Dona Nobis Pacem

Several years ago Mimi started the Blog Blast for Peace as a way for folks to all say in unison that our greatest desire is for peace.  Blogs give a good way for folks all across to globe to express that wish together.  Although there are nations that block Internet access in a variety of ways it is still a channel through which there seems to be a greater freedom of movement for ideas.  We've all heard about how Twitter and such facilitated so many protests across the Middle East or allowed for news from eyewitnesses to other events over the years to get out when authorities had silenced official news sources.  It's just an empowering forum for folks who refused to be stifled when it really matters.

No doubt there will be lots of reasons people give today for participating.  Aside from the obvious desire for a more peaceful world, which seems like such a broad, general, Miss America sort of thing sometimes, I want to put a face to why I want peace.  Though we could touch on wars that are occurring all across the globe and how to end them I think we are better served by preventing them in the first place.  Consider the quote in the graphic above as you read.

As you know I went to Seattle back in September.  I did all the typical touristy things and had a wonderful time.  I bought a bunch of stuff, some of it was for me and some was for other people.  As I was looking for some small thing for my girls I came across a gentleman who etches names on grains of rice and then places them in small glass vials with colored liquid to magnify the rice so it can be read.  The vials are turned into pendants or key chains.  I thought they were kind of cool and unique little souvenirs and the price was right so I decided to get one for each of my girls.  When I wrote down their names for the man he immediately looked at me with a sly grin and remarked, "Greek names."  (I don't actually use their real names here on the blog)  I smiled back and said yes because we are Greek.  We continued to chat pleasantly.  I paid and bid him a good day before leaving.  Later I decided I wanted one for myself and that it would read Lime on one side and Michelle on the other.

I returned to the shop where this gentleman works and made my request.  We greeted each other and talked a bit during which he revealed he was Turkish and had come to the US 13 years ago not knowing any English at the time.  As he worked I asked how exactly he got into doing such tiny work, noting he did it without a magnifying glass or even glasses on his face.  He smiled and said he had been an electronics engineer in Turkey.  I asked if he hoped to return to that field one day.  He nodded and said he had tried but since 9/11/01 it had become impossible because his specialty was electronics engineering as it related to air traffic control.  He shared how, once he had learned English, he had applied for a job and progressed in the hiring process only to be told he should withdraw his application due to being from a Muslim country.  As he told his story it was related without any trace of bitterness, just very matter of fact.

At this point I began to well up as I considered how bright a mind he must possess to be in that field and how he had been reduced to carving the names of tourists on grains of rice.  I said I was so very sorry for the discrimination he had faced in this country. He shrugged and replied, "I did not come here for myself.  I came for my daughters."  Then he beamed as he told me the eldest was now in medical school.  I was dabbing my eyes quite a lot by then.

We continued to talk as he worked.  When he was done and I had paid I took him by the hand, looked into his eye as I told him, "I wish only blessings, prosperity, and peace for you and your family.  I am sorry again for the discrimination you've had here but at the very least, in this place Greeks and Turks can be at peace with each other."

I participate today because no one who is willing to transplant themselves for the well-being of their family and then work hard to learn a new language in order to apply his or her skills should be met automatically with suspicion.  Greeting a stranger with immediate suspicion is no way to build understanding which leads to peace, but it is the way to create bitterness which leads to conflict.  To this man's credit he seemed to have none but one could understand if he did.

Last Bit of Washington

Sick of Washington yet?  Ok, well, today is the last bit of show and tell for that.  Tomorrow onto Canada!  That's only one day though so don't worry.  Have I mentioned Logo missed her calling as a tour guide?  In addition to showing me all around Seattle itself she showed me some lovely areas outside the city.  On my last day in Washington we saw Cama Beach, which is an old fishing resort.  It was quite charming.

The beach was all pebbly and crushed up clam shells but a very pretty, relaxing looking place.

Care to guess what this is?

It's the inside of one of these, a handmade kayak. We met a fellow there who helps run the place and he gave us quite a nice showing of the various boats and kayaks they have for rent as well as showing us one of the cabins.  I have to admit if we'd had the time I would have liked to give that kayak a try to see how it felt compared to the plastic ones I've used in the past.  Maybe next time I make it out that way....

Instead of kayaking Logo and I took a ride on her bike Red Molly through the gorgeous Skagit Valley.

Oh yes we did.  It was fantastic.  I didn't mind missing the kayak at all. I was completely content.

Friday 55 & Da Count-Camano Dawn

FRIDAY 55

Mountains,

sky,

and water

scheme together.

They whisper

their incantation

that rises with the sun,

envelops me like the mist

roused from its rest,

rolling along the water,

ascending

as dawn draws it

to the clouds.

The earth inhales...exhales.

Its spell is cast--

the beguiling look

of a lover waking,

smiling,

reaching,

whispering, 

"Stay..."

DA COUNT

Yeah, I actually got up before dawn to take these pictures while I was in Washington.  Me, the girl who hates mornings.  It was worth it.  Just.so.gorgeous.

Nourishing

A few years ago I posted about the farmer's market I grew up visiting on a regular basis.  I love farmer's markets.  They feed my soul as much as they feed my belly.  In Trinidad, I had access to a large and wonderful farmer's market too.  Since I have been back in the US I have not lived in proximity to a decent one.  I miss that access dearly.  Then I went to Seattle...and Susie and Logo introduced me to Pike Place Market.  Oh did that place sing to my soul!

Susie and I greeted Rachel the pig upon our arrival.

I loved all the strings of peppers hanging around.  So colorful!

And berries.  Mmmmm....simply succulent!

Strange colors for carrots but so fresh.  One of the things I loved was how much of the produce was organic or sustainably farmed and sold at what I'd consider to be reasonable prices.

Huuuuge piles of shrimp...or piles of huge shrimp which is kind of an oxymoron...

Whereas crowds in grocery stores make me crazy, there is something I love about the hustle and bustle of a farmer's market.

Yum, I tried it planked while I was out in Seattle.  I quite liked it. 

The fish market is just plain fun.  These guys tossing the fish back and forth were having a ball. As soon as he caught the fish he came rushing at my camera lens with it. Unfortunately I missed that shot because I was laughing so hard.  But this one captures some of the spirit I think.

Fish too smelly for ya?  Ok, how about row upon row of bouquets.  Big, lush, gorgeous bouquets for unbelievably cheap prices.

Pretty in pink...

...or lavender.

Oooh, looky...stacks of tie dye!  Another thing I loved about Seattle and Pike Place Market was that there were a lot of locally produced and wonderfully artistic crafts available.  If you truly wanted some cheap plastic made-in-China tourist memento you could find it, but there was such a proliferation of really wonderful local arts and crafts I'd have to ask WHY would you want that other junk?

I said it before, the place sang to my soul.  It made me happy....happy enough to wanna ride a pig and whoop in enthusiasm!

And Now For the Obviously Touristy Part of the Extended Seattle Tribute

In case you forgot, I went to Seattle last month so I could meet Susie and Logo.  How lucky were we to have a view of the Space Needle from our very reasonably priced hotel room?  Cool, huh?  That was the first night.

Several days later we took a ferry ride and I got to see the Needle from the water.

Bonus shot of another ferry with the Needle.  How very Seattle, eh?

Coming back on the ferry I got to see the Needle at night.  Also attempted getting a half decent shot while the motor was vibrating the boat, the wind was blowing me, and I had no tripod.  I expected nothing more than a horrid blur. The fact that I can even tell it's the Needle makes me happy.

No Needle in the shot but the waterfront is groovy.

This is the result of that earlier picture of Logo laying on the ground and me...uh...mounting the gigantic balls.  It's all about perspective, baby.  No phallic symbolism going on, nuh-uh.

Oh, and just to keep things completely out of order chronologically, we did actually go TO the Needle a day or so before the ferry ride.  Here's a view of the gorgeous Puget Sound at sunset.

Gratuitous ferry entering the shot.

Check out the Cascade Range.  Water. Mountains. Sunset.  What's not to love? 

Waterfront view from the Needle at dusk.

More of the same, just the other side of the Needle.  (Here's Uncle Milt coming out from behind the house. *click*  Here he is in front of the house. *click* Here he is by the car. *click*....sick of my Needle views yet?)

Ok fine, we also rode the monorail to get back to the hotel so we could look out our window and see the Needle some more.

Seattle Sights

On the rare occasions I get to travel to someplace new my preferred way to see the place is through the eyes of friends who live there so they can show me what they love about a place.  Susie and Logo both had favorite places so they each had their own take on the place.  Then I showed up and added my Lime twist.  Here are just a few non-Needle related stops through out the city.  (The Needle is later.)

The Central Saloon is the oldest in the city.  Logo and I had a very yummy lunch there.  May I also add one of the things I really appreciated about Seattle and surrounds was the seemingly sincere desire of servers to actually serve patrons cheerfully.  Every restaurant I went into from the cheapest hole in the wall to the fanciest place they all brought water immediately and kept the glass filled.  At home I'd have to beg for a single glass and sell my soul for a refill.  Seattle servers are also more than happy to give a table as many separate checks as desired.  Around here, requesting such a thing might lead to you having your food spat upon.  Yeah, simple things but it made dining out the pleasure it ought to be.

Chief Seattle.  I learned during the Underground Tour that his name is actually pronounced more like a cat horking up a hairball and that he reluctantly allowed his name to be given to the city.  Initially, he resisted on the basis that calling his name after he was dead would mean he'd have to respond and he'd never get to rest in peace.  The city fathers offered him $500 a year for life to convince him.  They figured he was not long for this world.  He was swayed and lived another 15 years or so.

Not that I ever wondered especially what one of these looked like but now I know.  The Curiosity Shop is a very groovy place down on the water front.  It's filled with things like preserved whale penises, mummified dogs, a tooth collection and other weird items.  In other words, I was in heaven.  Very fun place.

Pennsylvania doesn't have a lot of obvious Native American relics around.  Geographical names are about it.  It was neat to see more prolific evidence of that culture.  Of course, it also brought out the silly in us sometimes, but so did things like restaurants, museums, bookstores, markets....ya know, it doesn't take much for us.

We didn't actually go in here but the Pacific Science Center looked really pretty all lit up at night, didn't it?

Gees, those totems are just all over the place!

Walrus gargoyles.  Now how cool is that? 

Please feel free to offer a caption for this particular shot.  This is the audience participation part of this post, your reward for sticking with me.

Of course I did have to do some touristy things.  One was the underground Tour which was given with great humor by an Elvis impersonator.  I learned all about the "seamstresses" (wink wink nudge nudge) who came to Seattle to serve all the "dressmaking" needs of the original settlers, who all happened to be men.  Oh, and I learned that folks scheduled their toilet usage around tide schedules so they didn't get blown off their crappers by a high tide surge mid-squat.  I love when history is presented in a down to earth manner that makes you laugh.  Anyway, this picture was just a groovy detail from underground.

And the bookstores.....Lord have mercy, there was an independent bookstore on every other corner.  It made me so happy.  Excuse me, I need just a moment here to revel in the bliss that was abundant books at affordable prices.....revel....revel...revel....ok, I'm back.   Now here's one of my favorite signs from a bookstore during my visit.

Art Therapy

After experiencing 10 days of Seattle under Logo's tour guiding ability I am convinced she missed her calling.  Before I came she asked what sorts of things I was interested in and came up with a tentative and flexible schedule of things to see and do.  She asked if it looked good.  I said it looked great except for the part where I only got two hours at the Seattle Art Museum.  She assured me it's all the time she needed when she went there and I reminded her she has regular, frequent access.  On the other hand, I was suffering from severe art deficiency and would require more.  She thought maybe I was kidding until I told her I'd only been to two art museums in the last 5 years.  She then agreed this was a dire situation.

Here then are some of my favorite bits are art from SAM and other venues.  One of the things I loved about Seattle was the proliferation of art in incidental places.

What should be in one of the first galleries but a piece of tie dye work on exhibit.  So for all the haters out there.....tie dye is art!  Woohoo!

This was a watercolor scroll depicting a Chinese banquet.   Only part of it was unrolled and the detail of what was revealed made me want to see the rest of it, not to mention how it made me hungry.

Trees speak to me.  This was a detail of a large aboriginal tube intended as an ossuary.

I was anxious to see some art from among the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest.  SAM had a lovely collection but this mask was among my favorite items.

This was a west African gourd bowl of some sort.  I loved the colors and textures.  The exhibit label said they weren't sure what its intended purpose was and they welcomed input from visitors.  You just KNOW how tempted I was to offer some goofy meme-ish explanation...

Seattle is known for art glass and the museum had a nice little collection.  Logo loves glass too so I told her she needs to come east so I can take her to the glass museum on Corning, NY. 

Moving on to the Islamic world I loved the intricate details of this pen and ink set.

This rendering of the Last Supper by Rubens just spoke to my soul.  I've never been a great fan of Da Vinci's version because it's not how I pictured that moment in my own head from reading the Biblical account.  This much more closely aligns with my imagination.  The intimacy of that meal seems so evident here and I just love the use of light.

This coat was constructed entirely of dog tags.  It was kind of a moving thing to consider.  The painting to the left was also a pretty profound work in my opinion.  It was called Loser + Clark and was a commentary on the effects of western expansion.

One of the very cool things about Seattle is how much artwork is all over the city.  Yes, I know I can go to any city and see statues and such but in Seattle it seems more commonplace, more accessible, and less pretentious. In my mind that makes it more wonderful and more easily appreciated.  Manhole covers were an example.  Yes, I drew a few giggles for taking pictures of manhole covers but look at that....it's way groovier than standard issue manhole covers.

And check out this light fixture on a wall near the market.  How cool is that?

One afternoon Susie and I went to the Olympic Sculpture Garden.  It was pretty blustery and rainy so we didn't linger too much but we were there long enough to spot a Freak in the Box.

I gotta say, some things considered art I don't get.  Susie and I agreed this one didn't make a lot of sense. It just looked like some sailor forgot some ropes.

This was one of my favorites.  It's supposed to represent ships.  I got yelled at by a docent for touching it when I tried to peek out from behind one of them in kilroy fashion.

And although it was rainy it would seem that in Seattle even the rain is art!