Tag Archives: Washington

Suzzallo Library ~ University of Washington

Since I had absolutely nothing for ABC Wednesday, the letter Z, I decided to cheat a bit and use my Suzzallo Library Post for Z. Look! There are two z’s in Suzzallo! My daughter and I were here last Thursday.

This is Suzzallo Library on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle. Ground was broken for this library in 1923. The building is an example of the Collegiate Gothic style adopted by the University as part of the 1915 campus plan, developed by architects Carl F. Gould and Charles H. Bebb.

Three heroic figures of cast stone depicting “Mastery”, “Inspiration”, and “Thought” sculpted by Allan Clark stand over the portals of the main entrance.

We walked up the beautiful staircase to get to the second floor reading room.

One of the entrances to the reading room. This room has inspired comparisons with the great library reading rooms of the world. After being in it I can understand why.

Oak bookcases are topped with a hand-carved frieze representing native plants of Washington State, including salal, Douglas fir, scrub oak, grape, dogwood, mountain ash, rhododendron, pear, trillium, salmon berry, wild rose, apple, marigold, canteloupe, tulip and cherry.

The room measures 65 feet high, 52 feet wide, and 250 feet long.

At each end of the room, a paneled alcove features a hand-painted world globe hanging from the ceiling, which bears the names of different explorers.

Tall, traceried windows incorporate leaded glass which is intended to break the direct rays of light.

The room features a vaulted ceiling elaborately decorated with rich colored and gilded stenciling.

A 1927 article in The Pacific Builder and Engineer stated that “This room has been pronounced the most beautiful on the continent and is ranked among the most beautiful in the world. It is comparable only to the nave of a cathedral.”

If you live in the Greater Puget Sound Area and have never visited Suzzallo or if you happen to travel to Seattle, I highly recommend you put it on your list of places to visit.

ht: Most of the information I’ve shared comes from a Library Guide that is free at the entrance to the Library.

If you’d like to see more ABC Wednesday, Z is for posts click on over to Mrs. Nesbitt’s.

Bellevue Botanical Gardens

While I’m in the Seattle area for a spell, Katie and I are doing some tourist projects on her days off. We’re going out to enjoy God’s creation around us here in the Puget Sound Area. On Tuesday we took a trip to Bellevue to stroll through the Botanical Gardens. There were so many beautiful things to see. The garden is free with free parking, too. It’s located on Main Street between 120th Ave. NE and 124th Ave. NE.

So lush, so green, this is one of the benefits of our climate in the Northwest.

 

Makes you think that Faeries might be living here. The different shades of green were wonderful. The sun was shining without a cloud in the sky so the light made for some great contrast with shadow.

Many of the Spring blooms have faded but there were plenty of summer blooms for us to enjoy. I’d love to come back here in the Spring.

Golden shades of yellow ~

Some more exotic looking blooms and ferns.

The Fuchsias were blooming.

Lovely shades of purple.

Don’t you just love all the pink flowers God created for us to enjoy. Hydrangeas are just coming out in their glory. And now for the prettiest blossom in the garden…

Our sweet daughter Katie. Today she had a crooked smile because she had just had some dental work done and half her mouth was numb. Beautiful never-the-less.

 

Sky Watch ~ July 10th

This first shot was taken from Yarrow Bay in Kirkland looking out over Lake Washington to the West on July 6th.

This was taken from my bedroom window looking Northwest.

This last photo was taken at the Botanical Gardens in Bellevue, Washington on July 8th.

We are having a few days of clear sunny weather in the greater Seattle Area.

 

Project Black ~ Take One

For more recent Project Black posts click here.

Our hostess Anna Carson has challenged us with a Black Project this round. Here is my daughter Katie this last Tuesday at Uwajimaya – a wonderful Asian Market we have in the Puget Sound Area. She’s wearing her black t-shirt that says “It’s All About Me”  There’s more black in the background also.

I’m excited to come around and see more Project Black. Thanks Anna for hosting this fun project.

To see the rest of my Project Black click here.

 

ABC Wednesday ~ Y is for

Y is for Yarrow Bay, Yakima Fruit Market, and the Yakima Indians.  All in the State of Washington, USA.

Yarrow Bay is in Kirkland, Washington. It is part of Lake Washington.

Some Yachts at Yarrow Bay…

Next I take you to Yakima Fruit Market in Bothell, Washington just up the road from Kirkland.

Besides fruits and vegetables and nuts and herbs the market sells flowers. At Christmas time they sell Christmas Trees. The market shuts down in winter (they only sell Christmas Trees from Thanksgiving thru Christmas) We get so excited to see their announcement that they are opening again come March because we know Spring has finally come…

Our most famous Yakima’s are the Yakima Indians. There is a city named Yakima in Eastern Washington closer to the Indian reservation.

Yakima (Ya-ki-ná, `runaway’). An important Shahaptian tribe, formerly living on both sides of the Columbia and on the northerly branches of the Yakima (formerly Tapteal) and the Wenatchee, in Washington. They are mentioned by Lewis and Clark in 1806 under the name Cutsahnim (possibly the name of a chief): and estimated as 1,200 in number, but there is no certainty as to the bands it eluded under that figure. In 1855 the United States made a treaty with the Yakima and 13 other tribes of Shahaptial, Salishan, and Chinookan stocks, by whit they ceded the territory from the Cascade mountains to Palouse and Snake rivers and from Lake Chelan to the Columbia, and the Yakima Reservation was established, upon which all the participating tribes and bands were to be confederated as the Yakima nation under the leadership of Kamaiakan, distinguished Yakima chief. Before the treaty could be ratified the Yakima war, broke out, and it was not until 1859 that the provisions of the treaty were carried into effect. The Paloos and certain other tribes have never recognized the treaty or come on the reservation. Since the establishment of the reservation the term Yakima has been generally used in comprehensive sense to include all their tribes within its limits, so that it is now impossible to estimate the number Yakima proper.  The total Indian population of the reservation was officially estimated at 1,900 in 1909, but of this number probably comparatively few are true Yakima. The native name of the Yakima is Waptailnsim, ‘people of the narrow river,’ or Pa’kiut’lĕma, ‘people of the gap,’ both names referring to the narrows in Yakima river at Union Gap, where their chief village was formerly situated.

ht: Yakima Tribe information retrieved here.

Whew! That’s one long ABC Wednesday Post. Thanks for your perseverance…

For more ABC posts take a trip across the Atlantic to Mrs. Nesbitt’s in Jolly Old England.

 

Ruby Tuesday

A favorite author of mine is George MacDonald and this is one of his stories that I really loved. It just happens to be Ruby bound so I’m sharing it.

And I saw these pretty little Ruby Flowers (Sweet Williams, thanks Lovella) at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens today and I’m throwing them into the Ruby post, too!

For more Ruby Tuesday Posts visit our lovely hostess Maryt at Work of the Poet.

 

What Dear Did On His Summer Vacation ~

Dear’s company shuts down the week of July 4th so this was a free week off for him. While in Washington he was very busy cleaning out our garage. He and our son Dan took 700 lbs. of junk stuff to the dump. They cleared out and reorganized the garage.  For the first time since we’ve lived in this house we can park 3 cars in our upper garage.

Beautiful! Now this next collage shows you our Toyota Car Museum.

When my car goes back to California in August our son’s truck will take over my spot and our garage will become more diversified since his truck is a Ford.

Below this Garage is a shop where 3 vehicles that are being worked on are stored and a few motorcycles. Makes me feel a little better about all the dishes I own. Not that it’s a competition or anything…

Walk About the Yard

I’m in the Seattle area spending 6 weeks at my home here. I took a stroll about the yard to see what was blooming and growing.

We’ve got some wild blackberry blossoms, our apples and pears are maturing, the hydrangea is promising a few blooms, the lavender is in it’s glory and the blueberries are still green but plumping up.

I’m still getting my bearings here in my house. I decided to tackle a few rooms at a time for cleaning and organizing. On Tuesday I deep cleaned the kitchen and dusted the living room. Yesterday I got everything presentable except for my Master Bedroom. We’re having 16 for the 4th and I wanted the main living areas clean. Saturday I’ll tackle my bedroom, it’s on the 3rd floor all by itself so I felt fine leaving it till last and after our company on the 4th. Dear goes back to California on Sunday and then he flies back up to Seattle for the first two weeks in August. I’ll be able to get a lot of weeding in while he’s gone.

A very happy 4th to all you in the U.S.A.  and a very happy Friday to my friends in other parts of the world. My flag waving post for the 4th is just below this so scroll on down if you’d like…