Seattle snapshots...Chihuly, Tom Douglas and Pike Place Market.

Whew what a busy getaway!
Mr. HB and I walked for hours every day that we were away and enjoyed seeing the sights.
Oh and yes there was some shopping!
I am up to my neck buried in laundry right now I'll get that done and then post a "loot shoot."
Thank goodness for the large capacity LG machines.

The Space Needle reflected in the blue sphere.

Chihuly Gardens and Glasshouse

I highly recommend taking the time to visit this amazing place.

You'll never think of glass in the same way again!

You can get an idea of how vast this glass sculpture is when you look at the figures at the bottom left.

It's quite staggering to stand beside this and gaze up.

This glass scene fills an entire room.

Vibrant colour and interesting textures and shapes...

The Glass House

Outside in the Chihuly Gardens

The plantings accent the colours and textures of the glassworks.

The greyed wood and the blues and mauves compliment each other

and the chartreuse blooms add even more depth and interest.

Red stands out against the black Mondo grass at the base.

A perfect to time your visit would be around dusk 

so that the lights inside placed inside the glass sculptures would be enchanting.

We rode the 50 year old monorail which has stood the test of time

it is the easiset and fastest way to get to the Space Needle, Chihuly Gardens and The EMI Music Experience.

The Music Experience is inside an interesting building by architect Frank Gehry.

view from the monorail platform

it's a huge space and so artfully designed

We decided against riding the wheel on the waterfront 

the weather was grey and rainy, the winds were gusting

neither of us felt like swaying in the breeze or looking at the skyline through a wet rainy glass dome.

The Savour Seattle food tour was fabulous and rated one of the top 10 tours in the US

now I understand why...

The knowledgable, friendly and entertaining guides 

a behind the scenes look at the Market

 tasty samples 

personally greeting vendors on the 2 hour walking tour of Pike Place Market.

We dined at some amazing restaurants 

we researched them on Trip Advisor and booked ahead through Open Table.

 Dahlia Lounge was one great spot!

Top Chef Tom Douglas owns many great places to eat in Seattle.

Amuse bouche

a wee bite to wake up the taste buds.

Tom is famous for his signature crab cakes 

I make a tasty crab cake so I wanted to see just how good they were.

Delicious! 

they were served on a bed of wilted mustard greens which were sauteed in garlic!

Mr. HB had oysters in mignonette sauce, pot stickers and steamed clams.

he had to try their famous coconut cream pie

I had one teensy taste...

Tom and his wife were sitting in the booth next to us enjoying dinner...

he must be a very busy chef and to see him relaxing in one of his own restaurants was a bonus

check out all Tom's amazing venues.

We had a fabulous time in Seattle

stay tuned for some shopping highlights in the next post...

Hope that your week is off to a great start!

Mother.....

For those of you who have read my blog for awhile you'll know just how close a bond that Mother and I share.
How often we do things together.
Our Seattle trip had been planned for several months and eagerly anticipated by us both.

We had just checked into our suite when Mother felt very tired and she said she needed to go to bed for a nap.
She is 85 so I put this down to travel fatigue and so did Mother.
She assured me that she'd be better after a nap and she shooed me out the door to go and do some shopping.

I left her for an hour
but a second sense, a voice in my head, kept worrying about her while I was out.
I am not one to ignore that little voice...I call it intuition.

When I returned she was feeling really sick and said that she needed to go home.
A few hours later she was vomiting had trouble walking to the bathroom as her legs were weak and she felt dizzy.

I suggested that we go to the hospital as we always travel with extra medical insurance but she refused...
I informed the hotel concierge who set about making arrangements for us to leave.
The staff were so understanding and helpful.

I was terrified,
and my thoughts were that she might not last through the night.
I don't know if I was over reacting, or becoming hysterical with worry,
so I phoned Mr. HB and told him the situation...he helped to calm me down and reassured me.
(Thanks honey)

Alone and afraid and feeling very responsible I thought I should stay up all night and keep watch.
I lasted until 11:30 when fatigue overtook me.
I fell into a deep sleep and woke up at 4:30 when I decided to get up and get ready as we needed to be ready by 6:15 to depart.

We were gone less than 24 hours and went straight to our family doctor when we got back. He was booked up so we saw his partner who ordered some tests and sent us directly to the ER.
We spent an agonizing and tedious 6 hours in and out of the treatment rooms while Mom had a multitude of tests...
then surprisingly they sent her home and told us if she didn't improve in a couple of days to come back!

I have been taking care of her and am sick with worry.

She is pale and tired and if she doesn't start to improve tomorrow I am taking her back.

Mother has a tough constitution so when she is sidelined like this I am beside myself.
She keeps saying she knows her own body, that she's just tired and for me not to worry, but I do.
It's not like her...

I picked my favourite roses for her today, David Austin's Jude the Obscure.

She is resting in bed and I have fed her some scrambled eggs and tea...
Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

I'm not even excited that I found some new things in Seattle.

I took this when we first arrived and I had such hopes for a wonderful holiday.

We always book the same suite 

2 beds

2 bathrooms

a living room

and a view of The Space Needle from the 10th floor.

My trip could be summed up 

"Sleepless in Seattle"

I will be hovering very close and monitoring Mother.

Feeling over tired and stressed to the max

on the verge of tears

I really need to keep my wits about me.

I cannot let Mother see me like this 

or she will start to worry about me 

instead of putting her energy into getting better.

Will keep you posted.

Tuscan Sun...a meagre wardrobe, and thoughts of Seattle.

One of my favourite movies is Under the Tuscan Sun
the cinematography is rich,
the scenery is beautiful,
the story wonderful.

I put myself into the story and imagine what it might be like if I were to live Frances Mayes' adventure in Tuscany.

After watching the film a few years ago I immediately got my hands on the novel by Frances Mayes.
The novel was devoured in record time and I was left craving red wine and pasta!

Little did I know that she had written a cookbook...
one of the year end gifts I received was this lovely book.
A big thank you goes out to my teaching partner!

Mr. HB loves short ribs so the first recipe I have prepared is Short Ribs Tuscan style!

Lucky that we own a vast Le Creuset ovenproof pot

the recipe filled this almost to the brim.

In a freshly cleaned oven 

the weight of the pot 

+

sagging racks

 contents are weighty.

The Humble Bungalow smells divine.

The windows inside the Humble Bungalow are all spotless and shining.

Now all we need is some sunshine to prove it!

I went through my meagre wardrobe and found a few pieces that needed further weeding.

I have been wearing the same few basics over and over.

It makes getting dressed fast and easy.

It surprises me that I do not mind having a minimalist wardrobe.

Would you be comfortable living with less?

Changing the idea of what constitutes a workable wardrobe has been a slow process.

Less 

is definitely working...

streamlined to the basic workhorses

add those brilliant accessories

seems to fit my simple lifestyle.

Black and white are the neutral basics left hanging in my closet.

There are some spaces that could be refilled which would inject some energy

and a splash of colour might be fun.

I plan to keep an open mind when I go shopping.

I have been avoiding the stores lately in preparation for the trip so it will be fun to see what they are showing.

I do "need" shoes

and I am not exaggerating!

Seattle will certainly have some shoes

and a few basics

as I need to replace some tees and tanks.

There's a new wheel on the Seattle waterfront 

which looks far too ambitious for either Mother or myself...

it looks a bit like the millennium wheel!

I think we'll do the Space Needle

and perhaps "ride the ducks!"

Summer often means a holiday...

tell me what are you planning

a stay cation

or a vacation?

Parades...and Pike Place...

Do you love parades?
We have a few  parades where we live, one is large, the others are small.
Our family attended parades every year when I was young and then we took our children.
Since our offspring have grown and flown the nest we do not attend....

We found ourselves in the middle of a parade in Seattle.

we could watch from our hotel window

which we did for awhile

we were hoping to go to Pike Place Market for another visit

(where there's a will there's a way)

we did manage to cross the parade route 

through the barricades

running quickly across the street 

dodging floats and marching bands

Seafood stall

I didn't know that halibut had cheeks! 

the seafood looks delicious...

flower bouquets 

are plentiful

and their prices are so reasonable

Customs does not allow these to cross the border

so I lingered a little longer and took photos of my favourites.

"stuck on you!"

many people gathered...

cameras flashed

people chewed big wads of gum and then...

you might find this hard to believe but they stuck it on the brick wall!

The Gum Wall

 is very popular

and has made the "to do list" on some travel advisor sites!

as the light grows dim

we dine...

We are at Cutter's 

which is a large restaurant with a fabulous view of Seattle's waterfront

Mr. HB has crab

The Hostess has salmon

and

after some more walking...

this wee balloon flower lay abandoned on the street until I rescued it 

and gave it to the next child we saw

she was thrilled!

weary by all the fresh air and walking 

we leisurely strolled back to our Hotel 

for a night of restful slumber.

I do love weekends away.

Kate Spade quotes...and snippets of Seattle

I found this card inside my new Kate Spade bag...

love this shade of green

For the record

 we used to have a blue Fiat Sport Spider convertible 

and it was a fun car...

I rarely drove it as I needed to sit on top of two pillows 

to see over the steering wheel and to stretch to reach the pedals...

Italians are obviously tall or at least a good bit taller than me!

it was a persnickety car

a lot of money went to the mechanic to keep it running!

Fix It Again Tony!

Seattle buys continued...

Brown and white striped linen trousers

wider legs cool for summer

Jones of NY

purchased at Macy's

I have seen a lot of stripes appearing in the fashion mags and in stores.

I like the stripes as they are vertical, they given the illusion of height

I can just imagine if they were horizontal...

Yikes!

I do not need to look wider than I already am!

 I remembered that I have a perfect partner in my jewelry chest back home

Debra K woven brown and burnished sterling necklace.

I want to wear these soon

I plan to team them up with a simple white tank and a sweater or a white shirt worn as a jacket

these crystals might work too

what do you think?

Exploring the shops near Pike Place Market we found ourselves in Sur la Table

their selection of cooking gadgets and gear was overwhelming

decisions are difficult when too many choices are available.

I was tempted to buy the pasta roller for my Kitchen Aid

but they were out of stock.

I found some basic napkins

I can always use more

as we use only cloth 

avoiding the toss away paper ones in an attempt to be more mindful

and Green.

and they were on sale...

So that about sums up the shopping 

I hope that I have not bored you to bits!

Dining downtown was varied and never once did we need a reservation

which as spontaneous tourists we really appreciated

I managed to eat only half of every serving 

as I found the portions large.

I have been very inspired by some of the unusual salads

and plan to recreate them here in The Humble Bungalow.

When we got thirsty we rehydrated 

at Starbucks

the first Starbucks in Pike Place had a line up out the door

 cameras were snapping madly capturing the images

of smiling tourists

in front of the sign

YES

there is a Starbucks on every corner in Seattle!

Please stay tuned there's one more....