Seattle day

Don't you just hate it when you have to spend time in Seattle? I mean, it is always dark and dreary and always, always raining, y'know?

Ha, ha! I think that is what most of the country thinks about Seattle (and Portland, too). The fact is that Seattle, when it is good, is nearly perfect. One of the best cities in the world, in my opinion. And since it is a mere 3 hour drive from here, I jump at the chance to spend some time there. When my friend Jeri invited me to go up to Seattle for the day to see the Women Artists From the Centre Pompidou exhibit at the Seattle Art Musum it sounded great. When our friend, Beth, decided to come along as well, it became an even better adventure. Turned out that, improbably, this day in mid-November was rain-free and as gorgeous a Seattle day as you could ask for.

The exhibit was super. Here are a few of my favorites of what we saw:

The very first piece in the exhibit was this wonderful portrait by Sonia DeLauney. It may have been my favorite thing, though it would be hard to choose.

The Blue Room, by Suzanne Valadon

A wall-sized sculpture by Louse Nevelson—be still my heart!

And a lot of wonderfully witty posters and banners from the Guerilla Girls, including this one:

This is but a small sampling. It is a great show. See it if you can!

On our way up to Seattle I finally got to visit a place I have heard of for years—Shipwreck Beads in Lacy, WA. I had heard it was fabulous. I had heard they have any kind of bead you would ever want. Still, I had a mental picture of a funky little beadshop in my brain. Not this.

or this (which is less than half of the sales floor):

They have it all, from plastic and glass to precious stones and precious metals. You have to know what you want when you shop in a place like this. Browsing would be an all-day event. I don't even know why I like beads so much. I don't use them in my artwork. That has just never worked for me, but they are so pretty! I bought this small collection for a necklace, that will be fun to make, but I will likely never wear it. Or maybe I'll surprise myself and become a necklace-wearer.

This is the sidewalk out front of Shipwreck Beads. I really did love this! In case it is not clear in the photo, all those bits of color are beads imbedded in the concrete.

We had such a good time. We had a perfect lunch at a small Thai restaurant near the Art Museum and picked up wonderfully spicy, exotic Chai tea lattes at a sweet little coffee shop near the museum for our ride home and we cracked each other up with funny stories all the way up and back and were exhausted from laughing by the time we rolled into Portland last night. I hate driving in downtown Seattle, but with two good navigators even that worked out well. I feel energized and refreshed. Thanks, dear Seattle. And bigger thanks to my two crazy good friends.