D is for Dale Chihuly

“I want People to be overwhelmed with light and color in a way they have never experienced.”~ Dale Chihuly

Chihuly Garden and Glass is located in the shadow of the Space Needle at the Seattle Center. On Friday the 27th of January I picked up my sister Vera from the airport and we headed straight to the Seattle Center to enjoy the art of Dale Chihuly. This was something my sister wanted to see.

The Glasshouse, a 40-foot tall glass and steel structure, was inspired by Chihuly’s appreciation for conservatories and includes a 100-foot long sculpture.

There are several rooms with themes and Chandeliers was one of them.

Ikebana and Float Boat. Dale Chihuly has always loved the water. As a child in Tacoma, Washington, he would beach-comb to find Japanese fishing floats.

The Mille Fiori from the Italian for a “thousand flowers,” this unique series is comprised of a variety of works.

The Persian Ceiling, an immersive experience in color and shape.

The Sealife room.

Linking up to ABC Wednesday for D is for Dale Chihuly. Thanks to Mrs. Nesbitt and the great team of ABC’ers.

Chihuly Garden and Glass

While we were enjoying the art of Dale Chihuly my Dear was home smoking a couple Pork Shoulders for our Carnitas Street Taco dinner on Friday night. We invited our Western Washington kids over to enjoy the meal and to visit with their Aunt Vera. We added guacamole, pico de gallo, beans and other goodies to our meal. D is also for a delicious dinner and for Dear who is a great chef!

Sky of Blue, Sea of Green…

This is another one of those posts that is all about the history of my soccer enjoyment. For a Seattle Sounders Soccer fan and season ticket holder our 2016 season ended with our boys capturing the Gold Cup. The thing that makes it amazing is that we were in last place in the middle of the season with any hope of making the playoffs questionable. Then from the bottom we had a turn around, a new coach, a new player, a new inspiration. Injured players recuperated and came back strong. The team had a strong determination and new vision. On Tuesday December 13th Josh, Laura and I drove downtown to be a part of this history and enjoy the parade and rally. Josh and Laura just got back from Toronto on Sunday and were able to be at the final game and cheer on the Sounders with 2000 or so fans. It was now time for the Washington State Fans to come out and give the team the thunderous appreciation we wished they could hear in Toronto!

15492219_10154179358653589_437076264013511389_n This photo above is from their victory celebration in Toronto, Canada.

We found our spot close to Seattle Center and waited for the parade to come to us. Josh bought this flag to take to Toronto with him and Laura since it has a likeness to the U.S.A. flag.

I turned around at one point and saw some of our friends from Northshore Community Church.

This little guy was so cute. By the way Stefan Frei, our goalie, was the MVP of the game with his save of year that will go down in soccer history, too.

Finally the trolleys with the players approached with all the fans along the route joining in the procession.

Nicolas Lodeiro holding the MLS Cup out the window for all of us to see. The added flag is from his home country of Uruguay. Lodeiro is a player who came to our team at our lowest point and with his playing ethic and spirit helped our team make a turn around.

Some past players that the Sounders fans always enjoy seeing, Kasey Keller (former goalie) and Roger Levesque, a fan favorite for many years who is now retired from soccer.

We met up with more friends and joined the throng headed to the Seattle Center for the rally.

Look at that green beard! This is part of the Sounders band.

Walking under the monorail tracks to the center.

The Trolleys stopped and our team captain Osvoldo Alonso raised the MLS Cup Champions flag next to the statue of Chief Sealth (Chief Seattle), whom the city of Seattle is named after with historical controversy. Alonso is a Cuban born soccer player who defected to the U.S.A. and is now a citizen of the United States.

Our group selfie amongst the sea of green! You might be wondering how all these people were able to get off work to attend this parade and rally in the middle of a work day. Brad Evans issued this for all the Sounders fans…

Our daughter in law actually submitted this to her boss to fly to Toronto last Friday. He said it was a very compelling reason to miss work. This excuse form was used by some for the parade and rally, too.

This is Zach Scott, another fan favorite who has been with the team from the beginning. He led the crowd in the Jingle Bells Song the team has always sung in the locker room after an away victory. This was Zach’s last season with the Sounders. He will be missed.

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way, Oh what fun it is to see Seattle win away, hey! It was fun to hear a crowd of thousands sing along.

15401060_1200744436629254_9196882971506577376_n 2016 Seattle Sounders MLS Cup Champions! Look at that sea of supporters behind them!

15390679_10154194292473589_572307301539503003_n The following day the Sounders flag was raised by Coach Schmetzer and Governor Inslee at the capitol building in Olympia, Washington.

It was a fun event to attend and we were happy to brave the crowds and the cold to be a part of history. For the record and in case anyone out there is concerned, I do not worship soccer or soccer players but I enjoy soccer and have an appreciation for the skill and stamina it takes to play this sport. Since watching our sons and daughter play soccer in the 90’s I’ve grown in the understanding of the game and have learned to appreciate the development of play between the players on the field.

Now I’m headed to the kitchen table to finish my Christmas cards so I can get them in the mail tomorrow! We are below freezing in temps here on our hill in the Seattle suburbs. Brrr. Good day to stay inside and work on our Christmas greetings. Hope you all are cozy and warm.

Riding the Ducks!

During our heat wave we decided to Ride the Ducks in Seattle with our Dallas family.

Our driver was entertaining.

The ride takes you by some highlights of Seattle like the Seattle Wheel and the Hammering Man at the Seattle Art Museum.

For me the best part of the tour was rolling onto South Lake Union and motoring in the water.

The floating house from Sleepless in Seattle was pointed out to us.

I was more interested in the building right behind this boat garage. It’s where our daughter Katie was married a few years ago.

The heat and the stop and go movement of the duck bus got the best of dear little Andrew.

After having lunch we walked through the Seattle Center to get back to our parking garage.

It was great to have our Dallas crew here for the wedding and afterwards. So nice to spend time with Hope and Andrew and get to know little Andrew better.

I’m going to just do tours with my company on my own in the future instead of spending money on the Ducks! I can’t take them out on the water but I can get them to the hot spots in town in more comfort.

Closer to Home

…and what’s been going on here at this old house. I’ll start with the latest and work back.

We switched out our old fireplace insert for a new one with no brass and a larger window, quieter fan and more efficiency. We are happy with our choice. While the installers were at my house on Wednesday I scrubbed down all my kitchen cabinets and scrubbed my hardwood floors.

No I don’t have my Christmas Tree yet, but can you believe all the Christmas merchandise in the stores already? I digress…

I posted this photo to show you the 3 bookshelves full of books that on Thursday while I waited for the Inspector to sign off on the fireplace insert I dusted. Yep, each and every book and all the shelves. My wrists and arms and knees are calling for a couple days off now! And speaking of Christmas our mystery tree this year is going in a new spot and I’ll show you that in December!

I received a package from bj (Sweet Nothings) in Texas because my name was drawn on her giveaway. She has such a good sense of humor and I enjoy visiting her blog.

A few Saturdays ago Katie and I met some friends at the Seattle Center for the Northwest Tea Festival. We enjoyed sipping tea samples and then we all went out for lunch at a Thai Restaurant close to the center.

These girls have been friends since elementary school.

My new getting out and exercising plan is continuing nicely. Some views from my walking trail…

On a overcast morning I thought this boat and it’s reflection was very cool and look at these great looking mushrooms!

The following week these same mushrooms had spread out to a huge flat top and I didn’t have my camera with me. Epic fail…

After exercise class this morning Katie and I are headed to University Village for W Day in honor of the University of Washington homecoming. We’ll be wearing some vintage sweatshirts from when Dear was in Pharmacy School at the University of Washington. There are special offers and discounts available from merchants if you are wearing purple or UW-licensed apparel.

Katie and I look a little different now but we’ll both be wearing a sweatshirt like the one I’m wearing here at Disneyland back when the University of Washington went to the Rose Bowl and played Michigan on January 1, 1992. Dear was able to get tickets for the Rose Bowl game and we decided to take a family trip to California and enjoy a day at Disneyland with the kids and time with family for Christmas. Fun memories…

Hope you all have a good weekend!

Our Second Adventure…

…on Katie’s birthday was a trip to the Seattle Center where the Space Needle happens to be and other attractions as well.

Our reason for braving the holiday crowds was to see Chihuly Garden and Glass. It was worth weaving about “all the humanity” to enjoy this extraordinary exhibit.

We first saw this wall of blankets that gave Chihuly inspiration for some of his creations.

This amazing piece was in the Sea inspired room.

It was impossible for me to get the full ceiling but I enjoyed capturing some sections of the ceiling.

This was a great room. “Chihuly has said that memories of his mother’s garden serve as inspiration for these “gardens of glass.” Of course I thought of our bloggy friend Pat at Mille Fiori.

I would like to come back on a day when it’s not raining to get some clearer shots of the needle above this beautiful glass flower conservatory.

We decided to go out to the glass outdoor garden in the rain. I was happy to get several shots without getting my lens wet.

We enjoyed our time here and we hurried in the rain to the parking garage to drive to our third adventure which was a stop at Massage Envy to get our hour relaxation massage along with a sugar foot scrub. Bliss!

I’m joining in with Mary for her Mosaic Monday Meme. If you click over you will see some beautiful images in Mosaic form.

Tick, tick, tick …2013 is winding down. What are your New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day plans? I’ll admit we don’t have any. Maybe I’ll come up with some inspiration on Monday…

Ruby Tuesday ~ Kirkland & Seattle

A leftover Valentine Photo I forgot to post taken in Kirkland, Washington.

These last two shots were taken at the Seattle Center.

To see more rubies head on over to Mary’s at Work of the Poet!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Mosaic Monday ~ Northwest Happenings…

On Thursday my daughter and I spent a few hours at the Seattle Center and enjoyed the Harry Potter Exhibit and lunch at a Thai Restaurant in the area.

Then On Friday evening we attended our son’s open house for his new business. That’s our daughter and son in the photo. We are very proud of his business ethics and hard work.

Please visit Mary at Little Red House to join in the mosaic fun.

FFF ~ Five in One

It’s Friday and time for counting blessings one by one. Any day is a good day to do that but we have the privilege of joining in together with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and documenting them on Fridays.

All five of my favorites are from one day. There were lots of blessings on the other days of this past week but I’ll share 5 from yesterday.

1. The sun was shining and the time was right for an impromptu jaunt to the Seattle Center. Katie and I had tried to go to the Harry Potter Exhibit in January but it was sold out on the day we happened to be at the Seattle Center so we decided to give it a try yesterday. We decided at 10:30 a.m. that we’d go and by 11:20 we drove up to the Space Needle for valet parking and walked the short distance to the Science Center.

2. The exhibit was fun with lots of great props from the movies. There were very few people in the exhibit which made it easier to get around and see everything. No photography was allowed in the exhibit. One lady was caught taking a photo with her phone and they made her delete it!

3. After we were done with the exhibit we walked across the way to the hands on section of the Science Center to see their butterfly exhibit. We went through double doors and into the 80 degree butterfly habitat. It was fun to have so many beautiful butterflies flying around us. You had to be very careful where you stepped and before they let you leave you had to be checked to make sure no butterflies decided to land on your clothing. I’ll be sharing more of my butterfly photos next week.

4. I mentioned what a wonderful clear sunny day it was right? Well this view was fun to see. Those are the Olympic mountains showing their glory across the Puget Sound.

5. We were treated to this view as we walked to our lunch destination and my last favorite, enjoying lunch at a new Thai Restaurant with my daughter.

All that fun and I still had time to prune a few branches off our apple tree when we got home from the Center.

What are some of your blessings from this past week?

FFF ~ The Needle & The Dress…

Time to look back and find 5 favorites from the past week. If you want to join in visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and sign in with your link.

The Space Needle, Wedding Dress and the family time around them were my favorites from this past week.

1. On Saturday Katie and I traveled to the Seattle Center for a wedding show. The most famous landmark in the Northwest is located at the Seattle Center. It was a beautiful day to walk around and get some good shots of the Space Needle.

2. On Wednesday Dear, Katie and I went to Katie’s first wedding dress fitting. There were needles and pins involved here, too. This was Dear’s first time to see the dress on Katie and he wholeheartedly approved of the gown. Good thing since it’s his hard earned cash that payed for it.

3. After the fitting we went to Z Tejas for a bite to eat before we headed across Lake Washington to a Wedding Open House at the Space Needle. This time we got to see it up close and personal in the evening.

4. We got some great VIP attention and enjoyed appetizers and drinks on the house while we considered the space for a possible wedding venue.

There wasn’t a bad view in the house.

5. This was my very first time up in the Space Needle. It also is on my 60 things to do in my 60th year. So I’m on my way in completing my 60. I’m still working on the list and as soon as I complete it I’ll share it. We completed the evening by going up to the observation deck and checking out the 360 degree view of Seattle.

What were the favorites from your past week?

A Dry Day…

…at Seattle Center made for a nice walk with my camera.

On Saturday Katie and I went to a Bridal Expo at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. It was a small expo and we finished up before noon so we decided to walk across the grounds to the Pacific Science Center to try to get into the Harry Potter Exhibit. The Exhibit was sold out till 7:00 P.M. so we decided to come back on a weekday when the crowds wouldn’t be a problem.

The 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, otherwise known as Century 21, gave visitors a glimpse of the future and left Seattle with a lasting legacy. The exposition gave Seattle world-wide recognition, effectively “putting it on the map.”

The Seattle Center is the site of the 1962 World’s Fair with a lot of expansion on the property since 1962. The Space Needle has become the major landmark of our Pacific Northwest Region.

After we found some treats at a BBQ cook off happening on the center grounds we popped into the Center House to get a drink. The Center House boasts a food court and a Children’s Museum. The Food court had a great variety of food choices and it also has a Starbuck’s so that’s where we headed.

When I was homeschooling Katie we had a membership to the Seattle Science Center so we could come and have hands on education there. We also enjoyed many plays at the Seattle Children’s Theater which is also on the grounds.

Hope your weekend was good.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Tag Archives: Seattle Center