Back in Seattle

It has been a crazy couple of days since Liz and I got back from NC. The weather in Seattle has been phenomenal. I've heard talk that Seattle folk are urged to be tight-lipped about good weather, presumable for fear of breaking the reputation that Seattle is constantly dismal rainy and unpleasant, but it has been dry and warm. Yesterday there was actual a high of 92°F, and Liz who was out at Bainbridge Island all day actual got a little sun burned.

One other bit of weather oddity is that, to my recollection at least, when it is sunny it tends to also be a bit windy. This was somewhat annoying when it was sunny and 60°F, but the cool breeze the last couple of days has been really fantastic.

The bulk of the city now seems to be in bloom, and it is really amazing, and unfortunately I think the few pictures of our balcony and my description will not really paint an accurate picture of Seattle's beauty at this time of year. The areas of Seattle which we have explored, which so far are really limited to our neighborhood, Greenlake, UW, and the vicinity around 3rd and Pike (our downtown bus stop), are all landscaped. Here are some examples from our balcony.




And here quickly I'm going to have to stop and define landscaped because in Seattle this means something a bit different then in NC or the midwest. Surprisingly Seattlites by in large don't bother maintaining a pristinely manicured lawn. Instead the focus seems to be on perennial flowers, vines and bushes. So in the winter when me moved here our neighbor hood did look a bit shabby. Lawns were overgrown, unedged and strewn with leaves, and it didn't seem like much attention was paid to one's frontyard. Now that we've been here a bit longer we can appreciate the hidden plan. The end of winter was marked with daffodils poking out of treelawns and bording driveways and walks. Then a series of tulips in different colors blooming months apart marked the progression of spring. Now that we are in full-summer it's the lilac and wistera that steal the scene, but there are so many other plants in bloom from the humble monkey grass to the ubiquitous bells of ireland something.

I was really surprised that in downtown there were still, although hidden away, nicely landscaped spots. Liz through a friend got us invited to "Ghettochef" which is a play on the Food Network show Iron Chef. This last contest was hosted in the kitchen/meeting room of a downtown apartment complex. Even though the apartments were above retail shops, the kitchen opened to a wonderful open air courtyard on the 3rd floor. The apartments going up for 4 or 5 additional floors all had balconies looking out on the courtyard which was decorated with fountains and flowering bushes, and not so surprisingly artificial turf.