I was able to do something on this trip to Seattle that I never thought I would have the opportunity to do - visit the Seattle Opera scene shop. My sister works at the opera office, so she offered to take me on a tour of the shop before it closes in its current location. I spent a number of years working in the scenery shop where I went to college, so this was very exciting indeed!

The shop is located in a building the size of an airplane hanger. If any of you reading this have been to see an opera at the Seattle Opera House, you can imagine they would need an airplane hanger to create the fabulous scenery that occupies that huge proscenium. The shop is between shows, so there is no scenery there during this visit.

 Can you see how tiny the 3 people in this photo are? That is how HUGE this part of the building is!

 This table alone has to be at least 10 feet wide by 30 feet long. I was trying to imagine the beautiful things that have been created on this surface in this space in the last 28 years.

Each craftsman has their own rolling tool cart with the assorted tools that match their craft.

Need a clamp? Any kind of clamp?

 There were three of these carts around the shop.

The painting section of the shop

I was really impressed with the painting shop. I did lots of scenery/scrim painting in my college theater days so this brought back some great memories.

The very important ventilation section of the paint shop.

Notice how the entire floor is covered in canvas with 1 foot square grid lines drawn across the surface. This is how they maintain the size requirements of what they are producing.

 Everywhere I looked there was something interesting to observe......

 .......scale models of things........

 ..........period figures of all sorts of characters........

..........bottle molds from every period of history........

 A welder/metal workers cart

 A blow up of the hysterical poster on the metal workers cart. I never realized a bible could be used as a unit of measure. HA!

  

The design shop where the plans are drawn

 The tools were all organized so beautifully. Everything in its place in special cabinets specially made to hold them. You can see how disciplined the craftspeople are.

Wow! Just, WOW! This whole thing is an artists/builders dream!

 We went into the coffee/break room and they has loads of photos of the work crews over the years. Here is one of them.

 You can tell how much the shop is a real family. All union jobs! :o)

 There were opera posters all around the shop. This was my favorite....'spit out your gum', that hand waiting for it. Hilarious!

What a real treat to be able to visit this creative space. It was all very inspirational.

Thanks Sis! :o)

The great outdoors

Rattlesnake Ledge

My nephew Jake decided he wanted to take us on a hike up in the Cascades just west of Snoqualmie Pass along highway 90 to a recreation area called Rattlesnake Ledge: http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/rattle-snake-ledge. The hike will take us up, up, up along a ridge and deliver us to the ledge at the top. Luckily we had a sunny day for this adventure.

One thing we can never get enough of are the breathtaking trees out west, so we were not disappointed on this hike. We walked through huge stands of Western Red Cedar and Douglass Fir.

We can't seem to avoid coming across things that seem alien on this trip :o) We saw a couple of things along the trail that would make one think we are not alone.

 We came upon this tree growing out of the side of a fallen tree. It appears a seed fell onto the rotting trunk of the fir tree and as it grew, its roots then wrap around the outside of the trunk and along the top. It reminded me of that creature in the Alien movies with its root like legs attaching itself to everything. Ahhhhhhh! It is amazing how life prevails.

OK........so this is obviously a boy tree. Look, but don't touch! :o)

These diagonal trees almost look like fingers reaching out of the mountain to get to the light. Like something right out of The Hobbit. 

The wind was really whipping as we walked up the mountain. The sound of it as it blew through the trees was exhilarating! I looked up and just had to take a video of the chaos.

The view as we approached the ledge

Me at the backside view

 Jake standing on the ledge

 Weeeeeeeeeee!

Panoramic video of our view atop the ledge. The wind up here was unbelievable! We had to really hold on to each other.

I was brave enough to hold my camera over the ledge to get a view of the trees below. You can see how high up we are by how tiny the trees are below. My serious thrill of the day.

Our 3 week stay in Seattle was better than ever. Such a variety of things to do with family and friends who are dear to us. The next stop on our journey will be Vancouver, B.C., but not before we take a side trip to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival in Mt. Vernon, Washington.

You won't believe the beauty we found there! Stay tuned.

OINK!

 Enough now about all the beautiful flora and fauna of the Northwest. I'm hungry :o)
As you can imagine, there are a plethora of ingredients to choose from around this big city so whipping up dishes from just about any country is a fun adventure. Here are just a few of our food adventures during our stay in Seattle.

The occasion of my nephews birthday sent us on the hunt for one of his favorite foods, flank steak. We picked up a couple of monsters for the grill.

Birthday Pie :o) 

No birthday cake for this celebration. Jake loves pie, so my sister produced these two beauties for the occasion.

Banana Cream

Happy Apple

Me with Jake and his fiance' Lauryn

The Easter Feast

The Easter Feast Bouquet

 The Easter feast crowd

 Sis, Jake, Rowan, Dusty, me and Marguerite 

On the menu.......

From Jerusalem: Chermoula eggplant with bulgur and yogurt

From the farm: Grilled Leg-o-lamb

Jake's big head with a plate full of Mediterranean deliciousness.

We made all of the traditional side dishes for the meal. YUM! 

Trying to get just one serious photo with my goofy nephews is lucky (that photo is a few above this one). They just couldn't hold back the clowning around for this photo shoot. I think this runs in our family :o)

Eritrean Food & Friends

 One of our favorite things to do when visiting the Seattle area is to have at least one meal with our friends Yoru and John. They bring delicious North African food to the table. It's spicy, so hold on to your hat.....it's gonna blow! :o)

Yoru puts huge slices of jalapeno in what looks like very non-threatening tabouleh and cauliflower/potato stir fry. YUM!

Suwa or Tella 

Traditional Eritrean/Ethiopian alcoholic beverage made for the holy days observance

John makes this home made beer type beverage used to welcome guests during the holy days. It is fermented from mostly barley but wheat, maize, sorghum, and teff are utilized depending on the region one comes from. It has a sour, sweet and bitter taste and will kick your ass if you aren't careful. We shared one glass with John after our dinner.

Cheers!

Traditional Eritrean Coffee

Always a highlight when coming to visit Yoru and John is a cup of their delicious coffee. 

The living room of their house has a special place where the coffee is made, with traditional implements brought here from Africa. Sharing coffee with friends is part of the tradition.

To begin, Yoru roasts the green coffee beans on the stove. The smell that fills the house when this is done is irresistible! It makes your mouth water as you wait for the rest of the magic to happen.

The freshly roasted coffee beans

The beans are ground and put into a traditional coffee brewing vessel and cooked over a single burner.

Sugar is added to the small cups before the coffee is poured. The coffee is very similar to Turkish coffee - strong, smooth and sweet.

The pouring of the coffee

The coffee is served with dates, peanuts, almonds and of course some American chocolate covered pretzels.


Uh Oh.........

It must be the Suwa! :o)

The Fabulous Northwest

 

Seattle, Washington
The next-to-the-last stop on this sabbatical adventure is to the beautiful city of Seattle, WA.
I have many previous posts from this area of the US as my sister lives here, so I won't spend lots of time posting things about the city itself. Rowan is working here at the UW children's hospital and I am helping my sister with some home improvement stuff. In between, we are hanging out with our nephews and hiking in the local mountains. We had a wonderful 3 weeks here!


We spent many mornings and afternoons walking along the Puget Sound through Lincoln Park, which is just down the road from my sisters place.

Rowan, sister Pat and our friend Yoru
Just how wacky is it that it looks like Rowans wooden arm is rising up over her head in a resistance fist pump. This was not planned. Poetic, isn't it?

 That very special piece of drift wood that, for many reasons, looks like a woman rising up out of mother earth to show her strength and resistance. What a random piece of beauty!

A few of the beach front homes

There is so much to look at when walking through this park. One of my favorite things is the little shrine that has been created inside of a burned out stump. People put shells, little statues, rocks with notes on them, feathers.......and my favorite is the memorial photo of Hazel the cat.

We came upon this huge piece of cedar drift wood that someone had carved two Inuit style birds into. I wish I could have been here when the carving was taking place. A pleasant surprise to find this piece of art laying on the beach.

Another piece of random drift wood. This one looks like a baby elephant head to me. What do you think?

Rowan out for her turtle ride. She obviously is going nowhere fast :o) You can see the Fauntleroy Ferry crossing the Puget Sound behind her.

Harbor Seal bronze statue along the beach at Alki.

Real Harbor Seals just off the beach at Lincoln Park.

The one on the right is so relaxed, crossed legs and kicking back! HA! The Sound had lots of seal action going on in April because it is berthing season. The seals are protected along the sound, so no touching when you find the young ones along the beach.

My favorite random public art at Lincoln Park.

I have been coming here for years and this "Love" is always here, on the same rock. It takes on a gradual different look as people are constantly changing it, but it always says Love. I think we all need to LOVE MORE! :o) 
 

More random art along the street down by the beach. Bart seems to always be getting in trouble, doesn't he.......This street artist Clepto seems to be pretty famous in Seattle. They are constantly trying to catch him. I think he is a great artist.

Day view of the Cascade Mountain Range from my sisters living room. Makes it very hard to get off the couch to do anything!

Sunset view of the same mountains.

No, I wasn't sitting there all day waiting for this view to happen!

Our bandit friend showed up in my sisters backyard to see what he could get into. Looks like he has been eating pretty well already.

Of course one cannot go to Seattle without taking at least one trip down to Pikes Market to watch the fish fly. We had our moment watching a salmon take flight and then went on to collect our spices, herbs, a few gifts, bowl of clam chowder and crab cocktail, etc., etc.....

The famous Pikes Place Fish Market. Go here to watch the fish fly: https://www.pikeplacefish.com/

Chinese Foot Massage

This is way more than a foot massage. If you have never had one of these, we highly recommend trying it. The massage takes place with all of your clothes on. You lay on a futon with your feet in a bowl of HOT water. They start with your head and go all the way down to your feet (both sides of your body). They rub, pound, poke, prod into every muscle in your body for an hour. When they finally get to your feet you are almost unconscious! It is all pure heaven, and for only $30. Do it!

Food, family and hiking from Seattle coming next.