.

Plus, of course, we had to choose.

Then, whilst one of our travelling companions decided to make an entry

another dived head first into my (delicious, local hefe weisse) beer.

Fortunately, she escaped without harm and dried herself off on a napkin.

Needless to say, we were tucked up in bed by nine and slept right through till    5-ish this morning.  Now around 8am here and fortified with cups of tea and coffee, we’re both showered and dressed. I’ve begun my road trip journal, uploaded photos from yesterday, unpacked a little and still have time to blog.  Who says jet lag is a nuisance?!

Mary will be with us shortly and the fun will begin.  Elliot Bay is looking ok – a little overcast perhaps but the weather forecast isn’t too bad for a day exploring the city.

Good morning Seattle!

with 5000 of my friends

I was in Liverpool yesterday, at the NFWI AGM.

It’s one of those events which has to be experienced to be understood.  So powerful and somewhat awe-inspiring to sit and listen to world-class speakers, heartfelt proposals and a great deal of shared knowledge. 

Wow.

Of course, the Liverpool Arena isn’t quite the Albert Hall and I was disappointed that the acoustic meant that Jerusalem wasn’t quite the moving experience it can be.  Our Chair, Ruth, found it hard to rally the troops as it were, to win a reaction from the floor during her address because those on the stage felt rather remote from those of us sitting down below.  But a modern venue has other advantages in the form of adequate numbers of facilities for these numbers, comfortable seating and John Lewis, just across the road!

The first speaker of the day was Erwin James.  I was one of those who’d googled to find out a little more about him and was curious to hear what he had to say.  In true WI style, his eloquent speech left everyone with plenty to think about and the audience sat rapt with attention throughout – never have so many women sat in such silence!  A great start to the meeting and a topic of conversation throughout much of the journey home, too.

The library debate went ahead as planned and though the speaker against the resolution spoke passionately, the vote carried the resolution with 97% in favour.  With a few things to chat about, we broke for lunch and went out into the fresh, Mersey air – a bit fresher than we might have wished, I’ll admit!

The most memorable AGMs are those where a little controversy creeps in.  Memories of that day are always close to the surface whenever a little dissent is underfoot and so it was after lunch when our resolution to discuss “mega farms” was proposed.  Though our resolutions undergo a lengthy process of verification and close scrutiny as far as the wording is concerned, occasionally one slips through the net and this was very much the case yesterday.  What constitutes a “mega farm”?  How might such a resolution affect our relationship with the NFU, supporting farmers who wish to keep up with modern methods of farming, thereby ensuring the future of home production and less dependence on imported food?  Most of all, would such a ban on huge factory farming techniques (regardless of how high-quality and environmentally sound they might be) damage the UK farming community?  These were all questions which concerned the membership.

As always, we had excellent, expert speakers.  Helen Browning spoke from the heart and with her considerable knowledge and experience, made her views in support of the resolution clear.  There was no doubt that there was no question about it.

Or?

NFU President Graham Kendall outlined an equally heartfelt and impassioned case for the opposition.  Many shared his concerns and it was clear, this was not the foregone conclusion that most of us had assumed.  The debate was opened to the floor and several members stepped forward to express their concern at the wording of the resolution and the damage which might be done to UK Farming were we to agree to this campaign.

And there was rumbling in the camp.  Sitting near the front, on the floor of the stadium, I could hear something going on at the back.  Someone called forward but couldn’t make herself heard.  Another group began to clap.  Oh my goodness…the women sitting around me looked anxiously around.  Were we heading for trouble?

A small group of members came forward to the stage, to express their wish that we move on to the next agenda item – an action clearly permitted in our standing orders.  This would mean no vote on the resolution and rather than discard such an important issue with a negative outcome, it would keep the issue very much under discussion and a few thousand women would go home with a little more knowledge and therefore better equipped to continue the debate than they were.  Clearly, this would be the best outcome.

But it took time.  There were formalities to work out and passionate feelings had been kindled.  Ruth, our Chair, sought advice from Jana, our General Secretary, about the correct procedure to follow and after a few minutes hiatus, all was well.  The membership had, once again, expressed their views in their own particular way!

So, it came as a relief to sit back and hear another inspiring speaker – the Director of the Royal Geographic Society, Rita Gardner.  Never has geography had such a champion!  In a few short minutes, we were all enthralled by this amazing woman who spoke to a series of beautiful images (including the Ubari Lakes of Libya, above, where we visited last year!)  Spirited and oozing confidence, she spoke about landscapes of the world and I could have listened to stories of her work in India for the rest of the afternoon.  This is someone about whom I need to find out more.

By now, we were on to the home stretch, the audience were looking at watches and beginning to plan their exit strategy as it was gone 4pm and we were already filled to bursting with opinions to share.  So, Sir Steve Redgrave didn’t have the easiest of slots on the programme.  Nevertheless, we sat back, prepared to enjoy the headline speaker of the day and watched a short film about his Olympic career.

But wasn’t he here to speak about FairTrade?

Indeed he was, and I wasn’t alone in finding the ten-year-old film about the Sydney Olympics a little much.  Sitting in front of the huge speakers, turned up full volume didn’t help!

Well, what’s to say?  We learned a little about FairTrade cotton growing in India and Mali.  We learned  bit more about Sir Steve’s own FairTrade clothing business.  Most of all, I learned that an Olympic champion doesn’t always make the best speaker, sadly.  Nevertheless, after such a packed programme of thought-provoking stuff to talk about on the way home, it’s hard to imagine how anyone could pull off a satisfactory conclusion to the day.  After a few closing remarks and a summing up, the last, traditional item on the agenda was upon us.

Jerusalem, Land of my Fathers and the National Anthem.

Double Wow.